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Another day, another news story about Bionics...are you piggybacking?

Nice video. Thumbs up.

It's not a prosthetic.  Thumbs down.

It's a prosthesis.

SRO Gets Major WOM. Stan's Rodeo Ointment Goes to the Olympics!

SEATTLE, Aug 11, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Techalt, Inc. (Pink Sheets: TCLT) ("Techalt" or "Company") announced SRO will be dispensed at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Stanley Johnston, SRO inventor and former Major League Baseball trainer with 23 years experience stated, "In my experience, when a player had the option of choosing an ointment on the shelf in the training room, they would always choose SRO. The Neosporin and Triple Antibiotic Ointment would be still on the shelf virtually unused at the end of the season."

Stanley Johnston reports that Major Baseball League players have claimed that SRO not only protects the area from infection, but also would provide pain relief from dermal injury.

Dan Gribbon, an above-knee amputee (who now utilizes a prosthetic leg) stated "SRO is the only topical ointment that not only heals the sores I get from my prosthesis faster but the pain is diminished."

SRO's category is Neosporin, Triple Antibiotic Ointment and other topical ointments. Despite lacking scientific testing, testimony of athletes and consumers suggests SRO provides the same barrier of protection as other topical ointments, but its unique formula the users claim more rapid pain relief and faster healing of dermal wounds.

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Outcomes at the Center for the Intrepid - better than anyone expected.

Army Staff Sgt. Chad Jukes, a 23-year-old from Logan, Utah, talks about his prosthetic legs the way some men talk about the cars they drive or dream of owning.

He has one model for walking. It features a foot very similar to the one he lost as a soldier in Iraq. Another, designed for hiking, has a flexible black rubber disc on the end. A third ends in a foot that looks like it should belong to a small child. That variation gives him the rigidity he needs for rock-climbing....READ MORE

According to a study in the Dec. 9, 2004, New England Journal of Medicine, in World War II 30% of those who were injured died, compared with 10% of those hurt in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. More recent statistics from the Dept. of Defense suggest that the number is hovering at 13%.

As of May 1, 748 of those injured had lost at least one limb. Burns, vision loss and damaged hearing also are prevalent. Traumatic brain injuries mean that some need to relearn how to read and write.

Source

Robo-Arm On The News...Friday with Charlie Gibson

A New Hampshire man involved in testing a state-of-the-art robotic prosthesis will demonstrate the use of the "Luke Arm" on ABC's World News Tonight with Charles Gibson on Friday.
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A Leg To Stand On

From MIT News Office

"In the United States, a typical prosthetics specialist who fits artificial legs for amputees might handle 15 or 20 such patients a year, fitting them with custom-built legs that can cost upward of $6,000 apiece. Each patient then gets a series of follow-up visits to make sure the new limb was properly fitted.

But in India, the Jaipur Foot Organization handles that many patients every day in each of its local centers. The charity is the world's largest provider of prosthetics and has worked with about a million patients since being founded in 1975.

The JFO, also known as Bhagwan Mahavir Viklang Sahyata Samiti, is based in Jaipur, a city of more than three million people that is the capital of Rajhastan in northern India. The artificial legs they provide, based on a locally developed design, cost about $40, and the company has little time or funding for follow-up consultations, or for developing new methods.

A team of MIT students has been working on a new device that could greatly simplify the process of fitting these legs, producing a better fit while eliminating some steps in the process and reducing waste materials. The hand-powered system, which requires no external power, would also greatly simplify the fitting of legs in rural areas, where the present electrically powered fitting system requires bringing along a bulky generator.

The first step in fitting a leg is to make a mold of the person's stump to provide a precise fit. This is done by placing the stump into a container filled with tiny glass beads and covered with soft silicone rubber, and then creating a vacuum so that the beads seal tightly around the limb. This "negative" mold is filled with more glass beads (referred to as "sand") to form a positive mold--an exact replica of the stump--and the socket of the prosthetic leg is made to fit that replica. Alternatively, the two steps can be done with plaster of paris instead of the sand--a process that doesn't require electricity but does use heavy, non-reusable plaster.

The MIT system was designed under the auspices of the D-Lab in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Mechanical engineering students Philip Garcia, Maria Luckyanova and Tess Veuthey, physics student Jessica Schirmer, and D-Lab instructor Goutam Reddy have been working on the project--some of them for more than a year.

The new fitting system they devised uses a handcrank to produce the vacuum, eliminating the need for electric power. And the same device can be used to produce both the initial negative mold and the positive mold that replicates the shape of the stump...."

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Arrest/Reverse PAD?

PLYMOUTH, Mass.--Harvest Technologies Corp. (www.harvesttech.com) announced today its President, will present at the Third Annual Stem Cell Summit, Hilton New York, on Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2008.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently granted Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) approval to Harvest Technologies to commence a 48-patient ‘feasibility’ clinical trial to treat patients with Critical Limb Ischemia (CLI).

The BMAC System is a point-of-care device for concentrating a patient’s own (autologous) bone marrow stem cells in approximately 15 minutes. The study’s design provides for injecting these cells into the affected limb to reduce the potential for limb amputation.

It is believed that the injection of stem cells will arrest and possibly reverse the effects of a late-stage form of Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD). Patients who are being enrolled in this study have exhausted all other surgical options and are at extreme risk for major amputation. This U.S. clinical study is being led by Principal Investigator Mark D. Iafrati, M.D., Chief of Vascular Surgery at Tufts-New England Medical Center, Boston. Six additional major university-based medical centers also are participating in the clinical study....

Berthold  Amann,MD, a specialist in vascular medicine at the BerlinVascular Center of Franziskus Hospital, recently completed a 60 patient end-stage (Fontaine IV Rutherford Grade III/Cat.5) CLI pilot study. All patients were injected with their own concentrated bone marrow stem cells. Of the 60 patients, 45 had been enrolled for more than six months. Of this group, 62% (28/45) avoided amputation, directly resulting from the stem cell therapy, according to Dr. Amann.

This is particularly impressive considering that 80% of these patients had already failed revascularization or had been scheduled for amputation. (The other 15 patients’ results will be reported after their six-month milestones are reached.)

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Trias Wins Red Dot

January 2008

Legacy for the Future Design Awards for Dedon and Otto Bock

Not only learning from the past, but also leaving something for future generations - this is a task that continuously confronts humanity anew. The "Legacy for the Future Design Award" has made it its objective, at the "Design Korea" design festival in Seoul which takes place every two years, to recognise products which lastingly improve quality of life and which could serve as archetypes for later generations. Four products were awarded in the current competition, including the prosthetic foot "1C30 Trias" by Otto Bock HealthCare in the category "Legacy for the Future: Human Comfort Design Award" ...

... product(s) already impressed the international expert jury at the red dot award: product design 2007 and were in fact recognised with a "red dot: best of the best" award for exceptionally outstanding quality in design.

"We are pleased with our winners for this additional recognition of their design achievements", said Prof. Dr. Peter Zec, initiator of the red dot design awards. "Both of these products were already recognised at the red dot design awards for their trend-setting design. And we believe that the prosthetic foot as well as the Yin Yang will inspire generations to come."

The Legacy for the Future Design Awards are presented by a jury in the three categories of "Human Comfort Design", "Eco-Friendly Design" and "Cultural Identity Design". All products can be awarded at the "World Best Design" exhibition, in which the most important design competitions present a selection of their winners.

About Trias prosthetic foot

As our ever-changing world becomes more complex and more dynamic, it is especially important for persons with amputations to be able to live a balanced, self-determined life of fulfilment. The use of a functional and comfortable prosthetic system is an essential contributor to the happiness and well-being of persons with disabilities. In the area of prosthetic feet, Otto Bock’s 1C30 Trias represents an ideal solution to meet these critical needs. The Trias is a synthesis of creative, modern design realised in a lightweight and efficient construction.

The foot was developed by an intercultural and interdisciplinary project team using patient requirements and customer needs as a basis for their work. Nature – in this case the human foot – was the benchmark and the driver behind the eventual solutions found by our engineers in Duderstadt and Salt Lake City. The result is a prosthetic foot that not only has an extraordinary look but also offers excellent gait characteristics such as easy, energy-saving rollover, and improved gait symmetry, which combine to reduce the loads on the amputee’s contralateral limb. The key innovative principles behind the Trias design include the triangular arrangement of the spring members and the dual spring technology of the heel and forefoot springs.

There are currently two patents in place to protect these essential design features. The innovative construction also leads to a conservation of materials, saving both weight and resources at the same time. However, there have been no compromises made to ensure that only the highest standards of quality and durability are maintained.

Design: In-house design (Martin Pusch, Lüder Mosler)

Source

Global Warming, Otto Bock and Turkey

Wenice Kids, Turkey's largest children's wear manufacturer, has dramatically increased its turnover with a campaign that aims to create awareness for Turkish made articles.

 The aim of the campaign is to encourage production in Turkey and to strengthen the image of Made, said Wenice Kids Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Oktay Özdemir. Those benefiting from the campaign abroad bring mostly Turkish made textiles and chocolate, said Özdemir. Thanks to this campaign, the turnover of all of our stores increased five times.

There are 220 Wenice stores worldwide, said Özdemir.

Wenice, which currently has an annual capacity to produce 1,200 million articles, has made YTL 70 million in turnover this year, Özdemir said. The company, expecting 100 percent growth at minimum this year, aims to increase the number of its stores from 220 to 1,000 by 2010, said Özdemir.

Otto Bock, which has 132 stores worldwide of products for the handicapped, will negotiate with Wenice in March to sell Wenice products at its stores, said Özdemir. Wenice also established the world's first global warming laboratory in textiles to develop thinner fabrics that can be washed with less water, Özdemir said.

Source

T.F.-raised doctor makes list of top 50 technological innovators

From the Twin-Falls Times

Dr. Todd Kuiken's gotten quite the attention over the years.

In 2004, he was named the best doctor in Chicago by Chicago Magazine. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society gave him its da Vinci Award in 2005. That same year, Popular Science magazine named his work the best new technology of the year. And the University of Idaho, his first alma mater, plans to give him its hall of fame award in May, according to his mother, Twin Falls resident Edna Kuiken Frank.

This month, Kuiken can add another feather to his cap. The 1978 Twin Falls High School graduate, nowdirector of the Neural Engineering Center for Artificial Limbs and the director of Amputee Services at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, was named by Scientific American magazine as one of the top 50 contributors to science and technology innovations that could improve society in 2007.

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Click here to visit the Amputation Rehabilitation Glossary

Haptics & Orthotics and Prosthetics

Haptics is the science and technology of experiencing and creating touch sensations in human operators.

I didn't know what Haptics was until this morning when I got my daily Google Alerts.

Today, January 4, 2008, at UC Berkeley, Professor Allison Okamura will be doing a talk on Haptics.

This talk will examine the role of haptics in three types of systems: surgical robotics, surgical simulators, and rehabilitation robotics. Robot-assisted surgery can improve the outcomes of medical procedures by enhancing accuracy and minimally invasive access, thereby reducing patient trauma and recovery time...

Haptic information is also needed for accurate surgical simulation. Surgical simulators present a safe and potentially effective method for surgical training, and can also be used in robot-assisted surgery for pre- and intra-operative planning...

Finally, rehabilitation through robotically enabled orthotics and prosthetics inherently requires understanding and appropriate generation of haptic interactions. Our recent work in this area includes motor control augmentation with an exoskeleton robot, and studies of the role of haptic proprioception in prosthetic limb use.