Blind Moms Can Now 'See' Their Unborn

                Expectant parents with sight issues are being given the chance to ‘see’ their unborn baby scans thanks to an innovation which prints 3D models of the fetus in the womb. The groundbreaking innovation means that even mums and dads with visual impairments can have an experience of ‘seeing’ their unborn baby as it appears on an ultrasound scan. A bas-relief of 3D print of an unborn child can be created – all they need is a file with a 3D ultrasound examination.

                The models are printed in ecru colored non-toxic bioplastic material. The bas-relief is a true three dimensional representation of baby and environment in the mother’s womb. They maintain all proportions, spatial relations and actual dimensions of the unborn child. The project, which is intended for blind mothers to have a unique chance to see their unborn babies, is soon to be offered to pregnant women outside of Poland.

New Fabric Keeps Body 2.7°C Cooler Than Cotton, 2.1°C Chillier Than Synthetics

                Engineers have created clothing for a warming world – a fabric that allows your body heat to escape far better than other materials do. It hasn’t been worn or tested by humans, so outside experts caution this is far from a sure thing, but a team engineered a fabric using nano technology that not only allows moisture to leave the body better, but helps infrared radiation escape better. As a result, the body should feel around 2.7° Celsius cooler than cotton and 2.1° Celsius chilli

er than commercially available synthetics. This is designed for a warmer world – not just because climate change is making temperatures hotter, but because it takes a lot of energy to heat and cool people’s offices and homes.

                Existing fabrics already do a good job of taking moisture away from the body, but the issue is more. How do you control the infrared radiation coming out of the human body? Material does a good job of trapping that heat energy to warm you, but letting it go is another matter. That’s where clear clingy plastic kitchen wrap comes in. plastic wrap – polyethylene – does a good job of allowing infrared radiation to escape the body. The trouble is it also allows visible light to escape. That means, you can see through it, which isn’t exactly what most people want from clothing.

                So the engineering team worked at changing the pore size of the material and added other chemicals, allowing the heat and moisture out, but not visible light. And it is cheaper than cotton. But that material felt too flat, so the next step was to weave it, to feel like regular fabric. You touch, it feels very soft. They’ve used devices to mimic human skin and monitor skin temperatures, but strict scientific testing rules have prevented them from testing clothing on actual humans. That’s the next step and outside scientists said there are all sort of potential pitfalls. And after that, another three years would pass before mass production could proceed so people could buy and wear it.

Implanted Device May Help Treat Sleep Apnea

                An implanted device can significantly improve symptoms in people with central sleep apnea – a condition in which the brain fails to control breathing during sleep. Central sleep apnea is a serious concern because it affects about a third of people with heart failure and it is known to make the condition worse. Currently, we don’t have good treatment available. Positive airway pressure devices have been used, but many patients don’t tolerate them well and a recent study showed them to be harmful. The researchers tested the safety and effectiveness of a transvenous phrenic nerve stimulator in 31 hospitals in US, Germany and Poland. Much like a pacemaker; it sends a regular signal telling the diaphragm to breathe during sleep.

Your Immune Cell Can Treat, Prevent Alzheimer's

                In a breakthrough, an antibody that can almost clear the visible signs of Alzheimer’s disease from the brain has been discovered. Researchers scanned the brains of people with the degenerative condition as they were given doses of the drug, which is based on an immune cell taken from the blood of elderly people aged up to 100 who showed no signs of disease. After a year, all the toxic “amyloid plaques” that build up in patients disappeared from the brains of those given the highest doses of the antibody. The findings suggest the plaques are part of the cause of the disease – not simply a byproduct.

                One of the researchers, described what they found when they scanned the brain of patients given either a placebo or three different doses of the antibody, called aducanumab. One year later, the images of the placebo group were unchanged. In the antibody group, where patients were given 10mg of dose, reduction in amyloid plaques was visible – the higher the dose, the larger the degree of reduction. Compared to other studies, the effect sixe of this drug is unprecedented. Confirmation that an antiamyloid plaque treatment slows cognitive decline would be a game changer for how we treat and prevent Alzheimer’s disease.

                The research showed the antibody robustly reduced amyloid pathology in a small group of people in very early stages of testing then go on to fall in larger trials. No existing treatments for Alzheimer’s directly interfere with the disease process – and so a drug that slows the progress of the disease by clearing amyloid would be a significant step.