At the Université Laval in Quebec City, Canada, researchers have developed a respiration sensor built into a t-shirt that can be sampled by a nearby radio device. The idea is that patients in a hospital would wear a lightweight, comfortable shirt that doesn’t have any wires, while their breathing rate would be discreetly moni (Read more...)
Tag: Medicine
BrainCool’s IQool Patient Cooling System Cleared in U.S.
BrainCool, a company based in Lund, Sweden, landed FDA clearance to introduce its IQool patient cooling system. Pads filled with BrainCool’s “BCCOOL” non-toxic liquid are placed around the patient’s head and neck, thighs, and the torso, and a programmable chiller cools and moves the liquid through the pads. The pads don&rsqu (Read more...)
iGlucose Glucometer with Built-In Cellular Connectivity and API Interoperability
Smart Meter Corporation, a New York firm, won both FDA clearance and European CE Mark approval for its iGlucose system, a blood glucose meter that features built-in cellular connectivity. Diabetics using the iGlucose will have the convenience of seeing their readings automatically uploaded to the company’s web portal, from where their d (Read more...)
EverSleep, a Sleep Tracker with Oxygenation Monitoring Looking for Funding on Indiegogo
SomnoHealth, a young company out of Golden, Colorado, is looking to introduce its EverSleep sleep tracker via an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign. The device is worn around the wrist and has a pulse oximeter built-in that provides blood oxygen saturation monitoring, in addition to an accelerometer for noticing motion, and a sound monitor for detecti (Read more...)
ResMed’s New Comfort Oriented AirTouch F20 CPAP Mask
ResMed, a maker of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) devices, is releasing what it says is its softest mask yet. The AirTouch F20 features a memory foam material that conforms to the patient’s face while minimizing the force it applies to the skin. The material is actually porous, allowing air and sweat to slowly seep […]
New Cheap, Easy to Manufacture Dry Powder Inhaler for Developing World
H&T Presspart, a firm based in Lancashire, UK, has announced that it will be releasing the PowdAir Plus dry powder inhaler. The device, originally developed by Hovione Technology, a spinoff of Hovione, a Portuguese company, is designed for the developing world where attention to cost is acute and the need is severe. The PowdAir Plus u (Read more...)
New Cheap, Easy to Manufacture Dry Powder Inhaler for Developing World
H&T Presspart, a firm based in Lancashire, UK, has announced that it will be releasing the PowdAir Plus dry powder inhaler. The device, originally developed by Hovione Technology, a spinoff of Hovione, a Portuguese company, is designed for the developing world where attention to cost is acute and the need is severe. The PowdAir Plus u (Read more...)
Sympfiny System for Dispensing Multiparticulate Medications
Multiparticulate medications can consist of beads, mini-tablets and microspheres encased in a coating that hides their flavor and prevents them from being dissolved before they reach the stomach. Benefits include the ability to make these medications have just about any flavor, to make them release the drug at a pre-programmed rate, and even r (Read more...)
Smartphone Controlled Cells Produce Insulin in Diabetic Mice
Scientists in China and Switzerland have developed hydrogel implants containing red light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and engineered cells that produce and release insulin in response to the far-red light emitted by the LEDs. The LEDs can be controlled wirelessly using a smartphone app, meaning that the scientists could control insulin levels in diabeti (Read more...)
Hill-Rom’s New Monarch Battery Powered Airway Clearance System
A number of conditions can cause fluid and mucus to build up in the lungs, causing difficulty breathing and leading to serious complications. Patients with cystic fibrosis are particularly affected, and caretakers have been helping to perform chest physical therapy (CPT) techniques for decades to help dislodge the mucus plugs and excess of secretio (Read more...)
Edwards HemoSphere Hemodynamic Monitoring System Cleared by FDA
Edwards Lifesciences won FDA clearance for its HemoSphere hemodynamics monitoring system. It works with the Swan-Ganz pulmonary artery catheters that can provide flow, pressure and global indicator of oxygen saturation (CCO, RVEF, RVEDV, SVO2), and the Edwards oximetry central venous catheter that in addition to those can continuously monitor& (Read more...)
ResMed Unveils World’s Smallest CPAP Designed for Travel
ResMed, one of the bigger names in CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) therapy, is unveiling today the world’s smallest CPAP device. The ResMed AirMini weighs less than 11 ounces (300 grams) and is only 5.4 inches (14 cm) on its longest side. Being so light and small can help patients take it along when traveling, […]
ARTIS pheno, Siemens’ New Flagship Angiography C-arm Cleared by FDA
Siemens won FDA clearance for its new ARTIS pheno robotic angiography C-arm. The system is essentially an upgraded version of the company’s Artis zeego (even the capitalization of the name has changed), sporting a zen40HDR flat panel detector and GIGALIX X-ray tube. The system features automatic dose selection to minimize radia (Read more...)
Disposable Sensor Measures Sweat Volume, Salinity to Help Prevent Dehydration
At the South by Southwest (SXSW) event in Austin, Texas this week, the National Kidney Foundation has partnered with materials researchers to show off a sweat-monitoring patch as a way to raise awareness of staying hydrated. Developed at the laboratory of John Rogers, now at Northwestern University, who has been a pioneer of flexible electroni (Read more...)
NasoNeb II Nasal Nebulizer Gets Green Light in Europe
MedInvent, a company based in Medina, Ohio, received European CE Mark approval for its NasoNeb II Nasal Nebulizer. The device is intended for patients with chronic sinusitis and allergic rhinitis, delivering drugs (typically budesonide) into the nasal and paranasal sinus cavities. The company says the product provides superior spread (Read more...)
New Smart Sensor for Measuring Glucose from Skin
The sweat excreted by our skin contains small amounts of glucose that correlate with the concentration of glucose in the blood. Various technical challenges, such as small sample volume, temperature differences, and movement of the skin, have prevented sweat-based glucometry beyond the research lab. Scientists at the Institute for Basic Scienc (Read more...)
FDA Cleared: Medtronic’s Reveal LINQ Insertable Cardiac Monitor with TruRhythm Detection
Medtronic won FDA clearance for its Reveal LINQ Insertable Cardiac Monitor with TruRhythm Detection. The device is used to spot and analyze difficult to diagnose arrhythmias over periods as long as three years. It is an upgrade of the original Reveal LINQ, now sporting algorithms that significantly reduce the number of false positive cases of (Read more...)
BodyCap e-Celsius Electronic Pill for Core Body Temperature Monitoring
BodyCap, a company based in Caen, France, won the European CE Mark to introduce its e-Celsius swallowable wireless thermometer. Designed to monitor patients’ core temperature, the e-Celsius looks like and is ingested just like a regular drug capsule. As it moves down the GI tract, every 30 seconds the device wirelessly transmits data to an [& (Read more...)
Jet Powered Pill Shoots Vaccine Into Cheek to Avoid Injections
At University of California Berkeley researchers have developed an innovative new way of delivering vaccines that may one day be an option over scary, and slightly painful, needle injections. The MucoJet device is a pill that, when pushed against the cheek, releases its cargo in the form of a microjet. The pressure generated is enough […]
ZOLL’s Hospital Wearable Defibrillator FDA Approved
ZOLL Medical, now a part of Asahi Kasei, a Japanese corporation, received FDA approval to introduce its Hospital Wearable Defibrillator (HWD) in the U.S. Intended for use on patients that may exhibit ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation (VT/VF) during their hospital stay, the HWD shares much with implantable defibrillators but c (Read more...)