Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 40

The intra-oral device is fitted by
a dental professional to the
upper and lower back teeth.
(Credit: University of Otago)
Intra-Oral Device Developed for
Weight Loss
An intra-oral device is fitted by a
dental professional to the upper and
lower back teeth. The DentalSlim
Diet Control uses magnetic devices
with unique custom-manufactured
locking bolts. It allows wearers to
open their mouths only about 2
mm, restricting them to a liquid
diet, but it allows free speech and doesn't restrict breathing.
Researchers say the device will be an effective, safe, and affordable
tool for people battling obesity. It is fitted by a dentist, can
be released by the user in the case of an emergency, and can be
repeatedly fitted and removed. It is a noninvasive, reversible,
economical, and attractive alternative to surgical procedures.
The tool could be particularly helpful for those having to lose
weight before they can undergo surgery, and for diabetes
patients for whom weight loss could initiate remission. Patients
are given a tool to open the device in an emergency, but none of
the study participants needed to use it. While they all described
the device as tolerable, the design has since been improved,
making it smaller to improve functional comfort and aesthetics.
Once patients are fitted with the device, after two or three weeks
they can have the magnets disengaged. They could then have a
period with a less-restricted diet and then go back into treatment.
For more information, visit www.medicaldesignbriefs.com/
roundup/0821/weight-loss.
Tiny Implant Cures Diabetes in
Mice without Triggering Immune
Response
Using a new minuscule device,
The cells pictured (in purple)
are inside a tiny implant
that is porous enough to
allow these cells to se crete
insulin - yet small enough
to prevent immune cells
from accessing and
destroying them. (Credit:
Washington University
School of Medicine)
researchers can implant insulinsecreting
cells into diabetic mice.
Once implanted, the cells secrete
insulin in response to blood sugar,
reversing diabetes without requiring
drugs to suppress the immune system.
The device, which is about the width
of a few strands of hair, is microporous
- with openings too small for other
cells to squeeze into - so the insulinsecreting
cells consequently can't be
destroyed by immune cells, which are larger than the openings.
One of challenges in this scenario is to protect the cells inside of
the implant without starving them. They still need nutrients and
oxygen from the blood to stay alive. With this device, the
researchers have made " something in what you might call a
Goldilocks zone, where the cells could feel just right inside the
device and remain healthy and functional, releasing insulin in
response to blood sugar levels, " according to the researchers.
For this study, they developed what they call a nanofiberintegrated
cell encapsulation (NICE) device. They filled the
implants with insulin-secreting beta cells that had been manufactured
from stem cells and then implanted the devices into
the abdomens of mice with diabetes.
For more information, visit www.medicaldesignbriefs.com/
roundup/0821/implant.
40
Intro
Cov
The fabric-fiber has digital
capabilities to collect, store,
and analyze data using a neural
network. (Credit: Anna
Gitelson-Kahn/Roni Cnaani)
Programmable Fibers Expand
Possibilities for Fabrics
Researchers have created the
first fiber with digital capabilities -
able to sense, store, analyze, and
infer activity after being sewn into a
shirt. Digital fibers expand the possibilities
for fabrics to uncover the
context of hidden patterns in the
human body that could be used for physical performance monitoring,
medical inference, and early disease detection.
The new fiber was created by placing hundreds of square silicon
microscale digital chips into a preform that was then used
to create a polymer fiber. By precisely controlling the polymer
flow, the researchers were able to create a fiber with continuous
electrical connection between the chips over a length of
tens of meters. The fiber itself is thin and flexible and can be
passed through a needle, sewn into fabrics, and washed at least
10 times without breaking down.
The researchers were able to write, store, and read information
on the fiber, including a 767-kilobit full-color short movie
file and a 0.48-megabyte music file. The files can be stored for
two months without power. The fiber also takes a few steps forward
into artificial intelligence by including, within the fiber
memory, a neural network of 1,650 connections. After sewing
it around the armpit of a shirt, the researchers used the fiber
to collect 270 minutes of surface body temperature data from
a person wearing the shirt, and analyze how these data corresponded
to different physical activities.
For more information, visit www.medicaldesignbriefs.com/
roundup/0821/fibers.
An artificial skin attached
to a person's knee develops
a purple " bruise " when
hit forcefully against a
metal cabinet. (Credit:
Adapted from ACS Applied
Materials & Interfaces
2021, DOI: 10.1021/
acsami.1c04911)
Bruisable Artificial Skin Could
Help Prosthetics Sense Injuries
Because prosthetic limbs don't
have warning signs like bruising, they
are susceptible to further injury. Now,
researchers have developed an artificial
skin that senses force through
ionic signals and changes color from
yellow to a bruise-like purple, providing
a visual cue that damage has
occurred. The researchers made an
ionic organohydrogel that contained
a molecule, called spiropyran, that
changes color from pale yellow to bluish-purple under mechanical
stress. In testing, the gel showed changes in color and electrical
conductivity when stretched or compressed, and the purple
color remained for 2-5 hours before fading back to yellow.
Then, the team taped the I-skin to different body parts of
volunteers, such as the finger, hand, and knee. Bending or
stretching caused a change in the electrical signal but not
bruising, just like human skin. However, forceful and repeated
pressing, hitting, and pinching produced a color change. The
I-skin, which responds like human skin in terms of electrical
and optical signaling, opens up new opportunities for detecting
damage in prosthetic devices.
For more information, visit www.medicaldesignbriefs.com/
roundup/0821/skin.
www.medicaldesignbriefs.com
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http://www.medicaldesignbriefs.com/roundup/0821/weight-loss http://www.medicaldesignbriefs.com/roundup/0821/fibers http://www.medicaldesignbriefs.com/roundup/0821/skin http://www.medicaldesignbriefs.com/roundup/0821/implant http://www.medicaldesignbriefs.com

Medical Design Briefs - August 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Medical Design Briefs - August 2021

Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - Intro
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - Cov4
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - Cov1a
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - Cov1b
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - Cov1
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - Cov2
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 1
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 2
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 3
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 4
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 5
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 6
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 7
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 8
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 9
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 10
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 11
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 12
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 13
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 14
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 15
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 16
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 17
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 18
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 19
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 20
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 21
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 22
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 23
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 24
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 25
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 26
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 27
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 28
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 29
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 30
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 31
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 32
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 33
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 34
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 35
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 36
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 37
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 38
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 39
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 40
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 41
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 42
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 43
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 44
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 45
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 46
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 47
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 48
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 49
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 50
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 51
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 52
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 53
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 54
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 55
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 56
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 57
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 58
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 59
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 60
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 61
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 62
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 63
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 64
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 65
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - 66
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - Cov3
Medical Design Briefs - August 2021 - Cov4
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