Showing posts with label Health News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Health News. Show all posts

Simulating Childbirth to Train Medical Students with HoloLens Technology



Medical training technology company CAE Healthcare has given birth to the latest example of how augmented reality can help to build practical operating room skills for doctors and nurses. The company's newest product is called LucinaAR, which harnesses the power of the Microsoft HoloLens.

CAE's Lucina physiological simulator system consists of life-sized models, or manikins, of a mother and fetus, with movable joints and expanding uterus. With the new LucinaAR app, students can now view various stages of pregnancy projected onto the mother manikin through the HoloLens.

Image by CAE Healthcare/YouTube
For additional interactivity, students can use the HoloLens to elevate the 3D models above the physical model and walk around it. While it's designed to work with the physical simulator, LucinaAR also allows students to practice with just the HoloLens.

"The students nowadays, they come to the classroom with different expectations," said Dr. Robert Amyot, president of CAE Healthcare, in a video demonstrating the software. "They're expecting an interactive environment, something that's engaging."

In its current version, LucinaAR gives students a visual simulation of birth in a shoulder dystocia scenario, an uncommon pregnancy that presents a higher level of difficulty for delivery. With the HoloLens and the manikins, students can practice techniques for completing the process and view what's happening to the patient internally. CAE is also planning to expand the options on the LucinaAR app to include normal delivery and other emergency scenarios.


Augmented reality is quickly becoming a favourite within the healthcare industry for medical training, with the Microsoft HoloLens increasingly being the go-to device. Part of the reason for its popularity is the fact that the technology gives medical professionals real-time, three-dimensional views of the anatomy in ways that help them to better understand exactly what's happening in the context of a real patient as opposed to two-dimensional diagrams or mere training videos.

"This is the future of healthcare education," said Amyot. "Really, beyond the [spectacular] experience, there's an educational purpose that we're fulfilling that no other means or media has fulfilled up to now."

Reference

Next-Gen AR Glasses Open Possibilities of Medical Future



Virtual reality (VR) glasses tend to get the lion’s share of media coverage, while Augmented Reality (AR) glasses keep racking up wins in enterprise markets. Both have important health and medical applications. VR glasses have been found to help patients manage pain with little or no medication. AR glasses deliver information for healthcare professionals and can give vision-impaired users access to support services. AR a technology that superimposes a computer-generated image on a user's view of the real world, thus providing a composite view. Still, after publicity surrounding the initial false start by Google and Samsung AR Glass, many people are not aware of the AR glasses market.




One of the leaders in the segment is Epson. The company recently announced a new model of their popular Moverio Smart Glasses. The BT-53 model lets users plug them into any device that uses a standard HDMI output, or that can use a USB-C connector as a display output. The glasses rely on a pair of transparent OLED panels: tiny displays fabricated on a silicon substrates. They have 1280 by 720 pixel resolution (which qualifies as “HD”) and create a virtual image that is the equivalent of an 80-inch screen viewed from 16 feet away. The two images mean that they can produce stereoscopic 3D images. They are designed to fit over most prescription glasses, and are ANSI Z87.1 compliant for use as safety glasses. They also have a 5 MP camera, compass, gyroscope, accelerometer, and ambient light sensor that can gather useful data about the wearer’s location and activities.

By eliminating the separate controller box, the glasses now act as standard displays which eliminates connectivity issues. This greatly simplifies configuration issues and will make it easier to develop new applications. Here are a few applications of AR and VR in healthcare that have big potential.

Vein Visualization

Nearly half of IV injections miss the vein on the first try. AccuVein is a handheld device that aims to improve accuracy by scanning a patient’s vein network and illuminating it. Studies of the device have shown an improvement in the first stick success rate by 3.5 times.

3D Medical Imaging

Healthcare providers are constantly evaluating 2D images to diagnose illnesses, assess the effectiveness of treatments, and better understand a patient’s overall condition. EchoPixel generates 3D, interactive visualizations of that data and allows physicians to interact with them in a more realistic, contextualized way.

Immersive Training

Augmented and virtual reality have huge potential in the field of education, particularly at the intersection of education and healthcare. Medical Realities uses VR to help med students practice surgery. The company's goal is to train a generation of surgeons to have vastly superior skills than those of the generation that came before. The key is to give them more practical experience training on a wider variety of procedures by allowing them to practice virtually.
On the patient side of things, Medical Realities can also be used to help patients learn more about their upcoming procedures, with the intention of reducing stress and anxiety.

AR Needle Guidance

InnerOptic's Magic Loupe uses electromagnetic and ultrasound technology combined with AR glasses to help practitioners guide needles towards their intended location within the body. The tool aims to improve accuracy by restoring the healthcare professional's hand-eye coordination during procedures that are currently done using primarily ultrasound.

VR Gaming as Treatment

Although gaming is not the only industry that can benefit from AR, games can certainly play a role in medical applications. Vivid Vision is a virtual reality gaming system that trains and improves eye conditions like amblyopia and strabismus — all while the patient plays.

References

Minister For Suicide Prevention Appointed In The United Kingdom:Here's Why

A  Minister for Suicide prevention was appointed in the United Kingdom earlier  this week and the first question that comes to mind is "WHY"?  Was it necessary to separate such a portfolio from the general Health portfolio ran by the current Health Secretary?

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), 5821 suicide cases were registered in the UK in 2017; an average rate of 10 deaths for every 100,000 persons in the Kingdom. Though suicide rates are said to be falling in the United Kingdom when expert reviewed statistics are considered from as far back as the 1980's, no fewer than 4500 cases on the average are still reported to be recorded annually and the British Prime Minister supported with her team of Advisers have made this bold statement to say, enough is enough. Before her appointment as Minister for Suicide Prevention, Jacqueline Doyle-Price was a Member of Parliament and was appointed as Junior Minister in the Department of Health on the 14th of June, 2017. Not sure how she plans to reduce the numbers further but this focus will certainly create some undivided attention for Mental Health in the Country and that's a good thing for sure.
Jacqueline Doyle-Price - New UK Minister For Suicide Prevention. 👀: beta.parliarment.uk

Should this all important move be replicated by other countries? On the global front this infographics by the World Health Organisation gives an insight into the magnitude of the problem.


Instead of a "Commissioner of Enjoyment" and what not, would a "Minister for Suicide Prevention" and a National Suicide Prevention Strategy  be recommended for every Country instead? Kindly respond in the comments section below. For more information of the global action towards "Suicide Prevention", refer to the References below.

REFERENCES:
* BBC NEWS|World Mental Health Day:PM Appoints Suicide Prevention Minister

* ONS|Suicide In The UK:2017 Registrations

* WHO|Suicide Prevention

Google's Deep Mind AI Diagnoses Eye Disease


The promise of Big Data is that it will be able to learn quickly from huge data sets and find correlations that might escape the notice of a human analyst. If applied to medical applications, this could lead to faster and more accurate diagnoses, which in turn could result in earlier treatments that could have better outcomes at a lower cost. One of the largest sources of big data sets in medicine is from digital imaging. The benefit of these imaging systems is that they give doctors a lot more information to consider; the downside is that there is a lot more information to consider and it is easier to miss something.


DeepMind is the artificial intelligence spinoff of Alphabet (the parent company of Google), and they have an entire division devoted to health applications. In a recent paper published in Nature Medicine, researchers describe their progress in processing eye images rapidly to identify potential disease for referral to physicians. In partnership with Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, UK, they have been developing a system that reads images from optical coherence tomography (OCT) scans. This technology creates a 3D image of the back of the eye, but this is complex information that can be difficult to interpret accurately. A backlog of images can mean that diagnosis and treatment can be delayed for patients, which can result in vision loss that could have been prevented.

The system uses two separate neural networks to analyze the scanned information. The first looks for indications of disease and damage, breaking its findings down into different categories. The second neural network then develops potential diagnoses based on this information. Rather than just present a “black box” result, however, this second system rates the confidence level of its judgment, giving clinicians valuable insight into how the decisions were made. And unlike human analysis, the entire process takes just seconds.


If a diagnosis indicates disease or damage, the results are flagged and referred to human physicians. This facilitates triage procedures so that patients with the most urgent needs are seen sooner. The system can identify 50 different eye diseases and conditions and tests show that it is just as accurate as the best eye doctors in the world. The initial results are still preliminary, but the company hopes to test it through rigorous clinical trials. The ultimate goal is to make the system available at no cost to 30 hospitals in the UK’s National Health System. The refined dataset used to train the AI system is also being made available to other researchers for non-commercial studies.

This Brilliant Facial Recognition App Analyzes Genetic Disorders


The escalating potential for artificial intelligence (AI) to the world of diagnostic tools is a heady stuff. Precisely because the oceans of data from galaxies of sensors can be so deep and the algorithms so convoluted, replicated studies and other means of clinical validation are critically important to prove that the conclusions are accurate. If, for example, we rely on AI to protect our water supplies or to predict clinical outcomes and go further to make critical funding or development decisions based on those systems, our confidence has to be airtight (or at least have faith that it will do at least as well as a human).

You know how some people will observe that an individual has “that look”? Patients who have the same condition often seem to share some common visual characteristics. Face2Gene is an AI system that takes this observation a bit further. It employs deep learning and computer vision to construct syndrome-specific, computational-based classifiers called “syndrome gestalts” based on phenotypic traits. According to Face2Gene, it uses real-world phenotype data with millions of data points for “unique health insights and genomics discoveries.” The company’s disclaimer states that “Face2Gene is a search and reference tool provided for informational purposes and not intended to replace the clinician’s judgment or experience, nor should it be used to diagnose or treat medical conditions.” The free service is only available to healthcare professionals. Doctors who upload patient photos and data to the Face2Gene community are assured that the photos are de-identified in the HIPAA-compliant security system. Only the uploading physician, for example, would be able to view the actual photo, but de-identified binary information from the photos goes into the pool.

To the extent that the phenotypic gestalts are valid, Face2Gene’s technology sounds like an exciting opportunity to advance genetics knowledge. Given its role as a “reference tool”, healthcare professionals should be cautious about relying on the results too heavily


Artificial Intelligience Detects Breast Cancer Survivors’ Lymphedema


A research team, Rory Myers College of Nursing, published a study showing the relative accuracy of five machine learning algorithms in detecting lymphedema in breast cancer surgery survivors. I know you may be wondering what all these jargon means; "Machine Learning", "Algorithms", "Artificial Intelligence or AI", "Lymphedema", and whatnot! Don't Worry, we'll explain further! ;)

Basically, an Algorithm is a sequence of steps, plans or formulas that solve a mathematical or computational problem. When a computer is programmed to build upon its pre-programmed basic steps or formulas (or algorithm) in order to by itself create more complex formulas that solve complex problems, its called machine learning as the computer learns from past solutions on how-to or how-not-to solve problems. A machine is said to be Artificially Intelligent (AI) when it can design algorithms and techniques that allow it to learn autonomously.

On the other hand, Lymphedema is a condition in which impaired lymph fluid flow causes swelling, usually in the arms or legs. Breast cancer treatment is the most common cause of lymphedema. Lymphedema occurs in 6% to 70% of breast cancer surgery survivors, the variation depending on the type of cancer and type of treatment. Lymphedema may occur anytime from shortly after treatment to as long as 20 years later. Lymphedema is one of the most feared side effects of breast cancer treatment, with more than 20 symptoms that range from a mild feeling of heaviness to swelling that is both disfiguring and disabling.

The researchers used five different machine learning algorithms to analyze data from 355 patients from 45 different regions; the Data analysed included, demographic and clinical information, lymphedema status, and symptoms. Of the five machine learning systems, the artificial neural network (ANN) produced the best results; it accurately detected lymphedema in 93.75% of the cases.

The implications of the Rory Myers College of Nursing test for detecting lymphedema in breast cancer survivors are clear, though with some reservations. More studies are needed to test the validity and reliability of the artificial neural networks. Also, the ANN system that works well at detecting lymphedema may not be as accurate with other breast cancer side effects or other types of cancer. The prospect of testing a multitude of conditions and treatments against a panel of machine learning algorithms may reveal a single strongest approach for many or most diseases.

Reference:

This Amazing Tech will Save you from Sun Burns and Skin Cancer


Our relationship with the sun is tricky. Sunlight is our best source of vitamin D and it also can feel wonderful. On the other side of the coin, according to WebMD, most of the changes in our skin that we accept as the inevitable reward for growing old are actually damage caused directly by the sun. Aesthetics isn't the only concern, however, because beyond how we look, of greater concern is what the sun can do to our health in the form of precancerous and cancerous lesions and tumours. So we’re drawn to the sun, and a little bit of it is good for us, but too much can make us sick, possibly kill us, and definitely ruin our appearance.

We can put on sunscreen, use umbrellas, wear hats and sun blocking clothing, but none of those protections actually tell us when we’ve had enough. A new product by a skin care company and dermatology laboratory LaRoche-Posay have come to change the game with its super Patch!


My UV Patch has two components parts: The physical part is a small patch one square inch in area and only 50 micrometres thick, about half the thickness of an average strand of hair according to the company’s website. The patch, which is in the shape of a small heart, has photosensitive dyes that change colour with different levels of sun exposure. According to the company, the baseline colour of the wearers’ skin is factored into the exposure reaction in the dyes, but chances are that it doesn’t matter because the patch is worn on top of the skin, not beneath it.

An accompanying app will help determine your skin type and track whether or not you wear sunscreen and the current UV index for your location. If My UV Patch changes colour accurately in accordance with sun exposure, that’s really all you’ll need to know when you’ve had enough sun.

The Patch is Free with purchase of La Roche-Posay Anthelios sunscreen. The Accompanying is quite easy to use too.


My UV Patch is useful to track sun exposure for oneself and for family members and friends. (Note that there other UV tracking devices that we’ve covered in the past, including the one made by MC10 for Loreal.)

References:



This 3D printed Hemispherical Bionic Eye prototype may be the Ultimate Cure for Blindness

Researchers hope the invention could one day restore sight for the blind. Photo Credit: University of Minnesota
Medical applications for 3D printing often sound like science fiction, due to the technology’s novelty and the frequent appearance of bionic body parts in pop-fiction movies. However, The 3D printing technology is real and has quickly found astounding applications in many industries, from 3D printed guns to Bionic Arms and Muscles. Right now, researchers have used 3D printing technologies to create light receptors on a hemispherical surface which could pave the way for future bionic eyes.

Academics from the US University of Minnesota stated that the invention is a "significant step" towards the creation of synthetic eyes which could either restore sight for the blind or improve levels of sight for the visually impaired.

3D printing on straight, flat surfaces is common, but attempting to print delicate components reliably on curved surfaces represents a challenge. The team began their journey with a hemispherical glass dome, which approximates the spherical surface of organic eyes.



The semiconducting polymers were used to print photodiodes, which convert light into electricity, on top of the silver ink.

The process took roughly an hour to complete, and once dry, the sphere was tested for electricity conversion. According to Michael McAlpine, a co-author of the study and University of Minnesota Benjamin Mayhugh Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, the eye's energy generation was 25 percent efficient, which is considered a good result.

If a bionic eye is going to function, continuous power is required and solar energy is a renewable source.

The photodetectors can then provide the power for image-sensing arrays with "high sensitivity and a wide field of view," according to the team.

The next step is the creation of a further prototype which is able to support more light receptors which have greater efficiency. In addition, the team has begun exploring soft materials in the hunt for something suitable, spherical, and able to be implanted into an organic eye.

Ref: Academic Journal - Advanced Materials

A Man Died From 'Flesh-Eating' Bacteria After Eating an Oyster. Here's What You Need to Know


A 71-year-old man died after eating what many consider a delicacy: raw oysters. The man, whose name has not been released, ate an oyster at a restaurant in Sarasota, Florida that turned out to be contaminated with Vibrio vulnificus bacteria. Said to have been dealing with underlying medical conditions, the man died two days later, USA Today reported.


Vibrio bacteria usually cause gastrointestinal symptoms like diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. But people with medicals issues such as liver disease, diabetes, stomach disorders, or other conditions that weaken the body’s typical immune response are at a higher risk of more serious complications or even death, according to the FDA. Anyone with one of these conditions showing symptoms of a Vibrio infection should get to a doctor ASAP.

Earlier this year, a Texas woman died after eating raw oysters as well. While on vacation in Louisiana, Jeannette LeBlanc, along with friends and family, picked up some shellfish, shucked and ate them, and soon after developed extreme side effects. Over the next couple of days, she had trouble breathing and developed severe sores and rashes. Once at the hospital, she was diagnosed with vibriosis, the name for an infection caused by Vibrio bacteria. LeBlanc fought the illness for three weeks, according to her wife Vicki Bergquist, and then died from the infection.

Due to the nature of the sores caused by Vibrio infections, the bacteria are often dubbed flesh-eating. Vibriosis is separate, however, from necrotizing fasciitis, commonly called a flesh-eating infection, which is caused by bacteria like group A strep, E. coli, and staph, according to the CDC. Still, around 80,000 people get sick with vibriosis every year and around 100 of them die, the CDC says. It’s estimated that around 52,000 of those cases are caused by eating contaminated food, mostly raw or undercooked shellfish.

So why all the finger-pointing at oysters? They feed by filtering water. If the water is contaminated with bad-guy bacteria, oysters can become contaminated too. There are some 12 different species of Vibrio living in salt or brackish water that oysters might come into contact with.

Swimmers are also at risk, but only if contaminated water gets into an open cut or wound. (Last year, a man died from vibriosis after swimming with a new tattoo.) "The words flesh-eating might make you think that if you touch it, it will degrade your skin on contact, and that’s not true," Gabby Barbarite, PhD, a Vibrio researcher at Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, told Health in a previous interview. "You have to have a pre-existing cut—or you have to eat raw, contaminated seafood or chug a whole lot of contaminated water—for it to get into your bloodstream; it can’t break down healthy, intact skin."

While that's certainly a relief, it doesn't bode well for the raw bar: There’s little you can do to protect yourself other than eat your oysters cooked. Just because you're dining at a fancy establishment, eating your raw oysters with hot sauce, or chasing them with chardonnay, you're not safe from bacteria, according to the FDA. Heat is the only thing that will fully destroy those buggers, so order oysters fully cooked. (Cook them at home following a few easy FDA-approved safety tips, and make sure to always wash your hands with soap and water after touching raw shellfish.)

3 Entertainment deer in the Irish National Forest - Ticks on wild deer could carry public health risk


Wild deer may be a tourist attraction in Kerry but they also carry a potential public health risk.

The Killarney area’s large Red and Sika deer populations of up to 1,500 could harbour a disease-carrying tick.

Lyme disease, warned Kerry-based Labour senator Marie Moloney, is very contractible. She raised the issue in the Seanad and said the high rate of the disease often went undetected, especially in Killarney.

Between 50 and 100 cases of the disease are reported in Ireland annually, according to the HSE, while studies show Kerry, Wicklow and Galway as disease hotspots.

Calling for greater awareness of the disease, Ms Moloney said many people did not realise Lyme disease could be contracted here.

It is transmitted by a bite from a tick. The disease is named after the town in Connecticut in the US, where the first cases of the condition were identified.

“Ticks need large mammals for hosts, as they feed off their blood, and deer are one such host. Some ticks carry Lyme disease. Ticks are very tiny and they have an anaesthetic in their jaws so you may not even know you have been bitten,” said Ms Moloney.

Some infected people show no symptoms, but the most common evidence of infection is a rash that is seen in about three quarters of victims.
The red, raised, skin rash can last up to a month and can be several inches in diameter.

People can also complain of flu-like symptoms such as headache, sore throat, neck stiffness, fever, muscle aches, and general fatigue.

“What we should be doing is highlighting awareness and encourage quick diagnosis and treatment of this debilitating disease,” the senator urged.

“Occasionally, the patient may carry Lyme disease but have no outwardly obvious symptoms. Ill-health may crop up years later following an illness, or period of stress. This leads to late Lyme disease, where symptoms are similar to multiple sclerosis, chronic fatigue syndrome, or Parkinson’s disease.”

A Woman Died After Contracting an Infection from Her Dog's Saliva


Most dog owners welcome a happy lick from their pups now and then. But two cases have made headlines recently after a lick or a bite from dogs had life-threatening consequences.

On June 23, a South Milwaukee woman Sharon Larson, age 58, died a few days after her dog nipped her. Wisconsin man Greg Manteufel started feeling ill on June 27, according to a GoFundMe page raising money for his recovery. Initially, he and his wife Dawn thought he must have the flu, she told ABC7. But hours later, he was starting to go into septic shock and was rushed to the hospital.

Both Larson and Manteufel were found to have contracted the bacteria capnocytophaga. Manteufel ultimately had both legs amputated up through his kneecaps and had surgery to remove parts of both of his hands. He will also need surgery on his nose, according to the GoFundMe page.



The dog lover had been around eight pups when he became ill, People reported. Capnocytophaga is normal in dogs and cats and doesn't cause symptoms in animals. But when transmitted to humans through animal saliva–usually via a bite–the bacteria can cause fever, diarrhea, vomiting, headaches, and progress to a blood infection in humans.

“It’s not very common, but when it occurs, it [can be] really bad,” Bruno Chomel, DVM, PhD, professor of zoonosis at the University of California Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, told Health in a prior interview.

While these two experiences are certainly upsetting, don’t panic over every lick or nip from your favorite furry friend. Most people who come in contact with capnocytophaga bacteria don’t get sick, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). You’re more likely to become infected if you have an underlying medical condition like cancer, diabetes, or HIV that impairs your immune system. It’s a good idea to talk to your doctor if you have one of these conditions about how to make sure you’re handling your pet safely, and of course, if you’ve been bitten by your pet, seek medical attention. (Capnocytophaga infections can be treated with antibiotics.)

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Because capnocytophaga infections in humans are so rare, the U.S. doesn’t keep track of the number of cases, but one survey from the Netherlands estimated there is less than one case of capnocytophaga per 1 million people. However, about 30% of people who do get infected with capnocytophaga die.

Manteufel told doctors to do whatever surgeries they needed in order to keep him alive, his wife told ABC 11. “We can’t wrap our heads around it,” she said.

Top 10 new medical technologies of 2016


Technology and medicine have gone hand and hand for many years. Consistent advances in pharmaceuticals and the medical field have saved millions of lives and improved many others. As the years pass by and technology continues to improve, there is no telling what advances will come next. Here are the top 10 new medical technologies in 2016.

10. Naturally moving prosthetic limbs

Over the past few years, prosthetic limbs have become more and more advanced. However, in the last year, a major advancement has been made. According to LiveScience.com, prosthetics are now able to be controlled by the human brain. This new discovery was made by “connecting an artificial limb to a different part of the brain.” Technology will now allow those with artificial limbs more natural mobility and enable them to naturally control their limbs.

9. Cell-free fetal DNA testing

Pregnant women sometimes need to have cells of their fetus tested for chromosomal defects such as Edwards Syndrome and Down Syndrome. These tests require an acquisition of cells that are quite invasive for the unborn baby. The test brought risk of miscarriage and increased stress for pregnant mothers. With medical advances, it is now possible for doctors to test cell-free fetal DNA by using the mother’s blood. This advance has become more widely used and accepted internationally in the past year.

8. A life-changing antibiotic

This year, scientists from the University of Bonn in Germany and Northeastern University in Boston collaborated to discover a new antibiotic. This innovation in pharma is especially impressive because this is the first new antibiotic to be discovered in 30 years. This antibiotic has the potential to fight infections that can be potentially fatal such as pneumonia, tuberculosis and soft tissue infections, accordingly to Reader’s Digest.com. The new drug is called Teixobactin and is “highly unlikely to lead to drug resistance”, which has been a common problem in antibiotic discoveries in the past.

7. Three-dimensional printed body parts

If you haven’t heard, 3-D printers have quickly become one of the hottest technologies on the market. According to Howitworksdaily.com, the future holds “custom-printed drugs and prosthetics, and even replacement body parts”. These printers can be used to create implants and even joints to be used during surgery. The use of printers can create both long lasting and soluble items. According to the site, “some 3D printers are designed to print with living human cells, forming sheets of tissue that could be used as grafts to repair damage.” This is a true example of technology and medicine working together.

6. Robotic surgery

The use of robotic surgery is set to grow incredibly in the upcoming year. According to Mayoclinic.com, robotic surgery is said to aid in precision, control and flexibility when it comes to minimally invasive procedures. “Using robotic surgery, surgeons can perform delicate and complex procedures that may have been difficult or impossible with other methods.”  Although robotics are not widely used now, they are beginning to become more popular and will continue to grow.

5. Wireless brain sensors

Thanks to plastics, medical advances have allowed scientists and doctors to team up and create bioresorbable electronics that can be placed in the brain and dissolve when they are no longer needed, according to Plasticstoday.com. This medical device will aid doctors in measuring the temperature and pressure within the brain. Since the sensors are able to dissolve, they reduce the need for additional surgeries.

4. Food scanners

According to MedicalFuturists.com, food scanners allow people to see what they’re really eating. Food scanner brands such as Scio and Tellspec have been around for a few years. However, this year these products are going to be more widely available. The scanners are perfect for those who are looking to watch their weight, or monitor their intake of salt and fats. If someone has a serious allergy, the scanner can prevent a bad reaction. Scanners break down what is in your food by nutrients, calories and even quality, and show it conveniently on your smart phone.

3. Virtual reality for medical experience

Virtual reality has been around for some time. However, recently, with medical and technological advances, medical students have been able to get close to real life experience using technology. According to MedicalFuturist.com, in 2016, sophisticated tools are becoming more readily available and medical students will be able to gain the experience that they need to see actual patients. The devices will also serve as a great tool for preparing patients for what procedures they are facing.

2. Algorithms to merge wearable data

The demand for wearable devices has grown since their introduction in the past five years. If they don’t have an external device, they use their phone to track everything from their steps, to their heartbeat, to their sleeping patterns. In 2016, more advanced algorithms have immerged to help to identify trends in this data to better serve individuals. According to MedicalFuturist.com, this data will provide “more emphasis on prevention {to encourage people to} have a healthier lifestyle.”

1. Cancer nanotherapy

Nano devices and technology are already in wide use, and as the years pass, the technology in pharmaceuticals and medicine will only continue to improve. One of which is an emerging cancer treatment technology that implements nanomaterials in a more aggressive method. For example, researchers at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University have developed nanobots to target and deliver drugs to defective cells, while leaving healthy ones unharmed.

The 25-35 nm devices are made from single strands of DNA folded into a desired shape – for instance, a clamshell-shaped package that protects a drug while on route to the desired site but opens up to release it upon arrival.

As the years pass, technology in pharmaceuticals and medicine will continue to improve. People are living longer and fewer diseases are deemed incurable. Jobs in the pharmaceutical industry are in higher demand now than ever. Who knows what the next year will bring in medical advancements!