Japanese researchers have created medical telescopes that are thinner and more accurate than some intravenous needles, with which it will be possible to examine blood vessels and nerves.
This was announced Tuesday, April 25, by the Japanese TV channel NHK.
According to scientists, the use of a 1.25 mm endoscope will reduce pressure on patients when examining knee joints. While this requires, with the technology currently applied, surgical intervention under anesthesia. While the speculum developed by the Japanese can be inserted through a very small hole, for example, through a dropper needle.
"The endoscope is very thin and the image quality is good, so you can see areas you couldn't see before, such as blood vessels and nerves," said Masaya Nakamura, a professor at Keio University School of Medicine and one of the researchers. "I would like to use it on other organs." human body, not just joints.
In order to develop the endoscope, scientists used special optical fiber properties that allow image transmission by refraction of light as transmitted by lenses. Scientists believe that these binoculars can be made of plastic materials, so they will be cheap to manufacture and safe for patients.
The researchers hope to begin practical application of ultra-thin endoscopes by 2024.
Experts Reveal 6 Sneaky Ways Online To Spend More Money!
Online retailers have a playbook to get consumers to spend more without realizing it - but experts are exposing these 'dark practices'.
Companies are leaking items into checkout baskets, hiding costs and doing the Privacy Zuckering — named after the Meta CEO for how his companies surreptitiously collect user data.
Amazon has been called out for being the number one offender for deceptive designs for things like automatically flagging subscription boxes, while StubHub has been accused of hiding costs.
Finance and anti-money laundering experts from KyrosAML.com have identified six of the most common dark pattern techniques to help you spot them and avoid their scams.
Trick questions
Some questions may appear to ask one thing but are designed to ask another question, tricking users into giving the company the desired answer.
This infects users when they sign up for a service, where they see multiple check boxes when subscribing or unsubscribing.
For example, when unsubscribing, there may be two options: Continue and Cancel.
Most people will choose Cancel because they want to terminate the service, but this actually cancels the process.
Sneak items into your cart
If you notice an unwanted product in the checkout process, you're not alone.
Online retailers sneak away the items in hopes that unsuspecting shoppers won't see the extra cost.
"This can happen if you miss the unsubscribe button or if a bundled deal displays next to a product you actually want," the experts shared in a statement.
Be meticulous when checking out purchases with online retailers.
Hidden costs at checkout
Some products may become more expensive at checkout due to the addition of taxes, delivery fees, or essential last-minute extras.
Data from the Merchant Machine claims grocery delivery giant Instacart is guilty of the scheme, and Deceptive Designs names Stubhub as using hidden costs to boost revenue.
Its method was to advertise a low price, lure users through a long series of steps, and then finally, just before paying, reveal a higher final price, according to a group of scam lawyers to crack down on online retail schemes.
At that point, the user had already spent time and energy, so they had to weigh the time and energy cost of trying to find a cheaper price elsewhere (and risking failure) just to pay.
Experts note that there is likely no way to avoid hidden costs, but be aware that items such as tickets and hotel reservations will cost more than first announced.
Shoppers are also encouraged to report companies that add additional fees.
And Consumer Reports found in 2019 that 64% of people who complained about hidden or unexpected charges were successful in getting the charge off their bill or getting a refund.
Privacy Zuckering
The tactic is named after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg because of the site's early practice of harvesting user data.
"It lures you into sharing more private information than you feel comfortable with," explained the Merchant Machine.
Privacy Zuckering was used by LinkedIn in 2015 as part of the registration process.
New users were asked to add their email addresses, which LinkedIn then used to "extract all the email addresses it could find," according to the deceptive designs.
The deceptive designs state, "Although the page provided a description of this function, the text was gray on a blue background, making it relatively low contrast and difficult to notice, and the textual content did not clearly state the consequences."
Experts suggest always reading the Terms of Service, which will tell consumers how their data is being collected or shared.
Confirmation expose consumers
Some companies use guilt-laden language to guilt or panic users into agreeing to something they'd rather not do, such as signing up for a subscription service.
This was implemented by MyMedic, a company that sells medical supplies and first aid packages, in 2018, when users were asked for permission to receive notifications.
When asking for permission for its website, the opt-out link was labeled "No, I don't want to survive" or "No, I'd rather bleed to death".
Experts said the only way around this trick is not to allow companies to bully you into doing unwanted tasks or purchases.
Compelling ads
This dark practice is done by "blurring the line" between actual content and advertising, confusing shoppers.
Some websites may use artwork or links that look like regular content or action buttons but are hyperlinked ads in disguise.
Softpedia, a popular software download website, often uses disguised advertisements on its software download pages to increase advertising revenue.
The company displays ads with a bright green download button that looks like an option to download software. The general rule is to never click a big "download" button. Real links will be displayed in the form of text.
Tags:
technology