Generally, high-molecular-weight polyethylene oxide (PEO) can present processing challenges due to its high melt viscosity and poor melt drawability; it can be difficult to form into fine-gauge film or small-diameter fibers. There is the alternative technology of solution casting, which has...

Over the past several decades, there has been a proliferation of medical diagnostic and treatment devices that involve the use of X-rays, beta rays, gamma rays, and radioactive isotopes. In addition, there has been recent concern regarding possible radiation...

Three innovations address the needs of the medical world with regard to microfluidic manipulation and testing of physiological samples in ways that can benefit point-of-care needs for patients such as premature infants, for which drawing of blood for continuous tests can be life-threatening in their own right,...

The combination of ethidium monoazide (EMA) and post-fragmentation, randomly primed DNA amplification technologies will enhance the analytical capability to discern viable from non-viable bacterial cells in spacecraft-related samples. Intercalating agents have been widely...

BHA and BHT are well-known food preservatives that are excellent radical scavengers. These compounds, attached to single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs), could serve as excellent radical traps. The amino-BHT groups can be associated with SWNTs that have carbolyxic acid groups via acid-base...

Arizona State University researchers have demonstrated a way to dramatically simplify testing patients for infectious diseases and unhealthy protein levels. Testing instrumentation developed by Antonia Garcia, a professor in the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, and...

Implanted medical devices such as glucose-level sensors, pacemakers, catheters, and others add quality of life, deliver lifesaving medicine, or protect the lives of patients who need them - but those same devices are at risk from the patients themselves. "One of the biggest problems with...

Using chemical "nanoblasts" that punch tiny holes in the protective membranes of cells, Georgia Tech researchers have demonstrated a new technique for getting therapeutic small molecules, proteins, and DNA directly into living cells. The work is believed to be the first to use activation of reactive carbon nanoparticles by lasers for...

A sniffing-based device developed at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel may enable disabled people to navigate wheelchairs or communicate with loved ones. The system identifies changes in air pressure inside the nostrils and translates these into electrical signals. In the future, researchers predict that this...

A new vaccine-delivery patch based on hundreds of microscopic needles that dissolve into the skin could someday allow people without medical training to painlessly administer vaccines. The new patch could also help prevent unsafe reuse of hypodermic needles, particularly in parts of the world with poor medical infrastructure.

Developed at the University of Sussex, the Electric Potential Sensors (EPS) are the first electrical sensors that can detect precisely the electrical activity of the heart without direct resistive contact with the body. The new sensors can detect a heartbeat up to a meter away, and make monitoring a patient's heartbeat easier...

Researchers from Rice University and the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center have used an off-the-shelf digital camera to create an inexpensive device that is powerful enough to let doctors easily distinguish cancerous cells from healthy cells, simply by viewing the LCD monitor on the back of the camera.