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At least 1,063 records · Page 59
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1988

Research Help

The Electrosynthesis Co. Inc.'s Electrocinerator System integrates a highly effective air scrubber with an electrochemical cell to provide an apparatus capable of destroying virtually all toxic chemicals and airborne bacteria. Project (funded by DOD) is prospective means of decontaminating airborne chemicals and biological warfare agents. Also has broad civil use applicable to hospitals for destruction of airborne viruses and bacteria, and industrial use for elimination of toxic solvent vapors and malodorous emissions.

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NASA NTRS1990

Laser Angioplasty

The principal method of dealing with coronary artery blockage is bypass surgery. A non-surgical alternative available to some patients is balloon angioplasty. For several years, medical researchers have been exploring another alternative that would help a wider circle of patients than the balloon treatment and entail less risk than bypass surgery. A research group is on the verge of an exciting development: laser angioplasty with a 'cool' type of laser, called an excimer laser, that does not damage blood vessel walls and offers non-surgical cleansing of clogged arteries with extraordinary precision. The system is the Dymer 200+ Excimer Laser Angioplasty System, developed by Advanced Intraventional Systems. Used in human clinical tests since 1987, the system is the first fully integrated 'cool' laser capable of generating the requisite laser energy and delivering the energy to target arteries. Thirteen research hospitals in the U.S. have purchased Dymer 200+ systems and used them in clinical trials in 121 peripheral and 555 coronary artery cases. The success rate in opening blocked coronary arteries is 85 percent, with fewer complications than in balloon angioplasty. Food and Drug Administration approval for the system is hoped for in the latter part of 1990. * Advanced Intraventional Systems became Spectranetics in 1994 and discontinued the product.

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NASA NTRS1990

Body Imaging

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Computer-aided Tomography (CT) images are often complementary. In most cases, MRI is good for viewing soft tissue but not bone, while CT images are good for bone but not always good for soft tissue discrimination. Physicians and engineers in the Department of Radiology at the University of Michigan Hospitals are developing a technique for combining the best features of MRI and CT scans to increase the accuracy of discriminating one type of body tissue from another. One of their research tools is a computer program called HICAP. The program can be used to distinguish between healthy and diseased tissue in body images.

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NASA NTRS1989

Clean Room Apparel

American Hospital Supply Corporation (AHSC), Baxter Healthcare Corporation's predecessor, used the NASA informational base on contamination control technology to improve industrial contamination control technology. When a study determined that microscopic body particles escaping through tiny "windows" in woven garments worn by workers were the greatest source of contamination, AHSC developed TYVEK. This non-woven material filters 99% of all particulate matter larger than half a micron. Baxter Healthcare added a polyimide coating which seals and ties down any loose fibers, providing greater durability. Stress points along seams have been minimized to make the garment almost tearproof. Micro-Clean 212 garments are individually packaged and disposable.

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NASA NTRS1989

Space Technology for Patient Monitoring

A contract for the development of an astronaut monitoring system in the early days of the space program provided Mennen Medical, Inc. with a foundation in telemetry that led to the development of a computerized medical electronic system used by hospitals. Mennen was the first company to adopt solid state design in patient monitoring and to offer multipatient telemetry monitoring. Telemetry converts instrument data to electrical signals and relays them to a remote receiver where they are displayed. From a central station, a nurse can monitor several patients. Company products include VISTA systems and Horizon 2000 Monitor.

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NASA NTRS1985

Microbe Detector

Under NASA contracts, McDonnell Douglas developed a microbial load monitor to detect bacterial contamination. Vitek Systems, Inc., a subsidiary, was created to commercialize the product for analyzing body fluids. With the AutoMicrobic System, infections may be treated more quickly. The process involves injecting the fluid into identification cards and screening the reaction. Antibiotic treatments are also suggested. Time in hospital and human error is reduced. There are also possible industrial and environmental applications.

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NASA NTRS1984

Ingestible Toothpaste

Developed by Dr. Ira L. Shannon, dental consultant to Johnson Space Center associates with Oral Disease Research Lab of Virginia Hospital in Houston, TX. Toothpaste is foamless and can be swallowed after use, making it practical for zero-gravity environment of space. Also has applications with certain patients who are bedridden, wheelchair confined or patients with oral facial paralysis whose ability to expectorate is limited. Also useful as a first toothpaste for children. This product is no longer commercially available.

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NASA NTRS2002

Preparation and Characterization of Polyimide Nanocomposites

Many properties of polymeric materials can be enhanced by dispersing small quantities of clay nanocomposites throughout the polymer. Among the enhancements are increases in modulus and resistance to erosion by atomic oxygen and reductions in thermal expansivity, gas permeability, and flammability. To achieve the full extent of enhancement with these polymer-clay nanocomposites, the clay nanoparticles, which have thicknesses of only one-to-several nanometers and lengths and widths of hundreds of nanometers to micrometers, must be exfoliated one from another and then individually dispersed throughout the polymer. This dispersion is achieved only after alkali metal cations (usually Na(+)) that reside on the surfaces of the nanoparticles have been replaced by organocations (typically a quaternary amine cation). This renders the surface of the nanoparticle a more hospitable interface for the organic polymer matrix. Following the cation exchange, the organic clay is either mixed directly into the polymer or is dispersed in monomer which is later polymerized around the nanoparticle.

Orwoll, Robert A.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Medical Gas Analyzer

The Remote Monitoring System (RMS) is manufactured by Perkin Elmer Corporation. The principal component of the RMS was originally developed for spacecraft use to monitor astronaut's respiratory gases in NASA's Gemini and Apollo program. At Wishard Memorial Hospital in Indianapolis, IN, the RMS is used in operating rooms for analysis of anesthetic gases and measurement of oxygen, carbon dioxide and nitrogen concentrations. It assures that the patient undergoing surgery has the proper breathing environment.

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NASA NTRS1983

Apparel for Cleaner Clean Rooms

In the 1960s NASA pioneered contamination control technology, providing a base from which aerospace contractors could develop control measures. NASA conducted special courses for clean room technicians and supervisors, and published a series of handbooks with input from various NASA field centers. These handbooks extended aerospace experience to the medical, pharmaceutical, electronics, and other industries where extreme cleanliness is important. American Hospital Supply Company (AHSC) felt that high technology products with increasingly stringent operating requirements in aerospace, electronics, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment manufacturing demanded improvement in contamination control techniques. After studying the NASA handbooks and visiting NASA facilities, the wealth of information gathered resulted in Micro-clean non-woven garments and testing equipment and procedures for evaluating effectiveness.

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NASA NTRS1982

Communicable Disease Research

The COSMIC program FITLOS is used regularly by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), for analyzing data from radioimmunoassays, which involve testing human body substances to provide information on how deficits or excesses of those substances affect a body's ability to ward off disease. A liquid scintillation counter's data is analyzed by the FITLOS program. FITLOS data, then aids in establishing reference methods for hospitals and other health laboratories in their radioimmunoassays. CDC's use of this program enabled them to avoid the cost of designing and developing a new program.

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NASA NTRS1982

Medical Products Research

Ventrex Laboratories, Inc. develops, manufactures and markets a line of medical diagnostic assays based on biochemical techniques, in particular immunochemical techniques. Their products are sold worldwide to hospitals and medical laboratories for use in testing blood samples and other biological fluids. Analysis of a patient's body fluids, compared with normal values, aids a physician in confirming or otherwise diagnosing a suspected disease condition. NERAC's rapid information retrieval has provided Ventrex invaluable up-to-date information, and has permitted large scale savings. NERAC's service was particularly important in the development of a new product in the company's Ventre/Sep line, which is used in radioimmunoassays.

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NASA NTRS1980

Implantable Heart Aid

Medrad utilized NASA's Apollo technology to develop a new device called the AID implantable automatic pulse generator which monitors the heart continuously, recognizes the onset of ventricular fibrillation and delivers a corrective electrical shock. AID pulse generator is, in effect, a miniaturized version of the defibrillator used by emergency squads and hospitals to restore rhythmic heartbeat after fibrillation, but has the unique advantage of being permanently available to the patient at risk. Once implanted, it needs no specially trained personnel or additional equipment. AID system consists of a microcomputer, a power source and two electrodes which sense heart activity.

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NASA NTRS1976

Breast Cancer Detection

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has come up with a technique to decrease exposure to harmful x-rays in mammographies or breast radiography. Usually, physicians make more than one exposure to arrive at an x-ray film of acceptable density. Now the same solar cells used to convert sunlight into electricity on space satellites can make a single exposure sufficient. When solar cell sensor is positioned directly beneath x-ray film, it can determine exactly when film has received sufficient radiation and has been exposed to optimum density. At that point associated electronic equipment sends signal to cut off x-ray source. Reduction of mammography to single exposures not only reduced x-ray hazard significantly, but doubled the number of patient examinations handled by one machine. The NASA laboratory used this control system at the Huntington Memorial Hospital with overwhelming success.

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NASA NTRS1976

Projecting Health Needs

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has developed a computer model for planning future health care needs in the Los Angeles area. The model integrates demographic health and other data to provide rational projections of hospital bed and physician specialty requirements.

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NASA NTRS1976

Gait Analysis Laboratory

Complete motion analysis laboratory has evolved out of analyzing walking patterns of crippled children at Stanford Children's Hospital. Data is collected by placing tiny electrical sensors over muscle groups of child's legs and inserting step-sensing switches in soles of shoes. Miniature radio transmitters send signals to receiver for continuous recording of abnormal walking pattern. Engineers are working to apply space electronics miniaturization techniques to reduce size and weight of telemetry system further as well as striving to increase signal bandwidth so analysis can be performed faster and more accurately using a mini-computer.

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NASA NTRS1976

Offsetting Gravity

The Coastal Center and the NASA Biomedical Team are working together to adapt a suspension device that simulates weightlessness. Attempts to approximate weightlessness have led astronauts underwater and into harnesses that suspend all or part of their weight. One such device, built at Langley Research Center, is being transferred to rehabilitation work. It can help a person walk and re-learn muscular coordination following a stroke. Hospitals could use it to lift handicapped persons.

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NASA NTRS1976

Arteriosclerosis Detection

The Veterans Administration Hospital used computer image-processing techniques to detect arteriosclerosis. Originally developed by Goddard Space Flight Center engineers to enhance spacecraft pictures, this device replaced the previous testing for this disease which was extremely painful and time consuming. With this instrument, computer detected edges are shown along with an estimate of location of pre-arteriosclerosis vessel wall. The difference between the two represents the relative amount of disease in the blood vessel. Instrumentation will be expanded again in 1976 to analyze the coronary arteries and the blood vessels of the retina.

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