Medical radioisotopes are widely used in cancer treatment, but their production has been hampered to the point that obtaining them has become a challenge. The lack of Technetium-99m is probably the most widely known, but there’s also a shortage of Iodine-131 (I-131), a radioisotope commonly used for diagnosing and treating thyroid condit (Read more...)
Tag: Public Health
myLAB Box STI at-home Test Kits. Interview with Lora Ivanova, Co-Founder and CEO at myLAB Box
myLAB Box, a healthcare company based in California, has developed and pioneered an at-home sexually transmitted disease (STD) testing service. With the number of STDs rising, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that nearly 20 million new STDs occur annually in the US, and half of these are in people aged 15 to […]
Philips and Augusta University Partner to Improve Patient Care: Interview with Philips CMO
A few months ago, we heard about how Philips and Augusta University Health are working together in a long-term partnership for the co-development of clinical solutions such as a hybrid operating room. To learn more about the partnership as well as the unique, hybrid operating room into which multiple technologies and procedures have been combined,& (Read more...)
Medgadget Joins the Verily Baseline Project Study, Part 3: Onward to Year Two!
This is the third of a multi-part series about Medgadget editor Scott Jung joining the Verily Baseline Project Study. Click to read the first and second parts. Last April, Verily Life Sciences, a division of Alphabet, launched the Baseline Project Study, a landmark four year, multi-site study of 10,000 individuals all over the United Stat (Read more...)
Demystifying Blockchain Technology in Healthcare: Interview with Nicholson Center CTO Dr. Roger Smith
Continuing our series of conversations with healthcare thought leaders about the burgeoning world of blockchain technologies, Medgadget spoke with Chief Technology Officer of the Nicholson Center, Dr. Roger Smith. The Nicholson Center is a medical research and training center founded in 2001, which operates within the Florida Hospital network. (Read more...)
Pervasive ECG: Integrating Body Sensors Into Everyday Things (Interview)
Wearable devices with body sensors have been seen by many as a way to get the general public to be better aware of their overall health. It’s a nice idea, but it still requires people to remember to wear their devices, to check up on the readings via the smartphone, and to recharge the devices […]
Bucknell Students Design Device to Evaluate Patients’ Ability to Drive
In America and many other countries, driving is a part of life without which many things are impossible to do. Following injuries to the legs and feet, patients hope to recover their ability to drive more than just about anything else. The problem is that physicians don’t have objective methods to judge how well someone […]
MedAware Uses AI to Detect Potential Medication Errors: Interview with Dr. Gidi Stein, CEO
Medical errors are the third-leading cause of death in the US and they are probably the most common and preventable. MedAware, an Israeli company, is using the power of artificial intelligence to detect potential errors before they happen. The company was started by Dr. Gidi Stein, MD, PhD, who had spent several years in the […]
Glow-In-The-Dark Paper Test Rapidly Detects Infectious Diseases
Researchers at Eindhoven University of Technology in The Netherlands and Keio University in Japan have developed a paper-based diagnostic test, which can be used to rapidly and inexpensively test for a variety of infectious diseases. A clinician can apply a drop of blood to the paper strip and detect the color of the emitted light […]
A SMART Idea: Point-of-Care Diagnostic for Sickle Cell Disease and Malaria (Interview)
Sickle cell disease and malaria are perhaps the biggest public health challenges in many parts of Africa. Countless organizations are tackling these two diseases, but quantifying and tracking disease burden remains tough. The team behind SMART (Sickle Cell and Malaria Accurate Remote Testing) hopes that they can help. SMART is a point-of-care test (Read more...)
A SMART Idea: Point-of-Care Diagnostic for Sickle Cell Disease and Malaria (Interview)
Sickle cell disease and malaria are perhaps the biggest public health challenges in many parts of Africa. Countless organizations are tackling these two diseases, but quantifying and tracking disease burden remains tough. The team behind SMART (Sickle Cell and Malaria Accurate Remote Testing) hopes that they can help. SMART is a point-of-care test (Read more...)
Mobile Clinics for Disaster Zones and Low Resource Communities: Interview with CEO of World Housing Solution
World Housing Solution, based in Florida, specializes in rapidly deployable buildings. Recently, they have focused on providing fully-equipped mobile clinics that can be fabricated and installed very quickly in disaster zones. The clinics are conceived as serving patients who can’t reach a hospital or medical facility. So far, the company has (Read more...)
Smartphone App and Portable Lab Kit Can Rapidly Detect Pathogenic Bacteria
Researchers at UC Santa Barbara have developed a point-of-care diagnostic kit that can detect pathogenic bacteria in patient samples in as little as one hour. The technology is inexpensive and portable. It consists of a small box of basic lab equipment and a smartphone, that can achieve sensitive and specific identification of a variety of [&hellip (Read more...)
Modernizing Hospital Drug Management: Interview with Kit Check’s CEO, Kevin MacDonald
Inventory management grows increasingly difficult as a business or institution grows larger. Often, it is viewed as a purely economic problem – better management of inventory (location, expiry dates, etc…) results in better savings for a business. However, hospitals have a particular obligation towards excellent management of their inv (Read more...)
Simulator Evaluates Effect of High-Field MRI on Breast Tissues
MRI machines used in hospitals today are generally limited to having magnetic fields no stronger than 3 Tesla. This is partially because a higher resonant magnetic field can, in certain cases, heat up living tissues and cause permanent damage. But, knowing whether patients would really suffer inside powerful MRI machines has remained a challenge. N (Read more...)
Welkin Health Launches Workshop for Patient Program Customization
Many patient programs require technology businesses and startups to deploy complex workflows for healthcare organizations, which can vary all the way down to the patient level. Scaling these programs can require significant effort and cost, not to mention increased reliance on the technology provider to accurately translate a healthcare organizatio (Read more...)
Scientists See At-Home Biohacking as Future of Medicine
The cost and regulatory environment in which drugs are currently created lead to a number of difficulties for patients, providers, and drug manufacturers. Clearances and approvals, patents, and terms of use agreements, among other things, have forced some patients to turn to “biohacking” their own medical care. Researchers at Colorado S (Read more...)
Simple Musical Instrument to Catch Fake Medicine
Counterfeit drugs is a major global health problem, particularly in poorer areas of the world. While regulatory schemes, expensive equipment, and constant vigilance keep the drug supply mostly pure in developed nations, in many places pharmacists and even patients have to manage for themselves to make sure that drugs are what they say they are. [&h (Read more...)
Software Monitors Social Media to Help Coordinate Emergency Response
Now that another hurricane is approaching the Atlantic coast of the United States, social media sites such as Twitter will be full of reports about what’s going on on the ground. This is useful information for emergency management teams that are working on coordinating where to direct resources, but the flow of this information can […]
(Read more...)Winnebago Unveils All-Electric CT Lung Screening Truck
Winnebago, the famous maker of motorhomes, campers, and other recreational vehicles, has partnered with Samsung‘s health division and Motiv Power Systems, a California-based manufacturer of electric motors for cars and trucks, to create a fully electric mobile lung screening unit. Inside the quiet and environmentally friendly truck is a& (Read more...)