Surgery
Many of today's smaller surgical clinics have to sterilize equipment in-house, and autoclave sensitive instruments are processed using ethylene oxide, a carcinogenic, explosive, and irritating gas. Gas plasma is another low temperature option, but it requires large and expensive equipment that doesn't make sense for small practices. A new company called Plasmapp has developed small gas plasma sterilizers that are fast, affordable, and can be placed in any size clinic. Moreover, they don't require special training or certifications to operate. Gas plasma sterilization has been around for a long time...
Siemens Healthineers Unveils Two New Radiotherapy Planning CT Scanners
September 16th, 2019 by Medgadget Editors
Siemens Healthineers unveiled two new CT scanners specifically designed for radiation therapy planning. The SOMATOM go.Sim and SOMATOM go.Open Pro are 64-slice and 128-slice devices, respectively, and feature an 85 cm opening suitable for larger patients. To make patient prep easier and faster, the scanners come with an optional DirectLasers system mounted on top of the gantry that projects laser light beams onto the patients. These help to align each patient accurately and are controlled wirelessly using a tablet computer, allowing the radiation therapist more freedom of movement and ease...
Light Powered Robot Made from Hydrogel to Operate Inside Body
September 16th, 2019 by Medgadget Editors
Engineers at University of California, Los Angeles have come up with a tiny new robot that can be controlled and powered using a beam of light. Called OsciBot, because of its oscillating motion, the robot is made entirely out of a light-responsive hydrogel and doesn't carry its own power source, relying on an external constant light source to help it push itself along. The technology has significant medical implications, as it allows for very small, soft robots to operate within the body as a drug delivery vehicle or to surgically...
Flexible Vitals Sensors Made from Graphene Sensitized with Quantum Dots
September 16th, 2019 by Medgadget Editors
At the ICFO – The Institute of Photonic Sciences, in Catalonia, Spain, researchers have come up with a way to use graphene to make flexible photodetectors to measure heart rate, blood oxygen concentration, and breathing rate. Additionally, the technology can also be used to measure UV levels coming from the Sun and to communicate the measured data from the sensor to a device such as a smartphone. Today's wearable pulse oximeters and heart rate monitors can be pretty bulky, as is the case with smartwatches. The bigger problem is that...
Smart Phyjamas for Monitoring Physiological Signals at Night
September 16th, 2019 by Siavash Parkhideh
Researchers from University of Massachusetts at Amherst have developed a new smart pajama, dubbed Phyjama, that can track physiological signals during sleep. Their work demonstrates that the technology can reliably measure heart rate, breathing rate, and sleep position during the course of the night. One day, advances like this can be incorporated into regular sleepwear, which can be an additional source of biomedical data and may help track and monitor various health conditions. Currently, smart devices such as smart watches can be used to measure biomedical signals, such as heart...
Smartwatches and dedicated wrist-based activity trackers have become popular over the past few years. They're decent at counting steps during walking and running, but they're not very good at tracking most athletic activities. At Carnegie Mellon University researchers have developed a camera-based system that simply watches people at the gym doing exercises and automatically classifies their activities and counts the repetitions. The computer vision software recognizes repetitive motions and assumes those are exercises being performed over and over. Different exercises look different and with a bit of training, the software...
Incredible Health - a Career Marketplace Helping Health Care Professionals Find and Do Their Best Work - Announces Nationwide Expansion
September 13th, 2019 by IncredibleHealth
Already trusted by 150+ major California hospitals, the company announces a $15M Series A today led by Andreessen Horowitz to build a community for health care professionals across the US. SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (Sept 12, 2019) Incredible Health - the company powering one of the country's fastest-growing health care hiring platforms - today announced $15 million in Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz with participation from NFX, Obvious Ventures, Precursor Ventures, and others.Incredible Health is on a mission to help health care professionals find and do their best work....
GE Healthcare's Artificial Intelligence FDA Cleared to Help Spot Collapsed Lung
September 12th, 2019 by Medgadget Editors
Admitted patients often have to wait a number of hours for a radiologist to review their chest X-ray, even though it may be marked as urgent or STAT. That's because way too many are marked as such in most clinics. Pneumothorax, or collapsed lung, can go unnoticed in the meantime, leading to a dangerous amount of time to wait while inside the hospital. GE Healthcare's Critical Care Suite automatically processes chest scans right on the X-ray machine and flags those where it detects potential signs of pneumothorax. The attending radiologist...
Multicolor Activated Fluorescent Dyes Thanks to Single Atom Replacement
September 12th, 2019 by Medgadget Editors
Fluorescent dyes have transformed biomedical science. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2008, for example, was given for the discovery and development of green fluorescent protein, GFP. Ever since GFP became available, scientists have been working on improving fluorescent dyes to better study dynamic processes within biological tissues. Typically, ultraviolet light is used to activate such dyes, but this can be damaging to cells and even trigger them to behave in a certain way, potentially affecting experimental data. Moreover, many long-term experiments are not possible since the cells end up...
Robotic Hand Combines Amputee and Robotic Control for Assistive Solution
September 12th, 2019 by Conn Hastings
Researchers at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland have developed an intelligent robotic hand to assist amputees in daily tasks. The research team used existing robotic hardware, but developed a machine learning approach to provide better control for amputees, whereby the robotic arms can better anticipate user intentions, even down to individual finger movements. In a process called “shared control,” the intelligent arm can automatically control certain movements, such as grasping and manipulation, thus combining both robotic and user control for an improved user experience. Researchers around the world...
Prosthetic Leg with Neurofeedback Makes Walking Easier, Treats Phantom Pain
September 11th, 2019 by Medgadget Editors
Today's prosthetic legs come in a variety of designs, but they lack the ability to give users a natural sense of themselves. They feel simply like man-made devices strapped to the stump, as tools and not as part of the body of whoever wears them. Researchers from ETH Zurich, University of Freiburg, University of Belgrade, and the companies SensArs and Össur, have combined their expertise in a variety of topics to give existing commercial prosthetic legs a sense of touch. SensArs, a Swiss firm, is behind an interface that can...
As we age, the molecular composition of our brain changes. This is a natural process, but it can also be associated with the presence of disease. Currently, there's no practical way to study the molecular changes within living humans, and post-mortem studies are limited in the scientific information they can provide. Now, scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have managed to use quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (qMRI) to peer into the brain and evaluate its molecular composition. While qMRI is a powerful technique, its ability to study molecular content...
Medicine
FreeStyle Libre 14 day System: Interview with Chris Thomas, Director of Biosensing Technology, Abbott
Medgadget has previously reported on Abbott’s FreeStyle Libre 14 day system, most recently when we interviewed them at CES 2019. The company has aimed to help...
September 20th, 2019
Machine Learning Helps Predict Risk of Heart Failure in Patients with Diabetes
Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and UT Southwestern Medical center have developed a new machine learning algorithm that predicts the risk of heart...
September 19th, 2019
Bacterial Swarmbots to Produce Biologic Drugs
Biologics, being a group of drugs synthesized from biological sources, are often produced using bacteria. The manufacturing processes are usually slow and...
September 17th, 2019
Cardiology
Hydrogel Mimics of Heart Tissue to Study Cardiac Reshaping Following Aortic Valve Implantation
Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) procedures have become a popular way of treating aortic valve stenosis, a condition in which the valve stiffens and...
September 19th, 2019
Machine Learning Helps Predict Risk of Heart Failure in Patients with Diabetes
Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and UT Southwestern Medical center have developed a new machine learning algorithm that predicts the risk of heart...
September 19th, 2019
Early Bird, an Internal Bleeding Detector, Now Available In U.S.
Saranas, a Houston, Texas firm, is releasing its novel Early Bird bleeding monitoring system in the United States, following FDA de novo approval of the device....
September 18th, 2019
Surgery
Galen Microsurgery System Eliminates Hand Tremor
Galen Robotics, a company based in Baltimore, Maryland, has been working on incorporating robotics and microsurgery.
Microsurgery requires a steady hand and a...
September 20th, 2019
Minimally Invasive Biopsies Provide Maximum Pathology Data
Current pathology techniques for analyzing biopsy tissues are lacking in their ability to detect cancer in small samples. Being able to rapidly study the...
September 19th, 2019
Smith & Nephew Releases PICO 7Y Negative Pressure Wound Therapy in U.S.
In the United States, Smith & Nephew is releasing its PICO 7Y negative pressure therapy system that can treat two wounds at the same time. The device uses a...
September 18th, 2019
Emergency Medicine
Breath Analyzer for Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome
Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a condition in which fluid leaks into the lungs and builds up in the alveoli within. It is a rapidly progressive...
August 2nd, 2019
Device Removes Rings from Swollen Fingers without Cutting
Swollen fingers with rings on them are a common presence in emergency rooms, and bolt cutters are a typical solution. Of course nobody wants to have their wedding...
August 2nd, 2019
New Device Helps Deliver Accurate Chest Compressions
Chest compressions, if performed properly, can save people from cardiac arrest. Most bystanders faced with an individual requiring resuscitation fail at this task,...
August 1st, 2019
Radiology
Early Bird, an Internal Bleeding Detector, Now Available In U.S.
Saranas, a Houston, Texas firm, is releasing its novel Early Bird bleeding monitoring system in the United States, following FDA de novo approval of the device....
September 18th, 2019
FDA Clears Siemens Artis icono Angiography Systems
Siemens Healthineers won FDA clearance for the ARTIS icono angiography systems that are designed for use in a variety of procedure types. The ARTIS icono 2D/3D...
September 17th, 2019
Siemens Healthineers Unveils Two New Radiotherapy Planning CT Scanners
Siemens Healthineers unveiled two new CT scanners specifically designed for radiation therapy planning. The SOMATOM go.Sim and SOMATOM go.Open Pro are 64-slice and...
September 16th, 2019
Anesthesiology
Edwards ForeSight Brain Oxygenation Sensors FDA Cleared to Pair with HemoSphere Monitor
Edwards Lifesciences won FDA clearance to integrate its ForeSight brain tissue oximetry sensors with the HemoSphere monitoring platform. While the clearance is...
September 5th, 2019
Masimo Unveils Pathway Newborn Oxygen Saturation Visualizer
The first few minutes after birth are critical in a child's life. Clinicians generally follow the guidelines of the American Heart Association's International...
September 5th, 2019
Breath Analyzer for Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome
Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a condition in which fluid leaks into the lungs and builds up in the alveoli within. It is a rapidly progressive...
August 2nd, 2019
