Medical Design Briefs

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In recent years, researchers have investigated hydrogels' potential in drug delivery, engineering them into drug-carrying vehicles that rupture when exposed to certain environmental stimuli. However, it's difficult to predict just how hydrogels will rupture, and up until now it's been difficult to control the shape into which a hydrogel morphs. Nick Fang, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at MIT, says predicting how hydrogels transform could help in the design of more complex and effective drug-delivery systems.
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With support from the National Science Foundation and continued support from the National Institutes of Health, Vanderbilt University mechanical engineer Michael Goldfarb has spent several years developing a state-of-the-art prosthetic leg with powered knee and ankle joint, which operates with special sensors, an electric motor, a battery, and computer technology. Sensors monitor the user's motion and microprocessors figure out what the person is trying to do.
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John Rogers and his team at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana have come up with a way to monitor the body electronically that really sticks. They have developed a small, flexible circuit device that sticks comfortably to the skin and is camouflaged as a temporary tattoo. It can read a patient's brainwaves, heart rate, and muscle activity while they are going about their normal activity - making it possible to cut back on visits to the doctor's office.
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For approximately 200 million people, many in Africa, high levels of naturally occurring fluoride in drinking water cause disfiguring and debilitating dental and skeletal disease. University of Oklahoma (OU) environmental scientist Laura Brunson returned from Ethiopia where, with support from the National Science Foundation, she was developing fluoride filtering devices that use inexpensive materials readily available in the villages.
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