Posts
"Three Austrians have replaced injured hands with bionic ones
that they can control using nerves and muscles transplanted into their
arms from their legs. The three men are the first to undergo what
doctors refer to as "bionic reconstruction," which includes a voluntary
amputation, the transplantation of nerves and muscles and learning to
use faint signals from them to command the hand. Previously, people with
bionic hands have primarily controlled them with manual settings."
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Sony SmartEyeglass Developer Edition - mtrue augmented reality
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2476892,00.asp
Where Google failed, Sony hopes to succeed. Its SmartEyeglass Developer Edition eyewear is available now for pre-order in the U.K. and Germany.
The SED-E1 transparent-lens headset will go on sale in eight more countries—Japan, the U.S., France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden—next month. Developers can access the official version of the SmartEyeglass SDK today.
Using holographic wavelength technology, Sony's futuristic glasses connect with compatible smartphones to superimpose information onto the wearer's field of view—"without any half mirrors that may obstruct the user's vision," the company boasted.
It also comes with a built-in 3-megapixel CMOS image sensor, accelerometer, gyro, electronic compass, and brightness sensor, behind the 3-millimeter lenses. Together with GPS location data from the attached phone, the headset provides information tailored for the current task or scenario.
A separate (but wired) circular controller that clips onto your jacket or shirt collar houses the battery, speaker, microphone, NFC, and touch sensor.
Early application concepts include a step-by-step guide on how to assemble an engine, scrolling in front of the mechanic's eyes as they work. Sony also suggested an app to share player stats while watching a sports game, or to display sightseeing information while visiting a tourist attraction.
Early developers will have access to a handful of SmartEyeglass apps—available in the Google Play store—which enable access to Twitter, Facebook, Gmail, RSS, calendar, and voice control.
The developer edition will cost $840 in the U.S., £520 in the U.K., €670 across Europe, and ¥100,000 in Japan.
Sony hopes to release its SmartEyeglass headset to consumers sometime next year.
In December, Sony released details of a clip-on wearable that turns your glasses into a smart device. The attachable Single-Lens Display Module, dubbed "SmartEyeglass Attach," promised a Google Glass-like control board, OLED microdisplay, and optical unit.
Sony SmartEyeglass Developer Edition is on sale in the U.K.
and Germany, and will soon go on sale in 10 other countries.
Where Google failed, Sony hopes to succeed. Its SmartEyeglass Developer Edition eyewear is available now for pre-order in the U.K. and Germany.
The SED-E1 transparent-lens headset will go on sale in eight more countries—Japan, the U.S., France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden—next month. Developers can access the official version of the SmartEyeglass SDK today.
Using holographic wavelength technology, Sony's futuristic glasses connect with compatible smartphones to superimpose information onto the wearer's field of view—"without any half mirrors that may obstruct the user's vision," the company boasted.
It also comes with a built-in 3-megapixel CMOS image sensor, accelerometer, gyro, electronic compass, and brightness sensor, behind the 3-millimeter lenses. Together with GPS location data from the attached phone, the headset provides information tailored for the current task or scenario.
A separate (but wired) circular controller that clips onto your jacket or shirt collar houses the battery, speaker, microphone, NFC, and touch sensor.
Early application concepts include a step-by-step guide on how to assemble an engine, scrolling in front of the mechanic's eyes as they work. Sony also suggested an app to share player stats while watching a sports game, or to display sightseeing information while visiting a tourist attraction.
Early developers will have access to a handful of SmartEyeglass apps—available in the Google Play store—which enable access to Twitter, Facebook, Gmail, RSS, calendar, and voice control.
The developer edition will cost $840 in the U.S., £520 in the U.K., €670 across Europe, and ¥100,000 in Japan.
Sony hopes to release its SmartEyeglass headset to consumers sometime next year.
In December, Sony released details of a clip-on wearable that turns your glasses into a smart device. The attachable Single-Lens Display Module, dubbed "SmartEyeglass Attach," promised a Google Glass-like control board, OLED microdisplay, and optical unit.
Sunday, February 15, 2015
Tattoo Removal Cream
Alec Falkenham, Dalhousie student, develops tattoo removal cream
Halifax university researcher, 27, says he has an easy way to get rid of tattoos without pain
By Phlis McGregor, CBC NewsValentine's Day may prompt some people to consider etching their loved one's name permanently on their bodies, but what happens if you break up?
A researcher at Dalhousie University in Halifax may not have a magic potion to repair the relationship, but he might be able to help get rid of that tattoo.
Alec Falkenham, a 27-year-old PhD student in the university's pathology department, is developing a topical cream that he says will make tattoo ink eventually fade away.
"When comparing it to laser-based tattoo removal, in which you see the burns, the scarring, the blisters, in this case, we've designed a drug that doesn't really have much off-target effect," he said.
"We're not targeting any of the normal skin cells, so you won't see a lot of inflammation. In fact, based on the process that we're actually using, we don't think there will be any inflammation at all and it would actually be anti-inflammatory."
How it works
During tattooing, ink is injected into the skin. The ink initiates an immune response, and cells called "macrophages" move into the area and "eat up" the ink.The macrophages carry some of the ink to the body's lymph nodes. But some of those macrophages that are filled with ink stay put, embedded in the skin. That's what makes the tattoo visible under the skin.
Falkenham's topical cream works by targeting the macrophages that have remained at the site of the tattoo. New macrophages move in to consume the previously pigment-filled macrophages and then migrate to the lymph nodes, eventually taking all the dye with them.
There's no injection and no inflammation, and Falkenham says the tattoo should fade away.
Falkenham is working with the university's Industry Liaison and Innovation office to patent his technology. He and the ILI office have secured funding through Springboard Atlantic and Innovacorp Early Stage Commercialization Fund for his research.
"Alec is a trail blazer in tattoo removal. He came to ILI with an idea, tangentially related to his graduate research, that had real-life applicability," said Andrea McCormick, manager, health and life sciences at ILI in a news release.
"His initial research has shown great results and his next stage of research will build on those results, developing his technology into a product that can eventually be brought to market."
He doesn't yet know how many applications will be required to completely fade a tattoo. He's testing the cream on tattooed pig's ears.
Falkenham says it will be much safer than laser tattoo removal.
He's not sure when the cream will be available commercially.
Falkenham estimates a tattoo removal treatment will cost four cents per square centimetre — a 10-by-10-centimetre area would cost approximately $4.50 per treatment. The cream will work best on tattoos that are more than two years old, he adds.
Friday, February 13, 2015
Mood-Altering Wearable Thync Releases First Brain Test Data
from slashdot:
Thync, the world's first wearable that alters a user's mood has released the first set of data that shows its device reduces stress without chemicals. The study found that "the levels of salivary -amylase, an enzyme that increases with stress, as well as noradrenergic and sympathetic activity, significantly dropped for the subjects that received electrical neurosignaling compared to the subjects that received the sham."
User review here:
http://qz.com/325070/this-brain-altering-wearable-could-end-our-dependence-on-drugs/
Compare to the Fisher Wallace Stimulator ($600-700) for pain, anxiety, depression:
http://www.fisherwallace.com
Different device, ($30), same manufacturer, good reviews:
http://www.amazon.com/Tens-Handheld-Electronic-Pulse-Massager/dp/B007TOJ948/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423831243&sr=8-1&keywords=fisher+wallace+stimulator
Thync, the world's first wearable that alters a user's mood has released the first set of data that shows its device reduces stress without chemicals. The study found that "the levels of salivary -amylase, an enzyme that increases with stress, as well as noradrenergic and sympathetic activity, significantly dropped for the subjects that received electrical neurosignaling compared to the subjects that received the sham."
User review here:
http://qz.com/325070/this-brain-altering-wearable-could-end-our-dependence-on-drugs/
Compare to the Fisher Wallace Stimulator ($600-700) for pain, anxiety, depression:
http://www.fisherwallace.com
Different device, ($30), same manufacturer, good reviews:
http://www.amazon.com/Tens-Handheld-Electronic-Pulse-Massager/dp/B007TOJ948/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423831243&sr=8-1&keywords=fisher+wallace+stimulator
Monday, February 2, 2015
Telomere-Lengthening Procedure Turns Clock Back Years In Human Cells
Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have developed a new procedure to increase the length of human telomeres.
This increases the number of times cells are able to divide,
essentially making the cells many years younger. This not only has
useful applications for laboratory work, but may point the way to
treating various age-related disorders – or even muscular dystrophy.
http://www.gizmag.com/telomere-extension-aging/35816/pictures
Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have developed a new procedure to increase the length of human telomeres. This increases the number of times cells are able to divide, essentially making the cells many years younger. This not only has useful applications for laboratory work, but may point the way to treating various age-related disorders – or even muscular dystrophy.
Telomeres are the caps at the ends of our chromosomes that protect the DNA code of the genome.
Linked to aging and disease, they are 8,000 to 10,000 nucleotides long in young people, but this decreases as we age (a nucleotide is an organic molecule that is a subunit of nucleic acids DNA and RNA). The researchers have found a way to lengthen a telomere by 1,000 nucleotides, which Dr. Helen Brau, professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford, says is the equivalent of "many years of human life."
Telomeres shorten each time a cell divides and at a certain point, when they reach a critical length, the cell can no longer divide and will die. Their limited lifespan means that growing cells in laboratories can be tricky, given there can only be so many cell doublings before they give up the ghost. Telomere function in humans has been linked to many diseases and they have been studied for decades, often in the hope of better understanding or delaying the aging process.
Cells treated with Stanford’s procedure multiply in a similar way to much younger cells, compared with untreated cells of the same age. According to the researchers, skin cells with telomeres lengthened by the procedure were able to divide around 28 more times than untreated cells, while muscle cells divided about three more times. With this new procedure, which uses modified RNA, many more cells can be easily generated for study and drug development or disease modeling.
The “modified messenger” RNA contains the coding sequence for the active component of telomerase, called TERT. Telomerase is the enzyme that rebuilds telomeres and stem cells, including those that give rise eggs and sperm, express the enzyme at a much higher rate than other kinds of cells. Essentially, the RNA is a kind of genetic carrier pigeon in that it carries instructions from the DNA’s genes to the cell’s protein-making areas. Interestingly, in previous work Dr Blau found that the muscle stem cells of boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy had far shorter telomeres than those not suffering from the disease.
Although application of this RNA initially causes telomeres to lengthen, within 48 hours they once again begin to shorten as cells divide. This is a good thing, however, as cells that divide endlessly could pose a increased cancer risk if used in humans.
Just three applications of the modified RNA over a short space of days can increase telomere length in muscle and skin cells.
"Our technique is nonimmunogenic," said postdoctoral scholar John Ramunas. "Existing transient methods of extending telomeres act slowly, whereas our method acts over just a few days to reverse telomere shortening that occurs over more than a decade of normal aging. This suggests that a treatment using our method could be brief and infrequent."
Researchers are now testing the technique on other types cells and may try to treat accelerated aging disorders or target types of muscle cells in cases of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, or even heart disease.
The team's paper was recently published in FASEB Journal.
Source: Stanford University
http://www.gizmag.com/telomere-extension-aging/35816/pictures
Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have developed a new procedure to increase the length of human telomeres. This increases the number of times cells are able to divide, essentially making the cells many years younger. This not only has useful applications for laboratory work, but may point the way to treating various age-related disorders – or even muscular dystrophy.
Telomeres are the caps at the ends of our chromosomes that protect the DNA code of the genome.
Linked to aging and disease, they are 8,000 to 10,000 nucleotides long in young people, but this decreases as we age (a nucleotide is an organic molecule that is a subunit of nucleic acids DNA and RNA). The researchers have found a way to lengthen a telomere by 1,000 nucleotides, which Dr. Helen Brau, professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford, says is the equivalent of "many years of human life."
Telomeres shorten each time a cell divides and at a certain point, when they reach a critical length, the cell can no longer divide and will die. Their limited lifespan means that growing cells in laboratories can be tricky, given there can only be so many cell doublings before they give up the ghost. Telomere function in humans has been linked to many diseases and they have been studied for decades, often in the hope of better understanding or delaying the aging process.
Cells treated with Stanford’s procedure multiply in a similar way to much younger cells, compared with untreated cells of the same age. According to the researchers, skin cells with telomeres lengthened by the procedure were able to divide around 28 more times than untreated cells, while muscle cells divided about three more times. With this new procedure, which uses modified RNA, many more cells can be easily generated for study and drug development or disease modeling.
The “modified messenger” RNA contains the coding sequence for the active component of telomerase, called TERT. Telomerase is the enzyme that rebuilds telomeres and stem cells, including those that give rise eggs and sperm, express the enzyme at a much higher rate than other kinds of cells. Essentially, the RNA is a kind of genetic carrier pigeon in that it carries instructions from the DNA’s genes to the cell’s protein-making areas. Interestingly, in previous work Dr Blau found that the muscle stem cells of boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy had far shorter telomeres than those not suffering from the disease.
Although application of this RNA initially causes telomeres to lengthen, within 48 hours they once again begin to shorten as cells divide. This is a good thing, however, as cells that divide endlessly could pose a increased cancer risk if used in humans.
Just three applications of the modified RNA over a short space of days can increase telomere length in muscle and skin cells.
"Our technique is nonimmunogenic," said postdoctoral scholar John Ramunas. "Existing transient methods of extending telomeres act slowly, whereas our method acts over just a few days to reverse telomere shortening that occurs over more than a decade of normal aging. This suggests that a treatment using our method could be brief and infrequent."
Researchers are now testing the technique on other types cells and may try to treat accelerated aging disorders or target types of muscle cells in cases of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, or even heart disease.
The team's paper was recently published in FASEB Journal.
Source: Stanford University
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