Kaido
Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
I'm not sure if this would be more appropriate in OT or in H&F, but anyway, I've been seeing a lot of interesting articles on medical advances using technology on major tech blogs, which is not a place you typically see medical stuff posted. A couple recent interesting ones:
Scientists have figured out how to create blood vessels in 3D printed organs
Corneas regrown using human stem cells
The cornea article is interesting because my wife's grandpa passed away several years ago & someone received his corneas as a transplant. They wrote us a really nice note about how they were blind before (corneal blindness, I believe) and now they could see ago after years of not being able to see at all. I had no idea that was even possible! Apparently over a million people have had the procedure done since the 60's:
http://www.restoresight.org/about-us/frequently-asked-questions/
There's not only advances in the research, but also in practical applications. A few of the more interesting devices on or coming to the market:
Scanadu Scout & ScanaFlo: At-home vitals & urine test kit. It measures "temperature, respiratory rate, oximetry, ECG, systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure - in 10 seconds. In addition, it is also creating a disposable urine analysis testing platform, ScanaFlo, which works with your smartphone to offer a complete urine analysis test in minutes. Once FDA approved, it could also measure for pregnancy complications, pre-eclampisa, gestational diabetes, heart-related kidney problems and urinary tract infections." Couple this with pharmaceutical drug delivery and you'd only have to ever see a doctor for a hands-on procedure!
LifeStraw: A straw that filters water from dirty puddles & streams, enabling clean water anywhere. This is more on the preventative side of medicine, but still pretty cool, especially for developing countries & people who like to camp.
SAM Junctional Tourniquet: "This super simple tourniquet will save a soldier's life in 25 seconds. Unlike older tourniquet designs, the SAM is capable of treating injuries at the waist thanks to an air-fillable bladder hidden under the nylon mesh."
Lots of neat stuff out there outside of drug cocktails cooked up in research labs! There's even billboards in my area for the da Vinci Surgical System. It's pretty neat to see technology adding new features to medical technology, as well as refining existing methods. For example, there was just a neat article about 3D-printed casts: At the moment, 3-D printing of the cast takes around three hours whereas a plaster cast is three to nine minutes, but requires 24-72 hours to be fully set. The advantage is that the cast is ventilated, doesn't require set time once printed (and can be printed separately & snapped together for usage), is more hygienic (shower-friendly), and in the future, could heal bones up to 40% faster when coupled with an ultrasound system. That's pretty awesome!
Scientists have figured out how to create blood vessels in 3D printed organs
Corneas regrown using human stem cells
The cornea article is interesting because my wife's grandpa passed away several years ago & someone received his corneas as a transplant. They wrote us a really nice note about how they were blind before (corneal blindness, I believe) and now they could see ago after years of not being able to see at all. I had no idea that was even possible! Apparently over a million people have had the procedure done since the 60's:
http://www.restoresight.org/about-us/frequently-asked-questions/
There's not only advances in the research, but also in practical applications. A few of the more interesting devices on or coming to the market:
Scanadu Scout & ScanaFlo: At-home vitals & urine test kit. It measures "temperature, respiratory rate, oximetry, ECG, systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure - in 10 seconds. In addition, it is also creating a disposable urine analysis testing platform, ScanaFlo, which works with your smartphone to offer a complete urine analysis test in minutes. Once FDA approved, it could also measure for pregnancy complications, pre-eclampisa, gestational diabetes, heart-related kidney problems and urinary tract infections." Couple this with pharmaceutical drug delivery and you'd only have to ever see a doctor for a hands-on procedure!
LifeStraw: A straw that filters water from dirty puddles & streams, enabling clean water anywhere. This is more on the preventative side of medicine, but still pretty cool, especially for developing countries & people who like to camp.
SAM Junctional Tourniquet: "This super simple tourniquet will save a soldier's life in 25 seconds. Unlike older tourniquet designs, the SAM is capable of treating injuries at the waist thanks to an air-fillable bladder hidden under the nylon mesh."
Lots of neat stuff out there outside of drug cocktails cooked up in research labs! There's even billboards in my area for the da Vinci Surgical System. It's pretty neat to see technology adding new features to medical technology, as well as refining existing methods. For example, there was just a neat article about 3D-printed casts: At the moment, 3-D printing of the cast takes around three hours whereas a plaster cast is three to nine minutes, but requires 24-72 hours to be fully set. The advantage is that the cast is ventilated, doesn't require set time once printed (and can be printed separately & snapped together for usage), is more hygienic (shower-friendly), and in the future, could heal bones up to 40% faster when coupled with an ultrasound system. That's pretty awesome!
