Tag: Medical

Thanks to innovative lung models, testing new medication on animals could soon be ancient history. Human lungs are usually examined by X-ray or ultrasound scans. But now a Canadian startup is working on a modern, mobile solution. Around 120,000 ultrasound clips were analysed, with 270,000 individual images extracted, each annotated with details on healthy and sick tissue and with...

A research camera supplies high-quality images from near and far. Doctors also need a keen eye. For example, when analysing the 70,000 pictures captured by a camera capsule that serve as an alternative to traditional endoscopies. A huge amount of images for humans to process. Cue a Montreal-based startup which has trained an artificial intelligence using 4.9 million images...

There are bras available for women who don’t want to have implants post mastectomy. Elsewhere, ultrasound sensors in bras could detect breast cancer early. But what about preventative treatment before the illness takes hold? Until now it’s proved difficult to test the efficacy of anti-cancer drugs in the lab. Partly because tissue taken from the body perishes within a...

Vaccination patches could be printed locally. Now, a long-term study is offering hope to those who suffer from bacterial urinary infections. Over a 9-year period, a British medical team observed the effects of a spray (containing different types of bacteria) administered under the tongue to 72 women and 17 men. All had suffered previously from UTIs  and took a...

In future, the Zika virus could be detected using mobile phone cameras. Meanwhile, an American research team has been banking on the phone’s magnetometer - not for navigation, but for reading blood sugar levels. First they created a small sensor containing a double-layered hydrogel embedded with tiny magnetic particles. Then they attached it to the smartphone above the magnetometer....

Innovative pacemakers imitate our respiratory patterns. But most device batteries still need replacing. Enter a research team from China which has hit upon an apparently inexhaustible supply of electricity. Using biocompatible materials, the team created a cathode from highly porous gold and an alloy comprising sodium, gallium and tin for the anode. Both react with the oxygen present in...

Self-dissolving medical aids can heal external wounds or restore defective heart valves. Now, using the body’s natural mechanisms, a Canadian-based research team has developed a similar concept to treat corneal abrasions. A certain amount of the enzyme MMP-9 is found naturally in the eye. Released in quantities that are proportional to the wound’s size, it helps the cornea to...

Pullovers from oyster shells are no sailor’s yarn. Mussels can also be a useful medical aid as a South Korean research team has proved with its biodegradable adhesive patch. To make it, they combined sticky proteins from the shellfish with two polymers: polyacryl and sodium salt. When dry, the patch is not adhesive. Instead, its adhesive effect comes into...