Date

12/31/2022

Publishing company

NIH News in Health

Title

Bionic Movement

Summary

This article explains how to feel sensations through a prosthetic arm. In the past, many prosthetic arms were just scrap metal, but as technology advances, researchers are working on ways to give people "feelings" through prosthetics. This article introduces two methods that can help people with bionic devices feel like using their natural limbs. The first is "the use of sensory nerves." When a person's arm is amputated, it is formed in the shape of a stump. At this time, Move the remaining sensory nerves from the transmitted arm to the skin of the upper arm; sensory nerves are placed on the skin. And then, by using a small robot, which can make hand press the skin on the upper arm when it touches something, and this way people can artificially send sensory signals to your brain. By using this, it can be made to feel the same sensation as using a real arm rather than a prosthetic arm. The second method is "use of vibration". This method uses a computer and a small robot to trick the brain by sending vibrations to the muscles. When the prosthetic arm grabs something, it sends that information to a computer control system outside the body, which instructs a small robot attached to the arm to vibrate the arm muscles based on that information. This generates various vibrations according to the strength of the force holding the object and transmits the generated vibrations to the depth of the muscles, and it might sense an actual muscle moving.

My thought

*An estimated 185,000 people undergo amputation procedures in the US every year(Zhang, 2018). There are people in the world how have had parts of their bodies amputated for various reasons. Each of them has several reasons, but it is the same that everyday life is difficult. The result of science developed for them is prosthetic limbs. prosthetic limbs are much more advanced than they used to be, but I think there are still much more to be done. The biggest problem with bionic limbs is that they cannot feel. They cannot feel their own strength, so they can break objects that break even with weak force, and they can drop objects by holding weakly something that requires formidable force. So, to solve this problem, the article introduces the way to get feel use our remain nerves or vibrations. In my opinion, vibration skill is interesting; I searched and read more about how vibration make prosthetic limbs to feel. Marasco who is scientist explain *“If you vibrate a muscle mechanically, you’ll get a sense in the joint that’s crossed by that muscle that it’s moving, even though it’s not” (Thielking, 2018). First, when you think about what to do with your head, movement signals are transmitted from your brain to your hands, which are then sent back to a small robot attached to your forearm. If so, *the robot will deliver vibrations of various intensities depending on the strength we give it, and through it, it causes optical illusions in the brain (ThielkingMegan, 2018). Looking at these methods, I think that the day will come when we can feel not simple senses, but the five senses that our skin has: mechanoreceptors, thermoreceptors, nociceptors, electromagnetic receptors, and chemoreceptors.

Want to know more

1.      I want to know more deeper how can we feel something

2.      Peripheral nervous system

Date

9/23/2022

publishing company

STATEGROUP

Title

Xenotransplantation could be the future—if only the pigs could be kept virus-free.

summarize

This article is about xenotransplantation. There are over 100,000 Americans on the national transplant list in the United States, with an average of

17 dying waiting for an organ transplant. So, researchers were interested

in xenotransplantation, which involves transplanting organs of other

species into humans to prevent this from happening and to save human

life. This article focuses on the heart, among many organs. Pigs are used for human heart transplantation, which are about 97% similar to human

hearts. But this is said to be very dangerous. As reported in the

New England Journal of Medicine, 57-year-old David Bennett, who

received a pig heart transplant, contracted pCMV and died 60 days after

surgery. This is due to an immune rejection reaction. This must be

overcome in order to safely receive a pig's heart, which requires that the

pig be "humanized" to be compatible with our bodies. To be humanized,

at least three pig genes need to be knocked out using the gene-editing tool CRISPR. In addition, it takes an enormous amount of time, money and effort to bring pigs to birth aseptically.

My thought

It was amazing that a pig, a species different from a human, not a monkey or a chimpanzee, resembled a human heart, and that it survived for about 60 days after transplanting it into a human. And also It was surprising that transplanting pig hearts into humans requires a tremendous amount of

time and effort, including genetic manipulation, sterility, and regular

testing. But I focused more on the inside of this seemingly good study.

Pigs judged to be free of viruses through the above complicated process, when they grow to the size of an adult human after 6 months, cut their

organs and prepare for transplantation into humans. I believe that human

life is important, but that of other animals is just as important. Pigs, born to give new life to humans, die in less than six months, without even

enjoying freedom, only for humans. I think this kind of behavior is really

unethical. Through this article, I became more interested in artificial

organs that can create organs that can give people new life without

killing animals, and I want to explore more about them.

New learn/ topics to explore further/

I want to explore more about artificial organs

1.   How can we make an artificial organ that resembles the structure of a human organ?

3.   Have there been any cases of artificial organs being transplanted into humans?

4.   If an artificial organ is transplanted into a human, will it be usable forever? Should I change it every year or every few years?

5.   The inner side of the artificial organ

6.    Prons and cons of artificial organs

Name of invention

Painkiller Tampon

Date

9/25/2022

Contents

Invention Motivation

Most girls, on average, start their first menstruation around the

age of 12. Menstruation is a physiological phenomenon in which

the thickened uterine mucosa comes off and is discharged

through the vagina along with bleeding. We are more familiar

with the word ‘period' than 'menstruation'. Period is painful even before it starts, and We call this period pain. So, what causes

period pain? First of all, we can think of it as basically due to

intrauterine bleeding. Not only this, but it can also be caused by

the secretion of a substance called 'prostaglandin'. Just before

menstruation, the endometrium releases a substance called

prostaglandin, which causes strong contractions of the uterine

muscles and causes pain similar to colic during childbirth.

However, not everyone experiences this kind of pain. The severity of period pain varies from person to person, and some women

experience only mild abdominal discomfort, while others suffer

from severe vomiting, diarrhea, and back pain that make daily life difficult. I belong to the latter. During the first two days of period, the pain is so severe that it is difficult to lead a smooth daily life without painkillers. However, the use of pain relievers does not

mean that they are immediately effective. 'Advil', which we often take during period, is an oral analgesic; It does not have an

analgesic effect immediately taking it, and the pain-blocking

effect is an average of 4 hours. So, if the pain reappears after

4 hours, you need to take this medicine again or crave the pain.

Based on this experience, I thought about using the function of a tampon that is absorbed through the mucous membrane and

absorbs acupuncture points in the body. Including drugs that can relieve pain in tampons, I thought that absorption of the drug

through the female genital mucosa could provide rapid pain

relief and I wanted to invent a product that can relieve period

pain through drug absorption.

Feature

The biggest feature of the present invention is that it is possible

to use a smaller dose of the drug than oral administration,

maintain steady drug administration levels, and require less

frequent administration than the oral route. An oral analgesic

takes effect 1 hour after taking it, and the effect is as short as

4 hours. As a result, some people overdose on pain relievers. If

you take an overdose of painkillers, you may become resistant to painkillers, and even if you take painkillers any longer, the pain

may not be relieved and you can also get gastrointestinal

hemorrhage, nephropathy and hepatotoxicity.  Based on this

problem, the biggest feature of the invention I thought of is that

it uses a vaginal administration method rather than an oral

administration method. According to ''The vagina as a route for

drug delivery: a review' (By Sushma Srikrishna, Kinda Cardoso),

the vaginal administration method uses a smaller amount of the drug than oral administration and can achieve similar effects, that it can be kept constant. Through this, despite reducing the

number of administration, a much greater effect than oral

administration can be seen. Vaginal administration literally means inserting the drug through the vagina. Isn't there something that comes to mind when you think about inserting through the vagina during menstruation? right. That's a tampon. Tampons are placed in the vagina to stop bleeding during menstruation. Dip this

tampon with an analgesic and put it inside the vagina to stop our pain faster and safer than oral pain relievers.

Date

11/8/2022

Title of article

Digital Tattoos Make Healthcare More Invisible

publisher

The medical futurist

summary 

This article is talking about digital tattoos. In the past, the goal of medical devices was to measure or record health parameters, but now it is more important to measure them accurately and simply. The technology for this is digital tattoos. This is not only used for medical purposes, but also as a technology to make our daily life easier. The biggest reason digital tattoos can be applied to our lives is the development of 3D printing and circuit printing technology, flexible electronics, and materials. In addition, various polymers with gold nanorods or rubber supports can be used to apply tattoos to the skin without irritation. These tiny patches can measure electrophysiological parameters, allowing healthcare professionals to non-invasively monitor and diagnose important health conditions such as cardiac arrhythmias, cardiac activity in premature infants, sleep disturbances, and brain activity. Because it tracks time vital signs, it helps to track patients at high stroke risk. In addition, it is easy to confirm that you need to be checked continuously, such as diabetes. The digital tattoo is a sleek, thin, and unrecognizable sensor that does not require a battery; it could replace a smartwatch or wrist wearable, obtain the energy it needs through an electrophysiological process, and be more accurate due to constant skin contact.

My thought

However, it is inconvenient to wear such a watch while exercising, and it

is useless if you forget to wear it while exercising. But we believe that

digital tattoos, which are completely in contact with our skin, are the best

technique to help with these situations. Also, it seems like a good way to

use it as a car key or door key. Even if the car key has been changed to

a digital key these days, I have experienced and witnessed a troublesome

situation by losing it or leaving it in the car. However, our body does not

lose it like a digital car key. Therefore, if we approach the door without

a car key, it would be good to make a digital tattoo that automatically

opens the door. In the same way, the door key automatically opens the

door when you go to the front without having to press a number or open

the door with a key, so it will be easy for the elderly or young children

who often forget their house number.. (“Apple Fitness+.” Apple, https://ww

w.apple.com/apple-fitness-plus/) The articles I've seen are focused on me

dical care. However, I thought of a part that could help us in our real life

by stepping away from medical care a little bit. The first thing is fitness.

The reason many people, not just me, wear smartwatches is for exercise.

The Fitness app on Apple Watch displays daily trending data for active

calories, exercise time, stand-up time (hours and minutes), distance

walked, aerobic fitness, walking pace, and more.( Norreel, Jean Chretien.

“Are Digital Tattoos the Future of Wearables?” Digital Health Central, 19 A

pr. 2021, https://digitalhealthcentral.com/2020/12/05/what-are-digital-tatto

os/).

The tattoo is engraved on our skin, it is always attached to our body, so

we cannot lose what we wear, and there is no inconvenience with

accessories. In addition, the digital tattoo does not need to be recharged,

allowing for continuous monitoring of vital signs I had never heard of a

digital tattoo until I read this article. Smartwatches and clothing clips, of

course, are helpful for our daily life and health, but they have the

disadvantage of having to wear them every time and charging the battery.

But digital tattoos are different. First of all, since this digital

New learn/ topics to explore further/

I want to explore the process of making a digital tattoo in detail, and I want

to investigate the materials used to make it.