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- Energy Vector: solar-powered ambulance and new 3D printing technologies
Energy Vector: solar-powered ambulance and new 3D printing technologies
Russian experts have found ways to speed up drug testing, avoid fires due to electric accumulators, and ease the symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Researchers from Canada have learned how to prepress new parts on ready-made devices, and in the Netherlands they introduced the first solar-powered ambulance. Read more about the most interesting science news of the week in the Izvestia collection.
"Smart" sensors will warn about the ignition of scooters and phones
Scientists from the National Research Nuclear University "MEPhI" have developed devices capable of warning in advance about the ignition of lithium-ion batteries, which are widely used in smartphones, electric scooters, robotics and other equipment. The system consists of modules with gas analytical sensors that detect dangerous processes in batteries by changing the composition of the air. According to Yulia Shaltayeva, the project manager, gas analytical methods allow detecting changes in air composition at the initial stage of heating and taking timely measures.
— The development is a line of compact devices, inside which semiconductor and electrochemical sensors are placed. The combination of sensors depends on the type of battery that needs to be protected," the expert noted.
The devices have now been tested in the laboratory and in the field, she said. During the tests, sensors at a distance of 5 m detected dangerous heating of the batteries of the wireless headphones.
As Yulia Shaltayeva explained, the danger is posed by cases when users leave their phones, headphones or scooters on for charging for a long time, while they leave or go to bed. In such a situation, thermal acceleration can begin imperceptibly, and by the time it is detected, when smoke or an open fire appears, gorenje is already difficult to stop. It is ineffective to fill it with water or cover it with a blanket.
— Today, battery management systems, temperature sensors, thermal imaging, gas analyzers, and so on are used to monitor this threat, but there is no universal and inexpensive means for mass use yet. If the development reliably captures characteristic gases, it will significantly increase the safety of devices with lithium—ion batteries," added Evgeny Vishnevsky, an expert at the National Technology Initiative for New Materials and Technologies.
According to him, the development will be in demand in places where a large number of equipment is stored and operated: in electric bus fleets, scooter parking lots, warehouses, but it is unlikely to become a mass-market product due to the high cost.
Solar-powered ambulance developed in the Netherlands
A student team from the Technical University of Eindhoven (the Netherlands) has developed and presented a new ambulance vehicle that can operate in areas where there is no fuel, electricity, or drivable roads. Solar panels are installed on the roof of the car, which allow it to travel up to 715 km without recharging and operate efficiently in extremely hot climates. They also provide electricity to the equipment on board.
A car will replace a hospital in places where it takes a long time or is very difficult to get to it. Visiting doctors will be able to conduct blood tests, ultrasound pregnancy diagnostics and vaccination, identify tuberculosis and malaria.
If the real-world tests are successful, the new Stella Juva will take medical care in remote communities to a new level. Patients will be able to receive timely treatment, which will improve the life expectancy and quality of life of residents of remote areas of African countries where they plan to use a car.
Intestinal-mimicking membrane will speed up drug testing
The Institute of Biomedical Engineering of NUST MISIS has created a membrane that reproduces the permeability of the human small intestine about 100 times more accurately than standard laboratory models. In the future, this will improve the accuracy of preclinical drug testing.
Every year, up to 90% of drugs that have shown high results in vitro (in the laboratory) and in animal experiments turn out to be ineffective for humans in further research, the scientists said, so up to 75% of the cost of developing a new drug is wasted. NUST MISIS has developed a membrane that will minimize these losses.
— We have managed to form a membrane with a stable microrelief that does not smooth out. It is thanks to the combination of shape and properly selected porosity that we can grow intestinal epithelial cells on the surface. They form a living barrier capable of mimicking both a healthy mucosa and its pathologies. To create conditions for an even distribution of cells over a complex surface, we additionally treated it with chitosan and polyglutamic acid," said Valentina Kostenko, co—author of the study and graduate of the university's iPhD Biomaterial Science program.
A patent application has already been filed for a new method for producing a biomimetic membrane.
—The development can serve as the basis for a more advanced model, which in the future will speed up and reduce the cost of drug testing at the stage of choosing the optimal dosage form, replacing some stages of pharmacokinetic tests on animals," Arkady Zinchenko, head of the analytical research department at the R-Pharm Medical Directorate, told Izvestia.
At the same time, development is only the first stage of creating a universal platform. To turn the model into a full-fledged system for drug testing, there are several more difficult tasks to be solved. In particular, it is necessary to simulate the mechanical deformation of the membrane under the influence of intestinal motility, both in normal and pathological conditions, such as diarrhea or constipation. Nevertheless, this work is already setting a high standard in the field of biomedical engineering and laying the foundation for the creation of new generation drug testing platforms.
Switzerland has learned how to print new parts on ready-made devices
Scientists have introduced a new 3D printing method that allows adding elements to previously made objects in a few seconds. According to their forecasts, the development will find application in biomedicine, industry and many other fields.
Unlike 3D printers, the new device creates a three-dimensional structure not in layers, but simultaneously. The installation projects a variety of light images into a rotating container with photosensitive resin, and when the resin receives enough light, the desired structure hardens. This process takes only a few seconds.
The developers have created a computing platform that simulates the propagation of light, taking into account the properties of all materials involved in the process of creating a three-dimensional structure, which allows you to print new elements even around and inside objects. The researchers demonstrated this possibility by printing a network of microfluidic channels inside already assembled sealed chambers. Such devices are used in biomedicine and are assembled manually, and now the process of creating them can be made faster and safer.
In less than three minutes, the device detected the spheres inside the camera and created protective cavities around them, such capabilities will allow the new printers to adapt to the location of living tissues and save a person from having to perfectly position them in advance.
The developers conducted a number of experiments that showed that the new printing method can also be used in industry — when creating optical devices.
Electrodes to the brain for the treatment of Parkinson's disease can be connected wirelessly
Russian scientists have found a non-toxic wireless replacement for electrodes that were previously implanted in the brains of people with Parkinson's disease. Nickel and cobalt, which are dangerous to human health, have been replaced with magnetite particles, surrounding them with a shell made of a biodegradable polymer. According to experts, microparticles are able to simulate involuntary processes and activate them remotely.
Experiments on mice have shown that under the influence of a magnetic field, nanoparticles made of magnetic materials packed in polymers can form pulses of electricity that affect the functioning of neurons. In the laboratory, they successfully changed the breathing rate and pulse of mice. Now the new design is being improved and refined. Scientists hope that in the near future it will help hundreds of patients suffering from Parkinson's disease.
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