Science Forward Fall 2018

Dr. Edyta Greer, Baruch College

Author: karishmamalhotra

Blog Post 2!

November 9, 2018 / / 0 Comments

The healthcare innovation project is my first time experimenting with 3D design tools and programs. Reflecting on all the workshops hosted by Maker Hub, I am realizing the progress the human race will be able to make after perfecting the process of 3D printing. Whereas the foundation for sustainable 3D printing has been developing for decades, we are now in the prime time where development is at its highest peak. Scientists are successfully printing medicine, organs and affecting many industries. As the operational efficiency of 3D printing increases and the operational cost decreases, 3D printing will be even more widespread and available to grass roots businesses rather than just large corporations. As I learn more about this fascinating innovation, I also ponder on the role of automation on human jobs. As technology advances, and the role of humans in factories decrease, are we creating our own route to unemployment? How will the employable job force sustain themselves in the future. In the face of large cross-industrial innovations in the past, humans have always adapted quickly in a dynamic environment and refined their own skills. However, automation is mainly attacking the jobs of unskilled workers. Soon that entire population will have to develop new skills in order to sustain themselves.

HI Project Proposal – Refrigeration Cube

October 15, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Group Members: Mark, Karishma, AJ

        Emergency rooms across America come face to face with limb amputations and cases with detached body parts caused by household accidents. While treatment of such cases has progressed due to evolving medical technology, a large factor in these cases is the handling of the detached body part from the site of the accident to the hospital. Many people are unaware of the right procedure to follow in such cases and thus, choose to ice the body part while waiting for appropriate medical care. However, this method actually damages the limb further and decreases the chances of successful reattachment. The best practice would be to first disinfect the limb and then cool it within measure, never putting it directly in contact with ice. Furthermore, when ambulances do arrive on the scene of the accident, they also lack best practices to handle the body part. Our proposed healthcare innovation is a refrigeration box that has two compartments: one to disinfect the body part and the other to keep it at an optimal temperature until appropriate medical care is available. The settings of the box would allow you to control the temperature of the box in order to adjust it for different body parts.

        Our group was inspired not only by our personal experiences with cases dealing with bad injuries, but also because we have done extensive research to come to the conclusion that the majority of everyday civilians don’t know what to do when confronted with this issue, and even worse, there hasn’t been enough developed technology to make this treatment process efficient yet safe. We also knew that the reattachment of limbs was greatly affected by the process of taking care of the severed appendages, arteries, and veins. As stated by Elana Glowatz, “No matter where surgeons attach an errant limb, the process involves restoring blood flow in the appendage by re-connecting the arteries, through which blood enters the body part, and the veins, through which it leaves.” (Glowatz 2018) Overall, we confirmed a lot about what we already knew on the background of our healthcare innovation, but also learned a lot of new interesting facts that enabled us to take into account the temperature we wanted to set inside our box, the different dimensions, as well as the different target groups we wanted to advertise too.

        With regards to the functionality of the product, as stated earlier, we plan for it to be a refrigeration cube that is divided into two sections: the disinfection side and the preservation side. The purpose of this cube is to enable the severed body part to maintain future functionality while being detached from the body. By using the refrigeration cube, there will potentially be a much higher success rate of attaching disjointed limbs, compared to the old method of separately disinfecting the body part, putting it in a bag, and then placing it on ice. Our target market for this product was originally predominantly for ambulances and hospitals. Although this is still our main avenue, we plan to market to the military as well. There are many cases of individuals losing limbs, and we believe our product will be able to help in the process of re-attaching those limbs more properly and efficiently.

        Overall, as we create 3D models of our product and do further research surrounding the technicals and necessity of this product, we are certain that we can create a useful refrigeration cube. With proper research and development, we will be able to find the ideal target market and turn our idea into a marketable, successful, and helpful product.

Refrigeration of Amputated Limbs

October 10, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Group: Abishek, Mark

 

Peer Reviewed Journal

 

Brubacher, Jacob W., and Charles D. Jennings. “Fingertip Injuries and Amputations – OrthoInfo – AAOS.” OrthoInfo. July 2016. Accessed October 10, 2018. https://orthoinfo.aaos.org/en/diseases–conditions/fingertip-injuries-and-amputations.

 

In the article “Fingertip Injuries and Amputations” that relays information directly from the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, the authors discuss all major details of taking care of an amputated finger from its immediate required care to the physical examination by the doctor to the complications that may arise. The article first shares a diagram of the finger and explains the different parts that could suffer an injury. Next, the article covers first aid and the difference between exposed bone injury and injury without exposed bone. Injury in which the bone is not exposed may be able to heal on its own in due time, however exposed bone injury often required reconstruction surgery. Furthermore, the article places emphasis on how not to handle these injuries: including the fact that the amputated finger should never be put in contact with ice directly because that can lead to additional complications. I plan to emphasising this main point in explaining the need for my healthcare innovation in my project. I plan to use the credibility of the authors and the journal reviewers to my advantage as they are well qualified individuals. Jacob W Brubacher, MD, received his degree from Yale University School of Medicine and had been practicing Orthopedic surgery for over eight years. Charles D Jennings, MD is a board certified orthopedic surgeon who studied at the University of Kansas.

 

Popular Media Article

 

Scheve, Tom. “Can Body Parts Be Reattached after Accidental Amputation?” HowStuffWorks. July 18, 2011. Accessed October 10, 2018. https://health.howstuffworks.com/medicine/can-body-parts-be-reattached2.htm.

 

This article is written by Tom Scheve, a freelance writer who studied English and Journalism at the University of Georgia, is credible because it cites many credible sources including the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, Fox News, and Time Magazine. This article thoroughly discusses body part transplants and plastic surgery. However, I will be focusing on the part of this article that speaks to the preservation of derailed body parts. Scheve mentions, “Limbs can be reattached as many as four days after amputation if refrigerated” (1) whereas if proper care is not given to the body part, it only remains viable for 12 hours. The immediate care provided to the body part is of the utmost importance because it decides the success rate of the reattachment surgery and the chance of complication occurring. This concept further emphasizes the need for our healthcare innovation that advocates for the proper refrigeration of derailed body parts in ambulances.

 

Peer Reviewed Journal

 

Shauver, Melissa J., Takanobu Nishizuka, Hitoshi Hirata, and Kevin C. Chung. “Traumatic Finger Amputation Treatment Preference among Hand Surgeons in the US and Japan.” Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. April 2016. Accessed October 10, 2018. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5079431/.

 

I chose this peer reviewed article to support my healthcare innovation because it compares and contrasts the methods of amputation treatment in the United States and Japan. I was able to gain a wealth of knowledge about the requirements of each course of treatment and what condition the amputated body part needs to be in. This also helped expand my background knowledge on amputated body parts that will help me build my argument for my healthcare innovation. The authors of this article are all from their respective Departments of Surgery at their accredited universities.

BioBlitz Worksheet – Mark, Karishma, AJ

October 9, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Group Members: Mark Kashani, Karishma Malhotra, AJ Johnson

1. What is the final version of the question you are interested in asking?

How does the variation of plant life in NYC Parks affect each respective environment?

2. List some keywords to use when searching for related scientific literature. Be specific!

Ecosystem, air quality, water quality (acidity), variation, germination, roots/taproots, chlorophyll, chloroplast

3. Where will your data come from? Do you need to collect new data? Please describe.

Our data will primarily come from the BioBlitz research that has been conducted over the past few years in the various NYC parks. The BioBlitz observations will enable us to understand what fauna and flora are found in the parks; however, we will be doing some outside research to figure out exactly how the specific plants found in these areas affect the surrounding environment.

4. What will you be measuring or comparing? What are the dependent and independent variables?

We will be measuring the characteristics of certain plants in different parks, then comparing those characteristics to see the effects on the surrounding environment. The independent variables will be the plants, and their characteristics, found throughout NYC Parks. Meanwhile, the dependent variables will be the surrounding air quality, water quality, animals, and insects with respect to plant life.

5. Please make a list of your methods. If you are using existing BioBlitz data, you do not need to describe those data collection methods on this worksheet, but you do need to describe how you are extracting the relevant data from the entire BioBlitz data set.

  1. Begin by analyzing our own plant observations from BioBlitz (which we have a picture of), and cross-reference them with other plant observations to find the most abundant species
  2. Then use previous BioBlitz data to collect information on plant life in other NYC Parks
  3. Organize our data to portray the 5 most abundant plant species in each park
  4. Then go back to the BioBlitz Data Base, including observations from this year, and write down observations about air quality, water quality, animal life, and insect life
  5. Lastly, use outside research to connect how these specific plants found in the parks impact their surrounding environment and lead to the outcomes shown by the dependent variables

6. Why is this question interesting to you? Why should others care about this topic?

This research question is of interest to our group because after visiting Inwood Hill Park, we realized the variation of plant life in each park across NYC and the major impact it had on each environment it was placed in. Others should share this same concern because they may live in many similar environments and there may be plant life in our experiment that can improve the quality of their environment.

Correctly Protecting Derailed Body Parts

October 2, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Many people face horrifying household accidents in which they derail their body parts whether it be cutting off a finger or losing a toe. While they make their way to the hospital, most people make the mistake of putting their body part in direct contact with ice to preserve it, however this is a mistake. It is medically proven that icing the body part damages it and could lead to potential disabilities and deformations. Instead, the correct protocol would be to keep it cold but NEVER allow direct contact with ice. I propose a box or freezer type object that ambulances can install in order to keep any derailed body parts at the right temperature to protect from further damage until proper medical treatment is available.

Blog Post #1

September 28, 2018 / / 0 Comments

In order to write an appealing article, it is incumbent upon the author to understand their audience. If I were writing an scientific article to the general public, I would be sure to emphasize why this scientific topic or innovation was so important. The best way to do this is to relate the scientific discovery to them directly. For example, I would include how this could directly affect their life. Thus, I would have hooked my audience to continue reading my article. I would also include statistics and my own background to establish my credibility with the audience. I think scientific research is well represented in the media when it is relevant to the audience. For example, a population in New York City might not be most interested in a scientific innovation on the other side of the world if it has no correlation to them. However, if it is an innovation that will raise the standard of living in New York, it will appeal to them much more. I definitely think science in the popular media can improve because right now, most popular media science articles either are too anecdotal or too scientific. By finding the perfect balance between storytelling and sharing research, authors will ensure that they are delivering important news as well as capturing their audience’s attention. Something that I found interesting in other people’s presentations was how the popular media reports would draw conclusions not originally included in the research to capture the audience. For example, some articles failed to mention the innovation was used in animals and not yet in humans just to capture the attention of the audience.

Paraphrase Assignment

September 11, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Throughout the United States, school nurses face conflict while attempting to execute appropriate treatment to their patients as specific emergency action plans outlined by health care providers conflict with school district guidelines, and the Academy of Asthma, Allergy and Immunology guidelines. This conflict frequently causes a delay in treatments which creates confusion and chaos and increases potential risk of anaphylaxis. Recently, many studies conducted on this topic reveal the undertreatment of severe reactions with epinephrine as a major safety concern among school children ((Boyce et al., 2010; Carlisle et a., 2010; Fleischer et al., 2012; Nowak-Wegrzyn, 2012b)). Because school nurses are able to work with both providers and parents, they are instrumental in ensuring the safety of the children under their care (Wahl et al. 2015, 97).

Nano-Swarm Robots Developed by Hong Kong Scientists

September 7, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Popular Article: 

Wang, Cat. “Hong Kong Scientists Develop New ‘nano-swarm’ Robots.” CNN. September 04, 2018. Accessed September 07, 2018. https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/04/health/nano-swarm-robots-intl/index.html.

 

 

Primary Source: 

Yu, Jiangfan, Ben Wang, Xingzhou Du, Qianqian Wang, and Li Zhang. “Ultra-extensible Ribbon-like Magnetic Microswarm.” Nature News. August 21, 2018. Accessed September 07, 2018. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-05749-6#Sec12.

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