Anemia is properly diagnosed using a blood test that measures hemoglobin, but simply looking behind a patient’s eyelid can be a pretty good alternative if you know how red the tissue is supposed to be. Now, a team at Purdue University has developed a technology that lets a clinician use smartphone pictures of the inner […]
Tag: Public Health
SafeDistance Device to Help Return to Normal
As people are starting to return to work, school, and a more normal way of life during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, distancing will remain important for the foreseeable future. Companies, governments, and all kinds of organizations are developing, or already implementing, policies and procedures to help prevent new outbreaks of the disease. Lopos (Read more...)
Philips Ultrasounds Cleared in U.S. to Manage COVID Complications
The FDA has granted Philips 510(k) clearance for its ultrasound systems to be used to address lung and cardiac complications that arise in COVID-19 patients. The clearance encompasses the firm’s EPIQ series, Affiniti series, Lumify, CX50 and Sparq diagnostic ultrasounds, and for offerings such as the QLAB Advanced Quantification Software. Ult (Read more...)
Reusable Textiles to Repel Viruses
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have developed a coating that can be used to create textiles that repel viruses, along with bodily fluids such as saliva and blood. Interestingly, the coated textiles are reusable, and can be washed and scrubbed repeatedly without losing their virus-repelling properties. These characteristics may make the (Read more...)
AiRTouch Portable X-Ray Receives FDA Clearance, Can Be Used for COVID Diagnosis
Aspenstate announced that it has received FDA clearance for the AiRTouch, a lightweight portable X-ray system that could be particularly useful for quickly obtaining chest X-rays of COVID-19 patients. The handheld device weighs in at 5.5 pounds (2.5 Kg) and resembles a large digital camera with a touchscreen. AiRTouch acquires images with the (Read more...)
Cleanbox Uses UVC to Decontaminate 100 Surgical Masks Per Hour
In the era of COVID-19, surgical masks are a necessity for all healthcare workers and an effective way to curtail the spread of the virus within the general public. Since surgical masks are still in relatively short supply, companies and researchers have been working on ways to make available masks last longer. Cleanbox Technology, based […]
(Read more...)A Multinational Effort to Reduce Neonatal Mortality: Interview with Dr. Maria Oden, Co-director of Rice 360° Institute for Global Health
According to the World Health Organization, 47% of childhood deaths worldwide occur in the first four weeks of life. This neonatal mortality rate is particularly prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa, where nearly one million newborns die every year. Many of these deaths can be prevented with medical devices that more developed countries often take for g (Read more...)
BioButton to Help Track COVID, Ensure Safe Return to Work
BioIntelliSense, a Silicon Valley company, is unveiling its FDA cleared BioButton device that may help with tracking symptoms of COVID-19 in potential patients and help society return to a normal state of affairs. The BioButton is about the size of a large coin and, with the help of accompanying applications and triage dashboards, it can […]
(Read more...)Stanford Bioengineers Innovate Multiple Solutions to Tackle COVID-19
The current pandemic is revealing the level of commitment needed from multiple sectors to deliver innovative solutions to tackle severe shortages of personal protective equipment, ventilators, and raw materials. Researchers at the Prakash lab at Stanford University are no stranger to taking up extreme challenges, and they have kept up their reputat (Read more...)
Flexible Throat Sensor Powered by AI to Track COVID-19 Symptoms
As COVID-19 continues to infect more people around the world, there are still few reliable ways to spot the early onset of the disease and to monitor its symptoms in detail, particularly at a distance and while patients are at home. Now, researchers at Northwestern University have partnered with the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab (formerly Rehabilitation (Read more...)
Technique to Reprocess N95 Masks Safely Up To 20 Times Each
Only recently, the Barnes-Jewish hospital in St. Louis, Missouri had only one week’s supply of N95 masks and no expectation for replenishment due to international shortages. To overcome this challenge, it collaborated with the Washington University School of Medicine to implement a method to disinfect and reuse N95 masks up to 20 times each. (Read more...)
University of Alberta and Local Non-Profit Develop Respirator Similar to N95
Since the spread of COVID-19, medical face masks and N95 respirators have become very sought-after commodities. Unfortunately, they are also in short supply, pushing companies and researchers to develop alternative devices to filter out airborne particles. ACAMP, a non-profit organization in Alberta, Canada, collaborated with the University of Albe (Read more...)
Sensitive 10 Minute Antibody Test for SARS-CoV-2 Developed
A team of researchers at the Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China, and collaborators report development of a rapid diagnostic assay for detection of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in human blood. They report accurate detection with patient samples, with only 10 minutes to get a readout per blood sample. The new method is a lateral flow assay, much (Read more...)
Adding Voice to Respiratory and Cardiovascular Disease Diagnosis: Interview with Prof. Elad Maor
The field of telehealth is growing thanks to the steady growth in supportive technology and the need for remote monitoring, assessment, diagnosis, and testing. Voice is unique to every individual due to people’s anatomical differences, which makes for a powerful tool when working remotely. Vocalis Health is a company that uses machine learnin (Read more...)
Smart, Low Cost Ventilator Tunes to Patient’s Own Breathing
Because of the common expectation that ventilators would be in dire shortage during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, many teams around the world have developed simple ventilators that utilize bag valve masks (AmbuBags) to pump air in and out of the lungs. Most of these do not provide nuanced control of ventilation settings such as the […]
Graphene Biosensor Developed for Rapid COVD-19 Testing
Researchers at the Korea Basic Science Institute, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology, and collaborators have published an article on the development of graphene-based test for SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19, from nasopharyngeal swabs. They have determined it can detect SARS-CoV-2 in clinical samples at a concentration of 242 co (Read more...)
MOLEKULE Unveils Air Pro Rx Medical Air Filter to Protect Hospitals During COVID Pandemic
Molekule, a company based in San Francisco, is releasing its brand new Air Pro Rx air purifier. The system has been cleared by the FDA as a 510(k) Class II medical device. Designed to purify clinical environments, such as operating rooms, ICUs, and emergency departments larger than 600 square feet (55 square meters), it oxidizes […]
11 Health’s Free Virtual Support Platform for Chronic Digestive Disease Patients During COVID Pandemic: Interview with Michael Seres, Founder and CEO
11 Health, a medtech company based in the UK and California, has offered 12 weeks of free access to the Alfred SmartCare Platform, which allows for virtual peer and nursing support for patients with severe chronic digestive disorders, such as inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn’s disease, and colorectal cancer. The offer is the company’s (Read more...)
Smartphone Attachment to Detect Those Infected with Viruses, Bacteria in Minutes
As the current COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage, there is movement toward restarting life under a “new normal”. The virus may be with us for a long time, but widespread, rapid, and accurate testing may be a way forward. Knowing which individuals have to quarantine themselves and which are free of the virus would go […]
Lungpacer Diaphragm Pacer Gets FDA Emergency Use Authorization for COVID-19
Lungpacer Medical, based in Vancouver, Canada, announced that its Diaphragm Pacing Therapy (DPT) System received FDA Emergency Use Authorization for use in weaning COVID-19 patients off of ventilators. Patients on prolonged mechanical ventilation may experience diaphragm disuse atrophy and ventilator-induced diaphragmatic dysfunction (VIDD), which (Read more...)