European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 09, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Researchers Hope this robotic probe is the forerunner of devices that will travel inside the body performing surgery. Tiny robot might be surgeon of the future by Jon Marcus the associated press researchers at Mit in Cambridge mass., want to put a Bug in your ear. Actually it s a tiny robot that looks like a Bug. Someday it May be Able to perform surgery from inside the human body. My View is that every Hole in the body eventually will have something like this crawling in it maybe in Short areas like the ear canal said or. Richard Satava manager of the c biomedical technology program at the . Advanced research projects Agency which is funding the work. When you look in the stomach it May be a robot you would the Advance evokes images of the 1966 film fantastic voyage in which Raquel Welch and a team of scientists were shrunk to microscopic size so they could travel through Aji Uman body. But the idea has moved from science fiction into fact. The possibility that it s going to be done is 100 percent Satava said. In my View five years is not an unreasonable period where we will see it used in animals based on the research i be a precursor of the tiny robot already has been built in a Massachusetts Institute of technology Laboratory. About 11/2 inches Square it has a simple computer sensors to detect Light antennae to steer it safely away from obstacles and a claw that grasps and lifts Small objects. " the gears were scrounged from toy stores. The motors each slightly bigger than a Pencil Eraser have been scavenged from vibrating personal pagers. The Little claw works on a Pulley system using a thin Black thread. Having a Mother who sews helped a lot said James Mclurkin a 22-year old electrical engineering major who spent two years developing the prototype which he named Cleo for his grandmother. For surgery inside the body planners Hope to build a Micro robot 1 millimetre Square roughly equal to the thickness of a paper clip. That will take another eight to 10 years they say. The first crude Micro robot was developed at Mit just seven years ago. It was when a group of surgeons toured the Laboratory that researchers were encouraged to develop Micro robots that could work inside the body. Researchers have attended gastroenterology conferences and sat in n my View five years is not an unreasonable period where we will see i used in or. Richard Sava . Advanced research " projects Agency on an endoscopy operation with admitted squeamishness. If this technology does come to fruition it s something that could make Many kinds of procedures simpler for the patient said or. Peter Banks a spokesman for the american College of gastroenterologist. But prototypes like Cleo cannot yet move efficiently inside the human body with its twists and turns rough surfaces and Slippery organs. So engineers Are considering How else to use their Micro robots. It s hard to think of anything they could t do said Mclurkin. Just having them hide under your fridge and come out and collect dust if they Cost $5 or $6, everyone can have some. They could climb through pipes or Cooling lubes in a nuclear Power Mclurkin Hopes to create communities of tiny robots. His models Are ants he keeps a plastic ant farm in his Laboratory and took a course in entomology at Harvard. He was the Only Engineer in the class ants Are some of the most successful insects in the world and they Don t do anything by themselves he said. Nature is the ultimate Mclurkin refers to Cleo As she because All worker ants Are female. His work area is called the gnat robot lab and a Box of spare parts is labelled ant a rubber Model of the Large intestine leans against the Wall. Built with $300 Worth of parts the Micro robot runs on 180 Mill Watts or about a fifth of a Watt of electricity. It can function independently following a flashlight beam around the floor and steering Clear of Walls and objects or Mclurkin can direct it with a tiny Joystick usually used with personal computers. Mclurkin showed his Micro robot to a class of students at the Baldwin n.y., elementary school where his Mother teaches. Kids always love this stuff he said. It is a Little like having a to your health is. Arthritis the need for car q by Simeon Margolis the Baltimore Sun several weeks ago i had a painful swelling of my right Elbow. I was concerned that it might be arthritis but my doctor told me it was bursitis and it would get better in about a week with aspirin treatment. What is the difference Between bursitis and arthritis arthritis and bursitis Are entirely different conditions. In arthritis the joints themselves Are injured As the result of an inflammation or a wearing out of an important part of the joint. Rheumatoid arthritis and gout for example Are caused by an inflammation of the joints while osteoarthritis results from the natural Wear and tear on the joints As we grow older. Each of these kinds of arthritis can Lead to permanent joint damage. While bursitis May cause symptoms similar to those of arthritis it does not involve the joints. Bursitis is an inflammation of a Bursa one of the Small fluid filled sacs that act As cushions where Muscles or tendons move Bones or other Muscles. About 150 Bursae in the body allow these movements to take place with minimal friction. Bursitis occurs when a Bursa becomes irritated and inflamed due to excessive pressure injury or most often excessive repetitive motions. The most common Sites for bursitis Are the shoulders elbows hips Knees and feet. Housemaid s knee from scrubbing on hands and Knees and bunions from tight fitting shoes Are examples of bursitis. Bursitis almost always clears up within a few weeks although it can recur in the same place unless the underlying cause is corrected. Bursitis of the Elbow is often due to leaning the Elbow on a hard table while Reading or writing. Q do you agree with my friends who have urged me to enrol in a car training program because my husband had a heart attack several months ago your friends advice makes Good sense since your husband s heart attack puts him at a greater risk for having a cardiac arrest caused by an abnormal heart rhythm about 70 percent of cardiac arrests occur at Home and promptly administered car cardiopulmonary resuscitation can maintain an adequate blood flow to the brain until professional help arrives. Immediate car is essential survival rate is significantly reduced after just four minutes without car. It is noteworthy that people Over 50, who have a spouse or other family member with heart disease Are the ones least Likely to take car courses according to a Survey of about 1,400 people enrolled in an american red Cross car course. Only 9 percent of those enrolled were older than 50, and less than 4 percent took the course because a family member was at risk for a heart attack or. Simeon Margollis is professor of Medicine and biological chemistry at Johns Hopkins school of Medicine in Baltimore Mil tuesday August 9,1994 the stars and stripes 15
