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Latest in medical technology

  Novel Rehabilitation Device Improves Motor Skills of Patients With Stroke History

New research indicates that stroke patients reported improvements in their motor function and ability to perform activities of daily living after using a novel stroke rehabilitation device that converts an individual's thoughts to electrical impulses to move upper extremities.

The Wisconsin team conducted a small clinical trial of their rehabilitation device, enlisting eight patients with one hand affected by stroke. The patients were also able to serve as a control group by using their normal, unaffected hand. Patients in the study represented a wide range of stroke severity and amount of time elapsed since the stroke occurred. Despite having received standard rehabilitative care, the patients had varying degrees of residual motor deficits in their upper extremities. Each underwent nine to 15 rehabilitation sessions of two to three hours with the new device over a period of three to six weeks.


  Portable Device Invented for Kidney Tests

A portable device has been invented at UCLA that conducts kidney tests and transmits the information through a smartphone. The smartphone-based device was developed in the research lab of Aydogan Ozcan, a professor of electrical engineering and bioengineering at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, and associate director of the California NanoSystems Institute. Weighing about one-third of a pound, the gadget can determine levels of albumin in the patient's urine and transmit the results within seconds. Albumin is a protein in blood that is a sign of danger when found in urine.

The time it takes to conduct a test, including preparation of a sample using a small syringe to inject the urine into a fluorescent tube, is about five minutes. Ozcan estimates that the device for which his lab also has developed an iPhone app — could be produced commercially for $50 to $100 per unit.


  Tiny Implant for Continuous Blood Analysis

A Swiss team from Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) has developed a tiny implant that can monitor the concentration of a number of proteins and organic acids in the body while transmitting that information to an external device. The implant does not run on battery, but is continuously powered through induction by an electronic patch on top of the skin that delivers 1/10 watt of current. The patch also functions as a data relay, receiving readings from the implant and transmitting them via Bluetooth to a smartphone, for example, where they can be analyzed.

The implant includes five sensors and offers a new approach to monitoring disease, assessing the effectiveness of chemotherapy, and a variety of other clinical uses.

The implant is in the experimental stages, but has demonstrated that it can reliably detect several commonly traced substances. To capture the targeted substance in the body – such as lactate, glucose, or ATP – each sensor’s surface is covered with an enzyme.

The implant could be particularly useful in chemotherapy applications. Currently, oncologists use occasional blood tests to evaluate their patients’ tolerance to a particular treatment dosage. In these conditions, it is very difficult to administer the optimal dose.


  New Device to Detect Cancerous Mole

At times it becomes really difficult to gauge the hidden symptoms of skin cancer. The skin cancer are difficult to comprehend has our skin goes through a number of changes. However, recently a device to detect the cancerous mole has been devised, which will help in diagnosing skin cancer at a very tender age.

The new device will soon be available that can keep track of spots on the body and warn people of any newcomers that should get a closer look. The device has been developed by company Constellation Diagnostics. It has been reported that the device is a camera-based device that will allow patients to perform regular skin scans and receive immediate notification of new moles that didn’t exist on previous scans. The device will be made available to physicians, gyms and the like, and individuals for use at home.