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If you are unlucky enough to require the use of an artificial limb, I hope this gives you hope that the functionality desire may not be that far away.

Dr. Goldfarbs Background

Dr. Goldfarbs is a professor of mechanical engineering at Vanderbilt University who has been fascinated by prosthetic limbs since childhood, and did his masters degree into designing a robotic artificial leg. He later did his doctorate in developing a computer controlled brace that would allow paraplegics to walk with the use of electrical stimulation on their muscles! He’s currently doing research into dramatically improving the usability and functionality of artificial limbs.

Power requirements are the next hurdle

Dr. Goldfarbs realized while doing robotic research that the achiles heel of any powered prosthetics is the inability to function for extended periods of time without having to have the power supplies refreshed (plugged in). As a result, he exchanged motors for special materials that expand and contract based on varying voltage, functioning very much like normal muscle tissue. In 2000, while doing research for DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Project Agency), he developed a fuel source that simply used hydrogen peroxide instead of conventional motors and batteries.

Military needs artificial limbs!

With impressive advances in body armor, the number of casualties that the military suffers from was sharply down but as limbs are still exposed, a record number of limbs where being amputated. Having impressed other researchers, he then set his sights in 2005 towards developing an advanced prosthetic arm ever with 30 million dollar in funds from DARPA.

DARPA Results

The artificial arm developed by Dr. Goldfarbs was radically different then anything currently in the marketplace and has almost the same functionality of a real one! The artificial arm has more dexterity, freedom of movement and power then what is currently available with the added benefit of using a liquid fuel power system which can be refreshed when ever the user desires. Other researchers are also studying implantation of electrodes directly within the central nervous system to control artificial limb movement instead of using current methods.

The Future of Artificial Limbs

Dr. Goldfarbs is now researching the development of an artificial leg using the same technology he developed with DARPA funds for the next generation artificial arm.

Video

I found a video by Dean Karmen, I don’t know if the arm is the same as the one developed by Dr. Goldfarbs but the end of the video is interesting regardless.

The Bottom Line

Follow your strengths and success will surely follow.

Buzzvia
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Creating_The_Ultimate_Artificial_Arm_999.html

I started a little experiment on myself about two weeks ago, it being the peak of summer, I can’t go more then a few hours without being drenched in sweat, I consider air conditioning evil so my only comfort is a fan.

Cold Showers in Summer

About two weeks ago, I shut off the hot water in my place, not only will this save me a bundle in the summer but really, it’s already so damn hot outside, why would I want to take a hot shower on top of that? I usually take about 2-4 short showers throughout the day, I use them to break up my day and refresh my mind.

Cold Shower Experiment Week 1

First week, I can tell you, jumping under a COLD shower wasn’t something I was looking forward to, although it was incredibly refreshing, they where rather short affairs. Cold water running down my back made me short of breath and I was even shivering! My body was, oddly, use to hot showers in a hot environment and switching to chilly water was a complete shock. Suffice it to say, they are a great mechanism to wake a person up in the morning.

Cold Shower Experiment Week 2

Now into my second week and you know what, my body has adapted, the cold shower doesn’t feel so cold anymore, I am able to last a few minutes now and it’s rather enjoyable. I no longer shiver nor feel short of breath, the cooling effect also lasts for a good 20 minutes after the shower is complete as well!

Hot Showers

Think of a cold shower being the equivalent of a steaming hot shower in the dead of winter, well, after a week of adaptation, they are just as great! I will, from now on, take only cold showers in the summer (to cool me down) and hot ones in the winter (to warm me up).

The Bottom Line

Experiments involving your own bodies senses, done safely, can lead to new doors of experiences being opened.

According to a new study, yes, it is! HIV apparently has the ability to not only kill off mature brain cells but also prevent the brain from fixing the damage!

Journal Results

In the latest Cell Stem Cell journal, the University of California (San Diego) performed found out after performing experiments on mice that HIV viral load had a direct relationship with the amount of brain damage occurring and the inability of the brain to repair the damage caused. Although it was already known that HIV has a protective protein coating called gp120 which kills normal brain cells by disrupting their internal chemistry, what was discovered is that this same protein also slows the production of new brain cells in the hippocampus. This is bad news as the hippocampus is responsible for processing memory and solidifying learned behavior/materials.

HIV induced dementia

One of the known symptoms of advanced HIV Disease is dementia but until now, the depth of the damage it caused to the brain wasn’t known. Before antiviral drugs where developed, patients suffering from full blown AIDS often had mental illness but as this was segregated to those who where already in a state of waste, it was hard to pinpoint cause and effect. The brain is like many organs in our body, it regenerates itself on a regular basis, optimizes its processes and adapts to new challenges but this process occurs over an extended period of time, HIV is too quick.

Ramifications

Well, although the triple drug cocktail and other medications help keep viral loads down as much as possible, they don’t travel as easily through the brain as other organs due to its complex structures. As a result, even though a patient may live longer, the compound effects of HIV on the brain may still produce dementia in an otherwise relatively healthy individual.

The Bottom Line

HIV Disease is really proving to be one tough cookie to not only crack but understand as well.

Buzzvia
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6944255.stm

You know, those red blood cells that carry oxygen to the bodies cells, the white ones that fight infection and the ones that heal battle damage (platelets)… well, they produce their own waves to get to their required destinations.

Where do cells get their power?

Cells are so beyond our modern technology it’s absolutely mind blowing. Each cell within our bodies is powered by the equivalent of a nuclear reactor, the mitochondria but instead of producing radioactive waste, it simply produces carbon dioxide (along with a few benign chemicals) and is powered by sugar! Now that we have the power plant out of the way, now it’s time to explain the drive system that has only recently been discovered using very high power microscopes.

How are these waves produced?

To greatly simplify the process, think of a shotgun being fired. You have a bullet (Hem-1 protein) in the chamber, the trigger is pulled by the cell leading to a controlled explosion. Right before the bullet leaves the chamber, another one is put into it’s place (right hand side of cell) while the spent cartridge is then discarded but enough of the cartridge is left for regenerating a brand new bullet (recruitment of Hem-1 protein on left hand side). What you end up with is a system of propulsion system that never needs refueling due to being self-generating and works almost anywhere in the body where these proteins are present.

Ramifications

Once you discover how cells within our body propel themselves and more importantly, their driving force, you can develop therapies that either enhance or impede these movements based on the chemical nature of a specific cell type. For instance, a drug could be developed to prevent all cancerous cells within the human body from being able to move or gene therapies that would give helper cells a locomotive boost if, say, somebody was infected with a potent Virus. Although far into the future, once you understand the control mechanisms behind cell movement, radio controlled device could be created to focus cells onto a particular activity such as clearing out blocked arteries or repairing a heart muscles after a heart attack.

The Bottom Line

Knowledge is like a river, winding and ever changing yet always expanding.

Buzzvia
http://www.interndaily.com/reports/Bursts_Of_Waves_Drive_Immune_System_Soldiers_Toward_Invaders_999.html

View the video
http://cvri.ucsf.edu/~weiner

People suffering from mental health issues use to be housed in psychiatric institutions but now, in the United States, they are increasingly being held in jail. If fact, one out of every 10 patients are now housed behind bars with the general inmate population, which now represents over half a million of those held in detention facilities around the country.

Summary

I urge you to view the video yourself but if you don’t have time, here is a summary:

• prisons have become the new state mental health facilities as they where systematically shutdown due to budget cuts and policy changes
• 50 000 mentally ill stay in state hospitals but 500 000 stay in prison
• 16% of prison inmates in Ohio are mentally ill requiring special services (medication, follow-up… ) that most facilities aren’t built to provide
• 30% of those 16% mentally ill will always require hospitalization and professional services to keep their condition manageable
• patients requiring acute care or constant watch are sent into the prison infirmary
• patients become suicidal, depressed and delusional due to being housed in a prison facility
• prisons are built to provide safety and security for the local population, not mental health services
• most mental health patients are in prison due to minor offenses and not following orders by lower level detention facilities
• Ohio prison system tries to triage those who are mentally ill verses criminal intent regarding disciplinary action
• mentally ill patients require more force then the general prison population because they quickly become out of control
• mentally ill inmates are often cycled between maximum security prison to mental health facilities for stabilization then back again into prison
• once mentally ill inmates return to prison, their conditions quickly degrade
• prison mental health services are often better then those in community based settings as close monitoring and force can be applied
• some inmates believe prison makes their condition better while others say it makes it worse
• isolation makes those who are already mentally ill worse and they fall apart due to lack of intellectual stimulation
• parole is a difficult goal to achieve due to their mental illness which often leads to an extensive rap sheet being produced in addition to their own bias towards wanting to guarantee mental health services in prison for the inmates own good
• some mentally ill inmates fear leaving prison because they fear the complexity of everyday life, they believe they are better off in the confines of a controlled environment
• mentally ill inmates have a high rate of return after parole as they often stop taking their medication, believing they don’t need it anymore and are cured
• two million people are behind bars in the United States, of which 25% have mental problems

The Bottom Line

Mental illness requires close attention by medically educated professionals, not people involved with law enforcement.

Buzzvia
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/asylums/

Paraphrasing what Maya Angelou said during an appearance on the Opera Winfrey show “my breasts seem to be in a race to reach my knees”. It’s no secret, age, gravity and motherhood all take their toll on womans breasts. Well, a company in Israel has had enough and developed a solution that requires relatively minimal surgical intervention.

Replacement for cosmetic breast surgery?

Up until now, breasts where augmented or reduced for optimal perkiness using laborious surgical techniques that involved risks (as all surgeries do) that didn’t always give the desired results once the healing process was complete. The recuperation is painful and only temporary as the race for the knees continues.

What is MIM (Minimally Invasive Mastopexy)

Israel researchers have developed a much simpler technique which essentially holds the breast tissue in a silicon bra cup using the patients own internal architecture as a support. As such, the name of the new technique is MIM or Minimally Invasive Mastopexy and promises better results in a fraction of the recovery time over a far longer extended period of time. Put another way, MIM is essentially an internal bra that feels and acts the same as a normal breast.

Alternatives to ANY surgery

As the breast tissue is mostly composed of fat, there is little that can be done to form them naturally but strong pectoral muscles will go a long way along with a healthy diet if you are out of shape. Although still in the experimental stage, I would expect this to become a standard procedure in a very short period of time.The Bottom Line

All surgeries carry risks, the less a technique requires, the safer it normally is.

Buzzvia
http://crunchgear.com/2007/08/14/technology-marches-forth-better-breasts-on-the-horizon/

Buzzedvia
http://israel21c.org/bin/en.jsp?enDispWho=Articles%5El1738&enPage=BlankPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enVersion=0&enZone=Health&