Michigan State University is perfecting new technology that not only warns of a problem with indoor air, but also identifies the source of the pollution and offers suggestions on how to remedy the situation

Posted on December 18, 2016 by

Air in the home can be heavily polluted just by daily household activities. Unfortunately, since many indoor air pollutants are colorless and odorless, people often fail to detect them. A team of engineers at Michigan State University is perfecting new technology that not only warns of a problem with indoor air, but also identifies the source of the pollution and offers suggestions on how to remedy the situation. Mi Zhang, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, is h...

NIST’s research team has come up with a way to build safe, nontoxic gold wires onto flexible thin plastic film for wearable electronic devices that monitor our health

Posted on December 18, 2016 by

In science, sometimes the best discoveries come when you’re exploring something else entirely. That’s the case with recent findings from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where a research team has come up with a way to build safe, nontoxic gold wires onto flexible, thin plastic film. Their demonstration potentially clears the path for a host of wearable electronic devices that monitor our health. The finding might overcome a basic issue confronting medical engineers: ...

‘eSight’ is a revolutionary electronic glasses that let people with vision loss actually see

Posted on December 17, 2016 by

eSight is the only patented, assistive-device of its kind anywhere in the world. eSight is wearable, handsfree, portable - and most importantly, eSight is a non-surgical device. eSight is registered with the United States FDA. eSight Corporation is inspected by Health Canada. eSight’s wearable, hands-free headset houses a small, high-speed camera that captures everything the eSight user is looking at. The captured live video stream is instantly sent to a powerful computer that uses proprietar...

‘Horus’ is a wearable device for people with vision challange, to observe, understands and describes the environment by reading texts, recognize faces, objects and much more

Posted on December 17, 2016 by

Horus is a wearable device that observes, understands and describes the environment to the person using it, providing useful information with the right timing and in a discreet way using bone conduction. Horus is able to read texts, to recognize faces, objects and much more. Horus is composed by a wearable headset with cameras and by a pocket unit that contains a powerful processor and a long lasting battery. The user can activate each functionality through a set of buttons located both on th...

Universities of Liverpool and Bristol – Stem cell ‘living bandage’ for knee injuries

Posted on December 16, 2016 by

A ‘living bandage’ made from stem cells, which could revolutionise the treatment and prognosis of a common sporting knee injury, has been trialled in humans for the first time by scientists at the Universities of Liverpool and Bristol. Meniscal tears are suffered by over one million people a year in the US and Europe alone and are particularly common in contact sports like football and rugby. 90% or more of tears occur in the white zone of meniscus which lacks a blood supply, making them diff...

U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Maci (autologous cultured chondrocytes on porcine collagen membrane) for the repair of symptomatic, full-thickness cartilage defects of the knee in adult patients

Posted on December 16, 2016December 16, 2016 by

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Maci (autologous cultured chondrocytes on porcine collagen membrane) for the repair of symptomatic, full-thickness cartilage defects of the knee in adult patients. Maci is the first FDA-approved product that applies the process of tissue engineering to grow cells on scaffolds using healthy cartilage tissue from the patient’s own knee. Knee problems are common, and occur in people of all ages. Cartilage defects in the knee can result from an i...

Berkeley-Stanford team creates a system that can help us see Electrical Signaling in heart and nerve Cells

Posted on December 16, 2016 by

Scientists have enlisted the exotic properties of graphene, a one-atom-thick layer of carbon, to function like the film of an incredibly sensitive camera system in visually mapping tiny electric fields in a liquid. Researchers hope the new method will allow more extensive and precise imaging of the electrical signaling networks in our hearts and brains. The ability to visually depict the strength and motion of very faint electrical fields could also aid in the development of so-called lab-on-...

IBM Multi-Purpose Elder Care Robot Assistant (IBM MERA)

Posted on December 15, 2016 by

IBM (NYSE: IBM) Research today announced the creation of the prototype IBM Multi-Purpose Eldercare Robot Assistant (IBM MERA) done in collaboration with Rice University. IBM MERA is a first of a kind Watson-enabled application designed to help assist the elderly and their caregivers. IBM Research also has plans to work with Sole Cooperativa, an independent healthcare provider in Italy, to instrument senior housing with sensors to monitor day-to-day activities of its residents. Accor...

University of Minnesota has developed a prototype that allows people to control a robotic arm using only their brain.

Posted on December 15, 2016 by

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have made a major breakthrough that allows people to control a robotic arm using only their minds. The research has the potential to help millions of people who are paralyzed or have neurodegenerative diseases. The study is published online today in Scientific Reports, a Nature research journal. View a University of Minnesota video of the research subjects in action. “This is the first time in the world that people can operate a robotic arm t...

Diabetes patients can now draw blood without discomfort using ‘Genteel Lancing ‘ device which uses a combination of depth control, vibration & vacuum.

Posted on December 13, 2016December 13, 2016 by

Testing blood glucose levels 5-10 times daily is a daily requirement for those living with Type 1 Diabetes. There is no way around it. With Genteel Lancing Instrument, you can test painlessly anywhere on your body, giving your fingertips a break! By using a combination of depth control, vibration, vacuum, people with diabetes, can now get test blood without fear or the pain of the dreaded finger-stick. Genteel® Lancing Device allows diabetics to draw the perfect drop of test blood without ...

Key Findings Of National Eye Institute (NEI) and the Department of Defense (DoD) Limited 2009 LASIK ‘Quality Of Life’ Study

Posted on December 13, 2016December 13, 2016 by

In October 2009, the National Eye Institute (NEI), and the Department of Defense (DoD) launched the LASIK Quality of Life Collaboration Project (LQOLCP) to help better understand the potential risk of severe problems that can result from LASIK. The project aimed to develop a tool to determine the percent of patients who develop difficulties performing their usual activities following LASIK, and to identify predictors for those patients. At the time FDA developed our project, there was a limi...

SISSA RESEARCH STUDY SUGGEST THAT FOOD KNOWLEDGE IS RESILIENT EVEN IN ALZHEIMER’S, IT IS A COGNITIVE CATEGORY THAT “RESISTS”

Posted on December 12, 2016December 12, 2016 by

A SISSA research study published in a special issue of the journal Brain and Cognition, completely dedicated to the cognitive neuroscience of food, analyzes the lexical-semantic deficits of the food category in patients suffering from neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's. The study shows that knowledge about food is preserved more than other categories of stimuli, even in the case of severe syndromes. Further, perception of caloric intake affects a person’s ability to remember the na...

H&T Presspart, Cohero Health launch connected metered-dose inhaler

Posted on December 12, 2016 by

H&T Presspart and Cohero Health said today that the companies have launched a connected metered-dose inhaler designed to improve adherence and optimize care for patients with asthma and COPD. It is the 1st connected inhaler integrated with Cohero Health’s BreatheSmart comprehensive respiratory disease management platform. The 2 companies developed the metered-dose inhaler over the course of a multi-year agreement. Improving patient adherence is vital, the companies said, as less than half...

Max Planck’s reserach discribes, how eyes form pictures at a cellular level by arranging neurons into distinct layers

Posted on December 12, 2016 by

How cells set the stage for the visual world Researchers reveal the crucial first step that forms the different layers of the retina The retina consists of different layers of neurons. Emerging neurons have to migrate to find the right position in the appropriate layer. However, how these migration events are executed and orchestrated is poorly understood. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG) in Dresden now studied how the first layer of neur...

Cambridge Consultants non-invasive, non-contact ‘Skintuition’ technology that allows you to visualize the secrets of your skin

Posted on December 9, 2016 by

New technology unlocks the ability to analyse and understand the secrets of our skin Today’s imaging and sensing technology can reveal important information about our bodies – from our bone structure to our brain activity. But what about tapping into the health and wellness information hidden within our skin? Product design and development firm Cambridge Consultants has harnessed this possibility with a multispectral imaging technology demonstrator called Skintuition. It offers a non-invas...

Imperial College London and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology Research suggest handful of nut consumption each day linked to reduced risk for wide range of diseases

Posted on December 9, 2016 by

A large analysis of current research shows that people who eat at least 20g of nuts a day have a lower risk of heart disease, cancer and other diseases. The analysis of all current studies on nut consumption and disease risk has revealed that 20g a day - equivalent to a handful - can cut people's risk of coronary heart disease by nearly 30 percent, their risk of cancer by 15 percent, and their risk of premature death by 22 percent. An average of at least 20g of nut consumption was also ass...

TSRI scientists discover sub-region in the brain that works to form contextual fear memory

Posted on December 9, 2016 by

While the romantic poets' idea of memories being akin to spirits may have poetic merit, the scientists' perspective is that memories are concrete, physical entities that can be visualized within various regions of the brain. Sathyanarayanan V. Puthanveettil is an associate professor on the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute. (Photo by James McEntee.) Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have now for the first time identified a sub-region...

PENN STATE University Research – Oxygen can wake up dormant bacteria for antibiotic attacks

Posted on December 8, 2016 by

Bacterial resistance does not come just through adaptation to antibiotics, sometimes the bacteria simply go to sleep. An international team of researchers is looking at compounds that attack bacteria's ability to go dormant and have found the first oxygen-sensitive toxin antitoxin system. "Antibiotics can only kill bacteria when they are actively growing and dividing," said Thomas K. Wood, professor of chemical engineering and holder of the Biotechnology Endowed Chair, Penn State. "But, envir...

MIT research on neural control of bionic prostheses will allow users to dynamically adapt their gait to changing terrains.

Posted on December 8, 2016 by

Proportional EMG Control of Ankle Plantar Flexion in a Powered Transtibial Prosthesis The human calf muscle generates 80% of the mechanical work to walk throughout stance-phase, powered plantar flexion. Powered plantar flexion is not only important for walking energetics, but also to minimize the impact on the leading leg at heel-strike. For unilateral transtibial amputees, it has recently been shown that knee load on the leading, intact limb decreases as powered plantar flexion in the traili...

X-ray technique at Berkeley Lab provides high-res views of the structure and movement of genetic material in cell nuclei

Posted on December 7, 2016 by

Scientists have mapped the reorganization of genetic material that takes place when a stem cell matures into a nerve cell. Detailed 3-D visualizations show an unexpected connectivity in the genetic material in a cell’s nucleus, and provide a new understanding of a cell’s evolving architecture. These unique 3-D reconstructions of mouse olfactory cells, which govern the sense of smell, were obtained using X-ray imaging tools at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (B...

IBM’s Dr. Tanveer Syeda-Mahmood has developed Watson modules for doctors aimed at improving the accuracy of diagnoses for stroke, mammography, radiology and cancer, previously un-diagnosed by human inspection.

Posted on December 6, 2016December 6, 2016 by

Watson has identified cases of heat disease previously undiagnosed by human inspection of ultra-sonic imaging, clinical tests and case notes, according to IBM at the Conference on Medical Image Computer Assisted Intervention (MICCAI). As a result, IBM is offering five new Watson modules to doctors aimed at improving the accuracy of diagnoses for stroke, mammography, radiology and cancer. IBM Watson is a cognitive system (computer) enabling a new partnership between people and computers. It tu...

Northwest University Research – Perils of Too Much Relaxation in Assisted Living

Posted on December 5, 2016 by

You wake up and someone makes you breakfast. You attend a lecture, eat lunch and enjoy a book club meeting, then eat dinner with friends, and finish the night with a movie before heading to bed. While this lifestyle sounds convenient and relaxing, it may be what is killing older adults in assisted living communities. The Good and the Bad of Assisted Living More than 735,000 older adults nationwide live in assisted living communities. These communities promote a hassle-free and accessible liv...

Max Planck Research Suggests Individual lifespans are becoming more similar

Posted on December 5, 2016 by

Scientists discover a novel regularity for vastly different human societies and epochs On average, as lives get longer, the difference in the age at which people die becomes smaller. By analyzing data from 44 countries, researchers have now proven that life expectancy and the variation of individual lifespans are tightly bound together by a mathematical relationship. If life expectancy decreases in times of crisis, then, according to the same mathematical logic, the distribution of the leng...

Research on correlation of Money & Happiness

Posted on December 4, 2016 by

In contrast to decades of research reporting surprisingly weak relationships between consumption and happiness, recent findings suggest that money can indeed increase happiness if it is spent the “right way” (e.g., on experiences or on other people). Drawing on the concept of psychological fit, we extend this research by arguing that individual differences play a central role in determining the “right” type of spending to increase well-being. In a field study using more than 76,000 bank-trans...

Staying Positive – Daily habits of behavior and thought processes have the ability to alter the architecture of brain structure and connectivity

Posted on December 4, 2016 by

Neuroscientists recently made a correlation between an increase of alpha brain waves—either through electrical stimulation or mindfulness and meditation—and the ability to reduce depressive symptoms and increase creative thinking. Our various states of consciousness are directly connected to the ever-changing electrical, chemical, and architectural environment of the brain. Daily habits of behavior and thought processes have the ability to alter the architecture of brain structure and connect...

Israeli company Urban Aeronautics completed a test flight for a robotic autonomous flying air ambulance.

Posted on December 4, 2016 by

Urban Aeronautics has announced that its Cormorant Unmanned Air vehicle (UAV) prototype has performed its first autonomous pattern flight including low flight over uneven terrain. Urban Aeronautics AirMule, formerly Air Mule or Mule, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) codename Pereira (shapiyriyt; שפירית‎ Shafririt )(Dragonfly), is an unmanned flying car UAS designed by Rafi Yoeli and built by Tactical Robotics LTD., a subsidiary of Urban Aeronautics LTD. in Yavne, Israel. It will be used in sear...

UK’s Cambridge Consultant Axsis technology has developed a surgical robot that can perform cataract eye surgery

Posted on December 3, 2016December 3, 2016 by

Cambridge Consultants, a UK-based product design firm, is showing off a highly dextrous robotic surgical system that it developed. The Axsis robot was created to overcome the limitations of existing surgical robots. Miniaturising robotics design Axsis technology heralds the next wave of surgical robotics innovation Propelling surgical innovation to the next stage, product design and development firm Cambridge Consultants is showcasing Axsis – one of the smallest known robots for surgica...

MIT Media Lab’s Biomechatronics group develops Bionic ankle-foot prosthesis that normalizes walking gait for persons with leg amputation

Posted on December 3, 2016 by

Biomechatronics Group at MIT Media Lab's mission is two fold. First, seek to restore function to individuals who have impaired mobility due to trauma or disease through research and development. Second, develop technologies that augment human performance beyond what nature intends. These objectives are met by combining the scientific discipline of organismal and cellular neuromechanics with the technological discipline of bionic device design. Our research staff and students include biomecha...

BRAIN (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies) White House’s Initiative

Posted on December 3, 2016 by

BRAIN (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies) White House's Initiative® – a bold, new initiative focused on revolutionizing our understanding of the human brain. The BRAIN Initiative is one of the Administration’s “Grand Challenges” – ambitious but achievable goals that require advances in science and technology. Since the President announced the BRAIN Initiative, dozens of leading technology firms, academic institutions, scientists, and other key contributors to the f...

Cornell University’s research suggests being positive amid daily stress is good for long-term health

Posted on December 2, 2016 by

Relax. Breathe. It’s all small stuff. When faced with life’s daily challenges, adults who don’t maintain a positive outlook have shown elevated physiological markers for inflaming cardiovascular and autoimmune disease, according to new research by Cornell University and Penn State psychologists. “Hassles and minor frustrations are common in day-to-day living. Our findings suggest that how people react to daily stressors may matter more … than the frequency of such stressors,” explain the rese...