20 most recent innovations in healthcare

Glycerin-filled Glasses Feature Electronic Autofocus

Thu, 26 Jan 2017 00:00:00 Z

It can be a hassle, taking your glasses on and off to switch between near and distant vision. There are bifocals, of course, plus there are now glasses on which you can adjust the focus. Scientists from the University of Utah, however, have gone one better – they've developed glasses that change focus automatically, depending on what you're looking at.

Each lens is made up of two clear rubber membranes – one in the front and one in the back – with a layer of clear viscous glycerin sandwiched between them. Three mechanical actuators push the rear membrane in and out, compressing or releasing the glycerin and thus changing the curvature of the lens. This, in turn, changes its focal length.

It's not unlike the technology utilized in the Adlens adjustable-focus glasses, although they're operated manually. By contrast, the Utah glasses incorporate an electronic distance meter in the bridge, which uses pulses of infrared light to determine how far away objects are from the eyes. Whenever that distance changes, it instructs the actuators to reshape the lenses accordingly. They do so in a claimed 14 milliseconds.

Ergonomic Wheelchair Wheels

Wed, 19 Oct 2016 00:00:00 Z

Traditional manually powered wheelchairs require the occupant to turn the chair’s rear wheels with a pushing action. This places a lot of stress on muscles that aren’t really designed to be used in this way, resulting in everything from repetitive stress injuries and muscle pain to torn rotor cuffs, joint degeneration and carpal tunnel syndrome. To combat this, Salim Nasser of Merritt Island, Florida, has taken a backward approach and developed the Rowheel System, which allows a pulling motion to translate into forward motion of a wheelchair. This transfers loads and stresses usually placed on weaker shoulder and arm muscles onto more capable muscles in the upper back, shoulders and arms to reduce the chance of injury and give the user an overall increase in endurance and range.

HemaApp Accurately Estimates Hemoglobin in Blood Using Standard Smartphone

Tue, 27 Sep 2016 00:00:00 Z

Measurement of hemoglobin within blood helps to diagnose and manage a number of conditions, but this requires either blood draws or expensive pulse oximeters.

Researchers of the University of Washington developed an app called HemaApp that uses the phone’s built-in light and camera to detect the color intensity of blood passing through a finger. The user simply places a finger over the camera lens, making a solid contact, and runs the app to do its thing. The app turns on the nearby LED light, which shines light through the finger, and uses the camera to detect specific features that point to the amount of hemoglobin.

Electrical Current Jolts Vision Into Sharper Focus

Mon, 18 Jul 2016 00:00:00 Z

If you find yourself struggling to focus on an object, there may one day be an alternative to reaching for your glasses or popping in your contact lenses. Scientists have found that by delivering a mild electrical current to a certain part of the brain they can affect how it processes visual information, leading not only to sharpened focus for the subject, but possibly a new understanding of our sense of sight as well.

Stimulating the brain with electrical currents has shown promise in a number of different areas of healthcare. These include treating psychological disorders, preventing migraine attacks, rehabilitating stroke victims and even helping us to learn from our mistakes. So for researchers at Vanderbilt University, adapting the technology to improve eyesight wasn't all that big of a leap.

"It's actually a very simple idea," says co-author Geoff Woodman, associate professor of psychology at Vanderbilt. "This kind of stimulation can improve cognitive processing in other brain areas, so if we stimulate the visual system, could we improve processing? Could we make someone's vision better – not at the level of the eye, like Lasik (laser treatment) or glasses, but directly at the level of the brain?"

Woodman and his team recruited 20 healthy subjects with normal or near-normal vision. The subjects were shown a pair of identical lines and asked to determine whether they were perfectly aligned or set apart. This particular test is said to be more sensitive than the conventional eye chart at your doctor's office, so the researchers say it allowed for more precise assessments of the subjects' vision.

Then a very mild electrical current was delivered to the visual cortex located at the back of the brain for around 20 minutes . The subjects then took the test again, with around 75 percent of the group displaying measurable improvement, with the benefits lasting as long as two hours.

Toothbrush Speed Cleans Your Teeth In 10 seconds

Tue, 28 Jun 2016 00:00:00 Z

If you're using a conventional toothbrush, it takes a few minutes to thoroughly clean your teeth. A new product known as the GlareSmile, however, is aimed at significantly speeding things up. Currently the subject of a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign, the unusual electric toothbrush is promised to thoroughly clean teeth in as little as 10 seconds.

Tooth-brushing is a pretty mundane task, but it's the subject of a fair bit of innovation. Just recently, we've seen a product designed specifically to stop bacteria getting at your toothbrush, and heard tell of a new toothpaste that's able to help repair damaged teeth.

What makes the GlareSmile interesting is its use of three brushes rather than just one. It provides what the company calls an "automatic" brushing experience, with the user moving it around the mouth, while the triple brush scrubs the base and side surfaces of the teeth with a plaque-removing rotation movement.

Users can pick between different modes when brushing, including a manual setting that allows for speed and pressure adjustments, a sensitive teeth mode that cleans more gently and at a lower speed, and a setting designed specifically for cleaning gums. The brush features a 1.77-in touchscreen which lets you pick between the different modes.

While the brush is suitable for ages five and up, it's fair to say that it would probably be overkill for most people, for whom a standard manual or electric toothbrush will likely do the job. Where the GlareSmile could really be useful is for children, disabled users, and the elderly, who either haven't learned proper brushing technique, or have decreased mobility in their hands.

The device charges via USB as standard, but there's also a solar charger available as an optional extra. The heads can be changed, just like a standard electric toothbrush, meaning that one unit can be used by several people, and the company is offering a charging dock with spaces to hold those extra heads.

It also keeps track of brushing time, the amount of pressure applied and more, with all that data viewable through a companion app, or by plugging the toothbrush into a PC.

Gyroscopic Glove Takes On Tremors

Mon, 20 Jun 2016 00:00:00 Z

If you've ever tried holding onto a spinning gyroscope, then you'll know how it "fights" you if you try to suddenly tip it over – that's why self-balancing motorcycles use gyroscopes to stay upright when stopped. Well, Imperial College London spinoff company GyroGear is utilizing that same principle in its new GyroGlove, which is designed to minimize hand tremors.

Company founder Faii Ong first came up with the idea when working in a London hospital, as part of a team that cared for a 103 year-old woman. Team members were initially mystified by her unexplained weight loss, until it was discovered that her severe hand tremors were simply keeping her from getting enough food into her mouth at meal times.

Ong thought of the gyroscopic toys from his childhood, along the current use of gyroscopes in fields such as aerospace, and thus the GyroGlove was born.

Currently in prototype form, the device incorporates an electric gyroscope that is mounted on the back of the hand via a harness. Once that gyro gets spinning, it holds the wearer's hand level. They can still move their hand around by intentionally exerting some effort, but it resists the movements caused by involuntary tremors.

In lab tests using a rig designed to replicate severe hand tremors, the prototype reportedly reduced those movements by over 80 percent.

The device is currently being developed specifically with Essential Tremor and Parkinson's Disease in mind, although it is hoped that it could ultimately be used to compensate for a wide range of conditions. Additionally, it will monitor the frequency of tremors, transmitting that data to a smartphone app for use by doctors.

Cavities Can't Hide From Tooth-Zapping Device

Wed, 23 Mar 2016 00:00:00 Z

Dental cavities are one of those things where the sooner you catch them, the better. Dentists' visual inspections and x-rays certainly help, but a new hand-held device is designed to detect them even earlier. It's called the Ortek ECD (for Early Cavity Detection), and it hunts cavities using electricity.

First of all, tooth enamel itself isn't electrically conductive. When it's breached by even the smallest pre-cavity lesion or area of demineralization, however, dentinal fluid leaks out – and it does conduct electricity.

The battery-powered ECD handpiece has a small electrified tip that is applied to otherwise-dry molars and premolars. If dentinal fluid is present, the tip is able to complete its electrical circuit, and the dentist is notified.

It can also determine how much of the fluid there is, allowing users to determine the severity of any breaches. In human and lab tests, it has reportedly been able to "detect the earliest stages of tooth demineralization or pre-cavity lesions with 100 percent accuracy."

Ortek was recently awarded a US patent for the ECD, which was developed at New York's Stony Brook University School of Dental Medicine. The company is now looking into commercialization, and pursuing US FDA and worldwide marketing clearances.

New Wearable Uses Sound To Maintain Deep Sleep

Tue, 08 Mar 2016 00:00:00 Z

Multiple studies have shown the benefits of a good night's sleep relative to improved memory and cellular regeneration, yet good sleep seems to be eluding more and more people. The recent launch of Rythm and the introduction of its Dreem device adds a new approach to combat that problem, by detecting when a sleeper is in a deep sleep state and maintaining that state through the use of sound.

Dreem consists of a series of proprietary sensors and a sound-emitting device built into an adjustable headband made of a lightweight silicone polymer. The sensors act like a portable EEG (electroencephalogram) and monitor a sleeper's brain waves in real time. When the device detects that a sleeper has entered a deep sleep state, the device emits a sound against the skull, which reportedly prolongs that state. No earplugs are necessary.

A proprietary machine-learning algorithm helps the device become more effective over time, as it continues to collect more information about a user's sleep patterns.

The company is quick to point out that Dreem is not a sleep aid, in that it is not meant to help you fall asleep. It says that unlike other devices that just track your sleep activity, Dreem helps improve the quality of your sleep in real time by both tracking your sleep activity and actively doing something to improve it.

Elastic Fabric Plasters

Mon, 07 Mar 2016 00:00:00 Z

Hansaplast Finger Strips are suitable for covering all types of smaller wounds on fingers. The elastic fabric strips are extra long for better hold. The material stretches with the skin’s movements.

The non-stick woundpad protects and cushions the wound. The strong adhesion ensures that the plaster stays in place.

Street Lamps Lure Mosquitoes

Tue, 05 Jan 2016 00:00:00 Z

It’s a Venus flytrap for the streets: A solar- and wind-powered lamp that attracts and captures mosquitoes, aiming to reduce rates of mosquito-borne diseases while illuminating roads.

Developed by researchers at Malaysia’s University of Malaya, the Eco-Greenergy outdoor lighting system consists of an LED street lamp that produces low levels of carbon dioxide to lure mosquitoes.

Head researcher Chong Wen Tong says the smell of CO2, produced by combining ultraviolet light with titanium dioxide, is irresistible to mosquitoes. He says the level of CO2 emitted by the light is relatively low, and the benefits of the clean energy it provides outweigh the emissions.

“The mosquito trap takes advantage of the mosquito’s sensory abilities by tricking them with features that mimic the odours associated with humans,” Chong says.

“Decoyed mosquitoes enter the trap through the capture windows on the upper part, and then are strongly sucked into the capture net in the lower part by a suction fan. Once they are sucked into the capture net, they cannot fly away.”

The light was developed primarily to fight dengue fever, the mosquito-borne viral disease that has increased 30-fold in the past 50 years. The disease has taken particular hold in Asia-Pacific countries, where 1.8 billion people are at risk. Malaysia experienced an unprecedented outbreak of dengue fever in 2015, which killed more than 200 people. In Asia, the economic cost of the disease is estimated at $2bn a year.

Chong says the light’s ability to function on wind and solar energy makes it a viable option in developing countries. “For remote areas with no access to the electrical grid, this system can serve as a stand-alone, self-sustained renewable energy source to supply basic electricity needs. It is scalable to match the energy demand,” he says.

Eight street lamps have been installed at the University of Malaya campus and other sites in Kuala Lumpur as part of a pilot programme. The research team says the first version of the light is ready for market and a licensing agreement with one private company has already been signed.

Electronic Glasses To Treat Lazy Eye

Mon, 16 Nov 2015 00:00:00 Z

Lazy eye, or amblyopia, is a reasonably common disorder affecting around two or three percent of children that can lead to serious loss of vision in the long term. The two most common methods of early treatment are eye patches and eye drops, but both require a disciplined approach and are uncomfortable in their own ways. Researchers have now developed electronic glasses that can be programmed to automatically build the brain's reliance on the weaker eye, with the initial trials suggesting they might be as effective as traditional methods of treatment.

Amblyopia comes about when the nerve pathways between the brain and eye don't develop as normal in early childhood, leading the sufferer to favor one eye over the other. Over time, the weaker eye will start to wander and the brain can even eventually come to ignore its signals completely.

It is important to treat the condition early while the eyes and brain are still developing, so as to limit the risk of blindness later in life. As it stands, this means focusing on blocking vision in the child's stronger eye, forcing them to use the weaker eye instead and build up its vision. This treatment is delivered by either applying an eye patch for a number of hours each day or eye drops that blur vision in the stronger eye, though purpose-made video games have also shown recent promise as a way to tackle the condition.

The Amblyz electronic glasses work on a similar principle to the conventional approach. Fitted with LCD lenses and a rechargeable lithium battery, they can be configured to block out vision in either eye for pre-determined periods of time, which means they can be programmed to automatically fill the requirements of a prescription.

Thirty-three subjects with lazy eye aged between three and eight took part in the first US trial of the device. All wore glasses to correct their vision, and one group was made to wear the Amblyz glasses for four hours each day while the other group wore a patch for two hours each day. For those wearing the Amblyz glasses, the lens covering the stronger eye went from clear to opaque every 30 seconds. Three months later, both groups had gained two more lines on a reading chart, suggesting both treatments brought about the same level of improvement to their vision.

The results of the study are being presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology in Las Vegas this week. The US Food and Drug Administration has already approved the Amblyz glasses as a medical device and they are available from eye care professionals in the US for around US$450.

Electronic Band-Aid As Alternative To Antibiotics

Mon, 16 Nov 2015 00:00:00 Z

Bandages are important for stopping germs from entering a wound and making things worse, but could they play a more active role in making things better? New research has brought the idea of wound-healing dressings closer to reality by establishing a method of electrical stimulation that kills off the majority of multi-drug resistant bacterium commonly found in difficult-to-treat infections.

Electrical stimulation has long been explored as a means of speeding up the healing process, but exactly how it works hasn't always been so clear. However, a study earlier this year suggested it does so by triggering a process called angiogenesis, which causes new blood vessels to form and boosts blood flow to the affected area.

In the view of Washington State University researchers, at least part of the answer lies in the results of the electrochemical reaction that takes place as the current is applied. The team found that during this process hydrogen peroxide forms at the electrode surface, which as it turns out, works effectively as a disinfectant.

The team applied the electric current to a film of bacteria (multi-drug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii strain) where it killed almost the entire population within 24 hours, reducing it to 1/10,000th of its original size. The approach was also observed on pig tissue, where it killed the majority of the bacteria without affecting the surrounding healthy tissue.

Equipped with these promising results, the researchers used a conductive carbon fabric to build an e-scaffold, which they liken to an electronic Band-Aid. They found that running an electrical current through the fabric resulted in the ongoing production of the hydrogen peroxide needed to kill off the bacteria.

"Many people tried this simple method," says Haluk Beyenal, co-author of the paper. "Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn’t. We controlled the electrochemical reactions. That’s the reason it works."

The researchers are particularly enthusiastic about their approach as they say it can provide an alternative to antibiotics. The widespread use of antibiotics has given rise to strains of drug-resistant bacteria that are difficult to treat, but the team says that such bacteria cannot build up resistance to its electrical stimulation treatment.

The scientists have applied for a patent, and are now working to boost the effectiveness of the e-scaffold and plan to test it on other bacterial species.

Electric Comb Zaps Lice

Mon, 16 Nov 2015 00:00:00 Z

Lice infest the heads of up to 12 million people per year in the United States, but historically it hasn’t been difficult to get rid of them. The infected person can simply wash their hair with a special shampoo that kills the parasites, and then carefully comb them out. And though this method has worked in the past, it’s not fully effective—the shampoo can’t get rid of the eggs that the parasites may have left on the person’s scalp, and increasing numbers of lice have become resistant to the medicated shampoo. Now scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany have developed an electrically charged comb that could rid patients’ scalps of lice and their eggs in a novel way, according to a press release.

Unlike typical combs, this one contains a high-voltage electrical current that runs through its teeth. The tips of the teeth act as electrodes and deliver short bursts of energy to the surrounding air, so that when the current is running through the teeth, the electrodes break apart nearby air molecules and turn them from a gas to plasma. The electricity makes the molecules high-energy, which is enough to kill hardy lice, but it doesn’t raise the temperature, which makes it safe for human use. The researchers have done extensive safety testing, according to the press release, and found that the comb can get rid of lice within a day after a single treatment.

This isn't the first comb that claims to zap lice to death, but it's the first one that might actually work. The researchers have started distributing the comb to nearby pediatric offices, which is a good place to start since most infestations happen in children. But the researchers anticipate that their electric comb could be useful to get rid of infestations in house pets and also in developing countries where lice and similar parasites can rapidly spread disease pets. They plan to start producing it in small batches and marketing it as a cosmetic product sometime in the near future.

Heimlich Alternative

Wed, 28 Oct 2015 00:00:00 Z

The Dechoker helps save a choking victim by delivering negative pressure to the airway to suck out the obstruction.

While the Heimlich maneuver is an effective way to save a choking victim, the technique does require a certain level of strength, and can be hard for a smaller person to perform on a larger one.

The Dechoker, in contrast, does not require a large amount of force to use. The device consists of a face mask that fits over the victim’s mouth and a tab on the back that is pulled to create a vacuum. The vacuum helps to dislodge any obstacle caught in the airway, and the device can be used by a wide range of ages.

Light Used As A Pacemaker

Mon, 17 Aug 2015 00:00:00 Z

There must have been one or two love songs that predicted optogenetic cardiac pacing with words like “you are the light that makes my heart beat.” Now the idea has literally come true thanks to researchers at Israel’s Technion-Institute of Technology who were able to use light pulses in a manner of a cardiac pacemaker to change the beating pattern of a rat heart.

The investigators at Technion introduced a special virus into a rat to make it express the Channelrhodopsin-2 transgene within the ventricular myocardium. And that made the cardiac tissue respond to blue light. A simple strobe machine was then able to get the heart to pace at different rates. While the researchers tested the technique by having different areas of the ventricles be susceptible to light, there’s still a lot of work to be done in pinpointing where the transgene should be activated for optimal and most efficient results. Nevertheless, it looks like the basics of electricity-free pacing that doesn’t require any leads or other devices to actually connect to the heart are already here. Now there’s work to be done to bring this capability into clinical practice in the coming years.

Patch Releases Drugs When Stretched

Mon, 17 Aug 2015 00:00:00 Z

A team of investigators from North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have designed a novel drug release technology that relies on a stretchable elastomer and drug loaded nanoparticles to unload medication when the skin flexes and contracts. The idea is that this kind of approach can deliver drugs transdermally only when needed. For example, people with arthritis may be able to get pain relieving drugs during walks in doses that are proportional to how many steps are taken.

The patches consist of an elastomer that has tiny capsules throughout its surface, each filled with drug loaded nanoparticles. The nanoparticles are designed to slowly release a medication into the capsules where they reside. The capsules themselves are not impermeable, but will let compounds through when enough pressure is applied to them. This pressure comes from stretching of the elastomer film, which in turn stretches the capsules and compresses them to release the drugs. Microneedles placed below each capsule allow the drugs to pass into the skin. The combination of the mechanisms lets the nanoparticles load the capsules with a small amount of a medication and release it into the skin immediately on demand.

Free Sunscreen Dispensaries

Thu, 06 Aug 2015 00:00:00 Z

Sunscreen dispensaries might become as ubiquitous as water fountains if the city officials of Boston and Miami Beach have anything to do about it. Both cities have been trialling free dispensaries of SPF 30 sunscreen as a measure to get more people to protect their skin.

In Miami, 50 dispensaries are dotted throughout the city, while this July 30 dispensaries were placed in popular parks around Boston including Boston Common. Neither program is currently coming at any cost to the taxpayers. The Boston sunscreen dispensaries were funded by skin-cancer organizations the Melanoma Foundation of New England and Make Big Change, while the Miami Beach dispensaries were gifted to the city for its centennial celebration in March 2015, a move sponsored by Mount Sinai Medical Center.

“Skin cancer and melanoma are among the most prevalent cancers and they’re also among the most preventable,” Matt O’Malley, the Boston city councilor who proposed the sunscreen initiative told local news station WBUR. “So, what we are doing in Boston is, we’re offering a service, we’re promoting public health and we’re reminding folks of the importance of sunscreen—at no cost to the taxpayer.”

Needle-Free Blood Test

Fri, 10 Jul 2015 00:00:00 Z

Though the pain they cause is minor and fleeting, a lot of people still find something pretty unsettling about needles. When it comes to conducting a routine blood test, US-based company Tasso Inc. believes that these unpleasant pricks can be removed from the equation completely. Its ping pong ball-sized HemoLink blood sampler can be operated by the patient at home, and needs only to be placed against the skin of the arm or abdomen for two minutes to do its job.

HemoLink is designed as a low-cost, disposable device made from as few as six injection-molded plastic parts. Inside is a vacuum, which enables a small sample of blood to be drawn from tiny open channels into a small tube through a process known as capillary action. This process is made possible by forces that dictate the flow of tiny fluid streams, even against gravity.

"At these scales, surface tension dominates over gravity, and that keeps the blood in the channel no matter how you hold the device," says Tasso Inc.'s vice president and co-founder Ben Casavant.

The device can draw around 0.15 cubic centimeters of blood, which is enough to test for things like cholesterol, infections, cancer cells and blood sugar, before being mailed off to a lab for analysis. The company says that its target market will be people who need blood samples to be taken regularly, but not constantly, with the device being so simple to use that patients can take their own blood samples.

3D-Printed Tablets Release Drugs at Different Rates

Tue, 19 May 2015 00:00:00 Z

Researchers have discovered that 3D printing drug tablets in different shapes can change the way the drugs are absorbed.

A team from University College London School of Pharmacy has been experimenting with combining hot wax extrusion with 3D printing to create tablets in an array of shapes. The team has created five different shapes—a cube, pyramid, sphere, cylinder and torus—and has discovered that the ratio of the surface area to volume will affect the drug release. For example, a cylinder-shaped pill will take longer to be absorbed by the body than a pyramid shape.

The technology could one day allow drug manufactures to create tablets that will release their drugs at specific rates for the most effective treatment.

Nanoparticles Heal Wounds 50 Percent Faster

Mon, 30 Mar 2015 00:00:00 Z

An experimental nanoparticle therapy cuts in half the time wounds take to heal compared to natural healing. The therapy has already been tested successfully in mice and will soon be tried on pigs, whose skin is similar to that of humans. If it reaches clinical use in humans, this sort of nanoparticle therapy could be used to speed healing of surgical incisions, chronic skin ulcers, and everyday cuts and burns and other wounds.

Researchers have found that an enzyme called fidgetin-like 2 (FL2) slows the rate at which skin cells migrate to wounds to heal them. If this enzyme is suppressed, skin cells move faster. Molecules of silencing RNA (siRNA) that bind to a gene's messenger RNA (mRNA) have been used to inhibit the development of FL2, but this alone won't be effective, the researchers note, unless the siRNAs are placed in some kind of delivery vehicle that can protect them from degradation.

For this purpose a research team at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University has developed nanoparticles that ferry the molecules safely to their intended targets, with impressive results in mice with skin excisions or burns.

"Not only did the cells move into the wounds faster, but they knew what to do when they got there," said co-lead researcher David Sharp. "We saw normal, well-orchestrated regeneration of tissue, including hair follicles and the skin's supportive collagen network."

The technique has been patented and licensed to a company called MicroCures, Inc., where David Sharp is currently acting as a chief scientific officer.

A paper describing the research was published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.