Masimo is releasing a new version of the firm's popular SafetyNet™ remote monitoring system. According to the company, the system can provide continuous pulse oximetry readings from up to eighty patients on four separate hospital floors. The technology aims to decrease respiratory-related adverse events in a high risk population, such as post-surgical patients on the general care floor, patients with obstructive sleep apnea, and those who are on narcotic analgesics. Using internal pagers or interfacing with other messaging systems, the central server can notify clinicians if a patient requires prompt attention.

The new Patient SafetyNet system is already having a big impact on both nurses and post-surgical patients for two hospitals involved in limited market release testing. Marilyn Nemerever, R.N., director of Acute Care at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, where the new system is being used to monitor patients in three separate post-surgical units at three different hospitals from a single central monitoring station, stated "We love it. ICU beds are in high demand these days and Patient SafetyNet allows us to more closely monitor post-surgical patients in our med-surg units, so we can use our ICU resources more appropriately. Our nurses now have the piece of mind that comes with knowing that Patient SafetyNet is helping watch over their patients if and when they cannot. And our patients are having better outcomes because we can see, as well as respond to changes earlier."

Clinicians at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, who found that Patient SafetyNet reduced rescue activations by 65% and ICU transfers by 48%—while in some patients where ICU transfer was avoided, length of stay was also reduced from 5.8 to 3.6 days with an associated cost of care reduction of 30%, have also embraced the capabilities of the new Patient SafetyNet system. George T. Blike, M.D., Medical Director of Patient Safety at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, stated; "The new system enhancements allow us to see real-time numerics for each patient at a glance, while the ability to monitor more patients on a single server will enable us to deploy the system across more care areas than before to reduce overall costs of implementation."

Via: medgadget.com

Autistic children often show specific behavior patterns in the way they speak with others. These patterns, if detected, could be used as an early sign of autism, but enough data needs to be collected in order to help with making a diagnosis. LENA, a device from the LENA Foundation that became available earlier this month, is a portable recorder that can make available a day's worth of a child's interaction to professionals for close review.

What is LENA? LENA is the only technology that automatically collects and analyzes information about a child’s natural language environment and development. The LENA feedback reports help parents improve a child’s cumulative language experience and accelerate that child’s language and cognitive development, and preparedness for school.

Who is LENA for? Parents and caregivers of children ages 0 to 4.

Why is it important? Several hundred research studies over the last 50 years document the importance of talking to and interacting with your baby, especially during the first three years. Groundbreaking research by two renowned university researchers, Drs. Betty Hart, Ph.D., and Todd Risley, Ph.D., revealed that the quantity of talk a child experienced between birth and age 3 directly correlated with the child’s IQ and vocabulary size. The LENA Foundation was founded based on the key elements of this study and our own normative study shows that saying 17,000 words per day, which is equal to the 85th percentile, will greatly enhance your child’s potential.

Who developed it? A team of world-class scientists, including experts in linguistics, speech recognition technology, computer engineering, speech analysis, statistics, speech language pathology, language research and developmental pediatrics. Recognizing that achievement gaps already exist at kindergarten entry, LENA was developed to give parents useful information to help ensure they are providing the richest language environment possible to their children during the critical years between birth and age 4, before they enter school.

How does it work? Parents follow a simple three-step process, 2-3 times a month:

1. In the morning, slip the LENA Digital Language Processor (DLP) into the pocket of specially designed LENA clothing.
2. At the end of the day, plug the DLP into your PC. The audio data will transfer and software analysis begins.
3. View your reports to analyze your conversations, identify patterns of talk throughout the day and receive percentile rank information.

The rapidly aging population of Japan already has more than 40,000 people older than one hundred years. So the Japanese turned themselves into a frantic mode to develop all kinds of robots to help the elderly as the age issue only intensifies. An example is Taizo, a robot built by AIST, General Robotix and Ibaraki Prefectural Health Plaza, that leads in and demonstrates to grandmas how to do exercise routines. The units are going to be priced at around $8,000, but perhaps a cheaper and sufficient solution would be to watch YouTube videos of the Taizo. Even a real prerecorded human being may suffice in demonstrating exercises. But that wouldn't utilize robotic technology, would it now?

Via: medgadget.com

MeDaVinci, a company based out of Liverpool, England, is tell Amy Tenderich at DiabetesMine that the company is developing a foot scanner to help diabetics watch for dangerous signs of infection and inflammation. The Vincent 50 is very much reminiscent of the  FootSafe, a submission to this years's DiabetesMine Design Challenge.

Company spokesman Ger Biesbrouck writes to me from Amsterdam that his team was “quite surprised” to discover the video entry in this year’s DiabetesMine Design Challenge on the FootSafe foot scanner, because his team believed they had no competition with this type of foot scanner.

What’s different about the Vincent 50, I’m told, is that it makes “non weight-bearing” images of the foot, so professionals can get a better view of possible damages. “See what is happening if you press your hand against a glass,” Ger writes. “It turns white, but you would like to see the red aspect.“ When the patient has to stand on the scanner, the pressure itself alters the image. Without pressure, the image shows every aspect of the foot and skin, pure and simple.

Smallest sound processor — for a comfortable and discreet fit. The Nucleus 5 Sound Processor is smaller than any other and designed to fit comfortably and securely. Yet, it is tough and secure enough for any situation.

Features the most flexible options to anticipate your needs – from an extensive selection of wearable options for every age and lifestyle, to music, phone and entertainment accessories and easy connection options, we’ve anticipated your everyday needs.

Thinnest titanium implant design — Ideal choice for all ages. The Nucleus 5 System features the thinnest titanium implant in the industry. It is 40% thinner than our previous generation and 30% thinner than any other titanium implant available.

Nucleus 5 is the world’s most water resistant allowing you to relax around water or play by the pool. With the industry’s only International Protection Rating of IP44 18 you have the assurance that your sound processor can keep up with your active lifestyle, even around water.

The exclusive two-way remote assistant is an added bonus to your system. Gives you the added flexibility and control of being able to adjust your settings easily from the remote assistant or directly on the sound processor – and gives parents the added peace of mind that their child is hearing their best.

Also allows the easiest bilateral use. With the Nucleus 5 System if you have chosen to go bilateral (with cochlear implants for both ears) your two sound processors can be easily and simultaneously controlled with the exclusive two-way remote assistant.

The Japanese are gearing up for a time when there are more elderly folks needing assistance than there are young whippersnappers available to do the choirs. The RIBA, or Robot for Interactive Body Assistance, is a 400 pound (180 kilos) device designed by engineers at the RIKEN institute and Tokai Rubber Industries to carry people up to 135 pounds (61 kilos) between hospital beds, wheelchairs, and even toilets. The device is full of tactile sensors to make carrying safe and comfortable for patients, and it can even recognize faces and be commanded via voice to perform basic tasks. The only problems, from our point of view, is the inadequacy of this robot of serving the hefty average American and the menacing demeanor of what looks like a space bear without the personality of  Chewbacca.

A student project at Stanford University has led to the development of a low cost incubator powered by boiled water. Intended for premature babies born in the poor areas of the world, the $25 device is essentially a sleeping bag with a phase change material pouch that helps regulate the internal temperature of the child's environment.

The students involved in the development of the Embrace, which they hope can help thousands survive where $20,000 incubators are simply not to be found, have formed an organization called EmbraceGlobal.org to raise the money and distribute these units throughout the developing world.

Via: medgadget.com

Researchers at the University of Tokyo's Ishikawa Komuro Laboratory have developed a robotic arm and sensor system that is capable of performing some amazing sleight of hand tricks. Using a high speed tracking camera and tactile sensors on the fingers, the robot does millisecond bouncing of ping pong balls, pen spinning, and even throwing and re-grabbing a mobile phone.

Now imagine being humbled at table tennis while playing with an amputee equipped with one of these. Or, perhaps, Intuitive Surgical should take a look at this technology for its upcoming da Vinci systems.

3M has partnered with Zargis Medical to develop a Bluetooth-enabled stethoscope with recording capabilities that can help physicians get more out of an exam. By being able to transfer recordings to a computer, one can assemble a historical set for analysis at a later time or share selective sounds with colleagues for a second opinion. Additionally, the package comes with two pieces of software, one that helps visualize and fine tune the audio for better fidelity, and the other helps clinicians identify suspected murmurs.

Proprietary Ambient Noise Reduction Technology (ANR)

Reduces background noise 85% on average without eliminating critical body sounds

13% better ANR than previous models

Acoustic Seal Eartips

Patented 3M™ Littmann® Snap Tight Soft-Sealing Eartips provides [sic] a comfortable fit and excellent seal

Creates a tight acoustic seal from ambient noise entering through eartip connections

State-of-the-Art Sound Sensor

Built to stringent specification

Sound experience equivalent to Littmann® cardiology-grade acoustic stethoscope

The sound received from the sensor is transmitted naturally to ears through the tubing

Frictional Noise Reduction Technology

Helps reduce handling noises compared to previous electronic models

Less distracting than previous models

Lets you focus on critical sounds

Up to 24X Sound Amplification

Extra listening power for when you need it

Helpful when a heart, lung or body sound is especially faint

May be useful for overly obese patients

May be helpful when the patient's clothing restricts your listening experience

Heads-up displays are best known for their use in fighter jets to help pilots target enemy aircraft. But now MAQUET Cardiovascular out of Wayne, New Jersey has released its own version, the VASOVISION Endoscopic Visualization System, to help surgeons aim at saphenous veins during endoscopic vessel harvesting procedures (EVH) for coronary artery bypasses. Because of the precision required, it can be difficult to operate endoscopic tools while looking at a monitor located in a different field of view from where the instruments are. Hence this new VASOVISION display can be worn during the EVH harvest as it is designed to work with all of the company's VASOVIEW systems.

Here are the features of the display:

Easy to use and lightweight

Comfortable fit for any user

Fingertip adjustments for image brightness and contrast

Central viewing pane provides a wide field of view while enabling peripheral vision

Compatible with all MAQUET VASOVIEW systems

Clear visualization of procedure

Improved comfort and ergonomics during harvesting

Enhanced and streamlined harvesting experience

Via: medgadget.com

Pharmaceutical company NuPathe Inc. out of Conshohocken, PA has just announced positive results from Phase III clinical trial of Zelrix™, a novel transdermal patch in clinical development for the treatment of acute migraines.

Zelrix relies on the company's proprietary iontophoretic transdermal technology, called SmartRelief™, to continuously deliver sumatriptan. The big idea behind Zelrix, "a thin, disposable, single-use device in a self-contained system," is to give migraine sufferers a new therapeutic option with a proven medication, so they can stick on a patch and get medication fast and consistently, regardless of nausea, vomiting, or other gastric symptoms associated with migraine.

Via: medgadget.com

GlowCap, a product of Vitality out of Cambridge, MA, is a bottle cap that reminds patients to take their meds on a regular schedule. We covered the devices in the past (see flashbacks below), but now the firm has released a version of the GlowCaps that use a wireless microchip to communicate with a computer connected device to program the drug regiment.

Product features:

The GlowCap comes with a wireless night light that plugs into a kitchen or bathroom outlet and glows a calm blue. The night light pulses orange when it is time to take your pill.

The GlowCap also includes a home health gateway that requires a broadband Internet connection.

To get started, fill up your GlowCap with your pills, plug in the night light in a visible outlet and plug in the home health gateway.

Each week you will receive an email progress report. Contact Vitality to set or change your dose time.

seca, out of Hamburg, Germany has released a new clinical chair scale, the seca 952, for disabled and elderly patients that have trouble standing up. The company promises an ergonomic design for both the patient and the clinician, making the weighing less strenuous for everyone involved.

Some of the features of the seca 952:

With a capacity of 200 kg and a graduation of 100 grams, the seca 952 fulfills all basic medical standards. Added to that are the typical seca advantages such as fold-up armrests and footrests, secure wheel brakes, an ergonomically shaped seat and smoothrunning rollers, which, together with the ergonomically shaped handle, make it very easy to push the chair scale.

Thanks to the fold-up armrests and footrests, elderly and heavy patients can take a seat on the scale easily and comfortably. It is just as easy for personnel to use the scale because the batteries eliminate the need for connection to an electrical outlet and keep on working through up to 4000 weighings. No time is lost
to a learning curve. A user can operate the scale intuitively. Display elements are conveniently located in the handle and can be set to show kilograms, pounds or stones.

A&D Medical out of San Jose, California just received the first Continua certification for its Bluetooth blood pressure monitor and weight scale. The Continua universal medical connectivity protocol certification means that the devices will be interoperable with other Continua labeled products, allowing customers to shop around among different manufacturers for at-home monitoring tools.

The UA-767PBT series of devices is clinically validated for accuracy and meets ANSI/AAMI SP10 standards Both the UA-767PBT-C and UC-321PBT-C Continua Certified™ and Bluetooth wireless technology enabled devices are already available for purchase. A&D Medical is already hard at work developing its next Continua compliant devices, which are expected to be certified later this year.

Via: medgadget.com

Stuart Kauffman, a theoretical biologist and author from the University of Calgary, has been hypothesizing about the possible underlying physical nature of the consciousness. Just like Roger Penrose, whom we immensely respect, Dr. Kauffman believes that quantum mechanics plays a central role, creating an unpredictable output but which is not random. So there are laws that play a part, but the result cannot be algorithmically predicted, allowing for what looks like an independent consciousness.

Article abstract from arXiv:

Since Descartes' dualism, with his res extensa and res cogitans, six fundamental problems in the philosophy and natural history of mind are these: 1. how does mind act on matter? 2. If mind does not act on matter is mind a mere epiphenomenon? 3. What might be the source of free will? 4. What might be the source of a responsible free will? 5. Why might it have been selectively advantageous to evolve consciousness? 6. What is consciousness? I approach the first five of the above six problems based on two physical postulates. First the mind-brain system is a quantum coherent, but reversibly decohering and recohering system. This allows me to answer 1) above, mind does not act causally on brain at all, rather it acausally decohers to classicity (for all practical purposes), hence has consequences for brain and body as matter. Epiphenomenalism is averted. A quantum mind, because it is acausal on Copenhagen including Born, yields a free will, but a merely random free will, not a responsible free will. Second, the most radical part of this article proposes that the quantum classical interface is not always describable by a law: specifically in a special relativity setting, no function, F, maps the present state of the system mind-brain into its future. In its place is a nonrandom yet lawless process. I seek in this non-random yet lawless process a source for a responsible free will. Finally, if the quantum-classical boundary can be non-random yet lawless, then no algorithmic simulation of the world or ourselves can calculate the real world, hence the evolutionary selective advantages for evolving consciousness to know it may be great. I make no progress on problem 6, the hard problem of qualia.

Via: medgadget.com

Continuing the e-cigarette drama, the FDA issued a news release reporting results of a chemical analysis the agency performed on two different e-cigarette brands. The FDA analysis revealed diethylene glycol (anti-freeze, a toxic compound) in one sample, and several carcinogens, including nitrosamines, in several other samples. The report also warns of concerns about the marketability of e-cigarettes to young people and their potential danger as a "gateway" product to actual smoking.

In the US, e-cigarettes have been classified as both a drug and a class III medical device. The FDA is peeved that e-cigarette companies have been marketing their products direct to consumers without submitting their devices for approval by the FDA.

From the FDA's press release:

Because these products have not been submitted to the FDA for evaluation or approval, at this time the agency has no way of knowing, except for the limited testing it has performed, the levels of nicotine or the amounts or kinds of other chemicals that the various brands of these products deliver to the user...

The FDA has been examining and detaining shipments of e-cigarettes at the border and the products it has examined thus far meet the definition of a combination drug-device product under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The FDA has been challenged regarding its jurisdiction over certain e-cigarettes in a case currently pending in federal district court. The agency is also planning additional activities to address its concerns about these products.

Via: medgadget.com

Zogenix out of San Diego, California has received FDA approval for the single use DosePro™ device. The needle free system delivers sumatriptan, a drug often prescribed for migraines, through the skin for a faster effect than a tablet. Sumatriptan in a tablet form is best known under its IMITREX® brand name.

Sumatriptan DosePro (formerly known as Intraject® sumatriptan) utilizes Zogenix’s proprietary DosePro needle-free drug delivery system to subcutaneously administer sumatriptan for the treatment of migraine and cluster headache. Sumatriptan DosePro is a fast-acting therapy that patients can self administer in three easy steps. Based on Zogenix’s clinical bioequivalence studies, the company has concluded that sumatriptan DosePro is bioequivalent to injectable sumatriptan (IMITREX STATdose System®) when administered in the thigh or abdomen. Given the unique attributes of sumatriptan DosePro, Zogenix believes it has the potential to be used as a replacement for needle-based injectable forms of sumatriptan, as well as oral and nasal spray triptans.

Via: medgadget.com

There has been a lot of talk and excitement about the potential of active video games (or "exergames," as some like to call it) to take an active role in the fight against obesity in children and adults. While some active video games have been available for many years now (Dance Dance Revolution, or DDR, first appeared in arcades in 1999), the excitement didn't really start until the Wii came along and invaded everyone's home. In addition, people started noticing that anyone playing Wii boxing began sweating uncontrollably within minutes (or maybe that's just us.)

Recent "scientific studies" have shown that swinging your arms around like a monkey burns more calories than sitting completely still watching TV. A new study in Pediatrics adds to our collection of exergaming knowledge with some interesting comparisons.

The study compared energy expenditure (using indirect calorimetry) and various other physiologic parameters of children either walking on a treadmill (from ~2-5 km/hr), playing DDR at 2 intensity levels, playing Wii Bowling and finally playing Wii Boxing. The results show that DDR and wii boxing had the highest energy expenditures (13 kcal/hr and 12 kcal/hr respectively), which is comparable to "moderate-intensity walking."

The benefits of "exergaming" are pretty clear, but the whole concept relies on the entertainment value of the games involved. Games like Wii boxing are fun for a while, but just don't hold up in the long run. On the other hand, games that are marketed as pure exercise tools might appeal less to the very gamers we are trying to persuade into being active. What we need is a game that keeps you active, but is also fun, challenging, and has immense replay value. For example, one online survery for World of Warcraft showed that players play on average 21 to 22 hours a week. That's a lot of untapped potential for exergaming!

From Yanko Design:

The small device measures sugar levels using a display with an LED scale between a low result and a high result in different colors. Low sugar levels are shown in red. A normal level appears in white white and a high level goes orange. It stores the result and transfers it via bluetooth to a mobile phone and computer so your doctor has instant access.

The flexibility comes in how you measure your levels. A detachable sensor clips to your earlobe and gives you auditory feedback when your levels get to high. The same info gets transfered to your phone and computer. If your blood chemistry gets out of hand, a call can be made via your mobile to alert your doctor.

Scientists from Japan's Waseda University and the National Defense Medical College created a new material to be used as a repair patch during surgical procedures. Functionally similar to cellophane, in that it naturally sticks to surfaces, the new material can be made to be one thousand times thinner than what you wrap sandwiches in.

AFP reports:

"This is the world's thinnest adhesive plaster," said Toshinori Fujie, a researcher involved in the joint project by Tokyo's private Waseda University and the National Defense Medical College.

In an experiment repeated several times, the team placed a square piece of the new nano-sheet onto a six-millimetre-wide hole in a dog's lung.

The sheet was strong enough to withstand the pressure of the dog's breathing and helped the wounds heal within one month, leaving no visible trace, Fujie said.

Researchers hope to launch human clinical trials in three years.