Posted on 08/22/2024 8:10:13 AM PDT by Red Badger
Newly developed battery-powered electric bandages could help wounds heal more quickly, a new study reports.
In animal testing, wounds treated with electric bandages healed 30% faster than wounds treated with conventional bandages, researchers reported Aug. 7 in the journal Science Advances.
The bandages could be a game-changer in treating slow-healing wounds caused by diabetes and other chronic illnesses, researchers say. Those sorts of wounds significantly increase a person’s risk of amputation and death.
“Our goal here was to develop a far less expensive technology that accelerates healing in patients with chronic wounds,” said researcher Amay Bandodkar, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at North Carolina State University.
“We also wanted to make sure that the technology is easy enough for people to use at home, rather than something that patients can only receive in clinical settings,” Bandodkar noted in a university news release.
The study is part of a larger Defense Department-funded effort to accelerate wound healing through different types of innovative dressings, researchers said.
These electric bandages have electrodes on one side and a small water-powered battery on the other, researchers said.
The dressing is applied so that the electrodes contact the wound, and the battery is activated with a drop of water. The bandage then produces an electric field for several hours.
“That electric field is critical, because it’s well established that electric fields accelerate healing in chronic wounds,” said lead researcher Rajaram Kaveti, a post-doctoral researcher at NC State.
The electrodes are flexible, so they can maintain contact with deep and irregularly shaped wounds, researchers said.
“We tested the wound dressings in diabetic mice, which are a commonly used model for human wound healing,” said lead researcher Maggie Jakus, a doctoral student in biomedical engineering at Columbia University.
“We found that the electrical stimulation from the device sped up the rate of wound closure, promoted new blood vessel formation, and reduced inflammation, all of which point to overall improved wound healing,” Jakus said.
Importantly, the bandages are cheap. “We’re talking about a couple of dollars per dressing in overhead costs,” Bandodkar said.
Researchers next plan to fine-tune the electrical field produced by the bandage, in preparation for clinical trials in humans.
The research is still preliminary and experts note that animal research does not always pan out in humans.
“Diabetic foot ulceration is a serious problem that can lead to lower extremity amputations,” said researcher Aristidis Veves, a professor of surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Center in Boston. “There is urgent need for new therapeutic approaches, as the last one that was approved by the Food and Drug Administration was developed more than 25 years ago.”
The new bandage could “revolutionize the management of diabetic foot ulcers,” Veves said.
The gas powered ones are better.
“it’s well established that electric fields accelerate healing in chronic wounds”
Then why has it taken so long to have a wound dressing available that produced an electric field? Such a dressing doesn’t have to be as small as a bandage.
Of all the unlikely places to hear prophesy, I recall a Firesign Theater skit from the late ‘60s (We Are All Bozos on This Bus) where there was a repeating line “The future is electric”. It sure seems that way now.
“Many a truth are spaked in jest!”
I’ve seen collagen dressings do amazing things.
WHY - even though break-throughs in medical technology and efficiency come out every day (and same in the general economy too) - our government-imposed medical costs are higher than ever, and Americans’ life expectancy is actually flat or dropping?
I know they answer - but it seems very few people ask this question
The ancients used honey to heal wounds and it’s just now being touted by medical researchers as a possible cure for some types of cancer.................
You will now meet the President
“The future is electric”.
I thought it was essential oils.
Importantly, the bandages are cheap. “We’re talking about a couple of dollars per dressing in overhead costs,” Bandodkar said.
Boy and I thought a box of Band-Aid brand adhesive bandages was up there. Guess Wal-Mart will have to lock up the flux bandages.
i just climb a utility pole and grab as many wires as i can to get speedy healing-
popular bandages are now said to have ‘forever plastics’ that invade the body when worn- Curad, Baindaid, and other popular brands apparently have them-
Presto-chango:
>>>
So Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi presses, “There are many people suffering and in pain. How will I know who Mashiach is?”
Elijah concludes, “All the other sufferers will be unwrapping their bandages in one continuous motion. Mashiach, however, will remove and reapply one bandage at a time, strip by strip.”
What does he mean, “strip by strip”? The people who are suffering from disease and injury tie and untie their bandages at the same time. But Mashiach wraps one finger, one joint, one wound at a time. This is because when Mashiach is finally called, he won’t even wait for the blink of an eye. He won’t have to take the time to finish reapplying a lengthy bandage. He’ll be able to save his people immediately.
<<<
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/137086/jewish/Nun.htm
Well, now he can use Modern Electric bandages..............
“he won’t even wait for the blink of an eye”
That even beats out 88 mph.
No need to wait for the bolt of lightning.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/voil%C3%A0#French
Interjection
voilà
Lo, there it is; see here; ta-da; presto; behold!
Literally, “look there”. From vois (“see!, look!”), second-person singular imperative of voir (“to see, to look”) and là (“there”).
YOU WIN POST OF THE DAY
Yes, and I remember the one-word advice line from "The Graduate" about plastics. It would've been damn good advice.
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