Hulp van robot bij behandeling prostaatkanker
bron: NU.nl 23 mei 2011
UTRECHT - Het wordt mogelijk om patiënten met prostaatkanker direct te behandelen in een MRI-scanner.
Dat zegt Michiel van den Bosch van het Universitair Medisch Centrum (UMC) Utrecht, die dinsdag op dit onderwerp promoveert.
Onderzoekers van het UMC hebben met een robot een naald in de prostaat van een patiënt gebracht tijdens een scan.
Volgens Van den Bosch moet het over ongeveer een jaar mogelijk zijn om met de naald zeer lokaal tumoren te bestralen. Ook het Medisch Centrum St Radboud in Nijmegen is bezig met robottechniek in een MRI-scanner.
Introducing The Self-Cleaning, Smog-Eating Building
Bron: Fast Company
Door Ariel Schwartz, 9 mei 2011
Who needs trees when you have a building that eats smog?
Struggling to breathe because of the layer of smog hovering in the atmosphere above you? Alcoa has come up with a potential solution for that most unpleasant of man-made environmental issues: the smog-eating building.
Alcoa's Reynobond with Ecoclean cleans both itself and the air around it, by decomposing smog, dirt, diesel fumes, and all the other nasty pollutants that hover around building surfaces. Alcoa claims that 10,000 square feet of the panels have the equivalent air-cleansing power of 80 trees. No need for trees when you have buildings that eat smog!
The panel features a titanium dioxide coating (that's the EcoClean part) on top of a pre-painted aluminum surface (that's the Reynobond). Sunlight acts as a catalyst to break down the pollutants on the aluminum panel into harmless particles that can be washed away by rain. Since the Reynobond surface is super hydrophilic, water particles don't bead on top of it--they collapse and run down the side of the building. Just a small amount of rain or humidity can clean the surface.
Alcoa explains how the technology can help smog-laden cities:
As the primary component of smog, NOx not only makes buildings dirty, but it also threatens the quality of the air we breathe. But when NOx molecules float near the surface of Reynobond with EcoClean, they are attacked by free radicals generated from the titanium dioxide reacting with water and oxygen in the air. The free radicals oxidize the NOx molecules, converting them to a harmless nitrate. In this way, Reynobond with EcoClean constantly works to remove pollutants by using sunlight and the water vapor and oxygen in the air to clean the air itself.
There are monetary benefits, too. The Reynobond with Ecoclean panels cost 4% to 5% more than their non-smog-eating counterparts, but they can cut a building's maintenance costs by up to half since the panels are self-cleaning.
The panels are currently in pilot testing in Europe and North America. Los Angeles building owners, prepare to buy a lot of smog-eating panels. Please.
Door Ariel Schwartz, 9 mei 2011
Who needs trees when you have a building that eats smog?
Struggling to breathe because of the layer of smog hovering in the atmosphere above you? Alcoa has come up with a potential solution for that most unpleasant of man-made environmental issues: the smog-eating building.
Alcoa's Reynobond with Ecoclean cleans both itself and the air around it, by decomposing smog, dirt, diesel fumes, and all the other nasty pollutants that hover around building surfaces. Alcoa claims that 10,000 square feet of the panels have the equivalent air-cleansing power of 80 trees. No need for trees when you have buildings that eat smog!
The panel features a titanium dioxide coating (that's the EcoClean part) on top of a pre-painted aluminum surface (that's the Reynobond). Sunlight acts as a catalyst to break down the pollutants on the aluminum panel into harmless particles that can be washed away by rain. Since the Reynobond surface is super hydrophilic, water particles don't bead on top of it--they collapse and run down the side of the building. Just a small amount of rain or humidity can clean the surface.
Alcoa explains how the technology can help smog-laden cities:
As the primary component of smog, NOx not only makes buildings dirty, but it also threatens the quality of the air we breathe. But when NOx molecules float near the surface of Reynobond with EcoClean, they are attacked by free radicals generated from the titanium dioxide reacting with water and oxygen in the air. The free radicals oxidize the NOx molecules, converting them to a harmless nitrate. In this way, Reynobond with EcoClean constantly works to remove pollutants by using sunlight and the water vapor and oxygen in the air to clean the air itself.
There are monetary benefits, too. The Reynobond with Ecoclean panels cost 4% to 5% more than their non-smog-eating counterparts, but they can cut a building's maintenance costs by up to half since the panels are self-cleaning.
The panels are currently in pilot testing in Europe and North America. Los Angeles building owners, prepare to buy a lot of smog-eating panels. Please.
Kids With Cystic Fibrosis Breathe Easier Thanks To Video Games
Bron: Fast Company
Door Neal Ungerleider, 4 mei 2011
A series of new video games for kids with cystic fibrosis not only helps them stick to treatment regimens, but also significantly improves breathing performance. Gamification to the rescue!
One of the hardest parts of treating cystic fibrosis in children is convincing them to perform tedious breathing exercises required to keep airways clear. However, a new study that applies gamification techniques to cystic-fibrosis treatment indicates that specially made video games not only get children to perform breathing exercises--they also improves breathing performance when not playing games.
The study, led by Dr. Peter Bingham of the University of Vermont and Fletcher Allen Health Care, was released at the annual Pediatric Academic Societies conference in Denver on April 30. According to the abstract, breathing techniques practiced in the video games appear to have been used in the days and weeks after the game was played--leading to improved pulmonary function. Both games used a digital spirometer for a game controller.
Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease that leads to the build-up of thick mucus in the lungs and progressive disability. Conventional physiotherapy techniques for cystic fibrosis involve breathing exercises that are often uncomfortable, time-consuming and boring for children.
Two games were created as part of the study. The first game was a breath-controlled racer, which had players breathing in order to maintain a race car's speed, with special exercises being used to acquire gas tanks and wash the car. In the second game, players' breath movements were used to hunt for treasure in a world where animals are covered in slime; when players encountered slime-covered animals, they were required to blow the slime off them to earn additional treasure.
Applying gamification techniques and video games to medical treatment is nothing new. Specialized computer and video games have been on the market for years and entire conferences have taken place devoted to them. However, the use of video games for treatment of cystic fibrosis has been relatively limited and restricted to a hospital environment.
The two games in the study were designed for take-home use. Both games used digital spirometers--devices that measure the speed and quantity of breath--as controllers and were designed to play on home computers. The games were developed in collaboration with the Game Design program at Vermont's Champlain College; students interviewed children with cystic fibrosis about their game-playing habits and preferences and the games were custom-created based on the feedback.
According to Bingham, the idea for the study came about in collaboration with the University of Vermont's Jason Bates. Bingham told Fast Company that “kids were avid to play the games. They only played them for a few minutes, but it was long enough to make an improvement in their breathing.”
In the study, children who bought the computer games home with them were encouraged to play at will over a two-to-four week period and then spent an identical period doing breathing exercises with a digital spirometer, sans-games. Children who played the games had a significant improvement in adherence to their breathing exercise regime. Most interestingly of all, they also showed an improved ability to take deep breaths after playing video games that did not appear in the control period at all. According to Bingham, “We aren't sure why that improvement happened,but it could be that the player's ability to carry out the vital capacity test improved simply because they were practicing this skill more often, and not because of an actual improvement in their lungs.”
One out of every 3,200 children worldwide is born with cystic fibrosis.
http://www.fastcompany.com/1751537/cystic-fibrosis-gamification
Door Neal Ungerleider, 4 mei 2011
A series of new video games for kids with cystic fibrosis not only helps them stick to treatment regimens, but also significantly improves breathing performance. Gamification to the rescue!
One of the hardest parts of treating cystic fibrosis in children is convincing them to perform tedious breathing exercises required to keep airways clear. However, a new study that applies gamification techniques to cystic-fibrosis treatment indicates that specially made video games not only get children to perform breathing exercises--they also improves breathing performance when not playing games.
The study, led by Dr. Peter Bingham of the University of Vermont and Fletcher Allen Health Care, was released at the annual Pediatric Academic Societies conference in Denver on April 30. According to the abstract, breathing techniques practiced in the video games appear to have been used in the days and weeks after the game was played--leading to improved pulmonary function. Both games used a digital spirometer for a game controller.
Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease that leads to the build-up of thick mucus in the lungs and progressive disability. Conventional physiotherapy techniques for cystic fibrosis involve breathing exercises that are often uncomfortable, time-consuming and boring for children.
Two games were created as part of the study. The first game was a breath-controlled racer, which had players breathing in order to maintain a race car's speed, with special exercises being used to acquire gas tanks and wash the car. In the second game, players' breath movements were used to hunt for treasure in a world where animals are covered in slime; when players encountered slime-covered animals, they were required to blow the slime off them to earn additional treasure.
Applying gamification techniques and video games to medical treatment is nothing new. Specialized computer and video games have been on the market for years and entire conferences have taken place devoted to them. However, the use of video games for treatment of cystic fibrosis has been relatively limited and restricted to a hospital environment.
The two games in the study were designed for take-home use. Both games used digital spirometers--devices that measure the speed and quantity of breath--as controllers and were designed to play on home computers. The games were developed in collaboration with the Game Design program at Vermont's Champlain College; students interviewed children with cystic fibrosis about their game-playing habits and preferences and the games were custom-created based on the feedback.
According to Bingham, the idea for the study came about in collaboration with the University of Vermont's Jason Bates. Bingham told Fast Company that “kids were avid to play the games. They only played them for a few minutes, but it was long enough to make an improvement in their breathing.”
In the study, children who bought the computer games home with them were encouraged to play at will over a two-to-four week period and then spent an identical period doing breathing exercises with a digital spirometer, sans-games. Children who played the games had a significant improvement in adherence to their breathing exercise regime. Most interestingly of all, they also showed an improved ability to take deep breaths after playing video games that did not appear in the control period at all. According to Bingham, “We aren't sure why that improvement happened,but it could be that the player's ability to carry out the vital capacity test improved simply because they were practicing this skill more often, and not because of an actual improvement in their lungs.”
One out of every 3,200 children worldwide is born with cystic fibrosis.
http://www.fastcompany.com/1751537/cystic-fibrosis-gamification
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