Hospital acquired infections continue to be a major source of patient morbidities. Hand washing guidelines, ubiquitously available alcohol sanitizers, and keeping patients away from each other has helped reduce the spread of nosocomial infections. Nevertheless, much more needs to be done to prevent hospitals themselves from being vectors that spread infections that walk through their […]
Author: Medgadged
Organoids of Human Kidneys Help to Study Renal Diseases
Polycystic kidney disease is a genetic condition in which the tubules of the kidneys grow to become deformed, leading to cysts to grow on the organ. Studying this disease has been a challenge because of the difficulty of modeling it in the laboratory. Now researchers led by a team at the University of Washington have […]
Cellvizio Confocal Laser Endomicroscopy Now Cleared in EU for Robotic-Assisted Surgeries
Mauna Kea, a French firm, having recently made available its Cellvizio system in the U.S., now also won European CE Mark approval for the technology to be used during robotic-assisted surgeries. The Cellvizio Confocal Laser Endomicroscopy (CLE) System allows urologists to analyze the cellular structure of tissues as part of retroscopic and cystoscopic procedures. No samples […]
New Test Reveals Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria in 30 Minutes
Researchers at Caltech have developed a new rapid test for antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which can give results within 30 minutes. Antibiotics are becoming less effective with the rise of multi-drug resistant strains of bacteria. At present, a doctor doesn’t know if their patient is infected with a drug-resistant strain without sending a sample to a lab, […]
LivaNova’s New SenTiva Neurostimulator for Epilepsy FDA Approved
LivaNova, a UK firm, won FDA approvals for its newest vagus nerve stimulation system for treating epilepsy in patients as young as four years old. The system, which includes the SenTiva implantable neurostimulator and the VNS Therapy Programming system, monitors brain activity and delivers therapy when it believes a seizure may be imminent. During therapy […]
Remedē Implantable System FDA Approved to Treat Moderate to Severe Central Sleep Apnea
The FDA has granted Respicardia, a company out of Minnetonka, Minnesota, approval to introduce its Remedē implantable sleep apnea treatment system. The Remedē treats sleep apnea by stimulating one of the phrenic nerves that regulates the activity of the diaphragm. People with central sleep apnea exhibit shallow breaths and/or pauses in breathing that can have a terrible effect on […]
Smart New Bandage Delivers Drugs on Wound Exactly When Required
Difficult to manage wounds do not heal oftentimes because topical medications can’t be administered in a controlled fashion and just when needed. To apply a drug onto a chronic wound, the dressing has to be removed, exposing the wound to potential infections and causing a good deal of discomfort to the patient. Now researches from […]
Ascom Digistat Vitals: A New Offering to Record Patient Information at Bedside
Ascom, a Swiss firm, is releasing a new product designed to improve how clinicians record patient information into electronic medical records (EMR). The Digistat Vitals system relies on the dedicated Ascom Myco smartphone, or certain compatible Android phones, as the interface for data entry. A special app is used at the bedside to save vitals and […]
Carrot Carbon Monoxide Breath Sensor System for Smoking Cessation Cleared for OTC by FDA
Carrot, a Redwood City, California firm, won FDA clearance for its Carbon Monoxide (CO) Breath Sensor System. It will be available as an over-the-counter product that’s designed to help smokers kick the habit as part of smoking cessation programs. The CO sensor features Bluetooth wireless connectivity, allowing it to interface with a smartphone app that […]
Health 2.0 Fall Conference: 12 New Product Launches Announced
The Health 2.0 Fall Conference provides a number of opportunities for startups and entrepreneurs to share their novel innovations and ideas, including the Startup Pitch Competition, the Exhibit Hall, Market Connect sessions, 3.5 minute breakout session demos, and Launch! Launch! is Health 2.0’s annual closing event where early stage companies announce product releases for the […]
Olympus Releases ORBEYE 4K-3D Surgical Microscope System
Olympus is releasing its latest surgical microscope, the 4K-3D ORBEYE video microscope. The device was developed by a joint venture called Sony Olympus Medical Solutions. The system comes with an accompanying 4K-3D 55-inch monitor, allowing surgeons to look directly at the screen rather than a microscope eyepiece and for the rest of the clinical staff to […]
Squeezing Cancer Cells Through Tiny Holes for Diagnostic Uses
The stiffness of a cell is often an indicator of whether it is healthy or cancerous, and the so-called mechanotype, a phenotype based on cell mechanics when squeezed, is indicative of other properties of cells. Being able to easily measure how a cell deforms when under pressure has great potential for diagnostic purposes. Now the […]
Tiny Nanopatch Shown Highly Effective Against Polio Virus
A new vaccine delivering “Nanopatch” has just been tested that may finally help put an end to polio. Developed by a scientist at Queensland University in Australia and commercialized by Vaxxas, a firm based in Sydney, the patch has microscopic needles projecting from its bottom that pass the vaccine directly to the antigen-presenting cells below […]
Health 2.0 Fall Conference: SleepTech Summit Exhibit Hall Companies
A unique track at this year’s Health 2.0 Fall Conference is a SleepTech Summit focusing on innovations that enhance or improve a person’s ability to achieve a quicker, longer, and more refreshing sleep. As part of the main exhibit hall, six sleep-related companies were demoing their devices and technologies, and Medgadget had a chance to […]
New Microsurgery Robot Helps to Suture Tiny Vessels to Treat Lymphedema
At Maastricht UMC+, an academic hospital in The Netherlands, the first surgical procedure using a new microrobot has been successfully performed. The physicians used a system from Microsure, a Dutch firm that spun off from Eindhoven University of Technology and Maastricht UMC+, to suture sub-millimeter vessels in the arm of a patient suffering from lymphedema. The robotic […]
Klue, a New Tracker That Claims to Detect When You’re Eating or Drinking
Klue, a new wearable tracker, was just unveiled at this year’s Health 2.0 conference in Silicon Valley. The makers of the device claim it can detect the type of activity that you’re engaged in, with a particular focus on eating and drinking. The ultimate goal of the technology is to help users adjust their habits, […]
Glowing Molecular Sensor Helps Spot New Useful Antibiotics
Microorganisms are natural factories for all sorts of biomolecules, and some of them produce antibiotics that can be very useful in medical practice. This is not a newly discovered fact, but because each microorganism produces its own set of molecules and the rate of production is not very high, it’s been difficult to use this […]
New Intravascular Catheter Views Plaques with Ultrasound and Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging
At University of California, Davis engineers managed to combine intravascular ultrasound with fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIm) inside a single catheter. The combined imaging modalities provide a new look inside of arteries, offering both a morphological picture as well as one that gives insight into the composition of plaques. While cath-lab techniques are now commonly used […]
New Intravascular Catheter Views Plaques with Ultrasound and Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging
At University of California, Davis engineers managed to combine intravascular ultrasound with fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIm) inside a single catheter. The combined imaging modalities provide a new look inside of arteries, offering both a morphological picture as well as one that gives insight into the composition of plaques. While cath-lab techniques are now commonly used […]
Enchroma Colorblind Glasses Review: Illuminating, But Are They Worth The Money?
Color has always been a mystery to me. As a child, I always figured that making something red was simply adding “red color” to or on it. University was when I really started to understand that colors in biology were made of chemical pigments, each with a unique chemical structure. They all absorbed a different […]