tMED Skills Night & LAN Party

Hello tMED members!

tMED is planning to host our first-ever skills night. The activities we are planning to do include a tour of the Canadian Light Source synchrotron here at the U of Sask, followed by supper, and then three more activities to teach students about available medical technology, medical procedure simulators, and allowing students to experience telehealth for rural and remote healthcare. We are still finalizing the details, so stay tuned for more information!

We are also planning a LAN Party for late March to give students a chance to relax, have fun, and create some comradery, all while playing Team Fortress 2 and possibly some other games. We will let you know more in the coming weeks!

MEDEC: Canada's Medical Technology Companies

The Canadian medical technology industry has teamed up to create MEDEC, a national association that is the primary source for advocacy, information, and education on the medical technology industry for members, the greater healthcare community, industry partners, and the general public in Canada, as well as through the Global MEDTECH Alliance. MEDEC has four pillars: Enhancing patient care; Improving patient access; Enabling healthcare system sustainability; and Recognizing healthcare as an economic driver.

http://www.medec.org/

TACS in Parkinson's Disease

Current electrical stimulation treatments for Parkison's disease involve placing electrodes deep into the brain to stimulate certain regions of the brain. The treatment works well and can greatly improve quality of life, but is not without risks, including bleeding, and is expensive. However, researchers at Oxford University have developed a new technique, called transcranial alternating current stimulation (TACS), that uses electrodes that can be place on the skin, or even just beneath the skin that has the potential to achieve the same effect. Placing one electrode near the base of the neck and a second electrode on the skin over the motor cortex region of the brain, the two electrodes send matched signals through the brain that cancel out the tremour signal, analagous to how noise-cancelling headphones work. The technology still has to be developed into a viable therapy, including a system to detect the native signals in the brain and deliver the signal to cancel out the tremour.

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-therapy-electricity-cancel-parkinson-tremors.html#jCp

The New Improved Pill Camera

Prof. Khan Wahid of the U of Sask is working to improve the standard pill camera used by gastroenterologists to get a better view of your digestive tract. A an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, Dr. Wahid and his team have developed new algorithms that greatly improve the capture and professing of images that increases the frame rate and quality of the imagess, reduce the workload of the onboard computer chip, and helps extend the battery life. They are also working to improve the quality of life of the patient during the procedure by replacing the data recorder with a mobile device app and SIM card-sized receiver that would store the information on the patient's smartphone.

http://news.usask.ca/2013/01/25/inside-view-improving-endoscopy-imaging/

A Bionic Hand that can Feel

Dr. Silvestro Micera of the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland has developed a new bionic hand for amputees that has the ability to both be controlled by the nervous system as well as receiving sensory signals from the hand's sensors. The hand will be attached directly to the median and ulnar nerves, hopefully allowing for two-way communication between the patient and the prosthetic. The new bionic hand will be attached to a patient later this year (2013) in hopes that it will help create new generations of prosthetics with sensory perception. If all goes well in this study, Dr. Micera hopes to have a fully-working model available for testing within two years.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/a-sensational-breakthrough-the-first-bionic-hand-that-can-feel-8498622.html
http://www.livescience.com/27282-improved-bionic-hand-under-development.html

High Tech Temporary Tattoo

Princeton professor Michael McAlpine has invented a temporary tattoo that can detect things like bacterial infections, allowing for real-time detection and monitoring. Made of graphene, gold wires, and strings of silk, with a miniature antenna, the tattoo would be applied like a temporary novelty tattoo, and send signals to a computer when the substance in question is detected. The tattoo fades quickly, but with the recent grant he received, Prof. McAlpine hopes to increase the staying power of the tattoo and begin testing in hospitals.

http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S33/79/62E42/index.xml?section=topstories
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2275997/Tattoo-calls-help-fall-ill-researchers-believe-coming-arm-near-soon.html#axzz2JgeybSN1

15-Year-Old Just Changed Cancer Detection

15-year-old high school student Jack Andraka has invented a new detection method for pancreatic cancer. His method is to dip coat ordinary filter paper with carbon nanotubes and antibodies, with the concept being that the antibodies that bind to the malignant proteins will interfere with the electrical conductivity between the carbon nanotubes (in this case, mesothelin). Compared to current ELISA diagnostic methods, these sensor strips that Jack invented are 168 times faster (taking 5 minutes to run), 26,667 times less expensive (costs are approximately 3 cents per strip), and 400 times more sensitive (achieving almost 100% accuracy). The test was able to detect mesothelin levels down to 0.156 ng/ml, and may have potential in the detection of other cancers such as ovarian and mesothelioma. He had a great deal of difficulty in getting researchers to take him seriously when he proposed the idea, having contacted 200 professors at Johns Hopkins University and the National Institutes of Health with a plan, a budget, and timeline for his project in order to receive laboratory help, but received 199 rejections before getting a positive reply from Dr. Anirban Maitra, Professor of Pathology, Oncology and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Jack's efforts have paid of enormously; he won the 2012 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair grand prize, and, among his various prizes, he was awarded a total of $100,500.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnnosta/2013/02/01/cancer-innovation-and-a-boy-named-jack/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/bruceupbin/2012/06/18/wait-did-this-15-year-old-from-maryland-just-change-cancer-treatment/
http://www.societyforscience.org/isef/

Cyborg Foundation

While not directly about medicine, the Cyborg Foundation is an interesting organization that aims to aims to help people become cyborgs (extend their senses by applying cybernetics to the organism); defend cyborg rights and promote the use of cybernetics in the arts. They have some interesting projects on the go, starting with the Eyeborg: a device to allow artist Neil Harbisson to sense colour; and has since branched out to include the Speedborg: a radar device to allow wearers to detect the speed of an object, the Fingerborg: a prosthetic finger with a camera to allow the user to film and take pictures, and the 360º Sensory Extension: extending human perception through the use of motion detectors worn on the back of the head. They do not intend to repair people's senses, and make no difference between with or without disabilities, rather they intend to extend our senses and perception.

(For those wondering what the difference between cybernetics, cyborgs, and bionics, cybernetics is the "the study of human control functions and of mechanical and electronic systems designed to replace them, involving the application of statistical mechanics to communication engineering," cyborgs are "a living being whose powers are enhanced by computer implants or mechanical body parts," and bionics in medical terms means "having anatomical structures or physiological processes that are replaced or enhanced by electronic or mechanical components." In other words, cyborgs have augmented and enhanced senses and capabilities, whereas bionics are about replacing or augmenting physiological processes and structure; cybernetics is about the study of communication and control systems of in biological, mechanical, and electronic systems, especially the comparison of these processes in biological and artificial systems.)

Medgadget

There's a blog that wants to let the world know what is the latest news in medical technology. Medgadget is an independent weblog, written, edited, and published by a group of MDs and biomed engineers, as an independent journal of the latest medical gadgets, technologies, and discoveries.

http://www.medgadget.com/
http://www.facebook.com/Medgadget

FutureMed

If you want to know what is on the cutting edge of changes in technology and paradigms in medicine, FutureMed is the conference to attend. Hosted by Singularity University on the NASA Research Park in Silicon Valley, FutureMed is an annual conference that brings together leading thinkers and practitioners to inform physicians, innovators, inventors, investors and senior healthcare executives to help incorporate new technologies into medicine. Space is very limited, so you have to apply early if you want to attend.

http://futuremed2020.com/

FutureMed Conference


TEDTalk: Daniel Kraft, MD on the Future of Medicine

Rex the Bionic Man

Roboticists in the UK have assembled a variety of prosthetic body parts from 18 companies and universities to create a humanoid robot. With a face modeled on Swiss psychologist Bertolt Meyer, who himself uses the iLimb ultra bionic hand and star of the recent Channel 4 documentary How to Build a Bionic Man (which shows some of the phenomenal technology in the works), Rex is a $1 million dollar collection of prosthetic body parts. Some of the components of Rex are: a self teaching arm with 26 degrees of movement; glasses that send images to a microchip in the retina that sends the info to the computer brain; synthetic blood; artificial lungs, an artificial pancreas with insulin stored in gel which softens and liquefies in the presence of excess glucose; a self-regulating artificial kidney, made up of a silicon nanoscale filtration system; a man-made spleen, bladder, ear, trachea and arteries; cochlear implants; a speech generator; bionic ankles using a motor and spring system to mimic human calf muscle and Achilles tendon; a battery powered heart; and an exoskeleton designed to allow paraplegics to walk. Rex is currently on display at the Science Museum in London, followed by an exhibition at The Smithsonian in Washington, DC. All I can say is "Wow..."

http://www.medgadget.com/2013/02/uk-roboticists-build-rex-the-bionic-man-with-video.html
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/how-to-build-a-bionic-man

Plastic Scaffold for Bone

At the University of Southampton, in partnership with the University of Edinburgh, a research team has developed a new tissue engineering scaffold that allows bone to grow, with potential uses in bone repair. The study, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, developed a scaffold using three different types of plastics that is capable of supporting bone stem cells. The honeycomb plastic scaffold slowly degrades after the bone has grown, and successful lab and animal tests have paved the way for moving toward human clinical trials.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adfm.201202710/abstract
http://phys.org/news/2013-02-implants-broken-bones.html#jCp
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/smll.201202340/abstract
http://phys.org/news/2013-02-stem-cell-breakthrough-bone-therapies.html

The First Bionic Eye on the US Market

The Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System, developed by Second Sight Medical Products, is expected to be approved by the US FDA (it has already been approved by European Regulators). The bionic eye consists of 60 electrodes implanted in the retina that are sent a signal by a transmitter attached to a pair of glasses with a camera. The camera takes in the image, converts the image to an electrical signal in the visual processing unit worn by the patient, transmits the signal to a receiver attached to the eye, and on to the electrode array that delivers small electrical impulses to the nerves in the retina. Designed for use in patients with retinitis pigmentosa, the bionic eye has allowed patients to regain some level of sight, in some cases including some colour vision, though total vision is limited to a 20° maximum possible field of view.

http://2-sight.eu/en
http://news.discovery.com/tech/biotechnology/first-bionic-eye-sees-light-130206.htm#mkcpgn=fbsci1

Prosthetic Hand That Cost $150

That's right, a articulating prosthetic hand that uses no electricity, and cost only $150. A 5-year-old boy named Liam in South Africa had a prosthetic hand made for him by two makers/designers, Ivan Owen (a mechanical special effects artist from Bellingham, WA), and Richard Van As (a carpenter from South Africa who lost the fingers on his right had in a woodworking accident). The developed the hand through email and sending design schematics back and forth, but got together in person in November for the first time to build the custom hand for Liam, who was born without fingers on his right hand, which they were able to build and teach Liam to use in a matter of days. Van As and Owen were each donated a 3D printer by Makerbot to help them with the design of the hand for Van As, and they have since made the design open source so that anyone can take the design and build their own hands. Named the Robohand, the prosthetic operates using whatever function the person has left to power the device.

http://comingupshorthanded.com/open-source-design-info/
http://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2013-02/how-two-makers-built-customizable-new-prosthetic-hand-150-and-changed-boys-life
http://www.cbc.ca/strombo/technology-1/this-5-year-olds-prosthetic-robohand-was-built-by-amateur-internet-collaborators-and-its-cheap.html

Dr. Robot Coming to the U of Sask

The University of Saskatchewan and Saskatoon Health Region have hired a new unified Head of Surgery. Dr. Ivar Mendez is a neurosurgeon and researcher currently working at Dalhousie University in Halifax, NS, and will be moving to Saskatoon to take up his new role for June 1, 2013. He is also known for his use of technology. He was part of a team that introduced Rosie the Robot as a way to allow physicians to see patients in remote communities instead of making the patients travel hours for a consultation. He is also testing the Infrascanner, which is a hand-held device that has the potential to detect blood clots in a patient's brain in 10 seconds. Dr. Mendez is also a pioneer in remote surgical procedures. During his tenure as Head of Surgery in Halifax, Dr. Mendez also helped to found the Brain Repair Centre (a health research institute). He also has a passion for global health, having founded the Ivar Mendez International Foundation to help reduce inequality in health care in his home country of Bolivia, which runs school breakfast programs, dental clinics, arts programs, and laptops in classrooms.

So on behalf of tMED, welcome to the University of Saskatchewan Dr. Ivar Mendez!

http://www.thestarphoenix.com/health/surgery+head+bring+novel+medical+technology+Sask/7902111/story.html
http://ivarmendezfoundation.org/
http://announcements.usask.ca/news/archive/2013/01/renowned_neuros.html

DNA Vaccine Patch

How would you like to get a vaccine without a needle or pain? MIT researchers have developed a polymer patch that can slowly deliver viral DNA as a potential alternative vaccine. The patch consists of several layers of polymers impregnated with viral DNA that code for viral proteins and adjuvants consisting of strands of RNA that resemble viral RNA. I know I said there are no needles, but in fact this patch uses microneedles (about half a millimetre in length) to inject the DNA and adjuvants into the skin where they can be taken up by immune cells in the skin. The polymers that this patch is built of slowly degrade when in contact with water, so by altering the number of layers and the composition of the polymers the rate of vaccination can be adjusted to take place over minutes to days, to weeks.

http://www.nature.com/nmat/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nmat3550.html
http://phys.org/news/2013-01-polymer-gradually-dna-coding-viral.html#jCp

Canadian Artificial Pancreas

Canadian researchers at Institut de Recherches Cliniques de Montréal and McGill University have developed an artificial pancreas for patients with Type 1 Diabetes (also known as a closed-loop delivery system). The concept uses two hormones, insulin to decrease blood glucose levels, and glucagon to raise blood glucose levels, while testing the glucose levels every 10 minutes using a computer algorithm, and uses existing technology. While this is not the first time an artificial pancreas has been designed and tested, this is the first time one has been tested using a randomized trial, and this trial found that patients 14% more likely to stay in the target zone, and a had a 20-fold reduction in the number of low glucose levels at night.

http://www.cmaj.ca/content/early/2013/01/28/cmaj.121265
http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/artificial-pancreas-better-treatment-than-pump-for-diabetes-study-1.1133062

Thought-controlled Prosthesis

A postdoctoral student at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden has developed a better interface for thought-controlled prostheses. His technique involves directly implanting electrodes into the nerves and muscles left at the site of ampuation, rather than trying ot pick up the signals externally, bypassing most of the problems associated with external electrodes, and hopefully improving the sensory feedback capabilities of the prosthesis to the body. Using the Osseointegrated Prosthesis for the Rehabilitation of Amputees (OPRA) method of anchoring the prosthesis to the bone, the electrodes and titanium implants will be installed during surgery, allowing for bidirectional communication between the limb and the prosthesis and back. The prosthesis they have developed also has every finger independently motorized, allowing each finger individual movement and control. The first surgeries were scheduled to take place in January or February 2013.

http://www.chalmers.se/en/news/Pages/Thought-controlled-prosthesis-is-changing-the-lives-of-amputees.aspx
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/11/mind-controlled-robotic-arm/
http://www.sahlgrenskaic.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Treatment-Sucess-digital-version.pdf

50 Blood Tests You Can Carry in Your Pocket

Only the size of a business card, the V-chip may allow clinicians to do up to 50 different blood tests all from a single drop of blood. The V-chip consists of two etched glass plates that are the size of a credit card. Using ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay), a sample of serum from the patient's blood is loaded into a well along side three other wells, one containing hydrogen peroxide, another containing the protein, DNA, RNA, or lipid of interest for the test along with the enzyme catalase, and the last well containing a red dye. By slightly shift the glass plates, these 4 wells are brought together, and as the substance of interest comes into contact with the serum the catalase is activated, breaking down the hydrogen peroxide to produce oxygen, pushing the red dye up a column. The amount of oxygen produced can be correlated to the amount of substrate in the patient's blood, meaning the distance traveled by the dye is more or less proportional, resulting in a quick and reasonably accurate bar graph of patient serum values. The V-chip is still in development, and the researchers hope to make the device more user friendly, simple, and robust.

http://phys.org/news/2012-12-pocket-blood.html#jCp
http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v3/n12/full/ncomms2292.html

Artificial Heart

SynCardia Systems, Inc. has developed a temporary total artificial heart that gives patients needing heart transplants or needing time to recover from a heart transplant rejection an option that buys them time. The prosthetic artificial heart completely replaces the native heart, and is powered by air pressure supplied via tubing that enter through the patient's abdomen. This requires a patient to be hooked up to a power supply and air pump continuously, but SynCardia has developed the Freedom portable driver that weighs 13.5 lbs/6 kg, in the form of a backpack or shoulder bag that can be recharged through a cigarette lighter or a standard wall socket, giving the patient a level of freedom and function to their lives. Patients experiencing end-stage organ failure because of end-stage biventricular heart failure experience good recovery with the artificial heart, as well as improved physical activity tolerance. The longest a patient has lived with SynCardia's artificial heart is 1,374 days, or ~3.75 years! To date, they report 1100 implants with over 300 patient-years with implants.

http://www.syncardia.com/
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/man-s-heart-removed-and-replaced-241430.aspx

Universal Cancer Blood Tests

Researchers working at John Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD have demonstrated a proof of concept for detecting cancer through a blood test. Realizing that tumours often shed cells into the blood and/or tumour DNA may be found in the blood, they decided to search for this DNA by looking for substantally altered chromosomes that almost invariably appear with cancer. They tested their hypothesis by comparing the blood of ten patients with advanced cancer and ten healthy patients by using next-generation DNA sequencing methods. All of the patients with cancer were found to have had DNA with chromosomal abnormalities, but none of the healthy patients were found to have chromosomal abnormalities, some of which could be specifically targeted with existing drugs. The cancer patients were found to have tumour DNA in the blood ranging from 47.9% down to 1.4%. However, the sequencing was very expensive and took a month to complete, som before this can become a practical form of screeningm the cost has to come down, the speed has to increase, and the sensitivity has to be able to detect the tumour DNA in portions less that 0.1% of the blood.

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2012/11/a-step-toward-a-universal-cancer.html?ref=hp

Heartbeat-Powered Pacemaker

In a study presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2012, researchers presented findings that suggest an experimental device was capable of generating enough electricity to power a pacemaker through piezoelectricity (electricity generated through pressure). Using simulated heartbeats, the researchers found that the device was able to generate more than ten times the amount of electricity required to power modern pacemakers, and was able to generate this electricity over a ranger of heart rates. If this technology proves successful, it may eliminate the need to replace current pacemakers every five to seven years when their batteries run out.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121104210843.htm

Altered HIV for Treating Leukemia

With no other options left available to them, researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Penn., with funding from the pharmaceutical company Novartis, reprogrammed the HIV virus to insert a new gene into T cells harvested from a patient (HIV is well suited, as it infects T cells, and inserts its genome into the T cell DNA). This gene gave the T cells the ability to target proteins present on the the surface of B cells (which are malignant in patients with lymphocytic leukemia). These T cells are then injected back into the patient, allowing the the reprogrammed T cells to attack and kill the malignant B cells, inducing remission of the leukemia in the patient.

But it's not all roses. The treatment is very dangerous because a cytokine storm is released, which causes fevers that may lead unconsciousness, depressed autonomic functions, edema, and possibly death. If the patient survives, the reprogrammed T cells continue to kill B cells, whether they are malignant or not, meaning the patient requires regular immunoglobulin injections to keep them from getting sick with certain infections. But it beats the alternative, because the ten patients that this has been tried on had relapsed refractory leukemia, meaning other treatment options had failed, and they were facing death.

Of the ten patients this treatment was used on, three adults had complete remissions, four improved but did not achieve full remission, one child improved then relapsed, for two adults the treatment had no effect, and one other is too soon to tell. For a preliminary trial, these results are promising. And, at $20,000 for the treatment, the cost in considerably less than the cost of a bone marrow transplant and normal drug regime used to treat leukemia. This treatment may also have promise in treating other types of cancer.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/10/health/a-breakthrough-against-leukemia-using-altered-t-cells.html?
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/13/health/13gene.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0pagewanted=1&_r=5&smid=fb-share
https://ash.confex.com/ash/2012/webprogram/Paper49948.html
https://ash.confex.com/ash/2012/webprogram/Paper49063.html
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1103849