For years amputee victims, sufferers of advanced diabetes, and other injured persons who have lost their natural limbs have been living with conventional prosthetic limbs.  People have worked hard to learn through practice and physical therapy how to utilize their prosthetics in their day-to-day lives to brush their teeth, walk to the grocery store, drive, and eat.  Many prosthetic users have also enjoyed sports and exuberant activities with their prosthetics as an extension if their own body.

Also for many years - there has been high talk of the development of artificial limbs, neurologically controlled prosthetics, robotically controlled devices and other alternatives to conventional prosthetics.  There have been many developments all over the world in this field, but this is truly one for the books!

Otto Bock Healthcare is a global med-tech company based in Germany that prides themselves on developing protheses for tens of thousands of people around the world.  In 1919 Otto Bock founded his company in Berlin with the goal of supplying war veterans with prostheses and orthopedic products.  Today, his company has grown internationally to provide people with high-tech products to encourage people to reach their highest degree of mobility and independence and live out their lives to their full potential.

Throughout their many years of research, Otto Bock Healthcare has announced their thought-controlled prosthetic arm prototype, which is hot and ready to hit the market any day now!  Christian Kandlbauer is a 21-year-old Austrian man who lost both his arms but getting electrocuted.  After dedicating four years of his life to Otto Bock Healthcare as a test subject, surgeons finally conducted the surgery to connect his natural chest nerves into their prosthetic arm prototype so that his neurological impulses can control the prothetic device.  This new prothetic technology involves TMR (targeted muscle reinnervation) to connect nerves that used to control the patient’s lost limb can be connected to the prosthetic device.

“Christian is the first patient in Europe where this surgery was done, and the first person in Europe with this mind-controlled prosthetic. In the future we hope to fit patients in the UK with prosthetics like this.” - Dr. Egger

This procedure is not widely available to the public yet and is predicted to cost several million euros, for now.  Once the product goes into production and the surgery can be perfected, the cost may decrease.

“With the prosthesis I am able to do things in my daily life alone without the help of another person.  I am independent.” - Christian Kandlbauer

Information obtained from BBC News & Otto Bock Healthcare

More from BBC News:

How it works…
1. When phantom limb is ‘moved’ electrical impulses from the brain move along grafted arm nerves into chest wall
2. Muscles boost electrical sensors and they are picked up by electrodes on surface of skin
3. Signals analysed and converted into a pattern that can be used to control the prosthetic using artificial intelligence

There are times when it boggles the mind to just think of the advances we have made in the fields of medicine and technology. The pacemaker is a pretty simple device, but it makes a world of difference to many people who depend on it for their lives. If you have been fitted with one of these medical devices, there are certain basic precautions that you must follow if you want them to function properly and safely.

•    Carry a pacemaker ID, preferably on a bracelet or necklace, to inform those around you

•    Inform medical personnel at your workplace that you have a pacemaker

•    Tell doctors about your device before you undergo any invasive surgical procedure

•    Be careful around machines that have large magnetic fields, like MRI scan units

•    Stay away from machinery that uses high voltage or radar

•    There’s no need to worry about the effects of common household appliances like refrigerators, televisions, washing machines and cell phones, however you do need to keep your cell phones and other gadgets away from your pacemaker area, it’s preferable not to keep them in your shirt pocket

•    MP3 headphones have been known to cause a certain amount of interference, so it’s best not to use them at all

•    If there is any thought that an external device is causing the pacemaker to function erratically, move away from the device and wait for your heartbeat to return to normal

•    Talk to your doctor about exercising moderately, but be cautious of injuries that directly injure your chest, especially blows to the area that houses the pacemaker, this may affect the way your device functions, so if you are hit in your thoracic region, consult your doctor immediately

•    Get regular check-ups on your pacemaker by a doctor to ensure that it is working as it should

•    Ensure that the battery, lead wire and other aspects of the device are in good condition

•    The pacemaker’s battery generally lasts for around 7 or 8 years

•    Get the pacemaker replaced once in 10 years or so

•    The pacemaker may contain either a chemical or nuclear power source and for nuclear power sources,  dispose of the battery with care once the pacemaker has reached the end of its life

•    If you’re unsure or worried about any aspect of your pacemaker, contact your cardiologist immediately

This article is contributed by Sarah Scrafford, who regularly writes on the topic of ultrasound technician school. She invites your questions, comments and freelancing job inquiries at her email address: sarah.scrafford25@gmail.com

Image via http://mykentuckyheart.com/

Laser is an acronym for “light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation”. A laser is a device that creates and amplifies a narrow, intense beam of coherent light. Atoms release radiation by absorbing photons when “excited” electrons emit light, then the atoms radiate their light in random directions. This results in incoherent light, which is a jumble of photons going in all directions. Lasers create coherent light from this by identifying the right atoms with the optimal internal storage mechanisms. Lasers create an environment in which those atoms can cooperate to give up their light at a coordinated time and direction (Bell Labs).

The basic unit of light from which this entire process begins is called a photon. A photon contains energy that can be calculated via the following equation:

Energy = h · c/λ

The energy of any type of light can be calculated by just knowing its wavelength because h is Plank’s constant (4.14×10-15 eV/s), c is the speed of light (3×1010 cm/s) and λ is the wavelength in centimeters. The wavelength of light can determine its color and affects the laser’s energy. Figure 1 below shows the light spectrum and how it relates to the types of light humans use for different medical applications (Dr. Michael Berns, Beckman Laser Institute, 2007).

Figure 1: The figure above describes the different types of light and their associated wavelengths. Lasers generally exist in the infrared, visible, and ultraviolet wavelengths.

The use of lasers has revolutionized medicine because lasers are accurate, quick, and minimally invasive. Many different types of lasers exist and are FDA approved for various medical uses. There are six different types of laser-tissue interaction illustrated in figure 2. The accuracy of the laser assures that only the desired portion of a specimen is affected by the laser. The strength of the laser provides any medical treatment with adequate power to ablate the plaque, no matter how large the obstruction may be. The efficiency of the laser provides a better medical treatment because it takes less repetitions of the treatment to complete the procedure. There are many different types of lasers used in medicine today and they have diverse applications depending on their wavelength, absorption, strength, and accuracy (Dr. Michael Berns, Beckman Laser Institute, 2007).

Figure 2: Of the six types of laser-tissue interaction illustrated above, each has a different function an medical application. For example, photoablation can be used to break apart hard particles while heat can be used to grow tissue and increase cell division (Dr. Michael Berns, Beckman Laser Institute, 2004).

Many new drug delivery devices are being developed to improve various disease treatments. A new micro device utilizing nano-engineered materials has been developed as an attempt to help sure cancer and HIV. This is an advanced drug-delivery system that works with micro-particles to make nearby tissues permeable to the drug. The uses of this device are endless, but just a few applications for this type of drug delivery can be to destroy kidney stones, tumors, and ulcers.

Dr. Shubhra Gangopadhyay from the University of Missouri in Columbia lead this effort. This device, called Mizzou’s Device, is about one cubic inch in size and will be in testing phase for about three years prior to being released to be pharmaceutically available to ensure thorough and adequate testing. Gangopadhyay and her team ensure that the nano-particles are not hazardous to the body and demonstrate no adverse affects in the mice tested. Nems/Mems Works, LLC plans to market the device and the nano-particles associated with it.

-Amy

The field of robotics has been of growing interest for many decades now, however the application of robotics to biomedical uses is a fairly new relationship. Previously, robots have been used to increase the success rate of surgeries, make medical procedures less invasive, and to aid in patient communication. In the medical field, doctors and patients all rely on robots to be accurate and precise everyday.

Now, there’s a new robot in town. This robotic arm is named Airic’s_arm and is made of 30 artificial muscles, several artificial bones that mock human structure, 32 pressure sensors and 6 length sensors. Meet Airic’s_arm:

Airic’s_arm possesses fine and gross motor skills which include writing and lifting a dumbbell. Its artificial fluidic muscles are filled with air to control muscle force and length. These muscles have previously been used in the field of robotics and are made from elastomer reinforced with aramide fibers. When the muscles are contracted, they don’t need anymore energy; hence, the arm could hold something up for an indefinite amount of time. This is achieved by 72 tiny proportional valves that work togther with all the sensors. Airic’s_arm’s artificial bones are extremely unique because they were designed on a computer and engineered in by original process. The bones were grown in a 3-D polyamide structure utilizing lasers to sinter the material.

Watch a video of Airic’s_arm in action, courtesy of the company that created this robot, Festo.

More Information on Airics_arm.

-Amy

There’s so much going on in the world of science, unfortunately I can not cover it all. Here’s the latest buzz going around in the field.

Alzheimer’s Disease Cure on the Way
Purdue University has discovered the first step in a cascade of events leading to amyloid plaque formation in the brain. This is the beginning of finding a cure to Alzheimer’s Disease. A vital enzyme, called memapsin 2, was discovered to be what seems like the cause of plaque formation in the brain. Further research into this area delves into creating a memapsin 2 inhibitor protein to block the function of the enzyme before it causes plaque to build up.

Immune System Activation
Scientists at the University of Michigan have discovered a bacteria that inserts itself into the body and evokes a strong immune response. These bacteria attach onto receptors on the surface of immune cells and hyperactivate them. Think of the possibilities for victims with weak immune systems and post-traumatic surgery patients!

Dr. Heart Robot
HeartLander, a 20 millimeter long robot, has been invented to deliver drugs to the heart in a minimally invasive manner. Surgeons can monitor this robot’s crawling motion across a beating heart with an X-ray video and control its movement by using a joystick. Scientists are continuously developing this robot to become more eclectic so that they may be able to utilize it for the treatment of a plethora of heart conditions.

John Hopkins University is the top biomedical engineering university in the entire nation. Their Urology Robotics lab has successfully built a robot out of plastic, ceramics, and rubber that is powered by light and air; therefore it can function during an MRI (magnetic resonance image) scan without disrupting the reading or breaking down. This robot can precisely remove an organ biopsy while the patient is in the MRI machine. This is important because it can improve the treatment of prostate cancer since prostate cancerous cells are extremely difficult to see outside of the MRI scan. This means that surgeons won’t have to perform a blind cut surgery on the patient.

WOW! No metal. No electronics.

-Amy Shah

The silicone chip below functions just like a live brain cell and can communicate with other brain cells as well, thereore we may be calling it an artificial neuron in the near future. At the University of Southern California Center for Neural Engineering, scientists have created the beginning of an amazing device whose final goal is to revive Alzheimer and brain trauma patients’ memories. Design engineer Vijay Srinivasan can demonstrate how this tiny silicone chip can send impulses down a wire to brain cells. The signals between the chip and a brain cell are almost identical to signals between two communicating brain cells!

Dr. Ted Berger is the big brains behind this idea and he believes that this chip’s ability to communicate with live brain cells is the first step to a fully implantable machine that can possibly one day replace the entire brain. This is a long way down the road and sounds like turning humans into robots, but it is definitely a major breakthrough in human-computer interfaces.

-Amy Shah

What is brain-computer interface? Contrary to what most people believe, the computer cannot read the patient’s mind. Brain-computer interface is an experiemental device that aids physically disabled people to independently control various tasks such as using a television set or checking their e-mail. This is an amazing discovery in science because a person that doesn’t even have the ability to eat food without help can surf the web, watch TV, play video games, and even work on the computer all without any further assistance!

-Amy Shah