Tag: GI

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...)

Intestine Chip to Study Human-Microbiome Interactions

Researchers at the Harvard Wyss Institute have developed a microfluidic chip that allows bacteria and human epithelial cells to be co-cultured. The device will allow researchers to study how the gut and bacteria interact, helping them to identify the role of the microbiome in health and disease. With reported involvement in a huge array of [&hellip (Read more...)

Self-Inflating Swallowable Capsule for Weight Management

Researchers from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore have developed a swallowable self-inflating capsule, which enlarges within the stomach under the influence of a hand-held magnet. By filling a portion of the stomach, the balloon induces a sense of fullness, helping obese patients to reduce the amount they eat. The capsule is conceived (Read more...)

PlasmaTYPHOON Endoscope Drying and Storage Device: Interview with Dr. Daniel Vinteler, CEO and Founder of PlasmaBiotics

PENTAX Medical, a global medical technology developer originally founded in Japan, provides the PlasmaTYPHOON Endoscope Drying and Storage Device through its controlling interest in PlasmaBiotics, a company based in France. The system aims to significantly reduce the risk of bacterial contamination of endoscopy equipment through a drying procedure (Read more...)

Ultra Cheap Endoscope to Make Cancer Screenings More Common

Conventional endoscopes can get quite pricey these days, sometimes costing more than $100,000 a set. Moreover, they’re expensive to maintain because of intense cleaning regimens that are required to prevent transmission of infections. Engineers at the University of Leeds in the UK are working on bringing the price of endoscopes closer to $50 (Read more...)

PlasmaTYPHOON Makes Sure Endoscopes are Dry and Hygienic

PENTAX Medical, a part of HOYA Group, has unveiled a new endoscope processing and storage solution that helps to eliminate any chance of bacterial infections. In the last few years endoscopes have been identified as common vectors through which bacteria spread from patient to patient, so new endoscope designs and ways to clean them are […]

Diagnosing Esophageal Cancer More Accurately: Interview with Mark Rutenberg, CEO of CDx Diagnostics

Cancer of the esophagus is often related to chronic heartburn, something patients too often end up ignoring. The onset of the potentially deadly disease can be detected, though, given good enough imaging and regular screenings. The imaging component, that we’re particularly interested in, relies on physicians to take biopsies of random bits o (Read more...)

Microrobots Take Minutes to Detect C. diff in Stool Samples

Detecting bacterial infestations within the GI system, particularly using low cost methods, takes so much time that treatment is often administered too late. Clostridium difficile (C. diff) is a particular nasty nuisance that kills many frail patients, and even with a hospital lab it can take up to two days to get the results. Researchers (Read more...)

Weight Loss Implant Simulates Food Inside Stomach

There are millions of clinicians fighting on the front lines of the obesity epidemic every day, but there doesn’t seem to be a winning strategy. The population of seriously overweight people around the world is rising and will soon reach one billion. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers may have a technological, drug-free soluti (Read more...)