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Medical
Ultrasound images a snap with a smartphone
By Darren Quick
23:56 April 27, 2009 PDT
Looks like smartphones are getting even smarter. We can already access our email, GPS navigate and use a wide range of business document formats, making them an integral part of a business person’s day. Now doctors might soon be packing a smartphone alongside their stethoscopes. Computer engineers at Washington University in St. Louis have coupled a smartphone with USB-based ultrasound probe technology to produce a mobile imaging device that fits in the palm of a hand. Read More
Ossur rolls-out next generation POWER KNEE
By David Greig
01:19 April 24, 2009 PDT
Earlier this week we looked at developments in low-cost prosthetics, but at the other end of the spectrum, advanced prosthetic devices like Ossur's recently announced second generation POWER KNEE are opening up new frontiers in the field. As the world’s first motor-powered artificially intelligent prosthesis for above the knee amputees, the POWER KNEE is designed to enable daily activities without having to think about movement. Something most of us take for granted. Read More
Gemalto launches innovative e-Health Terminal
By Mike Hanlon
23:02 April 14, 2009 PDT
Perhaps a glimpse of the near future of digital health care globally, Gemalto has commercially launched its Sealys e-health terminal, specially designed for the progressive German market, and a significant development on its previous GCR 550 health card reader. The new unit has been developed to incorporate the latest technological advances requested by German health professionals and includes access to the patient’s electronic medical file and emergency data such as blood group, allergies and ongoing treatment records. Doctors will also be able to issue electronic prescriptions that facilitate data exchange with pharmacists and reduce fraud, while eliminating paperwork. The Gemalto terminal offers optional connection of biometric and contactless devices, allowing doctors to sign e-prescriptions using their fingerprint or any contactless device. Read More
GlideCycle: giving back independence and mobility
By Karen Sprey
22:14 April 6, 2009 PDT
The GlideCycle offers a whole new world of mobility, independence and exercise to people of almost any age with disabilities and injuries. Looking a little like a bike, but with no pedals and a frame over the top of the body rather than underneath, the GlideCycle uses a suspended ergonomic saddle that holds the pelvis to support body weight so that the rider can walk, run or glide with no pressure on the crotch or perineum. It provides major cardio benefits with virtually zero impact, is easily mastered, comfortable and fun to use, quick to assemble – and it’s affordable. So what’s the catch? There isn’t one. Read More
Safer surgery using mussels and inket printers means no needle and thread
By Jamilah Le
03:50 March 25, 2009 PDT
You’ve probably never thought of mussels or inkjet printers having much to do with surgery, but Research by North Carolina State University is underway to create a medical adhesive based on these things which could replace traditional sutures. Mussels on rocks are near impossible to pry off by hand if you’ve ever tried (let’s face it, you have) due to their adhesive proteins that can bond them to stone underwater to resist the relentless surging of the sea. The researchers believe this mussel glue and a variation on an inkjet printer could “result in faster healing, less scarring and increased precision for exacting operations such as eye surgery.” Read More
Nano-antennas used to fight cancer
21:05 March 12, 2009 PDT
A PhD candidate from the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST) has pioneered some innovative new treatments in the emerging field of nanomedicine that could aid in the fight against cancer. Geoffrey von Maltzahn's polymer-coated gold ‘nano-antennas’ are designed to be injected into the bloodstream to target and destroy cancerous tumors. Read More
The Smart phone - Maxwell Smart that is
By David Greig
17:16 March 5, 2009 PST
The vision of Agent 86 mumbling into his shoe is one of the most endearing images from the slapstick 60s spy series Get Smart, but an Australian scientist who has built a working version of the shoe phone using 21st century technology sees serious applications for this kind of device in the medical field. Read More
Intellectual Freedom versus the feudal lords of medicine
By Mike Hanlon
15:38 February 23, 2009 PST
According to a paper published in the current issue of the journal Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics by its editor Giovanni A. Fava, the drug industry has full control of many scientific societies, journals and clinical practice guidelines. Members of special interest groups act as editors, reviewers and consultants to medical journals, scientific meetings and non-profit research organizations, with the task of systematically preventing the dissemination of data which may be in conflict with their interest. This censorship may be the result of direct prevention of publication and dissemination of findings by the pharmaceutical company itself, displaying its power as an advertiser in medical journals, a supporter of meetings and the owner of the data. Read More
SafetyMate provides first aid advice for new parents
By Jude Garvey
14:14 February 17, 2009 PST
The early days of a child’s life, whilst thrilling for parents, can also be very nerve-wracking with the most prevalent fear being the baby’s health. New parents may find that accessing accurate first-aid advice is difficult and time-consuming, which is where SafetyMate comes in - it's a clever talking first aid device that gives essential health advice at the touch of a button. Read More
Rebuilding the face: medicine meets engineering at the beginning of an industrial revolution
By Loz Blain
00:11 February 10, 2009 PST
February 10, 2009 Mass-production technology has revolutionized so much of modern life that we take it for granted - but early iterations of all technologies were hand-built, relying on the skills and intuition of master craftsmen for the effectiveness of each end product. It might surprise you to learn that in the field of facial reconstructive surgery, the vast majority of work is still being done in a pre-industrial revolution fashion - and results for patients who present with horribly disfiguring facial tumors or bone injuries are as varied and inconsistent as the human hands that do the work. Dr. Ninian Peckitt, originally from the UK, has pioneered a truly revolutionary "Engineering Assisted Surgery" approach that uses advanced CT-to-CAD modeling, rapid stereolithographic prototyping, pinpoint CAD design, electron beam melting (EBM) mass-production and error-eliminating surgical procedures. The results are absolutely stunning. Patients that would normally require traumatic 20-hour operations involving complicated, imprecise and ugly bone grafts are being fitted with incredibly precise, long-lasting titanium facial inserts so effective that once surgical scars fade you'd never know they had a facial injury. Surgery is simple and can often be completed in an hour or two using techniques that eliminate human errors - and the entire procedure comes in at a fraction of the price. Peckitt's work is amazing - but if powerful lobbies in the medical fraternity have their way, it may cost him his career. Read More
4D technique promises new insights into brain function
By Darren Quick
19:14 January 22, 2009 PST
January 23, 2009 It’s kind of ironic that the very organ that gives us our intelligence and understanding of the world around us is also the one we understand the least. Now a novel 4D colorimetric technique developed by researchers at Florida Atlantic University, (FAU), that simultaneously maps four dimensions of brain data, (magnitude, 2D of cortical surface and time), in EEG signals could dramatically change the way neuroscientists are able to understand how the brain operates. The technique makes it possible to observe and interpret oscillatory activity of the entire brain as it evolves in time, millisecond by millisecond, so that for the first time, true episodes of brain coordination can be spotted directly in EEG records and carefully analyzed. Read More
Wound care management camera in testing
By Emily Clark
19:44 December 4, 2008 PST
IP2Biz has released details of a new camera that determines and captures wound boundaries and wound area using proprietary software and low-cost hardware. A prototype of the hand-held device is currently being tested by wound specialty nurses at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Read More
Side sleeping pillow reduces snoring
By Emily Clark
22:11 November 6, 2008 PST
The Side Solution Pillow from AbsolutelyNew offers relief for the more than 50 percent of the adult population that sleep on their sides. The unique shape is designed to cradle the entire neck, head and shoulders to reduce stiffness and promote better circulation in the arms as well as helping prevent snoring and mild sleep apnea. Read More
A purple tomato a day keeps the oncologist away
By Darren Quick
20:40 October 27, 2008 PDT
It seems purple might just be your new favorite color if you’re interested in staving off cancer. British scientists are reporting in the journal Nature Biotechnology that they have genetically engineered a purple tomato that significantly extended the life of cancer-prone mice. The purple coloring is due to a class of pigments called anthocyanins, which are found in high concentrations in blackberries and blueberries and and have been associated with protection against a broad range of human diseases. Read More
Smart fabrics and the future of healthcare
By Kyle Sherer
22:56 October 22, 2008 PDT
You don’t often hear fashion mentioned in the same sentence as cutting edge medical technology (unless you watch Grey’s Anatomy), but shirts that double as health monitors are just one type of garment under consideration in the emerging smart fabrics industry, a market that is estimated to be worth over €300 million, with a growth rate of roughly 20% per year. Read More
LifeVillage modular housing solution for remote communities
By Emily Clark
22:10 September 28, 2008 PDT
Designed to address the problem of access to critical utilities in remote areas and developing nations that lack the necessary infrastructure, Envision Solar's modular self-contained LifeVillage integrates clean power and water treatment into buildings and communities, no matter what the location. Read More
Sidelined 1950s mountain-climbing technology resurrected to help patients
By Kyle Sherer
18:39 September 23, 2008 PDT
in order to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Smiths Medical and University College London have resurrected the sidelined closed-circuit breathing system designed for a failed Everest expedition over 50 years ago. Closed-circuit devices, (also known as rebreathers), create a seal over the user’s mouth, retaining the exhaled air, scrubbing it of carbon dioxide, and allowing the user to inhale it again. Read More
World’s first pure merino baby swaddle
By Jude Garvey
19:15 September 22, 2008 PDT
The Cocooi baby swaddle is made from super-fine, unbleached merino fabric which has the ability to regulate a newborn baby’s body temperature, therefore reducing the risk of overheating. The merino fibers used in the Cocooi are extremely fine (just one-tenth the thickness of human hair) and their natural crimp produces millions of pockets in the fabric in which air is captured and circulated. Read More
Create the Future Design Contest: re-thinking the wheel
22:09 September 18, 2008 PDT
The NASA Tech Briefs Create the Future Design Contest began in 2002 as a platform for encouraging innovation in product design among engineers, entrepreneurs, and students around the globe. The 2008 competition is open until October 17, but already this year's entries have produced some very thought provoking product ideas and we'll be exploring some of the standouts in detail over coming weeks. The first cab off the rank is an attempt, in fact two attempts, to do what else but reinvent the wheel. German student Caspar Schmitz has designed a castor with an additional axis that could see your shopping trolleys glide over bumps instead of grinding to an abrupt halt. Also in Caspar's portfolio is the transformable wheel chair, an application of "the transformable wheel", a concept which allows a wheel made of flexible plastic to take on an ellipsoid shape when circumstances require a lower center-of-gravity. Read More
Grobag's Egg digital room thermometer
By Jude Garvey
04:19 August 5, 2008 PDT
The Grobag egg is a digital room thermometer with a difference. The egg-shaped unit changes color if the room temperature changes from the recommended guidelines of between 61-67°F (16-20°C) and it also has a clear digital readout which gives the exact temperature of baby’s room. If the room is at the right temperature, the egg will glow yellow but as soon as the conditions change the egg changes color. Read More
Medical hydrogel can replace damaged cartilage
By Kyle Sherer
00:36 July 21, 2008 PDT
The University of Bradford, together with spin-out Advanced Gel Technology, is developing a cartilage repair gel that could delay the need for invasive surgery for five years or more. The hydrogel, which is not yet ready for clinical trials, is intended for traumatic injuries, including those sustained in car collisions or sports. Read More
Self-powered knee sensor for surgery
By Emily Clark
20:52 July 2, 2008 PDT
A researcher at the University of Southampton in the UK has developed a new self-powered sensor that would allow surgeons to monitor progress during knee operations. The Serial In-vivo Transducer (SIT) uses thick film technology and could measure tendon force during Anterior Cruciate Ligament reconstruction; a common procedure among athletes. Read More
400th robotic-assisted heart surgery
By Emily Clark
01:03 June 24, 2008 PDT
The rise of robotic surgery has marked a new age in medical science and one of its pioneers has just reached a major milestone. Dr. W. Randolph Chitwood, Jr. has performed his 400th robotic-assisted mitral valve repair at Pitt County Memorial Hospital. Read More
Optiscan's Endomicroscope speeds up the fight against cancer
By Loz Blain
16:54 June 23, 2008 PDT
June 24, 2008 In order to view cells at a high enough magnification to identify cancerous and pre-cancerous growths, doctors currently have to perform biopsy surgery - the invasive removal of cells so they can be examined in a laboratory. But a new Australian endoscope technology is about to remove the need for a biopsy altogether by offering doctors the ability to examine tissue at single-cell and sub-cellular magnification levels as the camera moves through the body. Optiscan's miniature endomicroscope offers up to 1000x magnification as opposed to the 40x magnification of traditional endoscopes, and will greatly speed up the detection and diagnosis of cancerous cells. Read More
JORDY head-worn magnifier
By Emily Clark
23:58 June 11, 2008 PDT
The JORDY (Joint Optical Reflective Display) advanced head-worn magnifier from Enhanced Vision assists those with low vision to see objects at a distance, offering up to 30X magnification with auto-focus capabilities. Read More
Sam Munro
- November 26, 2009 @ 08:08 UTC
