New Generation Of Prostethics

The line where man meets machine is blurred in a Johns Hopkins laboratory. Nitish Thakor's Biomedical Instrumentation and Neuroengineering Lab has developed prosthetic fingertips that "feel" temperature with skin-like cosmesis embedded with sensors.

Thakor, who teaches classes in the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering, and his research team of more than 20 students and faculty are using robotics to help develop the next generation of prosthetics.

"Most amputees today don't use their prosthetic limbs on a daily basis because the limb is bulky, mechanically heavy, and not aesthetically pleasing," Soumyadipta Acharya, a PhD candidate in biomedical engineering on Thakor's team, said. "This project is revolutionizing the way we control and feel artificial limbs using signals from our brain, nerves and muscles directly."

The prosthetic hand with individually moving fingers is controlled by the brain using a cap covered with sensors. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) sponsors the research as part of the Revolutionizing Prosthetics 2009 program. DARPA awarded the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory $30.4 million as part of an international effort to produce better prosthetics for those handicapped by accidents, disease, birth defects and war.

This research is made possible by the association between three world-class programs within the Johns Hopkins University – the School of Medicine, the Whiting School of Engineering and the Applied Physics Laboratory. This synergy provides students at Johns Hopkins the opportunity to work with and contribute to research programs like Thakor's work with robotic prosthesis.

@jhu.edu

My First Case:introduction in brief

A 48 year old woman with a past mediacl history of asthma presented to Emergency Department complaining of cough/hemoptysis ,dyspnea .

She has experienced cough productive of green sputum since 2 month ago and it's had a progressive course.The symptoms deteriorate at night and when lying in bed.

Past Medical History:She has had a history of 2 times admission in Emergency Deoartment in 2005 and early 2009:both with episodes of Asthmatic Exacerbation; on 2005 admission the patient was presented with coma and peripheral cyanosis in upper and lower extremities.

Drug History:Salbutamol/Atrovent

the patient has shown allergic response to Penicillin,Azithromycin,ASA,Anti-Histamine

Habitual Hx:-

Family Hx: Tuberclosis in her mother

Ph/Ex:

On initial presentation she had a Respiratory Rate of 25/min Temperature:37(Axi) BP:120/70 PR:88

Head and Neck: NL

Chest: Heart : S1S2 NL

Chest :Generalized Wheezing through both lungs fields

The remainder of Physical Exam was NL

no signs of heart failure were detected

The patient's dyspnea was refractory to all standard Therapy

A light imorovement was mentioned during Ntbiotic therapy but after discontinuation the symptoms including productive cough ,dyspnea,ortopnea got worse.

on the PA view of patient's chest x-ray there was an apparent huge consolidation area in lower lobe of right lung.

Bsic Laboratory tests were within normal limits.

An Spiral CT scan is orequested and it's arranged for saturday .

till then the patient recieves:

Nasal O2

Amp Enoxaparin 1mg/kg Q12h

Spray Salbutamol 3puff /QID

Spray Ipratropium Bromide 4puff/QID

Differential Diagnosis :

1-Asthma Exacerbation

2-Pneumonia

3-Paroxysmal Nocturnal Dyspnea

to be continued...

The Patient

well i guess i have a lot of memories with this Tool song, also it holds the core of my feeling today:

A groan of tedium escapes me,starting the fearful.

Is this a test?

It has to be,Otherwise i can't go on,

Draining patience,drain vitality,

this paranoid,paralyzed vampire's act a little old.

But i'm still right here,giving blood and keeping faith,And i'm still right here

I'm gonna wait it out

If there were no rewards to reap,

No loving embrace to see through this tedious path i've chosen here,

I certainly would've walked away by now.

I'm gonna wait it out

If there were no desire to heal

The damaged and broken met along this tedious path i've chosen here,

I certainly would've walked away by now.

I still,And I still may,

Be patient.

I must keep reminding myself of this...

If there were no rewards to reap,

No loving embrace to see me through this tedious path i've chosen here,

I certainly would've walked away by now.

And I still may,and I still may ,and I still may.

I'm gonna wait it out.

I'm gonna wait it out.

Gonna wait it out.

Gonna wait it out.

Back

all as expected ,it will be a transition period as i'm heading back to work.

overall i have to say a good memory of this 30 days will remain ; an island of calm ;

i enjoyed reading books,watching perfect movies , listening to music ,playing squash and more important making up my mind about many principals of my life.

As immigration's become a certain decision,and i need to qualify , looking at life in this frame and redefining my programs;

After internship there 's an interval (of military service),admittedly crucial period but i won't recall it as an apocalypse anymore; it's a reality of my life; i must face it .

Predicting Armageddon ??

The Grim Reaper For Old Trafford I am sure you will receive a whole sackload of mail today from Man U and non-Man U fans alike and I just wanted to try and add some concerns to the mix. Firstly, can i say, well played Leeds Utd. You might be a hated rival to me, but you thoroughly deserved your moment yesterday.. On to my main point. I am not one of these knee jerk supporters that immediately call for SAF to be ousted the moment we have a bad result. I am old enough and have spent much of my life going to OT (the only way to watch pre-Sky TV). I have seen SAF build teams and I have seen him rebuild teams - winning teams! Always with a familiar pattern of replacing the ageing/outgoing players with new young talent and talismanic figureheads. The simple fact of the matter is and I think its plain to everyone that watches Man U week-in and week-out is that the current rebuild process is failing and this is due to some blindingly obvious and simple facts: 1. The current crop of players that should be replacing the old guard - are not and never will be up to the task (Anderson, Nani, Park) 2. Many of the youngsters also show worrying signs of following suit (Wellback, Obertan, Fabio, Macheda, Gibson) - Raphael being the only possible exception. All these players will clearly have a future in football- but not at Man Utd. 3. Reliance on fading talents.. Giggs/Scholes etc. Giggs has the odd good game.. but anyone in doubt should just spend 10 mins on Youtube to be reminded of the real Ryan Giggs. 4. The 'Big' Talisman signing Berbatov is a flop.. I don't really care about how good technically he is.. for Utd, on the whole he is average at his very best. 5. We allowed the best player in the world to leave + another very good player and we have not replaced them. These are all team matters that clearly SAF is accountable for. It maybe the case that the Glazers are not able to release the kind of funds needed to buy our way out, but that is only half the issue even if true. We have still spent plenty of money on players in the last 3/4 years. We have simply spent it poorly and again for this SAF is accountable... I have had the feeling for the last 12 months that SAF knows he doesnt have the right ingredients at the moment and is always chopping and changing, desperately trying to find the solution. However its blindingly obvious to me that we are bereft of real quality in many areas of the team and we currently have NO talisman (Ronaldo, van Nistelrooy, York/Cole, Cantona). Our results/defeats/performances from 2007/08 onwards testify to this. We are in decline with no clear direction. In the past I have always had faith that SAF has a longer term grand plan - but if I am honest, this time - I am not so optimistic... In the end, it doesn't matter what I or any other supporter thinks. With crippling debts and the need to find 100M per year just to meet interest payments, success on the pitch is mandatory for Utd. It is not that far to fall (as Scousers everywhere will testify) before the money draw of Champions League football is by no means a certainty. The Glazer takeover is a timebomb and it is 100% certain that one day it will explode.. One or two years of rapid decline will be more than enough to light the fuse- a chain of events that not even SAF can halt..

Richard @ football365.com

The Arrow & The Song

I shot an arrow into the air,

It fell to earth ,i knew not where;

For,so swiftly it flew,the sight

Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,

It fell to earth,i knew not where;

For who has the sight so keen and strong,

That it can follow the flight of song?

Long,long afterward,in an oak

I found the arrow,still unbroke;

And the song,from begining to end,

I found again in the heart of a friend.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Photo : Larry Keenan

Chasing terrorists: It's Obama's ball now

As the new year commences, two facts emerge: George W. Bushis officially retired as the fault-guy for the nation's ills, and Barack Obama owns the game.

Whether he wants to or not.

Every president deserves a year of grace to adapt to the job and adjust to its Himalayan learning curve. As Obama's first year ends -- almost with a bang, thanks to a lonely Nigerian who found love in jihad -- his grace period is up.

Indeed, depending on how he responds to the security breach that almost brought down a Detroit-bound flight from Amsterdam, Obama's presidency is at risk of being rendered prematurely impotent.

If Bush could be blamed for the dot-connecting inadequacies that helped enable the terrorist attacks of 9/11 eight months into his administration, then Obama can fairly be held responsible for the incompetence that allowed a disaffected jihadist to get explosive powder onto a plane.

The banality of our most recent would-be attack is almost too on-the-nose to exploit, but really. The son of a Nigerian banker, already a punch line to all who've been spammed by e-mailers alleging to be Nigerian bankers promising riches, packs his underwear with explosive material? Was this fellow computer-generated by a cartoon character?

If it weren't all so bloody horrifying, the incident would be ridiculous.

Which, come to think of it, is a fair appraisal of the Obama administration's initial performance when faced with a potentially catastrophic terrorist strike. The dots that needed connecting were all but performing the California Raisin dance. Were we ever justified in hoping for better?

National security was never considered Obama's strong suit. Back in September 2008, if I may be excused for quoting myself, I wrote: "I worry that Obama isn't serious enough about terrorism and free markets. . . . I worry about Obama's overintellectualizing -- that he will get lost in a maze of deep thoughts and fail to be decisive when necessary."

Or lost on a golf course, as the case may be.

Obama's open-collared, vacation response from Hawaii was delivered on Katrina time -- about two days too late -- and fell a few links short of reassuring. Something about humans and systems failing. Yes, well, that would about cover it.

Deep breath.

The cool detachment that was so attractive when political opponents were trying to rile Obama is suddenly becoming annoying. Preternaturally unflappable, his demeanor in these circumstances borders on inappropriate. What does it take to get a rise out of Barack Obama? Not that we need bombast and flared nostrils. Calm in the face of potential disaster is laudable, but it's a fine line between executive tranquility and passive nonchalance. Like a tone-deaf disc jockey, Obama plays elevator music when the crowd wants John Philip Sousa.

But, action is being taken, we're told. Investigations are under way and reports are being tabulated. Soon decisions will be forthcoming as to whether we bomb al-Qaida outposts in Yemen or insist that airline travelers liberate their inner Britneys and go panty-free through security checkpoints.

Full cavity searches can't be far from the minds of bureaucrats looking for ways to create a faux sense of security rather than figuring out how to draw simple inferences from red flags, recently in numbers sufficient to spell out "Allahu Akbar" on a football field at halftime.

The brightest among many was the perpetrator's own father's reports, both in person (twice) and by phone to American officials, that his son had become radicalized and might be dangerous. A CIA report describing those concerns apparently never made it through the Byzantine intelligence channels until after the foiled attack on Christmas Day.

Why? It was for just such coordination that the Bush administration four years ago created the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which last April came under fire by its then-inspector general, Edward Maguire -- just days before he was replaced. Maguire's report may provide the simplest answer to what went wrong.

In addition to criticizing the amount of time intelligence chiefs spend briefing the White House and Congress instead of managing the intelligence apparatus, Maguire blasted the ODNI for bureaucratic fat and financial mismanagement.

In fairness to Obama, Maguire's findings were completed before the president assumed office, but not released publicly until April. Even so, Obama has had plenty of time to tweak the system he now blames for the underwear bomber.

It's his ball now; time to stop dribbling.

Kathleen Parker @ Chicago Tribune

14 countries

Foreign passengers flying into the United States from 14 mostly Muslim countries deemed to have links with terrorism are to face extra security checks at airports from today amid increased nervousness in the US after the failed attempt to blow up a passenger jet on Christmas Day.

The US transportation security administration announced that everyone flying into the US from or through these countries would go through"enhanced screening" at airports.

The list includes Nigeria, home of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the failed suicide bomber who tried to blow up a Detroit-bound passenger plane using an explosive device hidden in his underpants. It also includes Yemen, where it is claimed he was trained.

The other "countries of interest" are Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Somalia, and four countries the US regards as state sponsors of terrorism: Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria.

From today US airports have also been instructed to increase "threat-based" screening of passengers who may be acting in a suspicious manner. The screening will include full body pat-downs, bag searches, full body scanning and scans by explosive detectors.

The introduction of the new measures coincided with a security alert at New Liberty international airport in New Jersey, which was locked down for several hours after a man walked through a security checkpoint without being screened last night.

Planes were grounded for six hours and thousands of passengers had to go through security again while the authorities went through CCTV footage in search of the man. He was eventually tracked down.

The TSA said the ability to enforce the new security measures was the "result of extraordinary co-operation from our global aviation partners". In a statement it said: "TSA is mandating that every individual flying into the US from anywhere in the world travelling from or through nations that are state sponsors of terrorism or other countries of interest will be required to go through enhanced screening."

Pakistan International Airlines said it had been applying the new approach to US-bound passengers since Saturday.

Yesterday, Gordon Brown confirmed that full body scanners are to be introduced at Britain's airports.

@Guardian