Health tech

Ancient X-ray machine reawakened, for science

We're still not at the place where we can have real-time X-ray video like in "Total Recall," but that doesn't mean X-ray technology hasn't come a long way in the last 116 years.

To underline that point, researchers in the town of Maastricht in Holland have fired up an X-ray machine from 1895 and compared it with a modern machine.

As you can see in the photos to the right, things have gotten sharper. The original device was built by a local educator and doctor just weeks after the first "how to" on X-ray machines was published. It was found in a warehouse and then dusted off by researchers from Maastricht University Medical Center who wanted to show it off.

The old machine was originally produced and built in the Dutch town, and the team didn't just turn it on, they replicated as closely as possible the conditions that would have been available and used by doctors of that time.

But it's not just the better-looking images that make modern X-ray machines better, according to the BBC, but also the fact that they use 1,500 times less radiation, making them safer and cheaper. The machine wasn't just fired up for fun, but for science, by doctors who chronicle their findings in the journal Radiology.

Still, that doesn't mean that we can look down at the venerable old Dutch machine. If you hadn't been told that the image on the left came from a Victorian-era machine, would you have been able to tell? Probably not.… Read more

Microrobot swims through eyes to deliver drugs

Is that a speck in your eye? Or just a microrobot helping preserve your vision? Researchers are working on tiny machines that can be directed through eyes to help treat conditions like macular degeneration, which can impair vision.

Scientists at the Swiss-based Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems (IRIS) led by Bradley Nelson are developing tiny, electromagnetically controlled microrobots that can move to a target location in the eye and remain there for months, releasing drugs.

The therapy is seen as an alternative to multiple eye injections to treat macular degeneration, which can lead to legal blindness. In the New Scientist vid below, the robot is seen moving in an eye taken from a dead pig.

The microbots can also position a biodegradable drug capsule before they are removed with a magnetic needle. … Read more

It's appropriate to cry over new glucose monitor

With some 26 million Americans living with diabetes (8.3 percent of the U.S. population), according to the American Diabetes Association, a lot of research is going into how to make blood glucose monitoring more effective and affordable.

Researchers at Arizona State University and the Mayo Clinic are partnering up to develop a monitor that enables people to dab their tear ducts instead of prick their fingers--which could be a big deal for those who currently draw blood as many as a dozen times a day to monitor their blood glucose levels.

"The problem with current self-monitoring blood glucose technologies is not so much the sensor, it's the painful finger prick," Jeffrey LaBelle, a bioengineer and chief designer, said in a news release. "This new technology might encourage patients to check their blood sugars more often, which could lead to better control of their diabetes by a simple touch to the eye."

The team reported on the first stage of their research on the sensor in Diabetes Science and Technology in March 2010, and quickly sparked interest from Arizona-based nonprofit BioAccel, which works to speed up the process of bringing biomedical technologies to the marketplace.

Using funding from BioAccel, the team is now compiling data to apply for human clinical trials of the device, but major challenges remain, including accuracy, efficiency, speed of performing the test, reproducible results, and of course making sure the test sample does not evaporate before it can be read.… Read more

HAL-5: The exoskeleton robot 'to suit you'

On March 8 and 9, 2011, just days before the largest earthquake in its recorded history literally moved Japan 8 feet, the country played host to the inaugural International Forum on Cybernics 2011 in Tokyo.

While calling the event groundbreaking might qualify as crass, researchers showcased some truly innovative ideas in the world of cybernics, an emerging field that Japan's University of Tsukuba Cybernics department describes as the "fusion of human, machine and information systems." The word itself is a fusion of cybernetics, mechatronics, and informatics.

One of those ideas, the HAL-5 exoskeleton robotics suit by Tokyo-based company Cyberdyne, is a wearable device that helps ordinary people accomplish extraordinary feats, such as lifting objects they otherwise couldn't. (We covered an earlier iteration of this in 2009.) Think of the improvements possible for caregivers, people with missing or paralyzed limbs, the elderly who want to continue living independently, factory workers, etc.… Read more

A Webcam lunchbox: Did you eat your carrots?

I gave up on trying to eat a healthy lunch long ago. I'm at the mercy of the burger joints around me. In theory, I could bring my own lunch from home, but I'm 34 years old, so that just sounds silly.

Maybe if I had someone to make my lunch each morning, I might change my tune on that. But not if I'm using this new lunchbox concept from Ochanomizu University in Japan. It has an integrated camera and video touch screen that's activated when the lid is opened.

It's an experiment in family communication. If someone's packing the lunch, it records them doing so to play back later when the lunch is being eaten, and vice versa. The idea is that the eater will see the care that went into packing the lunch, prompting them to return a "thanks, that was tasty!" or something equivalent to the lunch packer. Conversely, the packer gets the satisfaction of a thanks, and can see what the eater liked and didn't like.

It's cool in theory, but I don't like people watching me eat as it is. A noontime Eye of Sauron keeping an eye on me as I munch my Lunchables isn't my idea of a relaxing lunch break. That said, I could see this being very popular with the helicopter parents crowd if it ever makes its way to production.

Check out the video after the jump to see it in action, and maybe get some ideas yourself.

Robo-pharmacist readies 350,000 doses perfectly

Your doctor may still be human, but your pharmacist may soon go cybernetic. A robotic drug dispensary system at the University of California, San Francisco is spitting out oral and injected medications for all kinds of patients.

Getting the wrong medication is the greatest risk facing patients under traditional pharmacy systems, according to UCSF Medical Center CEO Mark Laret. But the automated system has prepared some 350,000 doses without a single error, the institution says.

The room-size robots store drugs in dozens of small boxes in a sterile environment. After the 12-hour prescription is received as a digital file, a robot arm finds the correct labeled drug, prepares the proper dose in bar-coded plastic bags on a ring and spits them out into a large bin.

Nurses will begin scanning the bar codes at patient bedsides this year to confirm the doses are correct. Doctors, meanwhile, will begin inputting prescriptions directly into computers next year.

Three of the robots are Robotic IV Automation (RIVA) systems, made by Canada's Intelligent Hospital Systems. They also prepare hazardous chemotherapy drugs. … Read more

Family trades temper tantrums for iPad

When a school therapist suggested that a family buy their autistic 3-year-old son Hudson an iPad, the Holmquists were willing to give it a try, and turned to ChipIn to raise money for a tablet for their child. Now the family is telling news media the device is a miracle.

Hudson, who was diagnosed with autism in 2010, went from several violent meltdowns a day (including one screaming session that lasted from morning until late evening) to, well, fewer violent meltdowns.

"The iPad has given us our family back," Laura Hudson told FoxNews.com. "It's unlocked a new part of our son that we hadn't seen before, and given us insight into the way he connects with his world."

Perhaps more surprising is that autism experts aren't surprised. Hudson is able to use the tablet not just for gaming and making puzzles but even for communicating ideas to a family that is really just now getting to know the kid behind the tantrums. … Read more

New device gives sight to the sightless

For the first time, a device that gives the sightless a second chance to see has been approved in Europe.

CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook reports that the FDA may do the same here soon.

Barbara Campbell lost her sight 20 years ago from retinal disease, but now her world is a lot brighter than it used to be. That's because 2 years ago, she was one of the first patients to get an artificial retina.

"My goal was to see colors and go the Grand Canyon," Campbell said.

With the new retinal-replacement device, Barbara … Read more

Gadgets at bedtime? Sleepy reporter tucks in

It's an age-old question: why am I sleeping poorly?

As we reported earlier today, a new study from the National Sleep Foundation says the active use of electronic devices such as TVs, smartphones, computers, and video games one hour before going to bed might be what's keeping us awake.

For its 2011 Sleep in America poll, the NSF queried a random sample of 1,508 adults between the ages of 13-64. Almost everyone surveyed, 95 percent, said they use some type of electronics at least a few nights a week within an hour before bed.

CBS "Early Show" contributor Taryn Winter Brill, like many, goes to bed with the TV on or has her laptop or BlackBerry close by. She decided to set up an unscientific sleep experiment to find out why she's sleep-deprived. What happened when Winter Brill pulled the plug on all of her technology? She shares the results with "Early Show" viewers and co-anchor Erica Hill.

This article originally appeared on CBSNews.com. … Read more

NASA uses light to soothe chemo side effects

Originally developed in the early 1990s to promote plant growth on board space shuttles, the light technology behind NASA's Astroculture 3 is now being repurposed to help soothe the painful side effects that can result from chemotherapy and radiation treatment in patients with bone marrow and stem cell transplants.

The treatment device, called WARP 75, uses High Emissivity Aluminiferous Luminescent Substrate, or HEALS, which lets LED chips function at their maximum irradiance--the equivalent light energy of 12 suns from each of the device's 288 grain-of-salt-sized LEDs--without emitting heat.

Researchers studied the effects of the technology to treat oral mucositis… Read more