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Category: biotech/medical – Page 927

Wearable Device Predicts Stroke, Saving Crucial Treatment Time

An Israeli startup has developed a wearable device that can predict the likelihood of an imminent stroke through changes in the carotid artery’s blood flow, potentially helping early intervention and preventing disablity.

Strokes are most commonly caused by a clot blocking the essential supply of blood to the brain, and according to the World Health Organization are the second leading cause of death and the leading cause of disability across the globe.

Over 100 million people have experienced a stroke worldwide, with one in four adults experiencing one in their lifetime. And for 50 percent of them, that means some form of lasting disability.

One Type of Exercise Could Alleviate And Even Delay Alzheimer’s Symptoms

Working on your muscles could help delay the onset of Alzheimer’s symptoms, researchers have revealed.

Researchers from the Federal University of São Paulo and the University of São Paulo in Brazil have uncovered strong evidence that resistance training – where muscles are worked against a weight or a force – could have significant consequences for the brains of dementia patients.

Before you hurriedly renew your gym membership or break out the home exercise equipment, it’s worth bearing in mind that this was a mouse model study. Nevertheless, the same principles are likely to apply to humans.

In a first, a robotic system makes four-arm laparoscopy feasible for surgeons

A new robotic system promises to bring the best out of human surgeons by allowing them to use their feet along with their hands during a laparoscopic operation.

Some surgeries are so complex and tiresome that while performing them doctors may wish they could have four arms. Laparoscopy is one such operation, it is used to diagnose and treat various problems in the abdomen and pelvis region.

Every year more than 13 million laparoscopic surgeries are conducted across the globe and it’s one of those medical procedures that put a lot of mental and physical load on surgeons.

Magnetic robots are walking, crawling, and swimming with ease

These soft-bodied machines are poised to revolutionize confined space tasks and biomedical applications.

Scientists at MIT have achieved a major milestone in robotics by creating tiny soft-bodied robots that can be controlled using a simple magnetic field. These remarkable robots, constructed from flexible magnetic spirals, have the ability to walk, crawl, and even swim, all in response to an easily applicable magnetic force.

Professor Polina Anikeeva, leading the team of researchers behind this innovative creation, expressed her excitement: “This is the first time this has been done, to be able to control three-dimensional locomotion of robots with a one-dimensional magnetic field.”

New study challenges conventional understanding of charging process in electrochemical devices

A new study by researchers at the University of Cambridge reveals a surprising discovery that could transform the future of electrochemical devices. The findings offer new opportunities for the development of advanced materials and improved performance in fields such as energy storage, brain-like computing, and bioelectronics.

Electrochemical devices rely on the movement of charged particles, both ions and electrons, to function properly. However, understanding how these charged particles move together has presented a significant challenge, hindering progress in creating new materials for these devices.

In the rapidly evolving field of bioelectronics, soft conductive materials known as conjugated polymers are used for developing that can be used outside of traditional clinical settings. For example, this type of materials can be used to make wearable sensors that monitor patients’ health remotely or implantable devices that actively treat disease.

Anti-aging is a ‘double-edged sword,’ says a biologist who studies how your cells and molecules just get more tired as you get older

There are many different definitions of aging, but scientists generally agree upon some common features: Aging is a time-dependent process that results in increased vulnerability to disease, injury and death. This process is both intrinsic, when your own body causes new problems, and extrinsic, when environmental insults damage your tissues.

Your body is comprised of trillions of cells, and each one is not only responsible for one or more functions specific to the tissue it resides in, but must also do all the work of keeping itself alive. This includes metabolizing nutrients, getting rid of waste, exchanging signals with other cells and adapting to stress.

The trouble is that every single process and component in each of your cells can be interrupted or damaged. So your cells spend a lot of energy each day preventing, recognizing and fixing those problems.

Synchron Stentrode: Brain Computer Interface for Paralysis

The first endovascular neural interface, the Stentrode™ is a minimally invasive implantable brain device that can interpret signals from the brain for patients with paralysis. Implanted via the jugular vein, the #Stentrode is placed inside the #brain in the command-control center, known as the motor cortex, but without the need for open brain surgery. The signals are captured and sent to a wireless unit implanted in the chest, which sends them to an external receiver. We are building a software suite that enables the patient to learn how to control a computer operating system and set of applications that interact with assistive technologies. This #technology has the potential to enable patients with paralysis to take back digital control of their world, without having to move a muscle.

Synchron is currently preparing for pilot clinical trials of the Stentrode™ to evaluate the safety and efficacy of this breakthrough technology.

Find out more at:
synchronmed.com.
https://twitter.com/synchron_ss

MAGNIFY: Duke researcher tracks deadly shapeshifting cancer tumor

Duke University Science and Technology scholar Trudy Oliver, Ph.D, has made progress with small cell lung cancer by systematically profiling it. For the past 30 years, all patients with the disease have been treated the same, with chemotherapy. In the last handful of years, Oliver and other researchers have shown that they can divide the disease into at least four different subtypes, each of which responds differently to treatment.

New study shows circulating anti-insulin CD4 T cells reflect progression of anti-islet immunity

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease linked to helper T-cell recognition in non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice and humans. Moreover, T1D affects the endocrine pancreas, thus causing patients to be dependent on insulin replacement therapy for the rest of their lives. Monitoring disease progression through peripheral blood sampling could provide insights into the immune-mediated mechanisms of T1D.

In a recent study published in Science Translational Medicine, researchers profile antigen-specific helper clusters of differentiation 4-positive (CD4+) T-lymphocytes to determine anti-islet autoimmunity among mice and humans.