NANOMEDICINE in present century is the potent output of nanotechnology. It could changes the path of doctors to treat various life threaten diseases. Nanomedicine could increases effectiveness and reduces side effects unlike the other painful therapy. The basic principles of this technique are based on targeted drug delivery using nanoparticles, proper diagnosis using sensors and micro electro mechanical system (MEMS) and to monitor in vivo biochemical activities. Nanotechnology has provided the different important tools (nanomedicine) like nanoshells, nanomachines, nanobiosensors, nanofilms, nanocapsules and nanotubes for improvement of human health.
Nanoshell is made up of inner core of glass and coated with gold shell. It is 1000 times less than the actual size of human hair. Nanoshells are used in the treatment of solid tumors. After injecting the nanoshells deeply in the tumor, a dose of infra red radiations in the targeted area is given for 10-30 seconds. Nanoshell here performs dual role, either acts like scalpel or get heated by IR radiations to kill the cancerous cells. It is the work of Jennifer and Naomi halas at Rice University. Nanoshell avoids the unpleasant side effect of chemotherapy. The nanomachine can be also called as LAB ON CHIP that continuously monitors the level of biochemicals in the bloodstream and in response would release appropriate drugs. E.g. such device monitors and adjusts the insulin level in insulin dependent diabetes. The nanobiosensors & MEMS are used for pathogen and contamination detection. Person facing the problems of vitamin and nutrient deficiency could overcome by nanocapsule enriched with specific supplements.
The traditional system of drug delivery loss drugs from the body by means of water. Applying nanofilm coated with multiple drugs may be an effective approach for delivering drugs locally for longer duration. This technique would eliminate unrequited surgeries.
E.g. the dexamethasone coated nanoscaled polymer film when implanted in mice; it suppresses the cytokines of immune system. This could allow the successful skin grafting. Silver, for a long time is known for its potent antimicrobial activities. It controls microbial infection. It is reported to improve wound healing & is non toxic to human tissue. Based on these properties, nanocrystalline silver films coated with silver particles (average size 15 nm) have been developed. These stripes could be directly applied on the wounds. After contact with water, these stripes release silver particles in the form of silver radicals that penetrates in the wounded area to improve healing.
Scientist have shown for the first time that carbon nanotubes make an ideal scaffold for the growth of bone tissue because it has high mechanical strength, excellent flexibility and low density. It also mimics the role of collagen (the natural composite of bone) as a scaffold for the growth of hydroxyapatite in bone. Thus heal bone fracture, simply by injecting nanotubes solution to the fractured area.
Nanotechnology has wide applications in different scientific areas. However, there is the need of public awareness about the advantages, challenges and future of nanotechnology in medicine and other disciplines.
RAVI DHANDE & NILAM SHARMA
Watch the video related to carbon nanotubes
A brief video explaining what a carbon nanotube is and what they might bring to future technologies. Audio from Earth & Sky, produced for Too Small To See. www.earthsky.org www.toosmalltosee.org
Help answer the question about carbon nanotubes
what is new about carbon nanotubes? and what is the length scales for nanotechnology?is it carbon nanotechnology real?
what are appilication of carbon nanotubes?
how they(CNTs desinged) and difficulty of fabrication?
what is the future of carbon nanotubes
About Author
Ravi Dhande
Lecturer,Department of Botany,
Shri Shivaji College,Akot,India-444101
ravi_dhande2005@indiatimes.com
Nilam Sharma
Govt. Medical College, Nagpur (INDIA)
well it is so improtant becuase it can handle things on a scale that human hands or modern medical tools could not. its would be like trying to manipulate dna with your own hands, it cant be done simply because your hands are too big, but if you were to use something much smaller than your hands, possibly the nanomedicine that you are referring to, it would be easier to manipulate tiny things in your body with greater accuracy and success rate than anything we have today. currently, i believe nanomedicine does exist, but has yet to be used for medicinal purposes.
http://www.foresight.org/Nanomedicine/NanomedResearch.html
huge list of people that researched nano technology…the list is researchers that have online biographies…which will share their research articles
If nanobots were to exist one day, they would not likely “see” in the traditional meaning. That is, they will not have “eyes” that use visible light to see their surroundings. Instead, they will “see” via sensors that sense their environments, such as the pH level, or glucose level in blood…etc, or sense things in very close proximity, e.g. whether they are touching/attached to a red blood cell, white blood cell, or other cell types. In this regard (sensing as “seeing”), there is a lot
of research going on. While they may not be specific to nanotubes, they do pertain to nanotechnology. One example uses nanotechnology circuits and nano-materials to build a sensor to sense pH levels in biological systems.
Here you go.
Nanomedicine IIA
http://www.nanomedicine.com/NMIIA/Refs5800-5899.htm
This is listed in the text so it is being researched to apply to filariasis
5894. J.R. Young, “The swollen leg,” Am. Fam. Physician 15(January 1977):163-173.
5895. P.F. Sauer, A.J. Bueschen, L.O. Vasconez, “Lymphedema of the penis and scrotum,” Clin. Plast. Surg. 15(July 1988):507-511.
5896. D.S. Folse, A. Ewert, “Edema resulting from experimental filariasis,” Lymphology 21(December 1988):244-247.
5897. T. Case, B. Leis, M. Witte, D. Way, M. Bernas, P. Borgs, C. Crandall, R. Crandall, R. Nagle, S. Jamal, et al, “Vascular abnormalities in experimental and human lymphatic filariasis,” Lymphology 24(December 1991):174-183.
5898. R. Crandall, C. Crandall, T. Doyle, J. Nayar, “Immune responses and chronic lymphedema in experimental filariasis,” Lymphology 26(September 1993):120-127.
5899. D.G. Addiss, K.A. Dimock, M.L. Eberhard, P.J. Lammie, “Clinical, parasitologic, and immunologic observations of patients with hydrocele and elephantiasis in an area with endemic lymphatic filariasis,” J. Infect. Dis. 171(March 1995):755-758.
Instead, an alternative may be to add something on the road and car tires which help them stick to each other, despite rain/snow. Or, to add something to the road which causes water to have a suppressed freezing point when it’s wetting the road. This will lead to less ice and black ice, which could help improve road conditions. However, all this is just a possibility, and may or may not materialize.
One possible way of employing nano technology is the production of complex chemicals through nanites. another one would be "nano containers", which means that the drug is contained in tiny capsules which open in very specific conditions. Third and by far most complex would be tiny robots which act autonomous and can attack cancer cells
and one more ( i couldn’t fit it into the other comment box)
3. Could some solution be mixed into tar, or the blacktop used in roads to make ice and rain “not” stick to it?? therefore eliminating some of the worst driving conditions there are, and as a result less crashes and related deaths occuring.
General questions are very welcome.
My personal opinions to your questions (the future is always hard to predict, so I can only offer you my opinion):
1. Search “Super-thin nanotube body armor promises to stop and deflect bullets”. It is an article on nanotubes for body armor applications. While I may not agree with the entire article, I do think that nanotubes have plenty of applications besides electronics.
-nanotubes are indeed light-weight given its strength
-nanotubes, mixed in with various materials, have been shown to improve the mechanical properties of those various materials
I think the two biggest obstacles facing nanomed are the number of variables in applying theoretical solutions to actual patient problems (unique genetic camposition, etc) and the amount of time it takes to create an actual solution (time to market). Both issues will be solved with ever increasing computer power to process better and better models of genomes and patient biology.
Here are some other good online posts:
http://bbs.extropy.org/index.php?board=67;action=display;threadid=54304
http://www.nanomedicine.com/NMI/2.3.1.htm
Thank you for your opinion. While I will not speculate on this possibility, allow me to provide some related facts:
-nanotubes are one of the strongest materials known, if you normalize to it’s nano size (tensile strength is more than steel & diamonds)
-however, nanotubes in bulk, may or may not be super-strong, depending on how it is woven (or not) into a form of fiber
Thus, it is not unreasonable to speculate that nanotubes could be used in body armor to provide better protection due to the nanotube’s great mechanical properties (I don’t know about “deflect” though).
2. Nanotubes current have no known “healing” effects that I am aware of. Thus, I personally find it unlikely that nanotubes will be used as a medical “healer”. However, nanotube may one day be used as electrical components (circuits/batteries/sensors) in medical devices,
which may help the body heal (though the nanotube itself does not do the healing directly).
3. This is an interesting idea and perhaps something along these lines can be investigated. While it there are already anti-stick nano coatings today (e.g. teflon in your pots/pans, specially treated windshields…), I do not think they will be used on roads. The main reason is that if rain and water don’t stick to the road, it’s likely your car’s tires won’t either, which is very bad.
regarding robotic surgery, it lacks the intuitive measures of the quick, experienced hands of the surgeon, who by experience would know what to do in a threatening condition by recalling knowledge.
nanomedicine has some disadvantage, as in the case of treating cancer cells… it might also enter normal cells and cause havoc!
You are asking people to predict the future. I don't believe you can get a reliable answer especially in a forum such as this.
Nanomedicine certainly has lots of potential. However, there are alot of basic problems that it has to overcome prior to it becoming a reality such as:
1. how to avoid being recognized as foreign and attacked by the immune system
2. how to get the nanoparticles to the desired location
Nanomedicine is the preservation and improvement of human health using molecular tools and molecular knowledge of the human body.
Nanomedicine, an offshoot of nanotechnology, refers to highly specific medical intervention at the molecular scale for curing disease or repairing damaged tissues, such as bone, muscle, or nerve. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter, too small to be seen with a conventional lab microscope. It is at this size scale – about 100 nanometers or less – that biological molecules and structures inside living cells operate.
Nanomedicine is the medical application of nanotechnology and related research. It covers areas such as nanoparticle drug delivery and possible future applications of molecular nanotechnology (MNT) and nanovaccinology.
Please try sites below, especially the last one.
Good luck.