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29.01.2014

Implant measures medication levels in bloodstream, in real time

Figuring out how much medication a patient should be taking can be a tricky business. Although things like age and weight are used as guidelines, factors such as the individual person's metabolism can have a marked effect on how effective the drugs are. With that in mind, scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara have developed an implantable device that provides continuous real-time readings on how much medication is currently in a person's bloodstream.

Developed by researchers Tom Soh, Kevin Plaxco and Scott Ferguson, the microfluidic instrument is known as MEDIC (Microfluidic Electrochemical Detector for In vivo Concentrations).

It incorporates a central canal-like chamber, that's lined with gold electrodes. Extending out from those electrodes are DNA strands called aptamers. These can be tuned to recognize specific drug molecules.

When whole blood flows through the chamber, the aptamers detect the presence of the relatively small drug molecules amongst the larger and more numerous blood cells, and respond by wrapping around them. Upon doing so, each strand delivers electrons down into its electrode. This produces a small electrical current, which can be picked up and read by a computer.

In lab tests on rats, the technology has proven to be highly accurate.

It is hoped that once fully developed, MEDIC will allow doctors to "tailor prescriptions to their patients’ specific biology," allowing them to arrive at the optimum dosage sooner. It could conceivably also be used in diagnoses, targeting protein molecules associated with specific diseases.

Down the road, it might additionally be used in conjunction with a drug-dispensing implant, instructing it to release more or less medication as needed.

A paper on the research was recently published in the journal Science Translational Medicine. More information is available in the video below.

Source: http://www.gizmag.com/medic-drug-concentration-implant/30579/




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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.

The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies. 

The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.

A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.

The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.

An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.

 

Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society

2015-2020

The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.

2020-2025

Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning  bodily life. Such technologies will  greatly enlarge  the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make  all  kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.

2030-2035

Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness  with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness  onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of  cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence,  expand human capabilities  and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times.  The final result  at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.

2045

This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive!  Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.

Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots  will become affordable  and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however:  humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover,  prerequisites for a large-scale  expansion into outer space will be created as well.

 

Key elements of the project in the future

• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
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