EmergencyTech.org

Oh, those Canadians are at it again with all of their inventing and politeness. Well, this has nothing to do with politeness, unless your idea of “polite” is ensuring effective chest compression rate and depth during CPR.

Two engineering students from McMaster University have invented what they believe is the solution: the CPR Glove. They have entered a prototype of their innovative device in this year’s Ontario Engineering Competition for university students being held in Ottawa from Feb. 9 to Feb. 11. They are part of a 17-member team competing from McMaster.

The black, one-size-fits-all CPR Glove features a series of sensors and chips that measure the frequency and depth of compressions being administered during CPR and outputs the data to a digital display.

To be effective, compressions must be given at the rate of 100 per minute and at a depth of four to five centimeters.

A study measuring retention of CPR training published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that 59 per cent of the time, compressions were applied at the rate of only 80 per minute. Thirty-seven per cent of the time, the compressions were too shallow. CPR administered at these levels is not likely to save a person in cardiac arrest.

What I find particularly interesting about this is that it seems effective in many different ways: as a training adjunct, as a real-time indicator of compression effectiveness, and as an interface device for AEDs designed for bystander-use. Think of the effectiveness of cues like “deeper” or “harder” . . . well, you get the point.

Read more
Video
Via

No Comments »

This is lifted directly from this post over at Homeland Security Watch.

No Comments »

British law enforcement officials have arrested 24 suspects in connection with a terrorist plot to smuggle and detonate a “binary explosive” that would be inert while in its separate parts but would become highly explosive when they are combined. If the whole concept sounds a bit “big bomb on the boat in Die Hard: With a Vengeance” to you then you’re not alone.

A senior congressional source said it is believed the plotters planned to mix a British sports drink with a gel-like substance to make an explosive that they would possibly trigger with an MP3 player or cell phone.

The sports drink could be combined with a peroxide-based paste to form a potent “explosive cocktail,” if properly done, said a U.S. counterterrorism official.

“There are strong reasons to believe the materials in a beverage like that could have been part of the formula,” the official said.

The media reports that the explosive they planned to use was some type of acetone peroxide explosive like TATP. TATP is highly volitile and is often called the “Mother of Satan” and the “suicide bomber’s explosive of choice” because, much like all acetone peroxide explosives, it is relatively easy to manufacture using household chemicals and it is extremely difficult to detect.

First discovered in 1980 in Hebron, TATP is made by mixing hydrogen peroxide, which can be bought in disinfectant form at the neighborhood pharmacy, and acetone, commonly found in paint thinners. The compound is helped along by an acid catalyst. “The liquid from your car battery or even lemon juice will do the trick,” notes Keinan. The easy recipe is not lost on the bomb makers: In just one raid in 1998, Palestinian Authority security personnel uncovered 800 kilograms of TATP in a Nablus garage.

If operating personnel are trained to look for it, existing portable technologies — such as ion mobility spectrometry, which identifies an explosive by its molecular mass, and nuclear quadrupole resonance, which looks for signature radio frequencies — should theoretically be able to pick up TATP, contend advocates.

Acetone peroxide explosives were also the choice of “shoe bomber” Richard Reid (TAPT) and the July 7, 2005 terrorist attacks in London (HDMT) so they obviously present a growing problem for responders. The question is one of how we resasonably equip ourselves to detect the explosves and the chemicals used to cook it up.

Despite numerous advances in detection technology in the last few years especially with the deluge of research and development funds coming from the U.S. and other goverment antiterrorism initiatives common design hurdles remain: training, utilization, and portability. Some recent advances in the detection of TATP type explosives such as Ehud Keinan’s pen-sized Peroxide Explosives Detector offer a new paradigm of portability to airport screeners and other law enforcement officers; this design, however, requires that the device be touching the person who is being screened so they aren’t effective in crowded situations like subway stations and large events. They are, however, effective when used in one-on-one physical searches–you know, the kind the TSA just loves to perform.

1 Comment »

Via Business Week:

Today’s versions of body armor are composed mostly of 20 to 30 layers of synthetic fibers. And while there is no question the death toll for American troops in Iraq would be far higher without it, the gear is bulky and can’t stop high-velocity bullets, for example, or all bomb fragments. Even as DuPont was field-testing the original Kevlar jackets in the early 1970s, researchers were hunting for lighter, tougher ballistic fabrics. Since then, companies have investigated a chemist’s kit of exotic materials, from cloned spider silk — a wonder of lightness and strength — to newfangled sheets of carbon nanotubes that are among the toughest structures in nature. Israeli researchers at one company, ApNano Materials Inc. in New York, have shown off a breastplate of nanometals said to be five times as strong as steel.

Armor Holdings’ product is different from all of the above. Developed by Norman Wagner, a professor of chemical engineering at the University of Delaware’s Center for Composite Materials, it’s a mix of polyethylene glycol, a polymer found in laxatives and other consumer products, and nanobits of silica, or purified sand. Together they produce a “sheer-thickening liquid” that stiffens instantly into a shield when hit hard by an object. It reverts to its liquid state just as fast when the energy from the projectile dissipates.

The liquid has other pluses. It’s lighter than Kevlar and other widely used fabrics. That means Armor Holdings’ new vests, in which the substance would be sandwiched between layers of ballistic fibers, might be lighter than current versions, which weigh four pounds or more. It also should be cheaper to manufacture, says Schiller. The Jacksonville (Fla.) company wants to continue to sell entry-level garments for $500 to $600.

It will initially be marketed towards corrections officers who face the constant threat of stabbings.

The concept of a “sheer-thickening liquid” is interesting to say the least; however, this program’s relationship to Armor Holdings and the Natick Soldier Systems Center makes me a bit nervous especially in the wake of the Pinnacle Armor SOV/Dragon Skin vs. Interceptor armor controversy that we’ll be covering soon. Until then check out Defense Review’s coverage of NSSC’s wrangling at the expense of U.S. soldiers’ safety.

No Comments »

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology’s GTRI have developed an ultrasonic device that promises to make difficult veinipunctures and other peocedures that require vascular access much easier. The unit, designed specifically for use by paramedics and EMTs in the field uses the Doppler Effect to assist in determinig the key location, depth, and angles required to access hard to find veins in patients with severe bruising, burns, or a history of vein-destroying diabetes.

“Although the use of Doppler technology isn’t new, the novel aspect of our vein finder is the system’s design, which makes it both portable and economical,” says Peter Rogers, a professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Mechanical Engineering.

The patent-pending vein finder is composed of two parts: A reusable unit houses the electronics and signal processing components, while a disposable coupler box holds a reflector and needle guide. The needle guide is positioned parallel to the sound beam being transmitted by a transducer in the device’s reusable section.

Dehydration and cardiac arrest also present challenges which are compounded by the need for immediate vascular access with large-bore catheters. The time saved by using the acoustic vein finder could save numerous lives (and Quality Improvement statistics). Researchers promise that it will be small and inexpensive:

Once the system is successfully adapted for humans, data processing and electronics will be miniaturized in a prototype for field-testing. The researchers envision the final product will be about the size of a fat fountain pen.

No Comments »