The Signa MR750 features a newly designed RF Transmit system maximizing performance with a 17 percent gain in scanning efficiency. In addition, the system includes the GE-exclusive Optical RF Technology that adds up to 27 percent higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) over conventional, non-optical MR receivers by reducing electrical noise and increasing signal detection.

When combined with GE’s use of high-density surface coils, the optical receive chain is a critical path for ensuring clear signal reception and data analysis. To ensure that the high-density approach will always be maintained, the Signa MR750 3.0T architecture is scalable to 128 channels of simultaneous data acquisition.

Revolutionizing imaging capabilities with new parallel imaging technique

In efforts to improve full-body imaging on 3.0T MR, GE Healthcare’s Signa MR750 features a newly developed parallel imaging technique entitled ARC™, Auto Calibrating Reconstruction for Cartesian imaging. In addition to reducing specific absorption rate (SAR), the ARC technique also improves body imaging by allowing:

Auto-calibration that helps avoid collecting external sensitivity map;

Less sensitive to field-of-view (FOV) positioning with a tight FOV;

Clinically practical reconstruction times for continuous scanning; and

Workflow simplification that can be seamlessly integrated into sequences without the need for separate calibration scans.

As a result of this new imaging technique, the MR 750 also features new operational efficient advanced applications, including:

LAVA-IDEAL™
LAVA-IDEAL is a dual-echo acquisition technique that raises the bar on existing sequences to provide consistent, detailed, three-dimensional abdominal images in one breath-hold. By allowing the user to select the output image types-- in-phase, opposed-phase, water and fat-- LAVA-IDEAL has the ability to produce four image contrasts with only one scan. With this new 3.0T application, clinicians can now conduct a complete liver exam in 15 minutes.

“LAVA-IDEAL is a robust sequence that offers ‘fat only’ and ‘water only’ images in addition to excellent in-phase and opposed-phase images in a single breath-hold. This sequence has quickly become a routine part of all our abdominal sequence protocols at 3.0T,” said Dr. Elmar Merkle, professor of Radiology, Head of Body Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Medical Director of the Center for Advanced Magnetic Resonance Development at Duke University.

VIBRANT-IDEAL™
VIBRANT-IDEAL is a new application that allows for fat-free breast imaging with high spatio-temporal resolution. This application catches the shortest in- and out-of phase echoes to keep scan times comparable to single echo acquisitions even though twice the amount of data is collected.

VIBRANT-IDEAL optimizes acquisition with a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR ) for acquiring high quality water and fat images. This capability lets the user prescribe thinner slices for high spatial resolution imaging.

PROPELLER 2.0™
PROPELLER 2.0 enables strong performance in all neuro imaging planes with the implementation of the No Phase Wrap (NPW) technique. NPW allows virtually ghost-artifact-free, motion-immune scans in sagittal, coronal, axial and oblique planes. Since this technique effectively deals with the aliasing artifact, PROPELLER 2.0 is now more robust performing small field-of-view (FOV) scans.

Driven by customer demands for improved clinical capabilities, the Signa MR750 has been designed around clinical workflow needs with a strong focus on improving productivity, With that in mind, the system also includes operational efficiencies such as the newly designed detachable patient table and the first ever in-room operator console.

In addition, The Signa MR750 features automated acquisition based on the concept of touch and go protocols. The aspect of the system allows for more focused attention on the patient and consistent protocols and processing across operating technicians.

Product page: Signa MR750...

Press release...

From the press release:

Through the innovative use of technology, the new device can mirror the performance and level of data provided by current laboratory laser diffraction measurement machines, for an estimated one-hundredth of the cost when integrated into a high volume device. The device measures the droplet size distribution in an airstream, a technique used in testing respiratory drug delivery devices.

Airborne drug delivery for deep-lung treatment relies on generating particles of a very specific size - too large and the drug never reaches the deep lung, too small and the drug is exhaled and is similarly ineffective. Methods for accurately measuring particle size are very much laboratory-based, for instance the Anderson Cascade method, which is laborious and can slow the development of devices, and the current generation of large laser diffraction measurement devices, which have high initial costs and require a lot of space and skill to operate.

By applying its established expertise in optical systems, electronic signal processing and advanced capabilities in the Mie scattering mathematical theory – a critical element of this form of droplet analysis - Cambridge Consultants has started developing a test unit which could be manufactured in volume for just a few hundred pounds - less than one-hundredth of the cost of a full laboratory laser diffraction installation, the only real solution to such measurements today.

It is also small enough to be highly portable, so it would be ideal at clinical drug delivery trials, where it is critical to establish how much drug reaches the patient’s deep lung so that doses can be accurately compared to the patient’s response. It would also be useful during end-of-line production testing of drug delivery devices...

The Cambridge Consultants device is based on low-cost LED components, considerably simplified optical configurations and the application of modern signal processing. It is designed to be robust, portable and simple enough to potentially be operated by semi-skilled clinicians, with standard IT equipment to produce highly accurate plots that indicate the number of droplets within a pre-selected range of sizes. Drugs can therefore be tested at the point of delivery, during clinical trials for example, to ensure doses are delivered as intended by the drug developer.

Full story: Breakthrough instrument to test inhalable drug delivery devices...

The munching device mimics the first steps of digestion - chewing, saliva release and food breakdown. About five times the size of a human mouth inside, the steel container is kept at a steady 37°C by an electrical element. Its internal surfaces are coated with a chemically resistant plastic used for medical implants.

The ceiling and floor of the cylindrical chamber are attached to variable speed motors. Food is placed on the floor which is able to revolve, while the ceiling coated spiky "teeth" moves up and down like a plunger (see image, right).

The compression and rotation simulate the mechanical forces food undergoes in the mouth. The process is made more realistic by the addition of enzyme-containing artificial saliva through a pipe in the base of the chamber.

Helium supplied through another inlet flows through the "mouth" to reproduce the effect of breathing and carry volatile compounds away for analysis.

More from the New Scientist...

Full article in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (DOI: 10.1021/jf073145z)

Using proprietary next-generation 3D/4D imaging, Artemis™ provides solutions not available today by enhancing urologists' existing ultrasound machines, the vast majority of which are only 2D. Now, Artemis allows urologists to virtually see inside the prostate in real time during biopsy, guides them with 4D needle navigation during the delicate procedure, maps biopsy locations and generates an image of 3D biopsy coordinates for future reference...

Artemis' 3D/4D imaging allows doctors to select and biopsy a location within the boundary of the prostate with pinpoint accuracy. The biopsy location is then recorded by Artemis' patented registration technology, which allows doctors to revisit or avoid the exact same area during repeat procedures. Artemis provides doctors with data they can analyze to determine if the prostate gland has changed and manage treatment accordingly.

Product page...

Press release: Prostate Cancer Breakthrough Receives FDA Clearance...

Weinstein knew what he had to do: change the business model. Drawing on his years in the corporate bunker, he started working the phones, chatting up financiers, consulting with electronics wizards and haggling with manufacturers. He landed a small grant from the U.S. government-run African Development Foundation and, with help from some dedicated electronics geeks and industry execs willing to forgo their usual profits, came up with something new: a cheap hearing aid powered by rechargeable solar batteries. It looked ordinary enough—just a cashew-shaped piece of plastic to tuck behind the ear—but it cost less than $100, a fifth the price of the cheapest retail model. Rechargeable batteries, $1 apiece, last two to three years. None of this was much use without a reliable power source, so he also built a pocket-size recharger that can either plug into a wall outlet or use its own built-in solar panel.

Weinstein has tapped into another source of underused energy: deaf people. "Because mastering sign language takes acute hand-eye coordination, deaf people are well suited to the fine soldering and microelectronics that go into making hearing aids," he says. Today the once empty room in the African semi desert has become the hub of a thriving nonprofit business. Some 20,000 people in 30 countries are using SolarAid brand hearing aids, chargers and batteries. With funding from the Ashoka Foundation and the Oregon-based Lemelson Foundation, Weinstein is working with engineers from the University of São Paulo on a second-generation, digital hearing aid. He sees Brazil as a beachhead for all of Latin America; he plans to set up another nonprofit company in Jordan to reach the entire Middle East. Then he'll take on China and India. All told, he hopes to employ 1,000 deaf people over the next three to five years.

Read the whole article here...

Think of "McSleepy" as a sort of humanoid anesthesiologist that thinks like an anesthesiologist, analyses biological information and constantly adapts its own behavior, even recognizing monitoring malfunction.

The anesthetic technique was used on a patient who underwent a partial nephrectomy, a procedure that removes a kidney tumor while leaving the non-cancerous part of the kidney intact, over a period of three hours and 30 minutes. To manipulate the various components of general anesthesia, the automated system measures three separate parameters displayed on a new Integrated monitor of anesthesia (IMATM): depth of hypnosis via EEG analysis, pain via a new pain score, called AnalgoscoreTM, and muscle relaxation via phonomyographyTM, all developed by ITAG. The system then administers the appropriate drugs using conventional infusion pumps, controlled by a laptop computer on which "McSleepy" is installed.

Using these three separate parameters and complex algorithms, the automated system calculates faster and more precisely than a human can the appropriate drug doses for any given moment of anesthesia. "McSleepy" assists the anesthesiologist in the same way an automatic transmission assists people when driving. As such, anesthesiologists can focus more on other aspects of direct patient care. An additional feature is that the system can communicate with personal digital assistants (PDAs), making distant monitoring and anesthetic control possible. In addition, this technology can be easily incorporated into modern medical teaching programs such as simulation centers and web-based learning platforms.

More from AOL Health: Canadian researchers develop automated anesthesia system dubbed McSleepy

Press Release: McSleepy hopes to revolutionize anesthesia practice

To learn more about the study, read this editorial in Nature...

Abstract: Electromagnetic fields produced by incubators influence heart rate variability in newborns Arch. Dis. Child. Fetal Neonatal Ed..2008; 0: adc.2007.132738v2

Image credit: keaggy.com @ Flickr: My Blue Girl...

Unlike a hemostatic agent, a vascular sealant can seal blood leaks and does not depend on either the time for the blood to clot or the strength of the blood clot to perform successfully. The VascuSeal(TM) Sealant System offers surgeons a valuable tool to reduce bleeding from the suture line in vascular bypass procedures, and reduces post-operative complications associated with suture line bleeding.

The VascuSeal(TM) sealant technology is a patented synthetic, absorbable hydrogel delivered by a dual syringe applicator. The device can be stored at room temperature and prepared in less than two minutes. VascuSeal(TM) sealant polymerizes within seconds when sprayed on the suture line and is blue in color which provides the vascular surgeon visualization of coverage and thickness of the material upon application. Postoperatively, VascuSeal(TM) sealant continues to seal the suture line as healing progresses under the gel. After several days, the hydrogel breaks down into water-soluble molecules that are absorbed and cleared through the kidneys.

Press release: Covidien Introduces the VascuSeal(TM) Vascular Sealant System to the European Marketplace