Medical tools

Handheld breath monitor could detect diseases

A new nanomedicine device designed to monitor signaling gas in exhaled breath could help people monitor their own known diseases, as well as instantly detect new ones, according to research out of Stony Brook University.

"This is a single breath analysis diagnostic tool for monitoring disease or metabolic functions that can be used to check cholesterol levels, diabetes, and even lung cancer," says lead researcher Perena Gouma, whose work appears in the October 2010 issue of Sensor Letters. "Lung cancer is a silent killer that can only be detected when it's progressed vastly--but in the breath, … Read more

In the event of emergency, remove shirt

First, the bra that is meant to be taken off won an Ig Nobel award in October 2009. Then, just last week, the inventor unleashed the lacy gas masks on the open undergarment market at $29.99 a pop.

At the risk of overkill, this third (and likely final) mention of the bra is to put to rest all the rumors of just what the male counterpart will be. And no, it is not a jock strap.

Boston Herald's Working Stiff columnist Darren Garnick, who reports this morning from the trenches at MIT, tells us that Dr. Elena Bodnar … Read more

Emergency Bra: Unsnap, separate cups, inhale...

Remember that bra we wrote about last year that lifted more than just our spirits when it won the 2009 Ig Nobel Public Health Prize?

Well, creator Dr. Elena Bodnar--whose inspiration comes in part from having witnessed as a young physician the devastating effects of the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster in 1986--is introducing the now commercially available Emergency Bra at the MIT Museum in Cambridge, Mass., on September 28. She hopes we can all "get a feel of [sic] the product," as she has grown fond of saying.

The bra is, of course, meant to be … Read more

The red pill of Alzheimer's: Would you take it?

It appears that a single gene variation provides clues as to how rapidly Alzheimer's disease will progress, according to an international investigation of tau proteins in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), which was led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The findings were reported online yesterday in the journal Public Library of Science Genetics.

It has recently been established in multiple studies that elevated levels of this protein in cerebrospinal fluid indicate Alzheimer's, and that because symptoms can reveal themselves slowly, testing levels of tau would offer a glimpse into the future--a red pill, if you … Read more

Radiation machine could cut cancer treatments in half

The Stanford Cancer Center today unveiled a breakthrough radiation machine it hopes will let patients spend less time getting treatments and more time living their lives.

By delivering radiation at a faster dose rate, the TrueBeam linear accelerator can shorten individual treatment times by up to a half compared with treatments from traditional machines, according to a statement from the center.

The TrueBeam's treatments can also more accurately target cancerous tumors than typical machines do. That's thanks, in part, to a 4D imaging system that captures views in 60 percent less time than in previous machines, which results … Read more

Behold the strength of carbon nanotubes

New tests of carbon nanotubes--those tiny cylinders expected to revolutionize medicine, electronics, warfare, and more--reveal that, ounce-for-ounce, they are 117 times stronger than steel and 30 times stronger than Kevlar used in bicycle tires and bulletproof vests.

The nanotubes, roughly 50,000 of which add up to the width of an average strand of human hair, are already known for their strength. But this latest research, led by Stephen Cronin, electrical engineering assistant professor at the University of Southern California, tested individual carbon nanotubes of various lengths and widths by applying what is being rather unscientifically described as "… Read more

'Belly Armor' expands maternity apparel line to SF

Back in 2008, Ronald Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, had an announcement to make:

[There is a] growing body of literature linking long-term cell phone use to possible adverse health effects, including cancer. We shouldn't wait for a definitive study to come out, but err on the side of being safe rather than sorry later.

Herberman joined a growing chorus of cancer and radiation experts who, without yet establishing a definitive causal relationship between cell phone use and cancer, warns that it's too soon to know for sure how safe cell phones are, especially … Read more

Microelectrodes help brain signals 'speak'

While still in its infancy and primitive, even crude, two grids of 16 microelectrodes implanted atop the brain of a volunteer with severe epileptic seizures are somewhat successfully decoding brain signals into a small set of words, thanks to work out of the University of Utah.

The volunteer, who was already having part of his skull temporarily removed so doctors could implant larger electrodes (see button-like numbers in photo) to locate the source of his seizures, agreed to also have these two grids of tiny electrodes implanted over the speech centers of his brain.

His brain signals were then recorded … Read more

Are the days of kidney dialysis numbered?

There's no gentle way to put it. Chronic kidney failure is ugly and often deadly, and more people in the States are suffering from it every year, with increasing rates of diabetes and hypertension contributing to the problem.

What's more, the treatment that keeps many waiting for kidney transplants alive--dialysis--involves several sessions per week, at several hours per session, during which blood pumps through an external circuit for filtration to replace just 13 percent of kidney function, leaving many patients exhausted both physically and financially.

(The U.S. Renal Data System estimates that dialysis costs roughly $… Read more