Posts tagged healthcare

Terahertz scanner goes on sale, scans for letter bombs and drugs.

The T-Cognition 1.0 scanner is now on sale, and is able to detect substances such as drugs or explosives without needing to open the letter or parcel.
Terahertz waves are able to non-destructively reveal the ‘spectral signature’ of compounds, while passing easily through non-conductive materials like paper or fabric. These spectral signatures can be matched with a database of compounds in the scanner, which can reveal known drug or explosive compounds. It also reveals the presence of metals which could house an explosive device.

The scanner can also be loaded with spectral signatures of different compounds, for example it could be used to scan pharmaceutical samples to reveal if medical drugs had the correct chemical composition before putting them on the market. This saves money over the current system of having to make extra samples for testing, from each batch of drugs made.

New research could lead to a test to predict heart attacks.

Although doctors can tell when a patient is having a heart attack, “the greatest unmet need” facing cardiologists today is a test to predict future heart attacks, according to the author of a new study.

The study developed a new technique which tracks a type of cell in the blood called a circulating endothelial cell. Healthy people have very few of these circulating cells, which can cause blood clots which lead to a heart attack when they burst. By knowing the cells are in the blood stream, doctors could use the knowledge to predict roughly when a heart attack could occur, although further research is needed to fine tune the method.

Although endothelial cells have been studied in the past, the technology to isolate and study them has only just become available. In the future tests for endothelial cells could become as common as cholesterol tests for people who are known to be at risk.

Also is it just me, or does that graphic above kind of look like a level of Bomberman?

Muscle tissue produced with a 3D printer.

San Diego startup Organovo has developed a bioprinting technique which allows it to create human tissue starting with any cell source. The printer deposits lines of cells closely together, where they are allowed to grow and interconnect until they form working muscle tissue.

Unlike other experimental approaches that utilize ink-jet printers to deposit cells, Organovo’s technology enables cells to interact with each other the way they do in the body. How? They are packed tightly together, sandwiched, if you will, and incubated. This prompts them to cleave to each other and interchange chemical signals. When printed, the cells are grouped together in a paste that helps them grow, migrate, and align themselves properly. In the case of muscle cells, the way they orient themselves in the same direction allow for contractions of the tissue.

The company hopes to one day build entire organs for transplants. Because tissue is able to be built from a patient’s own cells, the risk of rejection would be very low.

Wireless sensor monitors patient recovery.

A new implantable sensor has been developed at RPI, which can wirelessly transmit data from the site of a recent orthopedic surgery. Inexpensive to make and highly reliable, this new sensor holds the promise of more accurate, more cost-effective, and less invasive post-surgery monitoring and diagnosis.

Following an orthopedic procedure, surgeons usually rely on X-rays or MRIs to monitor the progress of their patient’s recovery. The new sensors, created by Rensselaer faculty researcher Eric Ledet, would instead give surgeons detailed, real-time information from the actual surgery site. This in vivo data could lead to more accurate assessments of a patient’s recovery, or provide better insight into potential complications.

The wireless sensor measures only 4 millimeters in diameter and 500 microns thick. It needs no battery, no external power, and requires no electronics within the body. Instead, the sensor is powered by the external device,

DNA Nanorobot programmed to seek and destroy cells.

Researchers at Harvard University’s Wyss Insitute have created a barrel shaped structure out of DNA, which is capable of carrying a payload through the body and opening to release it when it finds certain types of cells.

Using the DNA origami method, in which complex three-dimensional shapes and objects are constructed by folding strands of DNA, the barrel is held shut by special DNA latches that can recognize and seek out combinations of cell-surface proteins, including disease markers. When the latches find their targets, they reconfigure, causing the two halves of the barrel to swing open and expose its contents, or payload. The container can hold various types of payloads, including specific molecules with encoded instructions that can interact with specific cell surface signaling receptors.

The work is a described as a “major breakthrough in the field of nanobiotechnology”, as it will be able to “meet a real-world challenge, namely killing cancer cells with high specificity”. By using biocompatible DNA nanotechnology, the system will be able to naturally dissolve in the body, lessening the side effects compared to traditional drugs. Because it is able to target specific cells, far smaller doses of drugs will be able to be given, while still increasing their effectiveness.

Cancer breath test completes first clinical trials.

California startup company Metabolix has completed a trial showing an 83% success rate in diagnosing lung cancer, through a simple breath test. The next phase of trials is using equipment that is 1,000 times more sensitive, potentially allowing for 90% accuracy - which CEO Paul Rhodes believes will be high enough to get the test onto the market.

Rhodes expects a test to cost $75. Also, because it’s not specific to a particular group of chemicals, the Metabolomx sensor could, in theory at least, be used to screen for any disease that has a metabolic breath signature—the company is currently exploring tests for other diseases, including tuberculosis. “A breath signature could give a snapshot of overall health,” Rhodes says.