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chips that are good for your body Too much time on the Net could alter brain Trends Prof Yash
Pal THIS UNIVERSE |
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chips that are good for your body AN edible microchip that records the precise details of a patient’s pill regime will be available in Britain by the end of year following a commercial deal that opens the door to an era of digital medicines. An American biomedical company has signed up with a British healthcare firm to sell digestible sensors, each smaller than a grain of sand, which can trigger the transmission of medical information from a patient’s body to the mobile phone of a relative or carer. The aim is to develop a suite of “intelligent medicines” that can help patients and their carers keep track of which pills are taken at what time of day, in order to ensure that complex regimes of drugs are given the best possible chance of working effectively. Ultimately, the plan is for every one of the many pills taken each day by some of the most chronically-ill patients, especially those with mental health problems, to be digitally time-stamped as they are digested within the body. The healthcare company Lloydspharmacy said it intended to sell the edible microchips of Proteus Biomedical of California by the end of the year, as part of a trial to test whether NHS patients would be prepared to pay privately to ensure that they or their relatives took the right medicines at the right time. “There is a huge problem with medicines not being taken correctly,” said Steve Gray, healthcare services director of Lloydspharmacy. “Anyone taking several medications knows how easy it can be to lose track of whether or not you’ve taken the correct tablets that day,” he added. “Add to that complex health issues and families caring for loved ones who many not live with them and you can appreciate the benefits of an information service that helps patients to get the most from their treatments and for families to help them to remain well.” Lloydspharmacy said the World Health Organisation has found that about half of all patients fail to take their medicines correctly, which can lead to people not getting the full benefits of treatment, or ending up with harmful side-effects. Unused prescription medicines are estimated to cost the NHS nearly £400m a year. The Proteus technology is based on the company’s digestible sensors, which are no bigger than a grain of sand. They are composed of the ingredients commonly found in food and are activated when they come into contact with stomach fluids. At the heart of the technology is a tiny silicon wafer separating tiny quantities of copper and magnesium, which effectively forms a microscopic battery that generates an electric current when immersed in the acidic environment of the stomach. These electric currents, which can be given individual signatures to match the drug taken with the edible sensor, are detected passively by an intelligent patch stuck to the patient’s skin, in much the same way that electrocardiogram (ECG) skin patches can record the electric currents within the heart. The patch, which is designed to be worn for seven days, includes a flexible battery and chip that records the information and sends it by Bluetooth wireless technology to the mobile phone of a relative or professional carer. “In the future the goal is a fully integrated system that creates an information product that helps patients and their families with the demands of complex pharmacy,” said Andrew Thompson, the chief executive and founder of Proteus Biomedical. “What we know is that we’ve created many pharmaceuticals with great potential but much of that potential is not realised because these drugs are not being used properly.” Neither company was prepared to comment on the cost of the digestible microchips, but industry sources suggested a starting cost of about £50 per week.
— The Independent |
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Too much time on the Net could alter brain INTERNET addiction has for the first time been linked with changes in the brain similar to those seen in people addicted to alcohol, cocaine and cannabis. In a groundbreaking study, researchers used MRI scanners to reveal abnormalities in the brains of adolescents who spent many hours on the Internet, to the detriment of their social and personal lives. The finding could throw light on other behavioural problems and lead to the development of new approaches to treatment, researchers said. An estimated 5 to 10 per cent of Internet users are thought to be addicted—meaning they are unable to control their use. The majority of them are games players who become so absorbed in the activity they go without food or drink for long periods and their education, work and relationships suffer. Henrietta Bowden Jones, consultant psychiatrist at Imperial College, London, who runs Britain’s only NHS clinic for Internet addicts and problem gamblers, said: “The majority of people we see with serious Internet addiction are gamers—people who spend long hours in roles in various games that cause them to disregard their obligations. I have seen people who stopped attending university lectures, failed their degrees or their marriages broke down because they were unable to emotionally connect with anything outside the game.” Although most of the population was spending longer online, that was not evidence of addiction, she said. “It is different. We are doing it because modern life requires us to link up over the Net in regard to jobs, professional and social connections—but not in an obsessive way. When someone comes to you and says they did not sleep last night because they spent 14 hours playing games, and it was the same the previous night, and they tried to stop but they couldn’t—you know they have a problem. It does tend to be the gaming that catches people out.” Researchers in China scanned the brains of 17 adolescents diagnosed with “Internet addiction disorder” who had been referred to the Shanghai Mental Health Centre, and compared the results with scans from 16 of their peers. The results showed impairment of white matter fibres in the brain connecting regions involved in emotional processing, attention, decision making and cognitive control.
— The Independent |
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Russia to delay space mission due to technical problems MOSCOW:
Russia plans to delay the next mission carrying U.S. and Russian astronauts to the International Space Station by several weeks due to problems with the spaceship's
descent vehicle, Interfax news agency quoted an industry source as saying. The expected delay follows a series of technical mishaps that marred Russia's celebration of 50 years last year since Yuri Gagarin's pioneering first human space flight.
Kepler telescope team finds 11 new solar systems CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida: NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler space telescope has found 11 new planetary systems, including one with five planets all orbiting closer to their parent star than Mercury circles the Sun, scientists said. The discoveries boost the list of confirmed extra-solar planets to 729, including 60 credited to the Kepler team. The telescope, launched in space in March 2009, can detect slight but regular dips in the amount of light coming from stars. Scientists can then determine if the changes are caused by orbiting planets passing by, relative to Kepler's view.
— Reuters |
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THIS UNIVERSE While observing sunrise from the rooftop of my house, I noticed that the sun rose behind a certain blocks of buildings in June and other building blocks in December. Please explain. In fact, you want to know why the sun seems to travel across the sky with the change of season. What you have noticed is centrally connected with the phenomenon of seasons. This occurs because the axis of rotation of the earth is tilted at an angle of 23.5 degrees with respect to the ecliptic, the plane in which the earth travels around the sun. This tilt angle remains the same as the earth goes around. During the summer season in the northern hemisphere, for example in India, the northern side of the axis is tilted towards the sun. On the other hand, six months later, the same side of the axis is tilted away from the sun and we are in the middle of winter. The change in the direction of the sunrise is connected with the change in the tilt of the earth axis as the earth rotates around the sun. You must be familiar with the festivals that signal the dates of the year the sun starts "traveling" North or the South! It is obvious that this is connected with your
discovery. Readers wanting to ask Prof Yash Pal a question can e-mail him at
palyash.pal@gmail.com |
