Science and Enterprise

Category: Regulations

  • Chemical Brush Offers Tooth Cavity Filling Alternative

    Engineers at University of Missouri and spin-off company Nanova Inc. in Columbia, Missouri plan to soon begin clinical trials of a device to painlessly replace tooth fillings. Research and development of the plasma brush, as the device is called, was funded by National Science Foundation and Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants from National Institutes…

  • FDA Approves Cardiac Device for Children Awaiting Transplant

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday approved the Excor Pediatric System, a device to support children with heart failure until a donor for a heart transplant can be found. The device is made by Berlin Heart GmbH in Germany and The Woodlands, Texas. The Excor Pediatric System is an external heart pump…

  • FDA, Ohio Consortium to Partner on Biomaterials Regulations

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron (ABIA) are collaborating on the development of regulations affecting biomaterials in medical devices. The consortium of Akron, Ohio area hospitals, universities, and foundations signed the partnership agreement with FDA yesterday. The FDA and ABIA established the partnership to develop the research protocols…

  • Technique Devised for Lowest Greenhouse Emissions Routing

    Engineers from University at Buffalo in New York have developed a technique to route drivers to their destinations while minimizing their cars’ greenhouse gas emissions. The study involved simulations of traffic in the Buffalo/Niagara Falls region, but could be applied to today’s GPS systems in the near future, according to the researchers. Buffalo engineering professor…

  • Clinical Trial Tests New Cancer Radiation Treatment

    A clinical study by Lawson Health Research Institute in London, Ontario, Canada is testing a new form of radiation therapy to treat cancerous tumors. The phase 2 trial aims to gauge effectiveness of stereotactic ablative radiotherapy or SABR on cancer patients in Canada and Europe. SABR delivers large concentrated doses of radiotherapy to precise areas,…

  • Scientists Finding Problems Accessing Stem Cell Lines

    A survey conducted by Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta of U.S. researchers working with stem cells suggests many scientists face road blocks, including rejected access, trying to acquire human embryonic stem cell lines. Results of the survey were published in the December issue of the journal Nature Biotechnology (paid subscription required). The survey of…

  • Treatment Developed for Immune Systems of Chemo Patients

    Researchers from University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia have devised a treatment to repair the immune systems of leukemia patients undergoing chemotherapy using the patients’ own infection-fighting cells. The findings from the team that included participants from M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and Baylor College of Medicine in Houston were presented yesterday at the annual meeting of…

  • Commercial TB Tests Turn Up High False-Positive Rates

    Tests of three commercially available tests to diagnose the presence of latent tuberculosis turned up false positive results in a majority of positive cases on at least one of the tests. James Mancuso of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, with colleagues from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and Otsuka Pharmaceuticals,…

  • New Wireless Sensor Detects Bacterial Beach Contamination

    Engineers from an environmental technology company and Johns Hopkins University have developed a wireless, autonomous sensor that can detect E. coli outbreaks at beaches and drinking water sources. The team headed by Jeffrey Talley, president of Environmental Technology Solutions in Gilbert, Arizona and adjunct professor of engineering at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, published its…

  • Fuel Economy Standards Create Incentives for Larger Vehicles

    A University of Michigan engineering/economics study discovers incentives in the new Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for auto makers to build larger vehicles allowed to meet lower targets. The work of former Michigan design doctoral student Kate Whitefoot, now with the National Academy of Engineering, appears online in the journal Energy Policy (paid subscription…