Bone cells grown on bioactive glass

(Credit: Imperial College)

This is one of the new ways to stimulate bone growth, still being developed by scientists at the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s world leading ISIS neutron source.

• A new type of porous glass is being developed which has ability to dissolve inside a human body.

• When this glass dissolves, it releases certain chemicals which subsequently stimulate bone growth.

• Chemicals that are released by the glass: Calcium and Silicon (Silicon is released to the adjacent body fluids)

• Right concentrations of these two chemicals causes certain genes in bone cells to activate - These genes are the ones that encode proteins controlling the bone cell cycle and the differentiation of the cell to form bone matrix and rapid mineralization of bone nodules - Therefore, the damaged bone is repaired with the addition of new bone cells.

• In order to occur this healing sequence accurately, the rate of glass surface reactions and controlled release of the ions should match with the time sequence of the cell cycle.

• Advantage 1: Bone transplants can be replaced from this technique.

• Advantage 2: Do not release any toxic substances into the body

According to the research paper this technique has previously been used by clinical trials:

“Although variants of these bioactive materials are already in clinical use, and the role of calcium in these materials was already understood as being critical in terms of both the stability of the glass and its bioactivity, no direct and quantitative study of the calcium atoms within the glass network had been undertaken. Using ISIS to study the relationship between these atoms and the host silicate glass via techniques unique to neutron diffraction has enabled us to move forward with the programme. The key outcome of our experiments has been a full understanding, at the level of atomic arrangements, of why it is that calcium is able so easily to leave the glass at the rate required to generate the desired response.”

A glass apart

Compliant poly(carbonate-urea)urethane serves as an elastic scaffold that gives the artificial graft its shape.

(Credit: Courtesy S. Tawqeer Rashid)

Good news for patients who spend their time counting days towards their coronary artery graft bypass surgery for blocked artery recovery. When a coronary artery in our body is blocked, a healthy vein or artery from another part of the body is connected over the blocked area allowing the normal blood flow around the blocked area - this is what happens in a coronary artery graft bypass surgery. But there are certain limitations and disadvantages with this surgery such as limited availability of healthy veins or arteries, significant pain in the area where the vein or artery was removed and longer recovery time.

Now, a group of scientists in London have come up with a solution:

• Development of artificial veins and arteries (artificial graft tissue) using natural human living cells and man made artificial materials with no living cells.

• This artificial graft tissue is elastic and durable and can attach to host tissue tightly.

• It is made of = Compliant poly(carbonate-urea)urethane - a plastic scafold + human vascular smooth muscle cells and epithelial cells from umbilical cords.

• Artificial graft’s strength increases when it is being used.

• According to the scientists, these artificial veins and arteries can be used in coronary artery graft bypass surgeries although “it was believed as something impossible”, a long time ago.

• Advantages 1: Reduce recovery time.

• Advantage 2: Reduce pain after the surgery

• Advantage 3: Make coronary artery graft bypass surgery more available to people who need it.

From the research report: (An invention which greatly reduces the side effects and risks of the surgery done for blocked artery recovery)

In the research report, scientists describe how they took an elastic scaffold (the material that gives the artificial graft its shape) of compliant poly(carbonate-urea)urethane and incorporated human vascular smooth muscle cells and epithelial cells from umbilical cords. Then they took the artificial grafts and simulated blood flow in the laboratory to test their durability. They found that as the pulsing fluid flow slowly increased, the artificial graft’s performance actually improved. The researchers hypothesize that this improvement is because the movement of fluid through the graft stimulates the smooth muscle and epithelial cells to release proteins that strengthen their ability to attachment to the elastic scaffold and other tissues.

Scientists develop “cyborg engineering” for coronary bypass grafting

A filament-shaped artificial virus is formed by using a preorganized supramolecular nanoribbon as a template. The artificial virus, which is composed of the nanoribbon, small interfering RNAs (blue, double-helix shape), and hydrophobic guests (red), is highly efficient in delivering genes and drugs to the inside of cells.

Credit: (C) Wiley-VCH 2008

How are viruses helpful? well, Viruses are experts at transferring genetic materials into a host cell. This ability of viruses has made them to be used in gene therapy in order to transfer genetic materials into diseased cells. But the main drawback of using those natural viruses in treatments is that they can initiate an immune response or can cause cancers inside the body. As a solution artificial viruses can be used, but with a lower efficiency as it is very difficult to control their size and shape.

Now, a group of Korean researchers headed by Myongsoo Lee, have come up with a solution:

• A new type of artificial self-assembled viruses has been developed in order to eliminate all the above mentioned difficulties.

• They have the ability to control their size and shape by themselves - “self-assembled viruses”.

• Filament-shaped.

• A ribbon-like protein structure has been used as the artificial virus’s template.

• In the surface, there are glucose building blocks which enable the virus to easily attach to tumor cells.

• Advantage 1: Very effective when treating cancers.

• Advantage 2: Ease of usage

• Advantage 3: Can transport chemicals up to the level of nuclei of cells

The secret of self-assembled artificial viruses is hidden under their structure:

The researchers started with a ribbonlike protein structure (?-sheet) as their template. The protein ribbons organized themselves into a defined threadlike double layer that sets the shape and size. Coupled to the outside are “protein arms” that bind short RNA helices and embed them. If this RNA is made complementary to a specific gene sequence, it can very specifically block the reading of this gene. Known as small interfering RNAs (siRNA), these sequences represent a promising approach to gene therapy.

Glucose building blocks on the surfaces of the artificial viruses should improve binding of the artificial virus to the glucose transporters on the surfaces of the target cells. These transporters are present in nearly all mammalian cells. Tumor cells have an especially large number of these transporters.

Self-assembled viruses

Filamentous Artificial Virus from a Self-Assembled Discrete Nanoribbon

Michael Goebel / Ludwig-Maximilians University

Bomb explosions are deadly and also cause serious damages to the environment. The reason is that, today’s bombs are usually made of explosive materials such as TNT or RDX, which release highly toxic byproducts - toxic gases - to the environment upon detonation. In addition, these explosive materials are highly sensitive to hard impacts and electric sparks and therefore, are extremely dangerous and must be handled very carefully.

As a solution for the non-environmental friendly bomb explosions problem, a group of scientists in Germany have recently come up an alternative:

• “Environmental friendly bombs” have been created as an alternative for currently existing bombs.

• These bombs are made using a group of different type of explosives - A newly explored group of materials called tetrazoles

• Tetrazoles derive most of their explosive energy from nitrogen unlike TNT, which uses carbon as their energy source

• Researchers have successfully tested tiny bombs made of two types of tetrazoles called HBT and G2ZT

• Advantage 1: “Environmental friendly bombs” release fewer amounts of toxic byproducts to the environment than conventional explosive materials.

• Advantage 2: This new group of explosives are as powerful as TNT and RDX.

• Advantage 3: HBT and G2ZT are less sensitive to physical shocks than conventional explosives and therefore the possibility of happening a bomb explosion accidentally, is less.

More about the research: (More about green bomb explosion)

After the bombs were detonated in the laboratory, G2ZT also proved as powerful than TNT, and HBT more powerful than TNT and comparable to RDX, said researcher Thomas Klap??tke, a chemist at the University of Munich in Germany.

In initial experiments, G2ZT and HBT produced fewer toxic byproducts than common explosives. Still, they did generate some dangerous hydrogen cyanide gas. But mixing these compounds with oxidizers not only avoids making hydrogen cyanide, but also improved performance, Klap??tke said.

Deadly bombs may go green

Johns Hopkins biomedical engineering students Erica Jantho, Hanlin Wan and Swarnali Sengupta test their team’s ICU MOVER, a mobility aid designed to safely ambulate critical care patients.

Photo by Will Kirk

“How TECHNOLOGY improve PATIENT CARE ?”. Well, here is an example - A smart medical device has been designed by a group of biomedical engineering undergraduates at Johns Hopkins University which allows seriously ill ICU patients to get off from their beds and walk around, while they’re still attached to essential monitoring and life-support equipment.

• The device is called ICU MOVER Aid.

• Allow ICU patients to leave their beds and walk.

• Most parts of the ICU MOVER have been built of steel.

• It has a walker type framework which allows the patient to stand on the floor and move around.

• At the behind of the position where the patient’s going to stand, there is a fabric seat attached to the frame, providing more protection to the patient, in case of an emergency.

• Moreover, there is also a tower as a separate component, which houses all the essential medical equipment needed by the ICU patient.

• Tower consists of two oxygen tanks, a cardiac monitor, intravenous infusion pump and a ventilator

• Advantage 1: Reduce the number of staff members needed to accompany a walking ICU patient.
  • Before: Four staff members were needed
  • Now with ICU MOVER: Only two staff members are needed.

• Advantage 2: ICU MOVER is small enough to maneuver through ICU’s narrow hallways.

• Advantage 3: Safe and efficient - Enables safe patient handling for critical care nurses.

• Advantage 4: Improve patient’s recovery

The student-designed ICU MOVER includes a wheeled tower that carries important medical equipment. The devices, top to bottom, are a cardiac monitor, an intravenous infusion pump and a portable ventilator.

Photo by Will Kirk

More about the design from the news release:

This final version features a walker type framework, similar to devices that some frail or elderly people use to get around. Immediately behind the patient, however, a fabric seat is attached to the frame so that a tired patient can sit down. The seat can also “catch” a patient who abruptly collapses because of a medical problem. “We made the seat out of ballistic nylon because we didn’t want it to rip,” said Lerman, 22, from Delray Beach, Fla. “It’s durable, and it’s easy to clean for infection-control purposes.”

As a separate component, the prototype features a tower designed to accommodate two oxygen tanks and three medical devices: a cardiac monitor, intravenous infusion pumps to provide medications, and a ventilator to support breathing. Despite all of the equipment attached to it, the MOVER prototype was small enough to maneuver through the Medical ICU’s narrow hallways, although using it in the ICU patient rooms, which are particularly small, proved to be more challenging. In terms of improved efficiency, the inventors said, the MOVER requires only two hospital staff members to accompany the walking patient, compared with four staff under the earlier system.

Students’ Device Allows ICU Patients to Get Back on Their Feet

Nanomotor racing: Green lines show results of “racing,” where images a, b, c, and d represent the tracks left by various types of speeding nanomotors. The winner is “c,” a “catalytic nanomotor’ composed of gold and platinum nanowires supercharged with carbon nanotubes.

Courtesy of the American Chemical Society

Today’s nanomotors are made with gold and platinum nanowires and are powered by hydrogen peroxide fuel for their self-propulsion. But the main disadvantage behind these tiny items is their extremely slow mobility. It is said that they travel only 10micrometers per second. Therefore, their practical usage has been considered as highly inefficient.

Now a group of researchers in Arizona have come up with a solution:

• A new type of nanomotor has been invented as a replacement for existing low speed nanomotors.

• 10 times more powerful than existing ones.

• It has a speed of about 94- 200 micrometers per second.

• Formed by inserting carbon nanotubes into the platinum and spiking the hydrogen peroxide fuel with hydrazine - in order to gain a higher speed.

• Advantage: Theses nanomotors can be widely used in self-powered nanoscale transport systems or nanoscale delivery systems

See how it happens:

Wang and colleagues supercharged their nanomotors by inserting carbon nanotubes into the platinum, thus boosting average speed to 60 micrometers per second. Spiking the hydrogen peroxide fuel with hydrazine (a type of rocket fuel) kicked up the speed still further, to 94- 200 micrometers per second. This innovation “offers great promise for self-powered nanoscale transport and delivery systems,” the scientists state.

Go Speed Racer! Revving up the world’s fastest nanomotors

Barley tempe
Photo: Emma J??nsson, Chalmers

Tempe: The super vegetarian food - a result of doctoral dissertation work by Charlotte Eklund-Jonsson at the Department of Food Science of Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden - can double the iron uptake speed and can provide a good set of proteins to the human body

Tempe is defined as a whole-grain product with a higher content of foliate made from fermentation of grains such as barley or oat using a micro fungus called Rhizopus oligosporus.

From the press release:

In her work, Charlotte Eklund-Jonsson developed methods to preserve the high fiber content of the cereal grains and at the same time to enhance their content of easily accessible iron. Normally these two considerations work against each other.

Thank you!

New vegetarian food with several benefits

Microscopic noodle bowl having the string of “noodles” inside.

(AP Photo/The Nakao Hamaguchi Laboratory of the University of Tokyo, HO)

A Noodle bowl that can be viewed only through a microscope have been created by Japanese scientists at the University of Tokyo. The item, having a diameter of 1/25,000 of an inch is made out of microscopic carbon nanotubes. The bowl contains a string of “noodles” too. Unfortunately it’s not edible because the noodle string have a length of only one-12,500th of an inch with a thickness of one-1.25 millionth of an inch.

Nanotubes are tube-shaped pieces of carbon, measuring about one-ten-thousandth of the thickness of a human hair.

Carbon nanotubes are being explored for a wide range of uses in electronics and medicine because their structure endows them with powerful physical properties such as a strength greater than steel.

Japanese scientists create microscopic noodle bowl

in a square lattice designed to create nonlinear interference, low-power signals from the bottom and side combine many wave peaks into one with a much higher amplitude.

(Credit: Image courtesy of Cornell University)

In medical imaging systems and security systems X-rays are widely used. But the main disadvantage behind this technology is that X-rays are regarded as dangerous as they cause serious health problems by doing ionizing damage to the penetrated surface. As a solution for this problem, two U.S. researchers have recently come up with an idea of using high-power microwave signals having frequencies of 200GHz and higher, on a CMOS chip, replacing X-rays.

Scientists believe that microwaves with a few hundred gigahertz can penetrate just a short distance into surfaces without doing the ionizing damage.

The technology they have used in order to generate high-power microwaves was a phenomenon known as nonlinear constructive interference - generating a high power signal using two low power signals. What they have ultimately done is that, implementing this microwave generating process on a CMOS chip, enabling more secured medical imaging and security systems.

Linear constructive interference occurs when two signals in phase combine to form a new signal whose amplitude is the sum of the two sources, above.

(Credit: Image courtesy of Cornell University)

Find out more about this technology (From the Article):

Afshari and Bhat propose to use a phenomenon known as nonlinear constructive interference. Linear constructive interference occurs when two signals that are in phase — that is, with their peaks and valleys matched — produce a new signal as large as both added together. But if the signals are traveling through an uneven medium, the waves can become distorted, some delayed, some moving ahead to produce a “nonlinear” result that combines many small waves into fewer large peaks. Afshari likens the effect to the breaking of waves on the seashore. In the open ocean, waves travel as smooth undulations. But near shore the waves encounter an uneven surface at varying depths and become distorted into breakers.

To create this effect on a chip, the researchers propose a lattice of squares made up of inductors — the equivalent of tiny coils of wire — with each intersection grounded through a capacitor. An electrical wave moves across the lattice by alternately filling each inductor then discharging the current into the adjacent capacitor. A capacitor temporarily stores and releases electrons, and these capacitors, made of layers of silicon and silicon dioxide, are designed to vary their storage capacity as the voltage of the signal changes, creating the equivalent of the varying depths of an ocean beach and distorting the timing of the electrical signals that pass by.

When low-frequency, low-power signals are applied simultaneously to both the vertical and horizontal wires of the lattice, the waves they produce interfere as they meet across the lattice, combining many small waves into one large peak. The process produces harmonic signals at multiples of the original frequency, and a high-power, high-frequency signal can be read out somewhere in the middle of the lattice.

How to make microwaves on a chip to replace X-rays for medical imaging and security

Do you like a nultitouch table as in Microsoft surface? Yes? Then go ahead and watch the video. This is a video tutorial of making a tiny, portable multitouch pad called MTmini.

Watch the Youtube video:

How this works: (from the product page)

For this to work, all you need is a room with (at least) some light. The results will be best when the room lighting is even (no bright lights shinning from one direction onto the multitouch pad).

When you place you fingers on the surface, shadows are created where your fingers are. The webcam sees these shadows and sends the image to the tracking software which tracks the shadows as they

MTmini Software (Touchlib) and Updates: