MED_Medical Edge_: Multitask or perish?

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November 11, 2008

Multitask or perish?

by Joe Jancsurak, Senior Editor

Technology is evolving the brain even as you read this while texting, “Googling”, and thinking about whom to phone next before you get back to a PowerPoint presentation. Like it or not, we are part of a global community of multitaskers, and how we spend our days is actually contributing to the evolutionary process.

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Articles

Vein valve keeps blood flowing in the right direction

Engineers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a prosthetic vein valve to help those suffering from chronic venous insufficiency, a condition in which valves in a person’s veins no longer ensures a flow of blood back to the heart," says David Ku, the Lawrence P. Huang Endowed Chair in Engineering and Entrepreneurship at Georgia Tech.

"Vein valves occasionally dissolve after a blood clot,” says Ku. “The loss of valve leaflets lets blood flow the wrong way, causing swelling in the legs and ankles.” The condition affects more than seven million people in the U.S.

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Medical Sealing Solutions from Apple Rubber Products

Apple Rubber designs and manufactures elastomeric seals in medical grade class VI, liquid silicone rubber, and other elastomers including, FKM and EPDM. Apple Rubber specializes in the manufacture of all shapes and sizes of O-rings, custom-molded seals, and rubber bonded to plastic, metal or filter materials. USA-based facilities include transfer, compression, liquid injection molding, CNC machining and proprietary bonding. ISO 9001-2000 and a certified class 7 (10,000) cleanroom is also onsite.

www.applerubber.com

Research shows ‘monkeying around’ may benefit the paralyzed

Monkeys taught to play a computer game were able to overcome wrist paralysis with an experimental device that might lead to new treatments for patients with stroke and spinal cord injury, according to an Associated Press report. The monkeys retained use of paralyzed muscles by learning to control the activity of just a single brain cell.

The device monitored the activity of a brain cell and used that as a cue to stimulate wrist muscles electrically. Researchers found it could even use brain cells that normally had nothing to do with wrist movement, says study co-author Chet Moritz, University of Washington in Seattle.

Moritz says a large untapped pool of brain cells may be available for letting paralyzed people do things like grasping a coffee cup or brushing their teeth. Though he stressed the approach is years, if not decades, away from use in people. Moritz and colleagues at the University of Washington in Seattle report the results in a paper published by the journal Nature.

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Implantable chip could be an artificial pancreas

Implanting a medical IC just under the skin would let it measure blood chemicals and release drugs based on what it senses. Such a chip has potential to become an artificial pancreas and a treatment for Type I diabetes. Microchips, Bedford, Mass., will perform clinical trials in 2009 on the glucose-detecting microchip, a device that has shown positive results in animal studies.

The microchip includes proprietary reservoir arrays that can store and protect chemical sensors or potent drugs within the body for long periods. The arrays can be preprogrammed microprocessors, wireless telemetry, or sensor-feedback loops to provide active control of several human conditions. Individual device reservoirs can be opened on demand or to a predetermined schedule to precisely control drug release or sensor activation.

"This development is an important step toward of novel drug delivery system in which small devices filled with potent, therapeutic drugs release medicines into the body as needed," says Microchip President John Santini.

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New Products

Micro motors engineered for maximum torque in tight spaces

Three electronically commutated (EC) micro motors by Maxon are for medical-device applications requiring high-density performance. To generate the highest possible torque in the smallest of spaces the company uses NdFeB magnets in the rotors.

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Tiny regulator allows high flow

The PRDHF8-ANB-C-DEF non-relieving manifold mount by Beswick allows high flow through a regulator. It controls gas and pneumatic output pressures from 0 to 30 psig.

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Motion control for multi-axis applications in small-rack sizes

The MC4U by ACS Motion Control integrates controllers, drives, power supplies and additional I/O and networking capabilities for control of machine functions such as motion, logic, power, and data in medical and flat-panel display applications. The configurable machine and motion-control product now includes 9- and 11-in. enclosures for two-to-four axes. Full Article