Tag Archives: Infection

Smart Catheter to Prevent infections

A new “smart catheter” that senses the start of an infection, and automatically releases an anti-bacterial substance, is being developed to combat the problem of catheter-related blood and urinary tract infections, scientists reported in Baltimore on August 23 at the 244th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.

Dipankar Koley, Ph.D., who delivered the report, said the “smart catheter” technology is being developed for both catheters inserted into blood vessels and the urinary tract.

“About 1.5 million healthcare-associated infections are reported in the United States alone each year, resulting in 99,000 deaths and up to $45 billion in extra health care costs,” said Koley.

Why Anaesthesia is not used for Patients with Burn?

Burn victims must undergo a painful debridement of their wounds in order to prevent infection. Normally, they are given morphine and other non-anesthetic pain-killers. Sadly, this does not work. They still yell in pain during the operation, which is why they have to be housed seperately from other patients.

Why aren’t the burn patients given anesthesia [local or general] prior to the operation? Is there a safety issue with anesthetics?

Reasons for not using Anaesthesia

Burn victims definitely deserve adequate pain relief at all times including during dressing change
They are grossly under-dosed in clinical practice

BIOSENSOR DEVELOPED TO MONITOR SINGLE BACTERIA-BIOMEDICAL INNOVATION

With an invention that can be made from some of the same parts used in CD players, University of Michigan researchers have developed a way to measure the growth and drug susceptibility of individual bacterial cells without the use of a microscope.

The new biosensor promises to speed treatment of bacterial infections, said Raoul Kopelman, who is the Richard Smalley Distinguished University Professor of Chemistry, Physics and Applied Physics and a professor of biomedical engineering, biophysics and chemical biology.

WHAT IS PLASMA?…. USE OF PLASMA IN BIOMEDICAL DEVICE

Plasma is the fourth state of matter. Many places teach that there are three states of matter; solid, liquid and gas, but there are actually four. The fourth is plasma. To put it very simply, a plasma is an ionized gas, a gas into which sufficient energy is provided to free electrons from atoms or molecules and to allow both species, ions and electrons, to coexist.