Researchers at the University of Bath have developed a simple point-of-care test for urinary tract infections that uses a smartphone camera. The system can rapidly detect the presence of E. coli in urine samples and could guide doctors in their decision to prescribe antibiotics, ensuring appropriate patient care and avoiding the overuse of antimicr (Read more...)
Tag: Diagnostics
Body Sensors Made of Magical Self-Healing Threads
A team of scientists in South Korea has developed a remarkable new body sensor technology that consists of flexible threads that can heal on their own. The fabric-like threads, which are made of carbon fiber electrodes coated with a citric acid-based polymer, can measure electrolyte concentrations within sweat. The team used their material, which a (Read more...)
Laser Ultrasound System Images People’s Insides from a Distance
Clinical non-invasive ultrasounds require their transducers to make contact with the skin, as that allows high frequency vibrations to travel through the body. Many patients, including children, people with burns, and those with sensitive skin would rather be scanned using a contact-free system. Researchers at MIT have now shown that it is indeed p (Read more...)
Sensor Chip Screens Urine for Cancer Biomarker
Researchers from a multi-institutional group have developed a label-free chip-based sensor to detect very low levels of a cancer biomarker in urine. This exciting development may one day help catch cancer earlier, perhaps during regular screenings, leading to better outcomes. Current methods of cancer biomarker detection are often expensive and cha (Read more...)
Canon Unveils Aquilion ONE / PRISM Edition Spectral CT Scanner
At the RSNA 2019 conference in Chicago, Canon Medical showed off its brand new Aquilion ONE / PRISM Edition spectral CT scanner, a system that takes advantage of artificial intelligence technologies. The device relies on Canon’s Advanced intelligent Clear IQ Engine (AiCE) along with its Deep Learning Spectral Reconstruction imaging algorithms (Read more...)
DNA Nanoarchitecture Used to Construct Dengue Fever Virus Traps
Dengue fever is spread by mosquitoes that carry the Dengue virus. Early detection of an infection is important, but currently it is difficult to achieve in the field. Moreover, treatment options are limited and blood transfusions are required to save many patients. Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have now employed “DNA nanoarc (Read more...)
Optical Coherence Tomography Finally Used to Measure Cartilage Health
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an imaging modality that provides a micron-level look at the tissues being examined. It is used in ophthalmology to assess the eyes and for imaging the interior of arteries to help with atherectomies. Although OCT has significant potential to help clinicians evaluate the health of tissues, it has proven difficu (Read more...)
AI Diagnoses Leukemia from Blood Samples as Well as Human Cytologists
A good deal of clinical diagnostics are effectively performed by cytologists who examine cells through a microscope for signs of disease. This is an imperfect, slow process that depends on the training, focus, and attention to detail of the cytologist. Now, researchers at Helmholtz Zentrum München and the University Hospital of LMU Munich in G (Read more...)
Novel Coating Makes Affinity-Based Sensors Practical for Medicine
Affinity-based sensors are electrochemical devices that can detect a large variety of disease biomarkers. They typically have enzyme-coated electrodes onto which chemical biomarkers can stick, in the process changing the electrical characteristics of the device, something that can be accurately measured. Although they’re extremely sensitive, (Read more...)
Peptoid-Coated Magnetic Beads to Diagnose Prion Diseases, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s
Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have developed synthetic peptide-coated magnetic beads that can be used to detect the presence of misfolded proteins in blood samples. Misfolded proteins are a factor in a number of diseases, including prion diseases, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s. To date it has been difficult to dete (Read more...)
3D Printed Liquid Biopsy Device Captures Most Cancer Cells
Circulating tumor cells can point to the existence of cancer and provide information about its progression. Capturing these cells remains a tricky process. Dozens of devices have been developed that do their best to grab onto only the cancer cells being looked for, but they all suffer from problems such as poor efficiency, damage to […]
Epidermal Display Screens for On-Body Flexible Medical Devices
Researchers from Nanjing University in China have developed a way to place displays on human skin that are flexible, safe, and don’t require a lot of power to run. The technology will certainly have implications for the field of wearable devices by allowing already existing flexible medical devices to display relevant biomedical information. (Read more...)
First Portable Carb Metabolism Monitor Unveiled
Kyocera of Japan has just unveiled the first carbohydrate metabolism measurement device. The system is portable and users can assess their carbohydrate metabolism just about anywhere. The soon to be released product is a radial arterial pulse wave gyro sensor that analyzes pulse-wave patterns at the wrist. Kyocera hopes that this new device will he (Read more...)
First Medical “Suckable” Measures Glucose in Newborns
Newborns can present with a variety of conditions, but diagnosing such small and non-compliant patients is frequently a serious challenge. Identifying type 1 diabetes, for example, requires accessing the interstitial fluid in a baby’s skin, an unpleasant affair for everyone involved. Moreover, diagnostic technologies are generally only availa (Read more...)
Chip to Evaluate Health of Immune System from Blood Sample
Knowing how well a patient’s immune system is functioning may be very useful in diagnosing a disease and guiding the course of therapy. Researchers from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore are making this a reality, having developed a hybrid chip that assesses the health of white blood cells in a whole blood sample. The microfluidic (Read more...)
Contact-Free Baby Monitor Uses White Noise to Monitor Breathing
Echolocation technologies can detect objects by measuring how long it takes sound to bounce off them. This is used to detect submarines underwater, but now to also measure a child’s breathing while delivering soothing, and sleep inducing, white noise. Next week, researchers from the University of Washington will be at the MobiCom 2019 confere (Read more...)
3D Liquid-Cell Electron Microscopy Imaging Now Possible
Electron microscopy revealed a world that exists at scales smaller than the wavelength of light. Advancements in this field have allowed scientists to visualize ever more objects and processes, but actually seeing living cells in 3D and within a liquid environment has been impossible. Now, a team of researchers from Penn State University, Virginia (Read more...)
Microfluidic Device for Rapid Lyme Disease Diagnosis
Researchers at Columbia University have developed a microfluidic device that can diagnose Lyme disease in as little as 15 minutes. The device is particularly accurate in identifying antibody biomarkers that are present during early stage Lyme disease, raising hopes that it could be useful in detecting cases of early infection in a doctor’s of (Read more...)
iRhythm-Verily Partnership: Interview with iRhythm CEO Kevin King
iRhythm and Verily announced a partnership last month to “co-develop solutions intended to provide early warning, diagnosis and management for patients, particularly for those with silent or undiagnosed AF.” We spoke with iRhythm CEO Kevin King to understand how the two companies complement each other and how they can solve the problem (Read more...)
Low Power MRI Helps Image Lungs, Brings Costs Down
Modern clinical MRIs usually have magnetic field strengths of 1.5 or 3.0 Tesla. These are pretty powerful magnets and it’s the reason that these devices are very expensive. While such strengths have been standard for a long time, the internal hardware and software beyond the magnets have been improving steadily. Now, researchers affiliated wi (Read more...)