June 4, 2019
POCKET-SIZED SCANNER
In Papua New Guinea’s rugged Gulf Province, the Kamea people measure travel in terms of walking distance — there are few roads in sight. And so recently, when a woman named Yaniamo began to fear complications in her pregnancy, she walked for two days with her family to the nearest clinic, Kunai Health Centre. Challenges like these contribute to high infant and maternal mortality rates in Papua New Guinea, where many children are delivered at home and some parents wait until their infants turn a year old before naming them. But when Marie Elizabeth Bell, an American nurse, undertook a nine-month stint at the Kunai clinic, she found that medical workers there had a secret weapon to monitor the health of expectant mothers and their babies: an ultrasound so portable it fits in clinicians’ pockets.
In the palms of their hands: At Kunai, Yaniamo was examined by medical workers using Vscan with Dual Probe, a handheld ultrasound made by GE Healthcare that’s been a boon for infant and maternal health. “It can be life-changing for some of these expectant moms, as this may be the only medical care they receive during their entire pregnancy,” Bell said. In Yaniamo’s case, the scan revealed that her baby was transverse, making a natural delivery out of the question — and compelling clinic staff to call in a helicopter, which transported Yaniamo to a regional medical center where, with the help of a C-section, she and her husband welcomed a happy, healthy newborn.
Read more here about how handheld ultrasounds can help remote medical clinics and their patients.
WHAT THE SOFTWARE ORDERED
Last year, GE Healthcare announced it was teaming up with Swiss-based pharmaceuticals and diagnostic giant Roche to create digital platforms for “precision health” in oncology and critical care. They’re seeking to create products that combine in vivo data (obtained from radiological imaging of tumors) and in vitro data (results from sophisticated lab tests that reveal tissue pathology, genomic change and so on) and use smart algorithms to crunch the numbers. The systems also will integrate data from electronic medical records, medical best practices and the latest research. The partners have just released the first fruits of their collaboration: NAVIFY Tumor Board 2.0, which pools all that info to give docs a more comprehensive view of individual patients — and help them determine the best course of treatment.
On the same page: NAVIFY Tumor Board 2.0, said GE Healthcare Imaging president and CEO Tom McGuinness, “will enable oncology teams to align more quickly on the most optimal diagnosis and treatment plan for the benefit of each patient.” For instance, it allows radiologists to upload their patient records to the same digital dashboard that holds patient files from doctors of other disciplines on the cancer care team. That way, according to Roche, specialists can “use the limited time they have during tumor boards to review all relevant files quickly and align on the best possible treatment plan.”
Read more here about how hospitals can use the power of data to fight cancer.
PIGS: 0, CERAMICS: 1
“There may be more pigs flying than ceramics in the future,” concluded an Institute for Defense Analyses consideration of the uses of ceramics in aviation in 2001 — after all, the stuff is known to coffee drinkers for its ability to keep a beverage warm but also for how easily it cracks. Today, though, ceramics aren’t just legitimate contenders for flight; they’re the key to an advanced material that’s one of the most exciting parts of the aviation business. Combining silicon carbide, ceramic fibers, and ceramic resin, ceramic matrix composites are as tough as metal while retaining the superior heat-handling characteristics of, well, ceramics. And they’re lightweight, to boot. CMCs are expected to allow GE — which helped develop the material — to increase engine thrust by 25% and fuel efficiency by 10%.
Advancing in LEAPs and bounds: GE spent decades and more than a billion dollars researching and developing CMCs as a component of engine turbines, and nowadays it manufactures the materials at four interrelated American production sites. CMCs can withstand temperatures up to 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit — when most metal alloys begin to soften — and are used to build a crucial turbine component in the best-selling LEAP engine, produced by CFM International, a 50-50 joint venture between GE Aviation and Safran Aircraft Engines. That’s just the beginning of their promise, though, says GE Aviation’s Gary Mercer: “As you think of the future of flight, light and hotter are two constants. With the reemergence of supersonic, hypersonic, and reusable space vehicles, it is easy to see how CMCs will add value to future propulsion and airframes alike.”
GE first began developing CMCs to work in machines like large natural gas turbines. Read more here about how engineers are launching them up to cruise altitude — and beyond.
COOLEST THINGS ON EARTH ?
1. Tiny Submarines
Researchers at the University of New South Wales have devised a microscopic “submarine” — inspired by the real thing — that could sail through the human body to deliver drugs right where they need to be.
2. Skai High
Massachusetts-based Alaka’i Technologies has unveiled a prototype of Skai, a five-person air taxi that takes off and lands vertically and is fueled by super-sustainable hydrogen cells.
3. Extraterrestrial DNA
For the first time, scientists aboard the International Space Station have used CRISPR/Cas9 technology to successfully edit genes in space — in an experiment designed in part by some Minnesota high schoolers.
Read more about this week’s Coolest Things on Earth here.
— QUOTE OF THE DAY —
“We are at generation one with CMCs.”
— Gary Mercer, vice president of engineering at GE Aviation
Quote: GE Reports. Image: Getty Images.
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