Endovascular procedures have drastically improved the available therapy options for a number of diseases and conditions. Catheters can now be navigated deep into the body, including the brain, but there’s still room for improvement to traverse particularly tortuous vascular anatomy. These days, most guidewires that are used to make the initial journey through the vasculature […]
Author: Medgadged
Plugging Holes in Blood Vessels Caused by Nanoparticle Therapy
While targeting nanoparticles to attack cancer cells can be effective at reducing primary tumors, they tend to create tiny holes within blood vessel walls that let some cancer cells escape and metastasize elsewhere. This is a serious side effect that may limit the usefulness of many nanoparticle-based cancer therapies in the long run, so researchers […]
Graphene Clothing Prevents Mosquitoes from Being Attracted to Skin
Throughout history, diseases spread by mosquitoes to humans have probably caused more suffering than all the wars combined. Current techniques for fighting mosquitoes usually involve chemicals, but these may have side effects for us as well as the surrounding environment. Heavy clothing can help, but as anyone who has spent time outdoors where mosquitoes are […]
FDA Clears First Cuff-Free Blood Pressure Monitors
The FDA has granted Biobeat, an Israeli firm, clearance for the company’s wrist watch and patch that measure blood oxygenation, heart rate, and blood pressure. Not relying on a traditional cuff allows for long-term monitoring of blood pressure, particularly in patients who have difficulty keeping track of their health parameters on their own. Moreover, it […]
Gold Nanostars Help Design New Nanomedicines
Researchers from Northwestern University have developed a novel way to track how nanoparticles interact with cancer cells and whether they reach their tagets. The team’s work shows that if a nanoparticle targets cancer cells, it undergoes more rotational and translational movement compared to nanoparticles that cannot target cancer cells effectively. This exciting development can be […]
Cartilage on a Chip to Identify New Treatments for Osteoarthritis
Researchers from the Polytechnic University of Milan and the University Hospital of Basel have developed a microfluidic chip containing cartilage, which can be subjected to mechanical stress. The procedure mimics the conditions of osteoarthritis and could help in developing new treatments. Osteoarthritis is relatively common among people over 60, with 20% of women and 10% […]
Smartphone and Paper Microfluidic Device for Norovirus Detection
Researchers at the University of Arizona have developed a simple and inexpensive method that can be used to detect tiny traces of norovirus in water samples. The technique involves a smartphone camera and a paper microfluidics device, and could help to identify sources of norovirus before it can cause illness. In the US, norovirus causes […]
Self-Rolling Sensor Measures Electrical Activity of Heart Organoids
Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore have developed a new microfabricated sensor array that performs 3D electrophysiology of cellular organoids. Their work demonstrates that the device can be designed to wrap around small organoids and measure voltage changes across the surface of the organoids without leading to significant loss of […]
Barostim Neo Neuromodulation Device for Heart Failure Wins FDA Approval
CVRx, a Minneapolis, Minnesota company, won FDA approval for the first neuromodulation device designed to address heart failure. Intended as a treatment option for patients with an ejection fraction ≤35% and New York Heart Failure Classification of III or II (with recent history of Class III), the device stimulates the carotid artery and in turn […]
OneDraw A1C Needle-Free Test System FDA Cleared
Drawbridge Health, out of Menlo Park, California, won FDA clearance for its OneDraw A1C Test System, which consists of the OneDraw Blood Collection Device and the OneDraw A1C Test. Designed for use by clinicians, the disposable product is used to draw, collect, and stabilize blood to measure hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels to help manage glucose […]
Automatic Artificial Intelligence System Learns to Diagnose Disease
Wearable health monitors, ubiquitous sensors, and the ability to collect and store huge amounts of data are creating challenges for researchers hoping to use artificial intelligence to identify diseases. While the gathered data can hold important clinical answers, finding those answers means that the data must be categorized and labeled. Now, researchers at MIT have […]
Lumendi Gets FDA Clearance for New Endolumenal Interventional Knife
Lumendi, an English firm, won FDA clearance to introduce its DiLumen Ik endolumenal interventional knife. The single-use monopolar device is used for surgical dissections, performing cuts, and cauterizing of tissues of the gastrointestinal tract. To help perform many procedures that require a section to be elevated from the surrounding tissue, the same device can be […]
Sensor Reads Signs of Oncoming Aggression in Autism
Many people who suffer from autism experience periods when they become aggressive, something that tends to come out of the blue. Those taking care of such folks have a hard time managing such episodes, particularly because there’s no warning and there’s no time to take mitigating actions. Now, researchers at Northeastern University have developed a […]
Motion Sickness Study to Mitigate Motion Sickness in Self-Driving Cars
Motion sickness is slated to become a more prominent problem once self-driving cars become a commonality. Interiors of vehicles are expected to be much different than those of today’s forward-facing cars, including blackout windows with TVs inside for playing video games and watching movies. Even those not prone to motion sickness may have trouble when […]
Flexible Transistors for Body-Worn and Implantable Medical Devices
Recently, engineers in a variety of institutions have been making great progress in the field of flexible electronics. A variety of devices have been made, including completely flexible body-worn sensors. While a great deal of the components have indeed been created to be flexible, integrated circuits and the transistors that they’re made of have had […]
Tourette Syndrome Treated with Functional MRI
Researchers at Yale University have for the first time showed that it is possible to control the symptoms of Tourette Syndrome using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The researchers recruited twenty one 11 to 19 year-olds and used real-time fMRI neurofeedback (rt-fMRI-NF), a technology that lets patients monitor their own brain activity, to control the […]
New Optical Method for Functional Brain Imaging
Researchers from the University of Birmingham in the UK and Washington University School of Medicine have developed a new non-invasive brain imaging method for studying the shape of the brain’s surface and oxygenation of brain tissues. Their discovery enables deeper brain imaging with higher resolution than prior studies with similar capabilities. This exciting development can […]
MathWorks Helps Develop New Medical Devices: Interview with Arvind Ananthan
As the Global Medical Device Industry Manager at MathWorks, Arvind Ananthan has immense experience working with medical device engineers, academic researchers, and regulatory authorities. Having a background in signal processing and electrical engineering, Arvind joined Mathworks 15 years ago as a technical sales engineer working with embedded systems before moving into his current role, where […]
Optic Nerve Stimulation Device Could Provide Visual Aid for Blind People
Researchers at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland have developed a new type of intraneural electrode to bypass the eyeball and send messages directly to the brain through the optic nerve. The technique could provide a visual aid for permanently blind people. Using retinal implants to treat blindness is a developing field. The concept […]
High-Performance Handheld Ultrasound Based on Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers
The company EXO Imaging out of Redwood City, CA recently emerged from stealth mode to announce the development of a novel technology called Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers (pMUT) for ultrasound imaging. EXO Imaging is bringing together advances in micromachined materials and artificial intelligence to enhance both the ultrasound probe as well as the receiver that […]