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    Category Health/Medical

    The Powerhouse Future is Flexoelectric

    June 4, 2021, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics, Health/Medical

    pacemaker
    Pacemakers implanted in human hearts and utilizing lithium batteries could instead be self-powered as natural movement generates electrical power.

    ‘Giant flexoelectricity’ breakthrough in soft elastomers paves way for improved robots and self-powered pacemakers. Researchers have demonstrated “giant flexoelectricity” in soft elastomers that could improve robot movement range and make self-powered pacemakers a real possibility. In a paper published this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists from the University of Houston and Air Force Research Laboratory explain how to engineer ostensibly ordinary substances like silicone rubber into an electric powerhouse.

    What do the following have in common: a self-powered implanted medical device, a soft human-li...

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    Studies reveal Skull as unexpected source of Flexoelectric Brain Immunity

    June 4, 2021, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    A newly developed B cell (green in middle of image) migrates from the bone marrow of the skull, where a cluster of other new B cells remain, then through the skull bone, to the protective tissue that covers the brain, which is populated mainly by other cells (blue). Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have discovered that the immune cells stationed in the protective tissue known as the meninges come primarily from the skull. The finding opens up the possibility of developing therapies to target such cells as a way to prevent or treat brain conditions.

    Immune cells from skull bone marrow guard the brain, spinal cord. Researchers have discovered that the immune cells that protect the brain and spinal cord come primarily from the skull...

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    People who eat a Healthy Diet including Whole Fruits may be Less likely to develop Diabetes

    June 3, 2021, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    People who eat a healthy diet including whole fruits may be less likely to develop diabetes

    Research links fruit but not fruit juice to lower type 2 diabetes risk. A new study finds people who consume two servings of fruit per day have 36 percent lower odds of developing type 2 diabetes than those who consume less than half a serving. The research was published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

    Diabetes is a disease where people have too much sugar in their bloodstream, and it is a huge public health burden. Approximately 463 million adults worldwide were living with diabetes in 2019, and by 2045 this number is expected to rise to 700 million. An estimated 374 million people are at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease...

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    ‘Electronic Nose’ accurately Sniffs out Hard-to-Detect Cancers

    June 2, 2021, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Stock image. The non-invasive tool could screen for hard-to-detect cancers (Credit: Shutterstock)

    Odor test spotted cancer with up to 95 percent accuracy. An odor-based test that sniffs out vapors emanating from blood samples was able to distinguish between benign and pancreatic and ovarian cancer cells with up to 95 percent accuracy, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine.

    The findings suggest that the Penn-developed tool — which uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to decipher the mixture of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitting off cells in blood plasma samples — could serve as a non-invasive approach to screen for harder-to-detect cancers, such as pancreatic and ovarian.

    The results ...

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