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Health and Wellbeing
Targeted chemotherapy - fighting cancer without the side effects
By Loz Blain
02:28 September 14, 2009 PDT
A Silicon Valley entrepreneur, after watching helplessly through his sister's painful and terminal battle with cancer, has spent the last 9 years working on a system that lets doctors cut off blood flow to tumors, isolating them from the rest of the body and allowing the injection of a targeted dose of high intensity chemotherapy. Since the chemo drugs aren't let loose around the rest of the body, the usual devastating side-effects aren't an issue - and the drug dosage at the tumor site can be safely administered at a much higher concentration than usual. The IsoFlow Isolation Catheter has just received FDA marketing approval in the USA. Read More
Some indoor plants may be bad for your health
By Darren Quick
23:38 September 7, 2009 PDT
Houseplants are not only aesthetically pleasing, giving a touch of color to otherwise drab offices or houses, they also combat indoor air pollution, particularly with their ability to remove volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the air. These compounds are gases or vapors emitted by solids and liquids that may have adverse short- and long-term health effects on humans. But in addition to giving off oxygen and sucking out harmful VOCs, a new study has shown that some indoor plants actually release VOCs into the environment. Read More
Mind-reading brain probe could unlock motor control for quadriplegics
By Loz Blain
15:16 September 4, 2009 PDT
While Honda is taking a benign and non-invasive approach to the coveted brain-machine interface, British researchers are experimenting with a sensor array that is actually implanted in the brain. Dr. Jon Spratley's "multi-contact brain probe" is designed to be injected into the tissue of the brain with a fine needle, where it will sit, monitoring electrical impulses across the brain's motor cortex and relaying them wirelessly to an external device. Spratley believes the technology could unlock a range of bionic possibilities for quadriplegics, who could, for example, learn to control a wheelchair or computer mouse using the same brain commands that used to operate their arms and legs. Read More
Philips leads the marital aid industry out of the Dark Ages
By Gizmag Team
02:21 September 4, 2009 PDT
Sexual aids have been in use for thousands of years, coming in and out of official favor in different eras and jurisdictions, and indeed, many countries still outlaw them entirely. As our understanding of our sexuality has grown, sex aids have increased in their usage, with more than 40% of European couples already using them and another 35% interested and willing, but reluctant to enter what they perceive as a seedy sex store. Now Philips has created a range of sex toys specifically designed for couples, taking the genre mainstream for the first time. Bravo Philips! Read More
Gold nanoparticles used in early detection of lung cancer
By Jeff Salton
21:44 September 2, 2009 PDT
Gold nanoparticles are being used by researchers in Israel in a new type of breath test to detect lung cancer in patients. Breath particulate analysis isn’t new but the scientists say this is the first time a technique has been used without the need to pre-treat the exhaled breath, delivering a quicker and less expensive diagnosis. Early detection can result in faster treatment and hopefully save lives. Around 25 percent of all cancer-related deaths are lung cancer sufferers, with estimates put at around 1.3 million people dying from the disease each year. Read More
Potential new drug delivery system
21:17 August 31, 2009 PDT
Scientists at UC Santa Barbara have developed a biological mechanism that can act as an entirely new means of drug delivery, carrying with it the potential to make treating illness even more effective. Rather than simply circulating in the bloodstream, the laboratory-developed peptide can deliver nanoparticles directly into tissue. Read More
Possible cure for peanut allergy discovered: peanuts
By Loz Blain
01:22 August 31, 2009 PDT
Peanut allergies are very common - something like one in every 200 children will suffer from some sort of reaction, and while roughly 100 people per year die as a result, peanuts are still thought to be the most prevalent food-related cause of death. Certainly, for those afflicted, it's a huge annoyance to be constantly checking labels and asking at restaurants just to make sure. So it's good to hear that Duke University researchers are making progress on a cure - or at least a therapy for reducing the effects of peanut exposure. Read More
Getting Parkinson's patients to speak up
18:19 August 30, 2009 PDT
The sad reality of Parkinson’s disease is that it indiscriminately affects 1.5 million people in the U.S alone, making it one of the most common degenerative neurological conditions with no known cause or cure. In the effort to make one of Parkinson’s many debilitating symptoms more manageable for sufferers, researchers have developed a new technology to overcome voice and speech impairment by playing a recording of ambient sound resembling the chatter of a busy restaurant. Read More
Drink a smoothie to treat your diabetes
By Jeff Salton
23:52 August 26, 2009 PDT
A yogurt-based treatment for diabetes that uses non-harmful bacteria is being tested on diabetic mice. Gut microbes that have been engineered to make a specific protein are helping regulate blood sugar in the rodents, according to research presented at the American Chemical Society conference in Washington, D.C. Scientists hope the treatment might one day provide an alternative for people with diabetes. Read More
The wearable kidney
22:30 August 25, 2009 PDT
A fashion statement it may not be, but the Wearable Artificial Kidney (WAK) could prove a very smart accessory for those with serious kidney disease. A miniaturized dialysis machine that can be worn as a belt, the WAK concept allows patients with end stage renal failure the freedom to engage in daily activity while undergoing uninterrupted dialysis treatment. Read More
Digital drink tampering detector
By Paul Ridden
18:17 August 23, 2009 PDT
One of the dangers of drinking in unfamiliar territory can be the quality of liquor on offer. Rotgut, the slang term for an inferior alcoholic concoction, can be dangerous to your health, not just your wallet. How big an issue being served rotgut actually is seems to depend as much on where in the world you find yourself as which nightclub or party you're at. Rotgutonix is a new take-anywhere prototype device that analyzes your chosen beverage and lets you know if it's genuine or a nasty pretender. Read More
Wireless pacemaker talks to cardiac specialist via Internet
23:53 August 19, 2009 PDT
The world’s very first fully implanted pacemaker, in 1958, lasted three hours before the batteries failed. It was replaced by one that lasted two days. Ultimately, Arne Larsson – surgical guinea pig – went on to receive 26 different pacemakers over the next 43 years. Now, a New York woman has become the first person in the world to receive a pacemaker that allows completely wireless monitoring, transmitting clinical data to her doctor each day via the Internet. And, if anything ever goes wrong, the doctor is alerted instantly. Read More
BrainPort for the visually impaired - ‘seeing’ with the tongue
By Jeff Salton
00:10 August 19, 2009 PDT
According to the National Institutes of Health, more than one million Americans over the age of 40 are legally blind - defined by U.S. law as vision that is 20/200 or worse, or have a field of view that is less than 20 degrees in diameter. It is estimated that adult vision loss costs the country about $51.4 billion per year. A new device aims to help restore the experience of vision for the blind and visually impaired by using nerves on the tongue's surface to send light signals to the brain. Read More
AIDS-preventing gel to protect women in resource-poor areas
22:57 August 16, 2009 PDT
The statistics paint a grim picture - an estimated 2.0 million people, including 270,000 children, died of AIDS in 2007 and at that time 33 million people around the globe were living with HIV, two thirds of them in sub-Saharan Africa. New advancements in microbicides may help to improve this horrific scenario with U.S. researchers undertaking trials for a specially designed ‘molecular condom’ to prevent the spread of HIV in women. Read More
‘Mixed reality’ patient helps medical students with intimate exams
17:47 August 12, 2009 PDT
Routine physical examinations of a more intimate nature may become a little less awkward and a little more precise according to a team of engineering students from the University of Florida. The team's design of a ‘mixed reality’ human patient could be the answer in managing this delicate aspect of bedside manner. The mixed reality human is named Amanda Jones and she exists, in both virtual and physical form, as a life-sized cyberspace image on a flat screen, and as a mannequin with a prosthetic breast. Her purpose is noble: to help train medical students to conduct intimate breast exam procedures. Read More
Spinal Cord Stimulators - the 'pacemaker' for chronic pain
By Loz Blain
02:20 August 12, 2009 PDT
While nobody's exactly sure how it works, it's been clinically proven over the past 30-40 years that low levels of electrical energy, delivered straight to the nerve fibers in the spinal cord, can disrupt the signals that certain chronic pain conditions send to the brain, and replace them with a much more pleasant tingling sensation. Now, St Jude Medical has received FDA and CE mark approvals for the world's smallest and longest-lasting rechargeable neurostimulator. The Eon Mini is the size of a silver dollar, about 1cm thick (1/2 inch), and weighs only 29g (1oz). It sits under the skin of the buttock or abdomen, and its rechargeable battery should last nearly 10 years. It can be programmed by remote control to treat as many as eight different chronic pain areas and, in doing so, it can get many patients with chronic pain off morphine and back into a semblance of normal life. Read More
Blue M&M food dye reduces paralysis from spinal injuries - but turns you blue
By Loz Blain
00:20 August 11, 2009 PDT
Spinal injuries are both common and devastating, leaving many victims paralyzed and relegated to wheelchairs for the rest of their lives. But in most cases, the worst spinal cord damage doesn't happen at the scene of the injury - it's the swelling around the spinal cord and the crazy firing and burning out of otherwise healthy neurons in the hours and days following the incident that turns a bad situation permanently worse. Now, scientists in Rochester, New York, have discovered a simple way to stop a lot of this secondary damage in its tracks - using the same, familiar blue food dye that gives M&Ms and blue icy poles their color. Patients with spinal injuries could escape with vastly reduced loss of function - but they'll turn bright blue in the process. Read More
Human trials to begin on genetically-engineered malaria vaccine
By Darren Quick
20:22 August 5, 2009 PDT
There were 247 million cases of malaria and 881,000 deaths worldwide from the disease in 2006, making it one of the world’s most common infectious diseases and an enormous public health problem, particularly in poverty stricken areas. We’ve previously looked at various proposals to fight the disease, from targeting the mosquitoes that spread it, to research into a possible vaccine. Now researchers at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne, Australia, working in collaboration with researchers from the US, Japan and Canada, have renewed hopes by creating a weakened strain of the malaria parasite that will be used as a live vaccine against the disease. Human trials will begin in 2010. Read More
Wink Glasses - there won't be a dry eye in the house
By Mick Webb
19:49 August 4, 2009 PDT
The eye strain and resulting damage that often afflicts those who forget to blink while on a gaming marathon or glued to the Internet is a widespread problem. To combat this, Japan’s Masunaga Optical Manufacturing has unveiled Wink Glasses, which feature blink-sensing lenses that start to fog if the wearer neglects to keep their peepers hydrated. Read More
Swearing proven to have a 'pain-lessening effect'
By Gizmag Team
06:34 July 27, 2009 PDT
Swearing has been around for centuries and is an almost universal human linguistic phenomenon. Now researchers have determined that swearing can have a ‘pain-lessening effect.’ Swearing taps into emotional brain centers and appears to arise in the right brain, whereas most language production occurs in the left cerebral hemisphere of the brain. The research shows one potential reason why swearing developed and why it persists. Read More
High-tech tattoo ink - just as permanent but 4 times quicker to remove
By Loz Blain
01:24 July 27, 2009 PDT
Gone are the days when tattoos were only for registered bad-asses - today's tattoo owner is just as likely to get inked up with a tramp stamp or football team crest as a Hells Angels insignia. If you're thinking of getting a tatt to commemorate a relationship, or for fashion reasons, or simply as a dare or a joke, you might want to make sure the artist is using InfinitInk - a high-tech tattoo ink that's just as permanent as regular ink, but four times quicker to remove through laser treatment if you ever want to get rid of it down the track. Read More
Stopping to smell the lemons can help reduce stress
By Darren Quick
23:15 July 23, 2009 PDT
Stopping to smell the roses is a good mantra to encourage you to take the time to appreciate what’s around you. Stopping to smell the lemons might not have the same ring to it, but scientists in Japan have shown how doing just that can actually alter gene activity and blood chemistry in ways that measurably reduce stress. Read More
The Royal Society for the Extremely Stupid is 2009 Most Successful SIG
By Mike Hanlon
00:25 July 16, 2009 PDT
They are now the most powerful lobbying force in the land. You can see the results of their campaigns on park benches, on street corners, on station platforms – and now their hectoring signage is sprouting on desolate beaches and once unspoiled stretches of moorland. They are more energetic than the RSPCA. They are more effective than the birdwatchers, the child‑protectors and the petrolheads put together. Indeed, for manic dedication they are only rivaled by Fathers4Justice. Ladies and gentlemen, let's have a big hand for this year's winner of the prize for the Most Successful Special Interest Group. I give you – the Royal Society for the Extremely Stupid. Read More
Shape Up Alarm Clock Dumbbell to wake masochists
By Darren Quick
23:19 July 5, 2009 PDT
We’ve looked at a few alarm clocks designed to rouse the reluctant riser from their slumber over the years. There’s the Puzzle Alarm Clock to get the gray matter working first thing in the morning and Clocky to get you up and running. Joining the ranks of masochistic devices is the Shape Up Alarm Clock Dumbbell which won’t stop screeching until you’ve done 30 reps. Read More
Coating technique helps bionic implants fit right in
By Darren Quick
18:12 July 5, 2009 PDT
Six million dollars probably wouldn’t get you much of a bionic man these days, but a new process for coating metal implants could vastly improve the lives of the growing number of people who have undergone complicated total joint replacement surgeries. The new electrochemical process improves the implants’ functionality, longevity and integration into the body by producing a coating that is virtually indistinguishable from the body’s own material. Read More
Alexis Olson
- November 9, 2009 @ 21:08 UTC
