Engineers at Saitama University’s Human-Robot Interaction Center in Saitama, Japan have created a wheelchair movement system that keeps it always next to a walking person wearing a radio beacon. The wheelchair is smart enough to realize both its position and orientation relative to the person guiding it and realizes when its best to follow behind rather than on the side in tight and congested areas. Undoubtedly this is a big deal for people with disabilities for whom controlling the wheelchair is in itself a challenge. Judging by the video below, which demonstrates the wheelchair in a public area, it looks like it’s just about ready for commercial production.
More at DigInfo TV…
(hat tip: Engadget)
Fenwal, Inc. (Lake Zurich, Illinois) has announced 510(k) clearance for use of the company’s Amicus separator with the new InterSol platelet additive. InterSol can take the place of plasma, which is currently used as a storage medium for platelets collected from donated blood. This frees up additional plasma for hospital use without requiring an increase in blood donations.
Researchers from Ohio State University just published a paper in Nature describing a new MRI technique that is capable of imaging the insides of micro-scale magnets, providing the highest ever resolution of magnetic fields. The technology, known as scanned probe ferromagnetic resonance imaging, promises the development of small scale biosensors that depend on tiny magnets to do their work.
Introducing chemicals for research and therapeutic uses into individual cells can be tricky using microscopic needles, so researchers at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore have developed a method of shooting ultra-precise jets of liquid straight through the membrane. The method does not seem to damage the function of living cells.
Researchers at Technion – Israel Institute of Technology have shown that nanosensors can be effective in detecting certain types of cancer in exhaled breath. Pending further studies, it is hoped that this technology will be used for regular screening of patients as part of doctors’ appointments.
Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a new imaging technique for melanoma. For melanoma resection it is very important to obtain tumor free margins in order to prevent recurrence. Photoacoustic imaging works by absorption of light by tissue which causes slight heating (a matter of millikelvins) and with that thermoelastic expansion. By using pulsed light, an acoustic signal can be generated using this effect. Photoacoustic tomography detects structures that strongly absorb light such as melanomas which contain melanin. However even melanoma images are still fuzzy using only this method, so the researchers decided to use gold nanocages as a contrast agent. Using nanocages bioconjugated with a certain type of melanocyte-stimulating hormone, they were able to capture high-resolution photoacoustic tomography images where margins are clearly visible. Potential applications of this technique include detection of early stage melanomas and metastatic lymph nodes, treatment using photothermal effects and image-guided surgical resection. Here’s a short video showing the obtained images:
Kind of a cheat there with that last word, but the dCell Vascular Patch made by Tissue Regenix (York, UK) has received CE mark approval for sales in Europe.
A team of researchers at King’s College London has developed a brain scan which can purportedly detect autism in adults. The scan, which uses MRI to obtain images of the brain, can identify autism based on the physical makeup of grey matter in the brain. Results of an initial study involving the scan were published in the Journal of Neuroscience today.
