Medical
Selecting Hall-effect sensors for brushless DC motors
October 29, 2012 12:00 am | by Josh Edberg, Honeywell Sensing and Control, sensing.honeywell.com | Articles | CommentsBrushless DC (BLDC) motors need to operate more efficiently as energy and cost savings become bigger concerns for designers of electronic devices. One way to help ensure greater efficiency is by selecting the correct bipolar latching Hall-effect sensor IC for electronic commutation in BLDC motors.
ZOLL establishes Japanese subsidiary
October 24, 2012 12:19 pm | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsZOLL Medical Corporation, a manufacturer of medical devices and related software solutions and a wholly owned U.S. subsidiary of Asahi Kasei, has established Asahi Kasei ZOLL Medical Corporation (AZM) as its Japanese subsidiary effective November 5. AZM will advance the expansion and development...
Is a pacemaker capable of mass murder?
October 24, 2012 9:05 am | by Kasey Panetta, Associate Editor | Articles | CommentsWhen you are a patient in a hospital, you tend to expect that the electronics are either top of the line or at least functioning correctly. You expect that the devices doctors implant in your body are reliable and safe. These seem like safe assumptions. Unfortunately, you could be mistaken.
November 2012: Power
October 23, 2012 4:03 pm | Digital Editions | CommentsThe November issue of ECN focuses on the power application area. Executive Editor Chris Warner discusses net neutrality, Jon Titus presents his annual Kits for Kids column, and the Brainstorm Q&A section asks “What is the most significant challenge in the miniaturization of medical devices?”
Compact serial device server offers ease-of-use and flexibility for M2M connectivity
October 23, 2012 2:01 pm | Product Releases | CommentsLantronix announced the launch of its new xDirect device server -- a compact serial-to-Ethernet device server that provides quick and easy connectivity to virtually any device or machine with a serial interface. With plug-and-play simplicity and a small form factor, xDirect is suitable for a variety of markets from security to industrial automation to medical and more.
Letter From the Publisher: It’s Time to Grow Again
October 23, 2012 12:02 pm | by Nick Pinto, Group Publisher | Articles | CommentsWith the recent downturn in the global economy, countries throughout the world have struggled to celebrate growth opportunities within their various industrial sectors. The medical device market has not been immune to the downturn, but has been able to persevere better than most industries.
Scientists build 'mechanically active' DNA material
October 23, 2012 9:09 am | by Eurekalert! | News | CommentsArtificial muscles and self-propelled goo may be the stuff of Hollywood fiction, but for UC Santa Barbara scientists Omar Saleh and Deborah Fygenson, the reality of it is not that far away. By blending their areas of expertise, the pair have created a dynamic gel made of DNA that mechanically responds
Japan’s first MR-conditional pacemaker system
October 19, 2012 11:38 am | by Medtronic | News | CommentsMedtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT), today announced the Japanese regulatory approval and launch of the Advisa DR MRI™ SureScan™ pacing system. The Advisa MRI system is the first and only MR-Conditional pacemaker available to patients in Japan, the world’s second largest market for medical devices.
First-of-its-kind self-assembled nanoparticle for targeted and triggered thermo-chemotherapy
October 19, 2012 9:29 am | by Eurekalert! | News | CommentsExcitement around the potential for targeted nanoparticles (NPs) that can be controlled by stimulus outside of the body for cancer therapy has been growing over the past few years. More specifically, there has been considerable attention around near-infrared (NIR) light as an ideal method to stimulate nanoparticles
Could this "shocking" technology save 12 billion dollars a year?
October 19, 2012 9:20 am | by Kasey Panetta, Associate Editor | News | CommentsOne of the biggest challenges in immobile patients is bedsores. Because patients usually end up laying in a bed or sitting in a wheelchair, a lot of pressure is exerted on the skin and tissue over bony areas of the body like the heel, ankle, hips, or buttocks. That unrelenting pressure can often result in bedsores, a difficult- to- treat condition.
Could NASA help paraplegics walk?
October 18, 2012 9:37 am | by Kasey Panetta, Associate Editor | Articles | CommentsNASA has been known to make pretty large contributions to society. But they might have outdone themselves on this one. The agency is currently in the research and development phase for a powered armor suit that could one day allow paraplegics to walk. The suit, called X1, is a robotic exoskeleton designed to be worn over the body to assist in leg movements.
Doctors who go digital provide higher quality healthcare
October 18, 2012 8:46 am | by Eurekalert! | News | CommentsThe use of electronic health records is linked to significantly higher quality care, according to a new study¹ by Lisa Kern and her team, from the Health Information Technology Evaluation Collaborative in the US. Their work appears online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine², published by Springer.
Actionable alarm or crying wolf? Johns Hopkins safety team honored for reducing clinical alarms
October 16, 2012 9:25 am | by eurekalert! | News | CommentsAn independent, nonprofit institute that conducts research about and assesses best practices in patient safety and quality has given one of its premier awards to a group of Johns Hopkins nurses, physicians and engineers that significantly reduced the number of distracting, non-critical bedside alarms
Configurable CAD models designed for DC brush motors
October 15, 2012 4:44 pm | 3M Electronics Solutions Division | Product Releases | CommentsPITTMAN Motors has introduced configurable DC motor 3D model downloads. The 3D model system is an online system through the PITTMAN website (www.Pittman-Motors.com) that allows an engineer to fully configure a DC brush motor with a wide variety of optional components such as planetary and spur gearboxes, brakes, and encoders.
How to solve the problem of excessive leakage current in the healthcare industry
October 11, 2012 12:52 pm | by Lennart Elmlund, Director of Marketing, Bridgeport Magnetics Group | Articles | CommentsThe 2012 Edition of NFPA 99 Healthcare Facilities Code reflects the new format of using a risk-based approach for determining the level of protection. An example is the definition of wet locations. The new code, in absence of any government regulations, gives the responsibility to the governing body of the healthcare organization to designate wet procedure locations.
Improving nanometer-scale manufacturing with infrared spectroscopy
October 11, 2012 9:03 am | by Eurekalert! | News | CommentsOne of the key achievements of the nanotechnology era is the development of manufacturing technologies that can fabricate nanostructures formed from multiple materials. Such nanometer-scale integration of composite materials has enabled innovations in electronic devices, solar cells, and medical diagnostics.
Bioethics panel urges more gene privacy protection
October 11, 2012 8:57 am | by LAURAN NEERGAARD AP Medical Writer | News | CommentsIt sounds like a scene from a TV show: Someone sends a discarded coffee cup to a laboratory where the unwitting drinker's DNA is decoded, predicting what diseases lurk in his or her future.A presidential commission found that's legally possible in about half the states -and says new protections to ensure the privacy of people's genetic
What equipment do you need to skydive from 120,000 feet?
October 11, 2012 8:54 am | by Kasey Panetta, Associate Editor | Articles | CommentsBy this point, you’ve probably heard that Felix Baumgartner is planning to skydive from 120,000 feet above the earth. For the record, that’s about 23 miles from solid ground. The jump was originally supposed to happen on October 9, but because of 14 mph wind speeds—they needed speeds of less than 2 mph to jump safely
Researchers develop advanced computer to manage hospital emergencies
October 10, 2012 11:50 am | by EurekAlert! | News | CommentsResearchers have developed an advanced computer simulator to help in decision-making processes (DSS, or decision support system) which could aid emergency service units in their operations management. The model was designed based on real data, using modelling and simulation techniques adapted to each individual.
USC develops software to facilitate large-scale biological inquiry
October 9, 2012 4:52 pm | by EurekAlert! | News | CommentsThe world's leading mass spectrometer manufacturers have agreed to license technology that enabled University of Southern California researchers to develop software that, for the first time, allows scientists to easily use and share research data collected across proprietary platforms...
Nobel Laureate Yamanaka Warns of Rogue "Stemcell Therapies"
October 9, 2012 8:38 am | by Tan Ee Lyn, Reuters | News | CommentsNobel laureate Shinya Yamanaka warned patients on Tuesday about unproven "stem cell therapies" offered at clinics and hospitals in a growing number of countries, saying they were highly risky. The Internet is full of advertisements touting stem cell cures for just about any disease...
Capnography for the masses
October 8, 2012 9:20 am | by Jeff Shiner, Sales and Business Development Manager at Spansion | Articles | CommentsAlmost every patient who enters a hospital can benefit from capnography. It’s a technology that has enabled better patient care through consistent monitoring, with measurement of carbon dioxide output, and feedback on ventilation, metabolism and circulation. Industry recognition of capnography is causing it to spread rapidly throughout the medical world.
Computerized osteoporosis detection
October 5, 2012 4:44 pm | by EurekAlert! | News | CommentsA computerized approach to examining patient bone X-rays for diagnosis of osteoporosis could side-step the subjectivity associated with visual examination, allowing for much earlier diagnosis to be made, therefore giving patients the opportunity to be treated more successfully.
Artificial cornea gives the gift of vision
October 5, 2012 8:42 am | by Eurekalert! | News | CommentsOur eyes are our window to the world. Thousands of people have lost their eyesight due to damages to the cornea, such as trauma, absent limbal stem cells or diseases. Transplantation of a donor cornea is the therapy of choice for a great number of those patients. Let alone the issue of scarce donor material,
Rapid gene machines used to find cause of newborn illnesses
October 4, 2012 8:40 am | by Julie Steenhuysen, Reuters | News | CommentsU.S. scientists have sequenced the entire genetic code of four gravely ill newborns and identified genetic diseases in three of them in two days, quick enough to help doctors make treatment decisions.Doctors behind the preliminary study released on Wednesday say it demonstrates a practical use
