Beyond the blue: How the brain gets depressed and how it can be treated

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Depression is a mental illness affecting around 19 million Americans today. Ranging from severe to mild, this disease has turned over the lives of those affected. Unlike other diseases, however, depression (along with other mental illnesses) carries an extreme social stigma that prevents many sufferers from seeking help or even acknowledging their illness. This means that the estimated number of depressed people may actually be higher than believed.

Severe depression can significantly increase the risk of an individual attempting or completing suicide. In fact, according to the World Health Organization, worldwide, a person attempts suicide every 6 seconds – with a huge percentage of these individuals afflicted with depression.

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Many health professionals and biomedical engineers are then racing to understand the mechanisms of this illness. By finding out which area of the brain is affected by depression, biomedical engineers hope to create better treatment plans and/or devices that could save millions of lives worldwide.

As the name suggests, depression causes a series of hormonal imbalances in the brain. The "depressed" area often lacks several highly important chemicals. The depressed person is often characterized by being "down" or lethargic. Oftentimes, depressed individuals have no energy to perform daily tasks and often complain of being tired or sick. This is why those who seek treatment are often given medicines that encourage the production of the deficient chemicals.

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Unfortunately, depression is also brought about by a mixture of several factors other than purely physical ones. Many mental health professionals recommend a fusion of both psychology and medical advances to treat this illness. Still, many depressed people talk about the benefits of medication and how regulating hormonal fluctuations has made psychotherapy more effective.

The biomedical industry is still determining the exact relationship between the brain and mental illnesses, but hopefully alternative treatments will be developed in order to save many lives.

Biomedical engineering aims to understand the human body and create effective treatment options and/or devices that alleviate painful symptoms. Learn more by subscribing to this Riyesh R. Menon blog.

Smartphone-connected devices and the future of medicine

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Smartphones have become ubiquitous in today’s society with most people relying on their mobile devices to always stay connected and online. What if, however, these devices could be used for so much more? What if they became part of the tools that doctors have in order to monitor their patients and provide treatments for some conditions?

Advancements in medicine and technology may soon make this thought a reality. Already there are many applications being developed to turn smartphones into devices that can help monitor a person’s vital signs.

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In envisioning the future of medicine, some experts argue that decentralization is the way into the future. People may soon have gadgets at their disposal to check and monitor their health and send the data to their doctors easily. This setup will require less patient visits to medical centers for routine checkups while vastly improving the delivery of care. 

Meanwhile, many apps are now being developed for diagnosis and treatment of certain health conditions. For example, there are apps that monitor the subtle hints in the user’s voice during everyday phone conversations to detect for early signs of mood changes. This type of program has applications in monitoring the conditions of patients with bipolar disorder.

Another app that is currently being developed is a smartphone-connected device that will deliver electrical stimulation to the nerves in a person’s head to help improve mood. A possible application for such a device would be to help a person calm down and relax.

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Riyesh R. Menon is a research and development engineer for a medical device company in New York. For more articles on biomedical engineering applications, visit this Google+ page.

Directing research to create products for healthcare

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Biomedical engineers are known for addressing interesting questions that potentially restructure industries in medicine and engineering.  Because of the nature of their work, biomedical engineers get involved in research geared towards creating new products that revolutionize treatments and therapies.

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One of the examples of the impact of engineering and technology in the field of medicine is the use of imaging in neurology.  Previously, the neurological methods were very limited, as tools for observing the brain and the internal workings of the nervous system were limited.  Engineering, however, contributed leaps and bounds to the science by introducing neural imaging. 

Modern applications now involve the use of a non-invasive brain computer interface to pick up the weak electrical signals generated by the neurons, decode the signal, and to use that signal to control a device.  Advancing research in this field offers promising results in allowing paralyzed individuals to interact and communicate.

There are many other practical applications for the research done by biomedical engineers.  Among the fields that have seen increased activity recently is wearable technology, which integrates sensors into garments.

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Experts see a lot of potential in improving the healthcare system with the use of devices that can monitor a person’s vital signs regularly and upload data to the Cloud.  Doctors can then easily consult patient information online and gain better insights on a disease’s life cycle.  They can also alert patients to warning signs of dreaded conditions before they are needed to go to an emergency department because they already feel unwell. 


Riyesh R. Menon is a research and development engineer for a medical device company in New York. For more links to articles about biomedical engineering, visit this Google+ page.

Advances in artificial organ technology

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The application of biomedical engineering in the medical field has been studied for many years. The goal of this field is to help create systems that would help medical professionals diagnose illnesses faster, more efficiently, and with the least amount of inconvenience to patients. A proper diagnosis could then lead to better treatment. Biomedical engineering also studies the use of technology to innovate treatment options. Nevertheless, it is only until recently that scientists are starting to overcome the hurdles to this field of study. This may be due to the rapid growth of modern technology. For example, innovations meant for commercial applications such as high-definition cameras, scanners, and pumps have found their use in the study of artificial organ technology.

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For example, scientists recently created an artificial lung for newborn infants that consisted of stackable single oxygenator units (SOUs) that help facilitate breathing. The engineering of the lung assist device (LAD) and the use of the SOUs are a classic example of how biomedical engineering is utilizing the development of technology to create devices that could be used to ease medical treatment.

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Another example would be the development of 3-D printing to effectively and safely scan the body for possible illnesses. Recently in Boston, doctors were able to create the first synthetic blood vessels through the process of artificial vascularization aided by advances in 3-D printing and biomaterials. Doctors and scientists still agree that much research still needs to be made into these artificial organs so that they will function perfectly within the patient’s body. However, they remain optimistic and hopeful that these advances are milestones in creating a better and healthier society.

Riyesh Menon finished his master’s degree in biomedical engineering at Rutgers University and currently works for a medical device company. Like this Google+ page for the latest in biomedical engineering.

The future of biometrics: 3D-printed fingerprints

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Biometric technologies have purposes beyond security infrastructure support. They make way for next-generation identification and verification solutions and prevention of identity theft and fraud, among others. Thus, biometrics is one of the critical components of a successful operation of an organization, establishment, and government agency. The most commonly implemented or studied biometrics are the following: face, iris, voice, signature, hand geometry, and fingerprint. Employee identification, electronic banking, law enforcement, and healthcare services are a few of the fields that have upgraded their operations through the integration of biometric technologies.

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However, just like any technology, biometric systems have vulnerabilities. There are cases when their accuracy is compromised. It is then critical to have a reasonable evaluation of the performance of any biometric system in an operational setting before its deployment. A research partnership between Michigan State University and National Institute of Standards and Technology tested the accuracy of a fingerprint matching system by coming up with the first 3D-printed fingerprint. The researchers projected 2D images on a generic 3D finger surface, which then fabricates the 3D fingerprint in a commercial 3D printer.

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This system avoids the laborious task of running millions of fingerprint images through the biometric system's matching software, which can be inaccurate. 3D fingerprinting is helpful to both sensor manufacturers and algorithm developers to boost hardware and software fingerprint matching systems. Moreover, 3D fingerprinting will also contribute to the potential touchless fingerprint sensing solutions being developed.

 To read more news on biomedical studies, visit this Riyesh R. Menon blog.

Biomedical engineering as a discipline

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Biomedical engineering is one of the fastest growing fields of medical technology. From laboratory instrumentation to the computer analysis of the human genome, it is considered one of the fields that have achieved astounding achievements over the past few years.

In the United States, it is estimated that there are now around 15,000 biomedical engineers in various companies, particularly in the healthcare industry. Riyesh Menon of Greater New York, is one of these young practitioners who have high hopes for the field. Mr. Menon has a master’s degree in biomedical engineer from Rutgers University. He has worked as a product development engineer at The Dow Chemical Company, where was involved in the research and development of new healthcare products such as shampoos, conditioners, toothpaste, body washes, and soaps containing proprietary chemicals. He has also helped the company develop and analyze innovative, cost-effective, and superior formulation methodologies for healthcare products.

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Today, Mr. Menon works as a product development engineer in New York by helping a medical technology company that is dedicated on providing the best patient care and innovative solutions in orthopedic extremity surgery, neurosurgery, spine surgery, and reconstructive and general surgery. Among the projects that he has handled include the development mechanisms and systems of neuro-critical care products such as external drainage devices, shunts and catheters.

Like Mr. Menon, more and more people are now pursuing a career in biomedical engineering. From manufacturing companies and hospitals to research facilities and universities, biomedical engineers have play a vital role in developing solutions to problems in biology and medicine.

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More discussions on the critical role of biomedical engineers in improving the healthcare system are featured on this Riyesh Menon blog.