Medical
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
Reliable, accurate motion control is critical in large patient scanners
October 3, 2012 1:49 pm | by Art Gaines of Artec Imaging and Don Labriola of QuickSilver Controls | Articles | CommentsIt takes a strong and sophisticated device to position a patient for a CT scan, but what if that patient has four legs, a long neck, a tail and weighs well over 1,000 pounds? In the world of equine healthcare, getting a large horse into position for accurate imaging is a heavy-duty effort that requires a scanning table that up for the challenge.
High-powered medical devices present power-supply design challenges
October 3, 2012 12:41 pm | by Frank Rene, Protek Power, www.protekpowerna.com | Articles | CommentsThe medical industry prides itself on designing leading edge medical electronic devices capable of offering solutions where, historically, electronic devices have not previously been available for use. For example, mechanical/chemical devices are now being replaced by electrical/mechanical/chemical devices...
Power supplies are 80 PLUS and EN/UL/IEC 60601-1 3rd Edition Certified
October 3, 2012 10:41 am | Product Releases | CommentsTumbler Technologies + TRUMPower offers its TMPC 1U Series of 250-W to 350-W AC/DC medical grade PC power supplies with 1.59” low profile. The units are approved to the 3rd edition of EN 60601-1, UL 60601-1, and IEC 60601-1 medical standards, which includes risk management and are also approved to
Acoustic cell-sorting chip may lead to cell phone-sized medical labs
October 3, 2012 9:01 am | by Eurekalert! | News | CommentsA technique that uses acoustic waves to sort cells on a chip may create miniature medical analytic devices that could make Star Trek's tricorder seem a bit bulky in comparison, according to a team of researchers. The device uses two beams of acoustic -- or sound -- waves to act as acoustic tweezers and sort a continuous flow of cells on a dime-sized chip, said Tony Jun Huang,
Innovative new defibrillator offers alternative for regulating heart beat
October 3, 2012 9:00 am | News | CommentsA new ground-breaking technology was recently used at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI) where two cardiologists, Dr. David Birnie and Dr. Pablo Nery, implanted a new innovative leadless defibrillator, the subcutaneous implantable cardioverter defibrillator (S-ICD), to a 18 year-old patient. Under Health Canada's special access program,
Sony-Olympus Alliance Aims For High-Tech Surgery
October 2, 2012 3:23 pm | News | CommentsSony's new alliance with scandal-tarnished Olympus will focus on producing endoscopes and other surgical tools packed with the Japanese electronic maker's three-dimensional imaging and super-clear "4K" display technologies. Sony Corp. President Kazuo Hirai said it's not clear when the alliance's first products will become available.
Medical device software: Why is it in critical condition?
October 2, 2012 1:42 pm | by Jim McElroy, LDRA | Articles | CommentsWhen it comes to medical devices, manufacturers face conflicting demands. Devices need to provide the expected performance. They need to be quick to market and cost effective. Above all, however, when human health and safety are at stake, they need to be reliable.
10 must-see posts from September
October 1, 2012 12:28 pm | by The ECN Editors | Articles | CommentsHere’s a rundown of the most read, most popular, most awesome articles for September. They all come with a witty, engaging summary just in case you missed them the first time or want to check up on an old favorite. Keep checking out the Lead and follow us on twitter @ecnmagazine for our most up-to-date articles.
Probing the mysteries of cracks and stresses
October 1, 2012 9:01 am | by Eurekalert! | News | CommentsDiving into a pool from a few feet up allows you to enter the water smoothly and painlessly, but jumping from a bridge can lead to a fatal impact. The water is the same in each case, so why is the effect of hitting its surface so different? This seemingly basic question is at the heart of complex research by a team
