Showing posts with label medical. Show all posts
Showing posts with label medical. Show all posts

2013-04-06

IntelliCap: personalizable drug delivery and non-invasive gut health testing

Non-invasive gut health testing breakthrough

NIZO food research and biotech pioneer Medimetrics are bringing this a step nearer, using the latest micro-electronics. They have joined forces to create a means of sampling and mapping content from the small intestine to identify its microbiological composition, in a non-invasive way.
Using the IntelliCap system, an intelligent capsule developed by Medimetrics (a company pioneered by Philips and now based in The Netherlands, Germany and the USA), it will be possible to take samples in vivo, at targeted locations, in a non-invasive way and, importantly, away from a clinical setting.  IntelliCap is already being successfully used by the pharmaceutical industry for the targeted and controlled delivery of drugs in the human gastrointestinal tract.

Home - Medimetrics


Medimetrics IntelliCap

Medimetrics is the pioneer and global leader in electronic oral drug delivery. The company has created the IntelliCap system – the world’s first intelligent oral drug delivery and monitoring system. This flagship product is used to provice services and technology access to companies exploring controlled delivery and measurement of body conditions within the gastro-intestinal tract.

IntelliCap - personalizable drug delivery | Philips Innovation Services


Challenge: 
Personalizable oral drug delivery has the potential to improve the therapeutic effects of existing drugs and to reduce side effects. It could even enable new types of drugs that can be delivered exactly to the required place in the body.
Solution: 
IntelliCap’s developers turned to Philips Innovation Services for support from idea to initial small scale production in several areas: design and development of the capsule, the portable unit worn by the trial subject and the PC-based control center.


Labels: ,

2013-03-25

Heart repair without surgery

Heart repair breakthroughs replace surgeon's knife - Yahoo! News


Heart care is in the midst of a transformation. Many problems that once required sawing through the breastbone and opening up the chest for open heart surgery now can be treated with a nip, twist or patch through a tube.

[...]

All rely on catheters — hollow tubes that let doctors burn away and reshape heart tissue or correct defects through small holes in blood vessels.

"This is the replacement for the surgeon's knife. Instead of opening the chest, we're able to put catheters in through the leg, sometimes through the arm," said Dr. Spencer King of St. Joseph's Heart and Vascular Institute in Atlanta. He is former president of the American College of Cardiology. Its conference earlier this month featured research on these novel devices.



Labels: , ,

2012-04-10

Social Status Affects Immune System

BBC News - Social rank 'linked to immunity'



A study of rhesus macaque monkeys may have solved a long-standing puzzle on a link between social rank and health.
A study of 10 social groups of macaque females showed that the activity level of an individual's immune genes was an accurate predictor of her social rank.

In a paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team also showed that the monkey's immunity changed when social rank was altered.

The work suggests that status drives immune health, rather than vice-versa.


Changes in Monkeys' Social Status Affect Their Genes | Duke Today

The study is the first to use an experimental approach to observe how gene expression patterns across a range of genes correlate with an animal's social dominance. It estimates that gene expression can predict the social status of an individual with 80 percent accuracy.

"Our study supports the idea that low social status can be bad for the body. But it hints at the idea that if you improve your social situation, your health improves, too," said the study's lead author Jenny Tung, a visiting assistant professor in Duke University's evolutionary anthropology department.

[...]

Tung said scientists have more work to do to understand how improving social status affects the way genes turn on and off. But she found it "exciting" and "comforting" that her team observed positive changes in the expression of immune-system genes of several monkeys whose social rank increased, she said.

The Tung lab

Genes influence behavior; behavior influences genes.

The interplay between these effects is the focus of research in the Tung lab. Specifically, we are interested in how genetic differences and gene regulatory effects shape behavioral traits, and in the reciprocal influence of social and behavioral variation on genetic variation and genome function. To pursue these questions, we focus primarily on highly social populations of nonhuman primates, systems that are natural models for human health, sociality, and evolution.
Source: home

Research

Rhesus macaques in captivity present the opportunity to study social environmental effects on genetics and gene regulation in a controlled setting. We take advantage of the ability to manipulate social status and social group composition to isolate the influence of these variables and to study the regulatory mechanisms that mediate these effects.
Source: research


Labels: , ,

2012-04-06

Portable Plasma Flashlight Kills Bacteria

New Plasma Flashlight Could Instantly Rid Skin of Bacteria | Healthland | TIME.com

A battery-powered, hand-held plasma-emitting device created by Chinese and Australian scientists could speed wound sterilization in the field.

In a disaster zone, whether it’s the aftermath of a tornado or on a battleground, emergency medical personnel have to work fast to save lives. In an effort to speed good care, scientists have developed a handheld, battery-operated “flashlight” that can instantly sterilize wounds by beaming plasma at bacteria.

Plasma Flashlight Zaps Bacteria - ScienceNOW

[...] Powered by a normal 12-volt battery and operating in open air without a gas supply, the prototype, which they call a plasma flashlight, should be portable enough to take anywhere. "It generates the plasma even being disconnected from wall power, even using very low power," says group member Kostya Ostrikov of CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering in Lindfield, Australia.

Light therapy . A portable plasma flashlight can kill bacteria in minutes. (Credit: X. Pei et al., Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics)
Credit: X. Pei et al., Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics (2012)

Handheld plasma flashlight rids skin of pathogens | KurzweilAI

Plasma jet circuit, powered by a 12 V DC battery at 60 mW. It generates ~20 kHz pulses with ~100 ns duration. (Credit: X. Pei et al./IOP Publishing)

In an experiment, the plasma flashlight effectively inactivated a thick biofilm with 17 different layers of one of the most antibiotic- and heat-resistant bacteria, Enterococcus faecalis — which often infects root canals during dental treatments.

The plasma penetrated deep into the very bottom of the layers to kill the bacteria in five minutes.
[...]
It can be easily made and costs less than $100 to produce. No external power or gas feed is required. It operates at close to room temperature and prevents damage to the skin.


Labels: , , ,

2012-03-23

IBM's Watson to Help Diagnose Cancer


IBM's Watson to Help Treat Cancer : Discovery News



IBM's Watson computer -- the one that beat the best human players at Jeopardy! -- will now help doctors at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center diagnose cancer.


IBM News room - 2012-03-22 Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, IBM to Collaborate in Applying Watson Technology to Help Oncologists - United States

The initiative will combine the computational power of IBM Watson and its natural language processing ability with MSKCC’s clinical knowledge, existing molecular and genomic data and vast repository of cancer case histories, in order to create an outcome and evidence-based decision support system. The goal is to give oncologists located anywhere the ability to obtain detailed diagnostic and treatment options based on updated research that will help them decide how best to care for an individual patient.


MSKCC’s world-renowned oncologists will assist in developing IBM Watson to use a patient’s medical information and synthesize a vast array of continuously updated and vetted treatment guidelines, published research and insights gleaned from the deep experience of MSKCC clinicians to provide an individualized recommendation to physicians. The tool will also provide users with a detailed record of the data and evidence used to reach the recommendations.



Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, IBM to Collaborate in Applying Watson Technology to Help Oncologists | Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center


“This comprehensive, evidence-based approach will profoundly enhance cancer care by accelerating the dissemination of practice-changing research at an unprecedented pace,” said Dr. Mark G. Kris, Chief, Thoracic Oncology Service at MSKCC and one of the clinicians leading the development effort. He noted that 85% of patients with cancer are not treated at specialized medical centers and it can take years for the latest developments in oncology to reach all practice settings.

Development work is already underway for the first applications, which include lung, breast and prostate cancers. The objective is to begin piloting the solutions to a select group of oncologists in late 2012, with wider distribution planned for late 2013. This collaboration complements an earlier announcement by IBM and WellPoint that the parties will focus on putting Watson to work on oncology solutions.


Labels: , , , , ,

2012-03-22

Cure for Baldness Becomes Feasible

Cure for baldness 'could be on sale within five years' | Mail Online



The breakthrough, from the University of Pennsylvania in the U.S, centres on a protein called PDG2.

When the scientists analysed the scalps of balding men, they found levels of PDG2 to be three times higher in areas in which the hair was thinning.

In tests on lab and on mice, the compound stunted hair growth, the journal Science Translational Medicine reports.

Earlier work by the same team found bald men have cells capable of making hair, they have just failed to mature.

Hair we go: At the moment men have very few options for treating baldness
It is thought that PGD2 prevents the cells maturing - and stopping it from working would allow hair to grow again.

Drugs that block PGD2 are already been tested by drug companies looking for new treatments for asthma.


Perelman School of Medicine Experts Identify Inhibitor Causing Male Pattern Baldness and Target for Hair Loss Treatments

 Miniaturized human hair follicle shows concentration of Prostaglandin D2 (in green). Credit: Garza and Cotsarelis/Penn Medicine

"Although a different prostaglandin was known to increase hair growth, our findings were unexpected, as prostaglandins haven't been thought about in relation to hair loss, yet it made sense that there was an inhibitor of hair growth, based on our earlier work looking at hair follicle stem cells," said George Cotsarelis, MD, chair and professor of Dermatology, and senior author on the studies. In a Penn study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation last year, underlying hair follicle stem cells were found intact, suggesting that the scalp was lacking an activator or something was inhibiting hair follicle growth.
Prostaglandins are well characterized for their role in many bodily functions — controlling cell growth, constricting and dilating smooth muscle tissue — and a different prostaglandin (F2alpha) is known to increase hair growth. Researchers found that as PGD2 inhibits hair growth, other prostaglandins work in opposition, enhancing and regulating the speed of hair growth.





Labels: ,

2011-11-04

Showa Hanako 2 a Dental Training Robot

Showa Hanako 2

(PhysOrg.com) -- Going to the dentist is something that we all have to do. Going to a novice dentist, and his or her drill, is something that most of us would rather avoid but they have to practice somewhere. Luckily for us researchers at Showa, a Japanese university, have been working on a solution to this thorny issue. They have created a robot, the Showa Hanako 2 that is able to not only mimic the kind of movement and gestures that a dentist may experience in the real world.

Showa Hanako 2: Unique Robotic Dental Patient for College Students | Gadget Health News

Showa Hanako 2 is explained to be a much more user friendly and also useful replacement unit to Showa Hanako 1, and this was introduced around March 2010. “Love doll” manufacturer Orient Industry is liable for the silicone pores and skin (this changes the PVC skin of the old type) and also mouth area lining, that boosts the real looking sense plus reduces water from obtaining directly into the machinery.
Showa Hanako 2 is actually created to switch normally and also efficiently just like a realistic person. It can certainly blink, rotate its eyeballs, sneezing, move its head, coughing, move its tongue and also even become sick and tired whenever getting to hold its mouth wide open for very a long time. Curiously, the robot is also able of replicating a gag response, that is rather repeated through dental types of procedures.





Labels: , ,

2011-08-26

Digital Holographic Microscopy (DHM) Reveals Brain's Inner Workings

Holograms reveal brain's inner workings | Health | EarthSky
http://earthsky.org/health/holograms-reveal-brains-inner-workings


  • Scientists have discovered a way to observe living neurons without damaging them – in 3D and with up to 50 times greater resolution than before. The technique, using digital holographic microscopy (DHM), is non-invasive and can create imagery of hundreds of neurons at once. DHM has the potential to streamline drug studies involving neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, because researchers can test new drugs more quickly and in greater numbers than before.

     The research team, from Switzerland’s École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPLF) and Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), included neurobiologists, psychiatrists, and advanced imaging specialists. Results of their collaboration appear in the August 17, 2011 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience.
3D Dynamic Images of Neurons @EPFL - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuvWfva0bGw&feature=player_embedded
Holograms Reveal Brain's Inner Workings
http://actu.epfl.ch/news/holograms-reveal-brain-s-inner-workings
  • “DHM is a fundamentally novel application for studying neurons with a slew of advantages over traditional microscopes,” explains Pierre Magistretti of EPFL’s Brain Mind Institute and a lead author of the paper. “It is non-invasive, allowing for extended observation of neural processes without the need for electrodes or dyes that damage cells.”

     Senior team member Pierre Marquet adds, “DHM gives precious information not only about the shape of neurons, but also about their dynamics and activity, and the technique creates 3D navigable images and increases the precision from 500 nanometers in traditional microscopes to a scale of 10 nanometers.”
Digital holographic microscopy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_holographic_microscopy
  Typical optical setup of DHM.

  • Digital holographic microscopy (DHM) is digital holography applied to microscopy. Digital holographic microscopy distinguishes itself from other microscopy methods by not recording the projected image of the object. Instead, the light wave front information originating from the object is digitally recorded as a hologram, from which a computer calculates the object image by using a numerical reconstruction algorithm. The image forming lens in traditional microscopy is thus replaced by a computer algorithm.
Lynceetec
http://www.lynceetec.com


  • DHM ® , the Digital Holographic Microscopes
    For the first time, microscopes combine nanometric resolution, real-time and non-invasive three dimensional observation. These new instruments, based on a revolutionary patented technology called "Digital Holographic Microscopy" (DHM), are developed, manufactured and commercialized by Lyncée Tec SA.
Lynceetec - Life science applications
http://www.lynceetec.com/content/view/112/114
  • Real-time monitoring
    The DHM system is an ideal tool for real-time cell monitoring because it allows, from a single image acquisition, non-invasive high-resolution imaging of living cells in their natural environment without use of a contrast agent. The real-time imaging (up to 15 fps for a 512x512 pixels image) and the postponed reconstruction (up to 10'000 fps by using high-acquisition rate camera) make the DHM instrument a system well suited for the dynamic analysis of morphological modification of cells due to natural or artificial stimulations such as drugs, electrical or thermal stimuli.
    For example, neuron cell swelling induced by hypotonic stress was studied by the Brain Mind Institute (EPFL, Switzerland).

Labels: , , ,

2011-02-23

3D Bioprinting of Human Skin and Body Parts

Collected from: YouTube - Bioprinting

Like an inkjet printer, biological materials can be printed at home - SmartPlanet

[...]
Vladimir Mironov envisions a day when doctors might be able to print out new skin for a burn victim or print out a new organ for patients awaiting a kidney transplant. Mironov of the Medical University of South Carolina said he made the printer run on an open-source platform called Fab@Home. It could potentially print biological materials for surgical implants or print out robotic parts for cosmetic testing so animals don’t need to be used.

The printed material can’t really be implanted in humans yet, Mironov said, adding that more animal tests are needed. But imagine if you could take cells from a donor, culture them and put them into an ink and basically grow a new organ. This would avoid rejection issues associated with transplants and eliminate the need for a synthetic implant.

At the press conference, the device printed a silicon model of a human ear cartilage. It took about 20 minutes to print out an object shaped like an ear.
The object can be printed layer-by-layer. Once it is incubated, it can be implanted.
[...]


2011 AAAS Annual Meeting (17-21 February 2011)


Bioprinting: A Future of Regenerative Medicine

Speakers: 
Vladimir Mironov, Medical University of South Carolina
Introduction in Bioprinting

Hod Lipson, Cornell University
Digital Bioprinting

James Yoo, Wake Forest University
Bioprinting of Human Skin In Vivo




BBC News - 'Printing out' new ears and skin


Hod Lipson: 'People have been trying to expand the range of materials that can be fabricated using a 3D printer'
 
The next step in the 3D printing revolution may be body parts including cartilage, bone and even skin.

Three-dimensional printing is a technique for making solid objects with devices not unlike a computer printer, building up line by line, and then vertically layer by layer.

While the approach works with polymers and plastics, the raw ingredients of 3D printing have been recently branching out significantly.

The printers have been co-opted even to make foods, and do-it-yourself biology experiments dubbed "garage biotech" - and has most recently been employed to repair a casting of Rodin's sculpture The Thinker that was damaged in a botched robbery.

Update 31 Januari 2012:

3D printer and living "ink" create cartilage - YouTube

Lawrence Bonassar, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, describes a cutting-edge process he has developed in which he uses a 3D Printer and "ink" composed of living cells to create body parts such as ears.



Labels: , ,

2011-02-08

A Universal Flu Vaccine

Universal flu vaccine breakthrough

A universal flu vaccine that could protect people from all strains of flu has been successfully tested on humans for the first time by Britain scientists.


The breakthrough vaccine targets proteins inside the flu virus that are common to all types of flu instead of being tailored to match individual strains, according to researchers at Oxford University.
[...]

Dr Sarah Gilbert, who led the study, tested the vaccine on 11 healthy volunteers, all aged over 50, who were infected with H3N2 flu virus and compared them to 11 people who were also infected but did not receive the vaccine. 

guardian.co.uk home

Flu breakthrough promises a vaccine to kill all strains

[...]
While traditional vaccines prompt the body to create antibodies, Gilbert's vaccine boosts the number of the body's T-cells, another key part of the immune system. These can identify and destroy body cells that have been infected by a virus.

In her trial, Gilbert vaccinated 11 healthy volunteers and then infected them, along with 11 non-vaccinated volunteers, with the Wisconsin strain of the H3N2 influenza A virus, which was first isolated in 2005. She monitored the volunteers' symptoms twice a day, including runny noses, coughs and sore throats, and she calculated how much mucus everyone produced by weighing tissues they used. Though a small study, it was significant in that it was the first vaccine of its type to be tested on people.

Gilbert said: "This is the first time anyone's tested if you can boost somebody's T-cell response to flu and, having done that, if it helps protect against getting flu. It's the first time anybody's done that in people."
[...]






HOW FLU VACCINE WORKS

New universal flu vaccine is injected into the arm and is taken up by healthy cells.

 Cells containing vaccine attract immune cells which multiply and move around the body.

 Immune cells now trained to recognise proteins inside virus, which enters body via airways.

 
Killer immune cells recognise flu-infected cells and destroy them along with flu virus.


The one-off once in a lifetime super-jab for all types of flu | Mail Online

[...]
Because it targets a different part of the flu virus to traditional vaccines, the new jab does not need to be expensively ­reformulated every year to match the most prevalent strain.

It could be stockpiled in advance and prevent pandemics such as the swine flu outbreaks of recent years.
[...]
Dr Gilbert added: ‘If we were using the same vaccine year in, year out, it would be more like vaccinating against other diseases like tetanus. It would become a ­routine ­vaccination that would be manufactured and used all the time at a steady level. We wouldn’t have these sudden demands or shortages, all that would stop.’

A T-cell vaccine could be on the market in five years if a field trial, of several ­thousand people, is a success.

Labels: , , ,

2011-01-07

emPower PixelOptics Electronic Glasses

Electronic spectacles coming to market soon


(PhysOrg.com) -- US company PixelOptics has invented electronic spectacles that can automatically change focus as you lower your head to read a book, and could spell the end of the bifocal.

The product, called emPower!™, has been under development for 10 years and looks like an ordinary pair of spectacles. It will be available in a wide range of frames and colors. The only visible difference is a small button on the side, which is used to select one of three operating modes.

emPower! Product and how it works


PixelOptics is inventing and commercializing the first dynamic electronic spectacle lens, emPower!™  If you wear bifocals or progressive lenses, this technology will revolutionize the way you see and use your eyeglasses. emPower!™ will:

• Focus as fast as you can blink your eye
• Provide an invisible electronic near focus zone when desired
• Offer three modes of operation: automatic, manual on, manual off
• Provide wider fields of view compared to a progressive addition lens
• Allow for less distortion than a progressive addition lens
• Vision correction for all ranges of sight: far, near, and in between
• Allow you to turn near reading power off when desired
• Rechargeable hidden battery



PixelOptics CEO Ron Blum describes electronic eyewear -- How it works, when it will be available and why it's better for many people from athletes to the elderly.





An emPower! battery charge will last around 30 hours. The glasses will come with a nightstand induction recharger, like the one on your electronic toothbrush.

Not surprisingly, emPower! glasses ain't cheap. A complete pair will run $1,200 at the low end, the price dependent on, as with all glasses, the frame. emPower! glasses will be available at a limited number of eyeglass retailers in the southeastern U.S. starting in April. Availability throughout the country and the world will expand over time.

Labels: ,

2010-07-18

The First Malaria-Proof Mosquito

Malaria: No Ordinary Mosquito Bite




Malaria-proof mosquito engineered


Scientists in the US have succeeded in genetically engineering a malaria-resistant mosquito. 

The researchers, from the University of Arizona, introduced a gene that affected the insect's gut, meaning the malaria parasite could not develop.

They report the advance, which also reduced the insects' lifespan, in the journal PLoS Pathogens.

They say that the ultimate goal is to introduce malaria-resistant mosquitoes into the environment.

malaria lifecycle




Discovery News

Malaria-Proof Mosquito Created

This major breakthrough could prevent millions of people from being infected with the life-threatening disease.


The scientists focused on the parasites as they develop by targeting the Akt gene. Previous studies have shown that Akt affects a mosquito's longevity, immune system and digestion -- all of which could affect the bug's susceptibility to malaria.

As a result, the team engineered a special version of the Akt gene into the eggs of Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes.

After infecting the mosquitoes with Plasmodium parasites and allowing them to develop, the scientists examined the mosquitoes. They found no trace of the malaria parasites in mosquitoes that had the amped up version of Akt.

Exactly how Akt eliminates malaria in mosquitoes is unknown.

The First Malaria-Proof Mosquito

Michael Riehle, holding genetically altered mosquitoes, and his team work in a highly secure lab environment to prevent their study subjects from escaping.
Riehle is a professor of entomology in UA's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and is a member of the BIO5 Institute.

Riehle's team used molecular biology techniques to design a piece of genetic information capable of inserting itself into a mosquito's genome. This construct was then injected into the eggs of the mosquitoes. The emerging generation carries the altered genetic information and passes it on to future generations.

Department of Entomology
Research Program
Mosquito borne diseases impact the lives of billions worldwide. Malaria alone infects at least 300 million people annually, resulting in 1 to 3 million deaths, mostly children. Other diseases spread by mosquitoes, such as dengue and West Nile encephalitis, continue to broaden their range. Unfortunately, traditional mosquito control methods such as insecticide treatment have become less effective as mosquitoes develop resistance to these compounds. Thus, it is critical that we develop novel means of controlling these pests. Towards this goal, my lab is attempting to better understand the mosquito’s physiology and use this knowledge to reduce the mosquito’s ability to transmit disease.
Collected from: Department of Entomology

Sources
YouTube - Malaria: No Ordinary Mosquito Bite
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVbq2yQH52g
BBC News - Malaria-proof mosquito engineered
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-10654599
YouTube - malaria lifecycle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szlfndj0TFE&feature=related
Malaria-Proof Mosquito Created : Discovery News
http://news.discovery.com/tech/malaria-proof-mosquito.html
The First Malaria-Proof Mosquito | UANews.org
http://uanews.org/node/32833
Department of Entomology
http://ag.arizona.edu/ento/faculty/riehle.htm

Related
Plasmodium falciparum biology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasmodium_falciparum_biology
Plasmodium falciparum - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasmodium_falciparum
First malaria-proof mosquito created | Science Codex
http://www.sciencecodex.com/the_first_malariaproof_mosquito?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Observations: Bite me: New malaria-proof mosquito developed
http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=bite-me-new-malaria-proof-mosquito-2010-07-15
The first malaria-proof mosquito
http://www.labspaces.net/105126/The_first_malaria_proof_mosquito
Department of Entomology
http://ag.arizona.edu/ento/index.htm
Plasmodium in human blood cells, malaria, molecular models
http://www.buddycom.com/cells/malaria/index.html
PLoS Pathogens: Activation of Akt Signaling Reduces the Prevalence and Intensity of Malaria Parasite Infection and Lifespan in Anopheles stephensi Mosquitoes
http://www.plospathogens.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.ppat.1001003
YouTube - Malaria
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEDhe4MPEMc
Labels: , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)