Tag: Medical

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...

The sound of cats purring - also from the internet - can bring inner peace. So too a walk with "man’s best friend" - even one on prosthetic legs. Now, a team of US researchers is working on a quick, pain-free method for the early detection of canine cancer. First, a urine sample is required. Next, using so-called Raman...

The right scaffold can improve deteriorating eyesight. If a heart valve stops working, it’s usually replaced. One made from animal tissue might only last a decade. Metal varieties require patients to take medication all their lives. But, according to an English research team, there is another way. Banking on the body’s powers of regeneration, the team has developed a...

Thanks to 3D-printed alternatives, things are getting better for living test objects. Animals, too, could soon be spared chemical testing thanks to the work of an Edinburgh-based research team. Using a 3D printer, the team created a model comprising five interconnected compartments and filled each of those with human cells from the brain, heart, lungs, liver and kidney respectively....

Third degree burns can be treated with lasers. Now a Texas-based research team has discovered that near-infrared light has an important role to play in the fight against cancer. In conjunction with synthetic and biocompatible dyes. The dye molecules attach themselves to cancer cells, and influenced by the light, their atoms start to vibrate with such force that the tumour...

Bears can teach us about blood sugar levels. If our blood sugar - or blood pressure - is too high, it can lead to chronic kidney disease. Early detection is rare, however, since the disease can be symptomless at the start. Enter an Edinburgh-based research team and its high-resolution 3D eye scans. By laser scanning retinal tissue - aka...

Biodegradable pantyliners are not just good for nature. Bacteria and microbes present in menstrual blood provide information about women’s gynaecological health. Which is why a female founder’s startup in London has developed a new service which makes vaginal infections easier to detect while also enabling personalised treatment plans. Customers buy a special screening kit and input their medical data...