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Nuclear-Powered Cardiac Pacemakers

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Re: Nuclear-Powered Cardiac Pacemakers

#161

Post by samstave »

sgtnoodle wrote: post #141
samstave wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

Lol. I've certainly already made the joke that embedded systems are dear to my heart. I'd consider working a few years at a place like Medtronic just to see what I can contribute, but on the other hand I hear there's roughly a 2:1 ratio between requirements and lines of code. Going through airport security is fun just because the TSA agents overreact as if the metal detector is going to kill me.

DYSTOPIAN OUTCOME:

/u/sgtnoodle has accepted a great job with MedTronic, little does he know, that as a QA process embedded engineer, his duties require him to monitor various labs - including the PENTEST/AGGRESSIVE attack lab... but the anechoic chamber contract was low bid - and has leaks...

As he walks by the lab, checking his tablet for his various checklists... there is a leak.

A deadly leak... As he rounds Corridor-4A toward his desk, the leak hits him.

As a Class-I Mk2 Embedded engineer, he was susceptible to the RF attacks...

We only found him after the alarm sounded that he badged through Door X1A, but never made it to Door TR3B where his lab was...

Cardiac failure due to failed electro-stim documented as cause of termination of employment.

Re: Nuclear-Powered Cardiac Pacemakers

#162

Post by mh- »

ethbr0 wrote: post #160
mh- wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://sfenvironment.org/article/household-hazardous-waste-... Paint is explicitly mentioned. SF even has free home pickup for it via Recology. https://sfenvironment.org/safe-disposal

Is that for all paint? It looks like they only offer pickup for oil-based paints, and latex/acrylic-based should drop off: https://sfrecycles.org/items?words=paint&address=all I was curious, because I know SF has a high enough population:water ratio that stricter treatment is required, but on the other hand modern non-oil paints are relatively chemically safe (at worst, probably the off-gasing parts).

Not sure. I don't live in the city anymore but your comment made me realize I didn't know either.

Re: Nuclear-Powered Cardiac Pacemakers

#163

Post by palmtree3000 »

mullen wrote: post #108
OJFord wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AIUI there's not really anything to miniaturise beyond the rest of the pacemaker (i.e. ignoring how it's powered) - there's no 'control' or addition of material as in a big nuclear power station, it's 'just' a decaying radioactive material -> heat -> electricity (the inverse of Peltier effect heating, and presumably just as inefficient (~30%?)).

Why not just draw heat from the person and convert it to electricity?

You need a heat difference, not just heat, to generate electricity.

Now my sibling comment links to a paper where they say they can find heat differences in the body that are sufficient for their needs, so this is still a possibility! But it does mean you need to be somewhere with a heat gradient: the paper mentions just under the skin.

Re: Nuclear-Powered Cardiac Pacemakers

#165

Post by toss1 »

WastingMyTime89 wrote: post #116
toss1 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A friend had one of these units that extended his life for over a decade. He had it upgraded at least once, and the programing updated several times, and noted improvements each time (although he never got the one feature he really wanted [0]). So active maintenance is definitely not spurious or mercenary but is genuinely useful. [0] When the pacemaker detected a problematic arrhythmia it would give a couple of defib…

That’s an implantable cardiac defibrillator not a pacemaker. Completely different things.

It had both functions, at least according to my friend; he was an engineer and he described both in some detail.

Re: Nuclear-Powered Cardiac Pacemakers

#166

Post by toss1 »

bobbob1921 wrote: post #117
toss1 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A friend had one of these units that extended his life for over a decade. He had it upgraded at least once, and the programing updated several times, and noted improvements each time (although he never got the one feature he really wanted [0]). So active maintenance is definitely not spurious or mercenary but is genuinely useful. [0] When the pacemaker detected a problematic arrhythmia it would give a couple of defib…

I’m not clear on what he was supposed to do in response to this. Is it a situation where if he were to sit down and relax he could resolve the arrhythmia? Or is this a notification mechanisms that he can then alert his doctors? (My question is why was this designed to be an extreme “notification “)?

He just wanted some kind of warning to get himself mentally prepared or braced for the kick - maybe take a quick breath, pull out of the way a tool he's using, whatever, or just reduce the surprise factor. As he said, the second one that he knew was coming was not such a big deal. It was definitely not to try to resolve it, that was up to the pacemaker/defib.

Re: Nuclear-Powered Cardiac Pacemakers

#167

Post by spicybright »

sgtnoodle wrote: post #149
melq wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like the bluetooth functionality is only there for telemetry.

It's not. It's a full diagnostic interface. Someone with the right software and my serial number could reconfigure it from across the room. BLE replaces the previous diagnostic interface, which was some form of near-field. You had to have a puck resting within a few inches, going to a several decade old toughbook. My device supports both. It's just in the last couple years that UCLA got the BLE equipment, and sometim…

That's fascinating, and very unfortunate how lax the security likely is for an organ keeping you alive.

You would think if you can detect a strong magnet, you could use that to turn the wireless on and off... Like how holding a power button on a phone turns it off, but holding longer can do a factory reset or what have you.

Glad you're doing better since then, though.

Re: Nuclear-Powered Cardiac Pacemakers

#169

Post by animatedb »

alphaoverlord wrote: post #110
sgtnoodle wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like you have quite a bit of knowledge on the subject. I had to get a pacemaker a couple years ago, and am an embedded engineer. I hope to live another 50 years at least, so this is an interesting subject for me. Maybe my cardiologist is just trying to make me feel good, but he says my leads will likely last 30-50 years. Intuitively that seems unlikely, but we'll see. It's got to be one of the most engineer…

If you have complete AV block, a leadless pacemaker is less good than one with multiple leads, since it allows pacing multiple chambers and maintaining synchrony between A and V.

There are now leadless devices that communicate with each other using RF.

Re: Nuclear-Powered Cardiac Pacemakers

#170

Post by elliekelly »

ToddWBurgess wrote: post #50

If it is a dead body and it is being cremated you take it out so it doesn't explode in the crematorium. I say this as a former funeral director who had to remove them.

I'm curious whether it was standard practice for you to check for a pacemaker prior to cremation or whether the process relied on a family member informing you?
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