Samsung is unveiling its new Hera I10 ultrasound system designed for ob/gyn applications. The system integrates a motorized examination chair that can adjust from 18.9″ to a height of 38.6″, so patients don’t have to put up with a conventional exam table. A large high-def display screen can be moved around as the clinician prefers […]
Author: Medgadged
Light Activated Compound Kills Hypoxic Tumors
Photodynamic therapy is a technique that relies on photosensitizer chemicals to generate reactive species that kill cancer cells. These compounds can be delivered into tumors and then light is used to activate them. One of the main reasons for the slow adoption of this technology is that tumors are usually oxygen deprived and the photosensitizers […]
Abbott Proclaim XR 10-Year Spinal Cord Stimulator FDA Approved for Chronic Pain
Abbott won approval for and is releasing a new spinal cord stimulator that can treat chronic pain for up to ten years without requiring a recharge. The Proclaim XR delivers a low dose version of Abbott’s unique BurstDR waveform, which supposedly delivers a signal similar to the brain’s own patterns. Instead of overdriving the pain […]
New Fluorescent Tags Developed to Track Cause of Alzheimer’s
Amyloid protein plaques, particularly ones made of beta-amyloid 42, are a prime suspect in the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Soluble oligomers, in this case molecules with a few repeating peptide units, may turn out to be the main culprit. They’re known to be toxic to neurons and some recent studies have led researchers to focus […]
Apps for Healthcare Monitoring: Interview with Artem Petrov, CEO of Reinvently
Reinvently, a mobile app development company based in Palo Alto, California, has created a number of healthcare apps, including those which collect, collate, and display data from wearable medical devices. The combination of a wearable device and a mobile app allows clinicians to monitor their patients in real-time and identify issues before they become a […]
Implantable Nanolasers for Tissue Imaging, Neurotherapy
A variety of imaging techniques and technologies, such as optogenetics, could benefit from devices that can emit visible laser light from inside tissues. Conventional lasers are too large, while nanolasers tend to be inefficient, heating up too much, and typically require damaging ultraviolet light to power them. Now, researchers at Northwestern and Columbia Universities have […]
First Portable Brain-Computer Interface to Control Wheelchairs, TVs, Computers
Brain-computer interfaces have the potential to give severely disabled people the ability to easily control their wheelchairs, televisions, and other devices. Existing technologies suffer from a number of limitations, though, making them impractical for real-world applications. One is that non-invasive brain wave monitoring currently requires large and uncomfortable electroencephalography caps with wet electrodes, wires, and […]
Nanoelectrode Chip to Study Neuronal Network Activity of Thousands of Cells
Though the patch clamp electrode allowed neuroscientists to study electrical signals from inside neural cells, it is a tool with very limited capabilities. No more than about a dozen cells at a time can be studied, but the brain and the neural system operate on much larger scales. To help study entire neuronal networks comprising […]
Ethicon’s New ECHELON CIRCULAR Powered Stapler
Ethicon, a part of J&J, just unveiled the ECHELON CIRCULAR, which the company touts as the first powered circular stapler specifically designed for colorectal, gastric, and thoracic procedures. The device features so-called “Gripping Surface Technology” that is supposedly more tender on the tissues being stapled, distributing forces to reduce potential damage. Also, the staples are […]
XStraw Makes Swallowing Oral Meds Easier
Many people experience difficulties swallowing their medications, with kids and elderly people being most commonly affected. Crushing pills and taking apart drug capsules is usually a poor solution, since the effectiveness and rate of release of medications can be significantly altered. DS Technology, a German firm, has developed a unique drinking straw that makes it […]
Bathroom Scale Combined with ECG for At Home Heart Failure Monitoring
Electrocardiography (ECG) remains the primary clinical tool for evaluating heart function, but it has significant limitations when assessing heart failure. Ballistocardiography (BCG), which detects the slight physical movements the body experiences with each heart beat, has the potential to provide some of the information that ECG misses. The problem is that BCG is severely attenuated […]
Self-Sterilizing Polymer to Reduce Healthcare-Acquired Infections
Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new nanostructured polymer that can kill many different strains of bacteria and viruses within minutes. Their work demonstrates that the unique chemical modifications on the polymer allow it to kill bacteria like E. coli, along with the “superbug” methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and that the polymer […]
Meru Health Offers Biofeedback Tracking with New Wearable
Last week, Meru Health, a digital mental health clinic, announced the launch of a wearable to capture biofeedback, including heart rate variability (HRV), during mental health exercises. The clip-on wearable is affixed to an individual’s ear while they complete specific exercises, like breathing practices, directed by Meru’s platform. The goal is to show users a […]
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 people with diabetes move away from traditional fingerstick testing towards continuous and minimally invasive glucose monitoring, which results in better health outcomes and overall diabetes management. The FreeStyle Libre […]
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 great deal of patience, something that robots can be pretty good at. By creating an innovative interface between the surgeon’s hands and a specially designed robot, Galen’s technology can eliminate hand tremor […]
Discreet Wearable for Hair Regrowth Using Body-Generated Electricity
While there are some devices and medications out there to help slow hair loss and regrow hair, they’re bulky, uncomfortable, or have substantial side effects. Low-frequency electric stimulation, delivered in pulses and over extended time periods, has a great deal of potential as an effective way to promote hair growth. The problem is that it […]
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 worsens cardiac function. Following implantation of a prosthetic valve, the hearts of patients tend to undergo significant reconstruction around the treatment site, but the mechanics of this process are poorly understood. […]
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 distribution of protein expression within cells, gathered from minuscule samples, could be an important tool for early diagnosis and monitoring of cancer. Now, researchers at National University of Singapore have reported […]
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 failure hospitalization for people suffering from type 2 diabetes. Their work demonstrates that among 147 different demographic, clinical, and biological data, there is an important top 10 list of predictors, which […]
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. Intended for use during minimally invasive vascular procedures, the Early Bird helps to identify dangerous events such as ruptured or dissected vessels. Such incidents can result from using large […]