Aug. 2, 2022 – Imagine being wheeled into the working room the place your surgical workforce awaits – the surgeon, the anesthesiologist, and … a tiny robotic crab.

Northwestern University scientists have constructed a super-small robotic crab that would sooner or later perform delicate surgical duties – coming into your physique to suture small, ruptured arteries, clear clogged arteries, or monitor down cancerous tumors.

The six-legged, half-millimeter-wide peekytoe crab, described in a latest situation of Science Robotics, is the world’s smallest remote-controlled strolling robotic. It can bend, twist, stroll, and leap and is operated utilizing a remote-controlled laser.

It’s one of many latest advances in analysis spanning a decade that goals to create miniature machines to do sensible jobs in hard-to-reach locations. This artificial crustacean and different “microrobots” could also be serving to surgical groups before you suppose, due to advances in robotics and supplies science. But what should occur earlier than this future turns into actuality?

The Making of a Robot Crab

Making a flea-sized robotic crab is “pretty simple,” says bioelectronics engineer John Rogers, PhD, who led the analysis. “It consists of three types of materials: a polymer, a shape-memory alloy, and glass.”

The polymer, a plastic-like materials, is utilized in microelectronics. The second part, the shape-memory steel alloy, is bonded with the polymer to make up the joints and legs. The third part is a skinny coating of glass utilized to your entire exterior of the robotic’s physique.

“The glass provides an exoskeleton. It gives a rigidity to the overall body of the robot,” says Rogers.

The robotic operator factors a laser at a particular spot on the crab, triggering a thermal mechanism that makes the robotic transfer.

“By shining it on certain limbs, we can create a specific gait,” Rogers says, explaining that the warmth “unfolds” the crab. When the robotic cools, it returns to its authentic form. This folding and unfolding creates locomotion – the crab walks.

Rogers credit his college students with selecting the crab – they preferred the best way it scooted sideways – however he says any creature might most likely be made smaller.

How Will We Use Tiny Robots in Medicine?

While Rogers hesitates to promote any particular medical use too onerous, surgical purposes appear most promising for this know-how. For use deep contained in the human physique, Rogers says, “you’d probably want a swimmer – like a fish. There are other groups working on swimmers.”

Renee Zhao, PhD, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Stanford University, is one such scientist. In a newNature Communicationsarticle, she and her colleagues report on their “spinning-enabled wireless amphibious origami millirobot.” (Say that 5 instances quick.)

The mini robotic – nearer to the dimensions of a fingertip – appears to be like like a tiny cylinder and options an origami-inspired sample that twists and buckles. It glides by viscous liquid and over slick surfaces and lots more and plenty (akin to human organs), rolling, flipping, and spinning with the assistance of a distant magnet. The folding and unfolding of the cylinder function a pumping mechanism and can be utilized for focused supply of a liquid drug. It would possibly, as an example, carry medicines into the physique to assist cease inner bleeding, Zhao says.

“We are improving the system by further downsizing it for biomedical applications in narrower environments such as in blood vessels,” she says.

In their paper, Zhao and her co-authors additionally word that mini cameras and mini forceps may very well be put into the millirobots to carry out endoscopy and biopsy procedures, which in principle would possibly carry much less threat to sufferers than present strategies.

But there was loads of trial and error throughout the design stage of the robotic, Zhao says.

“The trickiest part is to have an optimized swimming performance,” she says, as a result of the density of the robotic must be very near the density of the liquid it’s “swimming” in.

What’s Next

Right now, Zhao’s amphibious robotic remains to be within the trial phases that come earlier than animal testing. If it clears these hurdles, it would then be studied in human medical trials.

That means it would doubtless take years earlier than swimming cylinders – or robotic crabs, for that matter – are serving to cardiac surgical groups or suturing organs.

“This is early-stage exploratory work,” Rogers says. “We are trying to introduce ideas as part of a broader community of researchers pursuing micro-robotic technologies, with the hope that over time, these technologies will ultimately lead to practical clinical uses for surgical purposes. It’s very much a starting point.”

The post Are Mini Robots Coming to a Hospital Near You? appeared first on Healthy and Slim Life.

JMIR Mental Health: “The Impact of Long COVID-19 on Mental Health: Observational 6-Month Follow-Up Study.”
Journal of Psychiatric Research: “Onset and frequency of depression in post-COVID-19 syndrome: A systematic review.”

Jordan Anderson, DO, neuropsychiatrist, Long COVID-19 Program, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland.

Survivor Corps: “Post-COVID Care Centers (PCCC).”

Tracy Vannorsdall, PhD, neuropsychologist, Johns Hopkins Post-Acute COVID-19 Team, Baltimore.

Heather Murray, MD, senior teacher in psychiatry, University of Colorado School of Medicine.

World Health Organization: “COVID-19 pandemic triggers 25% increase in prevalence of anxiety and depression worldwide.”

The White House: “Fact Sheet: President Biden to Announce Strategy to Address Our National Mental Health Crisis, As Part of Unity Agenda in his First State of the Union.”

Health Resources & Services Administration: “Shortage Areas.”

Nyaz Didehbani, PhD, neuropsychologist, COVID Recover program, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas.

Thida Thant, MD, assistant professor of psychiatry, University of Colorado School of Medicine, UCHealth Post-COVID Clinic.

CDC: “Managing Post-Exertional Malaise (PEM) in ME/CFS.”

John Zulueta, MD, assistant professor of scientific psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, UI Health Post-COVID Clinic.

The post Hospital Programs Tackle Mental Health Effects of Long COVID appeared first on Healthy and Slim Life.

WEDNESDAY, May 11, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Nearly 1 in 4 hospital medical doctors are mistreated at work by sufferers, guests and different medical doctors, and feminine medical doctors are practically two instances extra possible than male medical doctors to face this abuse, a brand new examine reveals.

“All members of the well being care workforce share the duty to mitigate mistreatment,” stated senior examine creator Dr. Mickey Trockel, a scientific professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences on the Stanford University School of Medicine and director of Evidence Based Innovation for the Stanford WellMD/WellPhD Center.

“Those wielding management affect maintain specific duty to determine insurance policies and expectations of civility and respect from all members of the healthcare group — together with sufferers and guests,” Trockel added.

In the examine, researchers surveyed simply over 1,500 medical doctors on the scientific school at Stanford University School of Medicine in September/October 2020 and located that 23.4% reported mistreatment at work throughout the previous yr.

Patients and guests have been the primary culprits — reported by about 17% of physicians and accounting for greater than 70% of all occasions — adopted by different physicians.

The most frequent types of mistreatment have been: verbal, reported by 21.5% of respondents: sexual harassment (5.4%); and bodily intimidation or abuse (5.2%).

Women have been two instances extra possible (31%) to report mistreatment than males (15%), and have been extra more likely to encounter sexual harassment and verbal mistreatment.

Mistreatment additionally assorted by race however the variety of respondents wasn’t massive sufficient to conduct an in depth evaluation by race/ethnicity, in response to the authors of the examine. The findings have been revealed May 6 within the journal JAMA Network Open.

The researchers famous that office mistreatment has been related to elevated burnout, decrease job efficiency and despair, and that research of U.S. physicians during the last decade have discovered job burnout charges of 40% to 60%.

“To tackle the problem of doctor mistreatment, organizations should first acknowledge its prevalence after which know the place to look,” stated examine first creator Dr. Susannah Rowe, an ophthalmologist at Boston Medical Center and chair of the Wellness and Professional Vitality Council at Boston University Medical Group.

“With the robust affiliation of mistreatment to office dissatisfaction and doctor burnout, it’s crucial that well being care organizations take steps to handle these points as rapidly as attainable for the well-being of their employees, in addition to their sufferers,” Rowe stated in a medical heart information launch.

More info

There’s extra on physician burnout on the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

SOURCE: Boston Medical Center, information launch, May 6, 2022

The post 1 in 4 Hospital Physicians ‘Mistreated’ by Patients, Visitors appeared first on Healthy and Slim Life.

March 9, 2022

A maternity hospital within the Ukraine port metropolis of Mariupol was closely broken by a Russian airstrike on Wednesday, leaving at the very least 17 individuals injured or wounded, Ukrainian officers instructed The Associated Press.

Video and images confirmed scorched automobiles and timber exterior the constructing and folks serving to the injured depart the world, together with a pregnant girl on a stretcher. The Associated Press mentioned the blast created a crater at the very least two tales deep, blew out home windows and ripped away a lot of the constructing’s entrance. No fatalities have been instantly reported.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted a video that confirmed rubble and damaged furnishings in what seems to be the inside of the hospital.

“Mariupol. Direct strike of Russian troops at the maternity hospital,” Zelenskyy tweeted. “People, children are under the wreckage. Atrocity! How much longer will the world be an accomplice ignoring terror? Close the sky right now! Stop the killings! You have power but you seem to be losing humanity.”

“Today Russia committed a huge crime,” Volodymir Nikulin, a high regional police official mentioned whereas standing within the hospital ruins, based on The Associated Press.  “It is a war crime without any justification.”

Mariupol has been beneath heavy bombardment, and most residents haven’t had energy, warmth, water, or cellphone service for greater than per week, The Associated Press mentioned.

Mariupol Deputy Mayor Sergei Orlov mentioned 1,170 residents had died, with 47 buried in a mass grave Wednesday, The Guardian reported.

“It’s medieval,” he mentioned. “It’s pure genocide. The attack isn’t simply treacherous. It’s a war crime. They are attacking us with aviation, shells, multiple rocket launchers.”

The post Russian Airstrike Devastates Ukraine Maternity Hospital appeared first on Healthy and Slim Life.

Jan. 5, 2022 — Weekly COVID-19 instances in youngsters have handed 300,000 for the primary time because the pandemic began, in response to the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association.

The price of latest COVID-related hospital admissions additionally reached a brand new excessive of 0.74 per 100,000 youngsters as of Dec. 31. The highest price seen earlier than the present Omicron-fueled surge was 0.47 per 100,000 in early September, information from the CDC reveals.

Over 325,000 new instances of COVID-19 in youngsters had been reported by state and territorial well being departments in the course of the week ending Dec. 30, surpassing the earlier excessive of 252,000 recorded in early September and exceeding the earlier week’s depend by virtually 64%, the AAP and CHA stated of their weekly COVID report.

New instances had been up in all 4 areas of the United States, with the Northeast including probably the most newly contaminated youngsters and setting a brand new excessive for the fifth consecutive week. The South was simply behind for the week however nonetheless effectively off the document it reached in September. The Midwest was third however recorded its busiest week ever, whereas the West was fourth and nowhere close to its earlier excessive, the AAP/CHA report confirmed.

The whole variety of youngster instances because the pandemic started is nearly 7.9 million, in response to information collected from 49 states (excluding New York), the District of Columbia, New York City, Puerto Rico, and Guam. That determine represents 17.4% of all instances reported within the United States, and the speed of COVID an infection is as much as virtually 10,500 per 100,000 youngsters, that means that 1 in 10 youngsters have been contaminated.

While youngsters are nonetheless much less more likely to be hospitalized than adults, the hole seems to be closing. On Jan. 2, there have been 2,343 youngsters and 87,690 adults within the hospital with confirmed COVID, a ratio of 37 adults for every youngster. But on Sept. 5, on the peak of the earlier surge, the ratio of hospitalized adults (93,647) to youngsters (1,632) was 57:1, in response to information from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

And new admissions present an identical sample. The 0.74 admissions per 100,000 youngsters recorded on Dec. 31 was decrease than, for instance, these for adults ages 30-39 years (2.7 per 100,000) or 50-59 years (4.25 per 100,000). But on Sept. 5, the corresponding figures had been 0.46 (youngsters), 2.74 (ages 30-39), and 5.03 (ages 50-59), based mostly on the Health and Human Services information.

A Look at Vaccinations

The vaccination response to Omicron has been extra subdued and considerably inconsistent. First vaccinations had been down amongst eligible youngsters for the week of Dec. 23-29. Before that, vaccinations for 5- to 11-year-olds and 12- to 15-year-olds had been down for the second week of December after which up a bit (5.6% and 14.3%, respectively) in the course of the third week. Meanwhile, first vaccines amongst 16- to 17-year-olds elevated by 63.2%, CDC’s COVID Data Tracker reveals.

Less than 1 / 4 (23.5%) of youngsters ages 5-11 obtained not less than one dose of the vaccine within the first 2 months they had been eligible, and solely 14.7% are totally vaccinated.

Among the older youngsters, 61.2% of 12- to 15-year-olds have obtained not less than one dose, whereas the identical is true for 67.4% of 16- to 17-year-olds. About 51.3% of 12- to 15-year-olds are totally vaccinated, whereas 57.6% of 16- to 17-year-olds are totally vaccinated, the CDC stated.

At the state degree, Massachusetts and Hawaii have the best vaccination charges for kids ages 12-17 years, with 86% having obtained a least one dose. Vermont is highest for kids ages 5-11, at 56%. The lowest charges will be present in Wyoming (38%) for 12- to 17-year-olds and in Mississippi (6%) for 5- to 11-year-olds, the AAP stated in a separate report.

The post Pediatric COVID Cases, Hospital Admissions Higher Than Ever appeared first on Healthy and Slim Life.

Dec. 23, 2021 — The antiviral remdesivir, an intravenous drug given principally to significantly sick COVID-19 sufferers in hospitals, might maintain unvaccinated individuals who develop into contaminated out of the hospital if given on an outpatient foundation, a brand new research says.

Researchers studied 562 unvaccinated folks from September 2020 to April 2021, based on the research revealed within the New England Journal of Medicine. The research decided the chance of hospitalization or dying was 87% decrease in research members who got remdesivir than members who obtained a placebo.

All members had been at excessive danger of creating extreme COVID-19 due to their age — they had been over 60 — or as a result of that they had an underlying medical situation corresponding to diabetes or weight problems.

An vital caveat: The findings are based mostly on information collected earlier than the Delta variant surged final summer time or the Omicron variant surged late this 12 months, The Washington Post reported.

The new research says the drug may very well be useful in holding vaccinated in addition to unvaccinated folks out of the hospital — an vital issue because the Omicron surge threatens to overwhelm well being programs all over the world.

Remdesivir may very well be a boon for COVID-19 sufferers in elements of the world that don’t have vaccines or for sufferers with immunocompromised programs.

“These data provide evidence that a 3-day course of remdesivir could play a critical role in helping COVID-19 patients stay out of the hospital,” Robert L. Gottlieb, MD, PhD, the therapeutic lead for COVID-19 analysis at Baylor Scott & White Health in Dallas, stated in a information launch from Gilead Pharmaceuticals.

“While our hospitals are ready to assist patients in need, prevention and early intervention are preferable to reduce the risk of disease progression and allow patients not requiring oxygen to recover from home when appropriate.”

Remdesivir was the primary antiviral for COVID-19 licensed by the FDA. It was given to then-President Donald Trump when he was hospitalized with COVID-19 in October 2020.

Gilead launched the research findings in September.

The post Remdesivir May Keep Unvaccinated Out of the Hospital: Study appeared first on Healthy and Slim Life.

Dec. 21, 2021 — With the Omicron variant of the coronavirus blazing throughout the United States, President Joe Biden supplied reassurance on Tuesday to Americans who’ve adopted public well being steerage to get vaccinated and boosted, and delivered a stark warning to those that haven’t.

“Because Omicron spreads so easily, we’ll see some fully vaccinated people get COVID. Potentially in large numbers,” the president mentioned. “These cases are highly unlikely to lead to serious illness. Vaccinated people who get COVID may get ill, but they’re protected from severe illness and death.”

But he mentioned the nation was not again to sq. one with COVID-19.

“This is not March of 2020,” he mentioned.

In addition to the warning, Biden outlined plans to assist the nation reply to Omicron, together with the acquisition of 500 million fast exams for at-home use and army assist for burdened hospitals.

He mentioned vaccinated folks ought to maintain their plans to have a good time the vacations, particularly if celebrating with different vaccinated folks.

But he cautioned the estimated 40 million eligible Americans who stay unvaccinated.

“Omicron is serious and perhaps deadly business for unvaccinated people,” Biden mentioned. “Some of you will get very sick.”

He mentioned hospitals would proceed to be dangerously burdened, each by way of gear and staffing.

To assist ease staffing shortages, Biden mentioned he had deployed six emergency response groups together with clinic personnel and paramedics to 6 states: Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Arizona, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

He will even ship 1,000 army medical doctors and nurses to overwhelmed amenities to ease calls for. He can also be activating the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Response Coordination Center to assist with planning and logistics. He mentioned important provides like ventilators, masks, robes, and gloves would even be supplied.

Hospital advocates applauded the assistance.

“The Biden Administration’s announcement today to deploy additional medical personnel to COVID-burdened hospitals and stand-up new mass vaccination sites across the country will help alleviate some of the burden on the nation’s already overwhelmed health care workforce,” mentioned Gerald Harmon, MD, president of the American Medical Association.

Harmon urged all who have been eligible to get vaccinated and boosted to additional ease the pressure.

“We continue to urge the Administration to use all available tools at their disposal and not leave any resources or support on the sidelines,” Rick Pollack, president and CEO of the American Hospital Association, mentioned in a written assertion.

Week to week, instances of COVID-19 attributable to the Omicron variant have soared. Estimates by the CDC present Omicron inflicting roughly 13% of instances within the week ending Dec. 11. By Tuesday, Omicron was inflicting about 74% of instances.

“I’ve worked in infectious disease for 30 years. I’ve NEVER seen anything like the speed of Omicron,” former CDC Director Tom Frieden, MD, posted on Twitter.

For the unique coronavirus, the essential reproductive fee — the common variety of folks contaminated as contacts of a single case — was 2.5. For the Delta variant, that quantity rose to round 7. The primary reproductive fee of Omicron could also be as excessive as 10.

On Tuesday, Biden acknowledged the nation was caught off guard.

“I don’t think anybody anticipated that this was going to be as rapidly spreading as it did,” he mentioned.

He acknowledged that exams and testing companies have been in brief provide.

“All of a sudden, it was like everybody rushed to the counter. It was a big, big rush,” he mentioned.

He promised extra exams could be on the best way. He mentioned new testing websites could be opened in areas of excessive demand like New York City, the place folks have been ready in line for hours to get examined.

Biden introduced he would proceed to make use of the Defense Production Act to ease the availability crunch for COVID-19 exams, buying 500 million exams that will be despatched to Americans free of charge by way of a brand new web site, which hasn’t but been launched.

Most of the small print of who can get the free exams, and what number of they’ll get at a time, are nonetheless being labored out, White House press secretary Jen Psaki mentioned in a briefing earlier than the president’s speech.

Public coverage specialists cheered the announcement.

“The U.S. has been a little bit behind the curve in terms not just getting the tests out, but moving the testing technology along compared to European countries,” mentioned Jeffrey Levi, PhD, a professor of well being coverage and administration at George Washington University’s Milken School of Public Health.

The 500 million extra exams that have been introduced Tuesday are an additional step, past the promise made in Biden’s winter plan, to have non-public insurers cowl the prices of at-home exams.

“This feels like a major step forward,” mentioned Levi. “It remains to be seen whether that production capacity can be met.”

The post As Omicron Soars, Biden Announces Hospital Relief, Free Tests appeared first on Healthy and Slim Life.