Rap Music Powers Rhythmic Action of Medical Sensor

This graphic illustrates the principles behind the operation of a new type of miniature medical sensor powered by acoustic waves, including those found in music such as rap, blues, jazz and rock. The device, a pressure sensor, might ultimately help to treat people stricken with aneurisms or incontinence due to paralysis. (Credit: Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University)

The driving bass rhythm of rap music can be harnessed to power a new type of miniature medical sensor designed to be implanted in the body.

Acoustic waves from music, particularly rap, were found to effectively recharge the pressure sensor. Such a device might ultimately help to treat people stricken with aneurysms or incontinence due to paralysis.

The heart of the sensor is a vibrating cantilever, a thin beam attached at one end like a miniature diving board. Music within a certain range of frequencies, from 200-500 hertz, causes the cantilever to vibrate, generating electricity and storing a charge in a capacitor, said Babak Ziaie, a Purdue University professor of electrical and computer engineering and biomedical engineering.

"The music reaches the correct frequency only at certain times, for example, when there is a strong bass component," he said. "The acoustic energy from the music can pass through body tissue, causing the cantilever to vibrate."

When the frequency falls outside of the proper range, the cantilever stops vibrating, automatically sending the electrical charge to the sensor, which takes a pressure reading and transmits data as radio signals. Because the frequency is continually changing according to the rhythm of a musical composition, the sensor can be induced to repeatedly alternate intervals of storing charge and transmitting data.

"You would only need to do this for a couple of minutes every hour or so to monitor either blood pressure or pressure of urine in the bladder," Ziaie said. "It doesn't take long to do the measurement."

Findings are detailed in a paper to be presented during the IEEE MEMS conference, which will be Jan. 29 to Feb. 2 in Paris. The paper was written by doctoral student Albert Kim, research scientist Teimour Maleki and Ziaie.

"This paper demonstrates the feasibility of the concept," he said.

The device is an example of a microelectromechanical system, or MEMS, and was created in the Birck Nanotechnology Center at the university's Discovery Park. The cantilever beam is made from a ceramic material called lead zirconate titanate, or PZT, which is piezoelectric, meaning it generates electricity when compressed. The sensor is about 2 centimeters long. Researchers tested the device in a water-filled balloon.

A receiver that picks up the data from the sensor could be placed several inches from the patient. Playing tones within a certain frequency range also can be used instead of music.

"But a plain tone is a very annoying sound," Ziaie said. "We thought it would be novel and also more aesthetically pleasing to use music."

Researchers experimented with four types of music: rap, blues, jazz and rock.

"Rap is the best because it contains a lot of low frequency sound, notably the bass," Ziaie said.

The sensor is capable of monitoring pressure in the urinary bladder and in the sack of a blood vessel damaged by an aneurism. Such a technology could be used in a system for treating incontinence in people with paralysis by checking bladder pressure and stimulating the spinal cord to close the sphincter that controls urine flow from the bladder. More immediately, it could be used to diagnose incontinence. The conventional diagnostic method now is to insert a probe with a catheter, which must be in place for several hours while the patient remains at the hospital.

"A wireless implantable device could be inserted and left in place, allowing the patient to go home while the pressure is monitored," Ziaie said.

The new technology offers potential benefits over conventional implantable devices, which either use batteries or receive power through a property called inductance, which uses coils on the device and an external transmitter. Both approaches have downsides. Batteries have to be replaced periodically, and data are difficult to retrieve from devices that use inductance; coils on the implanted device and an external receiver must be lined up precisely, and they can only be about a centimeter apart.

A patent application has been filed for the design.

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Purdue University. The original article was written by Emil Venere.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

New weapon against cancer: Microwaves can be used to create medical images

ScienceDaily (Oct. 25, 2011) — A research team from Chalmers University of Technology has developed new techniques of cancer diagnosis and treatment with the aid of microwaves, which could play a pioneering role in the battle against cancer. These techniques could save many lives and are more effective, less invasive and simpler than currently available alternatives. Clinical studies are now being planned.

The Chalmers team expects to be able to test two different techniques on patients within the next six months. One method is an alternative to mammography, i.e. using X-rays to detect breast cancer. The other aims to treat tumours in the head and neck by heating the cancer cells.

Microwaves can be used to create medical images -- a new technique known as microwave tomography. Andreas Fhager, Associate Professor of Biomedical Electromagnetics, has developed a system to detect breast cancer with the new technique. He points out that the method has several advantages over mammography.

"We obtain three-dimensional images showing significantly better contrast between healthy and malignant tissue compared to X-rays. That makes it easier to detect even really small tumours that may currently be obscured by healthy tissue, thus creating the preconditions for much more reliable diagnosis."

"Unlike X-rays, the technique also emits negligible doses of non-ionising radiation -- less than a hundredth of the radiation to which you are exposed when talking on a mobile phone."

The idea is to use the technique in conjunction with a treatment couch, equipped with holes for the breasts, to which the thirty or so antennas required by the examination are connected. It should be considerably more comfortable for patients than mammography. The method is also much less expensive, not only because microwave equipment is not so costly, but also because the clearer images make interpretation easier for the doctors.

In the second Chalmers project, the microwaves are actually used to destroy the tumours by heating them, a process known as hyperthermia. Clinical studies have shown that treatment with conventional radiotherapy and chemotherapy in combination with hyperthermia may double the long-term ability to cure certain forms of cancer, such as cervical cancer and soft-tissue sarcoma.

"We are now developing a new hyperthermia system that can reach deep-seated tumours in the head and neck with high accuracy," says Hana Dobšícek Trefná, a PhD in Biomedical Engineering. "In this way, higher temperatures can be reached in the tumour without affecting the surrounding tissue."

With time, the Chalmers team hope to be able to combine both methods. As soon as a tumour is detected, the already connected antennas could be used to start treating the tumour directly while at the same time monitoring that the right tissue is heated up. The method should also be applicable for other parts of the body than breasts, head and neck.

Theranostics -- the treatment and diagnosis of diseases in a single system -- is a growing area of research, and the Chalmers team believe that microwaves have great potential in the field. The underlying microwave technology is already being used in the "Strokefinder," a helmet that can distinguish between blood clots and bleeding in the brain. The Strokefinder is currently undergoing clinical trials at Sahlgrenska Hospital.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Chalmers University of Technology.

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'Ultrawideband' could be future of medical monitoring

ScienceDaily (June 18, 2011) — New research by electrical engineers at Oregon State University has confirmed that an electronic technology called "ultrawideband" could hold part of the solution to an ambitious goal in the future of medicine -- health monitoring with sophisticated "body-area networks."

Such networks would offer continuous, real-time health diagnosis, experts say, to reduce the onset of degenerative diseases, save lives and cut health care costs.

Some remote health monitoring is already available, but the perfection of such systems is still elusive.

The ideal device would be very small, worn on the body and perhaps draw its energy from something as minor as body heat. But it would be able to transmit vast amounts of health information in real time, greatly improve medical care, reduce costs and help to prevent or treat disease.

Sounds great in theory, but it's not easy. If it were, the X Prize Foundation wouldn't be trying to develop a Tricorder X Prize -- inspired by the remarkable instrument of Star Trek fame -- that would give $10 million to whoever can create a mobile wireless sensor that would give billions of people around the world better access to low-cost, reliable medical monitoring and diagnostics.

The new findings at OSU are a step towards that goal.

"This type of sensing would scale a monitor down to something about the size of a bandage that you could wear around with you," said Patrick Chiang, an expert in wireless medical electronics and assistant professor in the OSU School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

"The sensor might provide and transmit data on some important things, like heart health, bone density, blood pressure or insulin status," Chiang said. "Ideally, you could not only monitor health issues but also help prevent problems before they happen. Maybe detect arrhythmias, for instance, and anticipate heart attacks. And it needs to be non-invasive, cheap and able to provide huge amounts of data."

Several startup companies such as Corventis and iRhythm have already entered the cardiac monitoring market.

According to the new analysis by OSU researchers, which was published in the EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking, one of the key obstacles is the need to transmit large amounts of data while consuming very little energy.

They determined that a type of technology called "ultrawideband" might have that capability if the receiver getting the data were within a "line of sight," and not interrupted by passing through a human body. But even non-line of sight transmission might be possible using ultrawideband if lower transmission rates were required, they found. Collaborating on the research was Huaping Liu, an associate professor in School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

"The challenges are quite complex, but the potential benefit is huge, and of increasing importance with an aging population," Chiang said. "This is definitely possible. I could see some of the first systems being commercialized within five years."

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Oregon State University.

Journal Reference:

Lingli Xia, Stephen Redfield, Patrick Chiang. Experimental Characterization of a UWB Channel for Body Area Networks. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking, 2011; DOI: 10.1155/2011/703239

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

View the original article here

'Ultrawideband' could be future of medical monitoring

ScienceDaily (June 18, 2011) — New research by electrical engineers at Oregon State University has confirmed that an electronic technology called "ultrawideband" could hold part of the solution to an ambitious goal in the future of medicine -- health monitoring with sophisticated "body-area networks."

Such networks would offer continuous, real-time health diagnosis, experts say, to reduce the onset of degenerative diseases, save lives and cut health care costs.

Some remote health monitoring is already available, but the perfection of such systems is still elusive.

The ideal device would be very small, worn on the body and perhaps draw its energy from something as minor as body heat. But it would be able to transmit vast amounts of health information in real time, greatly improve medical care, reduce costs and help to prevent or treat disease.

Sounds great in theory, but it's not easy. If it were, the X Prize Foundation wouldn't be trying to develop a Tricorder X Prize -- inspired by the remarkable instrument of Star Trek fame -- that would give $10 million to whoever can create a mobile wireless sensor that would give billions of people around the world better access to low-cost, reliable medical monitoring and diagnostics.

The new findings at OSU are a step towards that goal.

"This type of sensing would scale a monitor down to something about the size of a bandage that you could wear around with you," said Patrick Chiang, an expert in wireless medical electronics and assistant professor in the OSU School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

"The sensor might provide and transmit data on some important things, like heart health, bone density, blood pressure or insulin status," Chiang said. "Ideally, you could not only monitor health issues but also help prevent problems before they happen. Maybe detect arrhythmias, for instance, and anticipate heart attacks. And it needs to be non-invasive, cheap and able to provide huge amounts of data."

Several startup companies such as Corventis and iRhythm have already entered the cardiac monitoring market.

According to the new analysis by OSU researchers, which was published in the EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking, one of the key obstacles is the need to transmit large amounts of data while consuming very little energy.

They determined that a type of technology called "ultrawideband" might have that capability if the receiver getting the data were within a "line of sight," and not interrupted by passing through a human body. But even non-line of sight transmission might be possible using ultrawideband if lower transmission rates were required, they found. Collaborating on the research was Huaping Liu, an associate professor in School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

"The challenges are quite complex, but the potential benefit is huge, and of increasing importance with an aging population," Chiang said. "This is definitely possible. I could see some of the first systems being commercialized within five years."

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Oregon State University.

Journal Reference:

Lingli Xia, Stephen Redfield, Patrick Chiang. Experimental Characterization of a UWB Channel for Body Area Networks. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking, 2011; DOI: 10.1155/2011/703239

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

View the original article here

IBM's Watson Makes the Move From Answering Trivia Questions to Making Medical Diagnoses

What is...Toronto (General Hospital)?
Watson, Behind the Curtain Dan Nosowitz

When Watson was competing on Jeopardy!, its massive databanks were filled with encyclopedias, novels, film scripts, and history books. These days, Watson is more into medical journals and misspelled Yahoo Answers blog posts about weird rashes and vague abdominal pains. Watson is maturing, and prepping for his first non-trivia, real-world application: medical diagnoses. He's all *sniff* grown up!

We've known medicine was to be the next step for Watson for some time, but just recently, IBM gave a short demonstration of Watson's progress. Watson isn't the first attempt at an automated diagnosis program--we documented Artemis, and Isabel has been around for a few years--but Watson's incredible power, depth of knowledge, and ability to understand natural human language puts it in a totally different league. Diagnosing an ailment isn't really that much different from answering a trivia question; Watson takes in as much information as possible from the question, eliminating the potential answers as new information renders them impossible, and comes up with a list of likely answers. An example from the AP: "As more clues were unveiled - blurred vision, family history of arthritis, Connecticut residence - Watson's suggested diagnoses evolved from uveitis to Behcet's disease to Lyme disease. It gave the final diagnosis a 73 percent confidence rating."

While on Jeopardy!, Watson could only give one answer, but in medicine, it lists all possible answers, along with the percent likeliness. An 80% possibility of accuracy is enough for Watson to risk money on Jeopardy, but when working with possible diagnoses, that still leaves a one in five chance that the patient is afflicted with something else, so Watson is designed to divulge even the less likely answers.

Watson's human language recognition skills also allows it to input an entirely new sector of information: anecdotal evidence. Anecdotal evidence is not necessarily reliable, of course, but can still be extremely useful--it's worth noting that a patient's description of symptoms is anecdotal, and still very important to diagnosis. Watson is able to trawl through the internet, picking up the oodles of medical information out there and adding it to its memory banks. Being able to understand that, say, a "dry mouth" is the same as xerostomia can make legitimate use of all those confused forums.

Of course, Watson isn't designed to replace a doctor's diagnostic instincts. Instead, it's more like a futuristic reference book. There's simply too much information out there these days, in too many places and added too frequently, for any doctor to keep up. Watson could help keep track of all the new drugs, studies, journals, and anecdotal evidence.

Diagnosis systems using Watson are still likely a few years away, but IBM is working on ways to leverage Watson's abilities even to hospitals with budgets too small to afford a multimillion-dollar Watson of their own. iPad apps were mentioned as a distinct possibility--doctors could tap into an off-site Watson with an iPad, shoot off a few queries and receive an answer immediately. And as more medical data is digitized, Watson will only get stronger and more useful.

[Associated Press]

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Study examines changes in medical students’ views about internal medicine careers

ScienceDaily (Apr. 25, 2011) — Compared with 1990, more medical students in 2007 viewed internal medicine as a potentially meaningful career; however, the majority of students are choosing other specialties, according to a report in the April 25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

"The United States faces a troubling shortage in its primary care medical workforce," the authors write as background information in the article. "According to the Institute of Medicine, the United States is not prepared to meet the health care needs of the growing number of older adults."

Mark D. Schwartz, M.D., of the New York University School of Medicine, and colleagues examined data collected during two previous national studies of senior medical students that addressed student characteristics, specialties chosen and perceptions of internal medicine among other questions. The 1990 survey included 1,244 students at 16 schools and the 2007 survey included 1,177 students at 11 schools.

The two groups of students were of similar age, marital status and parental status. Compared with the 1990 survey group, the 2007 survey group included more women (52 percent vs. 37 percent) and students reporting more educational debt, with an average of $101,000 compared with $63,000 in 1990.

The proportion of students planning careers in internal medicine (combining all types of internal medicine including subspecialty and medicine-pediatrics) was similar in 1990 and 2007 (24 percent and 23 percent respectively); however, the percentage of students planning general internal medicine training declined from 9 percent in 1990 to 2 percent in 2007.

Additionally, the appeal of being a primary care physician as an influence toward internal medicine declined from 57 percent in 1990 to 33 percent in 2007. Although most students in both cohorts were attracted toward careers in internal medicine by the "esteem" offered by the specialty (68 percent of students in 1990 and 82 percent in 2007), some students were less attracted to internal medicine by the "types of patients cared for by internists." Students in 1990 and in 2007 also felt that workload and stress are greater in internal medicine that in other fields.

"To rebuild the generalist physician workforce, improving students' experience of internal medicine in medical school is no longer sufficient," the authors conclude. "Bolder reform will be required to improve the educational pipeline, practice and payment of generalist internal medicine physicians."

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by JAMA and Archives Journals.

Journal Reference:

M. D. Schwartz, S. Durning, M. Linzer, K. E. Hauer. Changes in Medical Students' Views of Internal Medicine Careers From 1990 to 2007. Archives of Internal Medicine, 2011; 171 (8): 744 DOI: 10.1001/archinternmed.2011.139

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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