Category Archives: Nano Medicine

Flu Drug Could Aid Recovery Of Brain

Can Help Victims Of Car Accidents

(AP) Researchers are reporting the first treatment to speed recovery from severe brain injuries caused by falls and car crashes: a cheap flu medicine whose side benefits were discovered by accident decades ago.

Severely injured patients in the U.S., Denmark and Germany who were given amantadine got better faster than those who received a dummy medicine. After four weeks, more people in the flu drug group could give reliable yes-and-no answers, follow commands or use a spoon or hairbrushthings that few of them could do at the start. Far fewer patients who got amantadine remained in a vegetative state, 17 percent versus 32 percent.

This drug moved the needle in terms of speeding patient recovery, and thats not been shown before, said neuropsychologist Joseph Giacino of Bostons Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, co-leader of the study. He added: It really does provide hope for a population that is viewed in many places as hopeless.

Many doctors began using amantadine for brain injuries years ago, but until now theres never been a big study to show that it works. The results of the federally funded study appear in Thursdays New England Journal of Medicine.

A neurologist who wasnt ina. volved in the research called it an important step. But many questions remain, including whether people less severely injured would benefit, and whether amantadine actually improves patients long-term outcome or just speeds up their recovery.

Each year, an estimated 1.7 million Americans suffer a traumatic brain injury. Falls, car crashes, colliding with or getting hit by an object, and assaults are the leading causes. About three-quarters are concussions or other mild forms that heal over time. But about 52,000 people with brain injuries die each year and 275,000 are hospitalized, many with persistent, debilitating injuries, according to government figures.

With no proven remedies to rely on, doctors have used a variety of medicines approved for other ailments in the hopes that they would help brain injury patients. Those decisions are based on hunches and logic rather than data, said Dr. John Whyte, of the Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute in suburban Philadelphia. He led the study along with Giacino.

Amantadine, an inexpensive generic, was approved for the flu in the mid-1960s. The first hint that it might have other uses came a few years later when it appeared to improve Parkinsons symptoms in nursing home patients. It was found to have an effect on the brains dopamine system, whose many functions include movement and alertness, and it was later approved for Parkinsons.

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Flu Drug Could Aid Recovery Of Brain

Summary: Researchers at the Vienna University of Technology have developed a method for fabricating intricately structured sculptures as tiny as a grain of sand in record speed.

Using a technique known as two-photon lithography, Austrian researchers have developed a high-precision 3-D printer capable of producing nanometer-sized objects in the shape of race cars, cathedrals and bridges all in a matter of minutes.

The high-precision 3-D printer at TU Vienna is purportedly orders of magnitude faster than similar devices and opens up new areas of applications, such as in medicine.

The super-fast nano-printer uses a liquid resin, which is hardened at precisely the correct spots by a focused laser beam. The focal point of the laser beam is guided through the resin by movable mirrors; it leaves behind a hardened line of solid polymer just a few hundred nanometers wide. The result is a detailed sculpture measuring a couple hundred micrometers in length.

Until now, this technique used to be quite slow, said Professor Jrgen Stampfl from the Institute of Materials Science and Technology at the TU Vienna. The printing speed used to be measured in millimeters per second our device can do five meters in one second. In two-photon lithography, this is a world record.

The scientists at TU Vienna are now developing bio-compatible resins for medical applications that can be used to create scaffolds to which living cells can attach themselves for the systematic creation of biological tissues. The 3-D printer could also be used to create tailor-made components for biomedical technology or nanotechnology.

The video below shows the 3-D printing process in real time. The very fast control mechanism connected to the laser beam produces 100 layers, consisting of approximately 200 single lines each, in four minutes.

Source: Vienna University of Technology

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Originally posted here:
3-D printer with nano-precision sets world record

By Eddie Wrenn

PUBLISHED: 12:44 EST, 13 March 2012 | UPDATED: 08:53 EST, 14 March 2012

The attention to detail is exquisite - and the craftsmanship is even more impressive when you appreciate the scale of the endeavour.

This little Formula 1 car is just 0.028cm across - or to put it another way, less than a third of a millimetre.

So this tiny little motor could fit into the space of the full-stop at the end of the sentence.

If that isn't impressive enough, the Vienna Institute of Technology created the 100-layer nano-structure in just four minutes - a huge increase on previous technology.

Tiny detail: The F1 nano-car was created by the Vienna Institute of Technology in a record-breaking four minutes

The precision model uses a technique called two-photon lithography, which uses highly-focused light beams to manipulate then harden the resin molecules in exactly the right position.

The technology is still new, and is generally limited right now to solid plastic shapes - but the field is moving forwards

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Small but perfectly formed: Scientists use world's fastest 3D printer to create amazingly detailed F1 car (... that ...

The 3D printer uses a liquid resin, which is hardened at precisely the correct spots by a focused laser beam. The focal point of the laser beam is guided through the resin by movable mirrors and leaves behind a polymerized line of solid polymer, just a few hundred nanometers wide. This high resolution enables the creation of intricately structured sculptures as tiny as a grain of sand. Until now, this technique used to be quite slow, says Professor Jrgen Stampfl from the Institute of Materials Science and Technology at the TU Vienna. The printing speed used to be measured in millimeters per second our device can do five meters in one second. In two-photon lithography, this is a world record.

This video is not supported by your browser at this time.

The video shows the 3d-printing process in real time. Due to the very fast guiding of the laser beam, 100 layers, consisting of approximately 200 single lines each, are produced in four minutes.

A model of St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna. Credit: Klaus Cicha

The London Tower Bridge. Credit: Klaus Cicha

Because of the dramatically increased speed, much larger objects can now be created in a given period of time. This makes two-photon-lithography an interesting technique for industry. At the TU Vienna, scientists are now developing bio-compatible resins for medical applications. They can be used to create scaffolds to which living cells can attach themselves facilitating the systematic creation of biological tissues. The 3d printer could also be used to create tailor made construction parts for biomedical technology or nanotechnology.

Provided by Vienna University of Technology

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3D-printer with nano-precision

Ultra-high-resolution 3D Printer Breaks Speed-Records at Vienna University of Technology.

Printing three dimensional objects with incredibly fine details is now possible using "two-photon lithography". With this technology, tiny structures on a nanometer scale can be fabricated. Researchers at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Vienna) have now made a major breakthrough in speeding up this printing technique: The high-precision-3D-printer at TU Vienna is orders of magnitude faster than similar devices (see video). This opens up completely new areas of application, such as in medicine.

Setting a New World Record

The 3D printer uses a liquid resin, which is hardened at precisely the correct spots by a focused laser beam. The focal point of the laser beam is guided through the resin by movable mirrors and leaves behind a polymerized line of solid polymer, just a few hundred nanometers wide. This high resolution enables the creation of intricately structured sculptures as tiny as a grain of sand. "Until now, this technique used to be quite slow", says Professor Juergen Stampfl from the Institute of Materials Science and Technology at the TU Vienna. "The printing speed used to be measured in millimeters per second - our device can do five meters in one second." In two-photon lithography, this is a world record.

The video shows the 3d-printing process in real time. Due to the very fast guiding of the laser beam, 100 layers, consisting of approximately 200 single lines each, are produced in four minutes.

This amazing progress was made possible by combining several new ideas. "It was crucial to improve the control mechanism of the mirrors", says Jan Torgersen (TU Vienna). The mirrors are continuously in motion during the printing process. The acceleration and deceleration-periods have to be tuned very precisely to achieve high-resolution results at a record-breaking speed.

Photoactive Molecules Harden the Resin

3D-printing is not all about mechanics - chemists had a crucial role to play in this project too. "The resin contains molecules, which are activated by the laser light. They induce a chain reaction in other components of the resin, so-called monomers, and turn them into a solid", says Jan Torgersen. These initiator molecules are only activated if they absorb two photons of the laser beam at once - and this only happens in the very center of the laser beam, where the intensity is highest. In contrast to conventional 3D-printing techniques, solid material can be created anywhere within the liquid resin rather than on top of the previously created layer only. Therefore, the working surface does not have to be specially prepared before the next layer can be produced (see Video), which saves a lot of time. A team of chemists led by Professor Robert Liska (TU Vienna) developed the suitable initiators for this special resin.

Researchers all over the world are working on 3D printers today - at universities as well as in industry. "Our competitive edge here at the Vienna University of Technology comes from the fact that we have experts from very different fields, working on different parts of the problem, at one single university", Juergen Stampfl emphasizes. In materials science, process engineering or the optimization of light sources, there are experts working together and coming up with mutually stimulating ideas.

Because of the dramatically increased speed, much larger objects can now be created in a given period of time. This makes two-photon-lithography an interesting technique for industry. At the TU Vienna, scientists are now developing bio-compatible resins for medical applications. They can be used to create scaffolds to which living cells can attach themselves facilitating the systematic creation of biological tissues. The 3d printer could also be used to create tailor made construction parts for biomedical technology or nanotechnology.

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3D-Printer with Nano-Precision (with video)

Summary: Researchers at the Vienna University of Technology have developed a method for fabricating intricately structured sculptures as tiny as a grain of sand in record speed.

Using a technique known as two-photon lithography, Austrian researchers have developed a high-precision 3D printer capable of producing nanometer sized objects in the shape of race cars, cathedrals, and bridges in a matter of minutes.

The high-precision-3D-printer at TU Vienna is purportedly orders of magnitude faster than similar devices, and opens up new areas of applications, such as in medicine.

The super fast nano-printer uses a liquid resin, which is hardened at precisely the correct spots by a focused laser beam. The focal point of the laser beam is guided through the resin by movable mirrors and leaves behind a hardened line of solid polymer, just a few hundred nanometers wide. The result is a detailed sculpture measuring a couple hundred of micrometers in length.

Until now, this technique used to be quite slow, says Professor Jrgen Stampfl from the Institute of Materials Science and Technology at the TU Vienna. The printing speed used to be measured in millimeters per second our device can do five meters in one second. In two-photon lithography, this is a world record.

The scientists at TU Vienna are now developing bio-compatible resins for medical applications that can be used to create scaffolds to which living cells can attach themselves for the systematic creation of biological tissues. The 3D printer could also be used to create tailor-made components for biomedical technology or nanotechnology.

The video below shows the 3D-printing process in real time. The very fast control mechanism connected to the laser beam produces 100 layers, consisting of approximately 200 single lines each, in four minutes.

Source: Vienna University of Technology

Related

Read more here:
3D printer with nano-precision sets world record