Healthcare – Page 10

Automation, Coronavirus, Healthcare, Robots, Science & Technology News

San Antonio robotics firm becomes first to prove its robots kill coronavirus

May 19, 2020

Xenex’s patented LightStrike robots have been deployed in more than 500 healthcare facilities worldwide to destroy pathogens like SARS-CoV-2 that can cause deadly infections.

San Antonio robotics company Xenex Disinfection Services has become the first to scientifically prove its robot can sterilize a room of the SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – and it can do so in less than two minutes.

The testing began in February after Xenex sought out a partnership with the Texas Biomedical Research Institute, which had acquired the SARS-CoV-2 contagion to begin research toward developing a vaccine. Xenex wanted to prove that its LightStrike germ-zapping robot could deactivate the virus using pulsating xenon lamps to generate bursts of high-intensity germicidal light, which kills viruses, bacteria, and fungal spores.

“Xenex is an evidence-based company; we’re focused on our claims being backed by scientific research,” Xenex spokeswoman Melinda Hart said.

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China, Coronavirus, Healthcare, Science & Technology News

Chinese scientists develop new test that detects antibodies against Coronavirus in just 10 minutes

May 19, 2020

Scientists from several institutions in Guangzhou, China, have developed a new test that is similar to a pregnancy test, that detects antibodies against COVID-19

The WHO’s war cry against the novel coronavirus pandemic was “test, test, test.” Such is the importance of extensive testing in a rapidly worsening global health crisis where time is not money but life. In such a scenario, accurate and quick testing methods are essential for tackling the spread of COVID-19. Providing hope in this regard, researchers from China have developed a test that can detect antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus in just 10 minutes.

The new test is a result of the collaboration between scientists from several institutions in Guangzhou, China, and builds on a testing technique known as a lateral flow immunoassay (LFA). An example of such a test is a home pregnancy test. It is based on the detection of the antibody, Immunoglobulin G (IgG), produced by the body to counter the coronavirus.

Expressing confidence over the new testing technique, the authors wrote in the study, “We expect this assay to be highly useful for helping to contain the COVID-19 outbreak by allowing timely diagnosis through early detection of SARS-CoV-2.”

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2020 Predictions, Automation, Coronavirus, drones, Healthcare, Science & Technology News

10 technology trends to watch in the COVID-19 pandemic

May 15, 2020

The coronavirus demonstrates the importance of and the challenges associated with tech like digital payments, telehealth and robotics.

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated 10 key technology trends, including digital payments, telehealth and robotics.

These technologies can help reduce the spread of the coronavirus while helping businesses stay open.

Technology can help make society more resilient in the face of pandemic and other threats.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, technologies are playing a crucial role in keeping our society functional in a time of lockdowns and quarantines. And these technologies may have a long-lasting impact beyond COVID-19.

Here are 10 technology trends that can help build a resilient society, as well as considerations about their effects on how we do business, how we trade, how we work, how we produce goods, how we learn, how we seek medical services and how we entertain ourselves.

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Coronavirus, Healthcare, Medical Breakthrough, Science & Technology News

First at-home COVID-19 testing kit authorized by the FDA

May 12, 2020

LabCorp, which makes the test, is prioritizing health care workers and first responders

The US Food and Drug Administration has issued the first authorization for an at-home COVID-19 test kit. LabCorp, the diagnostics company producing the tests, says it will give first access to health care workers and first responders.

With this test, people who are eligible can swab their nose to collect a fluid sample, but they will still need to send it to a lab for testing. Self-sampling sidesteps the need for a clinician to perform the test, reducing their exposure to symptomatic patients. It also frees up more personal protective equipment, which is in short supply. The test costs $119.

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Coronavirus, Healthcare, Medicine, Science & Technology News

Researchers use live virus to identify 30 existing drugs that could treat COVID-19

May 11, 2020

Sumit Chanda, Ph.D., a professor at Sanford Burnham Prebys, gestures to experimental assays that test for compounds that may treat COVID-19.

Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, the University of Hong Kong, Scripps Research, UC San Diego School of Medicine, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and UCLA have identified 30 existing drugs that stop the replication of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Almost all of the drugs are entirely different from those currently being tested in clinical trials, and weren’t previously known to hold promise for COVID-19 treatment. The new candidates expand the number of “shots on goal” for a potential COVID-19 treatment and could reach patients faster than drugs that are created from scratch. The study was placed on bioRxiv (pronounced “bio-Archive”), an open-access distribution service for preprints of life science research.

“We believe this is one of the first comprehensive drug screens using the live SARS-CoV-2 virus, and our hope is that one or more of these drugs will save lives while we wait for a vaccine for COVID-19,” says Sumit Chanda, Ph.D., director of the Immunity and Pathogenesis Program at Sanford Burnham Prebys and senior author of the study. “Many drugs identified in this study—most of which are new to the COVID-19 research community—can begin clinical trials immediately or in a few months after additional testing.”

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Children, Healthcare, Science & Technology News, women

Prevue pregnancy eTextile device lets mothers see their baby grow

May 8, 2020

New to the world of eTextiles is the PreVue pregnancy screen, an abdomen attachment that lets expecting parents see their child’s growth and development as the natal process progresses.

The PreVue is the brainchild of Melody Shiue and has recently won an Australian Design Award – no surprise, given the level of innovation its got going on. Shiue’s idea centers around the concept of pre-birth bonding using “fetal visualization” (a great term, we’ve got to admit) and the fact that this bonding is an essential part of post-birth health of both the mother and child. With post-partum depression a real issue for mothers, the PreVue aims to give both genders of parents the chance to get to know their baby before it ever comes along

Designed to look like a large belt, the PreVue cinches in the back and fits over the abdomen. With the press of a button, a special ultrasonic layer next to the skin images the baby and then places this image onto a stretchable electronic textile that can grow as the mother does. At every stage of the baby’s growth, the parents can see its reaction to stimuli, see it kick, spin, smile and evolve in front of their eyes.

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Cancer, Healthcare, Medical Breakthrough, Science & Technology News

Cancer study stumbles onto potential way to regenerate heart cells

May 3, 2020

New research could lead to a gene therapy treatment for heart disease

Unfortunately for heart attack patients, heart cells don’t naturally replenish, so this vital organ stays permanently damaged. But now, Cambridge researchers have stumbled onto a gene that appears to trigger heart cell regeneration – and they did so by accident, while researching cancer treatments.

After a heart attack, the human heart will patch itself up with scar tissue. That helps keep the organ together, but this tissue doesn’t beat like healthy heart cells do. Over time, this leads to further attacks, heart failure and often death.

Scientists have been experimenting with ways to replenish heart cells, and promising leads so far include bioengineered scaffolds, placental stem cells, and boosting other cells around the heart.

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Breakthrough Thinking, Coronavirus, Healthcare, Science & Technology News, Wearables

Sweat-analyzing patch could help spot biomarkers linked to COVID-19

April 30, 2020

When you think about wearable tech, chances are that your mind goes to a device like the Apple Watch long before it does the Band-Aid-style smart patch developed by Epicore Biosystems. But the company, which spun out of Northwestern University’s Querrey Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics and professor John A. Rogers’ laboratory, has been hard at work creating sweat-sensing smart patches which could be used to help measure sweat components in athletes and a variety of other individuals — and could even have potential application for medical use in helping keep tabs on crucial biomarkers for patients suffering from COVID-19.

“We have [created] two versions of the wearable sensor patch in development suitable across different applications,” Roozbeh Ghaffari, Epicore’s CEO and co-founder, told Digital Trends. “One is a color-changing wearable microfluidics patch used by athletes. The other is a Bluetooth-enabled patch that tracks the sweat biomarkers of workers in construction, on oil rigs, and in factories, plus other physically intense occupations — for the ‘industrial athletes.’”

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Analysis, App, Healthcare, Home Technology, Science & Technology News

Smart toilet checks you’re healthy by analyzing you wees and poos

April 26, 2020

The new ‘smart toilet’ technology can look for signs of disease, scientists claim, from cancer to kidney failure.

Going to the loo may never be the same again thanks to scientists who claim to have invented a device that can be fitted on toilets to detect signs of various diseases in stool and urine.

The gadget, which fits inside the bowl, uses cameras, test strips and motion sensing technology to analyse the deposits and sends the data to a secure cloud server.

The researchers said their so-called “smart toilet” technology could be useful to individuals who are genetically predisposed to certain conditions, such as irritable bowel syndrome, prostate cancer or kidney failure.

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Automation, Coronavirus, Driverless vehicles, Healthcare, Science & Technology News

Self-driving startups Beep and Navya explore driverless transport for coronavirus lab specimens

April 25, 2020

Most Consumers Believe They’ll Prefer Riding In Self Driving Cars In Ten Years

Autonomous vehicle startups Beep and Navya are using four driverless shuttles to transport coronavirus tests around the Mayo Clinic campus in Jacksonville, Florida.

Because the routes are isolated from public traffic, the shuttles can be operated without a human safety driver, which limits human exposure to the lab samples. Though even the most advanced self-driving companies require much more testing before the technology can be scaled, this example from Beep and Navya highlights a near-term upside of autonomous vehicles: minimizing human-to-human contact.

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Coronavirus, Healthcare, Science & Technology News, Tesla

Tesla unveils coronavirus ventilator prototype that uses Model 3 parts

April 20, 2020

The Model 3 infotainment system provides the basis for Tesla’s ventilator, hastily designed to combat device shortages around the world.

Ventilators are one of the most important medical devices in the battle against the coronavirus, helping keep patients with critical COVID-19 infections alive. But as the coronavirus pandemic has spread, hospitals in the worst-hit nations have found the devices in short supply. Fortunately, a handful of manufacturers have been trying to plug the shortfall including Tesla, the electric vehicle giant led by Elon Musk, which is using its New York gigafactory to help produce ventilators.

On April 5, Tesla engineering provided an update on the company’s own ventilator, which is “heavily based on Tesla car parts,” according to engineering director Joseph Mardall. A four-minute-long video was posted to YouTube revealing a prototype ventilator powered by many of the same components used in the Tesla Model 3.

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Cancer, Healthcare, Medical Breakthrough, Science & Technology News

Potentially the biggest medical breakthrough since penicillin

April 19, 2020

“Immunotherapy is the biggest breakthrough in medicine in our generation”: Associate Professor Alex Menzies from Melanoma Institute Australia.

If there is reason to have faith in the scientists, immunologists, virologists and oncologists racing to develop a vaccine for coronavirus, it is the stunning progress they are having in reducing deaths from what is called “Australia’s cancer”.

A decade ago, a diagnosis of advanced or stage four melanoma was effectively a death sentence within six to nine months.

But a leading medical oncologist, Associate Professor Alex Menzies from Melanoma Institute Australia, believes immunotherapy treatments – using the body’s immune system to attack the cancer cells – mean 50 per cent of these patients are surviving long enough to be considered cured.

Continue reading… “Potentially the biggest medical breakthrough since penicillin”