Affinity-based sensors are electrochemical devices that can detect a large variety of disease biomarkers. They typically have enzyme-coated electrodes onto which chemical biomarkers can stick, in the process changing the electrical characteristics of the device, something that can be accurately measured. Although they’re extremely sensitive, when used in practice with whole blood, they quickly become […]
Tag: Public Health
Peptoid-Coated Magnetic Beads to Diagnose Prion Diseases, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s
Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have developed synthetic peptide-coated magnetic beads that can be used to detect the presence of misfolded proteins in blood samples. Misfolded proteins are a factor in a number of diseases, including prion diseases, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s. To date it has been difficult to detect such proteins in patient blood […]
New Device to Test Drugs on Thousands of Individual Living Cells
Studying how individual cells are affected by chemical compounds, viral infections, and other agents can have profound practical consequences for the development of new drugs and novel therapies for disease. Conventionally, antivirals are studied in terms of how they influence entire cellular cultures, which can lead to researchers missing important events that happen in only […]
OnMed Deploys First Telemedicine Station at Tampa Bay General Hospital
Earlier this month, Tampa General Hospital (TGH) became the first deployment site for a new telemedicine station developed by health technology company OnMed. Available as part of the TGH staff health program, the OnMed Station connects patients with doctors, nurses, and pharmacists for real-time consultations via high definition audio and video. Available 24/7, doctors available […]
Drones Deliver Lifesaving Therapy in Brooklyn Faster than Ambulances
At the just concluded American Academy of Pediatrics 2019 National Conference & Exhibition, research was presented demonstrating that within busy Brooklyn, New York, drones can arrive at the site of an emergency consistently faster than a conventional ambulance. This was accomplished by performing flights using an aerial drone that mimicked the same point-to-point journeys that […]
Medgadget Checks Out CoolSystems at Warsaw’s Regional Blood Donation Center
For most people, the process of blood donation appears simple and straightforward: you lounge on a chair for 20-30 minutes as your blood collects into a bag, grab a cookie and some juice, then head back to the rest of your day. Behind the scenes, however, running a blood bank can be a complex operation. […]
Nanomesh Loaded with Antibiotics for Targeted Wound and Infection Treatment
Antibiotics are usually only needed at particular sites, where infection is likely to start. Yet, they’re delivered throughout the entire body via pills and injections. This results in poor localized effectiveness, unnecessary effects on the rest of the body, and sometimes leads to the development of resistance. Researchers at Flinders University in Australia and National […]
Chip to Evaluate Health of Immune System from Blood Sample
Knowing how well a patient’s immune system is functioning may be very useful in diagnosing a disease and guiding the course of therapy. Researchers from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore are making this a reality, having developed a hybrid chip that assesses the health of white blood cells in a whole blood sample. The microfluidic […]
Microfluidic Device for Rapid Lyme Disease Diagnosis
Researchers at Columbia University have developed a microfluidic device that can diagnose Lyme disease in as little as 15 minutes. The device is particularly accurate in identifying antibody biomarkers that are present during early stage Lyme disease, raising hopes that it could be useful in detecting cases of early infection in a doctor’s office, leading […]
Light Therapy Device to Treat Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
Carbon monoxide (CO) is one of the most common substances that people are poisoned by. It has no smell and is invisible to the naked eye, but can cause severe damage to tissues and lead to death. Patients who have already suffered significant lung damage because of CO inhalation too often don’t respond sufficiently to […]
Electrified Graphene Filters Kill All Pathogens and Their Byproducts
Pathogenic bacteria are usually the culprits responsible for the spread of nosocomial infections, but there are other sources of disease in hospitals, including viruses, fungi, their spores, prions, and endotoxins produced by bacteria. Existing methods and standards usually involve two filter beds being used within hospitals’ ventilation systems. These have to be replaced on a […]
Nanoparticles for RNA Vaccine Delivery Help Stop Melanoma Tumor Growth
RNA vaccines are a promising way to harness the immune system to fight cancers and infections. Some are currently in clinical trials, but the technology is still in its early stages. A major impediment to the effectiveness of RNA vaccines is the difficulty in getting them into the correct immune cells to produce the desired […]
Temporary Medical Tattoos of Anatomy, Injuries, Pathologies
Part of the difficulty in training the public in how to respond to medical emergencies is that many don’t understand the human anatomy below the skin. Moreover, knowing what different conditions actually look like on the body is another problem. Knowing where arteries run and where muscles connect to bone, as well as how bruises, […]
Self-Sterilizing Polymer to Reduce Healthcare-Acquired Infections
Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new nanostructured polymer that can kill many different strains of bacteria and viruses within minutes. Their work demonstrates that the unique chemical modifications on the polymer allow it to kill bacteria like E. coli, along with the “superbug” methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and that the polymer […]
Plasmapp Making Cool Gas Plasma Sterilization Available to Small Clinics
Many of today’s smaller surgical clinics have to sterilize equipment in-house, and autoclave sensitive instruments are processed using ethylene oxide, a carcinogenic, explosive, and irritating gas. Gas plasma is another low temperature option, but it requires large and expensive equipment that doesn’t make sense for small practices. A new company called Plasmapp has developed small […]
Graphene Clothing Prevents Mosquitoes from Being Attracted to Skin
Throughout history, diseases spread by mosquitoes to humans have probably caused more suffering than all the wars combined. Current techniques for fighting mosquitoes usually involve chemicals, but these may have side effects for us as well as the surrounding environment. Heavy clothing can help, but as anyone who has spent time outdoors where mosquitoes are […]
Smartphone and Paper Microfluidic Device for Norovirus Detection
Researchers at the University of Arizona have developed a simple and inexpensive method that can be used to detect tiny traces of norovirus in water samples. The technique involves a smartphone camera and a paper microfluidics device, and could help to identify sources of norovirus before it can cause illness. In the US, norovirus causes […]
Seraph 100 Blood Filter For Blood Stream Infections Cleared in Europe
ExThera, a company based outside of Oakland, California, won European regulatory approval for its Seraph 100 Microbind Affinity Blood Filter. The device removes a variety of pathogens in patients with bloodstream infections thanks to its “sorbent-type” filter. It can remove not only molecular compounds, such as cytokines and endotoxin, but also infectious pathogens such as […]
Self-Healing Bacteriophage Hydrogel to Target Infections, Cancer
Antibiotics are the predominant tool when fighting bacterial infections, but bacteriophages could potentially be a lot more effective. Bacteriophages are viruses that attack bacteria and because they avoid injuring human cells they are a promising therapeutic tool, if used correctly. Moreover, they can be used alongside antibiotics, since the two don’t affect each other. At […]
Low Cost Medical Devices for Low-Resource Regions: Interview with Prof. Saad Bhamla, Georgia Tech
Advances in medical technology continue apace, with sophisticated new medical devices and therapies becoming available on an ongoing basis. However, medical technology often comes at a premium, and for low-resource regions sometimes even relatively basic medical devices, such as hearing aids, are inaccessible because they are too expensive. Similarly, basic equipment, such as centrifuges, that […]