I recently stumbled upon an article about the future of medicine from Mikio Kaku. Michio is reading his crystal ball and providing us with his insights for the next decade.
He foretells the coming of designer organs from stem cells with the biotechnology to create from the bottom up organs, even print them. I agree with him on this. At the beginning this technology will be available for people with organ failures but soon and as we decipher the mechanics of cells, new organs will be available for enhancement e.g. a heart with extra pumping options, blood cells with extra oxygen carrying potential and many many other.
Transplant surgery will be revived and mainly will be used for cosmetic reasons.
Michio moreover refers to the revolution that will miniature diagnostic devices will bring. These lab on a chips will bring cost effective and fast diagnosis to the masses. Therapy will gradually move towards diagnosis and will carry with our USB sticks our personal genome. Imagine the changes these all will bring. Decentralized fast and accurate diagnosis or even prognosis.
One does not need much to imagine what will happen when apart from preventing we will have the opportunity of enhancing….
I have been using an Ericsson Xperia mini 10 for about a year now,
I am quite happy with the use of this smartphone (except maybe for the battery which needs every night a recharge).
As I was browsing Android Market some time ago I stumbled upon a nice app which is called Evernote. With this app you may keep notes for whatever you wish. These notes are synchronized with an online storage that Evernote.com provides; you may access them from anywhere in the world as long as you have access to the net.
I was treating a patient for a venous ulcer. I needed to have a follow up on the healing progress and, with the permission of the patient of course, I took a photo of the ulcer. I used Evernote on mobile for this photo.
Then I realized something important. Since I can use my smart phone for photo or voice or written notes why shouldn’t I use it for patient record keeping?
Since then I had notes with the name of my patients which were used to keep all their medical data on my office’s PC and then I could have these records with me everywhere in my smart phone which would be syncing with the Evernote account. I could add a photo update of my patient with the smart phone or look into patient details while travelling with my smart phone.
Medical record apps cost a lot. Why not use Evernote for free? With the added benefit of mobility of course….
which can process through a large database and provide a most probable answer in a question.
It is a great feat in programming and narrow artificial intelligence.
What holds more interest than the victory itself of a machine over Jeopardy champions is the field action such a machine can provide.
One of the first applications that Watson will be tested is in medical diagnosis. Just watch the video below to see the perspective from mother company and the hospital that will test it.
The use of artificial intelligence in medical diagnosis has been treated with great hostility from doctors and patients (just watch the comments in youtube for the video above to take a glimpse into it). Surely a trained doctor can assess a patient in a way a computer can not do it (at least yet). What computers are good at is processing huge amount of data and reach to a most probable conclusion. This is a great advantage since current diagnosis is based on huge amount of data such as X-rays, CTs, MRIs journal publications, genetic and laboratory data from blood samples.
This is where Watson could offer great help as an assistant in dealing with the huge amount of data that currently flood our low memory retention carbon minds. I doubt if any time soon an artificial intelligence will surpass us in our approach to patient’s exam; nevertheless it could help us surpass our greatest limitation as “carbon based machines”: We cannot go through huge amounts of data and retain them efficiently.
So colleagues, please don’t hurt Watson, he is here to help. How much you trust him will depend on his credibility on field work, just like we are tested everyday…
Welcome to our world of responsibility over lives Watson. I hope you will help us save more of them.
Animations is a great way to visualize concepts especially scientific which are purely hypothetical or futuristic or are taking place in the molecular regime.
XVIVO is a company specializing in these type of animations. I bumped into it through a google advertisement and I stumbled upon a great deal of great animations.
One possible answer to this is that they have destroyed themselves. Intelligent life may not be so rare but intelligent life that reaches global destructive power capabilities and does not destroy itself may be incredibly rare. We have witnessed some times already with the menace of a nuclear war. We are now facing the near future scenario of grey goo (self replicating nanorobots that destroy everything in their way living only their mass called grey goo).
Another scenario is that we have not searched too much. SETI has not scanned a great portion of the universe yet. We are scanning for radio waves. There may not by any radio ways because advanced civilizations do not use them. So we may be searching the wrong way.
Or maybe in the wrong place. Advance civilizations should have advance need for energy. So we should be looking towards place of high energy in space and not towards places where biochemistry might flourish. We should also think about what an advanced civilization look like. Like a fragile human being? Or like a substrate that could travel through space without any limitation.(remember pathfinder that travelled to Mars? well something like this with a brain like us would be a more preferable vehicle for space travel)
Or maybe like a matryoshka brain? Based on a Dyson sphere, one that could surround our sun and use it’s energy for computational intelligence, we should be looking for infrared waves where stars should be (that is how a Dyson sphere should look to us).
Then maybe the speed of light is unavoidable and advanced civilizations are not interested in traveling million of years to come to us primitives.
Who knows? The quest will be continued…
Remember the recent exoplanet that was discovered? The one that may possibly bear life?
Watch the extraordinary documentary from google video below to travel with your mind on how a robotic mission to this planet might look like…
I want to thank my readers for their support throughout 2010, which brought us to MedGadget’s Finals for the Best Medical Technologies/Informatics Weblog Category.
If you wish you may donwload the introductory chapter of my book “The Era of Nanomedicine”. Click on the little book to the left of the link to read it locally through Scribd or right click on the link and select ” Save link as” to download the pdf file to your computer. The rest of book is still under preparation and will be ready during 2011. I hope you enjoy the introduction!
2010 was a great year for NanoTechGalaxy. You may visit the most popular articles by clicking below (opening in new windows):
The definition of nanotechnology is the material science of objects with a size scaled under 100 nm.
The last decade we realized that the oldest nanotechnologist alive is Nature (not the journal ). In fact nature is a 5 billion year old nanotechnologist that has found optimal molecular pathways to solve problems of energy (plant “solar cells” through photosynthesis, or mitochondia synthesis), hardness and elesticity (google “nanomechanics of spider silk”) and many other solutions. For a great collection of Nature’s nanotechnology solutions I urge you to visit Ask Nature website.
This trend of finding and copying “ready made” solutions of nature in common engineering problems is called Biomimetism and has gained considerable momentum lately.
Let’s talk about surgery now. Surgeons operate in the macro scale. We offer solutions in problems where there is no other solution yet. We have made great advances (watch BBC documentary Blood and Guts, The History of Surgery to see what I mean) the last century, which we are very proud of. Surgery has evolved from “no more science than butchery” to a highly respected science (for some an art also).
But let’s be honest with ourselves. We do not treat diseases and we do not heal. We only open the way for the body to heal itself. We know that the more gentle one is with the body tissues the better his surgical technique is.
But even the most gentle microsurgeon is a very crude man in terms of a nanotechnological scale of tissue. A scalpel is millions times bigger than a cell.
What is needed is to decode how the body tissues heal themselves and try to copy the methodology and bionano pathways. We need to be gentle and elegant from the bottom up.
One may consider a current trend in surgery. We started creating better tools for our hands. Then we realized the importance of being minimal invasive and we created laparoscopic and lately robotic surgery (e.g. Da Vinci System. Da Vinci system is in fact a laparoscopic tool with the added option of a high techonlogy 3D vision of field inside the body and 3 axis of movement tools that cancel the normal hand tremor).
Endovascular surgery is also included in the trend of minimal invasive surgery with the problem of an artificial material that is not as durable as the tissue it replaces in the long term.
We observe the trend of miniaturization in surgical tools. We already have microrobots experimentally available and tested in live tissues (see my presentation above and google “microrobots in medicine”). It seems that in one or two decades microrobots will be common practice in surgery and then they will be replaced by nanorobots.
Microrobots will be like minite machines from the macroscale. But, how will nanorobots be? They won’t be like artistic representations of mini submarines placed besides erythrocytes. Most probable they will be like the current nanomachines, that is e.g. like mitochondria.
Of course this will have an impact in our training as surgeons. Many of my mentors have been overcome during their lifetime career by the advances in their field of specialty. I know many great surgeons that never wanted to be trained in laparoscopic surgery and now feel surpassed in this field. I know many vascular surgeons that are great in open repairs but are not trained in endovascular techniques and feel outdated or not complete any more.
What is the lesson for the new surgeons? Expect to be surpassed by the advances in surgery in your lifetime. Nevertheless be vigilant about upcoming trends and prepare yourself to adapt to them. DO NOT underestimate any new technique; instead learn about it and watch the trend. A new meme (meme=idea-concept in evolutionary contest with other ideas) that is successful will evolve into a completely new field….
Despite technical success and good long term patency rates for vascular surgery repairs (open and endovascular), the underlying disease of atherosclerosis and vascular wall degeneration remains unresolved. Although elegant and complex, the vascular surgery procedures constitute a partial macro-mechanical solution to a deeper biological problem. This may render the vascular repairs incomplete, as long as molecular details of the disease are not taken into account in therapeutic intervention. Nanotechnology, an interdisciplinary research sector, studies the biological and mechanical interactions with molecular detail in a combined effort to decipher the phenomenon of tissue malfunction.
Substantial research effort is devoted in nanoparticle mediated targetted drug delivery for combined imaging and therapeutics of atherosclerosis disease through non invasive techniques. Targetted drug delivery is also studied with the use of nanoparticles for post stenting restenosis prevention. Novel design concepts of stents with nanopatterned surfaces that enhance biocompatibility are being tested. Microelectromechanical experimental devices that are embedded in stents and report in vivo biomechanical parameters are proposed. Personalized genomics and proteomics with “lab on a chip” devices may also provide a new arsenal for improved vascular surgery practice.
There is an emerging concept of nanotechnology based devices and methods that will become commercially mainstream in the years to come, aiming at the underlying cause of vascular diseases (bottom up approach) rather than the manifestation of the disease (top bottom approach of today). Moreover, the current model of therapy is gradually shifted towards prevention and advanced stent designs are emerging. The efficiency of all these concepts are still under scrutiny and mainly experimental; nevertheless the initial results are promising and the long term view is that of a disrupting technology.
Every year 50.000 people die waiting for a heart transplant.
In a breakthrough that shook the scientific community scientists at the University of Minnesota experimenting with tissue engineering have created a working rat heart by using heart cells from newborn rats.
This is a first step in tissue engineering that will eventually lead to the creation of new organs. We have the scaffolds we just need to decode the process. A daunting task which I am sure it will be broken during the next decade.
Watch the video below for an interview of the scientists from University of Minnesota.
My beloved innovations are those that propose a new better way instead of a long established method of delivering a common procedure.
In this frame of mind the Arstasis catheter is a new low angle catheter for delivering low angle puncture to arteries instead of the scheldinger technique which perforates the artery in a right angle.
As a vascular surgeon I must admit that haematomas after arteriography, which is a typical procedure (more than half a million every day world wide), is relatively common.
Arstasis device stands for the easier closure of the artery internal pressure from the blood flowing in the artery due to the swallow angle the artery is perforated.
This is mechanically sound and is welcome as a technique. Astasis has received FDA 510(k) clearance for it’s catheter. I cannot wait to see the results in large series.
We have heard a lot about the change of practice in medicine in the technological era of the web. The web is an accelarating technology and seems to affect
According to an definition in wikipedia it is commonly associated with web applications that facilitate interactive systemic biases, interoperability, user-centered design, and developing the World Wide Web. A Web 2.0 site allows users to interact and collaborate with each other in a social media dialogue as consumers of user-generated content in a virtual community, in contrast to websites where users (prosumers) are limited to the active viewing of content that they created and controlled. Examples of Web 2.0 include social networking sites, blogs, wikis, video sharing sites, hosted services, web applications, mashups and folksonomies.
So in plain words it is all about sharing. Sharing info, sharing emotions, sharing content, dialogue and social networking.
The revolution of medicine in our era it is not as much profound but you may see some changes in the way that patients are very informed about their disease before visiting a doctor. Many doctors find this annoying (sometimes patients are misleading due to not so reliable info on the net) but it is a truth and the only way for the doctors to cope with it is to make truce with it.
Patients should know a lot in the Web 2.0 Era before going to their doctor. The doctor will not be any more the utmost authority. He/She will be the expect guidant in their disease.
Patients could also be sharing info with other patients in forums or social networking sites. How about telemedicine? In some specialties it is already done through cheap telemedicine means (MedSkype )
Some net savvy doctors (me included) are already communicating with people through their blogs. Patients are already doing it.
Doctors have more access to knowledge through databases than before. Imaging that 20 years ago (just 2 generation of doctors before) you needed to go to the library (younger doctors may consider a library like a museum) just to order some of the articles that they could have weeks later (uhmf so much frustrating).
If we get a bit sci fi we will see some doctors with presence in virtual worlds like second life. Exquisite!
What about the era of Web 3.0 or semantec web? Well this is a bit frightening a scenario for us because we this may be well the end for the doctor as it is now. Internet 3.0 will be capable of giving answers to a patient according to it’s symptoms. What is the place for a doctor in a future like this? Well maybe observing the net giving answers?
“See we shall…”
For now enjoy an excellent presentation of the medicine on the Web 2.0 Era created by Bertalan Besko MD for his blog at Scienceroll.com
A beloved software. You will never look again into your programmes list. Just hit a shortcut write the name of the software you wish to open and voila!!!! 5 Stars.
This is primarily intented for authors in scientific journals but is may be used to organize your pdf files in your computer. Where was that thing in a pdf of mine? You will not have to look for it again.
A software that cleans all the junk from your computer, files you do not need, registry errors and many many more. Has helped me to keep my laptop in shape without the need to format it.
Well these are mine. Which free software of yours have you found that you cannot live without?
Do you live a Marley jamming style? Do you love this type of design made right from Marley’s video clips?
Then you should visit the new series of products from House of Marley. I am not a fan but the design is realy cozy. Click here to see it
nPower is showing off a Personal Energy Generator (PEG) at CES that stores energy as you move, energy you may use to power up your gadgets.
Like a small telescope in size, the PEG has a 1000mAh lithium Polymer battery. Put it in your purse, take it with you in your cardiovascular exercise. Then use it to power up your mobile in case of emergency.
Is it efficient? You cannot rely on it to power up your mobile every day but….
According to nPower, one minute of walking provides approximately one minute of listening time on an iPod Nano.
Eleven minutes of walking provides approximately one minute of talk time on an iPhone 2G, and 26 minutes does the same for an iPhone 3.
I am quite satisfied with it as it can charge in two or three days of 10 hours of sunlight and power up my mobile for 2 full charges. Moreover it is very durable and it folds in an elegant way.
I have recently delved into my gadget addictions again and look below what I have came across.
1) The liberatti e-book reader.
Seems like a good alternative to the Kindle for Amazon with a coloured screen. Some questionmarks because it is not a e-ink device and on the battery life but seems like a good value for maney. Check it here
Second best: I found a cool beer gadget which I proudly present here. It is an awesome gadget for parties.
I have been asking myself many times when I get caught up in a traffic jam: What do we need these 4 seated vehicles when we could travel with other means much faster at least in urban environments?
While contemplating that I searched the internet for alternative transport vehicles, which I proudly present in this post:
Everybody knows the self balancing vehicle Dean Kamen has created although it still did not bring the revolution we expected from it. Neverthless it is a great vehicle worthy of the Future Vehicle Title.
2) Yike Bike.
Another cool idea for electric bicycle. Elegant and futuristic in design but with questionmarks about how to ride it…
3) The all terrain electric skateboard
This one is huge! I favorited it at once and kept it in mind for the future.
For only 549$ I get an 19 mph all terrain electric skateboard to go to my work.
4) Honda’s U3-X unicycle
Anothern great idea from Honda which used Asimov’s robot balancing technology to create a segway style unicycle.
5) Amphibian vehicles.
Concept cars are already out there that can be driven on road and off road (on water or in it that is). See the video
6) We observe a general tendency towards energy efficient and … self driving cars
Self driven cars became popular after a relevant DARPA challenge and many people in the car industry believe that these cars are the near term future of the car industry.
See below a video about the latest revelation from Google that it used self driving cars some time now.
I love gadgets. I also love thinking about the gadgets I would love.
This one caught me by surprize. I haven’tought of it.
A wallet with a fingerprint reader embedded on it.
It sounds good.
It comes in three models: Carbon fibers, fiber glass and polycarbonate.
The fingerprint reader is the one you find on laptops. I had some problems some times with them as I needed to put my finger in a certain angle in order to read it (a bit pitched and I got false negatives).
It also comes with cellular alarm features, that is it bangs an alarm in your cellular when the distance between phone and cellular gets more than 20 feet.
The price is certainly high for such a gadget (startng from 299$ for the polycarbonate model) and you may buy it from iWallet official website here
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would be a more preferable vehicle for space travel)
