Medgadget » in the news…

A Short Medical History of The First Moon Landing

Gene Ostrovsky — Thu, 24 May 2012 16:09:51 +0000

Jay Walker, the host of TEDMED, collects fascinating historical artifacts that highlight the power of human imagination. During the last conference, Jay took five minutes to introduce us to the medical side of the first manned mission to the Moon and how long distance telemedicine was done in the 1960′s.

Prosthetic Artificial Vocal Cords to Replace Damaged Ones

Gene Ostrovsky — Thu, 24 May 2012 16:05:11 +0000

Researchers from MIT and Harvard are working on artificial polymer vocal cords that may one day help those with the damaged organs to regain their voice. Here’s a Bytesize Science video report produced by the American Chemical Society that describes how the researchers are working on their technology:

BioDigital Human Anatomy System Expands Possibilities for Virtual Bodies

Gene Ostrovsky — Thu, 24 May 2012 15:51:45 +0000

There have been a lot of human anatomy simulators made over the years, but when we saw the BioDigital Human at the last TEDMED we were sold. Here’s John Qualter, co-founder of BioDigital Systems, and Dr. Marc Triola, Associate Dean for Educational Informatics at NYU School of Medicine, talking about the simulator and what led to its development.

Presentations from Health Hack Day Now Available for Online Viewing

Gene Ostrovsky — Tue, 22 May 2012 15:51:39 +0000

This past weekend, Hoa’s Tool Shop and Psykologifabriken, two Swedish sister companies, hosted the Health Hack Day (really three days), an event in Stockholm where computer programmers get to spar in a challenge to develop new medical apps.

The organizers posted video presentations from the Health Hack Day participants and here is team Line HQ, the winner of the contest, presenting their app that reads urinalysis test strips and converts the results for easy reading by professionals and patients.

Data Design Diabetes Demo Day Coverage

Nicholas Genes — Mon, 21 May 2012 16:14:23 +0000

On Wednesday evening we had the chance to return to Blueprint Health HQ for the Sanofi-sponsored contest event called Data Design Diabetes Demo Day (brought to you DDAVP). Medgadget spoke with some of the judges last month about the challenges of diabetes care, the goals of DDDemo day, and their choices for the five semi-finalists.

Well, on Wednesday the five semi-finalists had their chance to present their plans for improving US diabetes care: Greendot, EnduringFX, LiveHealth, iRetainRx, and N4A Diabetes Care Center.

FCC Proposes Allocating Wireless Spectrum Band Exclusively for Medical Devices

Scott Jung — Mon, 21 May 2012 15:33:59 +0000

Wireless medical devices might receive a little more love, thanks to a proposal from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission that was unveiled last week that would set aside the 2.36-2.40 gHz band for exclusive use by Medical Body Area Network (MBAN) devices. The goal, of course, would be that physicians would be able to remotely monitor a patient at home or in the hospital using wireless sensors attached to the body, giving patients the mobility to move around and doctors the ability to provide care while physically away from their patients.

According to the FCC, the specific benefits of the spectrum allocation are:

Viruses Used to Generate Electricity from Mechanical Motion

Gene Ostrovsky — Mon, 21 May 2012 14:36:47 +0000

Viruses, though commonly associated with infectious disease, have been increasingly used therapeutically in medicine over the last few years. Now, thanks to researchers at UC Berkeley, viruses might see an even greater rehabilitation of their reputation.

After discovering that the commonly studied M13 bacteriophage is piezoelectric, the Berkeley team developed a device that turns mechanical energy into electricity thanks to their genetically engineered version of the virus. The discovery has consequences for nanotechnology, portable devices, and of course for energy hungry medical implants.

NIH Director Francis Collins on Speeding Up Arrival of New Disease Treatments

Gene Ostrovsky — Fri, 18 May 2012 16:16:52 +0000

Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health, spoke at the last TEDMED about the challenges of converting fundamental research into practical therapeutics. In addition to proposing new approaches like repurposing of drugs and using manufactured human tissue for testing new compounds, he spoke on stage with a 15-year-old boy with Hutchinson–Gilford Progeria, a rare condition that accelerates aging, who had some words for medical researchers everywhere.

Using Colonoscopy to Predict Parkinson’s Disease?

Brian Klein — Thu, 17 May 2012 15:26:09 +0000

Roughly 60,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease each year, according to the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation. In all, more than 1.5 million people in the United States suffer from the condition. Yet thousands of cases go undetected and diagnosing the disease in the early stages remains challenging.

Early diagnosis of Parkinson’s enables the disease to be treated with drugs such as dopamine agonists and monoamine oxidase type-B inhibitors, which can alleviate the condition’s symptoms and postpone the need to begin levodopa therapy. Nevertheless, early diagnosis of Parkinson’s has remained challenging and misdiagnoses are common.

Flexure-FET Biosensor Promises High Sensitivity for Medical Diagnostics

Gene Ostrovsky — Tue, 15 May 2012 17:14:54 +0000

Researchers from Purdue University are reporting in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the development of a novel new biosensor that combines mechanical and electrical components that together make the device more sensitive than either alone.

The device, known as Flexure-FET biosensor, measures a sample’s mass, size, and electrical charge. If the sample is not charged, the mechanical measurements are still effective, making the sensor applicable in a variety of situations. The device is able to detect DNA fragments and proteins in a sample, making it potentially a highly useful tool in detecting cancer and generally for the growing field of personalized medicine.