A study has shown that Wearable Exosuit Could Redesign the Future of hard physical labour. Vanderbilt University engineers have determined that their back-assist exosuit, a clothing-like device that supports human movement and posture, can reduce fatigue by an average of 29-47 percent in lower back muscles. The exosuit’s functionality presents a promising new development for individuals who work in physically demanding fields and are at risk for back pain, including medical professionals and frontline workers. The wearable technology is a low-profile, elastic exosuit that applies assistive forces that cooperate with the low back extensor muscles, to relieve strain on the muscles and spine, and to help reduce injury risks. Since completion of this study the back-assist exosuit is being commercialised by HeroWear subject to a license from Vanderbilt University.
Discovery Enables Adult Skin to Regenerate like a Newborn’s
In a study, published in the journal eLife, the researchers identified a factor that acts like a molecular switch in the skin of baby mice that controls the formation of hair follicles as they develop during the first week of life. The switch is mostly turned off after skin forms and remains off in adult tissue. When it was activated in specialised cells in adult mice, their skin was able to heal wounds without scarring. The reformed skin even included fur and could make goose bumps, an ability that is lost in adult human scars. The discovery by Washington State University researchers has implications for better skin wound treatment as well as preventing some of the aging process in skin.
Social Media Linked with Depression, Secondary Trauma During COVID-19
According to researchers at Penn State and Jinan University discovered that excessive use of social media for COVID-19 health information is related to both depression and secondary trauma. The study, which published online in the journal Computers in Human Behavior, included 320 participants living in urban districts of Wuhan, China. In February 2020, the team gave the participants an online survey that investigated how they accessed and shared health information with family members, friends and colleagues on social media, specifically WeChat, China’s most popular social media mobile app. It was discovered that more than half of the respondents reported some level of depression, with nearly 20% of them suffering moderate or severe depression. None of the participants reported having any depressive or traumatic disorders before the survey was conducted.
