Headline Jan 13, 2016/ ''' TECHNOLOGY OF *M I R A C L E S* '''

''' TECHNOLOGY OF 

*M I R A C L E S* '''

THE TRUTH IS  -that in technology the best and the brightest advances are often astoundingly simple.

But important breakthroughs don't come easily. They require a spark of genius  by researchers prepared to work doggedly to prove an idea in both effective and safe.

Then sometimes we see an idea that seems smarter than the rest. Here are some ideas that !WOW!  applauds for their ingenuity:

Problem        :  Cumbersome Medical monitoring wires.

Brains Trust  :  Scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.

Solution        :  High-tech temporary tattoos that measure vital signs using wireless transmitters.The tattoos register heartbeats, brainwaves and muscle activity, ten transmit directly from the patients into medical staff.

FIXING HYPERTENSION

Doctors now know the sympathetic nervous system controls most of the body's internal organs. And for those people with high blood pressure, the sympathetic nerves near the kidneys go into overdrive.

In a procedure called renal denervation for difficult to control hypertension, a catheter inserted through the groin into an artery near the kidneys is used ''silence'' the sympathetic renal nerves.

''It's safe, quick, minimally invasive and leads to a sustained blood pressure reduction without major side-effects,'' says Markus Schlaich, a professor in Australia's Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute,which conducted the world's first study into the procedure.

CHEMO HAIR-SAVER

Losing your hair can be a distressing side-effect of chemotherapy  -but a special cap that keeps your scalp cool can prevent temporary baldness in up to 80% of patients.

The Dignicap system that consists of a silicone cap with two cols that circulate coolant to lower scalp temperature. When patients wear the cap, the blood vessels in the scalp constrict, reducing blood flow and exposure of the hair follicles to the chemotherapy.

''Psychologically, hair loss can be the most distressing side-effect from chemotherapy. It impacts quality of life,'' says Associate Professor Susan Melin of the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, which is trialling the system in the US.

''The cap's number one benefit is that patients don't lose so much hair that they need to use a wig or scarf to hide the hair loss.'' And anything that helps cancer patients through their treatment has to be a plus. 

MINI MOBILE SCANNER

the Vascan is a pocket-sized ultrasound scanner that can be taken anywhere; It improves medical care, says Dr Jose Zamorano, director of the Cardiovascular Institute at the University Clinic San Carlos, Madrid who carries the scanner between the echo cardiography lab, outpatient clinic,coronary care unit and the emergency department of his hospital.

''If I detect a major problem, I will send a patient straight to the echo lab,'' says Zamorano. When he looked at the benefits of using Vscan on outpatient cardiology, he found that about one in four patients wouldn't have received a full echocardiogram exam were it not for problems picked up in an early Vscan check. ''For this 25% of patients we may have missed diagnosis.''  

THE POST-IT-PATCH

A tiny patch promises to bring giant improvements in the delivery of vaccines. While syringes hit muscle in which immune cells are in short supply,  Nanopatches are thousands of micro-projections to deliver vaccines directly to immune cells in the upper layer of skin.

In animal tests, a flu vaccine patch was effective using only  1/150th of a normal syringe dose. And it uses dried vaccine which cuts costs [no refrigeration] and boosts durability:

''In Africa, about half of all vaccines are not working properly because of a breakdown in the cold-chain,'' says University of Queensland Professor Mark Kendall, who designed the patch.

During a pandemic, this hardy little patch could even be posted out to people.

BRAIN BRILLIANCE

Researchers at the University of Southern California have used nanotechnology to produce a tiny circuit that acts like a neuron  -the building block of the human brain.

It's an important step in a long journey to create brain prostheses that replace damaged parts of the neural network. Still to figure out: how to join the these pseudo-synapses together, and how to mimic the brain's constant forming of new connections and pathways.

COMMON PROBLEM WITH A STICKY SOLUTION

Problem       :  One in three intravenous drips fail because they come loose.

Brains Trust  :  Researchers at Australia's  NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence in Nursing, headed by Professor Claire Rickard.

Solution         :  A superglue, or a tissue adhesive, can be used to secure intravascular catheters to the skin.

A BETTER BREAST CHECK

Multistatic Array processing for Radiowave Image Acquisition  [MARIA] is the brainchild of the British Scientists and may spell the end for uncomfortable mammograms.

MARIA uses radio waves to detect tumours and is particularly effective for women with dense breast tissue that isn't easy to read on conventional scans. That's good news for women under 50 who are not routinely screened, says Dr Mike Shere, a breast cancer specialist at Southmead Hospital in Bristol.

Another bonus? It's more comfortable  -the breast is held in a ceramic cup-shaped scanner that transfers data to a computer to produce a 3D image, highlighting ''hot spots'' in red.

Dr. Shere is hoping to see it in widespread use within 5  years. And it can be used anywhere  -even in GP surgeries  -making breast cancer scans as routine as an eye check-up.

BRAIN COOLER     

Researchers at Sweden's Karolinska Institute have shown that therapeutic hypothermia  {deliberately cooling the body and brain} after a cardiac arrest leads to better recovery if it's performed at the scene, rather than later.

In one study patients who received  CPR within ten minutes of their collapse, followed by cooling with RhinoChill  [a device that delivers coolant directly into the nasal cavity], had a greater chance of surviving with little or no brain damage.

The back-pack mounted RhinoChill weighs 11kg, introduces a mixture of volatile coolant and oxygen into the nasal passages directly under the large vessels of brain, and does not require electricity.

With respectful dedication to all the Peoples of the World. See Ya all on !WOW!   -the World Students Society:

''' Technology in Action '''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless