NEWS
The New Hampshire
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
9
Developed at UNH, new Nation’s newest national historic park in NJ injection technology to lessen pain and improve accuracy By SAMANTHA HENRY Associated Press
By TENZIN YESHI Contributing Writer
There may soon be a new technology on the market that will teach medical professionals how to reduce some of the discomfort associated with that yearly flu shot, and needle-phobes can thank UNH researchers. Researchers at UNH’s nursing and electrical engineering departments have been working together to develop such an instrument that is designed to help nurses and other health care professionals learn how to give the most effective intramuscular injections. This device is basically a “smart” syringe that can sense force and acceleration of the person injecting and transmits the data to a monitor, which can advise a student nurse to modify his other technique with its feedback. According to Paula McWilliam, an assistant professor of nursing, this new device will ensure that people get immunized, which is more important than improving a training nurse’s technique. McWilliam is collaborating with professor John LaCourse, chair of the department of electrical and computer engineering. A few undergraduate students from the electrical engi-
neering, nursing, and biochemistry departments, along with one graduate student worked on this project. The feedback that the device can provide may be much needed now. With around as many as 16 billion injections given per year, it is considered a basic skill, but, according to McWilliam, if these injections are not ensuring accuracy or lacking precision, their effectiveness at delivering the medicine could be compromised. Tyler Rideout, a graduate student in electrical and computer engineering, developed a graphical user interface (GUI) that plots the user’s force, trajectory, angle, and pressure on the monitor within a range of “best-practice data.” After developing a prototype of this new device, LaCourse and McWilliam and other project members are now trying to establish a standard for delivering IM injections after learning there has yet to be an established “best-practice” data for giving injections. The cross-disciplinary team of College of Health and Human Services and College of Engineering and Physical Sciences are now looking for a commercial partner who could take itds prototype to market and patent it.
NOAA steps up probe of 146 New England seal deaths By RODRIQUE NGOWI Associated Press
BOSTON - Federal officials are stepping up an investigation into the deaths of 146 harbor seals along the New England coast since September after samples of five of them tested positive for the Influenza A virus, authorities announced Friday. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that the deaths have been declared an unusual event, enabling the agency to pour more resources into the probe. The declaration came after consultations with a panel of international experts established under the Marine Mammal Protection Act to monitor and investigate sea animal health concerns. The 146 seals generally were less than a year old and had healthy appearances. They were found in Maine, New Hampshire and northern Massachusetts. The NOAA said in a statement the deaths were more than three times the average number of strandings that typically occur this time of year. Although tissues from five seals examined by a New England aquarium tested positive for the Influenza A virus, test results for six other viral pathogens and biotox-
ings were negative, the agency said. “Even though preliminary results have been received, they are only indicative of those five cases, and additional evaluations are under way to determine whether the influenza virus has played a role in the overall mortalities,” the statement said. The unexplained deaths triggered a response from NOAA’s national Marine Mammal Stranding Network, the New England Aquarium’s Marine Mammal Rescue Program and the University of New England’s Marine Animal Rescue Center. Authorities warned the public that the seals could pose a human health risk. The past few decades have seen some notable seal die-offs in the Northeast, including in a rash of influenza deaths around 1979 and 1980 that New England Aquarium spokesman Tony LaCasse previously said were linked to bird flu. Scientists theorized that the seals were exposed when they sunned themselves on rocks dotted with bird droppings, he said. In 2006, a morbillivirus killed hundreds of local harbor and gray seals, Garron said. The virus killed 20,000 seals in the United Kingdom in the early 2000s, with harbor seals accounting for 44 percent of the deaths, she said.
PATERSON, N.J. - A waterfall in one of New Jersey’s largest cities that inspired generations of newcomers to America, fueled the Industrial Revolution and was featured in everything from a William Carlos Williams poem to an episode of the television show “The Sopranos,” became the nation’s newest national park on Monday. The Great Falls in downtown Paterson was given the national park designation in a ceremony attended by New Jersey officials, local schoolchildren, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and the head of the National Park Service. The majestic 77-foot waterfall is unusually situated in the heart of an urban, working-class city - New Jersey’s third largest - that was once a booming beacon of industry that later fell on hard times. The waterfall, framed Monday by a ring of blazing foliage, is second only to Niagara Falls in water volume east of the Mississippi River. More than 2 billion gallons of water a day pass over its summit to the swirling Passaic River below. Considered the birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution, the Great Falls once generated power that ran mills producing silk - Paterson is still known as ‘Silk City’ - locomotives, aircraft engines and guns. “This is a day where we honor people who were not afraid to get their hands dirty, to make the real
American revolution happen - it happened right here in the blocks that surround us where we stand today,” said Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., a Paterson native who lobbied for years for the national park designation. “This is the only national park in the whole country - this is our Yellowstone - the only park where you join the aesthetic with the historic American revolution in industry.” Parks department officials echoed those words, pointing out that many national historic sites are small and several are in urban areas, but the Great Falls site has a rare combination of natural beauty and historical significance. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, who, like Pascrell, was born and raised in Paterson, spoke passionately of the historic designation recognizing the contributions of the immigrant workers, like his forbearers, who helped build America. Lautenberg, poking fun at being the oldest member of the U.S. Senate at age 87, joked that he was with Alexander Hamilton in 1778 when he looked out at the falls and envisioned America harnessing its water to become a great industrial power. Years later, as the country’s first treasury secretary, Hamilton selected the site to become the nation’s first planned industrial city. “The Great Falls inspired Alexander Hamilton - my buddy - 200 years ago, and we’re going to make them a source of inspiration again,” Lautenberg said. The falls once provided elec-
trical power to a network of mills and factories that fueled many industries, from textiles to the Rogers Locomotive Works and the place where the first Colt .45 revolvers were manufactured. The city also is rich in labor history, and was the site of the 1913 Paterson silk strike. The area was named a National Historic District in 1976, but it has taken decades to achieve national park status. The designation was approved by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama in March 2009, making the 35-acre site eligible for federal funds. Exactly how much the state will get to run the park has yet to be determined. The first step is to get community input, with outreach in English, Spanish, Bengali and Arabic - all spoken in the communities that make up Paterson’s diverse population. Darren Boch of the National Park Service, a Paterson native who has been named the new park’s first superintendent, said an initial assessment will be made to determine how best to design the park to be “an interpretive experience” consistent with other national parks. Paterson officials said they hope Monday’s official designation as a national park will help revitalize the city and make it a tourist destination. Calling the site “the spiritual home of the American dream,” New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez said it was important to recognize the contributions of unnamed immigrant workers who helped make America an industrial powerhouse.