Did we find a cure to Osteoporosis after all?

Final Progress Report:

The final outcome of our project was two prototype devices that would cure and strengthen brittle bones in the elderly. The first prototype is a module chamber in which we place our patients in and through increasing the pressure of the atmosphere, we can place mechanical pressure on the bones. This pressure, or mechanic stress, correlates to Wolf's law. Wolf's law is further discussed in our previous post about different methods of reverting the effects of Osteoporosis. Our second prototype is a probe where we insert into a patients body and make direct contact with bone. Through a special method of electro-therapy, the patient will experience impulses of electricity that promote bone growth. These two prototypes haven't been designed or tested, but for now they are ideas that have been inspired through films including that of Captain America.

For the most part, we believe that our successes outweighed our failures in some ways. Some of our successes include the fact that we were able to expand our knowledge about how bone interacts with stress and pressure, the different electric properties that promote bone strength, and the properties involved with electrical therapy. Although many of the sources we gathered couldn't be applied to real life due to the meticulous and complicated feat, we managed to brainstorm a few interesting ideas that we would like to continue to elaborate on in the future. In regards to our failures we had a few that can be categorized into different levels of difficulties. The first difficulty we had was the terminology that was used in many of the articles we read. The terms used in the research articles were medical level literature, so we needed to receive help from medical professionals such as Shayan's sister, who is a physician at Texas Tech University. Another struggle we had was connecting and making sense of the information we collected. Since Shayan's sister wasn't always available we would resort to online sources for help. Unfortunately some of the sources we got were either unreliable or incorrect.

As a team, we have learned the ideals of hard work, patience, passion, and determination throughout the process of 20 time. We learned the many factors that cause Osteoporosis and the relationship of bone remodeling, strengthening, and growth. We also learned the different theories that correlate with bone strengthening and the different steps to take better care of our own body. Lastly we learned how to maximize our creativity by challenging ourselves to think outside the box.

Some questions that have arisen after the process of 20 time include that fact whether or not we would have time to continue or research on 20 time. This proves to be challenging since Shayan will be graduating this year from Saratoga High School. Since we will not be able to see each other throughout the 2015-2016 school year we have decided that Shayan will be able carry on this project and possibly seek help from his professor's during college. If does not prove to be possible, we have decided to put aside this project and work on it later in our college careers.

If we had class for another semester, a definite improvement we would make to our project would be to get hands on involvement in our project prototype/idea. Since we were at a stage where gathering information was our primary obligation, we didn't have much room to expand into our project idea.

TED Talk:

For the most part, the TED talk went very smoothly. We thought we were able to get our point across effortlessly during the presentation. Although we might have stumbled some of our words, we thought we presented our project with confidence, interest, and passion.

Preparing for the TED talk wasn't very stressful for us because we felt that we knew our topic very well and were very confident. We didn't write or memorize a script for our presentation and most of the explanations we elaborated on in class were improvised, but we knew our topic well enough to where it was crisp and concise. Before the presentation we rehearsed the google presentation via Facebook chat and video and went over the key points that we wanted to cover.

Project Goals

During the past few weeks, Abhay and I have researched different techniques in which we can strengthen bones. We recently contacted a medical professional from Texas Tech University whom we discussed about the possibility that our idea might work. Unfortunately, the medical professional never heard of such techniques to strengthen bone yet did not say it is impossible. The project goal seemed a bit far fetched, but medicine is very unpredictable and we believe anything can happen. Based on the input we got we are going to emphasize our project on Piezoelectric properties since it is more realistic and we can apply it to a broader spectrum of our research. In context, the piezoelectric theory is a treatment that requires the simulation of electric currents that in prospective should cure and strengthen bone. By using this theory, Abhay and I want to sketch out an idea/product which hypothetically tests it out. As for now we are in the stage of brain storming a possible idea.  The main goal for our project is to treat osteoporosis and to possibly eliminate all symptoms associated with it.

Another Way to Increase Bone Strength

During the last 2 weeks, we have come across another way to increase bone strength, which involves bioactive scaffolds and tissue engineering. First, a saline solution is injected under the periosteum membrane to create a cavity with the surface of the bone. Then, a gel containing calcium replaces the saline solution and triggers it to produce bone. The periosteum is then peeled back and the new bone is harvested. We have also come across stem cells. The only problem with these two solutions is that they are already being implemented; therefore, if we pursue these methods then we are not introducing anything new. Through this process, we have learned to stay persistent and stick to one idea. Although we were tempted to use the idea involving tissue engineering, we realized that it would be best to stick to our original idea. The next steps in our process involve continuing our research and finalizing what we are going to present to the class. This whole experience thought us to not follow others and to find our own path to do things.

  

Trying to Connect With a Professional

After 2 weeks of researching Bone Strengthening techniques, we tried contacting medical professionals through electronic email in regards to our project. Since we have  not yet  received any responses we will contact Shayan's sister, who is a Doctor at Texas Tech University in hopes of helping us connect with a orthopedist specialist. Through our research, we have started to gain more knowledge about Bones but now we are trying to find methods in which our hypothesis can be tested. Unfortunately, since we don't have the equipment to test our Bone Strengthening techniques we have to wait until we grab a hold of  a professional. Another aspect we enjoy researching in this topic is the fact that bone anatomy seems easy but the physiology behind is what allows us to think of the impossible. We believe that if we weren't exposed to the Anatomy and Physiology class we wouldn't have found our true passion. Our passion and ultimate goal in this project is to help people from all spectrum's around the world. Hopefully in the following weeks we will be able to elaborate more on the process needed to conduct scientific analysis on Bone strengthening techniques and at the end come to positive  conclusions.

Our Progress After 2 Weeks

After 2 weeks, we have gained more understanding on how bones rebuild and how bone strengthening works. With this new information, we are able to better evaluate whether our ideas are realistic or not. We, Abhay and Shayan, have learned to work together very efficiently to help build of each other's ideas. We have also learned to problem solve, think outside the box, and connect ideas together to come up with solutions to certain obstacles. As of now, we have had no real setbacks besides trying to understand material, but we will just need to dig deeper and research more in order to fix this problem. The next steps in our process is to gain a more deeper understanding of our topic and to finalize a few solutions that we can build upon. We are planning to use our research to help patients who have osteoporosis, which is a way for us to connect our topic to the community.

Our Goals and Struggles...

For the 20 Time project, which is defined as devoting 20% of our class time this semester to finding a solution to a problem, we, Abhay and Shayan, are striving to solve a problem in the health/ medicine field. We decided to create a product for osteoporosis patients to increase their bone strength and hopefully cure them. We have chosen this topic because bone deterioration affects a large percent of the population eventually in their lifetime, so we feel that this solution will be very beneficial to the world. Although this product may sound like science fiction, we conducted research to support our hypothesis. Fortunately, with the basic understanding of both the anatomy and physiology of bone structures, we were able to expand our pool of knowledge through fundamentals including Wolff's Law and the Piezoelectric Effect. However, most of the research we conducted was through online sources and a lot of the material presented is extremely complex and advanced. Although we are having trouble understanding some of this complex material, we plan to consult a medical professional who may give us useful and intelligent insight into the product we plan to create in hopes that they can further our knowledge and understanding of this topic. We will measure our progress by regularly consulting with an orthopedist and asking how realistic and practical our solution is, and then posting to this blog through text, pictures, and other means in order to reach out to our audience. Moving forward, we plan to try to understand the material we are presented with and consult medical professionals if possible.