Archives: 10/2005

Geriatrics / Orthopedic Surgery / Rehab

Electric Kenguru for the Disabled

by editors on Oct 13, 2005 • 9:32 am

wheelchaircar Electric Kenguru for the DisabledA few months ago we reported on fashionable hearing aids featured at INDEX Awards. Now The Cool Hunter brings us a story of really cool wheels for the disabled by Hungarian company Rehab Rt.

Designed in Hungary, the Kenguru is a car specially designed for wheelchair users. The car’s interior space has no front seat–just a space built to house the driver’s own wheelchair so all he/she has to do is simply roll in through the extra large car doors and into position. The wheelchair locks into place, within easy reach of the car’s controls which are centred around a joystick. It’s light years away from the current options for disabled drivers, which involve having to hoist themselves into the driver’s seat of standard cars…

In the concept of a “vehicle in vehicle” we focused on the function. We constructed the model to surround the user sitting in a manual wheelchair, than added ergonomic operating and functional units. We used soft lines on the outside. The inside space is friendly, controlling and operating units can be reached easily. The driver feels secure even in city traffic, furthermore he drives an attractive “car”, said designer Zsolt Varga.

Find out more at INDEX Awards…
You can also try manufacturer’s web site…

GI

The Third Generation PillCam™ SB Launched

by Gene Ostrovsky on Oct 13, 2005 • 4:36 am

pillcam side The Third Generation PillCam™ SB Launched
Back in January, we reported that Given Imaging, a manufacturer of PillCam™ capsule endoscope, was working on incorporating an enhanced CMOS image sensor from Micron into its future products. Well, the result is here: Given Imaging to Launch Advanced PillCam™ SB Video Capsule.

Doubling the frame rate from two to four frames (images) per second, the new PillCam SB will offer enhanced viewing capacity while increasing the capsule’s operational time from eight to nine hours and incorporate new optical and image sensor technology to provide superior image quality. Coupled with Given Imaging’s latest RAPID software platform, the new PillCam SB capsule is designed to provide the physician with more detailed and extensive information to improve diagnostic efficacy as well as user friendliness and efficiency. Micron’s complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensors and Zarlink’s ultra low-power RF (radio frequency) transmitter chips are used in Given’s PillCam SB video capsule and PillCam™ ESO for imaging the esophagus as well as the future PillCam COLON, which is currently in clinical trials…
“Micron’s Digital Clarity™ CMOS sensors have set a standard for imaging excellence,” stated Bob Gove, Vice President of Imaging for Micron Technology, Inc. “Through our close collaboration with Given, we are enabling the PillCam SB to take yet another step forward in disposable medical imaging.”

More at Given Imaging…

OTC

CPR Anytime™ for Family and Friends

by Gene Ostrovsky on Oct 13, 2005 • 3:24 am

195508687 CPR Anytime™ for Family and Friends
The American Heart Association has unveiled yesterday a “revolutionary self-directed CPR learning program”, designed for the entire family. From the press release:

The American Heart Association created a simple, affordable way for people to learn CPR in less than 25 minutes, for under $30–CPR Anytime™ for Family and Friends. Everything needed to complete this self-directed CPR training comes in one kit, which can be used in the convenience of the living room or family room. A single kit allows an entire family to learn CPR. The kit includes a one-of-a-kind CPR manikin, 22-minute DVD and resource booklet.
1956644423 CPR Anytime™ for Family and FriendsThe CPR Anytime manikin is an inflatable version of the traditional CPR manikin, designed exclusively for CPR Anytime for Family and Friends by Laerdal Medical Corporation. An instructional DVD walks users through each step of the training, from inflating the manikin, to doing chest compressions and rescue breathing. The CPR Anytime for Family and Friends program allows users to keep the kit, so it can be used in a variety of training settings–from community group meetings with multiple trainees to families and individuals at home. The American Heart Association’s goal is for each person who receives a kit to take it home and share it with other family members, increasing the number of potential rescuers. The kit also allows families to refresh their skills whenever they can.

CPR Anytime™ for Family and Friends homepage
The press release (.pdf)…
(hat tip: Medpundit)

Cardiology

HFQRS-ECG

by Gene Ostrovsky on Oct 13, 2005 • 3:03 am

hfqrs HFQRS ECGMedgadget reader Dr. Brian A. informs us that a novel clinical tool known as High Frequency QRS ECG (HFQRS-ECG) is “a highly sensitive, real-time diagnostic and monitoring instrument to assess myocardial ischemia with the 12-lead ecg. HFQRS-ECG analyzes the ecg signal in the frequency range from 150-250Hz (above conventional ecg) and assesses ischemia by software algorithms (essentially rms voltage and signal morphology) much more precisely than conventional ST-segment analysis or other ecg methods.” The technology initially developed by NASA, has been licensed to a commercial partner, CardioSoft, a Houston based medical company, that has the following to say about HFQRS-ECG:

The HFQRS ECG is an advanced electrocardiogram that can detect and analyse real time changes in the high frequency signals present within the central portion of the QRS complex of the ecg
Several recent studies have demonstrated that alterations of these high frequency signals are more sensitive indicators for the presence of myocardial ischemia than are changes in the conventional ecg
Previous to the HFQRS ECG technology, assessment of high frequency QRS ecg signals involved arduous off-line processing and thus had not been clinical useful
The CardioSoft HFQRS ECG acquires, processes, analyzes and displays, in real time during the actual patient encounter, clinically important quantitative features and morphology of the high frequency signals in each of the 12-leads

The HFQRS-ECG is now being marketed in Europe, and is expected to hit the U.S. after FDA clearance (expected in 2006). Interesting technology. We’ll be following it.
More at CardioSoft…
CardioSoft-ECG demo download (~13MB)…

Net News

Bones of the Human Body for PDA

by Gene Ostrovsky on Oct 13, 2005 • 2:55 am

51844675 Bones of the Human Body for PDAPalmdoc writes:

J Martin has uploaded Bones of the Human Body in Memoware. This is a database of the 206 bones of the human body and the location of each bone within the body. I suppose it could be useful for students of anatomy and for clinicians who tend to forget little bones like Pisiform, Triquetral (gee that one sounds unfamiliar!) etc. The database is in MobileDB format.

If you are Handbase DB user, Palmdoc will provide you with a converted file (see the screen shot).
If you’ve never been to the site, don’t forget to check The Palmdoc Chronicles. The site is full of PDA goodies and news.

Net News

Searching the Deep Web

by Gene Ostrovsky on Oct 13, 2005 • 2:04 am

Lifehacker has an excellent post on how to do Google/Yahoo searches through “the Invisible, Deep, or Cloaked Web”. The technique comes handy if you are looking for results from databases that are not easily accessible by search engines. Great informative post.
(hat tip: California Medicine Man)

in the news... / Medicine

NIH Launches Program to Improve Clinical and Translational Science

by Tim Odell on Oct 13, 2005 • 1:44 am

The NIH anounced today in The New England Journal of Medicine the creation of the Institutional Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSAs) program. Essentially, the goal is to improve the rate at which research yields clinically relevant results as well as the implementation of said results.

The grants will encourage institutions to propose new approaches to clinical and translational research, including new organizational models and training programs at graduate and post-graduate levels. In addition, they will foster original research in developing clinical research methodologies, such as clinical research informatics, laboratory methods, other technology resources and community-based research capabilities. Potential benefits to patients include: new medical monitoring devices that they can use in their own homes; improved methods for predicting the toxicity of new drugs in specific individuals; and a seamless and safe experience for those who participate in clinical trials.
NIH plans to award four to seven CTSAs in FY 2006 for a total of $30 million, with an additional $11.5 million allocated to support 50 planning grants for those institutions that are not ready to make a full application. NIH expects to increase the number of awards annually so that by 2012, 60 CTSAs will receive a total of approximately $500 million per year. The CTSA program is an NIH Roadmap for Medical Research initiative and will be administered by the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), a component of the NIH. Funding for the new initiative will come in part from the Roadmap budget and existing clinical and translational programs. This will be accomplished entirely through redirecting existing resources, including Roadmap funds.
For the purposes of this initiative, NIH is defining clinical research as studies and trials that involve human subjects. Translational research is to include two segments of the research continuum. The first is the process of applying discoveries made in the laboratory, testing them in animals, and developing trials and studies for humans. The second concerns research aimed at enhancing the adoption of best treatment practices into the medical community.

More from the NIH…
Article at the NEJM…
Listen to the interview with Dr. Elias Zerhouni, director of the National Institutes of Health, about the translational and clinical research initiative…

Nanomedicine

Gold Nanoparticles Show Potential for Noninvasive Cancer Treatment

by Gene Ostrovsky on Oct 13, 2005 • 12:28 am

nanogolducsf Gold Nanoparticles Show Potential for Noninvasive Cancer TreatmentMore news from UCSF on the use of gold nanoparticles in oncology research (also see previously published in Medgadget ‘Researchers Demonstrate Use of Gold Nanoparticles for CA Detection’):

Building on their previous work that used gold nanoparticles to detect cancer, researchers now are heating the particles and using them as agents to destroy malignant cells…
Many cancer cells have a protein, known as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), all over their surface, while healthy cells typically do not express the protein as strongly. By conjugating, or binding, the gold nanoparticles to an antibody for EGFR, suitably named anti-EGFR, the researchers were able to get the nanoparticles to specifically attach themselves to the cancer cells.
In the new study, the researchers incubated two oral squamous carcinoma cell lines and one benign epithelial cell line with anti-EGFR conjugated gold nanoparticles, and then exposed them to a continuous visible argon laser. “The malignant cells required less than half the laser energy to be killed than the benign cells,” said Ivan. “In addition, we observed no photothermal destruction of any type of cell in the absence of gold nanoparticles at these low laser powers.
“We now have the potential to design an ‘all-in-one’ active agent that can be used to noninvasively find the cancer and then kill it,” Ivan said. “This holds great promise for a number of types of cancer.”

The press release…
Picture caption: Light scattering images of HSC malignant cells after incubation with anti-EGFR antibody conjugated gold nanoparticles.

in the news... / Public Health / Society

NIAID Awards $47 Million in New Effort to Develop Medical Countermeasures Against Radiological and Nuclear Threats

by Tim Odell on Oct 13, 2005 • 12:25 am

NIAID Awards $47 Million in New Effort to Develop Medical Countermeasures Against Radiological and Nuclear ThreatsThe National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), an institute within the NIH, is hoping to stave off the rise of the mutant zombies in the wake of a nuclear attack. More accurately, they have issue $47M worth of grants to establish centers for medical countermeasures and develop countermeasures products.

“Radiological ‘dirty bombs’ or nuclear explosive devices are among the potential terrorist threats Americans face. Our new medical countermeasures program will help protect the public from radiation should such an attack ever occur,” says NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.
NIAID is the lead institute at NIH for the development of biodefense countermeasures. Its research portfolio includes many in-depth studies of the immune system, which is especially vulnerable to radiation. For these reasons, the Department of Health and Human Services asked NIAID to coordinate and lead the development of a robust NIH research program on medical countermeasures to radiation.
Funding for this program is from the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Public Health Emergency Preparedness. Twelve grants, four contracts and two interagency agreements have recently been formalized through this new NIH research program. While each award has a specific focus connected to product development or basic research, the sum of the efforts covers the necessary components to develop medical countermeasures from concept through licensure.

More from the NIH…

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