Medgadget

Merlin™@home is a new RF wireless transmitter from St. Jude Medical designed for at home monitoring of patients implanted with the company's Promote™ RF CRT-D (cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator) and Current™ RF ICD devices (profiled by us back in September, 2007).

St. Jude explains:

The transmitter supports the St. Jude Medical Current(R) RF and Promote(R) RF family of devices and works in conjunction with the St. Jude Medical data management system, Merlin(TM).net Patient Care Network (PCN), to provide complete remote care service for patients and their physicians.

Until recently, patients with implanted cardiac devices were typically required to visit doctors' offices several times per year to have their device performance checked. With the advent of transmitters capable of downloading and transmitting device data over telephone lines, patients are now able to initiate and perform many of these follow-ups in their own homes.

The Merlin@home transmitter's wireless technology gives patients the additional comfort of having devices automatically checked. Since the transmitter initiates the scheduled follow-up and uses RF wireless telemetry to download data from the device, the entire follow-up procedure is conducted without any direct patient involvement. The only requirement is that each patient remains within range of the transmitter while it reads his or her device. Patients also may initiate data transmissions as instructed by their physicians.

The Merlin@home transmitter is transportable and can be set-up wherever a standard phone line is available, typically by the bedside for data transmission while the patient sleeps. Data downloaded by the Merlin@home transmitter is sent to Merlin.net PCN, a secure, Internet-based data management system, where it is stored for review by the patient's physician.

"We have simplified remote follow-ups to the extent that they are now something that can be performed seamlessly without interrupting the patient's day. Patients simply set-up the Merlin@home transmitter; after that, the system handles all aspects of patient follow up, including daily monitoring," said Eric S. Fain, M.D., president of the St. Jude Medical Cardiac Rhythm Management Division. "The simplicity of the system reduces the chance of patients missing follow-up transmissions."

The Merlin@home transmitter also monitors cardiac devices outside of regularly scheduled follow-ups. The system can perform daily checks to monitor for alerts about device performance or about patient heart rhythms that may have been detected by the implanted device. Merlin.net PCN can be programmed to alert a physician directly - including an on-call physician outside normal business hours - in the event that the monitored data reveals an episode the physician needs to know about as soon as possible.

Press release: St. Jude Medical Announces FDA Approval of Wireless Transmitter to Monitor Patients' Implanted Cardiac Devices...

A group of American medical schools is working on a project to essentially collect and organize all medical knowledge in a Wikipedia-like form. Access to MedPedia will be available to all, but editing rights will be limited to M.D.'s and Ph.D.'s in relevant fields of research. Harvard, Stanford, the University of Michigan, and Berkeley will kick off the site with initial content and work with the rest of the medical community to make it comprehensive. With that in mind, the project organizers are calling on all M.D's and Ph.D's to register to become editors of what they believe will be the largest and most complete encyclopedia of medicine in history.

From the press release:

Over the next few years, the growing community of Editors on Medpedia will create and interlink Web pages for the more than 30,000 known diseases and conditions, the more than 10,000 drugs being prescribed each year, the thousands of medical procedures being performed and the millions of medical facilities around the world. These pages will provide insight into the latest health and medical discoveries along with photographs, video, sound, and images. The site has been designed so that everything on a subject will be simple to access. The main topic pages will be written in language the general public can easily understand, and each topic page will have with it a "Technical” page for professionals to discuss the same topic in more clinical and scientific language. Medpedia will constantly improve in real time, keeping up to date with discoveries in health and medicine.

In anticipation of its launch later in 2008, today Medpedia is calling for the world’s qualified M.D.s, biomedical research Ph.D.s, and clinicians to go to www.medpedia.com to apply to become Editors of content. Only licensed medical professionals and organizations in good standing who are screened through a rigorous internal review process will be approved to provide and edit information.

Press release: MEDPEDIA ANNOUNCED, WORLD'S LARGEST COLLABORATIVE ONLINE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MEDICINE AND HEALTH

MedPedia...

Peak Surgical is happy to announce that the FDA has 510(k) OK'ed to market the company's plasma scalpel system for use in general surgery, a device we reviewed back in May. The system touts the precision of a standard scalpel and the cauterization abilities of the bovie, but without the accompanying burning of peripheral flesh and all the smoke.

The video below shows off the technology and demonstrates various cuts using the PlasmaBlade compared to scalpels and bovies.

var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));

var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-1606987-19");
pageTracker._initData();
pageTracker._trackPageview();

Peak Surgical homepage...

Press release: PEAK Surgical Receives 510(k) Clearance to Market PEAK® Surgery System for Use in General Surgery...

Flashback: Peak PlasmaBlade Wants to Be The New Bovie

Having received FDA approval in January for the company's SlimFuse cervical plate, Pioneer Surgical Technology is rolling out the new system for sale in the US.

From the product page:

The SlimFuse is a next generation cervical plate, requiring only one screw per vertebra and allows the surgeon the flexibility to choose between a rigid, semi-rigid, or translationally dynamic system without additional instrumentation.

Compared to traditional systems, SlimFuse's narrow plate width and scalloped cutouts provides improved interoperative visualization and accomodates more lateral placement away from the esophagus. In addition, the system offers the following features and benefits:

* Rotationally dynamic and translationally dynamic options can be configured interoperatively.
* Pivot Bases provide Static or Dynamic Plate function while resisting torsional forces.
* Self-tapping and Self-drilling Screws offer surgical versatility.

Press release: Pioneer® Surgical Technology, Inc. Announces the Market Launch of the SlimFuse™ Anterior Cervical Plate System (.pdf)...

Product page: SlimFuse™...

NIST scientists have built a model of the membrane that surrounds neurons in the brain, a tool which should help to discover the mechanisms behind Alzheimer's onset.
The brain’s neurons transmit nerve impulses down a long stem that is surrounded by a two-layer membrane. In the neuron’s normal, “rest” state, this membrane actively sorts sodium ions to the outside of the cell and potassium ions to the inside. To transmit a nerve impulse, an electrochemical change ripples down the membrane in advance of the impulse, making it temporarily more permeable and allowing the ions to swap places. That in turn changes the electrical potential across the membrane, allowing the impulse to pass. Afterwards, the membrane returns to rest and begins sorting the ions again.

Medical experts have hypothesized for years that small polypeptides called amyloid beta peptides somehow create a “leaky” membrane that disrupts this balanced back-and-forth switching of the electrical potential and, in turn, normal impulse transmission. Alzheimer’s disease—the progressive brain disorder that is the nation’s sixth leading cause of death—is believed to start with such breakdowns. As the disease progresses, amyloid beta peptides clump together to form plaques that further destroy nerve function.

Studying the beginnings of Alzheimer’s is nearly impossible in humans because by the time the disease is diagnosed, most patients have moved into its later stages. Researchers at NIST have developed a laboratory model that recreates a simplified version of the nerve cell membrane, allowing the study of Alzheimer’s disease mechanisms at the molecular level. A clever piece of molecular-level design, the system is built by first covering a silica surface with gold. Sulfur atoms, which bond well to gold, are then added to act as anchors to hold the bilayer membrane. The result is a stable, tethered membrane with an aqueous environment on both sides that accurately models the behavior of the nerve cell membrane.

A collaborative team of researchers from NIST, Carnegie Mellon University, the University of California-Irvine and the Biochemistry Institute (BCHI) in Vilnius, Lithuania, exposed the membrane model to different concentrations of a specific form of amyloid beta peptides comprised of soluble, tiny (5-6 nanometers, approximately twice the diameter of a DNA helix) chains. The researchers found increased cation movement across the normally strong barrier at the higher concentrations of the peptides. The data support the hypothesis that membrane “leakiness” is not due to a permanent hole being formed but rather to an aggregation of amyloid beta peptides in the membrane that allows cations to be passed from peptide to peptide across the bilayer, like a baton handed off by relay runners.

Press release: NIST Membrane Model May Unlock Secrets of Early-Stage Alzheimer's

Image: Diagram of NIST's “tethered bilayer membrane” model shows the silica surface covered with gold at the bottom. Sulfur atoms (yellow spheres) bind to the gold and act as anchors for the tethers, chains of atoms extending up to the lipid bilayer membrane at the top of the structure. Credit: NIST

The FDA has given clearance to Osmetech's eSensor Warfarin Sensitivity Test, which checks for three genetic markers in a patient's DNA that are linked to greater sensitivity to the anti-coagulant.
Warfarin is the most widely prescribed oral anticoagulant in North America and Europe with an estimated 2 million new patients in the US each year. Warfarin is the second-most-likely drug, after Digoxin, to cause adverse events requiring hospitalization. A recent economic study (Brookings Institute, November 2006) concluded that widespread use of warfarin sensitivity testing in the U.S. could avoid 85,000 serious-bleeding events and 17,000 strokes a year, saving healthcare costs of approximately $1.1 billion annually and improving patient care.

Our eSensor Warfarin Sensitivity Test detects the three genetic markers that are known to play a critical role in metabolism of, and sensitivity to, warfarin. Through detection of these genetic markers, doctors are better able to accurately and efficiently determine the appropriate warfarin dosage level. Individuals respond to warfarin differently, and if its administration is not managed carefully, life threatening side effects may occur. Last year, the FDA cleared updated labeling for Coumadin® (generic name warfarin) recognizing the role of CYP2C9 and VCORC1 genes in warfarin metabolism.
Press release: FDA clears Osmetech's Warfarin Sensitivity Test and new eSensor® XT-8 platform

Canon is releasing its new portable X-ray detector, the CXDI-60G, to the US market.

From Canon's press release:
The Canon CXDI-60G Portable Flat Panel Detector succeeds the Company's popular CXDI-31, the world's first portable cassette-type DR system, introduced in September 2001. Offering a more ergonomic and portable form than its predecessor, the CXDI-60G Portable Flat Panel Detector realizes a new level of freedom and immediacy for diagnosis in the X-ray room and beyond. Thin, lightweight and robust, the CXDI-60G Portable Flat Panel Detector offers true portability and flexibility in high-quality DR. Added benefits include low power consumption and a detachable sensor cable for convenient maintenance and installation. The model's detachable sensor cable, which provides power to the unit and transfers data, enables easy room-to-room installation from multiple locations such as the patient's bedside or wheelchair, trauma or ICU (with an optional power box and PC) and fits right into most neo-natal incubator trays.

Weighing just 5.9 pounds and measuring less than an inch thick, the lightweight and slim-body Canon CXDI-60G Portable Flat Panel Detector offers an effective imaging area of 9 x 11 inches, accommodating a diverse range of applications, including the X-raying of hands, elbows, feet and knees, among the most common orthopedic examinations. Enabling X-ray images to be confirmed on an optional preview monitor approximately three seconds after exposure, the system contributes to timely and effective patient care.

Additionally, Canon's proprietary control software, which supports enhanced image-processing performance, contributes to increased diagnostic accuracy by making possible X-ray images optimized for the area being examined. Images can be transmitted almost immediately over the hospital network to other workstations and printers, and can be archived for fast and easy data sharing.

Press release: CANON U.S.A. EXPANDS ITS LINE OF DIGITAL RADIOGRAPHY OFFERINGS WITH THE INTRODUCTION OF THE CANON CXDI-60G PORTABLE DIGITAL RADIOGRAPHY SYSTEM

Product brochure: CXDI-60g

When they were students at the University of Illinois, Ricky Biddle, Eric Larson and Ben Shao decided to do something for the disabled athletes involved in wheelchair basketball. This sport is inherently dangerous, and injuries resulting from collisions are frequent. The other intrinsic problem is the need for participants to use hands not only to dribble the ball but to control the wheelchair. So the three chaps teamed up with Austin Cliffe, another designer, and have come up with a prototype Balance Sport Wheelchair, now Gold winner of the 2008 International Design Excellence Award in Medical & Scientific Concepts category.

Ricky Biddle gave us the following explanation:

The design solution uses a braking system that is activated by the user’s movements in an intuitive way. To turn, the player leans in the desired direction. To stop, the player simply leans back.

Every athlete is different. Add a wheelchair to the equation and these disparities multiply exponentially. On top of size differences, personal preferences and so on, wheelchair athletes also have different injuries and unique challenges and mobility limitations associated with their injury. This meant designing a solution that would meet the needs of people with varying levels of skills and abilities.

After testing simple mechanisms and methods of braking, it became clear that the brakes and the leaning mechanism would have to be extremely flexible and be able to be tuned to accommodating the various needs and preferences of players. Disc brakes allow for adjustability that is as simple as turning a dial and for independent adjustment of the left and right wheels. The disc brake system isolates most of the contributing variables of what could be a complicated braking system into two small, easily adjustable units.

The designers spent a great deal of time and effort addressing the points of rotation to find the optimal ergonomic solution. In an attempt to aid players with mobility only from the shoulder up, the left-to-right point of rotation was placed at the middle of the back in prototypes, but it quickly became apparent that this solution was too sensitive. A very slight lean could cause the brakes to engage suddenly, and players with limited means to control their leaning would be jostled around in a jerky turn. What should have been one smooth action became several shorter brake, brake, brake motions. After many attempts to dial this in, it became apparent such a short throw was more of a detriment than an aid to players with low mobility. We observed that left-to-right leaning by athletes with greater mobility involved a shifting of weight from one buttocks cheek to the other. This resulted in a linkage type of rotation, rather than the one-point center rotation that we had considered. We placed two pivot points under the seat. The longer throw also results in a less touchy mechanism, giving players of all abilities a smoother lean/turn braking operation. Two points of left and right rotation add further to the adjustable resistance of the leaning resistance.

The leaning of the seat back to actuate the brakes also allows for adjustable resistance for athletes of different abilities. Player with little mobility can set a high resistance of their seat’s lean and adjust their brake resistance to allow very slight movement to give them the desired braking and turning response. Players with more mobility, on the other hand, may prefer a looser setting to allow their upper body to move more freely and fluidly without inadvertently braking or turning.

If you would like to learn more about the wheelchair, Ricky Biddle's contact info can be found here...

When you fail to drill in the heart, you go offshore. Apparently, that's what Kirkland, Washington-based Pathway Medical Technologies has done. After the company failed to implement its atherectomy system for coronaries back in 2004, the company pressed ahead, and now it is apparently in possession of a brand new FDA approval for Pathway PV™ Atherectomy System, a peripheral blood vessel clearing device that scrapes and aspirates the gunk at the same time.

Xconomy Seattle is reporting:

Pathway's FDA application was based on a study of 172 patients in Europe, which found that its device sliced through rock-hard calcium and squishier blockages without tearing or poking any holes in vessel walls. Three patients developed clots or debris that required treatment, which contributed to a serious adverse event rate of 2.9 percent. The effectiveness was eye-opening. Arteries of patients went from 89 percent blocked on average at the beginning of the study to 39 percent clogged after the Pathway device was used, according to data presented in October at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics conference in Washington D.C.

The arteries apparently stay open, too. After six months of follow-up, only about 14 percent of patients required a second procedure, Clement says, compared with about half of patients after traditional balloon angioplasty.

More from Xconomy Seattle...

Video animation of the device in action...

Product page: Pathway PV™ Atherectomy System...

Varian Medical Systems out of Palo Alto, California has announced that its new RapidArc™ intensity-modulated stereotactic radiotherapy machine has been used for the first time on a patient with a soft tissue tumor in his thigh.

RapidArc makes it possible to quickly deliver an advanced image-guided, intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) treatment with one 360 degree rotation of the treatment machine around the patient. In this case, however, Scarbrough [Todd Scarbrough, M.D., radiation oncologist and director of the Melbourne Internal Medical Associates, Florida --ed.] and his team designed a treatment that was delivered with just half a rotation around the patient.

"The tumor was near the surface of his thigh, so a full arc would have exposed too much of his normal leg to the treatment beam," Scarbrough said.

Scarbrough's team planned the RapidArc treatment using Varian's Eclipse™ treatment planning software, which allowed them to visualize how the dose would be distributed within the patient's leg. "The RapidArc plan gave us a dose distribution that was superior to what we could have achieved with traditional IMRT," Scarbrough said. "Eclipse made it easy to create a plan that would avoid the previously-irradiated tissues. We just superimposed the dose distribution from his earlier treatments onto the new CT scans, created a structure out of that area, and instructed the software to avoid it as if it were a critical organ. It was very easy to do."

Stereotactic body radiotherapy involves delivering higher-than-usual doses of radiation to a tumor over a shorter-than-usual timeframe. It requires great accuracy and precision, both in terms of targeting and in terms of beam shaping, to minimize the exposure of surrounding tissues. MIMA's RapidArc protocol achieves the necessary level of precision. 3-D X-ray images of the targeted area are used to fine-tune patient positioning prior to each treatment. Then, as the treatment machine rotates around the patient, the treatment beam is continually shaped and reshaped to match the dimensions of the tumor.

Press release: MIMA Cancer Center Becomes First in World to Treat Soft Tissue Carcinoma With Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy Using RapidArc™ Radiotherapy Technology...

Product page: RapidArc™ Radiotherapy...

Product brochure (.pdf)...

Barco, a Belgian firm that makes various visualization devices, is proud of the sales success its diagnostic display has created. And this is not without reason, as the monitor boasts a 3280 x 2048 native resolution and the following features:

Multi-modality PACS imaging The Diagnostic Luminance system delivers a DICOM-calibrated luminance of 800 cd/m², allowing for simultaneous reading of color, grayscale and fused modalities. Coronal views, for instance, can now be combined with smaller MIPS and volume rendered images on the same screen to facilitate diagnostic decisions.

Diagnostic precision
The integrated ULT of Coronis Fusion 6MP DL distributes the brightness equally over the entire 30-inch screen surface. Supported by an intelligent backlight design, this reduces non-uniformities caused by the LCD as well as the backlight to less than 10%. As a result, all images comply perfectly to the DICOM standard, no matter where they are positioned on the screen.

Automated Quality Assurance
The latest version of MediCal QAWeb, combined with the unique I-Guard sensor, ensures fully automated image Quality Assurance with no need for human intervention. MediCal QAWeb tracks, maintains and logs viewing performance, automates QA tasks, initiates display system calibration and establishes an accurate DICOM Look-Up Table calibration.

Increased performance
The new Coronis Fusion 6MP DL display system is driven by a high-speed MXRT display controller, specifically designed to support 3D PACS applications with 30-bit color precision. As a result, Coronis Fusion 6MP DL is ready for the latest 3D CT, MR and PET applications in combination with standard 2D PACS reading.

From a recent press release by the company:

The system introduces the world’s first seamless 30-inch color LCD that can be used either as two seamless 3 MegaPixel heads or as one wide-screen 6 MegaPixel display. This makes it possible for radiologists to read chest X-ray, CT, MR, cath and echo cardiogram images, or any other combination, side by side on a single diagnostic screen. This wide-screen LCD screen is combined with a high-performance display controller and an online system for automated softcopy Quality Assurance, resulting in a turnkey solution for PACS imaging.

In their search for the preferred softcopy display solution, the Beatrix Hospital set up a steering group that brought together the radiology department, a Clinical Physicist and an external consultancy company.

Press release: Barco's 6 MegaPixel diagnostic display system gains wide acceptance...

Product page: Coronis Fusion 6MP Diagnostic Luminance...

Metallic nanoparticles that can locate and attach to specific tumor cells have been developed before. Now a team from Georgia Institute of Technology managed to use magnetite and cobalt nanoparticles to not only attach, but to utilize them as magnets, to pull the nanoparticle along with the cancer cell it is riding on, hence to sort and to sieve malignant from normal cells .

From the article abstract:

Magnetic cobalt spinel ferrite nanoparticles coated with biocompatible polygalacturonic acid were functionalized with ligands specific for targeting expressed EphA2 receptors on ovarian cancer cells. By using such magnetic nanoparticle−peptide conjugates, targeting and extraction of malignant cells were achieved with a magnetic field. Targeting ovarian cancer cells with receptor specific peptide-modified magnetic nanoparticles resulted in cell capture from a flow stream in vitro and from the peritoneal cavity of mice in vivo. Successful removal of metastatic cancer cells from the abdominal cavity and circulation using magnetic nanoparticle conjugates indicate the feasibility of a dialysis-like treatment and may improve long-term survival rates of ovarian cancer patients. This approach can be applied for fighting other cancers, such as leukemia, once the receptors on malignant cells are identified and the efficacy of targeting ligands is established.

Abstract in J. Am. Chem. Soc....

Image: In red are nanoparticles coated with a tumor targeting peptide attached to an ovarian cancer cell. Credit: J. Am. Chem. Soc. Copyright 2008 American Chemical Society

More from MIT Technology Review..

Actually, it's all pretty innocent. A Swiss company called GenePartner has launched its dating service designed to match men and women based on the correlation of genes that express the HLA (human leukocyte antigen) molecules. And why? Well, there is evidence that people tend to choose a partner on the basis of their HLA-dependent odortype. (Matching of HLA antigens is also important for organ transplantation.)

More about the concept behind the service:

The GenePartner project was inspired by a famous study performed by Prof. Dr. Wedekind at the University of Bern in Switzerland. In this study, Prof. Dr. Wedekind recruited female volunteers to smell T-shirts worn by men for three consecutive days and rate them for attractiveness. He then analyzed the particular part of DNA that codes for HLA (human leukocyte antigen) molecules and found that women preferred T-shirts from men whose HLA molecules were most different from their own. Sensing and classifying the HLA genes is something our bodies do automatically and subconsciously.

HLA molecules play a central role in controlling the activation of immunological effectors during an immune response and are therefore essential for immune resistance. A greater variety in HLA genes offers a greater variety in possible immune responses. In terms of evolution, this makes perfect sense: children of couples with a higher variety in their HLA genes (and hence, immune responses) will have better protection from a greater variety of diseases. Simply put, this means that their body has more weapons to use in its defence against a disease. An important additional effect is that comparing HLA genes can help identify kinship and prevent potential inbreeding.

In 2003, the GenePartner team decided to take this discovery one step further and see if there are specific patterns of HLA genes that "attract" each other more. In collaboration with the Swiss Institute for Behavioural Genetics, we tested a large number of individuals (both romantically involved couples and persons not in a relationship) for their HLA genes. The results were astounding and led to the development of a formula that combines the diversity factor studied by Prof. Dr. Wedekind, together with several other evolutionary factors researched and developed by the Swiss Institute for Behavioral Genetics.

The GenePartner formula measures the genetic compatibility between two individuals and makes an accurate prediction of the strength of their basis for a long-lasting and fulfilling romantic relationship.

GenePartner..

Hat tip: ScienceRoll!

Hamilton Medical's G5 Ventilator has just been recognized by the Industrial Designers Society of America with the 2008 IDEA award. The society has in particular stressed the device as "the first ICU patient ventilator to provide a new ventilation cockpit that is designed to improve safety through intuitive operation and monitoring. Closed-loop ventilation automatically applies lung-protective strategies, reduces the risk of operator error and promotes early weaning off the machine."

More about this product from company's page:

The new HAMILTON-G5 ICU ventilator was designed to be simpler for the user and safer for the patient. Rather than bringing you even more curves and loops, its Ventilation Cockpit™ integrates complex data into intuitive graphics that answer two essential questions:

* What is my patient's lung condition, and what kind of ventilation do they need?
* When should I take my patient off the ventilator?

* Ventilates virtually all intubated patients - whether active or passive and regardless of their lung disease – based on a ventilation strategy tailored to their individual condition (Arnal JM et al. Int Care Med 2004;30:84)

* Is more responsive than conventional modes in adapting to the patient's breathing activity (Petter AH et al. Anesth Analg 2003;97:1743-50)

* Requires fewer user interactions and gives fewer alarms (Petter AH et al. Anesth Analg 2003;97:1743-50)

* Facilitates shorter ventilation times (Sulzer CF et al. Anesthesiology 2001;95:1339-45, Cassina T et al. J Cartiothorac Vasc Anesth 2003;17:571-75)

* Provides ventilation at least as safely and effectively as international ventilation experts using conventional modes (Iotti GA et al. Int Care Med 2005;31:192)

Online simulator of the ventilator you can play with...

Product page: HAMILTON MEDICAL: g5...

2008 IDEA award details...

Here's a follow up on our post from April. The FDA has given Israel's Exalenz the go-ahead to proceed with Phase III clinical trial to test the company's BreathID system for diagnosing liver disease. The device uses something called Molecular Correlation Spectroscopy which uses 12CO2 and 13CO2 discharging lamps to detect the ratio of carbon 12 and carbon 13 isotopes.

The trial will include 412 patients at 12 large medical centers in the US as well as at Hadassah Medical Organization in Jerusalem. Exalenz says that it believes that this is the largest clinical trial of its kind ever conducted by an Israeli company. The trial aims at replicating the results of the Phase II clinical trial in Israel and Europe, which was completed a few months ago.

Here's a video overview of the BreathID system:

Press release: FDA approves Exalenz Liver Trial (.pdf)...

BreathID technology page...

Israel21C has a video of the ReWalk exoskeleton system, from Argo Medical Technologies, for people with paralyzed legs. We profiled the system back in March, and we thought this video would be interesting to see the device in action:

From Israel21C:

ReWalk comprises a light wearable brace support suit which integrates DC motors at the joint, rechargeable batteries, an array of sensors and a computer-based control system. It fits the body snugly to detect upper body movements, which are used to initiate and maintain the walking process. Wearers also use crutches for stability and safety.

ReWalk is undergoing clinical trials in Israel at the Rehabilitation Hospital at Chaim Sheba Medical Center - Tel Hashomer, with pilots planned for rehab centers in Holland and Italy. A US trial is scheduled to begin in November at the Moss Rehabilitation Center in Philadelphia, after which Argo will apply for FDA regulatory approval.

Argo's demo video features team member Radi Kioff, a 40-year-old Druze Israeli citizen who was shot in the back while serving in the Israel Defense Forces during the first Lebanon War. Ironically, the man who devised the system that allows Kioff to walk cannot benefit from his own invention. A quadriplegic, Amit Goffer has only partial use of his hands, but not enough to operate the ReWalk.

More at ISRAEL21c...

Product page: ReWalk

Flashback: ReWalk Exoskeleton

MIT Tech Review is profiling the work of Dr. Gil Alterovitz, a research fellow at the Harvard Medical School and MIT, to use mathematical methods to convert DNA information of gene expression into "music", the harmony of which would indicate potential problems or lack thereof.

From MIT Tech Review:

Alterovitz employed mathematical modeling to determine relationships between physiological signals. Much like the various systems in an automobile, many physiological signs work in synchrony to keep a body healthy. "These signals [are] not isolated parts," says Alterovitz. "Like in a car, one gear is working with other gears to control, for example, power steering. Similarly, there are lots of correlations between physiological variables. If heart rate is higher, other variables will move together in response, and you can simplify that redundancy and information."

Using data collected from a study of protein expression in colon cancer, Alterovitz analyzed more than three thousand related proteins involved in the disease. He whittled down the thousands of proteins to four key networks, using various genetic databases that catalog relationships between genes and proteins. He then assigned a note to each network, and together, these notes formed a harmonic chord. He compared the "music" of normal, healthy human data sets to that of the colon-cancer samples and found that, according to his model, colon cancer sounded "inharmonious."

We can't wait to karaoke along with colon cancer cells!

Here's audio and video from the project demonstrating the system...

More at the MIT Technology Review...

Researchers from University of Wisconsin-Madison with the help of creative minds from Italy's Rezzonico Design have created an ultrasound probe with a more ergonomic shape, which may take a lot of the pain out of being a sonographer. The device won a Silver from the 2008 International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) in the Medical & Scientific category.

From IDEA:

The appleprobe is an ultrasound transducer probe that can be held with a traditional pincer grip as well as in a new way that follows the natural alignment of the hand and wrist. Sonographers often experience repetitive strain injuries in their hands and wrists that are believed to be caused by the pinching and pushing of the pincer grip. This dual grip allows sonographers to switch the way they hold the ultrasound transducer throughout the exam and throughout the day, reducing discomfort and injuries.

Here's a PDF brochure about the appleprobe:

IDEA award details...

We are very proud to unveil a new web service called Medpolitics.com, a blogging site open to US physicians to opine on healthcare, public health, politics of medicine, and the state of our profession. The time seems perfect considering that healthcare is such a hot debate topic, and many doctors feel that we should have a stronger voice in the debate. We figured we know a thing or two about blogging and healthcare. So why not build a service where doctors write their political thoughts and others read them and comment? We hope that one day politicians, policy makers, news makers, and others will be checking it out to see what the doctors actually think on the important medical policy issues.

So we registered the domain, installed a user-friendly publishing software, and gave it some testing. The site is now ready to go, all without any significant investments (except for our time) or outside funding. In other words, 100% independent political network for doctors.

Some features of the website: WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) blog editor, drag and drop picture uploading, social networking (make friends, establish contacts), bookmarking, event announcements, polls creation, and much more. The publishing on Medpolitics is as easy as writing an email: no knowledge of HTML is necessary. Again, the site is open for blogging to US physicians only, and everyone else can follow the debate and comment. We have a person on staff to treat everyone who signs up the old fashioned way, "like a doctor." That means continuous support, a phone number to call for help or to explain how to do something, and the utmost attention to all your requests. What blogging platform will do that for you?

We are not looking for thousands of members, but just for some of you that care for the future of our profession and have the desire to have your opinions heard. So let's see if the experiment will work, and whether we can get some of the quiet voices out. Sign up now, and if you have that Blogger account that gets drowned in a sea of chatter, move it and join other physicians. A few voices together are definitely louder than individuals scattered all over.

If you have any questions, please get in touch with us via this contact form.

See you in the debate halls of Medpolitics.com!

The Allen Institute for Brain Science is making publicly available its genome-wide map of expressions of spinal cord genes.

From the institute:

Since mice and humans share 90 percent of genes, and the mouse is a well-established model for the study of human diseases, the Allen Spinal Cord Atlas will provide scientists and physicians with an expanded foundation of knowledge to discover new treatments for numerous diseases and disorders. The Allen Spinal Cord Atlas will utilize the same concept and technology as the Institute’s inaugural Allen Brain Atlas.

From start to finish, the Allen Spinal Cord Atlas will be completed within a swift, twelve-month timeframe. While inaugural data—approximately 2,000 genes—from the Allen Spinal Cord Atlas is now available, the Institute will continue to follow its founding mission and upload additional information until the projected completion in early 2009. It is estimated that hundreds of users from universities, research institutes, pharmaceutical companies and government organizations will use the atlas.

When completed, the Allen Spinal Cord Atlas will detail approximately 20,000 genes including data from youth and adult developmental stages. It will also feature data across the full length of the spinal cord as well as anatomical reference sections.

Press release: ALLEN INSTITUTE FOR BRAIN SCIENCE UNVEILS WORLD'S FIRST GENOME-WIDE SPINAL CORD ATLAS (PDF)

Allen Spinal Cord Atlas...

Image: Slide cartridges from the Allen Spinal Cord Atlas being sorted.