Middle ear infections are one of the most common reasons for visits to the pediatrician. However, because the middle ear is hidden from view by the ear drum, physicians must diagnose based on symptoms and a limited physical exam — and when patients have ambiguous or borderline symptoms, accurate diagnosis can be challenging. PhotoniCare&rsquo (Read more...)
Author: Medgadged
Method Makes PET Tracers out of Common Biomolecules
Researchers from the University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center have developed new radioactive tracers to track pharmaceuticals in the body and to image cancer. The findings, reported in journal Science, describe the new chemistry they have developed, along with data that demonstrate that the team was able to radioactively (Read more...)
Microrobot Developed for Delivery of Stem Cells to the Brain
Researchers from Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST) in South Korea have developed a new microrobot that can precisely deliver therapeutic cells to very specific parts of the brain. Their work, recently published in Science Robotics, demonstrates that neural stem cells can be cultured and differentiated on their robot and th (Read more...)
Contrast Agent Uses Heart’s Electricity to Activate Itself
Imaging the heart for signs of disease is still quite rudimentary. While CT, ultrasound, and PET (positron-emission tomography) scanners generate impressive looking graphics, they’re a long way from giving doctors a true representation of the anatomy and function of the heart and nearby vasculature. Contrast agents are widely used to allow th (Read more...)
Researchers Trip People to Improve Prosthetic Legs
People using prosthetic legs have to be constantly vigilant about potential obstacles in their way. That is because if they stumble, there’s a pretty good chance that they’ll suffer a fall. Prosthetic legs, even powered ones, don’t have the capacity to recover from a stumble, as this is a very challenging task for a mechanical [&h (Read more...)
Stretchable E-Tattoo for Long-Term Heart Monitoring
Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have developed a wearable heart monitor which can assess heart health over several days. The research team call the device an “e-tattoo” and claim that its stretchability makes it more comfortable and convenient to wear compared with previously developed devices. The device is the first s (Read more...)
New Scaffold Helps to Heal Torn Meniscus
A torn meniscus in the knee is one of the most common injuries that athletes, soldiers, and regular folks tend to suffer from. Surgery is an option, but today’s techniques are severely lacking and often the final result is a lack of healing coupled with osteoarthritis later in life. Now, researchers from Duke University have […]
Robot Navigates Tiny Ultrasound Pill Through Colon
While endoscopes give physicians a view into the interior of the GI tract, they are limited in the areas that they can reach and the imaging they can provide. Miniaturized imaging devices in the form of swallowable electronic pills have been around for a few years now. They move through the entirety of the GI […]
Multi-Organ Lab-on-a-Chip for Cancer Drug Testing
Researchers at Hesperos, Inc., a biotech firm based in Florida, have collaborated with Roche and the University of Central Florida to develop a multi-organ lab-on-a-chip system for drug testing. The device includes human organ-derived tissue constructs that allow for the efficacy and side-effects of anti-cancer drugs in various organs to be tested (Read more...)
AI System Can Identify Cardiac Arrest by Listening to Breathing
Researchers at the University of Washington have used machine learning to teach an AI system to identify when someone is having a cardiac arrest. The system learned to identify agonal breathing, which occurs when someone gasps for breath during cardiac arrest, with a high degree of accuracy. The technology can be embedded into a variety […]
Mimics Enlight Cardiovascular Planning Software Gets FDA Clearance
Materialise, a 3D printing company with a focus on patient-specific parts, has received FDA clearance for its Mimics Enlight cardiovascular planning software suite. The product’s initial application will be in planning complex transcatheter mitral valve replacement (TMVR) procedures. Developed with the help of the Henry Ford Health System in (Read more...)
eMacula Augmented Reality for Vision Impaired: Interview with Steve Willey, CEO of Innovega
Innovega Inc., a systems engineering and lens development company with offices in Washington and California, has created eMacula, a new generation of eyewear that combines smart contact lenses and stylish, lightweight glasses. The system will be tailored to the needs of vision impaired patients who will benefit from both lens-based vision correctio (Read more...)
Tumors Grown in 3D from Cancer Patient Samples for Drug Screening
Cancerous tumors can be very inconsistent in how they respond to different therapies. While the tumor of one patient can rapidly shrink when exposed to a given medication, another patient suffering from the same kind of tumor may not get any benefit from that same drug. This phenomenon highlights why personalized medicine is such an […]
Machine Learning Predicts Psychosis from Subtle Changes in Word Choices
Researchers from Emory University and Harvard University have developed a machine learning algorithm that can predict an individual’s likelihood for developing psychosis based on their speech patterns. Psychosis may be described as a “break with reality,” including hallucinations and delusions, which may arise from schizophrenia o (Read more...)
Electric Brain Stimulation Shown to Improve Memory Function
Our memories often seem ephemeral, coming and going without any obvious reasons. Researchers at UCLA seem to have come up with a way to bring some memories back that would probably otherwise have gone missing forever. The team relied on transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a technology that can direct low energy electricity into specific (Read more...)
Electric Brain Stimulation Shown to Improve Memory Function
Our memories often seem ephemeral, coming and going without any obvious reasons. Researchers at UCLA seem to have come up with a way to bring some memories back that would probably otherwise have gone missing forever. The team relied on transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a technology that can direct low energy electricity into specific (Read more...)
Virtual Biopsy for Skin Lesions Using Vibrational Optical Coherence Tomography
Tissue biopsies of skin lesions can be unpleasant and quite painful. Moreover, a biopsy typically doesn’t sample the whole lesion and doesn’t provide much information about a given lesion’s size and depth. Now, scientists at Rutgers University have developed and tested a new device that relies on two different mechanisms to analyz (Read more...)
Ultra-Thin Probe Assesses Tissues Deep Within Lungs
Assessing the health of tissues deep inside the body is a major need and challenge in medicine. Imaging modalities such as MRI, CT, and ultrasound provide very little information about the composition and environment of tissues being examined. Now, researchers at the University of Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt University, and Bath University, all in the U (Read more...)
Molecular Motors Drill Through Cancer Cells
A couple of years ago a team of U.S. and U.K. scientists came up with a way of making molecular motors that can drill through cancer cells, destroying them in the process. The researchers, from Rice University, Durham University, and North Carolina State University, used an ultraviolet (UV) light source to energize these motors, but […]
How Medical Device Manufacturers Can Change Marketing and Sales Capabilities
Life science organizations successfully increase sales when all departments collaborate to enhance results. Sharing information between departments can focus on fulfilling the needs of customers and strengthening commercial performance. At the 9th Digital Marketing for Medical Devices, taking place on August 5–7 in Minneapolis, (Read more...)