#Premature birth may weaken brain connections Premature birth may result in weakened connections in brain networks linked to attention, communication and the processing of emotions, thereby increasing risk of neurological and psychiatric disorders,
new research has found.""We found significant differences in the white matter tracts and abnormalities in brain circuits in the infants born early,
compared with those of infants born at full term, "said principal investigator Cynthia Rogers, assistant professor of child psychiatry at Washington University School of medicine in St louis. White matter tracts in the brain are made of axons that connect brain regions to form networks.
The researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor brain imaging to compare 58 babies born at full term with 76 infants born at least 10 weeks early.
Each full-term baby was scanned on his or her second or third day of life. Each premature baby
meanwhile, received a brain scan within a few days of his or her due date. The researchers found that some key brain networks--those involved in attention,
communication and emotion--were weaker in premature infants, offering an explanation for why children born prematurely may have elevated an risk of psychiatric disorders.
The researchers also found differences in preemies'resting-state brain networks, particularly in a pair of networks previously implicated in learning and developmental problems.
These brain circuit abnormalities likely contribute to problems that materialize as the children get older,
Rogers said.""The brain is particularly'plastic'very early in life and potentially could be modified by early intervention,"Rogers pointed out t
#New eye lens may spell end of reading glasses An Indian-origin researcher in the UK is developing an adjustable artificial lens,
made from the same material found in smartphone and TV screens, which could improve vision in older people with presbyopia and cataracts.
As people age, their lenses lose flexibility and elasticity. This leads to a condition known as presbyopia, common in people over 45 years old,
and can require optical aids, such as reading glasses. Devesh Mistry, a postgraduate research student in the School of Physics and Astronomy, at the University of Leeds is working with liquid crystal to create a truly adjustable artificial lens."
"As we get older, the lens in our eye stiffens, when the muscles in the eye contract they can no longer shape the lens to bring close objects into focus,
which we probably know better as the material used in the screens of TVS and smartphones,
and intra-ocular lens implants to rejuvenate sight. Mistry is currently researching and developing the lens in the lab
Eye surgeons would make an incision in the cornea and use ultrasound to break down the old lens.
The lens could also have application in tackling cataracts-the clouding of natural lenses -which affect many people in later life and
but liquid crystals lie between crystalline solids and liquids. They have ordered an structure like a crystal, but they can also flow like a liquid
and respond to stimuli, "he said. Mistry is working in collaboration with the Eurolens Research at the University of Manchester and with Ultravision CLPL,
a specialist contact lenses manufacturer headed by two University of Leeds alumni. His research builds upon previous work by the same collaborators,
who developed a prototype contact lens with an electrically-controllable focus using liquid crystals. The first commercially-available liquid crystal lenses could be on sale between six and ten years'time e
#Space suit that'mimics'gravity tested An innovative'Skinsuit'designed to reduce the debili ating physical effects of space light has been trialled for the first time on the International space station by a European space agency (ESA) astronaut.
"Given the impact of atrophy on astronauts in space, I wondered if a suit like the one worn by Freeman could fool the body into thinking it was on the ground rather than in space,
But even the most jaded among them might be surprised by a process that computer scientists in California
A computer processes the transfer in 30 milliseconds, no time at all for a human observer
Matthias Niessner, of Stanford university who works on the rendering of three-dimensional surfaces in computer graphics, refers to the process as"live facial re-enactment."
He said that with further work, real-time transfer of facial expressions could be combined with realtime translation.
#World's first sonic tractor beam lifts objects with sound Researchers, including one of Indian-origin,
have built the world's first sonic tractor beam that can lift and move objects using sound waves.
Tractor beams are mysterious rays that can grab and lift objects. The concept has been used by science-fiction writers,
Researchers have built now a working tractor beam that uses high-amplitude sound waves to generate an acoustic hologram
"said one of the researchers Sriram Subramanian, professor of informatics at University of Sussex in England."
The tractor beam works by surrounding the object with high-intensity sound and this creates a force field that keeps the objects in place.
But here we have managed to control the sound to a degree never previously achieved,"Bruce Drinkwater, professor of ultrasonics at University of Bristol in Britain, pointed out t
#The revolutionary Lily Flying Camera Drone is brought to life thanks to 3d printing May 13, 2015 By Simonit no surprise that some of the most exciting tech to come out in years has been brought to consumers thanks in no small part to 3d printing.
Additionally, according to Balaresque, the Lily software will even be able to learn a user face through a computer vision system that will always keep a user in the shot.
What makes Lily unique is that rather than having a large remote control or smart device app to control the flying unit,
Lily is programmed to fly itself thanks to an external GPS device that can be slipped into a user pocket.
Included in the pocket GPS unit are sensors that will let Lily know if a user is moving vertically such as a jump or fall.
Additionally, the pocket unit will feature buttons that allow a user to bring the device closer
or further away, depending on the desired shot or limits of a physical activity. Of course, all of this wouldn mean much
when it came to specs that rival existing action cameras such as those offered by both Gopro and Sony.
of which can be trained onto the user through the use of the pocket GPS unit. Balaresque just might have a holiday hit on his hands
if he is able to ensure that the final product works as intended: while existing action cameras are limited to the skills of a (oftentimes amateur) photographer, the Lily acts as an lways-on,
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#Australian scientists develop 3d printed organic solar cells capable of powering a skyscraper It no secret that solar panels are set to change the way the world harnesses energy-especially
when considering that next-generation homes could be powered by batteries that are charged by self-harnessed energy-and just like any other piece of modern technology,
scientists and researchers have been actively looking at ways to make the solar panel manufacturing process more optimized using an additive manufacturing process.
Among others, a team of 50 Australian scientists from various fields have been working over the past few years to develop paper-thin
organic printable solar panels as part of the Victorian Organic solar cell Consortium. According to the researchers, the printable panels are capable of powering entire skyscrapers
and theye hoping to see commercial market production for the printed panels for use starting in low-power applications in the very near future.
According to the project website, the technology has the potential to ramatically reduce the dependence on more traditional sources of electricity in developed countries such as Australia,
and also provide a cheap, easily deployable source of electric power for remote regions beyond the reach of the grid in developing countries.
Additionally unlike traditional electricity-producing solar panels, the printed cells offer the potential to allow printing onto actual housing materials including glass
and roofing-a factor that could dramatically open up design opportunities. In addition to the opportunities for printing the cells on to larger structures,
the scientists also looked at ways of applying the technology onto smaller objects such as ipads."
"ipad covers, laptop bags, skins of iphone will no longer be just for casing electronics, but to collect some energy as well
and power those electronics, "said Fiona Scholes, a senior research scientist at Australia national science agency CSIRO.
The researchers have managed to reduce each of the solar panels to approximately the size of a coin
and have been able to achieve this manufacturing marvel thanks to 3d printers that have been modified to print with solar ink."
"It's very cheap, said Scholes. he way in which it looks and works is quite different to conventional silicon rooftop solar.
The consortium-which is comprised of members of CSIRO, Melbourne and Monash universities-has gone even so far as to explore how to transport the technology to some of the world most remote areas that don even use electricity."
"We print them onto plastic in more or less the same way we print our plastic banknotes,
"Scholes also said.""Connecting our solar panels is as simple as connecting a battery.""As for what next for the team, researchers hope that with government support they could be available to the public in just a few years."
"The long range goal is-it's a little bit utopian -but you have every surface of any building,
ever car, generate energy, "Monash Dean of Engineering Frieder Seible told AAP. Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten
and Victorian MP Anna Burke toured the lab on Friday, spruiking Labor's aspirational 50 per cent renewable energy by 2030 target."
"What we see here is there's technology which will revolutionise manufacturing and our capacity to turn sunlight into electricity for Australian consumers and small businesses,
"Mr Shorten said. Professor Seible said the new cells could be publicly available in just a few years with government support.
Mass production of printable cells would create jobs locally, so long as production isn't moved offshore as it was with silicone cells,
he said. Some silicon cells were invented in Australia but production occurs in China.""We have to make sure with the printable solar cells that we don't make the same mistake.
Namely that we don't just invent it here, but we also produce it here in the end,
"We would like to improve the efficiency of solar panels-we need to develop solar inks to generate more energy from sunlight,
a dissolvable tablet that treats seizures While wee seen a lot of interesting 3d printed medical applications appear in surgery rooms already think about 3d printed titanium implants
or plastic replicas of organs most 3d bioprinted innovations will easily take years before reaching patients.
However, one New jersey-based Farmaceutical company called Aprecia is hard at work pioneering another 3d printed medical application:
What more, Aprecia have just been awarded FDA approval for the first of 3d printed drug of its kind, the epilepsy drug Spritam.
It a prescription adjunctive therapy in the treatment of partial onset seizures myoclonic seizures and primary generalized tonic-clonic seizures in adults and children with epilepsy,
they write. This is good news for the large number of patients suffering from epilepsy-related afflictions,
of which there are an estimated three million in the US alone (of which about a sixth are children).
Surely epilepsy drugs already exist? Well you would be absolutely right, but the company argues that many patients have reported finding it difficult swallowing the large pills necessary. n my experience,
patients and caregivers often have difficulty following a treatment regimen. Whether they are dealing with a swallowing disorder
Ohio-based doctor Marvin H. Rorick in the company release. specially for children and seniors, having an option for patients to take their medication as prescribed is important to managing this disease. nd that where 3d printing comes in.
Aprecia uses a technology they call Zipdose 3d printing which essentially revolves around Powder-liquid 3d printing to create porous structures that rapidly disintegrate
Aprecia is developing formulations of medicines that rapidly disintegrate with a sip of liquid, even at high dose loads,
they mysteriously say about the exact way the technology works. y combining 3dp technology with a highly-prescribed epilepsy treatment,
this could increase the effectiveness of medical treatment. Doctors in the US already have access to a government-sponsored 3d printing repository, through
which they can share designs to aid in medical treatment, and 3d printed drugs could be a welcome addition to that system.
In short, Spritam is definitely paving the way for a new generation of 3d printed drugs. Posted in 3d printing Applications (adsbygoogle=window. adsbygoogle.
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#Open Space agency gears up to launch open source 3d printed telescope For those of us who love space
and space exploration but are currently earthbound for the time being, the next best thing is to have a professional-grade telescope that ransportsus into space
The only problem of course, has been in handing over the many thousands of dollars needed to purchase an automated robotic telescope that capable of providing clear images of the outer cosmos automatically.
and that can capture images with a smartphone camera over the past two years: the Ultrascope. ifty years ago space exploration was the domain of governments,
Altogether-without the smartphone-the cost of building the telescope is just $312. In an interview with Science Magazine
(which features a 9-centimeter mirror) of their final Open source Ultrascope design this upcoming October at the San diego Maker Faire,
When paired with an internet-connected smartphone camera, the Ultrascope will also be able to take high quality photographs
The resulting crowdsourced data can then be used to either look at specific locations from another location
building and operation of the first 3d printer in space, called the 3d printing In Zero-Ge Experiment.
they now announce on their website. These tests took place in a vacuum chamber. The zero gravity 3d printer used in space.
Preliminary results suggest that the vacuum-based 3d printing process works as expected, without any show stoppers,
This is again the case with a 3d printed solution for a problem almost as old as robots equipped with microphones themselves:
This ocktail-party problemhas been around in the artificial intelligence business for a while, and computers have struggled simply to continue to pick out your voice
when nearby people are talking simultaneously. Some proposed solutions revolved around complex algorithms or equipping robots with a large number of microphones focused on various positions in the vicinity,
but neither have proved very successful. But as they explain in an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
a team led by electrical engineers Steven Cummer and Yangbo Xie, 3d printing offers a fantastic solution. What they have essentially come up with is a large thick,
3d printed plastic disk, featuring 36 openings on its side, and diverse honeycomb passages leading to a single microphone in the center of the disk.
It is essentially a single-sensor listening system that combines acoustic metamaterials and compressive sensing techniques. ifferent from previous research efforts that generally rely on signal
and speech processing techniques to solve the ocktail partylistening problem, our proposed method is a unique hardware-based approach by exploiting carefully designed acoustic metamaterials,
they write. e not only believe that the results of this work are significant for communities of various disciplines that have been pursuing the understanding and engineering of cocktail party listening over the past decades,
but also that the system design approach of combining physical layer design and computational sensing will impact on traditional acoustic sensing
and imaging modalities. o how does it work? Well each of the 46 passages to the microphone is unique
and features subtly different ways of enabling sound to travel to the center, the scientists explain.
but the amount of water (the structure of the honeycomb) influences the exact frequency. All those voices can
because the unique 3d printed shapes create variations that can be picked up by the single sensor.
but the algorithm used for the sensor can almost always tell which direction it comes from.
he device with a compact array of resonant metamaterials is demonstrated to distinguish three overlapping and independent sources with 96.67%correct audio recognition,
but there is obviously plenty of room for optimizing that design for further applications. The Duke university scientists have said already it could be applied to hearing aids
and other acoustic imaging and sensing applications, so we might see a much smaller version of this technology in the near future.
#Shanghai Children Medical center opens China first pediatric 3d printing medical research unit When it comes to applications for 3d printing in the medical industry,
Chinese doctors have been among the most prominent supporters of the technology as of late and have used it for a myriad of medical-related purposes.
Within the past few months alone, Chinese doctors have used 3d printing to aide in a highly-complex hip-replacement surgical procedure for a 42-year-old woman,
remove a tumor from a 60-year-old woman kidney and to help repair a 28-year-old woman atlantoaxial dislocation condition.
Thanks to the continued success of using 3d printing to aid in surgical procedures the country-along with 3d printing giant Materialise-proudly unveiled their first pediatric-specific 3d digital medical research facility in Shanghai at the Shanghai Children Medical center on Thursday, August 13th.
Among other projects, the new Pediatric 3d printing Unit at the hospital will focus on pediatric medical imaging, digital modelling, 3d fabrication,
and the researching new ways of using 3d printing in a number of clinical applications. According to Kim Francois, a spokeswoman from Materialise, the company will contribute with training for digital modeling and 3d printing procedures, clinical software development and technology support.
While 3d printing has proven to be effective in surgical procedures for patients of all ages it has been especially effective in cases for young children-especially newborns
By creating a 3d printed organ replica in advance of a potentially life-threatening surgery, doctors can both practice their procedure with the replica as well as use it as a reference during the actual surgery. or example,
when we are working out treatment for a child with congenital heart disease we can create a 3d dissection model of the patient
which provides a clear view of the situation and promotes further analysis, said the research center director Liu Jinfen.
According to experts from Materialise, a majority of the 3d printing applications for the pediatric unit will focus on complex diseases including congenital heart disease, premature skull formations and congenital bronchial softening.
In addition to helping support the doctors in advance of a surgery, the models can also be recycled and used as reference in medical classes, too.
Assuming that the new Pediatric 3d printing Unit is a success, it will likely only be a matter of time before other hospitals around the world open up their own 3d printing labs,
too t
#3d4md turns solar powered suitcase 3d printer into medical tool for saving lives in third world and on Mars As regular readers will have noticed doubtlessly,
3d printing technology is already steadily making a name for itself as a genuine and very useful medical technology.
But despite all the 3d printed organ replicas, bioprinted innovations and even plastic hand prosthetics out there, the reality is that very few are available to a broad public.
People across the third world have very little access to basic medical care, let alone to 3d printed tools and prosthetics themselves.
But that could be changing in the near future as one Canadian doctor recently founded a startup that is employing 3d printers for medical care in hard to reach places.
Called 3dmd and led by dr. Julielynn Wong, this fantastic initiative uses multipurpose solar-powered suitcase 3d printers that can be used to manufacture all sorts of medical tools in the remote corners of the world and even in space by astronauts.
This inspiring 3d printing venture has been developed by actual public health physician dr. Wong, who realized that 3d printers are making life in the west much easier,
while people in the rest of the world haven even completed previous medical steps yet.
So why not combine the two into a single package? ver one billion people lack access to electricity.
In remote places, simple medical items are expensive and can take weeks to months to arrive in the hands of medical staff. 3d4md brings technologists,
healthcare professionals and patients together to create affordable 3d printable medical solutions to positively impact over one billion lives,
she says. oday it possible to use low-cost 3d printers to make medical supplies locally on demand using solar energy.
Our mission is to use 3d printers to deliver the highest standard of medical care in the most challenging places to those who need it the most.
This fantastic project has been under development for a few years now the first 3d printed tools were tested medically way back in 2013
Recently publishing a medical article called"Solar-Powered Suitcase 3d printer Makes Medical Supplies"in the September issue of the Aerospace medicine Human Performance journal,
the key component in this entire venture is a custom-made and very impressive solar-powered, plug-and-play ultraportable 3d printing system.
say, doctors without borders, can take these suitcase 3d printers to any remote village in Africa that hasn even been put on the grid yet. his 3d printing system is capable of making a range of medical supplies,
including custom splints, scalpel handles, and dental instruments. Designing this system to fit inside a carry on suitcase allows safer handling of fragile parts
and saves money by avoiding checked baggage fee, she says. Even better would be if one or two of these 3d printers stay behind to enable locals to create their own (medical) 3d printed solutions.
A combination with easy-to-use software like Openscad is made easily. And remarkably it was conceived in a way similar to how many of us start out:
My father carried a doctor's bag containing medical equipment when he made house calls. I began to imagine how doctors could use portable 3d printers to make medical supplies for patients during visits,
she says. As she goes on to explain, the current second edition of the 3d printer has been made entirely with off-the-shelf components. he entire system has to be within the maximum size limits for carry on baggage to allow safer handling of delicate parts
and to save money by avoiding baggage check in fees. I wanted this to be a plug-and-play system
The solar panels are connected to the battery (12v containing a charge controller and AC inverter) to chare it,
while an entire catalog of 3d printable files can be found on a supplied USB memory stick.
and pressing play is the only thing that is needed to print a wide range of tested medical supplies.
which is used to prep the forthcoming mission to Mars. ince the International space station is powered by solar panels,
I decided to use solar energy to power my 3d printer to make medical supplies during my simulated Mars mission.
I had printed my medical supplies tested by clinic staff to see if they worked properly.
In short, this 3d4md kit is quickly becoming the machine that doctors throughout the world and beyond it need.
#More revealed about 3d printed Acetabular Cup formally approved for hip surgery in China Chinese scientists
and surgeons have been at the forefront of 3d printed medical applications over the last few years,
and regular readers will have noticed doubtlessly a lot of 3d printed components being used in surgeries in Chinese hospitals. And last week, we learned that this number is doubtlessly set to skyrocket,
the approved 3d printed hip joint prosthesis was developed by Dr. Zhang Ke, Liu Zhong Jun, and Cai Hong of Peking University Third Hospital in cooperation with AK Medical, a Chinese private medical company.
The 3d printer used in the manufacturing of the hip joint was designed by a Swedish company Arcam AB and uses the Electronic Beam Melting (EBM) method of manufacturing,
This is good news for the aging Chinese society where hip disease and other issues (necrosis, dysplasia, fractures,
and bone diseases such as arthritis) necessitating hip replacement is becoming more and more common. As dr. Zhang Ke recently pointed out,
joint replacement surgery is very common in China about 400,000 took place in 2014, of which at least two thirds is focused specifically on hip replacement.
Depending on the domestic or imported artificial joints used, an operation costs about 50,000-100,000 RMB, something many families cannot afford.
A domestically-made traditional prosthesis is often not satisfactory. The imported hip alone quickly costs around 30
gradually forming a market monopoly with higher prices. Zhang Ke estimated that 70%of a patient money goes to the imported part alone.
Both predict that 3d printing can reduce that price by a third or even half. Breaking the monopoly with 3d printing should also reduce other prices So how does this 3d printed innovation help them?
Well only the acetabular cup in the entire artificial hip is 3d printed, with the rest not being so very different.
The hip prosthesis is composed of four parts: a ceramic femoral head, a femoral stem, an acetabular cup,
and apolyethylene insert. The currently used ceramic head is made in Germany, the stems come from the United kingdom,
only the Cup is manufactured by 3d printers. Deputy Director at the hospital Cai Hong explains, the acetabular cup is manufactured by the most advanced 3d metal printing technology.
In the past, the cup was made through titanium alloy casting, and needed to be melted into liquid and poured in the mold of titanium alloy
and then cooled down to form a shape. A micro-porous coating was added then the surface.
But this takes two steps to manufacture while 3d printing only requires one. Doctors send data to the manufacturing enterprise, where an engineer builds 3d models with it.
Using direct metal laser sintering technology, the laser beam fuses the titanium powder into a solid form.
Layer by layer, the 3d printer tranforms titanium alloy powder into cups with micro-hole structure,
Professor Zhang Ke and doctor Cai Hong went to Sweden for an academic meeting and encountered a metal 3d printer.
From his long-term clinical experience in the medical field Zhang Ke realized that it can be used widely in medical applications.
After returning to China, he received support from Liu Zhongjun, Director of the bone department at the Beijng University Third Hospital.
For the next step, Zhang Ke began leading the Group of Orthopedic Joints team to develop the first Chinese 3d printed hip products.
However, as tests revealed, 3d printing does more than reduce prices. Just a few weeks ago, Cai Hong office replaced an existing Chinese-made artificial acetabular cup with a 3d printed one.
The patient in question was Wang Xiulan from Shandong Province. She walked around with the earlier model for five years
Cai Hong explained after leading the revision surgery which cost the patient another 100,000 yuan (after paying 40,000 for the previous surgery).
The difference is that the common cast cup has a smooth surface, while the 3d printed version is rough
This structures mimics that of human bones and increases stability while providing a good environment for regrowth.
in the future custom printing will ensure a perfect fit. So far, dozens of patients have received 3d printed hip replacement surgery,
and ll the clinical results were very good, we did not see the loosening of prosthesis,
displacement and failure conditions yet, Cai Hong said. And as he went on to explain
Cai Hong explained. hina's 3d printing implant registration and approval process is relatively long; to get our research and development of artificial hip joints from clinical research finally approved took 40 months,
Also problematic is customized that 3d printed orthopedic implants are restricted still officially in use. Cai Hong expressed regret that, at the present,
drafts on the individual customization of the medical devices regulations will be introduced for comment, he adds. That will hopefully bode very well for the future d
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