The latest advances in medicine. Bionic arm iLIMB

Discoveries are not born suddenly. Each development, before the media found out about it, is preceded by a long and painstaking work. And before tests and pills appear in the pharmacy, and in laboratories - new diagnostic methods, time must pass. Over the past 30 years, the number of medical research has increased almost 4 times, and they are included in medical practice.

Biochemical blood test at home
Soon, a biochemical blood test, like a pregnancy test, will take a couple of minutes. MIPT nanobiotechnologists fit a high-precision blood test into an ordinary test strip.

The biosensor system based on the use of magnetic nanoparticles makes it possible to accurately measure the concentration of protein molecules (markers indicating the development of various diseases) and to simplify the procedure of biochemical analysis as much as possible.

“Traditionally, tests that can be carried out not only in the laboratory, but also in the field, are based on the use of fluorescent or colored labels, and the results are determined “by eye” or using a video camera. We use magnetic particles, which have the advantage of: with their help, it is possible to carry out analysis even by dipping a test strip into a completely opaque liquid, for example, to determine substances directly in whole blood,” explains Alexei Orlov, researcher at the GPI RAS and lead author of the study.

If the usual pregnancy test reports either "yes" or "no", then this development allows you to accurately determine the concentration of the protein (that is, at what stage of development it is).

"Numerical measurement is carried out only electronically using a portable device. Situations "either yes or no" are excluded," says Alexei Orlov. According to a study published in the journal Biosensors and Bioelectronics, the system has successfully proven itself in the diagnosis of prostate cancer, and in some respects even surpassed the "gold standard" for determining PSA - enzyme immunoassay.

When the test appears in pharmacies, the developers are still silent. It is planned that the biosensor, among other things, will be able to carry out environmental monitoring, analysis of products and medicines, and all this right on the spot, without unnecessary instruments and costs.

Trainable bionic limbs
Today's bionic hands are not much different from real ones in terms of functionality - they can move their fingers and take objects, but still they are still far from the "original". To "synchronize" a person with a machine, scientists implant electrodes in the brain, remove electrical signals from muscles and nerves, but the process is laborious and takes several months.

The GalvaniBionix team, consisting of MIPT students and graduate students, has found a way to make learning easier and make it so that not a person adapts to a robot, but a limb adapts to a person. A program written by scientists using special algorithms recognizes the "muscle commands" of each patient.

"Most of my classmates, who have very cool knowledge, go into solving financial problems - they go to work in corporations, create mobile applications. This is not bad and not good, it's just different. I personally wanted to do something global, in the end "so that the children have something to tell about. And at Phystech I found like-minded people: they are all from different fields - physiologists, mathematicians, programmers, engineers - and we found such a task for ourselves," Alexey Tsyganov, a member of the GalvaniBionix team, shared his personal motive.

DNA Cancer Diagnosis
An ultra-precise test system for the early diagnosis of cancer has been developed in Novosibirsk. According to Vitaly Kuznetsov, a researcher at the Vector Center for Virology and Biotechnology, his team managed to create a certain oncomarker - an enzyme that can detect cancer at an early stage using DNA isolated from saliva (blood or urine).

Now a similar test is carried out by analyzing the specific proteins that form the tumor. The Novosibirsk approach proposes to look at the modified DNA of a cancer cell, which appear long before proteins. Accordingly, the diagnosis allows you to detect the disease in the initial stage.

A similar system is already used abroad, but in Russia it is not certified. Scientists managed to "cheapen" the existing technology (1.5 rubles against 150 euros - 12 million rubles). Employees of "Vector" expect that soon their analysis will be included in the mandatory list for clinical examination.

electronic nose
An "electronic nose" has been created at the Siberian Institute of Physics and Technology. The gas analyzer evaluates the quality of food, cosmetic and medical products, and is also able to diagnose a number of diseases by exhaled air.

"We examined apples: we put the control part in the refrigerator, and left the rest indoors at room temperature," says Timur Muksunov, a research engineer at the Safety Methods, Systems, and Technologies Laboratory of the Siberian Institute of Physics and Technology.

"After 12 hours, using the installation, it was possible to reveal that the second part emits gases more intensively than the control one. Now, at vegetable bases, products are received according to organoleptic indicators, and with the help of the device being created, it will be possible to more accurately determine the shelf life of products, which will affect its quality" , - he said. Muksunov is pinning his hopes on the start-up support program - the "nose" is fully ready for serial production and is waiting for funding.

pill for depression
Scientists from together with colleagues from them. N.N. Vorozhtsova have developed a new drug for the treatment of depression. The tablet increases the concentration of serotonin in the blood, thereby helping to cope with the blues.

Now the antidepressant under the working name TC-2153 is undergoing preclinical trials. The researchers hope that "it will successfully pass all the others and help achieve progress in the treatment of a number of serious psychopathologies," Interfax writes.

Innovations are born in scientific laboratories

For a number of years, employees of the laboratory of epigenetics of development of the Federal Research Center "Institute of Cytology and Genetics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences" have been working on the creation of a Biobank of cell models of human diseases, which will then be used to create drugs for the treatment of hereditary neurodegenerative and cardiovascular diseases.

Nanoparticles: invisible and influential

A device designed at the Institute of Chemical Kinetics and Combustion. V.V. Voivodeship SB RAS, helps to detect nanoparticles in a few minutes. - There are works by Russian, Ukrainian, English and American researchers who show that in cities with a high content of nanoparticles there is an increased incidence of heart, oncological and pulmonary diseases, - emphasizes a senior researcher at the IHKG SB RAS Candidate of Chemical Sciences Sergey Nikolaevich Dubtsov.

Novosibirsk scientists have developed a compound that will help in the fight against tumors

​Researchers at the Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences are creating constructor compounds based on the albumin protein that can effectively reach the tumors of cancer patients - in the future, these substances may become the basis for drugs.

Siberian scientists have developed a valve prosthesis for children's hearts

Employees of the National Medical Research Center named after academician E. N. Meshalkin have created a new type of valve bioprosthesis for pediatric cardiac surgery. It is less prone to calcification than others, which will reduce the number of repeated surgical interventions.

Siberian inhibitors of anti-cancer drugs are undergoing preclinical trials

​Scientists of the Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk Institute of Organic Chemistry. N. N. Vorozhtsov Institute of Cytology and Genetics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Cytology and Genetics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences have found effective protein targets for the development of drugs against cancer of the rectum, lungs and intestines.

Institutes of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences will help SIBUR LLC develop biodegradable plastics

​At the VI International Technological Development Forum and the Technoprom-2018 exhibition, cooperation agreements were signed between the petrochemical company SIBUR LLC and two Novosibirsk research organizations: the Novosibirsk Institute of Organic Chemistry.

The beginning of the 21st century was marked by many discoveries in the field of medicine, which were written about in science fiction novels 10-20 years ago, and patients themselves could only dream of. And although many of these discoveries are waiting for a long road of introduction into clinical practice, they no longer belong to the category of conceptual developments, but are actually working devices, albeit not yet widely used in medical practice.

1. Artificial heart AbioCor

In July 2001, a group of surgeons from Louisville, Kentucky managed to implant a new generation artificial heart into a patient. The device, dubbed the AbioCor, was implanted in a man who was suffering from heart failure. The artificial heart was developed by Abiomed, Inc. Although similar devices have been used before, the AbioCor is the most advanced of its kind.

In previous versions, the patient had to be attached to a huge console through tubes and wires that were implanted through the skin. This meant that the person remained chained to the bed. AbioCor, on the other hand, exists completely autonomously inside the human body, and it does not need additional tubes or wires that go outside.

2. Bioartificial liver

The idea of ​​creating a bioartificial liver came up with Dr. Kenneth Matsumura, who decided to take a fresh approach to the issue. The scientist has created a device that uses liver cells collected from animals. The device is considered bioartificial because it consists of biological and artificial material. In 2001, the bioartificial liver was named TIME magazine's Invention of the Year.

3. Tablet with a camera

With the help of such a pill, you can diagnose cancer at the earliest stages. The device was created with the aim of obtaining high-quality color images in limited spaces. The camera pill can detect signs of esophageal cancer and is approximately the width of an adult fingernail and twice as long.

4. Bionic contact lenses

Bionic contact lenses were developed by researchers at the University of Washington. They managed to combine elastic contact lenses with printed electronic circuitry. This invention helps the user to see the world by overlaying computerized pictures on top of their own vision. According to the inventors, bionic contact lenses can be useful for chauffeurs and pilots, showing them routes, weather information or vehicles. In addition, these contact lenses can monitor a person's physical indicators such as cholesterol levels, the presence of bacteria and viruses. The collected data can be sent to a computer via wireless transmission.

5. Bionic arm iLIMB

Created by David Gow in 2007, the iLIMB bionic hand was the world's first artificial limb to feature five individually mechanized fingers. Users of the device will be able to pick up objects of various shapes - for example, the handles of cups. iLIMB consists of 3 separate parts: 4 fingers, thumb and palm. Each of the parts contains its own control system.

6. Robot assistants during operations

Surgeons have been using robotic arms for some time, but now there is a robot that can perform the operation on its own. A group of scientists from Duke University has already tested the robot. They used it on a dead turkey (because turkey meat has a similar texture to human). The success of robots is estimated at 93%. Of course, it is too early to talk about autonomous surgical robots, but this invention is a major step in this direction.

7 Mind Reader

"Mind reading" is a term used by psychologists to refer to the subconscious detection and analysis of non-verbal cues, such as facial expressions or head movements. Such signals help people understand each other's emotional state. This invention is the brainchild of three scientists from the MIT Media Lab. The mind-reading machine scans the user's brain signals and notifies those with whom it communicates. The device can be used to work with autistic people.

8. Elekta Axesse

Elekta Axesse is a state of the art anti-cancer device. It was created to treat tumors throughout the body - in the spine, lungs, prostate, liver and many others. Elekta Axesse combines several functionalities. The device can produce stereotactic radiosurgery, stereotactic radiotherapy, radiosurgery. During treatment, doctors have the opportunity to observe a 3D image of the area to be treated.

9. Exoskeleton eLEGS

The eLEGS exoskeleton is one of the most impressive inventions of the 21st century. It is easy to use and patients can wear it not only in the hospital but also at home. The device allows you to stand, walk and even climb stairs. The exoskeleton is suitable for people with a height of 157 cm to 193 cm and a weight of up to 100 kg.

ten . eye scribe

This device is designed to help people who are bedridden communicate. The Eyepiece is a joint creation of researchers from the Ebeling Group, the Not Impossible Foundation, and the Graffiti Research Lab. The technology is based on cheap eye-tracking goggles powered by open source software. These glasses allow people suffering from neuromuscular syndrome to communicate by drawing or writing on the screen by capturing eye movement and converting it into lines on the display.

Ekaterina Martynenko

Scientific breakthroughs have created many useful medicines that will certainly soon be freely available. We invite you to familiarize yourself with the ten most amazing medical breakthroughs of 2015, which are sure to make a serious contribution to the development of medical services in the very near future.

Discovery of teixobactin

In 2014, the World Health Organization warned everyone that humanity was entering the so-called post-antibiotic era. And she turned out to be right. Since 1987, science and medicine have not produced really new types of antibiotics. However, diseases do not stand still. Every year, new infections appear that are more resistant to existing drugs. It has become a real world problem. However, in 2015, scientists made a discovery that they believe will bring dramatic changes.

Scientists have discovered a new class of antibiotics from 25 antimicrobials, including a very important one called teixobactin. This antibiotic destroys microbes by blocking their ability to produce new cells. In other words, microbes under the influence of this drug cannot develop and develop resistance to the drug over time. Teixobactin has now proven to be highly effective against resistant Staphylococcus aureus and several bacteria that cause tuberculosis.

Laboratory tests of teixobactin were carried out on mice. The vast majority of experiments have shown the effectiveness of the drug. Human trials are due to begin in 2017.

One of the most interesting and promising areas in medicine is tissue regeneration. In 2015, a new item was added to the list of artificially recreated organs. Doctors from the University of Wisconsin have learned to grow human vocal cords from virtually nothing.

A group of scientists led by Dr. Nathan Welhan bioengineered a tissue that can mimic the work of the mucous membrane of the vocal cords, namely the tissue that is represented by two lobes of the cords, which vibrate to create human speech. Donor cells, from which new ligaments were subsequently grown, were taken from five volunteer patients. In the laboratory, in two weeks, scientists grew the necessary tissue, after which they added it to an artificial model of the larynx.

The sound created by the resulting vocal cords is described by scientists as metallic and compared to the sound of a robotic kazoo (a toy wind musical instrument). However, scientists are confident that the vocal cords they have created in real conditions (that is, when implanted into a living organism) will sound almost like real ones.

In one of the latest experiments on lab mice grafted with human immunity, the researchers decided to test whether the body of rodents would reject the new tissue. Fortunately, this did not happen. Dr. Welham is confident that the tissue will not be rejected by the human body either.

Cancer drug could help Parkinson's patients

Tisinga (or nilotinib) is a tested and approved drug commonly used to treat people with signs of leukemia. However, a new study from Georgetown University Medical Center shows that Tasinga's drug may be a very powerful tool for controlling motor symptoms in people with Parkinson's disease, improving their motor function and controlling the non-motor symptoms of the disease.

Fernando Pagan, one of the doctors who conducted this study, believes that nilotinib therapy may be the first effective method of its kind to reduce the degradation of cognitive and motor function in patients with neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease.

The scientists gave increased doses of nilotinib to 12 volunteer patients for six months. All 12 patients who completed this trial of the drug to the end, there was an improvement in motor functions. 10 of them showed significant improvement.

The main objective of this study was to test the safety and harmlessness of nilotinib in humans. The dose of the drug used was much less than the dose usually given to patients with leukemia. Despite the fact that the drug showed its effectiveness, the study was still conducted on a small group of people without involving control groups. Therefore, before Tasinga is used as a therapy for Parkinson's disease, several more trials and scientific studies will have to be done.

The world's first 3D printed chest

The man suffered from a rare type of sarcoma, and the doctors had no other choice. To avoid spreading the tumor further throughout the body, experts removed almost the entire sternum from a person and replaced the bones with a titanium implant.

As a rule, implants for large parts of the skeleton are made from a wide variety of materials, which can wear out over time. In addition, the replacement of bones as complex as the sternum, which is typically unique to each individual case, required physicians to carefully scan a person's sternum to design an implant of the right size.

It was decided to use a titanium alloy as the material for the new sternum. After performing high-precision 3D CT scans, the scientists used a $1.3 million Arcam printer to create a new titanium chest. The operation to install a new sternum for the patient was successful, and the person has already completed a full course of rehabilitation.

From skin cells to brain cells

Scientists from California's Salk Institute in La Jolla devoted the past year to research on the human brain. They have developed a method for transforming skin cells into brain cells and have already found several useful applications for the new technology.

It should be noted that scientists have found a way to turn skin cells into old brain cells, which simplifies their further use, for example, in research on Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases and their relationship with the effects of aging. Historically, animal brain cells have been used for such research, but scientists in this case were limited in their capabilities.

More recently, scientists have been able to turn stem cells into brain cells that can be used for research. However, this is a rather laborious process, and the result is cells that are not able to imitate the brain of an elderly person.

Once researchers developed a way to artificially create brain cells, they turned their attention to creating neurons that would have the ability to produce serotonin. And although the resulting cells have only a tiny fraction of the capabilities of the human brain, they are actively helping scientists in research and finding cures for diseases and disorders such as autism, schizophrenia and depression.

Contraceptive pills for men

Japanese scientists from the Microbial Disease Research Institute in Osaka have published a new scientific paper, according to which, in the near future, we will be able to produce real-life birth control pills for men. In their work, scientists describe studies of the drugs "Tacrolimus" and "Cyxlosporin A".

Typically, these drugs are used after organ transplants to suppress the body's immune system so that it does not reject the new tissue. The blockade occurs due to inhibition of the production of the calcineurin enzyme, which contains the PPP3R2 and PPP3CC proteins normally found in male semen.

In their study on laboratory mice, the scientists found that as soon as the PPP3CC protein is not produced in the organisms of rodents, their reproductive functions are sharply reduced. This prompted the researchers to conclude that an insufficient amount of this protein can lead to sterility. After more careful study, experts concluded that this protein gives the sperm cells the flexibility and the necessary strength and energy to penetrate the membrane of the egg.

Testing on healthy mice only confirmed their discovery. Only five days of using the drugs "Tacrolimus" and "Cyxlosporin A" led to complete infertility of mice. However, their reproductive function fully recovered just a week after they stopped giving these drugs. It is important to note that calcineurin is not a hormone, so the use of drugs in no way reduces sexual desire and excitability of the body.

Despite the promising results, it will take several years to create real male birth control pills. About 80 percent of mouse studies are not applicable to human cases. However, scientists still hope for success, as the effectiveness of the drugs has been proven. In addition, similar drugs have already passed human clinical trials and are widely used.

DNA seal

3D printing technologies have created a unique new industry - printing and selling DNA. True, the term “printing” here is more likely to be used specifically for commercial purposes, and does not necessarily describe what is actually happening in this area.

The chief executive of Cambrian Genomics explains that the process is best described by the phrase "error checking" rather than "printing." Millions of pieces of DNA are placed on tiny metal substrates and scanned by a computer, which selects the strands that will eventually make up the entire DNA strand. After that, the necessary links are carefully cut out with a laser and placed in a new chain, pre-ordered by the client.

Companies like Cambrian believe that in the future, humans will be able to create new organisms just for fun with special computer hardware and software. Of course, such assumptions will immediately cause the righteous anger of people who doubt the ethical correctness and practical usefulness of these studies and opportunities, but sooner or later, no matter how we want it or not, we will come to this.

Now, DNA printing is showing little promise in the medical field. Drug manufacturers and research companies are among the first customers of companies like Cambrian.

Researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden have gone one step further and have begun to create various figurines from DNA strands. DNA origami, as they call it, may at first glance seem like ordinary pampering, but this technology also has practical potential for use. For example, it can be used in the delivery of drugs to the body.

Nanobots in a living organism

At the beginning of 2015, the field of robotics won a big victory when a group of researchers from the University of California at San Diego announced that they had carried out the task that they were given, while being inside a living organism.

In this case, laboratory mice acted as a living organism. After placing the nanobots inside the animals, the micromachines went to the stomachs of the rodents and delivered the cargo placed on them, which was microscopic particles of gold. By the end of the procedure, the scientists did not notice any damage to the internal organs of mice and thus confirmed the usefulness, safety and effectiveness of nanobots.

Further tests showed that more particles of gold delivered by nanobots remain in the stomachs than those that were simply introduced there with a meal. This prompted scientists to think that nanobots in the future will be able to deliver the necessary drugs into the body much more efficiently than with more traditional methods of their administration.

The motor chain of the tiny robots is made of zinc. When it comes into contact with the body's acid-base environment, a chemical reaction occurs that produces hydrogen bubbles that propel the nanobots inside. After some time, the nanobots simply dissolve in the acidic environment of the stomach.

Although the technology has been in development for nearly a decade, it wasn't until 2015 that scientists were able to actually test it in a living environment, rather than in conventional petri dishes, as had been done so many times before. In the future, nanobots can be used to detect and even treat various diseases of internal organs by influencing individual cells with the right drugs.

Injectable brain nanoimplant

A team of Harvard scientists has developed an implant that promises to treat a number of neurodegenerative disorders that lead to paralysis. The implant is an electronic device consisting of a universal frame (mesh), to which various nanodevices can later be connected after it has been inserted into the patient's brain. Thanks to the implant, it will be possible to monitor the neural activity of the brain, stimulate the work of certain tissues, and also accelerate the regeneration of neurons.

The electronic grid consists of conductive polymer filaments, transistors, or nanoelectrodes that connect intersections. Almost the entire area of ​​the mesh is made up of holes, which allows living cells to form new connections around it.

As of early 2016, a team of scientists from Harvard is still testing the safety of using such an implant. For example, two mice were implanted in the brain with a device consisting of 16 electrical components. Devices have been successfully used to monitor and stimulate specific neurons.

Artificial production of tetrahydrocannabinol

For many years, marijuana has been used medicinally as a pain reliever and, in particular, to improve the condition of patients with cancer and AIDS. In medicine, a synthetic substitute for marijuana, or rather its main psychoactive component, tetrahydrocannabinol (or THC), is also actively used.

However, biochemists at the Technical University of Dortmund have announced the creation of a new species of yeast that produces THC. What's more, unpublished data indicate that the same scientists created another type of yeast that produces cannabidiol, another psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.

Marijuana contains several molecular compounds that are of interest to researchers. Therefore, the discovery of an effective artificial way to create these components in large quantities could be of great benefit to medicine. However, the method of conventional cultivation of plants and the subsequent extraction of the necessary molecular compounds is now the most effective method. Within 30 percent of the dry weight of modern marijuana can contain the right THC component.

Despite this, Dortmund scientists are confident that they will be able to find a more efficient and faster way to extract THC in the future. To date, the yeast created has been re-grown on molecules of the same fungus instead of the preferred alternative of simple saccharides. All this leads to the fact that with each new batch of yeast, the amount of free THC component also decreases.

In the future, the scientists promise to streamline the process, maximize THC production, and scale up to industrial use, ultimately meeting the needs of medical research and European regulators looking for new ways to produce THC without growing marijuana itself.

In the 21st century, it is difficult to keep up with scientific progress. In recent years, we have learned how to grow organs in laboratories, artificially control the activity of nerves, and invented surgical robots that can perform complex operations.

As you know, in order to see into the future, it is necessary to remember the past. We present seven great scientific discoveries in medicine, thanks to which it was possible to save millions of human lives.

body anatomy

In 1538, the Italian naturalist, the "father" of modern anatomy, Vesalius presented the world with a scientific description of the structure of the body and the definition of all human organs. He had to dig up corpses for anatomical studies in the cemetery, since the Church forbade such medical experiments.

Now the great scientist is considered the founder of scientific anatomy, craters on the moon are named after him, stamps are printed with his image in Hungary, Belgium, and during his lifetime, for the results of his hard work, he miraculously escaped the Inquisition.

Vaccination

Now many health professionals believe that the discovery of vaccines is a colossal breakthrough in the history of medicine. They prevented thousands of diseases, stopped the general mortality and to this day prevent disability. Some even believe that this discovery surpasses all others in the number of lives saved.

The English physician Edward Jenner, since 1803 the head of the smallpox lodge in the city on the Thames, developed the world's first vaccine against "God's terrible punishment" - smallpox. By inoculating a harmless cow disease virus to humans, he provided immunity to his patients.

Anesthesia drugs

Just imagine surgery without anesthesia, or surgery without pain relief. True, frost on the skin? 200 years ago, any treatment was accompanied by torment and wild pain. For example, in ancient Egypt, before the operation, the patient was deprived of consciousness by squeezing the carotid artery. In other countries, they gave water to drink with a decoction of hemp, poppy or henbane.

The first experiments with anesthetics - nitrous oxide and ethereal gas - were launched only in the 19th century. The revolution in the minds of surgeons occurred on October 16, 1986, when an American dentist, Thomas Morton, extracted a tooth from a patient using ether anesthesia.

X-rays

On November 8, 1895, based on the work of one of the most diligent and talented physicists of the 19th century, Wilhelm Roentgen, medicine acquired a technology capable of diagnosing many diseases in a non-surgical way.

This scientific breakthrough, without which the work of any medical institution is now impossible, helps to identify many diseases - from fractures to malignant tumors. X-rays are used in radiation therapy.

Blood type and Rh factor

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the greatest achievement of biology and medicine took place: experimental studies by the immunologist Karl Landsteiner made it possible to identify the individual antigenic characteristics of red blood cells and avoid further fatal exacerbations associated with the transfusion of mutually exclusive blood groups.

The future professor and Nobel Prize winner proved that the blood group is inherited and differs in the properties of red blood cells. Subsequently, it became possible to heal the wounded and rejuvenate the unhealthy with the help of donated blood - which is now a common medical practice.

Penicillin

The discovery of penicillin gave rise to the era of antibiotics. Now they save countless lives, cope with most of the most ancient lethal diseases, such as syphilis, gangrene, malaria and tuberculosis.

The British bacteriologist Alexander Fleming took the lead in discovering an important medicinal product when he accidentally discovered that a fungus had killed bacteria in a petri dish lying in a laboratory sink. His work was continued by Howard Flory and Ernst Boris, isolating penicillin in a purified form and putting it on a mass production line.

Insulin

It is difficult for mankind to return to the events of a hundred years ago and believe that diabetics were doomed to death. It wasn't until 1920 that Canadian scientist Frederick Banting and his colleagues identified the pancreatic hormone insulin, which stabilizes blood sugar levels and has a multifaceted effect on metabolism. Until now, insulin reduces the number of deaths and disabilities, reduces the need for hospitalization and expensive drugs.

The above discoveries are the starting point for all further advances in medicine. However, it is worth remembering that all promising opportunities are open to humanity thanks to the already established facts and the works of our predecessors. The editors of the site invite you to get acquainted with the most famous scientists in the world.

Conditioned reflexes

According to Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, the development of a conditioned reflex occurs as a result of the formation of a temporary nervous connection between groups of cells in the cerebral cortex. If you develop a strong conditioned food reflex, for example, to light, then such a reflex is a first-order conditioned reflex. On its basis, a second-order conditioned reflex can be developed; for this, a new, previous signal is additionally used, for example, a sound, reinforcing it with a first-order conditioned stimulus (light).

Ivan Petrovich Pavlov investigated conditioned and unconditioned human reflexes

If the conditioned reflex was reinforced only a few times, it fades quickly. Almost as much effort has to be expended on its restoration as in its primary production.
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In the middle of the nineteenth century there were many amazing discoveries. As surprising as it may sound, a huge part of these discoveries was made in a dream. Therefore, here even skeptics are at a loss, and find it difficult to say anything to refute the existence of visionary or prophetic dreams. Many scientists have studied this phenomenon. The German physicist, physician, physiologist and psychologist Hermann Helmoltz in his research came to the conclusion that in search of truth a person accumulates knowledge, then he analyzes and comprehends the information received, and after that comes the most important stage - insight, which so often happens in a dream. It was in this way that insight came to many pioneering scientists. Now we give you the opportunity to get acquainted with some of the discoveries made in a dream.

French philosopher, mathematician, mechanic, physicist and physiologist Rene Descartes All his life he maintained that there is nothing mysterious in the world that could not be understood. However, there was still one inexplicable phenomenon in his life. This phenomenon was prophetic dreams that he had at the age of twenty-three, and which helped him make a number of discoveries in various fields of science. On the night of November 10-11, 1619, Descartes saw three prophetic dreams. The first dream was about how a strong whirlwind rips him out of the walls of the church and college, carrying him away in the direction of a refuge where he is no longer afraid of either the wind or other forces of nature. In the second dream, he is watching a powerful storm, and understands that as soon as he manages to consider the cause of the origin of this hurricane, he immediately subsides and cannot do him any harm. And in the third dream, Descartes reads a Latin poem that begins with the words “Which way should I follow the path of life?”. Waking up, Descartes realized that he had discovered the key to the true foundation of all sciences.

Danish theoretical physicist, one of the founders of modern physics Niels Bohr since his school years he showed interest in physics and mathematics, and at the University of Copenhagen he defended his first works. But the most important discovery he managed to make in a dream. He thought for a long time in search of a theory of the structure of the atom, and one day a dream dawned on him. In this dream, Bor was on a red-hot clot of fiery gas - the Sun, around which planets revolved, connected with it by threads. Then the gas solidified, and the "Sun" and "planets" sharply decreased. Waking up, Bohr realized that this was the model of the atom that he had been trying to discover for so long. The sun was the core around which the electrons (planets) revolved! This discovery later became the basis of all Bohr's scientific work. The theory laid the foundation for atomic physics, which brought Niels Bohr worldwide recognition and the Nobel Prize. But soon, during the Second World War, Bohr somewhat regretted his discovery, which could be used as a weapon against humanity.

Until 1936, doctors believed that nerve impulses in the body were transmitted by an electrical wave. A breakthrough in medicine was the discovery Otto Loewy- Austrian-German and American pharmacologist, who in 1936 won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. At a young age, Otto first suggested that nerve impulses are transmitted through chemical mediators. But since no one listened to the young student, the theory remained on the sidelines. But in 1921, seventeen years after the initial theory was put forward, on the eve of Easter Sunday, Loewy woke up at night, in his own words, “scribbled a few notes on a piece of thin paper. In the morning I couldn't decipher my scribbles. The next night, exactly at three o'clock, the same thought again dawned on me. This was the design of an experiment designed to determine whether the hypothesis of chemical momentum transfer, which I put forward 17 years ago, is correct. I immediately got out of bed, went to the laboratory and set up a simple experiment on the heart of a frog in accordance with the scheme that arose at night. Thus, thanks to a night dream, Otto Loewy continued to research his theory and proved to the whole world that impulses are transmitted not by an electrical wave, but by means of chemical mediators.

German organic chemist Friedrich August Kekule declared publicly that he made his discovery in chemistry thanks to a prophetic dream. For many years he tried to find the molecular structure of benzene, which was part of natural oil, but this discovery did not succumb to him. He thought about solving the problem day and night. Sometimes he even dreamed that he had already discovered the structure of benzene. But these visions were only the result of the work of his overloaded consciousness. But one night, in the night of 1865, Kekule was sitting at home near the fireplace and quietly dozed off. Later, he himself spoke about his dream: “I was sitting and writing a textbook, but the work did not move, my thoughts hovered somewhere far away. I turned my chair towards the fire and dozed off. The atoms jumped before my eyes again. This time the small groups kept modestly in the background. My mental eye could now make out long lines writhing like snakes. But look! One of the snakes grabbed its own tail and, in this form, as if teasingly, spun in front of my eyes. It was as if a flash of lightning woke me up: and this time I spent the rest of the night working out the consequences of the hypothesis. As a result, he found out that benzene is nothing more than a ring of six carbon atoms. At that time, this discovery was a revolution in chemistry.

Today, everyone has probably heard that the famous Periodic Table of Chemical Elements Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev was seen by him in a dream. But not everyone knows how it actually happened. This dream became known from the words of a friend of the great scientist A. A. Inostrantsev. He said that Dmitry Ivanovich worked for a very long time on systematizing all the chemical elements known at that time in one table. He clearly saw the structure of the table, but had no idea how to put so many elements there. In search of a solution to the problem, he could not even sleep. On the third day, he fell asleep from exhaustion right at the workplace. Immediately he saw in a dream a table in which all the elements were arranged correctly. He woke up and quickly wrote down what he saw on a piece of paper that was at hand. As it turned out later, the table was made almost perfectly correctly, taking into account the data on chemical elements that existed at that time. Dmitry Ivanovich made only some adjustments.

German anatomist and physiologist, professor at Derpt (Tartu) (1811) and Koenigsberg (1814) universities - Carl Friedrich Burdach attached great importance to his dreams. Through dreams he made a discovery about the circulation of the blood. He wrote that in a dream scientific guesses often occurred to him, which seemed to him very important, and from this he woke up. Such dreams mostly happened during the summer months. Basically, these dreams related to the subjects that he was studying at that time. But sometimes he dreamed of things that at that time he did not even think about. Here is the story of Burdakh himself: “... in 1811, when I still firmly adhered to the usual views on blood circulation and I was not influenced by the views of any other person on this issue, and I myself, generally speaking, was busy with completely different things , I dreamed that the blood flows by its own power and for the first time sets the heart in motion, so to consider the latter as the cause of the movement of blood is the same as explaining the flow of a stream by the action of a mill, which it is he who sets in motion. Through this dream, the idea of ​​blood circulation was born. Later, in 1837, Friedrich Burdach published his work entitled "Anthropology, or Consideration of Human Nature from Various Sides", which contained information about blood, its composition and purpose, about the organs of blood circulation, transformation and respiration.

After the death of a close friend who died of diabetes in 1920, a Canadian scientist Frederick Grant Banting decided to devote his life to creating a cure for this terrible disease. He began by studying the literature on this issue. Moses Barron's article "On the blockade of the pancreatic duct by gallstones" made a very big impression on the young scientist, as a result of which he had a famous dream. In this dream, he understood how to act correctly. Waking up in the middle of the night, Banting wrote down the procedure for conducting the experiment on a dog: “Ligate the pancreatic ducts in dogs. Wait six to eight weeks. Delete and extract." Very soon he brought the experiment to life. The results of the experiment were amazing. Frederick Banting discovered the hormone insulin, which is still used as the main drug in the treatment of diabetes. In 1923, 32-year-old Frederick Banting (together with John McLeod) was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, becoming the youngest winner. And in honor of Banting, World Diabetes Day is celebrated on his birthday, November 14th.