#Minimally invasive surgery with hydraulic assistance Endoscopic surgery requires great manual dexterity on the part of the operating surgeon.
Their outstanding sensitivity simplifies the biopsy procedure. Minimally invasive techniques, also known as"keyhole surgery,"enable surgeons to operate on patients without requiring major incisions.
This method causes much less trauma for the patient, and is used commonly when performing lung, esophageal and joint biopsies,
and most especially when operating inside the abdominal cavity. An endoscope is inserted through one or two small incisions in the abdominal wall
allowing the internal organs to be visualized for surgery. Surgical techniques have advanced by leaps and bounds in recent years.
The same cannot be said for surgical instruments. In certain types of endoscope, the tip can be oriented at different angles."
"This basic control mechanism, which demands great dexterity and even physical strength on the part of the surgeon, has changed barely
since the earliest days of endoscopy,"says Timo Cuntz, a member of the Project Group for Automation in Medicine and Biotechnology PAMB in Mannheim, a part of the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA.
The force required to deflect the tip is transmitted by a wire mechanism known as a Bowden cable (similar to a bicycle brake cable.
Modern endoscopes are equipped additionally with tiny pincers, clamps or scissors for removing tissue samples, for example.
These miniature instruments are controlled mechanically, too. The cable mechanism transmits the surgeon's hand movements at one end to the tiny instruments at the other extremity of the endoscope.
Cuntz adds:""The movement of the wires inside the Bowden cable generates friction and hence a loss of force.
Only a small proportion of the force applied actually reaches the tip of the instrument,
making it difficult for the surgeon to manipulate the tissue precisely.""The surgeon's work would be made much easier
if it were possible to reduce the friction and increase the power density. Hydraulic instruments are one of the alternatives being considered as a substitute for mechanical transmission based on Bowden cable."
They allow the surgeon to carry out much finer movements, "says the engineer. A plastic tube filled with a sterile,
biocompatible fluid based on medicinal white oil is used in place of the wire cable. To control the attached instruments and orient the tip of the endoscope,
the surgeon manipulates a hydraulic cylinder or robotic muscle that exerts the required pressure to compress the fluid and push it through the hydraulic tube onto a second, spring-mounted cylinder.
The advantage of this system is its lower frictional loss and higher gripping force--up to 50 newtons have been achieved in the laboratory.
Such hydraulically actuated instruments are suited ideally for use in connection with a technique known as natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES),
in which the surgeon operates through natural body orifices in order to access internal organs; going through the stomach, for instance,
using both rigid endoscope tips and simple gripping tools. Laboratory prototypes with flexible tips have also been tested.
Timo Cuntz and other members of the Mannheim project group will be present at the combined Compamed (Hall 08a, Booth K38) and Medica (Hall 10, Booth G05) trade shows
#Analyzing gold and steel--rapidly, precisely Optical emission spectrometers are used widely in the steel industry but the instruments currently employed are relatively large and bulky.
A novel sensor makes it possible to significantly reduce their size and moreover enables a more precise analysis in half the time previously required.
Jewelers in India are required by law to test the purity of gold using an optical emission spectrometer that analyzes the composition of the metal on the basis of the emitted light spectrum.
But goldsmiths are not the only users of these instruments the tools are more frequently found in steel foundries
and car factories where they help engineers to determine the characteristics of steel materials analyze their chemical composition
Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits and Systems IMS in Duisburg have developed a sensor that shrinks the size of the spectrometer optics.
Whereas earlier high-resolution spectrometers were the size of a washing machine those built using our sensor will be no bigger than a microwave oven says IMS department head Werner Brockherde.
And this is not the only advantage of the new sensor: the delivered results are also more precise and available in half the time.
when performing quality assurance in the automotive industry. The first sensor that combines time-and space-resolved measurementsto understand how the scientists were able to miniaturize the instrument to this extent we need to take a closer look at its inner workings.
In order to analyze a piece of steel for example it has to generate sparks at regular intervals.
These sparks knock atoms out of the material resulting in a plasma that emits multicolored light.
The plasma light is split into two beam channels and broken down into several wavebands like the colors of a rainbow
which are analyzed then separately. In the first beam channel light-sensitive electronic components known as CCD line sensors record the entire spectrum of the sample.
This reveals the nature and concentration of particles suspended in the plasma from which it is possible to derive information on the composition of the steel sample.
Experts refer to this result as a space-resolved measurement. The second beam channel produces time-resolved measurements of individual spectral lines--adjusted
so that the instrument can distinguish between light emitted by te plasma and that emitted by the sparks.
All previous solutions were based on separate time-resolved and space-resolved measurements. Our CMOS-based sensor enables these two sets of measurements to be conducted in parallel.
As a result we only require a single beam channel and thus a single optical unit says Brockherde.
The new photodetector multiplies the dynamic range by 100 resulting in a much faster spectrometer.
Demonstrator at the Vision trade showa demonstration version of the sensor will be presented at the Vision trade show in Stuttgart from November 4 to 6 (Booth 1h74.
Our new sensor which was developed in Germany and is not available anywhere else will enable these manufacturers to secure a further competitive advantage.
#Miniature camera may lead to fewer accidents Measuring only a few cubic millimeters a new type of camera module might soon be integrated into future driver assistance systems to help car drivers facing
The little gadget can be built into the vehicle without taking up space. The way it works is particularly reliable thanks to its special encapsulation.
All too often, a driver has only fractions of a second to decide when facing a potential car accident:
According to data from the Federal Statistical Office, the number of deadly casualties on German autobahns in 2013 rose by more than eight percent when compared to the prior year.
since it is equipped with an integrated processor for image processing. After the integrated image sensor has recorded the images,
the processor evaluates the frames.""The video itself no longer has to--as previously the case--be sorted
and analyzed by an interposing system. Instead, only the relevant signals are transmitted, "says Andreas Ostmann, a graduate of physics and the group manager at IZM.
The advantage for traffic signal detection: The data volumes to be transmitted and processed turn out to be much less--by many times over.
Since the detection of all signals can be adapted to all traffic signs that are typical of the country,
A total of 72 passive and 13 active components (such as LEDS, DC-to-DC converters, memory chip, image sensor and image processor) had to be positioned within the module in an especially space-saving manner.
Experts called this assembly technology"embedding.""By encapsulating the electronic components, the microcamera is now impervious to vibrations on uneven street surfaces."
"Our system can not only be used to detect traffic signs. If one programs the software accordingly, it is also possible to detect road markings.
In this case, the camera is combined with a lane departure assistant. Since it also controls motion detection
and detects objects such as animals, people, and their position, it can be coupled readily with a brake assistant or pedestrian safety system,
mounted on the dashboard, the miniature system could monitor the cabin of vehicles and send an alarm for microsleep.
For this purpose, only the image processing algorithms would have to be adjusted accordingly y
#Mining big data yields Alzheimers discovery Scientists at The University of Manchester have used a new way of working to identify a new gene linked to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.
The discovery fills in another piece of the jigsaw when it comes to identifying people most at risk of developing the condition.
Researcher David Ashbrook and colleagues from the UK and USA used two of the world's largest collections of scientific data to compare the genes in mice and humans.
Using brain scans from the ENIGMA Consortium and genetic information from The Mouse Brain Library he was able to identify a novel gene,
MGST3 that regulates the size of the hippocampus in both mouse and human, which is linked to a group of neurodegenerative diseases.
The study has just been published in the journal BMC Genomics. David, who works in Dr Reinmar Hager's lab at the Faculty of life sciences, says:"
"There is already the'reserve hypothesis'that a person with a bigger hippocampus will have more of it to lose before the symptoms of Alzheimer's are spotted.
and the corresponding genes and then matching those with genes in mice from the BXD system held in the Mouse Brain Library database we could identify this specific gene that influences neurological diseases."
"Ultimately this could provide another biomarker in the toolkit for identifying those at greatest risk of developing diseases such as Alzheimer's."
but also the networks it uses to influence a disease like Alzheimer's. We believe this information will be incredibly useful for future studies looking at treatments and preventative measures."
"The ENIGMA Consortium is led by Professor Paul Thompson based at the University of California, Los angeles, and contains brain images and gene information from nearly 25,000 subjects.
The Mouse Brain Library, established by Professor Robert Williams based at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center,
contains data on over 10,000 brains and numerical data from just over 20,000 mice. David explains why combining the information held by both databases is so useful:"
"The key advantage of working this way is that it is much easier to identify a genetic variant in mice as they live in such controlled environments.
By taking the information from mice and comparing it to human gene information we can identify the same variant much more quickly."
"We are living in a big data world thanks to the likes of the Human genome Project and post-genome technologies.
A lot of that information is shared now widely so by mining what we already know we can learn so much more,
advancing our knowledge of diseases and ultimately improving detection and treatment
#RNA molecules found in urine, tissue that detect prostate cancer Researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute have identified a set of RNA molecules that are detectable in tissue samples and urine of prostate cancer patients,
but not in normal healthy individuals. The study sets the stage for the development of more-sensitive and specific noninvasive tests for prostate cancer than those currently available,
which could result in fewer unnecessary prostate biopsies with less treatment-related morbidity, according to a new study in The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics.
According to the American Cancer Society, prostate cancer is the second most common type of cancer in American men (behind skin cancer
and the second-leading cause of cancer death in men (after lung cancer. In 2014, more than 230,000 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed.
One in seven American men will get prostate cancer during his lifetime, and one in 36 will die from it.
Since most men with prostate cancer have indolent (nonaggressive) disease for which conservative therapy or surveillance would be appropriate treatment,
the clinical challenge is not only how to identify those with prostate cancer, but also how to distinguish those who would benefit from surgical
or other aggressive treatment from those who would not. Today, prostate cancer is detected primarily and monitored by testing for high concentrations of prostate specific-antigen antigen (PSA) in blood samples.
High PSA levels are followed often by a biopsy to confirm the presence of cancer, and whether it's slow growing or aggressive."
"While elevated PSA can be an alert to a lethal cancer, it can also detect less aggressive cancers that may never do said any harm
Vipul Patel, M d.,medical director of the Global Robotics Institute at Florida Hospital in Orlando."
"Moreover, only 25 percent of men with raised PSA levels that have a biopsy actually have prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer needs to be screened for; we just need to find a better marker.""The researchers believe that they have identified a group of RNA molecules--known as long noncoding RNAS (lncrnas)--that hold the potential for serving as better prognostic markers for prostate cancer. lncrnas are non-coding RNA
molecules that until recently were dismissed by scientists as nonfunctional noise in the genome. Now, lncrnas are thought to regulate normal cellular development
and are reported increasingly as contributing to a range of diseases, including cancer.""We have identified a set of lncrnas that appear to have an important role in prostate cancer diagnostics,
"said Ranjan J. Perera, Ph d.,associate professor and scientific director of Analytical Genomics and Bioinformatics at Sanford-Burnham's Lake Nona campus in Orlando."
"The findings advance our understanding of the role of lncrnas in cancer biology and, importantly, broaden the opportunity to use lncrnas as biomarkers to detect prostate cancer."
"The study profiled the lncrnas in three distinct groups:(1) human prostate cancer cell lines and normal prostate epithelial cells,(2) prostate adenocarcinoma tissue samples and matched normal tissue samples,(3) urine samples
from patients with prostate cancer or benign prostate hypoplasia, and normal healthy individuals. In each case, the lncrnas were elevated in prostate cancer patient samples,
but not in patients with benign prostate hypoplasia or normal healthy individuals. One advantage of lncrnas is that the molecules can be detected in urine samples,
which are more easily available than blood tests. One lncrna, PCA3, was commercialized recently as a urine test to identify which men suspected of having prostate cancer should undergo repeat prostate biopsy.
However discrepancies have been found to exist between PCA3 levels and clinicopathologic features, said Dr. Perera.
In the current study, PCA3 was detected in some, but not all of the study samples, suggesting that reliance on a single biomarker may be insufficient for prostate cancer detection,
while combining additional markers may increase the specificity and sensitivity of the test.""There is a tremendous unmet clinical need for better noninvasive screening tools for early detection of prostate cancer to reduce the overtreatment and morbidity of this disease,"added Dr. Patel."
"Our findings represent a promising approach to meet this demand.""Technical Details of the Study The goal of the first experiment was to see
whether lncrnas are expressed differentially in prostate cancer by measuring total RNA from prostate cancer cell lines
and normal epithelial prostatic cells using NCODE human ncrna array and Sureprint G3 human lncrna microarrays.
Hierarchical clustering revealed distinguishable lncrna expression profiles. Thirty lncrnas were regulated up and the expression levels of three top-ranking candidates XLOC 007697, LOC100287482,
and AK024556 (also known as SPRY4-IT1) were confirmed in prostate cancer cell lines by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qpcr) analysis. The SPRY4-IT1 was found to be regulated up more than 100-fold in PC3 cells compared with prostatic epithelial cells.
In a second experiment lncrna expression was compared in pooled prostate cancer tissue samples and matched normal tissues from 10 frozen biopsy specimens.
Hierarchical clustering of the differentially expressed lncrnas was observed and 10 up-regulated lncrnas were detected using microarrays.
An additional set of 18 prostate cancer tissue samples was analyzed by qpcr and five lncrnas were found to be significantly higher in prostate tumor tissues compared with matched normal tissues.
Researchers used qpcr to analyze total RNA isolated from urine in another experiment. Urine was collected from 13 prostate cancer patients and 14 healthy controls.
All six lncrnas were found to be regulated significantly up in the urine samples from the prostate cancer patients compared with normal patient controls
while there were no differences between normal and benign prostatic hyperplasia patient samples. In other studies focused particularly on SPRY4-IT1.
Using both qpcr and highly sensitive droplet digital PCR, expression of SPRY-IT1 was found to be increased in 16 of 18 (89 percent) tissue samples from patients with prostatic adenocarcinoma,
compared to normal tissue samples. The researchers developed chromogenic in situ hybridization (CISH) techniques to visualize SPRY4-IT1 expression in cancerous and matched normal tissue.
Intense staining was seen in all adenocarcinoma samples, but not in normal prostatic tissue. Finally, the investigators showed that reduction of SPRY4-IT1 in prostate cancer cells through the use of small interfering RNA (sirna) leads to decreased cell viability and cellular invasion as well as increased apoptosis similar to
what is seen in melanoma cells s
#Experimental rapid test could tell sinusitis sufferers if they need antibiotics...or just patience It's that time of the year where a perfect storm of fall allergies
and cold and flu season will send hordes of sniffling sneezing sufferers to the doctor's office.
Currently, physicians don't have a quick way to tell if sinus problems are allergic, viral or bacterial.
However, many patients will end up with a diagnosis of bacterial sinusitis and a prescription for antibiotics--despite evidence showing that in most cases,
the medication won't help. Now, researchers from The Ohio State university Wexner Medical center and Nationwide Children's Hospital have developed a new rapid screening test that could help physicians know exactly what type of sinusitis they are dealing with
--and help get patients the right treatment.""A quick in-office nose swab, and less than 5 minutes later, physicians will be able to more confidently prescribe antibiotics for the estimated 10 percent of sinusitis sufferers who actually need them,
versus the 53 percent that currently get them, "said Subinoy Das, MD, an adjunct professor of otolaryngology at Ohio State's College of Medicine,
who spent nearly a decade working with a team of researchers to develop the diagnostic."
"The use of the test could translate into 18 million fewer people getting antibiotics that they don't need,
and a positive step towards addressing the major public health issue of antibiotic overuse.""Investors seem to agree.
A presentation given by Das about the science behind the diagnostic caught the attention of two Texas-based entrepreneurs.
The executives recently formed a start-up called ENTVANTAGE, with Das as Chief Medical officer, and are actively seeking funding to help push the screening tool closer to market.
Bacteria behaving badly Das first became interested in diagnostics as an otolaryngology resident during research to find potential biomarkers of sinusitis in the blood.
The project wasn't successful, but it got Das thinking about a more specific target--bacteria in the nasal passages."
"Nasal bacteria seem like an obvious place to start, but at any given time there are hundreds of different types of bacteria in your nose.
Sometimes they do nothing, and sometimes they make you sick. So an effective diagnostic has to tell you that something has changed on a biochemical level to make that bacterium behave more pathogenically."
"Research has shown that people with chronic sinusitis often have bacteria in their sinuses that have created biofilms--communities of bacteria with sticky protective covers that help them evade antibiotics and flourish unchecked.
These properties also give biofilms a unique biochemical fingerprint. Thinking that biofilms could be part of the solution, in 2008,
Das received a KL2 trainee award from Ohio State's Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS) to start working with one of the nation's leading bacteriologists, Lauren Bakaletz, Phd.
Bakaletz, who is director of the Center for Microbial Pathogenesis at Nationwide Children's Hospital
had made already several critical discoveries about a type of biofilm-building bacterium called nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHI),
which is believed to be responsible for many upper and lower respiratory illnesses. Building on her previous NTHI work,
Bakaletz and Das started searching for the unique biochemical signature of NTHI's biofilm. In the process, they developed a novel chinchilla model of bacterial sinusitis following a viral infection.
After looking at hundreds of proteins secreted by NTHI biofilms, they landed on two candidates:
outer membrane protein (OMP) 2 and 5--proteins that were predominantly present within biofilms formed by NTHI.
With the biofilm signature in hand, the two scientists then invented a technology that reacts to the presence of NTHI proteins by changing color, much like a rapid strep or pregnancy test.
They also started to research the best way to collect nasal mucus in an in-office setting.
The work earned Das the coveted 2013 Edmund Prince Fowler Award, which is the top award for basic science research in the field of Otolaryngology."
"The research is a turning point for the future of respiratory clinical care, "says Bakaletz, who is also a professor of Pediatrics and Otolaryngology at Ohio State's College of Medicine."
"The platform could not only help dramatically reduce the overuse of antibiotics in sinusitis, but could also be used to identify other types of pathogenic respiratory bacteria
so that patients can get the best medicine for the specific type of infection that they have.""Das says the research also helps explain why viral infections appear to promote bacterial infections--a primary reason physicians will often"preemptively"prescribe antibiotics."
"Viruses don't have great mechanisms for spreading on their own, so they hijack bacteria to help them.
Viruses send out signals that quiet the immune system and promote bacterial growth. After a few days, your body senses the bacteria,
and you start sniffling and sneezing to help clear the bacteria. But what you are really doing is just spreading the virus,
"said Das.""Eighty to ninety percent of the time these symptoms will subside without any antibiotic needed,
but some doctors make the mistake of trying to prevent an infection that isn't likely to develop anyway."
"Testing moves forward With the new start-up fueling the next phase of discovery, Das hopes that there will be a sinus test available to primary care physicians within the next few years.
An accomplished sinus surgeon, Das is working with his nurses and staff to engineer and test hundreds of nasal swab collection devices to make sure that they are simple
and don't require the expertise of an otolaryngologist.""This is a great testament to the power of translational research
and the promise of team science,"says Das.""We took bench findings about the behavior of respiratory tract bacteria
and transformed that into a way to improve patient care for millions. It's been an amazing journey so far,
and we're really just beginning
#Designing rivers: Environmental flows for ecosystem services in rivers natural and novel Last spring, the Colorado river reached its delta for the first time in 16 years,
flowing into Pacific ocean at the Gulf of california after wetting 70 miles of long-dry channels through the Sonoran Desert.
The planned 8-week burst of water from Mexico's Morelos Dam on the Arizona-Mexico border was the culmination of years of diplomatic negotiations between the United states and Mexico and campaigning from scientists and conservation organizations.
Now ecologists wait to see how the short drink of water will affect the parched landscape.
This year's spring pulse held less than 1 percent of the volume of the Colorado's annual spring floods before the construction of ten major dams and diversions to municipalities, industry, and agriculture.
A return of the lush Colorado delta of the 1920s will not be possible. But there is hope that periodic flows will bring back willow, mesquite,
and ease strains on fisheries in the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of california). Environmental flows for natural, hybrid,
write Mike Acreman, of the UK's Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, and colleagues in a review published this month in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment:
controlled releases like the recent experiment on the Colorado that are designed with specific objectives for ecology
and ecosystem services in mind and hands-off policies that minimize or reverse alterations to the natural flow of the river.
For rivers like the Colorado, already much altered and bearing heavy demands from many different user groups, a"designer"approach is more practical than attempting to return the river closer to its natural,
Designers work to create a functional ecosystem or support ecosystem services under current conditions, rather than recreate a historical ecosystem.
birds and other life inhabiting the river, its banks and its marshes. Managers must plan to turn on the taps
Habitat and eroded coastline are recovering at an astonishing pace only one year after the demolition of two dams freed the river,
and climate change remodel river ecosystems, it is no longer easy to define what is"natural"for river systems.
"The future of freshwater biodiversity is linked inextricably to land and water infrastructure management,"writes N Leroy Poff of Colorado State university in his guest editorial for ESA Frontiers, in
"We are rapidly entering an era where restoration interventions will be guided less by statistical deviations from historical reference conditions and more by"process-based"understanding of organism-environment relationships,
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