There are implantable devices out there that are very effective at treating depression in a lot of patients. These look like pacemakers and they have electrical leads stretching out, usually, to the vagus nerve, and there are transcranial direct stimulation devices with electrodes placed directly onto the brain. Of course implants have a whole host […]
Author: Medgadged
Scientists Image Crawling Fruit Fly Larvae Down to Individual Cells and Even Reveal Activity Inside
Scientists at Columbia University have developed an amazing new microscope for viewing neurons, and they used it to image proprioceptive neurons in living fruit fly larvae. These neural cells help the larvae orient itself. The videos the Columbia team created are simply incredible, particularly if you consider how small these animals are and that the imaging […]
Handheld Skin Bioprinter Heals Deep Open Wounds With Patient’s Own Cells
The human organism has a number of physiologic processes that work together to heal skin wounds. Sometimes wounds are so large and difficult that these healing mechanisms simply can’t access damaged tissues. Researchers at Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in North Carolina are now reporting the development of a bioprinter that uses a patient’s own […]
CAPE: A CleanRoom for Any Need and Location
Cleanrooms are important tools when manufacturing drugs, creating certain medical devices, performing specialized research, and for other tasks in a number of fields. Cleanrooms are typically located in built-to-suit facilities that can provide power, clean air, and other necessities that help maintain an ultra-clean environment. In order to make possible the production of pharmaceuticals and […]
Tea Bag Implant Protects Islet Cells While Letting Insulin Flow Out
Type 1 diabetes patients have to inject themselves with insulin to replace the inability of beta cells of pancreas to produce the hormone. To cure Type 1 diabetes will require either a way to “fix” the pancreas and prevent it from being damaged by the immune system, or some sort of implant that can generate […]
Tea Bag Implant Protects Islet Cells While Letting Insulin Flow Out
Type 1 diabetes patients have to inject themselves with insulin to replace the inability of beta cells of pancreas to produce the hormone. To cure Type 1 diabetes will require either a way to “fix” the pancreas and prevent it from being damaged by the immune system, or some sort of implant that can generate […]
Resistance-Sensing Needle Helps Improve Injection Accuracy
While most medical tools have seen incredible advances over the past century, the syringe has remained relatively unchanged despite room for improvement. Without the use of live imaging or sensing systems, which require additional time and resources, nurses and physicians must rely on blind insertion techniques using superficial anatomical landmarks, fluid return, and tactile feedback […]
Bioengineered Gel to Reduce Risk of Bone Marrow Transplants
Bone marrow transplantation is a potentially life-saving treatment for leukemia, multiple myeloma, and HIV. The procedure involves depleting the patient’s immune system, then infusing blood stem cells from a donor, which develop into a new immune system. Unfortunately, during the transplant process, patients are susceptible to disease and infection, making it risky and not recommended […]
Tiny Microrobot Created Using Silicon Wafers Could Aid in Drug Delivery
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have developed wireless bug-shaped microrobots using nanofabrication techniques. They are able to produce a million of the devices from a 4-inch silicon wafer. The microrobots can “walk,” survive in harsh environments, and can function even after passing through a hypodermic syringe, suggesting that they may have potential as injectable […]
Scientists Explain Why Electric Bandages Work
Electrical bandages, ones that allow electric current to make contact with the wound, have been known for a while to be very effective at speeding up healing. Over the past decade there’s been a great deal of technological development in this field, but the mechanism behind why these “electroceuticals” really work has been poorly understood. […]
New Coating Keeps Intravascular Catheters Clean for Weeks
Intravascular catheters are a bane of clinical medicine, being one of the chief ways people get infected inside of hospitals. They have to be replaced routinely, putting extra strain on nurses and doctors and causing discomfort to patients. There are a ways to keep catheters relatively clean with sterile technique and specialized dressings, but there’s […]
Handheld Melanoma Sensor Checks Suspect Lesions for Polarization Properties
Melanoma is usually a readily accessible cancer, being on the skin and in full view, but it can be hard to differentiate from benign moles. Researchers at the University of British Columbia have developed and tested a new device that uses a laser to spot the telltale signs of a melanoma tumor as its light […]
Neuron Tracking Tool Lets Scientists Study Complex Functionality of Brain
In order to understand how the brain functions, we have to be able to track the movement and activity of individual neurons. This is maddeningly complex at present, as single neural cells have to be visually tracked by grumpy lab techs to understand even a tiny bit of what’s going on. Now a new tool called […]
First of Its Kind: Early Bird Internal Bleeding Detector Approved by FDA
Though generally safer than open surgeries, minimally invasive vascular procedures have a number of possible complications. One major complication is an internal bleeding or blood extravasation from a ruptured or dissected vessel, typically caused when working with large instruments and devices, and something that a physician may not even notice until the situation is already […]
Toyota VR Simulation Lets People Experience Visual Diseases
Toyota, the auto company, has been investing resources into using virtual reality to help it build cars, design safety systems, and educate the public about safe driving habits. Its Swedish division has just unveiled a new simulation that can reproduce how people with a variety of visual conditions perceive the world around them. The simulation […]
Hyperspectral Imaging Helps Spot Tumor Marking Tags Deep Within Body
Visualizing tumors deep within the body is difficult because light can only penetrate so far through tissues without losing most of the data it carries. Fluorescent markers that can highlight the existence of tumor cells have to be visible in order for them to help with diagnosis, while radioactive markers can be dangerous. MRIs and CT […]
Fenwal Amicus Red Blood Cell Exchange System
Fresenius Kabi, a company based in Bad Homburg, Germany, announced that its Fenwal Amicus Red Blood Cell Exchange (RBCx) system won clearance from the FDA. The device can automatically remove patient’s blood cells and replace them with another fluid, particularly useful when treating sickle cell disease. The system can perform exchange, depletion/exchange, and depletion procedures, depending […]
Researchers Give Animals Infrared Vision
Even those of us with perfect vision are actually blind in some ways. Many birds can see ultraviolet light and snakes can detect infrared, something we don’t have the right retinal cells for. But now researchers at University of Massachusetts Medical School and University of Science and Technology of China have shown that it may soon be […]
Next Generation SedLine Cleared in EU to Monitor Children’s Brains Under Anesthesia
Masimo just won European clearance to introduce its Next Generation SedLine brain monitoring system for use on pediatric patients over one years old. The technology, already cleared in U.S. and Europe for adult patients, helps to assess brain function while the patient is under anesthesia. This can assist with maintaining the proper depths of anesthesia […]
Wireless, Flexible Body Sensors for Monitoring Premature Babies
Children born prematurely end up in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) where they’re hooked up to an array of sensors, each connected by a wire to a patient monitor. It’s a sad sight, let alone a hindrance to physical and emotional bonding that is so important in the weeks after birth. Scientists at Northwestern University […]