San Diego, Calif., March 22, 2018 — A team of researchers has developed a wearable, non-invasive system to monitor electrical activity in the stomach over 24 hours–essentially an electrocardiogram but for the gastro-intestinal (GI) tract. Applications include monitoring GI activity for patients outside of a clinical setting, which cuts down costs. Monitoring for longer periods...
Category: <span>Devices</span>
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A Cheap, Portable Skin Cancer Detector Has Won the Dyson Award
In Brief A team of engineering graduates has won the prestigious James Dyson Award for their cheap and portable device that can detect melanoma, a form of skin cancer. The device could potentially save thousands of lives, as skin cancer is the most common type worldwide. Meet sKan Detecting skin cancer early isn’t easy. Currently,...
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Low-Cost 3D-Printed Stethoscope for Low-Resource Areas
Scientists at the University of Western Ontario, aka Western University, have developed a 3D-printed stethoscope. The device costs just $3 to produce and takes less than three hours to print, but maintains the acoustic quality of more expensive stethoscopes. The researchers hope that the device could be useful in low-resource settings, where medical equipment is...
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Worn Like a Helmet, a New Brain Scanner Aims to Make It Easier to Treat Kids with Epilepsy
New, wearable brain scanner. Credit: Wellcome A brain scanner now used to guide treatment of patients with epilepsy and other neurological disorders is bulky and challenging to use on fidgety young children—but researchers hope it might soon be replaced by a new machine that’s not much bigger than a bike helmet. Scientists at University College...
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Diamond device paves way for first practical microwave lasers
Before lasers, there were masers — the microwave siblings of optical lasers. But whereas lasers are used in many applications from telescopes to medicine, masers have long languished in the shadows, because they work only in super-cool temperatures or in a vacuum. Now, physicists have created a maser that works in regular conditions — using...
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aerSleep System for Obstructive Sleep Apnea (Interview)
TTP Ventus, UK-based developer of Disc Pump, a tiny, quiet, and very efficient pump, and Sommetrics, US-based creator of aerSleep negative-pressure treatment system for obstructive sleep apnea, teamed up to develop the slimmed-down tetherless aerSleep system. aerSleep has just recently been approved for marketing to patients in Canada. Obstructive sleep apnea is caused by airway collapse during sleep,...
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Newly Developed Microneedles Can Dissolve in the Skin to Deliver Drugs
No one likes getting a shot, so it may come as good news that a team of researchers from the University of Texas at Dallas have created painless, biodegradable microneedles that can break off in the skin and dissolve to administer drugs. A fear of needles may soon be a thing of the past, as...
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Nanostructures created by UCLA scientists could make gene therapies safer, faster and more affordable
UCLA scientists have developed a new method that utilizes microscopic splinter-like structures called “nanospears” for the targeted delivery of biomolecules such as genes straight to patient cells. These magnetically guided nanostructures could enable gene therapies that are safer, faster and more cost-effective. The research was published in the journal ACS Nano by senior author Paul...
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Synthetic Stem Cells Could Offer Therapeutic Benefits, Reduced Risks
Researchers from North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University have developed a synthetic version of a cardiac stem cell. These synthetic stem cells offer therapeutic benefits comparable to those from natural stem cells and could reduce some of the risks associated with stem...
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Spray-on skin that ends misery of burn scars: Battery-powered device uses own patient’s skin and special solution to help victims in just 30 minutes
Spray-on skin is the new pioneering treatment for burn victims Spray-on skin created with a postage stamp-sized piece of the patient’s own skin It is placed in a battery-powered device in a special solution containing enzymes The technology can help burns victims heal without painful skin grafts When little Zed Merrick scolded himself with a...