Category Archives: ALERTS & INFORMATION

MRI perilous for pacemaker patients:IMAGING STUDY

Exposure to an MRI magnetic field can cause unintended cardiac stimulation and considerably alter pulse in patients implanted with pacemakers–conditions that can have potentially devastating consequences–according to research published Dec. 15 in BioMedical Engineering Online.

Howard I. Bassen, a researcher with the FDA in Rockville, Md., and Gonzalo G. Mendoza, a biomedical engineer at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., measured the electric fields (E-fields) induced near the tips of pacemakers by a simulated MRI gradient system to assess the risks involved in patients with a cardiac device who undergo MRI.

According to the researchers, “patients are generally not allowed (by present practices) to undergo MRI procedures if they have implanted cardiac and neurological stimulations devices,” however, some clinicians “condone scanning patients” implanted with cardiac pacemakers. In addition, Bassen and Gonzalo noted that there has been a push to develop medical implants that are MRI compatible.

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BRAIN CANCER STOPPED USING VENOM

BRAIN CANCER STOPPED BY SCORPION VENOM
Cutting the Spread of Tumors
Scientists have been looking at chlorotoxin, a peptide in scorpion venom, for the past decade as a way to target cancer cells. And the big payday has arrived. By combining nanoparticles with a scorpion venom mix already being investigated for treating brain cancer, University of Washington researchers found they could cut the spread of cancerous cells by 98 percent, compared to 45 percent for the scorpion venom alone (www.uwnews.org).
This is the first time that nanoparticles, which are ultrafine particles, have been combined with a treatment that physically stops cancer’s spread. “People talk about the treatment being more effective with nanoparticles but they don’t know how much, maybe 5 percent or 10 percent,” said Miqin Zhang, professor of materials science and engineering.  “This was quite a surprise to us.”  She is lead author of the study.
Chlorotoxin binds to a surface protein on many types of tumors, including brain cancer.  Chlorotoxin also disrupts the spread of tumors.
The Whole is Greater than the Parts
The researchers investigated chlorotoxin when it is attached to nanoparticles and found that the treatment’s effect doubles compared to chlorotoxin alone.  Adding nanoparticles often improves a therapy, partly because the combination lasts longer in the body and so has a better chance of reaching the tumor.  Combining also boosts the effect because therapeutic molecules clump around each nanoparticle.
Slowing the spread of cancer would be especially useful for treating highly invasive tumors, such as brain cancer.  The technique could hypothetically also slow the spread of other tumors with the same kind of activity, such as breast, colon, skin, lung, prostate, and ovarian cancers.
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FUTURE OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING IN INDIA PERTAINING BRAIN DRAIN

As we know today in India we think that only those branches of engineering are important which are job oriented and others have no meaning for us.This has acted like a sabotage for the development of biomedical in the country

A surgical team from Wilford Hall Medical Cent...
Image via Wikipedia

We can see easily that today people prefer to go outside the country after doing biomedical engineering for the purpose of post-graduation so that they can secure a good job there as in the world of developed nations people of our country are ready to mould themselves according to the circumstances present there. I personally feel that brain drain of biomedical engineers to west is taking place because of the lack of resources in our country and laziness of our leaders as well as students for the promotion of the resources  available in the country

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Brain scans reveal what's in your mind's eye

Brain scans reveal what's in your mind's eye

Scientists are getting closer to being able to create an image of whatever you’re picturing your mind. This is either completely amazing or absolutely terrifying. Maybe a little bit of both.

To construct their model, the researchers used an fMRI machine, which measures blood flow through the brain, to track neural activity in three people as they looked at pictures of everyday settings and objects.As in the earlier study, they looked at parts of the brain linked to the shape of objects. Unlike before, they looked at regions whose activity correlates with general classifications, such as “buildings” or “small groups of people.”

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This is no phone; it's an ultrasound machine-BIOMEDICAL ADVANCEMENTS

This is no phone; it's an ultrasound machine

This is the GE VScan portable ultrasound machine. Yes, it looks almost exactly like a flip phone, but you can’t make any calls on it.

Instead, it’s designed to make giving ultrasounds cheaper and easier, reducing the number of referrals and improving diagnoses. Because more doctors will be able to have these things, they’ll be able to use them instead of sending patients elsewhere. Also, they can carry one in their purse in case they really need to do an ultrasound on the go, which I’m sure will come in handy.

Pocket-Lint via Engadget

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LifeHand restores touch using thought-controlled robotics-BIOMEDICAL NEWS

Related Sections: Future Tech Medical Miscellaneous

LifeHand restores touch using thought-controlled robotics

LifeHand restores touch using thought-controlled robotics

Bringing to mind images of Luke Skywalker’s robotic hand in the film Star Wars, an Italian team recently achieved a prosthetics breakthrough that mirrors science fiction. Neurologist Paolo Maria Rossini led a team at Rome’s Campus Bio-Medico, to create a robotic hand that allows the wearer to control the hand with thoughts and feel sensations through the device.

Funded by the European Union to the tune of $3 million, the project marks the first time an amputee has been able to make truly complex movements using a robotic prosthetic. Called the LifeHand, the project is just the beginning as another E.U. initiative called the SmartHand hopes to replace an entire human arm.

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