From Institution of Mechanical Engineers, by Joseph Flaig
A new filtering process using the versatile 2D material graphene could have “amazing” possibilities for people with serious diseases, an expert has said.
Engineers at MIT have made a functional dialysis membrane from a sheet of the material, a single layer of carbon atoms linked together in a hexagonal lattice. The dialysis process filters molecules out of a solution, such as removing waste products from the blood of patients with kidney disease.
The graphene dialysis membrane is much thinner than existing examples, which are normally made of cellulose or synthetic polymers, with a thickness of 1nm compared to the previous thinnest 20nm. As a result, the graphene can filter molecules out of solutions 10 times faster, said the MIT department of mechanical engineering team led by Piran Kidambi.
The increased efficiency could “make a serious difference to patients, particularly those who are suffering from blood illnesses or kidney disease,” said Helen Meese, head of healthcare at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. “Going into hospital for long periods of time can be time-consuming and painful, and can affect people quite severely if they are having to go two or three times a week for dialysis.”
Quicker filtering and increased portability with graphene membranes could let patients stay at home or visit their GP surgery rather than hospital, she added, saving costs and possibly helping patients recover faster.
The new membrane could have many other uses, said the MIT team, including purifying drugs for pharmaceutical companies and isolating molecules during medical diagnosis of patients. Current membranes work slowly because they are relatively thick, the engineers said, with molecules travelling through “winding paths” to the diluted solution.
“Because graphene is so thin, diffusion across it will be extremely fast,” Kidambi said. “A molecule doesn’t have to do this tedious job of going through all these tortuous pores in a thick membrane before exiting the other side. Moving graphene into this regime of biological separation is very exciting.”
The team filtered a variety of molecules with diameters between 0.66nm and 4nm out of solutions with their 1cm² membrane. The graphene was customised to “selectively sieve” the molecules, with oxygen plasma used to make holes of different sizes.
The engineers plan to make the membrane bigger, and to create more “tailored” pores to allow more molecules through, something which would cause problems for the super-strong, thin and conductive material in other applications.
“What’s exciting is, what’s not great for the electronics field is actually perfect in this field,” Kidambi said. “In electronics, you want to minimize defects. Here you want to make defects of the right size.”
The study was published in Advanced Materials.
PKD Walk
From WCVB ABC Affiliate Boston, MA
Kathy Curran to Emcee the Boston Walk for PKD on Saturday, September, 30th
Location:
Artesani Park
1255 Soldier's Field Road
Brighton, MA 02135
Event Information:
Check-in/Onsite Registration: 9 a.m.
Penny Kids Dash: 10 a.m.
Walk Begins: 10:30 a.m.
Walk Distance: 2.8 miles
Polycystic kidney disease (PKD) — one of the most common, life-threatening genetic diseases — strikes both adults and children. It often leads to the need for dialysis and a kidney transplant. It affects thousands in America and millions worldwide, who are in urgent need of treatments and a cure.
Come join the many walkers who are devoted to supporting PKD research and creating better lives for those who have been impacted by PKD.
Please unite to fight PKD. Join the PKD Foundation in Brighton and support the 2017 Walk for PKD today!
Living With PKD
From WMC NBC Affiliate, Memphis, TN
Mid-South family needs help as baby awaits kidney transplant
Elena Liriano needs a kidney transplant. She's the daughter of Suzanne Taylor and Leonidas Liriano, and she was diagnosed with Polycystic Kidney Disease.
Doctors at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital said Elena needs the kidney transplant in order to survive.
"Her kidneys weren't functioning," her mother Suzanne Taylor Liriano said.
Within the first week of the little girl's life, she was on a path to dialysis. But now, she needs a transplant to survive.
The cost of a transplant often exceeds $500,000, so the Children's Organ Transplant Association (COTA) is stepping in to raise money to help pay for Elena's procedure.
"We have copays of course, and all the expenses of taking the time off work for the transplant and other hospitalization associated costs," Liriano said.
The family is planning to have the transplant next year once Elena reaches a safe weight of 22 pounds for the surgery.
"The great thing about CODA is that 100 percent of the proceeds go for Elena for her whole life. So, she needs a kidney transplant at age two, she will likely need more than one in her life to have a full life," Liriano said.
Volunteers are needed to help with the fundraising activities. Individuals or groups interested in helping COTA can contact Lia Savino at 901-481-4989 or liajofisher@mail.com.
If you wish to donate to the cause you may mail your donation to Children’s Organ Transplant Association, 2501 West COTA Drive, Bloomington, Indiana, 47403; write a check or money order that's made payable to COTA, with “In Honor of Elena L” written on the memo line of the check; or you may donate online at this link.
Christine Hare, of Homer Glen, was first diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease in 2007, after a hospitalization to remove her appendix. During this hospitalization, a CAT scan showed that Hare's kidneys were full of cysts. She almost died during her surgery.
"I woke up in cardiac ICU at Good Samaritan Downers Grove the next morning," Hare said. "Every doctor and nurse said I should not have been alive and no one could figure out how I pulled through."
Hare said during her surgery, fluids backed up to her heart, causing her to nearly die.
"I never had health problems before this," Hare said. She described polycystic kidney disease as a "silent disease." She inherited it from her mother and grandfather.
After she got out of the hospital, Hare started seeing a nephrologist, a kidney specialist, every six months for blood work, and she changed her eating and exercise habits.
In January 2015, Hare's condition worsened when she received some blood work that had her nephrologist suggest peritoneal dialysis. She had surgery to place a catheter inside her abdomen in March 2015, and soon after began 10-12 hours of dialysis every night.
"Sometimes it's very painful, but it's keeping me alive," Hare said.
Hare has a GoFundMe Page set up by one of her co-workers to help with the costs of her various medical expenses.
"I still ask everyone to please share and find it in their heart to donate," Hare said. "My family needs help now more than ever." Hare's medical expenses have escalated, and she also receives peritoneal dialysis supplies.
"I receive 50 boxes a month of IV bags that help me survive," Hare said. "I do dialysis every night for 12 hours."
Hare continues to work part-time during the day at Charter Fitness of Homer Glen. Hare and her husband both work to support their family.
"Sometimes it's a toss up of 'do you pay this bill or put food on the table?'," Hare said. "There's days I feel nauseous and extremely tired, but I have to work to pay the bills."
According to her GoFundMe, Hare is now in end stage renal disease, but has hopes of finding a kidney donor to help improve the quality of her life.
"I love my family and I want to be here to see my kids grow up," she said.
Visit Hare's GoFund Me here.
From Ventura County Star, CA, by Tom Kisken
After kidney transplant and liver problems, Venturan competes in Transplant Games
There's a reason Tom Henry can't talk about Wayne Huss without crying.
If it wasn't for Huss, Henry wouldn't be talking about setting track and field records in the World Transplant Games this week in Malaga, Spain.
The 60-year-old athlete from Ventura wouldn't be alive.
When Henry was a senior in high school, polycystic kidney disease killed his father. Eventually, it ended the lives of his sister and his half-sister.
Henry survived the disease that shuts down kidney function because Wayne Huss died on March 17, 1994, at age 27. He was killed in a traffic collision that Henry said involved an impaired driver. Less than two days later, one of his kidneys was transplanted into Henry at UCLA Medical Center.
It was a gift that brought more gifts. A year after the transplant, Henry's son was born. Henry competed in a litany of national and world competitions for transplant recipients, winning dozens of medals. A 2006 TransWorld journal article speculated he could be one of the world's most honored transplant athletes.
It's because of Huss, said Hickey, who talked to the man's father after years of trying to find his donor.
"It was a hard conversation," he said, tears causing him to stop and start again. "I'm telling this man ... thanking him for saving my life and realize at the same time he lost his son. ... It's really hard. It's been 23 years and I can't get through talking about it."
Henry, once a computer forensics specialist, left Ventura Friday for the Malaga World Transplant Games, his first such competition in seven years. The opening ceremonies for the biennial event involving more than 2,000 athletes who have gained hearts, lungs, livers and kidneys came on Sunday.
Henry's games begin Thursday.
His 40-year-old daughter, Amanda Heinritz, made the journey with him. She'll watch as he competes with other 60-somethings in the 50-meter freestyle swim, shot put, javelin throw, discus and the cricket ball throw.
"I'm breaking all four of the world records," he said of the track-and-field events in an interview at his East Ventura home, decorated with a Kobe Bryant framed jersey and a NordicFlex exercise machine.
The pledge may sound extreme, but Henry won at least three gold medals at his first Transplant Games America and never really stopped winning over the next two decades.
Once a high school track and field standout and then a semi-professional football player, he holds the World Transplant Games record in the shot put and the ball throw in records verified by the World Transplant Games Federation.
In practice sessions leading up to the Malaga games, Henry said, he routinely bested the current records for his age group.
There's another reason not to take Henry's claims lightly, said his friend, Dennis Crandall, of Oxnard.
"Tom is the most competitive person I've ever met," Crandall said. "He takes everything in life and he takes it to the hilt. He just goes after it. ... It could be cards or tossing a Ping-Pong ball in a cup, it's a competition. Game's on."
Henry competed in every Transplant Games of America from 1994 to 2010. Then his liver started to grow. He was diagnosed with polycystic liver disease, a condition related to his kidney problems. He said cysts caused his liver to grow abnormally, bringing circulation problems and making simple movements painful.
He couldn't compete. He stopped going to the Transplant Games.
"I didn't think I was ever going to compete in sports again," he said.
Henry went through surgery three years ago to reduce the size of his liver. Eventually, he started to feel like himself again. Competitive juices surged.
He decided retirement was premature. He started riding his bike again and working out. He made plans for the Malaga Games in a journey that will cost him about $4,000.
He's doing it because he can, because he's a transplant recipient who doesn't know how long his health will hold up. It's a life where nothing can be taken for granted.
"I'm celebrating a gift that was given to me," he said, urging people to become organ donors. "The way I celebrate it is to go out and compete with athletes who all have had transplants, spreading the word that we're all, you know, back to normal. We're healthy."
After the games, Henry plans to move to Utah to be closer to his two daughters and his grandchildren. Salt Lake City is also the home of 2018 Transplant Games of America. He'll likely compete again.
"I know he's going to compete," Crandall said. "He's the type of person who always has to be doing things... He just has that competitive spirit. Everything is a challenge."
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