{"id":30357,"date":"2014-07-08T07:23:04","date_gmt":"2014-07-08T07:23:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=30357"},"modified":"2014-07-08T08:09:52","modified_gmt":"2014-07-08T08:09:52","slug":"remote-control-contraceptive-chip-available-by-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=30357","title":{"rendered":"‘Remote control’ contraceptive chip available ‘by 2018’"},"content":{"rendered":"

A contraceptive computer chip that can be controlled by remote control has been developed in Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

The chip is implanted under a woman’s skin, releasing a small dose of levonorgestrel, a hormone.<\/p>\n

This will happen every day for 16 years, but can be stopped at any time by using a wireless remote control.<\/p>\n

The project has been backed by Bill Gates, and will be submitted for pre-clinical testing in the US next year – and possibly go on sale by 2018.<\/p>\n

The device measures 20mm x 20mm x 7mm and will be “competitively priced”, its creators said.<\/p>\n

Convenience factor<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tiny reservoirs of the hormone are stored on a 1.5cm-wide microchip within the device.<\/p>\n

A small electric charge melts an ultra-thin seal around the levonorgestrel, releasing the 30 microgram dose into the body.<\/p>\n

There are other types of contraceptive implant available, the researchers noted, but all require a trip to a clinic and an outpatient procedure in order to be deactivated.<\/p>\n

Dr Robert Farra<\/div>\n

“The ability to turn the device on and off provides a certain convenience factor for those who are planning their family,” said Dr Robert Farra from MIT.<\/p>\n

The next challenge for the team is to ensure the absolute security of the device to prevent activation or deactivation by another person without the woman’s knowledge.<\/p>\n

“Communication with the implant has to occur at skin contact level distance,” said Dr Farra.<\/p>\n

“Someone across the room cannot re-programme your implant.<\/p>\n

“Then we have secure encryption. That prevents someone from trying to interpret or intervene between the communications.”<\/p>\n

Huge range<\/strong><\/p>\n

The same technology could be used to administer other drugs.<\/p>\n

Simon Karger, head of the surgical and interventional business at Cambridge Consultants, said that implanted technology like this faces a range of challenges and risks.<\/p>\n

But he added that overall “the value to the patient of these types of implant can be huge and we foresee a future in which a huge range of conditions are treated through smart implanted systems”.<\/p>\n

\"Pills\"<\/div>\n
Implanted devices could help people who forget to take medication at the correct time<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

The innovation comes at a time when governments and organisations around the world have agreed to try to bring family planning to around 120 million more women by 2020.<\/p>\n

This challenge opens the door to this kind of implant technology being used in areas where access to traditional contraceptives is limited – a bigger priority, argued Gavin Corley, a biomedical engineer.<\/p>\n

“That’s a humanitarian application as opposed to satisfying a first-world need,” he told the BBC.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A contraceptive computer chip that can be controlled by remote control has been developed in Massachusetts. The chip is implanted under a woman’s skin, releasing a small dose of levonorgestrel, a hormone. This will happen every day for 16 years, but can be stopped at any time by using a wireless remote control. The project […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":30358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1598,15,1599,38],"class_list":["post-30357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","tag-assembly-members","tag-chinese","tag-edwin-nii-lante-vanderpuye","tag-palaver-newspaper"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}