The passive mechanical sensor contains absolutely no electronics

Following a complicated fracture, special implants are used to hold the bones in the right position to allow them to grow together again correctly. In collaboration with the ATH Zurich, Empa staff have developed a mechanical sensor which measures the tensile and compressive forces acting on an implant, to help monitor the healing process.

Currently, doctors use expensive and complicated electronic devices to monitor the healing process is progressing normally. These devices send the measurements to the outside world as radio signals.

Empa’s electronics-free sensor communicates its data via an ultrasonic sensor.

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A team of researchers led by North Carolina State University has made a breakthrough that could lead to new dialysis devices and a host of other revolutionary medical implants.

The researchers have found that the unique properties of a new material can be used to create new devices that can be implanted into the human body – including blood glucose sensors for diabetics and artificial hemo-dialysis membranes that can scrub impurities from the blood.

Researchers have long sought to develop medical devices that could be implanted into patients for a variety of purposes, such as monitoring glucose levels in diabetic patients.

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Researchers at Yale University have created a blueprint for artificial cells that are more powerful and efficient than the natural cells they mimic and could one day be used to power tiny medical implants.

The scientists began with the question of whether an artificial version of the electrocyte – the energy-generating cells in electric eels – could be designed as a potential power source. “The electric eel is very efficient at generating electricity,” said Jian Xu, a postdoctoral associate in Yale’s Department of Chemical Engineering. “It can generate more electricity than a lot of electrical devices.”

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By adapting existing cochlear ear implant technology to perceive light rather than sound, two Sydney-based scientists have developed a ‘cheap and safe’ bionic eye to restore basic vision to people going blind.

Professor Minas Coroneo and Dr Vivek Chowdhury say the prosthesis should cost little more than the £10,000 of a cochlear hearing device.

Professor Coroneo explained: “We are using a bionic ear to make a bionic eye.”

While other researchers are working on implanting electrodes on the retina (intraocular), the cochlear device puts electrodes on the outer wall of the eye (extraocular).

Patients will wear glasses mounted with a tiny camera that sends images to electrodes in the eye.

British scientists are developing a glass-implant with the potential to revolutionise treatment for damaged bones.

The implant which is made from bioglass – a substance developed during the Vietnam war that was so strong it could not be removed from bone without breaking it, is being developed at Imperial College, in conjunction with the Universities of Kent and Warwick.

The cloudy looking glass implant is designed to act as an immediate replacement for the missing bone, carrying out tasks such as bearing weight. The substance contains small holes similar to the inner layer of bone, which has a honeycomb-like structure. These small holes contain calcium, and once in place, the implant reacts with bodily fluids and gradually dissolves, bonding to existing bone, while creating instant support and scaffold for new bone to grow. Technological advances have enabled scientists to adapt the material so it releases calcium at the rate at which the new bone needs it.

Scientists are now working on a new less brittle version of the glass which will enable it to flex slightly when under certain pressures such as twisting which puts more strain on the bone than a straightforward impact would.

Clinical trials for the graft are expected to begin within the next five years.

A biologically-inspired material that is said to enhance tissue healing, improve bone growth around an implant and strengthen the attachment and integration of the implant to the bone, has been developed by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Andrés Garcia, Georgia Tech, explained: “We designed a coating that specifically communicates with cells, and we’re telling the cells to grow bone around the implant.”

He continued: “Our coating consists of a high density of polymer strands, akin to the bristles on a toothbrush, which we can then modify to present our bio-inspired, bioactive protein.”

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Devices known as brain-machine interfaces could someday be used routinely to help paralysed patients and amputees control prosthetic limbs with just their thoughts. Researchers at the University of Florida have taken the concept a step further, developing a way for computerised devices to not only translate brain signals into movement, but also to evolve with the brain as it learns.

Instead of interpreting brain signals and routing them to a robotic hand or leg, this type of brain-machine interface would adapt to a person’s behavior over time and use the knowledge to help complete a task more efficiently.

Until now, brain-machine interfaces have been designed as one-way conversations between the brain and a computer, with the brain doing all the talking and the computer following commands. The system UF engineers created, allows the computer to have a say in that conversation.

Justin Sanchez, a UF assistant professor of pediatric neurology, and the study’s senior author, said: “In the grand scheme of brain-machine interfaces, this is a complete paradigm change.

“This idea opens up all kinds of possibilities for how we interact with devices. It’s not just about giving instructions but about those devices assisting us in a common goal. You know the goal, the computer knows the goal and you work together to solve the task.”

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A small wireless ‘monopole’ antenna that channels signals laterally and upwards along human skin, has been developed by researchers from Queen’s University, Belfast.

The power-efficient device designed by William Scalon and Gareth Conway takes advantage of the ‘creeping wave’ effect that allows waves to travel along a surface. Scalon and Conway hope this technique could broadcast signals over the human body to connect up medical implants or portable gadgets distributed around the body to work together.

Usually mast-style monopole antennas stand on a plate of conductive material to reflect signals travelling downwards, however, Scalon and Conway have flipped the design upside down, putting the plate on top of the antenna and away from the body. In doing this the signals are channeled along the skin.

A mismatch between the air and body tissue causes a reflection of sorts, according to Scalon, it is this reflection coupled with the conducting plate that channels the signals sideways. This also increases the efficiency of the antenna, which could double the battery life of body worn gadgets.

Two macaque monkeys have been able feed themselves using robotic limbs controlled by only their thoughts, following an operation to insert a brain implant, according to scientists.

Small probes, the width of a human hair, were inserted into the monkeys’ primary motor cortex - the region of the brain that controls movement. Once in place, computer software was used to interpret the brain’s electrical impulses and translate them into movement through the robotic arm.

This arm was jointed like a human arm and possessed a “gripper” that mimics a hand. After some training, the two monkeys - who had had their own arms restrained - were able to use the prosthetic limbs to feed themselves with marshmallows and chunks of fruit.

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