Today we will talk about devices that either really help people suffering from incurable (yet) diseases, or are the first serious steps to solve the problems of such people.
I chose two kinds of problems - Parkinson's disease and blindness. First problem, of course not decided, but now, such people can safely eat themselves. The second problem is partially solved, although there is still a lot of work ahead, but these are the first - the most important steps.
In November 2014, Google X introduced a new development in the field of medicine. The division of the Internet giant, engaged in promising research, began selling a spoon, which allows you to comfortably eat food for people with different forms of tremors. The development was carried out by a subsidiary company Google X under the name Lift Labs.
Tremor is a common symptom of various neurological disorders, the most common of which are essential tremor and Parkinson's disease. Uncontrolled hand trembling prevents millions of people from the Earth from performing everyday tasks: dressing, writing, washing, and, of course, eating. Google decided to help such people.
The interest of one of the founders of the company Sergei Brin to Parkinson's disease is known for a long time. His mother suffers from this disease, and he himself has a genetic predisposition to Parkinsonism. For this reason, Brin in 2012 donated $ 138 million for the creation of new anti-Parkinsonian medicines. In 2014, Calico (the biotechnology division of Google) agreed with the biopharmaceutical firm AbbVie on cooperation in developing methods for treating particular neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson's disease. The amount of planned investments in this partnership is $ 1.5 billion.
Google's work on a high-tech spoon began in September 2014, when the company acquired Lift Labs, a small start-up from San Francisco that received funds from the National Institutes of Health.
The collective of Lift Labs, led by Anupam Pathak (Anupam Pathak) for two years analyzed more than one hundred motor algorithms, which subsequently formed the basis of the Liftware. It consists of two parts moving relative to each other - the handle and the working part.
The instrument's sensors monitor the tremor of the hand holding it in real time. The built-in electric drive compensates for these oscillatory movements, preventing their transfer to the working part. In this case, Liftware distinguishes tremor from other movements and does not interfere with their implementation.
Efficiency of the device was studied in two clinical trials involving 11 and 15 patients with mild, moderate and severe tremor, respectively. All volunteers performed three tasks - eating, holding and moving the object - with the device turned off and on.
It turned out that, when performing any task, the included Liftware reduces the amplitude of the oscillations of the hand transferred to the working part by more than 70%. The developers' report on the testing of the new device in 2013 was awarded a special presentation at the conference of the American Academy of Neurology.
As they say on the site Lift Labs, the device can be not only a spoon - it also comes with replaceable nozzles in the form of a plug and a key holder. In the future, it is planned to expand the assortment of such attachments to perform various tasks.
Liftware is small in size and runs on a built-in battery, so it's easy to carry with you. The manufacturer guarantees that one charge will last for several days. The new device is sold online at a price of $ 295 per unit.
Google and medicine. (Just to know!)
Liftware was not the first medical development of Google X. The greatest success was achieved in the creation of diagnostic and therapeutic contact lenses. The prototype of such a lens is a "bloodless" glucometer - a device for measuring the level of sugar in the blood. Modern devices need a drop of blood for this, and since in some cases the analysis must be performed several times a day, their use is very inconvenient for patients with diabetes.
The Google X contact lens created in real time, without any discomfort, determines the sugar content in the tear fluid and transfers this data wirelessly to the mobile device. The idea was so successful that to develop and commercialize the technology together with Google began the company Alcon, recently included in the pharmaceutical giant Novartis. It is estimated that this could bring more than $ 12 billion by 2017.
"Smart" lenses are planned to be adapted to monitor the condition of patients with heart failure and other chronic diseases. They will find application not only in diagnosis, but also in the treatment of diseases. The experimental lens is designed to help people with presbyopia ("old farsightedness") - the mechanism of its action is similar to the autofocus of cameras.
In October 2014, Google X announced the development of nanoparticles, which are "tuned" to identify certain diseases and are a universal diagnostic platform. The company also launched the Baseline Study project, which aimed to create an "image of a healthy person" by collecting and analyzing the genetic and molecular information of many people.
In addition to its own development, Google actively invests in various biotechnology companies. Among its partners, the cloud data analysis service DNAnexus, the developer of non-injection methods for the introduction of large molecules Rani Therapeutics, helping children with developmental disorders, SynapDx, the developer of medical software One Medical Group and the company Transcriptic, engaged in the automation of molecular cloning, mouse genotyping and biobank management.
Well, since it's about glasses ... Electronic glasses for the blind then!
Almost 90 percent of all information about the world around the person gets through the visual organs. In the modern world, the burden on the eyesight has increased significantly, so the number of people who have certain visual impairments is constantly increasing. If the task of full restoration of vision is still unresolved, then it is quite possible to help patients who are experiencing similar problems in order that they can return to full-fledged life. Currently, these people can help the electronic glasses transforming visual information into images or signals that could be recognized by the user. For example:
E-sight
Perhaps one of the most interesting devices in this direction is the virtual E-sight glasses developed by the Canadian company of the same name. This system includes glasses and a manual control panel. In the glasses themselves there is a camera with the possibility of a 14-fold increase, which records everything that is happening in front of the person, and immediately transfers the data to the control unit. Further this information is transformed to individual features of the visually impaired person by means of special algorithms, and then sent back to the glasses.
Lenses of electronic E-sight glasses will be OLED-screens with high resolution. Since the processes of data transfer and processing are carried out quickly, the person begins to see the image in real time.
E-sight glasses can not help the fullness of blind people, but they can be a useful tool for visually impaired users. Using the remote, a person can work with the resulting visual image, in particular, bringing it up to 14 times. This allows him to look at far-away objects or read the page of the book.
With the help of the control unit, you can change the contrast and brightness of the picture. Virtual E-sight glasses have already been successfully applied in practice. For example, with their help, the Canadian Ketty Beetz, who has serious vision problems, which began to appear as a child, managed to see the face of her newborn son.
However, until the widespread use of such electronic glasses is still far away. First, they can not help all patients. And most importantly - it's a very high cost device (about 10-15 thousand dollars). After all, in fact, they are made to order, taking into account the individual characteristics of vision so that the video signal can be transformed into clearly discernible and visible to man images.
Smart-glasses.
The aforementioned E-sight is an attempt to use the residual vision that has survived in humans. Because many people who are considered blind, in fact can perceive light. The same principle is also found in other technological developments of recent times. In particular, Professor Stephen Hicks of Oxford University has created special glasses with two miniature cameras and an infrared projector capable of determining the distance to objects. The PDA analyzes and converts incoming data from the cameras, and then displays them on the lenses of the glasses in a visible form for the visually impaired person.
Lenses here also represent transparent OLED-displays. Information from the cameras and the projector is transformed into useful, pleasing to the person images.
For example, the distance to the obstacle can be determined by different brightness of the picture. Pilot tests of the novelty have already been completed, for the introduction and commercial distribution of his invention, Hicks created the company Assisted Vision. In the near future, it is planned to start the production and sale of electronic glasses. Of course, this device can not fully reproduce the functions of the eyes, but it can help visually impaired people to go shopping and use public transport.
Sound glasses.
Another version of eyeglasses for blind people was offered by Amir Amedi from the University of Jerusalem. He was able to create the so-called "spoofing device" (SSD), which allows the blind to "see" the nearest objects. True, this is achieved not by using a set of images, as in previous devices, but by a set of sounds.
In these electronic glasses, a small camera is built in, which connects to a PDA or a smartphone. With the help of a special program, visual information about the surrounding objects, coming from the camera, is converted into sound signals. In astnosti, the contrast line that goes up is transmitted by a growing audible signal, and the one that goes down - with a decreasing tone. After a short practice, a blind person can easily memorize this set of sounds to learn to understand them.
Tests of the device showed that even a blind person by means of electronic glasses becomes able to find people, recognize certain objects, read inscriptions. By the way, it was found that people with absolute blindness are much more dexterous with eyeglasses than healthy people with a gaze in their eyes or just visually impaired people. The reason is clear: in blind people the hearing develops more strongly, they are more sensitive to subtle variations in sound, different tonalities.
Bionic Eye
Electronic glasses complementing reality are, of course, good, but some research organizations and companies set themselves a much more ambitious task. We are talking about the creation of a real bionic eye that can almost completely replace our visual organs.
Second Sight company has been working in this direction for a long time. She remoteness to create an artificial arm. The device called Argus II functions as follows. A set of electrodes is implanted on a damaged eye gland. A compact camera on the glasses records the surrounding space, then the resulting image is processed by a portable PC. Finally, through wireless communication, information is transferred to the artificial arm, which, due to the built-in electrodes, stimulates the photoreceptor cells. As a result, the person becomes accessible though primitive, but vision.
Thanks to this device, blind people can see that there is an object in front of them, they can notice movement. However, the mass production of the device has not yet been discussed, since the cost of Argus II currently exceeds 100 thousand dollars. However, the appearance of such devices still gives a certain hope to blind people that they will someday be able to see the daylight and enjoy the beauty of the surrounding world.
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