Hasta La Gadget!

I believe that the future will see newer medical appliances and contraptions help the disabled as well as weak bodied be as able-bodied as possible, so much so that they can also live what majority of us deem to be the “normal” life. Of course, nothing quite beats a positive attitude and the right mindset, but assuming one was suffering from a neurological disorder that affected the strength of your legs, one might soon be able to obtain help from the Kickstart Kinetic Orthosis that will help one walk with a greater amount of precision, and of course, ease. The Kickstart Kinetic Orthosis is the brainchild of Cadence Biomedical, where it will be able to stash away energy when flexing the knee, releasing it to help propel the foot forward during the extension phase.

The Kickstart Kinetic Orthosis received its inspiration from “the anatomy of horses, whose long tendons span multiple joints and allow for highly efficient walking and running.” Another plus point of the Kickstart Kinetic Orthosis would be the fact that it needs no bulky and heavy batteries, as it is not powered by such. That translates to more freedom without having to juice it up, or making a whole lot of noise due to motors. Not only that, depending on the patient’s needs, the Kickstart Kinetic Orthosis can be modified to be used on one or both legs.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Brain implant restores decision-making process in monkeys, Fermentation-powered pump delivers drugs sans battery,

Ultrasound is likely most often associated with sonograms, but some MIT engineers are poised to change that. By using two separate beams of inaudible sound waves (one at low-frequency, the other high) the team were able to increase the permeability of skin, in a bid to improve the efficiency of transdermal drug delivery. The technique works thanks to the waves exciting bubbles in a fluid (such as water), forcing them to swell and move chaotically. Once the bubbles reach a certain size they implode, sucking the surrounding fluid into the void. This process creates micro-jets of liquid, which cause miniscule tears in the skin, allowing it to (painlessly) absorb chemicals more effectively. In practice, a pre-treated area of skin is then covered with a patch containing the correct dose of drugs — but don’t worry, the skin is said to grow back just a few hours later.

Up until now, research into ultrasonic administration of drugs has concentrated on low-frequency waves, because the higher end of the spectrum doesn’t have enough energy to pop the bubbles. Higher frequencies do, however, help create more of them and also limits their lateral movement. By using both high- and low-frequencies, the MIT engineers found this produced better over all results, by not only increasing the skin’s uptake of the medicine, but also increasing the number of drugs that can be delivered this way. With pretty much anything that is usually delivered in capsule form being on the cards, this could make the administration of many popular drugs much more convenient and / or effective. Also excellent news for those who really don’t like needles.

Continue reading MIT engineers use ultrasound for improved topical drug administration (video)

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MIT engineers use ultrasound for improved topical drug administration (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Sep 2012 04:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You may have seen the levitation tricks performed in the magic shows. While that remains a part of popular fiction, scientists have also been apparently working on this front. And now, they have been able to levitate drops of liquid with the help of acoustic waves.

The liquid drops contained pharmaceuticals and were placed between two speakers creating sound waves at a certain frequency between the two. By adjusting these sound waves, scientists were able to cancel the gravitational effect on the drops of liquid and have them suspended in mid-air.  (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Nanorockets used to deliver drugs to the system, Doctors refuse to switch to electronic records,

The only painful part of wearing an adhesive bandage is having to peel them off, so researchers at Purdue University’s Birck Nanotechnology Center have developed a way to turn Band-Aids into a nearly pain free alternative to needles. By integrating a tiny heat-powered pump, adhesive patches could automatically deliver medication to a patient without the need for a painful prick. More »

You might be the resident macho man around your home, but does this mean your pain tolerance when it comes to needles and pin pricks are able to live up to the rest of your legend? For those who have an extreme phobia of needles, you might be interested to hear of the latest medical development that involves laser injections, touted to be less painful when compared to standard issue needles. Whenever the microjet is fired from the laser, the liquid will be sent out at speeds of 30m per second, and this wonderful invention is courtesy of South Korean scientists. I would suppose that if this system were to be tested successfully, it would eventually make the traditional needle obsolete, where a jab is similar to being hit with a puff of air.

At point of publishing, this laser already sees action in aesthetic skin treatments, where the ultimate aim is to churn out low-cost injectors for clinical use. The laser itself is called “erbium-doped yttrium aluminium garnet”, or Er:YAG for short, with the jet of air being a wee bit larger than the width of a human hair.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Brain implant restores decision-making process in monkeys, Nose-like sensor array to combat cancer?,