Archives for category: research

Biotherapy and 3D stem cell production: Pluristem

October 6, 2016 //
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Regenerative medicine using biotherapy and bioprinting is providing much hope for previously irreversible conditions such as burns, muscle damage, and cancer. Cells and cellular environments are extremely difficult to reproduce once they are damaged, and much of regenerative medicine focuses on how to repair what our bodies originally made so easily.  3D cell production, versus 2D cell production, mimics the organic environment of our bodies to produce cells. In biotherapy, living organisms are used as the starter in this process.

The complexity in the specificity of our cells is part of why it is so difficult to reverse cell damage. Thus, stem cells are valuable biological material due to their ability to differentiate into any type of cell based on their environment and genetic factors. A stem cell starts out as a blank slate, and by receiving environmental and genetic signals, can become virtually anything in the human body, from a kidney to a blood cell to a muscle in the leg.

Placental stem cells are organically derived and the natural byproduct during a birth. Instead of being discarded, they can provide a very important product for placental cell therapy, which helps direct cells toward regeneration and promotes healing. In biotherapy, these placental stem cells can be very valuable for the cell production process.

Pluristem, a company quickly gaining international presence, produces 3D cultured placental stem cell therapies for various conditions. The company uses a 3D platform to produce their line of PLX products, mimicking the environment of the human body for cell production. This cell therapy is developed to provide cell therapy which is easy to use and does not require genetic or tissue matching. Once the therapy is administered, it promotes the body to heal itself in the target area.

Pluristem products provided regenerative therapy for a variety previously potentially irreversible conditions. Among these is acute radiation syndrome (ARS), which involves irreversible damage to organs and bone marrrow from radiation exposure. Pluristem also aims to provide therapy for vascular conditions such as critical limb ischemia, intermittent claudication, and pulmonary arterial hypertension, all which are dangerous and can lead to decreased life span or surgery.

Pluristem is currently in its clinical trial phase, with collaborations with several universities and industry partners, including the NIH.

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Categories biotherapy, healthcare, hospital technology, research, Uncategorized

Artificial intelligence for diagnostics: IBM Watson

June 16, 2016 //
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Why do we seek external advice for our health? In part, we expect providers to know more than us. This is partially through the experience of treating other patients that have had similar struggles, and also by having the background knowledge and mental data storage to make decisions that will guide us toward our goals. So, what if there was an external system that could help guide the decisions that providers make to improve our health?

Artificial intelligence is going to change the way that clinicians diagnose and treat, for the better. Any human work has the risk of error and knowledge can be variable between practitioners. Patients oftentimes don’t expect to find their providers searching their conditions or related questions on Google, but the truth is that this is common practice. Seeing a condition for the first time, with a client expecting you to provide guidance for them and keep them safe is difficult and sometimes external resources are necessary. In my first years of practice, Google Scholar and the search engine became my close alliances while I navigated many new diagnoses and patient questions.

IBM Watson seeks to provide an external network of both data and experience. It is growing to become an amazing resource for answering questions, compiling data, and helping drive logical decisions in medicine. A large cloud of data storage that learns as it compiles more data, this promises to be a close resource for clinicians by making our decisions more precise and valuable for patients. Watson’s storage allows for a diverse amount of data storage, including personal data along with genomic and clinical research. When searching for information, it will be extremely valuable and efficient to have all this information stored in one known resource.

Quality care is a combination of data and experience. Both are extremely valuable, and the combination is what makes medical decisions supreme. Without research we are unable to learn as a society and defend the decisions that we make. And it is through experience, working with thousands of people, that we begin to see patterns and apply them to our practice. People often ask, ‘have you seen this before?’ It comforts them when the answer is yes, and this is because experience gives us the power of efficiency. With a resource such as IBM Watson, providers will have the benefits of current research and data to pair with our experience.

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Categories artificial intelligence, Digital health, machine learning, research, Uncategorized

Robotics for Grasp: Google Research

March 12, 2016 //
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The human ability to grasp objects is an amazing feature of our bodies which we seamlessly integrate into our daily lives. Google is conducting research on how to replicate this feature, and as expected, replicating what we do easily is not so simple.

This post will not highlight a specific product but I would like to review a few important terms and concepts, as so much of robotics is currently shifting toward replicating what we can do with our hands.

Stereognosis: When you reach into your bag and look for your wallet, how do you determine, in seconds, that it is your wallet without having to look at it? Now, when you look for a coin in the wallet, how do you know that you are about to pull out a dime versus a penny? The concept of being able to recognize 3D objects with the sensory feedback from our hands is stereognosis. We know what we are holding without having to use visual cues. It’s phenomenal, and extremely difficult to reproduce due to the involved sensory and neural feedback that is required.

Weight anticipation:  Anticipation of forces is a very important concept in lifting and grasping. You may go through the same motion of lifting a heavy suitcase or a light grocery bag, but the amount of force that you recruit will be very different. Without much effort, we size objects up before we lift them and our brains tell our muscles to recruit the appropriate amount of force to move something. It is how we conserve energy; you don’t need the full force of your bicep to lift a light pencil. It is also how we move efficiently and save our body from injury.

In robots, this anticipation is difficult due to the limited experience, vision, and the possibly simple neural network of a robot.

Grasp: The human ability to use our fingers to pick something up is complicated and involved. Our precision, ability to use tactile cues, the involved sensation and neural network connected to our skin, and our quick ability to adapt and respond to objects means that a seemingly simple task is actually very difficult for a robot to replicate.

Robotics is currently in a very exciting time, with the applications for robotics growing. And as we use more products to enhance our work and daily activities, we find that we are the models and gold standard for the products being created.

 

Categories research, robotics, robots, Uncategorized

Bionics for organ replacement: Artificial Pancreas

June 22, 2014 //
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Diabetes is a chronic disease of the body’s inability to control blood sugar leading to, among other issues, amputations, vision loss, cardiovascular problems and nerve damage. Those with Type I diabetes often are born with the disease, and are diagnosed because of uncontrolled glucose levels and the inability of the pancreas to produce insulin, which is a hormone that helps to pull sugar out of the bloodstream and convert it to usable energy. The pancreas also produces the hormone glucagon, which works conversely of insulin and increases glucose levels in the body.

Those with type I diabetes must constantly monitor their body’s blood sugar and regulate it by sticking a needle into their body to deliver insulin. This old method is thankfully being upgraded according to a bionic pancreas whose effectiveness was confirmed in a study recently published in The New England Journal of Medicine, carried out by researchers at Boston University and Massachusetts General Hospital.

In two similar studies performed, adolescents and adults (over 21) were given a bihormonal (insulin and glucagon) pancreas to test which required only an iPhone and small subcutaneous device to deliver injections. Over 5 days, subjects were encouraged to eat and drink as normal while the device monitored their body’s response to meals. The device itself involved an iPhone which ran an algorithm which monitored glucose levels, and commanded the hardware interface to deliver specific levels of insulin or glucagon as needed through subcutaneous injection. Amazingly, this system updates every five minutes and adjusts hormone level as needed.

While this system is not for home sale yet, with such positive outcomes it will hopefully be on the consumer market soon.

Categories Bionics, healthcare, Pediatrics, research, Uncategorized