The heart is a complex three-dimensional structure with mechanical properties that are inhomogeneous, non-linear, time-variant and anisotropic. These properties affect major physiological factors within the heart, such as the pumping performance of the ventricles, the oxygen demand in the tissue and the distribution of coronary blood flow.
During the cardiac cycle the heart muscle tissue is deformed as a consequence of the active contraction of the muscle fibers and their relaxation respectively. A mapping of this deformation would give increased understanding of the mechanical properties of the heart. The deformation induces strain and stress in the tissue which are both mechanical properties and can be described with a mathematical tensor object.
Epilepsy is a common neurological condition in which the normal electrochemical activity of the brain is disrupted resulting in seizures. The disease affects 1-2% of the worldwide population. According to Epilepsy Australia, it is estimated that over 180,000 Australians are living with epilepsy, approximately 2% of Australians will experience the condition at some point in their lives and up to 5% may experience a one-off epileptic seizure. Epilepsy is controlled, but not cured, by medication, and around 30% of sufferers do not respond well to medication.
In 2008 “la Caixa” Foundation launched a scholarship programme to offer interdisciplinary training and research opportunities to outstanding young graduate students of any nationality to pursue a PhD project at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO).
The “la Caixa”/CNIO international PhD programme offers cross-disciplinary training in state-of-the-art basic and applied cancer research within an international scientific environment. Ten fully funded four year fellowships will be available in 2012. Candidates should have an excellent academic track record, a solid knowledge of English and previous research experience.
Students who gain a place in this new programme obtain full financial support during the four years of the scholarship.
Biomedical Engineering has knocked the doors of innovation constantly in past 1 year. Here we summarise the role of some major ones there are many more innovations as well, These are the major ones which changed the whole scenario of Medicine & healthcare around the world
With a great leap in the field of science and technology at the beginning of the 21st century, people were able to witness the appearance of numerous inventions some of which are already helping patients worldwide, while other devices could lead to serious innovations in the near future.
CEA-Leti and five partners are combining their expertise to develop a self-powered cardiac pacemaker eight times smaller than current models.
The Heart-Beat Scavenger (HBS) Consortium, which also includes the Sorin Group, TIMA, Cedrat Technologies, Tronics and EASII IC, is targeting an energy self-sufficient device that harvests mechanical energy from the movements of the heart, eliminating the need for batteries and post-implant surgeries to replace them.
A longer-term goal of the project is to reduce healthcare expenditures. Heart failure represents one of the biggest public-health costs today in Europe and the United States.
A new study on tumour evolution and spread carried out by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory(CSHL) has found out that tumours wont evolve gradually,but they do it in a punctuated manner(bursts).It is a finding that has already shed new light on the process of tumor growth and metastasis, and may help in the development of new methods to clinically evaluate tumors.
