News From The World Of Medicine
A computer to diagnose and treat cancer? This incredible invention and more are in the works: We rounded up the latest medical advances and emerging breakthroughs in science and technology.
1. Japan: Clever Use of Bad Breath
July/August 2012 — Nippon Dental University researchers found that dental pulp—soft tissue inside teeth that’s removed during root canals—has up to 80 times as many stem cells as previously thought. Even better, hydrogen sulfide, the chemical that causes the rotten-egg smell in bad breath, helps them develop into liver stem cells. Scientists hope that extracted wisdom teeth (or baby teeth saved from childhood) might be used to heal livers damaged from cirrhosis and the hepatitis C virus.
2. United States: IBM’s Watson to Treat Cancer
July/August 2012 —The Watson computer that famously won on Jeopardy last year will work with Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center to diagnose and treat cancer. Watson is ingesting massive amounts of information from textbooks, articles, and decades of patient cases. Once the computer finishes training, doctors can ask it a question in plain English and get a quick, relevant answer (Watson can scan one million books in less than three seconds). Doctors will test the system for lung, breast, and prostate cancers by the end of this year.
3. Germany: Help for Ringing Ears
July/August 2012 —A new device might help fix tinnitus by treating the brain. In people with tinnitus, brain cells fire in bizarrely hyperactive rhythms, fooling the mind into thinking it hears a loud noise. The iPod-sized device has the user listen to a sequence of quiet tones to stop abnormal rhythms; it reduced tinnitus in 75 percent of patients in early tests. Its developer, Adaptive Neuromodulation, is finding partners to launch it here.
4. Australia: Eyeglasses to Prevent Drowsy Driving
June 2012 —New driving glasses contain sensors embedded in the frame to measure how often eyelids blink and how much they droop between blinks. Sensors translate this into a “drowsiness score” shown on the dashboard and deliver an auditory warning when scores exceed safe limits. Designed for commercial drivers, the glasses may be available for regular drivers within the next two years.
5. Singapore: A “Crab Robot” for Stomach Cancer
June 2012 —Researchers have developed a robotic system to remove tumors quickly and without scarring. Rather than cut through the abdomen, it uses a camera mounted on a flexible tube to guide instruments through the mouth and to the surgical site. The robot’s “crab legs” have a pincer to grab cancerous tissue and a hook to slice it off. The idea was born during a seafood dinner, when a surgeon pointed out that crabs, with strong yet efficient pincers, would make excellent stand-ins for surgeons. In operations on five test patients, surgeries that typically took up to eight hours were performed in an average of just 18 minutes.
6. Canada: Germ-and-Bedbug Room Bomb
June 2012 —Researchers on the Queen’s University campus hope to prevent hospital infections with a “room bomb” spray that combines ozone and hydrogen peroxide vapor to kill bacteria, sterilizing a room in about an hour. Researchers are confident the spray also destroys viruses, mold, and even bedbugs. A filtering process removes the chemicals from the air, leaving it safe to breathe. The spray could be used on cruise ships and in bedbug-infested hotels.
7. United States: A Blood Sugar Tattoo
May 2012 — Diabetics, put away the bandages: A new technique for checking blood sugar could make finger pricks a thing of the past. Chemists from Northeastern University have developed a method for injecting tiny fluorescent sensors under the skin that detect glucose in the blood. Take a picture of the freckle-size temporary tattoo with a special attachment that fits over your smart phone’s camera lens, and a computer program then analyzes the photo and reports your blood sugar number. The tattoo method is still undergoing tests; it could be available in three years.
8. United Kingdom: Smart Pills
May 2012 — By the end of the year, a British pharmacy will begin embedding tiny sensors into some drug tablets to help doctors keep tabs on patients’ medication habits. The “smart pills,” developed by U.S. company Proteus Biomedical, send the name of the drug and the time you took it to a patch worn on the body that relays that data, along with information like pulse and sleep patterns, to a smart phone.
9. Denmark: Sponges for Soldiers
May 2012 — A specially coated flexible sponge could solve a deadly problem for soldiers wounded on the battlefield: uncontrolled bleeding. Researchers at MIT sprayed a type of sponge commonly used in hospitals with a combination of chemicals and clotting proteins naturally found in blood. In tests conducted by Ferrosan Medical Devices in Denmark, the small sponges completely stopped bleeding in animals within 60 seconds. Researchers hope to have the devices approved for use within a few years.
1. Japan: Clever Use of Bad Breath
July/August 2012 — Nippon Dental University researchers found that dental pulp—soft tissue inside teeth that’s removed during root canals—has up to 80 times as many stem cells as previously thought. Even better, hydrogen sulfide, the chemical that causes the rotten-egg smell in bad breath, helps them develop into liver stem cells. Scientists hope that extracted wisdom teeth (or baby teeth saved from childhood) might be used to heal livers damaged from cirrhosis and the hepatitis C virus.
2. United States: IBM’s Watson to Treat Cancer
July/August 2012 —The Watson computer that famously won on Jeopardy last year will work with Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center to diagnose and treat cancer. Watson is ingesting massive amounts of information from textbooks, articles, and decades of patient cases. Once the computer finishes training, doctors can ask it a question in plain English and get a quick, relevant answer (Watson can scan one million books in less than three seconds). Doctors will test the system for lung, breast, and prostate cancers by the end of this year.
3. Germany: Help for Ringing Ears
July/August 2012 —A new device might help fix tinnitus by treating the brain. In people with tinnitus, brain cells fire in bizarrely hyperactive rhythms, fooling the mind into thinking it hears a loud noise. The iPod-sized device has the user listen to a sequence of quiet tones to stop abnormal rhythms; it reduced tinnitus in 75 percent of patients in early tests. Its developer, Adaptive Neuromodulation, is finding partners to launch it here.
4. Australia: Eyeglasses to Prevent Drowsy Driving
June 2012 —New driving glasses contain sensors embedded in the frame to measure how often eyelids blink and how much they droop between blinks. Sensors translate this into a “drowsiness score” shown on the dashboard and deliver an auditory warning when scores exceed safe limits. Designed for commercial drivers, the glasses may be available for regular drivers within the next two years.
5. Singapore: A “Crab Robot” for Stomach Cancer
June 2012 —Researchers have developed a robotic system to remove tumors quickly and without scarring. Rather than cut through the abdomen, it uses a camera mounted on a flexible tube to guide instruments through the mouth and to the surgical site. The robot’s “crab legs” have a pincer to grab cancerous tissue and a hook to slice it off. The idea was born during a seafood dinner, when a surgeon pointed out that crabs, with strong yet efficient pincers, would make excellent stand-ins for surgeons. In operations on five test patients, surgeries that typically took up to eight hours were performed in an average of just 18 minutes.
6. Canada: Germ-and-Bedbug Room Bomb
June 2012 —Researchers on the Queen’s University campus hope to prevent hospital infections with a “room bomb” spray that combines ozone and hydrogen peroxide vapor to kill bacteria, sterilizing a room in about an hour. Researchers are confident the spray also destroys viruses, mold, and even bedbugs. A filtering process removes the chemicals from the air, leaving it safe to breathe. The spray could be used on cruise ships and in bedbug-infested hotels.
7. United States: A Blood Sugar Tattoo
May 2012 — Diabetics, put away the bandages: A new technique for checking blood sugar could make finger pricks a thing of the past. Chemists from Northeastern University have developed a method for injecting tiny fluorescent sensors under the skin that detect glucose in the blood. Take a picture of the freckle-size temporary tattoo with a special attachment that fits over your smart phone’s camera lens, and a computer program then analyzes the photo and reports your blood sugar number. The tattoo method is still undergoing tests; it could be available in three years.
8. United Kingdom: Smart Pills
May 2012 — By the end of the year, a British pharmacy will begin embedding tiny sensors into some drug tablets to help doctors keep tabs on patients’ medication habits. The “smart pills,” developed by U.S. company Proteus Biomedical, send the name of the drug and the time you took it to a patch worn on the body that relays that data, along with information like pulse and sleep patterns, to a smart phone.
9. Denmark: Sponges for Soldiers
May 2012 — A specially coated flexible sponge could solve a deadly problem for soldiers wounded on the battlefield: uncontrolled bleeding. Researchers at MIT sprayed a type of sponge commonly used in hospitals with a combination of chemicals and clotting proteins naturally found in blood. In tests conducted by Ferrosan Medical Devices in Denmark, the small sponges completely stopped bleeding in animals within 60 seconds. Researchers hope to have the devices approved for use within a few years.
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