1 . Accidents happen, especially when kids are in the house, and being prepared with a first-aid kit is always a great idea.     1     Having a first-aid kit on hand for your child will help put your mind at ease and let you and your family worry less when injuries occur. Making your own first-aid kit ensures your kit has everything your child could need in an emergency.

 Decide on the right size for the kit. 

Consider how and when the kit will most likely be used and where it will be stored.     2     A manageable size for a container that would still be able to contain the necessary items for your kid is a case the size of a shoebox.

    3    

First-aid kits can come in a variety of sizes and are built from a variety of materials. Choosing the right material for your first-aid kit should again be based on how the kit will be used by your child.

 Make sure the container can be locked. 

When the kit is not in use, you want to make sure that the contents of the first-aid kit are unable to be changed by any younger children in the house who aren’t mature enough to use the kit.     4    

 Label the box as a children’s first-aid kit. 

The kit should be labeled clearly as a first-aid kit for kids.     5     You should also paint or attach a symbol to show that it should be used for first aid.

4 . For some of us, going to the dentist for routine check-ups is a thing of the ordinary. But for many people around the world, especially those in impoverished (贫困的) areas, having dental improvement and their teeth checked simply isn’t possible. A Brazilian dentist Felipe Rossi has devoted himself to helping changing that situation.

Growing up in USA, Felipe Rossi had just obtained the Bachelor of Medicine Degree and was about to start a master’s degree in Pediatric Dentistry (儿童口腔学) when a journey to his father’s home — Balsabo in Brazil — converted his initial plan. “All locals didn’t have access to dental care, and consequently, many of them suffered deformed teeth or even loss of teeth, leading to many people not daring to laugh with mouth open.” Felipe Rossi recalled. “A desire was planted in my heart. That is, to use my skills to bring healthy smiles to people suffering from dental problems.”

With the support of his parents, Felipe formed an NGO (non-government organization) called Porsorriso to give free oral treatments to individuals with low incomes who require cleaning. fillings, crowns, restoration work and more. His team is composed of approximately 30 registered volunteers who go with him to poor towns and villages in Brazil.

Sponsorship is generally provided by two private companies. Individuals may also make donations through the ‘Smile Solidarity’ program, where they can choose monthly amounts to contribute. Porsorriso also holds regular fundraisers to afford the cost of providing free dental services around the country.

As noble as its objective is, Felipe admits that Porsorriso is “struggling to survive” because of the huge cost of providing dental work and the constant fundraising events they have to hold to keep the NGO in normal functioning. “Challenging as it is, it did bring healthy teeth as well as renewed confidence to the locals. We will continue this transformative act whatever difficulties we will face”. Felipe said with a strong will.

5 . Many of us remember the feeling of having our braces (牙套) regularly adjusted and retightened at the dentist’s. And interventions are based entirely upon the estimate of dentists and involve a great deal of trial and error, which can lead to too many visits to the dentist’s.

Professor Erleben and his team created a computer model that creates accurate 3D simulations (模拟) of an individual patient’s jaw, which dentists can use to predict how sets of braces should be designed to best straighten a patient’s teeth and plan the best possible treatment. To create these simulations, the computer model was used to map sets of human teeth after getting detailed CT images of teeth and the small, fine structures between the jawbone and the teeth. This type of precise digital simulation is referred to as a digital twin, a virtual model that lives in the cloud.

The virtual model can answer what’s happening in the real world, and do so instantly. For example, one can ask what would happen if you pushed on one tooth and get answers with regards to where it would move and how it would affect other teeth. The model also helps to predict the post treatment effect, achieve “visualization” of treatment, and facilitate patients to understand the plan of straightening their teeth. What’s more, it has enabled more flexible and convenient digital medical follow-up services.

The area of research that uses digital twins is relatively new. “However, we need to set up a sufficiently big database if digital twins are to really take root and benefit the healthcare industry,” Erleben said, “In the future, the virtual model can be used to plan, design and improve, and can therefore be used to operate companies, robots, factories and used much more in the energy, healthcare and other fields.”

6 . Using a headset at home to deliver a low electrical current to the brain can relieve symptoms of depression. The approach, called transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), is effective when used several times a week for half an hour at a time.

Previous trials have shown that the therapy works under medical supervision in a clinic or lab. Now, a randomised trial has demonstrated that a tDCS headset can also reduce depression symptoms when worn at home.

Several forms of electrical brain stimulation may have the potential to treat depression. With tDCS, sponge electrodes are placed on the left and right sides of the forehead, causing a mild current to flow from the left to the right. This makes brain cells on the left side more likely to fire, with some studies suggesting that activity in this region is low in people with depression.

Repeated sessions of stimulation may lead to longer term changes in the brain cells, increasing their activity levels, says team member Cynthia Fu at the University of East London. Affecting activity in this region probably alters activity in multiple areas, she says. “There are probably many brain regions causing depression.”

To see if people can benefit from using such a device at home, the team randomly assigned 174 people with moderate or severe depression to receive either a full session of stimulation from the headset or stimulation from the same device that lasted just a few seconds. People felt their skin aching at the start and end of each session.

While the depression symptoms of both groups improved on a 52-point scale, those who got the real treatment showed the most benefit, by about 9 points compared with 7, a degree of difference that is similar to that seen with antidepressants (抗抑郁药), “We found people liked having it at home,” says Fu. “Participants could build it into their day.”

7 . SarahRose Black isn’t a doctor or a nurse. Since 2013 she has played an important role for patients at the center as a music therapist (治疗师). One day, a nurse at a medical centre asked her if she could reach out to a patient who refused to take part in any activities. “He’s angry with us, and we wonder if you might have an interest in it.” the nurse told her.

The next day, Black offered to play music for the patient. “If you don’t like it, you can tell me to leave.” she said. After thinking for a while, the man wrote down the names of some music he liked and then looked out the window. However, as Black began to play one of his favorites, he cried. She stopped playing, saying, "Do you want me to continue?" "Certainly," he said through tears.

“It was as if the music went places," recalls Black.” He shared afterwards that he’d been holding in so much and had been unable to talk about anything —but the music felt like a hug."

It has been shown that music can be medicine. A study conducted in Barcelona’s Hospital del Mar found patients receiving music therapy experienced obvious decreases in anxiety and breathing difficulties, as well as an increase in feelings of well-being.

At the Dr Bob Kemp Hospice in Hamilton, Ont., music therapy is widely used. Doug Mattina experienced a music-therapy program when his father spent his last days there. "During the treatment, my mom and I danced around my dad’s bed. He would request high kicks from us as he clapped along. He was so weak that he sometimes fell asleep, but he was happy. It meant a lot to us." Mattina says.

Music has an especially important effect on sick children. Ruth Hunston, a music therapist at a children’s hospital, says her program gives patients back some sense of control. "When children are in hospital, their worlds get much smaller," she explains. "Music allows them to create something themselves."

Music does count in treatment, but Black notes that people actually connect with music for their whole lives.“ We have a heartbeat, so we have a drum inside us; we are born to be musical,”she says,“ Music relieves our sadness in ways words cannot.”

8 . With the development of the Internet, many of our activities take place online. Medicine is no exception. Patients can visit doctors by phone call and video chat. Online searches for telehealth increased sharply.

Online visits are best suited to simple tasks, like refilling prescriptions (doctor’s orders), as well as diagnosing (诊断) and treating conditions that rely on a doctor’s sense of sight — pink eye, rashes, etc. — or a patient’s description of symptoms, such as back pain. Telehealth also works better at monitoring chronic (慢性的) conditions, such as congestive heart failure, where doctors don’t need to provide a new diagnosis but simply check up on patients, monitor symptoms and discuss the side effects of medication. Diabetes (糖尿病) is also a good fit: people can upload blood sugar levels, dosing, and other information for a doctor to review electronically.

Mental health service is easy to access digitally, too, though it comes with advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, doctors may not be able to see body language, which can sometimes be a clue to understanding a client’s well being, and a poor Internet connection can be particularly unfavorable during a difficult conversation. On the other hand, there are patients who like it better. “Some health care providers even say having that extra bit of distance makes people more honest and less stressed to talk about difficult topics,” says Annette Totten, a professor who has studied telehealth.

When done right, Totten’s research shows telehealth benefits both health care providers and patients. It can significantly reduce hospital admissions, which frees beds for people in need of special care. And it’s a lot more convenient for patients, adds Michelle Greiver, a family doctor.

9 . In the not-so-distant future, the doctors who treat our diseases might be tiny machines that swim through our bodies. Movies like Fantastic Voyage have long played with the idea of making machines the size of a single cell (细胞) — today advances in robotics have brought the idea ever closer to reality. In my lab, I’m just trying to build such intelligent, or smart, microrobots.

Tiny organisms (living things) , such as bacteria (细菌), have many intelligent behaviors, and if we can make robots copy some of them, it’s very exciting. The way bacteria travel across their environment is unbelievable. At first, they kind of just aimlessly move around, but when they start sensing food, like an amino acid (氨基酸) they will move gradually in that direction. As a roboticist, you could imagine making tiny robots that can do the same thing.

For example, look at something like E. coli (大肠杆菌). It has receptors on its surface that can sense amino acids around it. It can change how it’s moving. It can rebuild or repair itself. In fact, E.coli does all these sowell that some researchers are using it as part of their tiny machines. They are having their microrobots get free rides from it, and letting it do all the sensing for them and direct their movements.

We’re already using smaller and smaller medical tools for operations, like catheters (long thin pipes) that can travel deep into your brain to treat a tumor (肿瘤) or a blood clot. Next, we will put microrobots into the body that can travel into even smaller spaces and treat disease at an early stage. Imagine a device that can treat a blood clot deep in your brain that can’t be reached with existing catheters.

It’s important to note, though, that we may not actually need something as powerful as artificial intelligence (AI) in these cases. You can still build an extremely useful microrobot with a low degree of intelligence. For example: If a microrobot notices a tumor, it can slowly move in that direction, and carry medicine directly to that part. It might only have the intelligence of bacteria but could still be unbelievably effective.

10 . A lack of scientific evidence has led some to question whether herbs used in traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) actually relieve people’s illnesses. A new study, published in the journal Science Advances, might start to challenge that view. Scientists have developed a new tool that could be used to predict the effectiveness of these herbs. They’ve begun to confirm some of its predictions using clinical data from patients treated in a traditional Chinese medicine hospital.

“To our knowledge, this is the first scientific theory to explain how a traditional medicine system works,” lead study author Xiao Gan, a researcher at the Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology in China said.

In the new study, the authors looked at genes (基因) thought to be responsible for causing specific symptoms (症状) of disease. They relied on an already published dataset that connected the dots between disease symptoms and the underlying genes and proteins that give rise to those illnesses. Pulling this data together, the researchers were able to score how well these herbs might relieve specific symptoms of the disease. These scores were based on how close the herbs’ target proteins were to the proteins associated with various symptoms.

The authors then compared their predictions to herbs recognized by the Chinese Pharmacopoeia as effective against specific disease symptoms. They also used the model to review prescriptions(处方) that patients at the Hubei Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Wuhan received while being treated for liver disease. Gan said the herbs that they identified as effective from the two data sources supported their model’s predictions. The authors also used their model to identify potential new applications for the herbs, beyond what’s already recommended by the Chinese Pharmacopoeia.

Testing natural products in clinical trials can be costly, so it is helpful to use computer simulations (模拟) to identify potential drug targets, said Xiang-Qun Xie, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Xie pointed out more data are needed to support these findings and that it would be useful to study how TCM herbs and modern medications may interact in patients who take them at the same time.