Date

10/14/2022

publishing company

Boston University

Title

New Miniature Heart could help speed hear disease cures

summarize

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, every 36 seconds a person dies from heart disease. For this reason, it is important to create an artificial heart that can replace the real human heart. Boston University has created a replica of a heart chamber using a combination of nanoengineered parts and human heart tissue. There are no springs or external power sources—like the real thing, it just beats by itself, driven by the live heart tissue grown from stem cells.  In addition, this invention can be widely used not only for the heart but also for various organs, avoiding dangerous experiments that risk the lives of humans and animals.

My thought

As we all know, the heart is one of the most important organs in our body. There are many different types of heart disease, including coronary artery disease (CAD), cardiac arrhythmias, heart failure, etc. However, even if we do not have heart disease, as we get older, 1/3 of the heart muscle cells die, making it difficult to carry out our daily life. When I see this, the health of the heart seems to be the health of our whole body. Look at the article, Boston University has created an artificial heart for heart failure. Heart failure occurs when the heart muscle doesn't pump blood as well as it should. (Source: Mayo Clinic) The heart is made up of muscles, and when the muscles stop, we die. That's why the heart muscle is so important. Because the muscle of the heart is what makes the heartbeat,

I thought that to make the heartbeat, I had to give it a strong force or artificially tap it like a strong spring. However, according to the article above, the spring cannot simulate the force acting on the actual muscle of a person, so it is difficult to live a lifetime. So the Boston University students used human heart tissue and nano-engineered parts instead of a spring machine that beats itself by heart tissue. I had this kind of shock because I had never heard of it or seen it before. This made me more interested in nanotechnology and further wanted to explore more about medical devices for adults with poor heart health.

New learn/ topics to explore further/

1, What is nano-engineering?

2, about nanotechnology medical devices

3. What kinds of medical device that can help people who have heart disease, or poor heart health?