Devices known as brain-machine interfaces could someday be used regularly to help paralyzed patients and amputees control prosthetic limbs with just their thoughts. University of Florida researchers are developing a way for computerized devices not only to translate brain signals into movement but also to evolve with the brain as it learns. Instead of just interpreting brain signals and routing them to a robotic hand or leg, this type of brain-machine interface would learn from a person’s behavior over time and use the knowledge to complete the subsequent tasks more efficiently, sort of like an assistant, say UF College of Medicine and College of Engineering researchers who developed a model system and tested it in rats.

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The NTT DoCoMo, a Japanese electronics company is working on some really weird stuff, including music players you control with your eyes, cell phones that require your fingers for more than just dialing and remote control like wristwatches, which could prove a boon for the physically challenged. In its present form, the digital music player is a set of headphones that performs various functions like adjusting the volume by rolling your eyes, or fast forwarding the track by jerking the eyes etc. The mobile phone is wearable on the finger like a ring and shaped like a small ball.

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Within the next five years, Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine (AFIRM) researcher Anthony Atala aims to build a portable version of an inkjet printer capable of creating an entire organ on demand. They have just invested $250 million in this research. This portable version will print layers of skin tissue directly onto deep flesh wounds. For surface wounds, such as burns, the consortium is developing a handheld spritzer that sprays a thin layer of immature skin cells over the wound. These cells, called keratinocytes, are extracted from the patient’s skin and stimulate healing in the wound. In a recent clinical test of the gun on 16 burn patients, all showed “excellent healing” after one to three weeks.

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This tiny puppy was born without front legs but thanks to orthotist David Turnbill she moves around with wheeled prosthetic limbs. Hope, the aptly named two-legged Maltese puppy moves around by using a custom designed support device which uses a couple of model airplane wheels. Hope moved around previously by hopping but experts said her natural mode of moving in due course would damage her bones and spine. The pup now uses her hind legs to push her body forward and operate the wheeled prosthetic limbs. Each artificial limb can move up or down independently of the other, allowing Hope to turn around easily.
The spring-loaded prosthetic limbs are attached to a custom-fitted chest plate to allow Hope to lay down or sit up without removing the prosthetic. A cast was made of Hope’s body in order to build the prosthetic device.When the puppy grows bigger she will need to have another device made for her.

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Got too many ailments and need to go for medical diagnosis every now and then? The portable blood analyzer is perfectly useful during those times when you can’t even lift your backside off the bed even to go to the restroom. The hand held blood analyzer is used to measure level of blood and for conducting blood test. For testing blood, you just have to hold the small plastic disc given with the analyzer; hence this device could be used by anybody without any help. The portable blood analyzer is helpful for keeping a check on blood levels for people who’re frequently traveling.

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Being a diabetic is tough, but thanks to medical progress this disease has become more controllable. Debiotech and STMicroelectronics have come together to manufacture the Nanopump, a device that relies on micro fluidic MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical System) technology to help inject insulin into the patient. It is roughly four times smaller than the pumps available today, but can hold up to double the amount of insulin. Each pump actuation will inject 200 nanoliters of drug, offering a reproducibility rate which is better than 2%, placing it very near the physiological delivery of insulin. To be launched very soon.
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Songbird hearing inc. is coming out with its disposable, cheap and discrete hearing aid, Flexfit. The $80 unit is radically less expensive than your average aid, which costs generally between $2000 – $4000, (plus battery replacements & maintenance charges later). The Songbird is rated for 400 hours of use, so it should be perfect for casual users who want or need to hear better in certain situations. For casual users, the apparatus would last say many months.

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In a recent survey, it was stated that the principal cause for teeth problems resulted from irregular brushing habits. Heavy stomach, sleepy eyes and lazy self keep us from brushing at nights, you may say. But now you have no reason to escape from this monotonous hygiene activity, as the Revolutionary Any Brush is here to keep your dental qualms away. Creation of designer Yuanyan Li, the brush is specially designed to provide you the comfort of portable brushing with a convenient disposable package.

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