When 3D printing saved a newborn’s life
New York: A 3D printing model of the head of a foetus recently helped doctors save the life of a newborn who had developed a life threatening complication at University of Michigan’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in the US.Megan Thompson was about 30 weeks pregnant when an ultrasound showed a walnut-sized lump on her tiny, unborn child’s face that could prevent him from breathing after birth.
Thompson was referred to the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital where doctors had to decide whether the baby could be delivered safely through a Caesarean-section or needed a rare and complex lifesaving procedure.
Using a specialised MRI of the foetus in the womb, doctors were able to use a 3D printer to print models of the foetus face, helping determine exactly where and how dangerous the soft tissue mass was.
“Based on the images we had, it was unclear whether the mass would block Conan’s (baby’s) airway after birth. The 3D printed model of the foetus allowed us to actually see in person what it looked like and have something in our hands to help us decide the best way to care for the baby,” said senior author Glenn Green from C.S. Mott.”This is the first case we are aware of that 3D printing has helped show how severe an airway risk in a foetus was in order to make clinical decisions,” Green said.The extra information gained from the 3D printed models helped doctors determine that Conan would not need what’s called an Ex Utero Intrapartum Treatment Procedure (EXIT).The EXIT procedure requires a partial delivery of the baby while it remains attached by its umbilical cord to the placenta so that a surgeon can establish an airway to allow the baby to breathe. Instead, Conan was born via a scheduled Caesarean-section.”I was terrified when I found out there was a possibility my baby might not be able to breathe after birth,” recalled Thompson, who is from Wayne county, Michigan.”Hearing him cry after he was born was the most incredible, emotional experience because I knew he was okay,” she said.
The case is outlined in the journal Paediatrics. (IANS)
Chinese chrysanthemum enters Guinness World Records
Beijing: A “full-standing multiflorous chrysanthemum” grafted in central China’s Henan province has earned its place in the Guinness World Records for containing the largest number of chrysanthemum species.
The multiflorous chrysanthemum is 3.8 metres in diameter and composed of 641 different types of chrysanthemums grafted to southernwood. It was certified for the world record on Sunday in Kaifeng city of Henan province, Xinhua news agency reported.
A representative of Guinness World Records made the announcement at a chrysanthemum festival in the city. It took about four years to cultivate the plant, which now has more than 1,500 flowers blossoming at one time. (IANS)
NASA spacecraft spots giant ‘hole’ in Sun
Washington: NASA’s orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory has mapped an enormous coronal hole – a gap in the Sun’s outer layer and magnetic field – which is the size of 50 Earths and is releasing an extra-fast solar wind in Earth’s direction.
The new image was taken on October 10 at an ultraviolet wavelength unseen by the human eye. The gap in the Sun’s magnetic field lets out a stream of particles travelling at up to 800 kilometres per second, kindling a days-long geomagnetic storm upon hitting Earth. Coronal holes normally form over the Sun’s poles and lower latitudes, more often when the Sun is at a less active point in its 11-year cycle. They are areas within the Sun’s outermost layer, called its corona, which are lower-density and cooler – that, plus the weakened magnetic field, lets the plasma and charged particles that make up the corona stream out more easily in a solar wind, ‘Space.com’ reported. If aimed toward Earth, it could result in a geomagnetic storm, a phenomenon that can affect power and navigation for satellites orbiting the Earth as well as radio communication. Another side effect of a geomagnetic storm is enhanced northern lights.
As the coronal hole continues its slow march westward on the Sun’s surface (to the right, from Earth’s perspective), solar winds will stay strong, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) officials said. (PTI)
