Surgery
Pancreatic cancer is difficult to fight because of the challenge of delivering chemo specifically to that one organ, sparing surrounding tissue and the rest of the body. Advanced Chemotherapy Technologies, based in Raleigh, North Carolina, is working on an implant, about the size of a large coin, for direct delivery of chemo agents into the pancreas. It relies on using an electric field to move chemo agents from the device into the tumor. So far it has been tried on laboratory mice with human pancreatic cancers, and has demonstrated successful...
At Purdue University, a team of engineers and food scientists has developed a smartphone-powered device, and accompanying underlying technology, for detecting food borne pathogenic bacteria. The technology relies on using specially designed phages, which are viruses that infect bacteria. These phages are mixed into water that was used to wash a sample of produce. A special solution is then added that makes the phages glow ever so slightly. This glow is detected by a tiny luminometer, a device for measuring the intensity of light. Depending on how much light is...
Beating the Travel Bug and Innovation in Hand Sanitation: Interview with Zoono CSO Dr. Andrew Alexander
May 15th, 2018 by Michael Batista
While flu season is drawing to a close, transmission of germs can still lead to colds and serious respiratory diseases. In few places are individuals more exposed to a multitude of unique germs and germ carriers than during travel. Unlike some forms of travel, such as buses, where an individual can choose to get off the vehicle or find an alternate transit option, like carpooling, air travel is much less flexible. Based on data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, in 2010, on average 1.73 million passengers boarded domestic flights...
Hannes Italian Prosthetic Hand Offers Exciting New Capabilities at Lower Price
May 15th, 2018 by Editors
Engineers from the Italian Institute of Technology and Italy's National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (INAIL) have unveiled a prosthetic hand that they claim "gives the patient approximately 90% functionality of a natural hand." The Hannes was designed to lower the price of advanced powered prostheses, while having a long battery life, a strong grip, and manipulation of individual fingers. Its weight is closer to that of a typical hand, making it more natural for the person using it. A natural movement of the fingers is achieved thanks to...
Researchers at Georgia Tech have developed a technique that allowed a robot to teach itself to pull a hospital gown onto someone’s arm. By analyzing nearly 11,000 computer simulations of the procedure, the robot learned how to successfully pull the gown over an arm without imparting dangerous forces. The technique could lead to robotic systems that can help to dress incapacitated patients. Over one million Americans need someone to help them get dressed. In many cases, these people are elderly, injured or suffer from a disease. A robotic system to...
Brain-Computer Interfaces Work Best When Users and Computers Learn from Each Other
May 15th, 2018 by Editors
Brain-computer interfaces (BCI), which are able to read brain activity and turn the data into real actions such as moving a wheelchair, have the potential to liberate many severely disabled people. While a lot of progress has been achieved in this field, BCIs are still extremely limited in what they're able to achieve and how well they respond to the user. Now researchers from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Geneva, Switzerland, have shown that by having the person and the computer that it interfaces with both learn how to...
At Ohio State University clinicians are investigating how the use of a computer simulation of the nasal passage can be helpful in performing procedures to improve breathing. The simulator can replicate the fluid dynamics of air passing through and what effect small changes, performed by an ENT physician, can make on the airflow. This simulation technology may allow patients to avoid surgeries by undergoing modifications using minimally invasive techniques. “It opens up the nasal valve to really improve airflow,” in a statements said Dr. Brad Otto, an ENT-Otolaryngologist at The...
Easing Migraines with an Earplug: Interview with Cirrus Healthcare’s Grant O'Connell
May 14th, 2018 by Mohammad Saleh
Migraines are throbbing headaches often associated with light or sound sensitivity and nausea. They can be a severely debilitating, with an estimated 13% of US adults experiencing them and 2-3 million of whom are classified as chronic sufferers. Although the causes of migraines are not completely understood, many sufferers report increased incidence correlating with weather changes. With relief strategies ranging from rest in the dark, to massage techniques, and to drugs with variable efficacies, sufferers might be interested to learn of an interesting preventative method that reports decreases in weather-related...
Measuring the amount of specific proteins present in the body can help to diagnose diseases that are otherwise difficult to identify. This has been a challenge and even the best existing technology, known as MaxQuant, is not great at measuring low concentrations of proteins and performs poorly in certain situations. Now researchers at State University of New York at Buffalo have developed a proteomics system called IonStar, which they have shown to be able to provide close to perfect accuracy when measuring and comparing concentrations of proteins present in different individuals. According to University...
Most people undergoing a tumor excision go in knowing that the entirety of the offending tissue may not be removed successfully. Typically, tumors look just like healthy tissue and it takes quite a bit of time between when a sample is sent to the pathology lab and when the results come in. Therefore, repeat surgeries are often necessary and too frequently cancer is given another chance to spread. A new experimental device, called MasSpec Pen, developed at University of Texas at Austin, promises to speed up this process so that...
Researchers Present "Neuronal Cookbook" for Making Neurons from Skin Cells
May 14th, 2018 by Editors
A team of researchers at The Scripps Research Institute have developed a so-called "neuronal cookbook" that provides other scientists a set of instruction for how to convert skin cells into different types of brain neurons. The new methodology should allow researchers to generate exactly the type of cells they need and to study them in a variety of ways. Such abilities were only a dream not long ago, so it is hoped that having ready access to brain cells will help to better understand various neural medical conditions and help...
Allen Integrated Cell Program for Easy but Powerful Analysis of Stem Cells
May 14th, 2018 by Editors
The Allen Institute for Cell Science in Seattle, Washington has released Allen Integrated Cell, a piece of software that models the intricate details of human induced pluri-potent stem cells. Specifically, it provides a view of these cells in their pluri-potent state, including the various important organelles that perform unique functions inside the cells. The system includes a deterministic model, which displays the cellular anatomy in individual cells, and a probabilistic model that shows the anatomy as the computer believes the cell will have, even in cells that have not been properly...
Medicine
Baxter's Spectrum IQ Drug Infusion System Cleared in U.S.
Baxter won FDA clearance for its Spectrum IQ infusion system, which has some interesting features designed to prevent the wrong drugs and wrong dosages from being...
May 17th, 2018
Scientists Create Maps of Gonorrhea's Resistance to Antibiotics
A team of European researchers has mapped the genome of various strains of gonorrhea, creating a way to identify antibiotic resistance before trying different...
May 17th, 2018
Admetsys Develops Artificial Pancreas for Critical Care
Admetsys, a company headquartered in Boston, has developed a system for controlling blood glucose levels in critical care patients. Essentially an artificial pancreas,...
May 17th, 2018
Cardiology
Baxter's Spectrum IQ Drug Infusion System Cleared in U.S.
Baxter won FDA clearance for its Spectrum IQ infusion system, which has some interesting features designed to prevent the wrong drugs and wrong dosages from being...
May 17th, 2018
Admetsys Develops Artificial Pancreas for Critical Care
Admetsys, a company headquartered in Boston, has developed a system for controlling blood glucose levels in critical care patients. Essentially an artificial pancreas,...
May 17th, 2018
AcQMap Now Imaging Hearts with Ultrasound and Electricity in U.S.
Acutus Medical of Carlsbad, California, having won FDA clearance for its AcQMap last fall, has announced that the system has been used for the first time in the...
May 14th, 2018
Surgery
Implantable Device to Deliver Chemo to Pancreatic Cancer Tumors
Pancreatic cancer is difficult to fight because of the challenge of delivering chemo specifically to that one organ, sparing surrounding tissue and the rest of the...
May 16th, 2018
MasSpec Pen Spots Cancer on Surgical Samples
Most people undergoing a tumor excision go in knowing that the entirety of the offending tissue may not be removed successfully. Typically, tumors look just like...
May 14th, 2018
National Kidney Registry Speeds Up Its Organ Matching System
GE is profiling how it, working with VasoHealthcare IT, an imaging consulting firm, helped the National Kidney Registry improve how quickly potential kidney donors...
May 10th, 2018
Emergency Medicine
Baxter's Spectrum IQ Drug Infusion System Cleared in U.S.
Baxter won FDA clearance for its Spectrum IQ infusion system, which has some interesting features designed to prevent the wrong drugs and wrong dosages from being...
May 17th, 2018
Siemens Gets FDA Cleared for Two New Budget Friendly Yet Powerful CTs
Siemens Healthineers is on an FDA clearing streak of its newest CT scanners. The latest news, following up clearances of the SOMATOM Force and SOMATOM Edge Plus,...
April 18th, 2018
ECGlove Helps Medical Personnel Rapidly Monitor for Arrhythmias
Last month, Medgadget had the opportunity to visit the great state of Texas for the annual South by Southwest (SXSW) event. We had a chance to chat with Yoku Méndez,...
April 16th, 2018
Radiology
CurveBeam's Tiny InReach CT Scanner Cleared by FDA
CurveBeam's InReach point-of-care extremity CT system garnered FDA clearance for use in scanning the arms, hands, wrists, and elbows, as well as the feet and...
May 17th, 2018
"Superman Vision" Gets a Boost from Vayyar's Next Generation Chip: Interview with CEO Raviv Melamed
Earlier this month, Vayyar Imaging, a firm based in Yehud, Israel, announced the launch of its next generation CMOS System on a Chip (SOC), strengthening the...
May 16th, 2018
AcQMap Now Imaging Hearts with Ultrasound and Electricity in U.S.
Acutus Medical of Carlsbad, California, having won FDA clearance for its AcQMap last fall, has announced that the system has been used for the first time in the...
May 14th, 2018
Anesthesiology
Baxter's Spectrum IQ Drug Infusion System Cleared in U.S.
Baxter won FDA clearance for its Spectrum IQ infusion system, which has some interesting features designed to prevent the wrong drugs and wrong dosages from being...
May 17th, 2018
Admetsys Develops Artificial Pancreas for Critical Care
Admetsys, a company headquartered in Boston, has developed a system for controlling blood glucose levels in critical care patients. Essentially an artificial pancreas,...
May 17th, 2018
Blink's TwitchView for Neuromuscular Blockade Monitoring
Blink Device Company, a firm based in Seattle, Washington, won FDA clearance for and is releasing in the United States its TwitchView monitor. The device is used...
May 1st, 2018
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