Page 23 - Autumn 2024

Industry News

such as paraplegia or amyotrophic lateral 3D-printed Medication for Toxoplasmosis
sclerosis, where muscle paralysis limits the use of
Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic infection that
limbs.
affects over a billion people across the world.
Neuroprostheses, which use BCIs to bridge It is particularly harmful to pregnant women,
damaged nerve pathways and translate brain whose children can suffer blindness, deafness,
signals into movements, are not new, but the seizures and mental health issues. Tablets
limited fine motor capabilities of current hand exist, but these adult drugs are expensive and
prostheses has hindered their practical use. have to be altered by pharmacists to make
them suitable for children, with a resultant
In this experiment two rhesus monkeys, which
variation in quality, strength and stability.
share similarities with humans in nervous system
development and fine motor skills, were trained Now, researchers at Texas A and M University
to move a virtual avatar hand displayed on a are applying 3D-printing to create a form of the
screen using their own hand movements. A drug that is specifically tailored for children with
data glove, equipped with magnetic sensors, the help of a $3.1 million grant from the National
recorded the results. The monkeys then learned Institutes of Health.
to control the virtual hand by thought alone, with
MEDICAL FOCUS neuronal activity in the cortical brain areas that The type of 3D-printing being used is that of
biofabrication, which allows for precise, patient-
control hand movements being monitored.
specific adjustments to be made to drugs,
In order to improve the algorithm that converts medical models and implants. Different forms
neural data into movement the BCI protocol was of the process are used to address different
adjusted so as to prioritise not just the end point medical applications. In this case Selective Laser
of a movement, but also its execution path. Sintering is used to produce dissolvable tablets
by adjusting laser and material parameters
Comparison between the movements of the
to create dose consistency and stability. Other
virtual hand and the real hand, as recorded
methods, however, such as extrusion-based
Using AI to improve Diagnosis will analyse large sets of referral data with the previously, showed a high degree of precision,
printing and inkjet printing, can also be applied
of Inflammatory Arthritis machine learning system, RMD-Health, serving validating the effectiveness of the new protocol.
for layering ingredients to allow for controlled-
to identify patterns that may not be initially
Researchers at the Henley Business School Andres Agudelo-Toro, First Author of the study release tablets that have to be administered
obvious to clinicians.
have been awarded £600,000 from UK at the Neurobiology Laboratory of the German over time without re-dosing.
Research and Innovation to pioneer a The project is set to last 18 months and will Primate Centre, explains:
The ultimate objective is to be able to supply the
project that will use machine learning involve collaboration with the University of Oxford
“ How well a prosthesis works depends primarily appropriate 3D-printing machines to hospitals
to revolutionise the early detection of and the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation who will
on the neural data read by the computer so that medical facilities will be available to
inflammatory arthritis, a condition which, be testing the AI system in real-world clinical
interface that controls it. Previous studies on produce personalised doses on demand.
if diagnosed late, can lead to long-term loss of settings.
arm and hand movements have focused on the Selective Laser Sintering has enabled control of
mobility. Around 400,000 people in the UK are
Reference: Miles, S., ‘AI aims to transform early Arthritis Detection and signals that control the velocity of a grasping factors such as hardness, dissolution rate and
estimated to be living with it. Treatment’, Electronic Specifier, 18th. October.
movement. We wanted to find out whether speed of absorption into the body. Longer term
This ‘power beaming’ is seen as being ‘a The neural signals representing hand postures might objectives include application to, for example,
project will use artificial intelligence to assist Breakthrough in neural Control be better suited to control neuroprostheses. limb regeneration.
doctors to identify the signs of this crippling of Prosthetic Hands Deviating from the classic protocol, we adapted Reference: Miles, S., ‘3D-printing Medicine for Children’, Electronic
condition before it becomes far worse. The AI Specifier, 29th. October.
Researchers at the German Primate Centre the algorithm so that not only the destination of
- Leibnitz Institute for Primate Research in a movement is important, but also how you get
Gottingen have developed a new protocol there, that is the path of execution. This ultimately
for brain-computer interfaces (BCI) that has led to the most accurate results.”
Visit our achieved a major advance in prosthetic hand Hansjorg Scherberger, Senior Author and Head of
control. the Neurobiology Laboratory, adds:
website! When tested on rhesus monkeys the new
“ In our study we were able to show that the
method demonstrated precise manipulation of
Why not head down to our signals that control the posture of a hand
prosthetic hands using neural signals alone.
are particularly important for controlling a
website and read more
Previously BCI research has focused on signals neuroprosthesis. These results can now be used
news in our blog section?
that govern speed of movement, but this latest to improve the functionality of future brain-
Updated daily with research has found that the neural signal computer interfaces and thus also to improve
responsible for different hand postures play the fine motor skills of neural prostheses.”
hand-picked articles
a more crucial role in controlling prosthetic Reference: West, P., ‘Researchers achieve Breakthrough in neural
from around the web...
devices. This is anticipated to enhance the fine Control of Prosthetic Hands’, Electronic Specifier, 21st. October.
control of neural prostheses, potentially restoring
institutionofelectronics.ac.uk
some or all mobility to individuals with conditions

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