Every year, Americans spend more than $40 billion caring for their vision. However, it’s somewhat remarkable that in this age of the quantified self, there are very few high-tech vision trackers for consumers. Newark, California based EyeQue is a company that has designed a pair of devices specially designed for smartphone users to monitor their […]
Author: Medgadged
Accuro Helps to Make Epidurals and Spinals Easier: Interview with Will Mauldin, CEO of Rivanna Medical
Performing epidural and spinal anesthesia requires a good deal of training and being able to sense when the needle reaches the desired location. This is certainly not foolproof and some patients are harder to work with than others. One issue is that a sonographer is usually required to operate the ultrasound while the anesthesiologist delivers […]
Smart Electronics Bring More Realistic Sense of Touch to Prosthetic Devices
While the capabilities of prosthetic arms have been getting more impressive over the years, commercial devices generally lack providing any sense of touch. Moreover, attempts to provide a tactile sensation have encountered the problem of producing consistent results in different situations and throughout the user’s entire day. Now researchers at University of Illinois are reporting […]
Noninvasive Brain Tumor Biopsy Using Focused Ultrasound
Unlike many other tumors, ones found in the brain are usually too dangerous to take biopsies of. Now the researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis came up with a revolutionary new way of using focused ultrasound to get tumors to release biomarkers that can then be spotted using blood samples. Thanks to […]
BD Releases New Highly Accurate Cell Sorter for FACSymphony Cell Analyzer
BD is releasing its new BD FACSymphony S6 cell sorter, a device that works with the BD FACSymphony cell analyzer (shown at right). The device features six-way sorting, measuring up to 30 different parameters to decide into which compartment to send each cell. The company touts the “ultra-quiet” electronics within the device that optimize accuracy, […]
Data Security as a Service for Medical Devices: Interview with MedCrypt CEO Mike Kijewski
Data security has been a hot topic in the media recently with revelations about the dissemination of user data at Facebook and breaches at other large businesses like Uber. Healthcare has also had its fair share of cybersecurity issues, with data from 18,000 Medicare members accessed at Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield through its vendor LaunchPoint […]
3D-Printed Dentures Release Drug to Combat Infection
Researchers at the University at Buffalo have developed a method to rapidly 3D print dentures that contain an antifungal drug. The dentures can release the drug slowly over time, helping to combat fungal infections before they happen. The technique could also be useful for creating different drug-releasing medical implants, such as stents and prostheses. Fungal […]
Purpose-Built Smartphones for Healthcare: Interview with Andrew Duncan, VP at Spectralink
Spectralink, an enterprise mobile communications provider based in Colorado, aims to enhance patient care, clinician productivity, and workflow efficiency for hospitals worldwide with purpose-built clinical communications solutions. The company provides specialty-built smartphones for healthcare staff. Their devices have been designed with the healthcare environment, and its unique challenges and requirements, in mind. Spectralink claims that […]
Students Design Specialty Bag for Treating Children Born with Gastroschisis
Gastroschisis is a birth defect in which some of the baby’s intestines end up outside the body, protruding through a ventral opening near the navel. In developed countries this is a treatable condition that typically requires a series of surgeries and a special bag that holds the intestines in a sterile environment while they slowly […]
NuProbe Global to Commercialize Multiplexed, Rare Gene Testing Technology
Harvard’s Wyss Institute researchers are bringing a specific and multiplexed genetic diagnostic technology to market with NuProbe Global, a Boston based company. It addresses the current need to detect rare genetic mutations, which may be present in only a few cells of the body. Current detection techniques using gene amplification are not specific enough and […]
Tiny Wireless Optical Implant for Neural Control
Researchers in Japan have developed a tiny optical implant, no bigger than the width of a coin, that could be used to change neural behavior. The researchers can implant the device several centimeters into the body, and then activate it externally using infrared light. The device could make it easier for researchers to identify the […]
Brain Power Has Created A Novel Google Glass Autism App (Interview)
The month of April is Autism Month. Autism affects 3.5 million families in the United States alone, with each person uniquely on the spectrum. These people commonly experience symptoms related to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), including hyperactivity, inattention, and impulsivity, but more well known is their struggle to decode emotions, to manage transitions and behaviors, eye […]
FDA Approves Test for Spontaneous Preterm Birth
QIAGEN won FDA’s OK to introduce its PartoSure test for estimating the risk of spontaneous preterm birth to be used for women that are experiencing symptoms of preterm labor. The test identifies the presence of placental alpha microglobulin-1 (PAMG-1), a pretty good indicator that the fetal membrane has suffered a break. The test has already been […]
Printing Functional Electronics Directly Onto Skin
University of Minnesota researchers have figured out a way of printing electronics on top of skin, even onto hands that are unrestrained and slightly moving. We got a peek at the technology in the Fall of last year, when it was first presented at the 2017 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) in […]
Shockwave’s S4 Catheter Shakes Calcified Plaque Off Peripheral Arteries
Shockwave Medical, out of Freemont California, won European regulatory approval to introduce its Shockwave S4 Peripheral Intravascular Lithotripsy Catheter. The catheter can be used to work on arteries below the knees, shocking them with ultrasound to displace plaque compacted to the vessel walls. The frequency of the ultrasound is tuned to the resonant frequency of […]
Device Keeps Implanted Pancreatic Islets Oxygenated and Alive
MIT researchers have developed a device to keep implanted pancreatic islets oxygenated and alive. The technique involves a replenishable oxygen reservoir and a coating that protects the cells from the immune system. In tests in diabetic rats, the subcutaneous implants kept nearly 90% of the islets alive for up to eight months, and blood glucose […]
Wearable Non-Invasively Assesses Tendon Tension During Physical Activity
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have developed a wearable device that can non-invasively measure tendon tension when wearers are engaged in physical activity. The technology could help researchers to measure and understand the forces that act on muscles during movement. These data are useful for scientists designing treatments and prostheses for patients with gait […]
Terumo Releases a Narrower Stent-Graft for TEVAR Procedures
Terumo is launching in Europe its RelayPro Thoracic Stent-Graft System, initially being released to a limited set of institutions with wider availability expected soon. The device is designed to allow patients with narrower access vessels to benefit from thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) procedures. It’s based on the previously available RelayPlus, but with an outer diameter […]
Real-Time Intravascular Imaging for PAD by Avinger: Interview with CEO Jeff Soinski
Peripheral artery disease (PAD), a circulatory condition in which narrowed arteries reduce blood flow to the extremities, is projected to affect over 21 million patients in the United States by 2020. Common treatments include balloon angioplasty, atherectomy, stenting, and bypass, all of which require physicians to use tools which enter the patients arteries in order […]
Calypso Anchored Beacon Transponder for Lung Radiotherapy FDA Cleared
Varian won FDA clearance for its Calypso Anchored Beacon transponder for lung stereotactic body radiotherapy procedures. The device is positioned within a narrow airway close to or even on the tumor to be targeted. During radiotherapy procedures involving a Varian linear particle accelerator, the system tracks the motion of the transponder and adjusts the beam’s […]