Hanna the Labrador Retriever Receives 3D Printed, Bionic Tooth.

Dental care can be a challenge for everyone, even with insurance. As premiums and co-pays increase–while benefits decrease—we’re often left with difficult choices and challenges, not to mention pain, difficulty eating, and self-consciousness about a range of issues that can arise when all is not going well with the teeth. But some of these issues can apply to other species too, it would seem. Jeanne Montenegro of Brazil has first-hand experience in facing dental issues with a pet after her dog broke off a tooth while chewing on a bone. No geriatric case either, her Labrador retriever Hanna is just a puppy at 15 months old. With permanent teeth having grown in already, this was an issue all around, with the situation not about to fix itself. The dog became depressed and increasingly hungry as she experienced pain every time she tried to eat. At a loss for what to do for the sad canine who needed to be encouraged to eat again, Montenegro enlisted veterinary help and was referred to a team of Brazilian dentists and scientists at the University in Santos, in Southeast Brazil. Not only were the specialists able to help Hanna, but the procedure was performed at no cost since it was the first time they had ever tried something like this. The price tag on this type of service would probably run around $1500 USD. The team took on the project with enthusiasm however, certainly printing a much smaller item than usual, but just as important. Known as the ‘Animal Avengers,’ the team has had experience with helping numerous other animals too as they created a 3D printed prosthetic for a toucan, a titanium beak for Gigi the Macaw, and even a 3D printed shell for Fred the Tortoise. Making a 3D printed bionic tooth was definitely a new endeavor for the team, made up of Dr. Matheus Rabello, Dr. Paulo Miamoto, Dr. Roberto Fecchio, Cicero Moraes, Dr. Sergio Camargo, and Dr. Rodrigo Rabello, all of whom volunteer their time. Dr. Miamoto, a forensic dentist, constructed a mold of Hanna’s upper jaw. Moraes, a 3D design specialist, created the model for the tooth to be made in metal, using both chromium and cobalt. “The new tooth is tougher than the original one,” Moraes said. “This is the smallest object I have ever had to design for printing.” The team scanned an identical tooth from the other side of Hanna’s mouth and were able to design the 3D implant from that, completely customizing it for the area it needed to be inserted in, offering Hanna some of the greatest benefits of 3D technology—most definitely offering patient-specific care at its best. Hanna’s owner says that the pup is indeed back to normal, but she is not allowed to chew on those beloved rawhide bones or toys anymore—and games like tug of war are certainly out of the question. That’s a small price to pay though to have Hanna thriving again. The tooth was made at the Renato Archer Information Technology Centre in Campinas, one of the only places in the area that is capable of 3D printing in metal. Once completed, the vets had to be meticulous in fitting the tooth due to the extremely tiny space it had to inhabit, for good. While obviously this would not be an operation that many pet-owners could afford today, the team hopes that as they perfect procedures like this and continue to progress, one day pet care like this will be more common—especially with 3D design and printing. Contributed by 3Dprint.

Diet Dash game uses brain training to help you lose weight.

The app turns dieting into a game to make it easier to make healthy food choices.Losing weight can often be a struggle, and is rarely fun, but that could be about to change. Researchers from Drexel University are developing a gaming app they think could help people "control unhealthy eating habits and ultimately lose weight". The app, which would be in the form of a computer game, is designed to improve inhibitory control - the part of the brain that "stops you from giving into unhealthy cravings". The game, DietDash, requires participants to tell researchers which types of unhealthy foods they are most likely to binge on. The game will then be customized to their diet; if someone lists cookies as their favourite treat, for example, cookies will appear in the game. Players are then asked to press certain keys to respond to different types of foods, including healthy and unhealthy foods. "As the player's inhibitory control improves, the game speed increases". People are expected to play the game for eight minutes a day for six weeks. Another app will attempt to intelligently detect patterns in a person's eating habits. "When users are likely to slip from their dietary plans, the app provides tailored strategies to put them back on track," researchers said. "Millions of people are trying to lose weight, and they are going about it in a reasonable way - by trying to reduce calories," said Evan Forman, who will be leading the study. "But you're going to slip from your diet plan. That pretty much happens to everyone. You could say the secret of helping people actually lose weight is preventing these lapses, so we concentrated on how to best do that." "The study is really the first to attempt to train people for weeks in a row," Forman said. "We think this can translate to real-world behaviours, because just like any task, it improves with practice." The university is now seeking participants to trial the app. Contributed by Wired.

FAO passes salmonella rule to create global meat standards

FAO passes salmonella rule to create global meat standards: New guidelines have been adopted for the control of non-typhoidal salmonella in beef and pork at the Codex Alimentarius Commission.

Lab-grown meat to ‘revolutionise’ food sector

Lab-grown meat to ‘revolutionise’ food sector: Tel-Aviv business SuperMeat has launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise investment in developing technology that makes lab-grown poultry a viable replacement in the meat industry.

China's pork industry grapples with pollution crisis

China's pork industry grapples with pollution crisis: Genetics and nutrition companies look set to benefit from a Chinese crackdown on pollution from the livestock sector, after critics claim slurry is contaminating water supplies.

German blood sausage wins protected status

German blood sausage wins protected status: A German blood sausage, popular for over 200 years, has been awarded Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status by the European Commission.

Ibuprofen can help 'disable' Ebola and prevent infection.

In what is being hailed as a significant breakthrough in the battle against the deadly Ebola virus, researchers have found an unlikely treatment source - an everyday ibuprofen painkiller. Using Diamond Light Source, a light 10 billion times brighter than the Sun, the team was able to analyse the structure of the Ebola virus at a far higher resolution than had previously been possible. The researchers found ibuprofen, as well as cancer drug Toremifene, were able to bind to a protein on the surface of Ebola, preventing infection. The team described this as being able to "disable" the virus. Further work will be needed to analyse the structures of both the virus and the drugs, as well as how they interact, but the team is hopeful the research could be built upon to develop anti-Ebola treatments. "These complex structures reveal the mechanism of inhibition and may guide the development of more powerful anti-EBOV drugs," the team wrote in Nature. No drug has yet been developed that can stop Ebola. Nearly 11,000 people died of the disease in West Africa alone, with 30,000 infected. Many victims have since been infected with post-Ebola syndrome, which has lead to loss of sight and sickness. Contributed by wired.co.uk