Week 5

Notes on the reading: The readings these weeks were very dense – still interesting none the less. I hope to take away some useful information, such as the use of biomedical application in cell structure to force stem cell differentiation - whew…

The article is interesting and the only part that I truly understand is the intrinsic programs that affect the cells response – the environmental cues such as physical force, cell-ecm contact, and cell-to-cell contact are all physical factors that can cause the cell’s response. Responses such as cellular self-renewal, cell differentiation, apoptosis (death) and migration / metabolism and biosynthesis [figure 1] [1]

 

Also, the significant increase in usability of PLP in human limb rehabilitation is groundbreaking. The scientific article is optimistic that the use of PLP “…system has considerably increased the quality of life of a single patient, where other previ- ous conventional treatments had proved unsuccessful, we believe that it offers sufficient justification to further explore its efficacy on a wider PLP population.” [2]

For this week’s project I propose the use of VR in hospitals to help patients get a visual and 3-dimensional educational walkthrough VR, and how it works. Imagine the show The Magic School Bus, with Ms. Frizzle, and how it hugely helped articulate tough scientific ideas in a easy to understand format such as a visual journey. 

This type of breakdown would help patients suffering from disease and mental issues to exercise their brains and stimulate educational effects. A study from University of Toronto used Virtual Reality in patients with Alzhiemers, to see if VR could stimulate mental growth. They found that, “…Individuals with schizophrenia had difficulties in way-finding, measured as distance travelled to find targets previously encountered within the virtual city. They were also more likely not to notice the target during passive viewing, less likely to find novel shortcuts to targets, and more likely to become lost and fail completely in finding the target.” [3] Overall, its clearly a hard progression but I think for younger people and students who’s brains might be more receptive to new information might have better results!

Joe.

Works Cited:

 [1] Clause, Kelly C. "Directed Stem Cell Differentiation: The Role of Physical Forces." Cell Commun Adhes. 2010 April ; 17(2): 48–54. Doi:10.3109/15419061.2010.492535. Department of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 17 Apr. 2010. Web. 14 June 2016.

[2] Sander, Nichlas F. "Treatment of Phantom Limb Pain (PLP) Based on Augmented Reality and Gaming Controlled by Myoelectric Pattern Recognition: A Case Study of a Chronic PLP Patient." Frontiers. Biomedical Engineering Division, Department of Signals and Systems, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden, 25 Feb. 2015. Web. 08 June 2016. <http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnins.2014.00024/full

[3] Lerch, Jason F., and George Foussias. "Simulating Real World Functioning in Schizophrenia Using a Naturalistic City Environment and Single-trial, Goal-directed Navigation." Frontiers. Epartment of Psychology, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada, 26 Nov. 2013. Web. 14 June 2016. <http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnbeh.2013.00180/full>