The Kite patch adheres to clothing, much like a sticker, and uses FDA-approved, non-toxic compounds that block a mosquito's ability to track humans for 48 hours.

The sticker was created by a team based in Riverside, CA, after 7 years of research and development by Olfactor Laboratories, Inc. and the University of California, Riverside.

The company behind the patch, ieCrowd, employed designers to make it withstand tough conditions. The product website for the sticker claims it is "perfectly suited for children in Uganda, professional athletes, families on the soccer field, outdoor enthusiasts, and workers in the suburbs of Manila."

Since mosquitos track humans through carbon dioxide release, the company notes that the Kite should work on all types of mosquitos, citing preliminary field trials that show the patch's effectiveness on many different species of mosquitos.

Though the patch should not replace mosquito nets at night in high-risk areas, the patch is being promoted as a replacement for sprays or lotions currently on the market.

Source

Now, a new technique based on an "intelligent knife," called the "iKnife," promises to remove the need for lab analysis and the accompanying delay, and it also helps avoid repeat surgeries.

The iKnife sniffs the "smoke" created by the electrosurgical removal of cancerous tissue and tells the surgeon almost immediately if the tissue it has come from is healthy or cancerous.

This first study appears online this week in Science Translational Medicine, in which the iKnife is tested in the operating room.

In tissue samples from 91 patients, researchers at Imperial College London using the iKnife achieved 100% accuracy in diagnosing whether the samples were cancerous or not.

Study author Dr. Zoltan Takats is the inventor of the iKnife. Asked if his new surgical tool would be confined to use in only certain types of cancer, he told Medical News Today:

"It is a generally applicable tool, we believe it will be useful for many different types of cancer surgeries."

On the question of cost-effectiveness, Dr. Takats told us:

"We believe that it will be a cost-saver - due to elimination of intraoperative histology, shorter intervention times and lower rate of re-operations."

iKnife combines electrosurgery with new mass spectrometry techniques

The iKnife is a combination of an established technology called electrosurgery that was invented in the 1920s and a new technology that is still emerging, called rapid evaporative ionization mass spectrometry (REIMS).

In electrosurgery, the surgeon's knife delivers an electric current that heats the target tissue and cuts through it while causing minimum loss of blood.

The heat from the current vaporizes the tissue, which gives off a smoke that is normally sucked away with an extractor.

The mass spectrometer technology behind REIMS almost instantly identifies the chemicals present in human tissue by analyzing the smoke that is released during electrosurgery.

Cells produce thousands of metabolites in various concentrations, depeding on their cell type. So once the REIMS technology is primed with the profiles of healthy and cancerous cells, it can rapidly use these to screen the sample of smoke and inform the surgeon whether it is from a tumor or healthy tissue.

The iKnife device "sniffs" smoke created when cancerous tissue is surgically removed, and it then determines whether the tissue is cancerous or healthy. Photo: Imperial College London

iKnife relies on a library of chemical profiles

In the first stage of the study, the researchers created a reference library of chemical profiles consisting of both healthy and cancerous tissue types for the iKnife. They collected samples from surgery patients, taking note of the characteristics of thousands of cancerous and non-cancerous tissues, including brain, lung, breast, stomach, colon and liver tumors.

In the second stage of the study, the team transferred the technology to the operating room and tested it on 91 patients. In all cases, the iKnife correctly identified the tissue type. The results were confirmed with lab tests on the samples after surgery.

Results delivered in under 3 seconds

By comparing the chemical profile of the tissue it is sampling to the reference library, the iKnife can deliver a result in under 3 seconds, say the researchers.

But for this study, the surgeons carrying out the procedures were not allowed to see the nearly instant readings from the iKnife.

The researchers now hope to run a clinical trial that tests whether giving surgeons access to iKnife readings during operations improves outcomes for patients.

Dr. Takats says in a statement:

"These results provide compelling evidence that the iKnife can be applied in a wide range of cancer surgery procedures."

As the technology delivers almost instant results, it allows "surgeons to carry out procedures with a level of accuracy that hasn't been possible before", he adds, noting that they "believe it has the potential to reduce tumor recurrence rates and enable more patients to survive."

Other applications: "Is this beef or horsemeat?"

Although this latest study uses the iKnife to test cancerous tissue, Takats says there is no reason why it couldn't also be used to test for other features, such as whether there is an adequate blood supply, or to identify types of bacteria in the tissue.

Dr. Takats says he has already used the iKnife to distinguish horsemeat from beef.

Source

Skipping breakfast may increase heart attack risk

MIKE STOBBE 11 hours agoHealth

Quote:

Skipping breakfast may increase heart attack risk

FILE - This March 26, 2012 file photo shows a plate of pancakes with blueberries and granola mixed in the batter in Concord, N.H. A study of older men found those who regularly skipped breakfast had a 27 percent higher risk of a heart attack than those who ate a morning meal. There's no reason why the results wouldn't apply to other people, too, the Harvard researchers said. (AP Photo/Matthew Mead, File)

MIKE STOBBE 11 hours agoHealth

View Gallery

ATLANTA (AP) — Another reason to eat breakfast: Skipping it may increase your chances of a heart attack.

A study of older men found those who regularly skipped breakfast had a 27 percent higher risk of a heart attack than those who ate a morning meal. There's no reason why the results wouldn't apply to other people, too, the Harvard researchers said.

Other studies have suggested a link between breakfast and obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and other health problems seen as precursors to heart problems.

"But no studies looked at long-term risk of heart attack," said Eric Rimm, one of the study authors at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Why would skipping breakfast be a heart attack risk?

Experts aren't certain, but here's what they think: People who don't eat breakfast are more likely to be hungrier later in the day and eat larger meals. Those meals mean the body must process a larger amount of calories in a shorter amount of time. That can spike sugar levels in the blood and perhaps lead to clogged arteries.

But is a stack of syrupy pancakes, greasy eggs and lots of bacon really better than eating nothing?

The researchers did not ask what the study participants ate for breakfast, and were not prepared to pass judgment on whether a fatty, sugary breakfast is better than no breakfast at all.

Other experts agreed that it's hard to say.

"We don't know whether it's the timing or content of breakfast that's important. It's probably both," said Andrew Odegaard, a University of Minnesota researcher who has studied a link between skipping breakfast and health problems like obesity and high blood pressure.

"Generally, people who eat breakfast tend to eat a healthier diet," he added.

The new research was released Monday by the journal Circulation. It was an observational study, so it's not designed to prove a cause and effect. But when done well, such studies can reveal important health risks.

The researchers surveyed nearly 27,000 men about their eating habits in 1992. About 13 percent of them said they regularly skipped breakfast. They all were educated health professionals — like dentists and veterinarians — and were at least 45.

Over the next 16 years, 1,527 suffered fatal or non-fatal heart attacks, including 171 who had said they regularly skipped breakfast.

In other words, over 7 percent of the men who skipped breakfast had heart attacks, compared to nearly 6 percent of those who ate breakfast.

The researchers calculated the increased risk at 27 percent, taking into account other factors like smoking, drinking, diet and health problems like high blood pressure and obesity.

As many as 18 percent of U.S. adults regularly skip breakfast, according to federal estimates. So the study could be important news for many, Rimm said.

"It's a really simple message," he said. "Breakfast is an important meal."