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Guidelines Show Safe MRIs with Implanted Cardiac Devices
Research conducted in the U.S. and Israel indicates that patients with implanted cardiac devices can safely undergo MRI scans, when a specified protocol is followed. The results of the study appear in the 4 October issue of the journal Annals of Internal Medicine (paid subscription required). Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has been considered off limits…
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Brand-Name Statin Use Tied to High Cost of Unneeded Care
Researchers from medical centers in New York and San Francisco found that nearly 87 percent of the estimated $6.7 billion spent in one year on unnecessary tests or medications in primary care, is consumed by brand-name statins to treat high cholesterol. The findings appear in a research letter in the 1 October online issue of…
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Continuous Imaging Petri Dish Based on Smartphone Technology
A team of engineers and biologists at California Institute of Technology in Pasadena have designed a petri dish that can continuously capture images of growing cell cultures. Called ePetri, the developers describe the device online this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Petri dishes, used to grow cell cultures such…
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Low-Cost Tablet Gets Hands-On Tests in Indian Schools
Researchers have tested in India an electronic tablet device designed in the U.S. and Singapore for widespread use in Indian schools. The I-slate is being developed at the Institute for Sustainable and Applied Infodynamics (ISAID), a joint program of Rice University in Houston, Texas and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. The device, still a…
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Spanish Institute Spin-Off to Develop Cancer Diagnostics
A new company spun off from the Institute of Research in Biomedicine in Barcelona, Spain (IRB Barcelona), will develop a diagnostic kit and treatments for breast cancer metastasis. Supragen is founded and commercializes research by Roger Gomis (pictured right), group leader of IRB Barcelona’s Growth Control and Cancer Metastasis lab. The lab investigates growth factors,…
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U.S. Patent Awarded for Flexible Spinal Fusion Device
FBC Device ApS, a medical device company in Aarhus, Denmark, has received a U.S. patent for its two-piece disc implants that help spinal surgery patients achieve a more natural alignment. Patent 8,007,536 from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office was officially awarded on 30 August. The invention covers the company’s technology for total disc replacement,…
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New On Technorati: Friendly to What Business?
High paying jobs are being created in large numbers right here in the U.S., and in places where the so-called experts say they’re not supposed to happen. If states want the big bucks from big brains and the benefits they bring, then they need to make the work being done and people doing the work…
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GE, Nissan Partner on E-Car Power Infrastructure R&D
Nissan Motor Company and General Electric have signed a two-year research collaboration to speed up development of a smart charging infrastructure to promote mass market adoption of electric cars. Nissan is the maker of the Leaf, one of the first electric vehicles on the market in the U.S. The companies have identified two key topics…
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Small Business Grant Awarded for Bone Marrow Protection Drug
A company in Chapel Hill, North Carolina has received a $3 million grant from NIH to commercialize a therapy to protect bone marrow in cancer patients against damage from chemo and radiation therapy. G-Zero Therapeutics received the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The award to…
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Nanoparticle Size Affects Hydrogen Release in Fuel Cells
Researchers at Delft University of Technology and VU University Amsterdam in the Netherlands have shown that the size of a metal alloy nanoparticle influences the speed with which hydrogen gas is released when stored in a metal compound containing hydrogen. The team led by Delft materials scientist Bernard Dam published its findings in the October…