Technology

We are not terribly sure that this newly designed pipette adds any more grandeur to the institution where it is coming from, the University of Cambridge. However, it does seem to offer a more convenient way for those in labs to go though routines.

From the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge:

While current models satisfy the need for precision and reliability, their design falls a long way short in terms of ease of use. They are entirely thumb-operated and are known to cause cases of repetitive strain injury. The students have designed a comfortable, easy-to-use pipette, the Ergopip, which distributes workload to the user's fingers and is just as precise and reliable as existing versions.

The Ergopip...

Full story from The Engineer Online: Students design better pipette...

Gadget aficionados should find a trip to the dentist a bit more exciting if one of these is installed next to the chair. The 3M oral scanner is essentially a digital impression system, and besides being more amusing to patients, the digital images can be used immediately to manufacture implants.

The Lava C.O.S. wand contains a highly complex optical system comprised of multiple lenses and blue LED cells. The system captures massive amounts of visual images in just seconds. Despite housing all of this technology, the wand weighs just 14 ounces and the wand tip is only 13.2 millimeters wide, maximizing maneuverability inside the mouth.

The Lava C.O.S. is introducing an entirely new method of capturing 3D data. This 3D-in-Motion technology captures 3D data in a video sequence and models the data in real time.Thus, the Lava C.O.S. is able to capture approximately 20 3D data sets per second, or close to 2,400 data sets per arch, for an accurate and high speed scan. Other traditional point and click technologies rely on the warping of a laser or light pattern on an object to determine 3D data. Unlike video imaging, point and click uses individual "snapshots" to assemble a model.

While capturing massive amounts of data is quite an accomplishment, an even more impressive achievement is the ability of the Lava C.O.S. to model that data in real time. Unlike other systems on the market today, the Lava C.O.S. simultaneously displays the images that are being captured in the mouth onto the touch screen monitor. With this real-time visibility, a dentist can confidently and immediately assess whether enough information has been captured for a completed digital impression.

Video demonstrating how the system functions:

IDEA award details..

Product page: Lava™ Chairside Oral Scanner C.O.S.

Whether you want to calm your red raging eyes, or you simply have glaucoma, AllerGuide is your guide. This clever compliance aid was designed by PharmaDesign Inc. (Warren, NJ) for Allergan, to be used with any of its eye care products. This medical gadget has attracted the attention of this year's IDEA awards, and has been selected as a finalist in the Medical & Scientific category.

From the product page at PharmaDesign:

AllerGuide is a combination compliance aid /directional facilitator that attaches to the neck of all Allergan Eye Care products. This universal attachment is designed to rest comfortably around the eye – positioning the bottle at a safe and appropriate distance. After administering a single eye drop, the user then moves an outer compliance dial attached to the neck of the bottle (i.e., Mon 1 – Mon 2 – Mon 3) – which allows the patient to keep track of their daily dosing.

Product page: Allerguide...

2008 International Design Excellence Award announcement...

Investigators from Harvard and MIT have been looking into the difference in the brain's response when presented with a similar illusion, but acting on different senses. The 'apparent motion quartet', seen on the right, at first tends to make people see the dots jumping vertically or horizontally, but after some time the motion switches from horizontal to vertical, or vertical to horizontal. What's interesting is that when the tactile version was used, similar results were achieved.

To create a tactile version of this illusion, Olivia Carter, a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard University, and Talia Konkle, a graduate student in Moore's MIT lab, used a new piezoelectric stimulator device developed by Qi Wang and Vincent Hayward at McGill University. This device, originally designed as a computer Braille display, uses a centimeter-square array composed of 60 "tactors" to deliver precisely controlled touch stimuli to the finger tips of volunteer subjects.

When volunteer subjects were given the diagonally alternating stimuli, they perceived them as moving smoothly back and forth--and just as with the visual illusion, the direction of apparent motion flipped back and forth from vertical to horizontal, on average about twice per minute, even though there was no change in the stimulus itself.

The authors went on to show that after a period of adaptation to an unambiguous horizontal or vertical stimulation (produced by activating a row of tactors in succession), subjects were more likely to perceive a subsequent ambiguous stimulus as being in the orthogonal direction. Similar after-effects are common in vision and were once thought to reflect fatigue in the brain circuits responsible for a particular perceptual interpretation, but are now thought to reflect a continual recalibration of the brain to its sensory environment. In another experiment, an ambiguous touch stimulus was interrupted by a three-second break, after which subjects tended to experience the same direction as before the break, suggesting that the prior interpretation was somehow retained in memory and used to reinterpret the ambiguous stimulus.

Real-world objects often stimulate multiple senses simultaneously, and our brains must combine these disparate stimuli into a unified interpretation of the world. The authors used their tactile illusion to explore the interaction between touch and vision. They instructed their subjects to make vertical or horizontal eye movements during the ambiguous touch stimuli. Subjects perceived that the direction of tactile motion shifted into alignment with the direction of the eye movements, but only if the head and finger were also aligned. Tilting the head sideways 90 degrees produced a shift to the other direction--suggesting that the tactile and visuomotor systems are somehow aligned with respect to the external world.

Press release: MIT-led team creates touch-based illusion

The CombiCarrier II is a new version of Hartwell Medical's innovative emergency stretcher, and a Silver winner of the 2008 International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) in the Medical & Scientific category. (IDEA 2008 awards were announced today.) The device is designed to minimize spinal movement of patients after a potential back or neck injury by sliding the two sections of the stretcher under the person without rolling or shifting. Additionally, being made of plastic, the stretcher allows for X-rays to pass right through, allowing hospital staff to take the patient directly to radiology.

Some of the features from the CombiCarrier product page:

Approved as a full backboard and orthopedic stretcher

Patient can be rotated and slid out onto the CombiCarrier during auto extrication situations. Works like a traditional backboard.

Separates in Half for Application

Can be separated at either end. Eliminates unnecessary movement making it ideal for patients with suspected hip and pelvic injuries.

Continuous Head Support Surface

Improves neutral alignment and minimizes head movement during application and removal. Accommodates most durable and disposable head immobilizers, i.e., #445, HeadHugger™ and HeadBed II™.

Auto-Lock Latch System

Recessed side latch is positioned away from patient. Locks instantly during application, manual release required during removal from patient.

Seamless Plastic Construction

No rivets, drive screws or roll pins. High density polyethylene is easily cleaned and disinfected. Helps comply with OSHA regulations. Foam filling makes it ideal for water rescue situations.

X-ray Compatible

Clear center section provides unobstructed A/P view of patient's spine. Split-design allows for simple, easy removal and reapplication for detailed X-ray examination if necessary.

Product page: CombiCarrier...

More from Morphix Design...

2008 IDEA award details for CombiCarrier II...

University of Michigan researchers are trialing a new in-house device that detects retinal flavoprotein autofluorescence, a potential indicator of the presence of diabetes-induced retinal metabolic changes, such as early diabetic retinopathy.

Metabolic stress, and therefore disease, can be detected by measuring the intensity of cellular fluorescence in retinal tissue. In a previous study, Petty and Elner reported that high levels of flavoprotein autofluorescence (FA) act as a reliable indicator of eye disease. In their new study, Elner and Petty measured the FA levels of 21 individuals who had diabetes and compared the results to age-matched healthy controls. The Kellogg scientists found that FA activity was significantly higher for those with diabetes, regardless of severity, compared to those who did not have the disease. The results were not affected by disease severity or duration and were elevated for diabetics in each age group: 30 to 39 years, 40 to 49 years, and 50 to 59 years.

Twelve individuals in the study were known to have diabetic retinopathy, a disease in which blood vessels in the eye are damaged. The individuals with diabetic retinopathy in at least one eye had significantly greater FA activity than people with diabetes who do not have any visible eye disease.

“The abnormal readings indicated that it may be possible to use this method to monitor the severity of the disease,” says Elner.

Petty, a biophysicist and imaging expert, explains that hyperglycemia — or high blood sugar — is known to induce cell death in diabetic tissue soon after the onset of disease but before symptoms can be detected clinically.

“Increased FA activity is the earliest indicator that cell death has occurred and tissue is beginning to break down,” says Petty, professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, and professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the U-M Medical School. “FA serves as a ‘spectral-biomarker’ for metabolism gone awry, and we can use the results to detect and monitor disease.”

Petty also observes that unlike glucose monitoring, elevation of FA levels reflects ongoing tissue damage. That knowledge, he says, could motivate patients to intensify their efforts to manage the disease.

The Michigan researchers also note that elevated FA does not always mean that an individual has diabetes. “Because of the prevalence of diabetes in our population, individuals with abnormally high FA would be prompted to undergo glucose tolerance testing,” says Elner. “If the findings were negative for diabetes, we would look for other causes of ocular tissue dysfunction.”

Press release: 'Snapshots' of eyes could serve as early warning of diabetes

Abstract in Archives of Ophthalmology...

At the UCSD School of Medicine researchers have developed a tissue culture that can model the behavior of a HCV infected liver.

“This is the first efficient and consistent model system for HCV to be developed,” said Buck [Martina Buck, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine at UC San Diego’s Department of Medicine and Moores UCSD Cancer Center --ed.], adding that it will now enable researchers not only to conduct mechanistic experiments in culture, such as blocking the virus pathways, but also to more effectively screen possible therapies for HCV. “There is a need for new treatments, and for development of a possible vaccine for HCV. Now we have a model system to support work by investigators in this area.”

Currently, there is only a single treatment for HCV, PEG- interferon-α. The drug combination has an average response rate of about 50 percent in HCV cases, but it is much lower than that, closer to 20 percent, in individuals with liver cirrhosis. It can also cause severe flu-like side effects. Approximately 10,000 deaths due to cirrhosis of the liver and several thousand more from liver cancer are attributed to HCV infection in the United States each year.

The HCV life cycle is only partially understood because, until now, it has not been possible to efficiently infect normal human hepatocytes, or liver cells, in culture. According to Buck, the valuable Huh-7 system currently in use to test HCV uses cloned, synthetic HCV RNA expressed from liver tumor cells. These cells cannot be infected with naturally occurring HCV obtained from infected patients.

In contrast, the culture developed by the UCSD scientists allows direct infection with HCV genotypes 1, 2, 3 and 4 from the blood of HCV-infected patients. This system will enable researchers to study the complete viral lifecycle in its normal host cell, providing novel scientific opportunities. The study reports that the system has been tested using over 30 virus donors as well as multiple donors of hepatocytes, with the production of infectious HCV for all genotypes tested.

Press release: Improved Culture System for Hepatitis C Virus Infection...

Image: The venous arrangement of the liver revealed by injection of the hepatic portal veins with yellow dye and the centrolobular veins with red dye. Wellcome Images

Engineers from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur and Tokai University of Japan have developed a new hypodermic microneedle that is completely painless. The aspect of the design that is based off of nature's grotesque horror, the female mosquito, is the unique micro-electro-mechanical based suction system. The system uses an intermittent sucking motion to draw up blood, which is how most god-awful mosquitos get access to our precious bodily fluids.

Conventional needles have an outer diameter of around 900 microns, while this new design has a diameter of 60 microns. The device is being designed in hopes that it can be used for glucose monitoring, blood draws, insulin pumps and other drug delivery devices.

Designs for microneedles have been thrown around the science world in the past, but those previous designs usually used a much smaller needle length as well as a more brittle material, silicone dioxide. This design uses titanium for a much more snap resistant needle. The needle is long enough to reach 3 millimeters deep into human skin, which is the depth needed to reach superficial capillaries.

The main challenges facing this device are cost and feasibility of manufacturing. I think they also have a marketing issue, because some people really truly cannot stand mosquito related paraphernalia. I want my blood back you thieving insects!

New Scientist via Gizmodo..

Abstract in Journal of Applied Physics...

NASA has been looking for a device to detect balance problems in astronauts, and one of the proposals by an MIT graduate student may turn into a machine that could go commercial. Using smart algorithms to analyze pressure under the foot, we envision this technology potentially going clinical one day, to rid the world of clumsy people.

Lieberman originally developed the technology to help NASA monitor balance problems in astronauts returning from space.

Zero gravity environments wreak havoc on the vestibular system, one of three body systems that control balance. (The others are vision and sensory receptors called proprioceptors, which tell you where your body parts are in relation to other body parts and the outside world.)

"The change in gravity really screws with their sense of balance. They're falling all over the place," says Lieberman, who is a Hertz Fellow and also receives funding from the National Science Foundation and Department of Defense.

The effect usually lasts about 10 days, but NASA tests astronauts' balance for 16 days after their return. Astronauts go into a phone-booth-like box, where they undergo a series of balance tests such as platform shifts and wall shifts.

While at NASA, Lieberman developed a new system for gathering data and an algorithm to analyze the data.

"We've developed the first algorithm that is really capable of not just looking at the pressure distribution of proprioceptors on the feet but also analyzing what that's saying," he says.

Lieberman soon realized that the technology could reach a wider audience than just astronauts. His own grandmother suffered a bad fall several years ago, and he theorized that a balance diagnostic could help doctors catch balance problems before such a fall occurs.

"You have a gradual progression of loss of balance, osteoporosis, and other factors that can lead to the fall," Lieberman says.

The iShoe insole would measure and analyze the pressure distribution of the patient's foot and report back to their doctor. The device could also be outfitted with an alarm that would alert family members when a fall has occurred.

Lieberman and his colleagues are now testing the device in about 60 people, hoping to generate data that will help them create a model to predict the risk of a fall.

Press release: Balance problems? Step into the iShoe...

(hat tip: Engadget)

By using an electrically conductive polymer to coat neural implants, researchers at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor are increasing the devices' sensitivity.

A snippet from MIT Tech Review:

Martin [David Martin, professor at Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering @ University of Michigan --ed.] and his collaborators coat the electrodes with an electrically conductive polymer originally developed for electronic devices, such as organic LEDs and photovoltaics for solar cells. The polymer coating increases the surface area of the metal-biological interface, which in turn boosts performance of the electrode. "If you have lots of surface area, you can inject current more efficiently," says Douglas McCreery, director of the Neural Engineering Program at the Huntington Medical Research Institute, in Pasadena, CA. "That means less demand on batteries, but, probably more importantly, you're not recruiting the nasty electrochemical reactions that might be hazardous to surrounding tissue."

The Michigan scientists electrochemically deposit the polymer onto the electrode, much like chroming a car bumper. By peppering the material with small amounts of another polymer, they can coax the conductive polymer to form a hairy texture along the metal shaft. Martin says that the approach mimics nature: the numerous tiny alveoli of the lungs, for example, increase the surface area available for the oxygen exchange between air and blood. Scientists can also tack on nanofibers loaded with controlled-release drugs to inhibit the inflammatory reaction.

Read more at MIT Technology Review...

Project page: Conducting Polymer Coatings for Biomedical Devices...

Image: Shown here is a slice of cortical tissue from a mouse in which the polymer (shown in blue) was deposited after insertion of the metal electrode. The polymer surrounds the cells, forming a diffuse, conductive network that follows the white-matter tracts of the cortex.

At the Dean A. McGee Eye Institute in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma special nanoparticles are being studied as a potential treatment for retinal disease. Nanoceria, a type of nanoparticle made out of cerium oxide molecules has some interesting properties, including the ability to scavenge free oxygen radicals.

From the Review of Ophthalmology:

James F. McGinnis, PhD, professor of cell biology and ophthalmology at the Dean A. McGee Eye Institute in Oklahoma City, Okla., is using nanoceria to treat retinal damage and diseases. “The property that got me interested in nanoceria is its ability to destroy reactive oxygen species, which are extremely reactive with any other molecule,” he says. “When they’re formed inside a cell, they don’t go very far because they react with the nearest molecules. But nanoceria also has another interesting ability: It can convert the target molecule to water and then return to its pre-reaction state, so it’s ready to eliminate another molecule.

“These nanoparticles are inorganic, and because of that, they’re non-inflammatory and nonimmunogenic, at least at the concentrations we’ve tested so far,” he continues. “They’re extremely small—about 3 to 5 nm in diameter. For comparison, a red blood cell has a diameter of 7,500 nm. Also, the effective concentrations used so far have been extremely small—about 5 nanomolar, or five billionths of a mole.”

More in Review of Ophthamology: Nanoparticles: Into the New Frontier...

Flashback: Oven Cleaner as Glaucoma Medicine?

Keruve, a Spanish company out of Seville, has developed a device that helps to locate folks suffering from dementia or childhood insubordination. Using assistance from cell phone towers in addition to standard GPS, the watch-like device can locate itself even inside buildings and send that information to a monitoring unit.

Keruve technology page auto-translated by Google...

(hat tip: Engadget)

Watchhaler® inhalation aid from Activaero GmbH (Gemünden, Germany) has just been cleared for marketing by the FDA. The company says that the big idea behind its spacer (slash a distraction toy) is that it is "the first mechanical inhalation system, that easily controls the patient's breathing pattern." Watchhaler is designed to be used in combination with metered dose inhalers, for treatment of pulmonary conditions like asthma.

The company says Watchhaler has the following benefits:

Continuous inhalation flow controlled by a mechanical valve (patented)

Limitation of inhalation volume by a balloon

High intra thoracic deposition Reproducible dosage

Pure mechanical driven, no electronics

Visual control of inhalation

Activaero is distributing the following brochure about the clinical advantages of its system:

activaero-watchhaler-physicians-e-6-0-0 - Upload a Document to Scribd Read this document on Scribd: activaero-watchhaler-physicians-e-6-0-0

Press release: Activaero's Innovative Children Spacer Watchhaler receives 510(k) Clearance from the US FDA...

Product page: Watchhaler...

Product brochure (.pdf)...

Flashback: The Funhaler...

At Lawrence Livermore National Lab researchers may have found a new way to detect tuberculosis.

In experiments over the past year, a research team at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has used their system to detect a tuberculosis surrogate, even when it is surrounded by sputum and mucus-like substances.

They also were able to differentiate between two similar bacteria, distinguishing between an avirulent strain of tuberculosis and a similar bacterium, Mycobacterium smegmatis.

Their research, using a system called Single-Particle Aerosol Mass Spectrometry, or SPAMS, is described in today's edition of Analytical Chemistry, a semi-monthly journal published by the American Chemical Society.

"Without reagents, we can rapidly detect avirulent tuberculosis that is coated in sputum-like materials and we can distinguish between two similar mycobacteria," said Kristl Adams, a LLNL postdoctoral biological physicist and the paper's lead author.

"The reason we used two similar mycobacteria in our research is that tuberculosis-like symptoms in a patient could be caused by many bacterial infections, not just tuberculosis. So we would like to differentiate between non-tuberculosis and tuberculosis infections," Adams explained.

While emphasizing that their work is only a first step toward using SPAMS for tuberculosis diagnostics, Frank and Adams said they believe SPAMS could potentially detect the disease within five minutes with concentrated samples.

The SPAMS researchers have spoken with doctors at two northern California university medical centers about the possibility of undertaking experiments in a clinical setting to detect virulent tuberculosis within sputum samples from infected people.

The biggest challenge going forward is determining if infectious tuberculosis in humans can be detected with our pattern-matching algorithm. It is undetermined if the virulent tuberculosis pattern will have enough similarity from patient-to-patient that we can train on a known TB patient and detect TB in a patient with an unknown infection," Adams said.

Press release: Instrument designed for biological pathogen monitoring can detect tuberculosis surrogate

Abstract in Analytic Chemistry: Reagentless Detection of Mycobacteria tuberculosis H37Ra in Respiratory Effluents in Minutes

Stryker Leibinger GmbH & Co KG, a Freiburg, Germany subsidiary of Kalamazoo based Stryker (the most pleasant name in the business), is responsible for the development and manufacture of this cool ENT navigation system, called iNtellect. Many of our readers have probably seen Stryker's navigation systems commonly used for total knee replacements. The ENT system is not only significantly more complex, it has to be more intuitive, as the cranial anatomy with all its sinuses, and nerves, and arteries and veins, is much more intricate.

The system's navigation coordinates are provided by the Patient Registration Mask, a device that was just recently given the 2008 Medical Design Excellence Award.

More from the product page:

The software is the critical link between the Navigation System and the surgeon performing computer assisted Sinus surgery and other ENT procedures. The iNtellect ENT Navigation software is the result of years of experience that Stryker software engineers have in creating surgical planning software with familiar, easy-to-use interfaces.

Key advantages include:

Precise Smart instrumentation

Available laptop navigation system and optional planning station

Unique perspective view to see 3-D image of patient anatomy

Advanced auto segmentation capabilities for tumors, skin, brain, vasculature, ventricle and other volumes of interest

Advanced features such as automatic image fusion between multiple CT, MR, CTA, MRA, fMRI,and PET images by one mouse click

Fully automated registration

Stryker camera technology

To learn more, check out this product brochure (.pdf) or head to the product page...

MIT Technology Review is reporting on work by a collaborative group from Harvard and MIT to develop a technique for motivating cells to self-assemble into structures that resemble normal tissues. The research may one day lead toward practical methods of growing replacement organs specifically engineered for individual patients.

From MIT Tech Review:

[Ali Khademhosseini, a bioengineer at Harvard Medical School --ed.] mixes cells into a solution of a biocompatible polymer called polyethylene glycol, then pours the mixture into molds shaped like blocks, stars, spheres, or any other shape. When exposed to a flash of light, the polymer blocks solidify. The living Legos can then be built up into more-complex structures and exposed to another flash of light that bonds them together. But assembly is painstaking: each block is only about a hundred micrometers across.

So Khademhosseini and a group of researchers at MIT and Harvard have come up with a simple two-step process to make the living Legos self-assemble. Their method, described in a paper published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, relies on the basic fact that water and oil don't mix. When water is dropped into a pool of oil, it will form a sphere, the shape that minimizes its interaction with the oil, says Khademhosseini. The polymer building blocks are hydrophilic--they easily absorb water and resist interacting with oil. But they can't change their shape, so when Khademhosseini places them in an agitating bath of mineral oil, the blocks clump together in order to minimize their contact with the oil. The polymer blocks, now assembled into branches, cubes, and other shapes, are bonded together with another flash of light. The organization of the resulting structures can be controlled by varying the shape and size of the building blocks and the agitation speed.

More at the MIT Technology Review...

Abstract in PNAS...

Image: Polymer building blocks studded with cells self-assemble into structures whose complexity mimics that of human tissues. The cross-shaped gel contains cells stained green; the rod-shaped gels, which are about 200 micrometers across, contain cells stained red. Credit: Ali Khademhosseini

Researching the life sciences on PubMed can be a tricky proposal, and the system could use a number of improvements. Thankfully, PubMed provides a publicly available programming interface (API) of its article collection for outside developers to exploit and build upon, and some folks from Stanford have done just that. Ologeez! is at its core a new way to access PubMed's database, wrapped in various new social tools that should help researchers and clinicians find, share, and organize scientific knowledge, based on their specific needs. Basic search features are open to the public, while tagging, sharing, and the like are being kept within the academic community to preserve credibility of the information.

Ologeez! is new and will require members to use it for a bit before the value of all this organizing becomes apparent. With enough usage and a large number of participants, this may become a new standard in life science research.

Ologeez! home page...

More from TechCrunch...

Zume Life, Inc., a San Jose, California firm, is inviting people to join its beta testing program to evaluate the company's upcoming wireless mobile product called Zuri. A rep for the company explains to Medgadget:

Zume Life offers a simple, small, handheld device ("Zuri") to get reminders for and to record health activities: medications, diet, exercise, health metrics and symptoms. A companion Web page shows graphs and tables of the user's health activities. With the user's permission, various caregivers, such as family, friends, coaches and health professionals, can also access this Web site and track the user's health. Most importantly, with life being so busy and stressful as it is, these solutions allow users to keep life in order in an unintrusive way.

So, if you imagine yourself in one of the pictures above, head on to Zume Life's Beta Program application page.

For more info, take a look at ZumeLife company page...

The FDA has given Invitrogen pre-market approval for company's new test for the HER2 gene, commonly expressed in breast cancer patients.

The kit is based on a technology called chromogenic in situ hybridization (CISH). The test uses a DNA probe for the HER2 gene, which is amplified in 18 to 30 percent of breast cancers and predicts whether a breast cancer patient is a candidate for trastuzumab treatment. Current medical practice requires that all patients who are considered for trastuzumab treatment be tested for HER2 amplification or overexpression. CISH test results are visualized under a standard bright-field microscope, as opposed to fluorescent in situ hybridization tests, in which the results must be visualized using a fluorescent microscope. This specialized microscope frequently requires that the analysis is done at a reference lab. In addition, HER2 CISH test results are quantifiable; removing the subjectivity inherent in tests based on immunohistochemistry (IHC) interpretation schemes.

"The current protocol for assessing HER2 gene status is for labs to initially screen tissue samples with immunohistochemistry to gauge whether there is an overabundance of the HER2 protein, as an indirect measure of gene amplification," said August Sick, vice president and general manager of Invitrogen's Cellular Analysis Business. "In the case of an inconclusive test, the samples are typically sent to an outside lab for confirmation. Because the SPOT-Light(R) HER2 CISH Kit doesn't need specialized equipment, any histology lab can now assess amplification of the HER2 gene while simultaneously examining tissue morphology."

Press release: FDA Grants Invitrogen Premarket Approval of Breast Cancer Test

Flashback: HERmark Breast Cancer Assay Is Now Available

Image courtesy Invitrogen Corp.: SPOT-Light HER2 Probe...

Ritescript, maker of the ritePen® 3.0 handwriting recognition software out Sunnyvale, California, and ESO Solutions, a developer of EMR portable computer systems out of Austin, Texas, have agreed to team up on fully pen-based tablets for paramedics and firefighters.

A bit from the companies:

ESO Solutions provides medic-friendly, cost-effective electronic patient care reporting (ePCR) software and billing services for EMS and Fire organizations nationwide. The ESO Pro ePCR Suite is an intuitive, NEMSIS Gold application that helps emergency medical responders capture necessary patient data during emergency visits via pen-based notebook computers. The application also includes a robust quality management module, extensive ad hoc reporting functionality, interface capabilities, validation and tracking tools, and more.

Using ESO Pro Mobile on rugged pen-based notebooks in the field allows emergency responders to quickly capture patient vitals, medications, cardiac arrest treatments, electronic signatures, and other critical call data. ritePen 3.0 further enhances their ability to perform mission critical work, delivering easy text entry and medical terminology recognition as well as workflow control via handwritten shortcuts.

Check out this video overview of the handwritten character recognition capabilities and features of ritePen:

Press release: ESO Solutions Chooses ritePen for ESO PRO™ ePCR Suite...

ritePen 3.0 software overview...

More at emrupdate.com...