A car crash on the Massachusetts Turnpike sent a truck partially onto the adjacent MBTA Commuter Rail tracks in Boston Friday afternoon, during the afternoon rush.
Video from the scene showed the box truck striding a fence separating the highway, …
Massachusetts
Vehicle goes off Route 3 in Plymouth and down embankment
Three people were trapped in a vehicle police say went off Route 3 and down an embankment Friday in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Emergency crews responded around 5 p.m. after the vehicle went off the road and into the Eel River.
Troopers freed three…
Sticker for your ticker: An ultra-thin device could help prevent the leading cause of death
In an effort to help doctors track the world’s leading cause of death, cardiovascular diseases, a Massachusetts biomedical engineer is working to create the heart monitor of the future — one that could give people important insight into the state of their arteries, and be no more burdensome than a stick-on tattoo.
UMass Amherst biomedical engineering professor Dmitry Kireev’s device would give people the ability to monitor their own cardiac health, including the health of their arteries, with an ultra-thin, peel-on device.
Typically, to diagnose conditions that impact the arteries, patients would have to go to a medical facility for an ultrasound, MRI or another form of imaging. But Kireev says he is using a $231,000 grant he was recently given by the American Heart Association to build off a prior project that used graphene — a special type of material that is essentially a sheet of carbon just one atom thick — to create a heart monitor.
Graphene holds many useful properties, including super-strength, electrical conductivity and flexibility, and researchers all over are still learning more about its applications.
At the University of Texas at Austin, researchers have been able to produce a tattoo-like, graphene-based heart monitor that they say could perform uninterrupted electrocardiograms and seismocardiographs — both methods to track heartbeats — for days on end.
Kireev said that the research team, which he joined before coming to UMass Amherst, was able to get the technology to track blood pressure continuously as well.
And now, he wants to take things a step further.
“What we are trying to do in the future is to get a little bit further than just measuring blood pressure, to get into a root problem,” Kireev said. “One of the major root problems for cardiovascular diseases is arterial stiffness.”
Arterial stiffness is when the arteries in the body lose their ability to properly expand and contract. It comes with age but is exacerbated by certain health conditions.
Arterial stiffness and atherosclerosis, the buildup of plaque in the arteries, can lead to hypertension, stroke and coronary artery disease, and cardiovascular diseases are the top cause of death around the globe, according to the World Health Organization.
Nearly 18 million people die annually from cardiovascular diseases, a group that includes coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, rheumatic heart disease and more. Over 80% of deaths are due to heart attacks and strokes, according to the WHO.
“Typically, the problem [is] developed when it’s already too late for us,” Kireev said. “What’s part of the research that we are doing here is trying to create solutions for preventive care.”
Kireev hopes to develop the technology over the next three years.
“This is literally on the tattoo paper,” he demonstrated. “You have this tattoo, you put it in water, you just put it, stick it on skin, you remove the paper, and then the kind of the image stays on the skin. It’s exactly the same concept. But instead of the image that stains on the skin, it’s graphene that stays on the skin.”
That graphene-based heart monitor would be able to track important biomarkers to let users know about potential problems before symptoms develop, giving them a chance to course-correct by changing their lifestyle and diet.
Eventually, Kireev envisions this as a product that someone could pick up at a pharmacy. He speculated that people with genetic dispositions to cardiac issues and athletes may be the earliest adopters, but hopes that it’s something that brings preventative care to a wide variety of people.
He estimated that, if the research pans out, people could find the heart monitors on store shelves in about 10 to 12 years.
Meanwhile, Kireev is working on research to develop another graphene heart monitor that would be implanted onto the heart and also function as a pacemaker. That research is not as far along.
Southborough elementary school teacher accused of holding mock slave auction, using N-word
A fifth-grade teacher in Southborough, Massachusetts, is accused of being on the wrong side of history.
The faculty member at Margaret A. Neary Elementary School is on paid leave for allegedly making several racially insensitive comments on at least two occasions during class this semester.
“It’s just poor judgment,” said Nom, a school parent whose son is in that class. “It’s unfortunate; it’s very concerning.”
Nom said she only knew of one incident until Thursday, when Superintendent Gregory Martineau wrote to the school community about the scope of the problem.
“My son had good experiences with that specific teacher, which is why this was very shocking and very appalling to hear about,” said Nom.
Martineau said the unnamed teacher held a mock slave auction in class in January and asked two students of color to stand so the class could discuss their physical attributes.
Then in late April, the same teacher allegedly read, aloud, a non-approved book during English arts class and said the N-word.
The district would later find out that word was not in the textbook.
“In terms of people having to understand that history, that’s very important,” said Nom. “But I think there’s ways to teach the history without having to be offensive.”
More on racism in Massachusetts
The teacher met with Nom and other parents about what happened. But then the next day, the teacher allegedly called out the student who complained.
“I think that it should be rectified,” said Sarah Alinovi, a parent of a child who will soon enroll in Southborough Public Schools. “If it happens over and over again, then, you know, it should be addressed.”
The superintendent admits there were missteps and announced a series of actions, including the development of a plan focusing on cultural competency, working with education consultants, accelerating the professional development of their staff, strengthening internal reporting procedures, and following up with students and families in that class.
Rahsaan Hall, the president and CEO of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts, believes this is an opportunity to correct course.
“They should certainly be intentional and proactive about developing practices and engaging the community on these difficult topics to raise awareness and not leave it up to the reckless efforts of a single teacher,” said Hall.
The school’s principal, Kathleen Valenti, was also placed on leave for a week earlier in May.
The superintendent said the district is still investigating, while the fate of the teacher is still unclear.
Could New England see the Northern Lights again? ‘The aurora may become visible’
Could New England see the Northern Lights again? ‘The aurora may become visible’
Cape and islands add new daily seasonal flights
American Airlines is adding its first service to three Cape and islands airports in June.
The new daily routes include daily flights between Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia and Cape Cod Gateway Airport in Hyannis. …
