Highlights:+90° and -90° tiltingUnmatched variable height from 38 to 148 cmUnmatched patient coveragePatient weight up to 310 kgAutopositioning regarding each protocolMotorized: Automatic positioning, collimation, filtration, parametersSmart access for secure patient transferIntuitive user interfaceWireless IR remoteSecondary consoleDSAStitchingTomosynthesisDose optimization with virtual…
HighlightsThe worlds first twin robotic X-ray scannerSet new standards in advanced musculoskeletal and trauma imagingOptional with Real3D and True2scale imagingPrecise insights through unique automationEfficient workflows around your patientsComprehensive diagnoses with multiple proceduresUnlock the potential of your X-ray department with Fleet Level BenefitsDetector size:43 × 43 cm (RAX…
Highlights+90° and -90° tiltingUnmatched variable height from 38 to 148 cmUnmatched patient coveragePatient weight up to 310 kgAutopositioning regarding each protocolMotorized: Automatic positioning, collimation, filtration, parametersSmart access for secure patient transferIntuitive user interfaceWireless IR remoteSecondary consoleDSA / stitching / tomosynthesisDose optimization with…
HighlightsUnmatched patient coveragePatient weight up to 310 kgAutopositioning regarding each protocolSmart access for secure patient transferDose optimization with virtual collimation, additional filtration, video camera ...Intuitive user interfaceWireless remoteSecondary consoleDSA / stitching / tomosynthesisSecond tubestand and additional detectorsMotorized: Automatic positioning, collimation,…
HighlightsCompact and cost-effective system for all the needs of radiographic and R/F imagingUp to 180 cm Source to Image DistanceOblique projections at table edges and electronic tomographyNew touch screen control console with integrated intercom system and smart-touch joysticks Easy patient positioning system through integrated cameraPossibility to perform stitching exam with portable…
HighlightsPremium remote controlled system for full clinical coverage in R/F applicationsUp to 180 cm Source to Image DistanceOblique projections at table edges and electronic tomographyNew touch screen control console with integrated intercom system and smart-touch joysticks Easy patient positioning system through integrated cameraPossibility to perform stitching exam with portable wireless…
HighlightsPremium digital remote controlled system with OPEN tabletop, allowing 4-side access to the patientNew tomosynthesis functionTouch screen collimatorNew touch screen control console with integrated intercom system and smart-touch joysticksSimplified patient positioning system through integrated cameraAvailable with DSA and stitching optionsDetector size: 43 × 43 cm
HighlightsCompact and cost-effective digital system for all the needs of radiographic and R/F imagingNew tomosynthesis functionTouch screen collimatorNew touch screen control console with integrated intercom system and smart-touch joysticksSimplified patient positioning system through integrated cameraAvailable with DSA and stitching optionsDetector size: 43 × 43 cm
HighlightsPremium digital remote controlled system for full clinical coverage in R/F applications New tomosynthesis function New borderless tabletop and touch screen collimator New touch screen control console with integrated intercom system and smart-touch joysticks Simplified patient positioning system through integrated camera Availablable with DSA and stitching…
HighlightsThe Xantara system is designed to provide maximum flexibility for all types of exam rooms and for all types of examsFrom the clean, sleek lines of the design, to the simplified all-in-one control console, to the mechanical ergonomics and elegance, the Xantara is the remote controlled table solution like you’ve never seen beforeSource-to-imager distance 180 cmFour-way movement of…
HighlightsResult of years of experience and best-seller among RF systemsConfigurable for a wide range of applicationsCompact and ergonomic design for an easy placementDual Grid System for the selection of the most appropriate gridDose reduction, intuitive gesture and post-processing functions to improve diagnostic examsStitching and advanced imaging procedures (DSA, Dual Energy and Tomosynthesis)
HighlightsAdvanced intelligent Clear-IQ Engine (AiCE)Artificial intelligence in scanning and processingPUREViSION low dose detector0.5 s rotation2 cm coverageUp to 32 slices / rotationSUREPosition patient centring300 kg patient tableSEMAR (Metal Artefact Reduction)vHP, variable helical parametersSUREStart iterative bolus trackingIterative 3D Fluoro
Highlights• General radiography (abdominal / skeletal).• Non-vascular contrast-enhanced studies of the spine, intervertebral disks, joint cavities, biliary tract, nerve block procedures, etc.• Non-vascular IVR(ERCP, PTC, biopsy, ileus tube, etc.).• Angiography (abdomen, shoulders, upper / slower trunk and cervical spine, etc.).• Vascular IVR (simple angioplasty,…
HighlightsUnmatched patient coveragePatient weight up to 310 kgAutopositioning regarding each protocolSmart access for secure patient transferDose optimization with virtual collimation, additional filtration, video camera ...Intuitive user interfaceWireless IR remoteSecondary consoleDSAStitchingTomosynthesisSecond tubestand and additional detectorsMotorized: Automatic positioning, collimation,…
HighlightsThe Ultimax-i system provides a multipurpose digital X-ray system with a tilting C-arm table for multipurpose diagnostic applications and interventional radiology.An additional ceiling mounted X-ray tube can be combined.This system can be used for a wide variety of clinical applications.Optional 55 inch monitor•Detector size: 43 × 43 cm
HighlightsStronger synergies – with a true 2-in-1 solutionSharper imaging – for fast, confident diagnosisSafer use – to protect patients and technologistsDetector size:43 × 43 cm (MAX detector)35 × 43 cm (MAX wi-D)24 × 30 cm (MAX mini)Unlock the potential of your X-ray department with Fleet Level BenefitsYsio Max options: Fully integrated ceiling-suspended…
HighlightsPremium R/F system with dynamic flat panel detector 2nd tube option for multi purpose room solution SID 180 cm option Bariatric functionality Real-time image enhancement processing technology Tomosynthesis and T-smartSlot radiography Angiography option (real-time and motion-tolerant RSM-DSA) Comprehensive dose management package Size:…
HighlightsStronger synergies – with a true 2-in-1 solution for radiography and fluoroscopySharper imaging – for fast, confident diagnosis with a large 43×43 cm Max dynamic detectorSafer use – to protect patients and technologists with a 48 cm minimum table height, full patient access from all sides and SmartTouchUnlock the potential of your X-ray department with Fleet…
HighlightsWireless dynamic FPD for various studies from head to toeOutstanding digital image qualityGreat flexbility throught smart modular technology2nd tube option for multi purpose room solutionSize: 17 × 17” (42 × 43 cm)17 × 14” (43 × 35 cm)14 × 11” (35 × 27 cm)* Product is not available in all countries.
HighlightsRevolutionary RF system with 13 degrees of freedomCantilevered adjustable height table to improve system accessibilityExecution of exams in direct contact with the unconstrained detectorEasy execution of lateral and oblique projectionsAutofocusing Grid solution for the best focalizationIntuitive interface, fast workflow and high image quality in any standard and advanced…
HighlightsUsable with different detectors:XR – Radiography/ Fluoroscopy /DentalXM – MammographyDCT10-MM – Ionization Chamber for CTMeasurement parameter:Dose / dose rate – dose per pulse – kVp / PPV –time –total filtration – HVL – wave form – dose, dose rate length product for CT
HighlightsArtis zee multi-purpose is designed to meet the demands of interventional radiology and fluoroscopy. The system left suspension meets the needs of endoscopic applications in gastroenterologyDetector: 30 × 40 (1,920 × 2,480 pixels), 154 μmErgonomic system controls for smooth table-side operation2k imaging with highly practical and user-friendly handling features3D…
Highlights70 cm FOV85 cm extended FOVArtificial intelligence in scanning and processingAIDR 3D iterative reconstructionPUREViSION low dose detector0.5 s rotation3.2 cm coverageUp to 32 slices/rotation300 kg patient tableSEMAR (Metal Artefact Reduction)SUREStart iterative bolus trackingRespiratory gatingIterative 3D FluoroOncology table top
HighlightsAdvanced Intelligent Clear-IQ Engine (AiCE)Artificial intelligence in scanning and processing PUREVision Optics imaging chain0.275 s rotation16 cm coverage640 slices/rotation0.17 mm spatial resolutionSUREPosition patient centringLateral table movement 300 kg patient tableSuper resolution cardiac imaging (PIQE)Spectral imaging with zero temporal offsetIsophasic organ…
HighlightsAdvanced Intelligent Clear-IQ Engine (AiCE)Artificial intelligence in scanning and processingPUREViSION Optics imaging chain0.23 mm spatial resolution0.35 s rotation4 cm coverageUp to 160 slices / rotationSUREPosition patient centringLateral table movement300 kg patient tableSEMAR (Metal Artefact Reduction)Iterative 3D FluoroLow dose cardiac scanning
Highlights Advanced Intelligent Clear-IQ Engine (AiCE)Artificial intelligence in scanning and processingPUREVISION low dose detector0.25 mm spatial resolution0.5 s rotation4 cm coverageUp to 160 slices / rotationSUREPosition patient centringLateral table movement300 kg patient tableSEMAR (Metal Artefact Reduction)vHP, variable helical parametersIterative 3D Fluoro
HighlightsNext generation high-end hybrid solution for all radiographic applications Efficient examination cycles and increased patient comfort Combines radiography, low dose fluoroscopy and serial imaging APR auto-positioning with up to 999 positions Motorized manual handling using SmartHandle joystick Intuitive, icon-based user controls at the tube…
HighlightsNext generation multi-purpose tilt C-arm solutionHybrid offering fluoroscopic, serial and radiographic imagingTable load capacity of 300 kg; best in class SID of 150 cmIntuitive controls, focus on ergonomics and patient comfortSave and restore any position – permanently or on the flyDetachable table option for maximum examination flexibilitySmall foot print and maximum work areas…
HighlightsFour-way floating tabletop with a rear accessibilityMinimum table to floor distance for a safer patient accessAutofocusing Grid for a wide range of focal distancesSoftware algorithms (Virtual Grid and Virtual Scan) for high image quality and low doseTomosynthesis, Dual Energy, Stitching and DSA for specialized examinationsFast and efficient workflow in a single integrated imaging system
HighlightsExclusive cross-levers system for a safe positioning of the patientHigh longitudinal travel and free access to the table from all four sidesDual grid system for an appropriate grid selectionFully-integrated solution for high image qualityDose reduction, removable grid and advanced software algorithms, also for paediatric patientsAdvanced procedures and long skeletal segments…
HighlightsChecks all relevant parameters of analogue and digital fluoroscopic and radiographic X-ray unitsSuitable for routine quality checks on over/under couch tubes and C armsIncludes an attenuation plate for patient simulationComplies with DIN 6868-4 and 6868-150Available with the outer format of 300 × 300 mm or 200 × 200 mm
HighlightsSurgical C-arm for orthopedicCompact design for easy operation and powerful performanceHigh performance with high resolution image and lower doseDose reduction through various pulsed fluoroscopy modesSeamless compatibility with DICOM3.0Wider SID, wiser operationTwo control panel on both sideC-arm movement fully counter balanced19" dual monitor (43" monitor is option)
HighlightsAdvanced intelligent Clear-IQ Engine (AiCE)Artificial intelligence in scanning and processingPURE ViSION Optics imaging chain0.35 s rotation16 cm coverage640 slices/rotation0.17 mm spatial resolutionSURE Position patient centringLateral table movement300 kg patient tableSuper resolution cardiac imaging (PIQE)Spectral imaging with zero temporal offsetIsophasic organ perfusionCT…
Highlights90°/ 30° digital or analogue local R/F table Flexible configuration High reliability Turnable footrest Meets all requirements for routine R/F exams
HighlightsNext generation high-end hybrid solution for all radiographic applications Efficient examination cycles and increased patient comfort Combines radiography, low dose fluoroscopy and serial imaging APR auto-positioning with up to 999 positions Motorized manual handling using SmartHandle joystick Intuitive, icon-based user controls at the tube…
HighlightsPremium patient-side R/F system with dynamic flat panel detector FPD size: 17×17" (43 × 43 cm) 2nd tube for multipurpose room solution Superb table operability for easy operation and patient convenience Bariatric functionality Real-time image enhancement processing technologies Comprehensive dose management package * Product is not…
Highlights70 cm FOV 90 cm extended FOV Advanced Intelligent Clear-IQ Engine (AiCE) Artificial intelligence in scanning and processing 0.4 s rotation 4 cm coverage 160 slices/rotation Dual Energy applications SUREPosition patient centring CT Fluoroscopy Lateral table movement 300 kg patient table SEMAR (Metal Artefact…
Highlights Advanced C-arm Fluoroscopy solutions engineered for fast, precise positioning and advanced image quality FDX Visionary-CS’s compact all-in one design and built in large 27" landscape monitor allows improved access in smaller rooms. FDX Visionary-C’s perfectly balanced lightweight C-arm and dual 21.5" touchscreen monitor cart provides fast accurate…
Highlights 15.6" IPS monitor, 12.3" IPS touch screen ZST+ platform Magnetic power socket Contract Imaging Elastography ImagingStress Echo Smart Fluid Management Solution E-Spatial Navi
HighlightsThe world’s first battery-powered, completely wireless, hyper-portable, Mini C-arm providing unparalleled digital fluoroscopic imaging capabilities.Battery-powered, lightweight Mini C-ArmSophisticated Software provides exceptional real-time image qualityCMOS Detector for low dose imagingWireless tablet enables enhanced visualizationPosition the C-Arm on its front or side to…
HighlightsSingle Tank x-ray Generator, with painted aluminium caseCustomised product according to the customer's technical requirementsPower range from 4kW up to 20kWKv range from 40 up to 120 kVProperly developed and designed for C-arm units with medium to intense Rad and Fluo application
HighlightsAutomatic monitoring, analysis and documentation of patient radiation dose informationCompliant with German and many international guidelinesVendor-neutral solution compatible with virtually any PACSSupport of most CT, angiography, fluoroscopy, X-ray and mammography devicesAutomatic overdose notification e-mails
Highlights Flow in system operation thanks to seamless integration of all components Flow in clinical versatility with a wide range of examinations and diverse patient types Flow in dose management thanks to pre-defined organ programs, proven dose-saving CARE focus and image processing Unlock the potential of your X-ray department with Fleet Level Benefits High level of…
HighlightsCobia is RTI’s easy-to-use solution for quick and efficient measurements of a variety of radiography and fluoroscopy parameters. For wireless testing, equip your Cobia with a built-in Bluetooth connection. Ocean Next software included. Select the model that suits your needs, and only pay for what you need to measure!
HighlightsThe Quart didoNEO introduces a new approach to diagnostic X-ray meters: it features the most compact base unit and most compact detector in the X-ray meter industry. The didoNEO R is used for QA and service in Radiography, (Pulsed) Fluoroscopy, DSA, Dental, 3D (CBCT).Compact multi-functional state-of-the-art solid state detectorEnables measurements in spots with limited spaceMeasures…
HighlightsDigital Subtraction Angiography (DSA) and RoadmappingWith the plug-and-play SmartRotate, every image is presented ready for viewing, directly and automaticallyDynamic 3-in-1 direct radiography system offering real time imagesSingle touch, remote-controlled user-interface and table autopositioning, improving workflow and maximizing patient comfortWide range of fluoroscopy, general…
HighlightsSingle channel dose meter according IEC 61674 for quality assurance at Radiography-, Fluoroscopy-, Dental- and Mammography systems.Available with RQA/ RQM / DEDX.Measurement parameter (DEDX):Dose: 20 μGy – 9,999 mGyDose rate: 20 μGy/s – 400 mGy/sTime: 1 ms – 9,999 s
HighlightsTest device Primus A is designed according DIN 6868-150 & DIN 6868-4 for Quality assurance at radiography and fluoroscopy systems.17 steps for dynamic verification8 low contrast sensitivity circlesGrid for easy and efficient determination of light- & beam field alignment as well as geometrical distortions
HighlightsThe integrated infusion pump enables simultaneous administration of fluids during an MRI examinationWorks with select pre-filled syringes to increase throughput via quick use and improved patient turnaround timesIntegrated infusion pump enables simultaneous administration of additional medication needed by some patients to undergo MRI examination1 CM/NaCl/2 Infusion pump
HighlightsSingle tank X-ray Generator all alluminium casedSuitable for Fluoroscopy Pulse and Rad working modeCustomised product according to customer' technical requirementsPower range from 3.5kW up to 40kWkV range from 40 up to 125kV
HighlightsDetector size: 43 × 43 cmAdvanced DR fluoroscopic equipment design to satisfy a wide range of applicationsThe fully motorized C-arm assures possibility to work with FPD above and below the combined tableSynchronized movements between C-arm and patient tableThe strength of the system is achieved thanks to the integration of fluoroscopy and radiography in one system with a…
HighlightsTrust your results – Excellent image quality and low radiation doseOptimize your capabilities – High-value all around through clinical versatilityWorld-class service and support – For continuous operationsUnlock the potential of your X-ray department with Fleet Level BenefitsHigh level of cybersecurity Detector size:43 × 43 cm (MAX detector)35 × 43 cm…
ECRI’s annual top ten technology hazard list alerts hospitals and healthcare providers of situations, products, and procedures they need to diligently monitor and/or take steps to improve. This non-profit technology Pennsylvania research firm has worked for over 50 years to make healthcare safer. The list reflects the organization’s collective judgment about the health technology risks that…
Researchers from Queensland have developed a new fMRI technique with vastly increased temporal resolutions, enabling them to capture the dynamics of brain activity at a sub-second level.
Medical imaging company Carestream Health has expanded its portfolio with 20 new patents for global advances in AI, image quality, digital radiography (DR) detectors and mobile imaging.
It was previously assumed that bones lacked lymphatic vessels.Now, new research not only locates them within bone tissue, but demonstrates their role in bone and blood cell regeneration.
Canadian researchers are developing a new, ultra-sensitive biosensor to screen for Alzheimer’s disease and other diseases. The device has successfully completed the proof-of-concept stage.
A new blood test that can track and follow the neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease - and exclude other dementias.
Monitoring the proper blood supply to the brain could be used to prevent or even treat neurological diseases. A new technique called πNIRS aims to do just that.
A new study has found that antibodies produced in the nose decline nine months after Covid-19 infection, while antibodies found in the blood last at least a year.
Researchers tracked viruses passing through face masks and compared their failure on the filter layers of different mask types. This could accelerate the development of surfaces that can kill viruses.
An international study shows that a new method can easily find multiple types of newly formed cancers at the same time – including cancer types that are difficult to detect with comparable methods.
Rows of ambulances held in queues outside emergency departments waiting to admit patients to hospital is becoming an increasingly familiar scene in the UK. Senior figures across the health sector are becoming increasingly concerned at the levels of harm this bottleneck is causing patients. Patient care has hit a massive roadblock as delays in handovers between ambulances and emergency departments…
Dimensions: 650 × 600 × 690 mm (w × h × d)Weight: 60 kgSample througput: flexible: 1 to 12 samples / run Highlights:SelectNAplus is Molzym’s unique bench top instrument for the automated enrichment and isolation of bacterial & fungal DNA from complex specimens.Walk-away pathogen DNA isolationHuman DNA depletion (MolYsis technology) for enhanced…
Sample throughput: From 200 samples/h in whole blood (WB) mode; Up to 40 samples/h in body fluid (BF) mode per module Dimensions: Depending on configuration Weight: Depending on configuration Highlights:Scalable and modular haematology automation lineFlexible configuration of XN analysis modules and rack entry and exit positionsDiscrete rack managementUninhibited workflow from…
Detecting: ORF1ab, N gene, E gene, Inner ControlSample Type: Oral swab/Nasal swabStorage: -20°CReaction Volume: Volume: 30μlSensitivity: 200 copies/mlHighlights:Maxmize your testing capacity with Super Fast PCR Kit 3 times more efficient than regular kitsFeatures:Fast: Complete all steps within 30 minutes by Singu9600 ProAccurate: Detecting…
Dimensions: 316 × 340 × 220 mm (w × d × h)Weight: 8 kgSample Throughput: 32 Samples/h (4×8 wells, dual module)Number of Channels: 4Highlights:The AccuRa-32 is specifically designed for rapid nucleic acid testing in applications such as clinical, food, environmental and research. It is supported by highly sensitive fluorescence measurements in real…
Dimensions: 500 × 360 × 380 mm (w × h × d) Weight: 25 kgNumber of Channels: 4-6Highlights:High Sensitivity: New optical signal detecting technology based on Fresnel lens, special high-efficiency PMT and long-life maintenance-free LED, further improves the detection sensitivity of the prior technology.High Accuracy: Innovative scanning mode and time-resolved…
Highlights:Shimadzu is offering a wide range of solutions in liquid chromatography starting from standard HPLC systems to high-end UHPLC systems including compact configurations. Available with several options for columns switching, pre-concentration, online SPE, etc, the systems are also well recognized for coupling with highly sensitive detectors like fluorescence, radio-activity,…
Dimensions: 860 × 1,410 × 680 mm (h × w × d)Sample throughput: Up to 120 samples / hParameters: CBC incl. NRBC, 6-part white cell differential, reticulocytes, body fluids, and comprehensive morphology resultsHighlights:The Advia 2120i System with Autoslide streamlines workflow by eliminating the majority of manual steps commonly performed to maximize productivity. Its…
Dimensions: 120 × 220 × 120 mm (h × w × d)Weight: 1 kgAssay: C. difficile GDH+Toxin, Influenza A+B & SARS-CoV-2, RSV, Strep A, Legionella, S. pneumoniae, Lyme, SARS-CoV-2 Antibody IgG Highlights:Proven lateral-flow technology, proprietary advanced fluorescence chemistry and assay development techniques, all in a small bench-top analyzer that can be used…
Dimensions: 520 × 550 × 600 mm (w × h × d)Weight: 71 kgSample throughput: 25 tests / hAssays: AFP / AFP-L3, DCPElectrokinetic Analyte Transport Assay (EATA)High sensitive fluorescence detectionAssay precision less than 3% CV for AFP-L3Increased sensitivity of liver cancer (HCC) detection by combined use of AFP, AFP-L3 and DCPUnique system to calculate the GALAD score…
Highlights:The ergonomic workstation SortTable buffers highly fluctuating sample volumes by collecting up to 5,000 samples and feeding them to the sorter without interruption. Incoming submissions are unpacked here and the samples are placed directly in the buffer. From the buffer they are automatically fed to the ASP SortPro sorter for processing. This allows the sorter to constantly work at…
Sample throughput: CBC+DIFF: up to 200 samples/h in whole blood (WB) mode; up to 40 samples/h in body fluid (BF) mode per module; SP-50:up to 30 slides/h in standard mode, up to 75 slides/h with the optional high-throughput licenceDimensions: 3000 × 1626 × 1150 mm (w × d × h)Weight: 992 kg Highlights:Fully integrated slide maker and stainerChoose advanced…
Sample throughput: CBC + DIFF up to 70 samples/h with optional Speed-up licence, CBC + DIFF up to 60 samples/h on XN-L Pure Series (XN-330, XN-430 and XN-530) Dimensions: 440 × 440 – 510 × 460 – 660 mm (w × h × d) (depending on the model)Weight: 35 kg (XN-330/350, XN-430/450); 53 kg (XN-530/550 incl. sampler); 3 kg (XN-530/550…
At the annual RSNA meeting in Chicago, Carestream launched a new series of digital X-ray detectors to help improve clinical outcomes, as well as enhancements to its existing product portfolio.
Breast cryoablation is an emerging treatment for early-stage, localized breast cancer that destroys malignant tumours by freezing them. During the past decade, it has been increasingly utilized as an alternative to lumpectomy, but its long-term benefits compared to other breast cancer treatments are still unproven.
Using fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) imaging may give insights into possible dose reductions in ongoing radiation therapy of head and neck cancer. A promising study to explore this option was presented at the 2022 ASTRO/ASCO Multidisciplinary Head and Cancer Symposium held in Phoenix, Arizona.
Eunsin Bae, M.D. specializes in laboratory medicine and leads the Institute of Clinical Research at Seegene Inc. Her research focuses on microbiology, molecular biology, and hematology. Dr. Bae is currently working toward implementing a global clinical study and establishing an international network of clinical investigations.
For the first time, a new study has identified enlarged perivascular spaces in the brains of migraine sufferers. Results of the study will be presented at the annual RSNA meeting.
Are climate change and air pollution making neurologic diseases like headaches, dementia and multiple sclerosis (MS) worse? A scoping review of research explores the connection.
New research has found variable voltages in the membranes of breast cancer cells, revealing clues about how they grow and spread.
It is the size of a common pencil eraser, but it could have a huge impact on the therapy of glioblastoma: Scientists in Virginia have developed a novel 3D tissue-engineered model of the brain tumour microenvironment, which can be used to assess how the glioma cell invades healthy tissue, proliferates, and reacts to chemotherapy drugs.
Researchers have created a tool that maps how breast cancer grows in previously unseen detail, and highlights how the cells around the tumour may be the key to controlling the spread of disease.
Speed or accuracy? As far as Covid-19 tests go, this was the choice you had to make. In the future, this dilemma could be a thing of the past.
Bowel cancer patients could in future benefit from a new 3D bioprinting technology which would use their own cells to replicate the complex cellular environment of solid tumours in 3D models.
The risk of developing breast cancer is higher in breasts with high density. But why is that? Researchers at Linköping University have shown major biological differences that promote cancer growth.
Nowadays, the operating theatre is networked and staff have access to a wide range of information and image data. With the Clinio, Rein Medical offers a medical all-in-one (AIO) computer that has been designed for use in hygienically sensitive areas.
With the rise of syndrome-style infections, co-infections and the current antimicrobial resistance challenges, the need for multiplexed diagnostics is now more important than ever.
Treatment of central nervous system diseases and tumors is often hindered by the blood-brain barrier. A new method aims to overcome this obstacle using focused ultrasound intranasal delivery (FUSIN).
Covid-19 has led to global mortality changes unprecedented in the last 70 years, according to new research. However, the drop in life expectancy is not equally high in all countries.
Researchers mapped in detail how the immune system acts against pathogens invading the brain. This sheds new light on host-pathogen interactions and the long-term consequences of brain infections.
Researchers propose a new approach to identify cancerous tissue for surgical removal, based on real-time imaging of tissue oxygen concentration.
Researchers from Japan have developed a method to detect build-up of amyloid β in the brain, a characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease, from biomarkers in blood samples.
Blood pressure is one of the most basic parameters in any healthcare status assessment and holds considerable diagnostic significance. However, clinicians should never underestimate the complexity behind the assessment, cautions Dr Rhian M. Touyz.
A research group has revealed that SARS-CoV-2 disrupts the vascular endothelial barrier by suppressing the expression of Claudin-5 (CLDN5) to invade the blood vessels.
What will the next pandemic look like? Health officials from across the globe gathered in Geneva in late August at a World Health Organization meeting to focus on how lessons learned from Covid-19 might best prepare civilization for the "next one."
Using a newly launched, comprehensive monkeypox registry, health professionals can share data on the skin symptoms of monkeypox and the vaccine to improve patient care.
Researchers at Queen’s University Belfast have developed a new plastic film that can kill viruses that land on its surface with room light.
A new study could one day help health workers determine whether bacteria of the species Streptococcus pneumoniae, which cause meningitis, are resistant to antibiotics.
A new heart transplant technique, which allows surgeons to transplant donor hearts that have stopped beating after death, is reducing waiting lists for patients in Australia and potentially around the world.
German researchers present a novel method for testing chemical agents that could help in the development of drugs against neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.
Urine screening tests using only immunoassays are the most common procedures used to identify drug abuse. They are inexpensive, automated, and produce rapid results. But they may generate false-positive or false-negative results, which vary based on the drug, drug class, and the assay used. Hair toxicology analysis is another form of drug testing which, unlike urine tests, enable analysis of drug…
With the life expectancy of populations improving, experts believe the rising diagnosis and prevalence of patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) will have a significant impact on healthcare services going forward.
A device with the appearance of a Wi-Fi router uses a neural network to discern the presence and severity of one of the fastest-growing neurological diseases in the world: Parkinson's.
A lack of high quality, up to date clinical guidance on monkeypox may be hampering effective and safe treatment of the infection around the world, a new review finds.
The prototype device combines eRapid and SHERLOCK technologies into a single, postcard-sized system that can simultaneously detect the presence of both SARS-CoV-2 RNA and antibodies in a patient’s saliva.
The development of a simple blood test for glioblastomas could mean earlier diagnosis and more effective and personalised treatment options against the most common type of malignant brain cancer.
Avian flu, MERS, Covid-19, monkeypox: outbreaks of infectious diseases are getting more common in Europe. As a result, the EU must adapt its surveillance strategies and introduce more data-driven, interdisciplinary countermeasues.
Indwelling catheters through the urethra often cause bacterial infections. A newly discovered synthetic peptide is a promising treatment option, even against antibiotic-resistant pathogens.
A sensor identifies misfolded protein biomarkers in the blood. This offers a chance to detect Alzheimer's disease before any symptoms occur. Researchers intend to bring it to market maturity.
At the European Congress of Radiology (ECR) in Vienna, Fujifilm Europe showcased a new flexible, hybrid C-arm and portable x-ray machine, called FDR Cross.
Dark-field radiography uses a part of X-rays that has hardly been considered so far to expand the spectrum of diagnostic imaging. At the ECR Overture, Theresa Urban presented the new method.
AI-based diagnosis is undoubtedly one of the most promising subjects when we talk about the future of radiology. Now, a couple of new studies indicate that most radiologists are open to using the technology and this for good reasons.
MIT researchers produced textiles that sense the wearer’s posture and motions. Their “smart” shoes and mats could be used in applications ranging from health care to prosthetics.
Copper exposure in the environment and the protein alpha-synuclein in the human brain could play an important role in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease, researchers found.
Research team led by Göttingen University combine two techniques to achieve isotropic super-resolution imaging.
Blockchain is a digital technology that allows a secure and decentralized record of transactions. Now, researchers leveraged blockchain to give individuals control of their own genomes.
To develop new drugs, detailed knowledge about nature’s smallest biological building blocks is required. A new microscopy technique that allows proteins, DNA and other tiny biological particles to be studied in their natural state.
The speedy, high-tech method of inexpensive, accurate and high-throughput protein biomarker assay testing is being touted as a much-needed development in point-of-care (PoC) testing.
A Stanford mechanical engineer creates multifunctional wireless robots to maximize health outcomes and minimize invasiveness of procedures.
Reseachers have developed a novel microneedle for injecting therapeutics into the eyes, potentially solving one of the major challenges of treating eye diseases.
Researchers have developed a biodegradable gel that can help to improve the delivery of cells into the living heart and could form a new generation of treatments to repair heart attack damage.
Researchers have shown that aggregation of amyloid-beta, one of two key proteins implicated in Alzheimer’s disease, causes cells to overheat and ‘fry like eggs.’
Latest developments in computational protein design enable the simulation of sequence and structural changes in proteins for creating novel agents in human medicine.
Biomaterial engineers have developed the first-ever hydrophobic fluid, which instantly displaces body fluids surrounding an injury allowing for near-instantaneous gelling, sealing, and healing of injured tissue.
Researchers have developed a novel way to fabricate diagnostic devices using paper-based microfluidics that can be rapidly prototyped and scaled for manufacturing.
Glucose is absorbed from the foods we eat and fuels every cell in our bodies. But could it also power tomorrow’s medical implants? According to a team of engineers, it might.
Two surgeons-in-training suggest some sustainable solutions for their energy-intensive discipline.
Silk-based material under skin changes color in response to oxygen, and in the future might be adapted to track glucose and other blood components.
Sofia 2 C. difficile FIA is a new solution to provide reliable and rapid test results with high clinical relevance before empiric therapy decisions are implemented.
Engineers have developed a prototype of a wearable that can continuously monitor several health stats—glucose, alcohol, and lactate levels—simultaneously in real-time.
Researchers developed a new microfluidic chip with broad applications for detecting viruses, pathogens, bacteria and other biomarkers in liquid samples.
Microfluidic chip inflates and deflates balloons in a sleeve to promote fluid flow in the lymphatic system.
An international team has for the first time demonstrated that nerve signals are exchanged between clogged up arteries and the brain.
Researchers have established an injectable hybrid inorganic nanoscaffold-templated stem cell assembly and applied it to the regeneration of critically-sized cartilage defects.
A chip-based infection model developed by Jena researchers enables live microscopic observation of damage to lung tissue caused by the invasive fungal infection aspergillosis.
The COVID-19 testing device can detect coronavirus infection in as little as 30 seconds as sensitively and accurately as a PCR test.
A platform for studying how the human immune system responds to hepatitis C infection by combining microfluidic technology with liver organoids could speed the hunt for a vaccine.
Point-of-care testing (POCT) is a “win-win” scenario for patients and healthcare professionals in delivering care when and where it is needed, according to pathologist Adil Khan, MSc, PhD.
MediSCAPE, a high-speed 3D microscope, can see real-time cellular detail in living tissues to guide surgery, speed up tissue analyses, and improve treatments.
SARS-CoV-2 has heavily impacted global society with high pressure on public health and economics. MolGen is proud to assist in relieving some of the pressure and support the testing framework.
3D-printed sugar models of dense and chaotic blood vessel networks near tumors could help future cancer treatments.
The appearance of ovarian lesions on ultrasound is an effective predictor of cancer risk that can help women avoid unnecessary surgery.
The AI-Guided Ultrasound Intervention Device is a lifesaving technology that helps a range of users deliver complex medical interventions at the point of injury.
More than 15 billion batteries are sent to landfill sites every year – technology that converts glucose and oxygen into electricity has the potential to reduce this waste and serve as a sustainable alternative power source for medical devices.
Model tumour systems could help explain whether pressure differences can push cancer cells into their surroundings – a basic mechanism behind metastasis.
An ECRC research team has introduced CRISPR-Cas9 into human muscle stem cells for the first time using mRNA, thus discovering a method suitable for therapeutic applications.
The system could enable significant advances for the 40,000 pediatric congenital heart disease patients born each year.
Chromatograms from mass spectrometry feature characteristic peaks to signify the response of a target molecule. Artificial intelligence can help in the challenging task of identifying these peaks.
A mathematical analysis of data obtained with a MRI approach can identify brain cell damage in people at early stages of Alzheimer's.
Using a novel probe for functional magnetic resonance imaging, researchers have devised a way to monitor individual populations of neurons and reveal how they interact with each other.
COVID-19 measures such as school closures and ‘high-traffic and mixing’ areas had the strongest association, providing clues for new intervention approaches.
“With Your Stories – lifetime healthcare support” is the future-driven approach to benefit patients through even better prevention, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up and thus help them in the pursuit of a healthy life.
Molecular radiotherapy shows great potential in becoming a more mainstream treatment for cancer, but the field is being hampered by a limited radionuclide supply.
Canon Medical Systems Corporation has entered into an agreement to acquire Nordisk Røntgen Teknik, with the acquisition being completed following the necessary approval procedures.
A biocompatible ultrasound transducer chip could be a more effective way to harness the technology for biomedical applications.
When combined with genetic risk factors, the test was up to 93 percent accurate at identifying people at risk of Alzheimer's dementia.
Traces of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes COVID-19 can be detected in microscopically small fluid droplets exhaled during a very short time span.
The tool has made it possible to detect SARS-CoV-2 in exudate from symptomatic patients with a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 87.5%
A new study has proved that it is possible to convert blood type safely in donor organs intended for transplantation. This is an important step towards creating universal type O organs.
Researchers in Zurich have developed a fluorescent orexin biosensor to observe on of the brain's signaling molecules "live" to gain insights into constant daytime sleepiness (narcolepsy).
Scientists have confirmed that an inhaled form of COVID vaccine can provide broad, long-lasting protection against the original strain of SARS-CoV-2 and variants of concern.
Researchers have developed an inexpensive, non-toxic coating for almost any fabric that decreases the infectivity of the virus that causes COVID-19 by up to 90 per cent.
Researchers have developed a smartwatch that assesses cortisol levels found in sweat. The device opens new possibilities for personal health monitoring.
Professor Richard Neher from the Biozentrum of the University of Basel is using his Nextstrain platform to investigate which variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus are currently circulating worldwide.
Heart cells from a patient with an inherited heart disease called arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy do not contract correctly when grown in the laboratory, researchers from Osaka University have found.
A new biopsy tool will enable scientists and clinicians to simultaneously profile many biomarkers in cells and tissues.
Researchers have developed a diagnostic for SARS-CoV-2 that is capable of differentiating between COVID-19 and the garden-variety bug with fast turnaround.
Researchers have studied the Spaceflight-Associated Neuro-Ocular Syndrome (SANS). For that they compared brain scans before and after spaceflight.
Scientists at have designed a quantum sensor to detect SARS-CoV-2 faster, cheaper, and more accurate than the current gold-standard technique, PCR.
Evonik offers a comprehensive portfolio of 3D printable med-tech biomaterials that can be used to produce medical devices with temporary or permanent body contact. Marc Knebel, head of Medical Systems at Evonik, explains the benefits and applications of the new high-performance polymer VESTAKEEP Care M40 3DF.
Ever since the Abbe diffraction limit of conventional microscopy has been surpassed, super-resolution techniques have been diving ever deeper into the most miniscule details of molecular structures. We spoke with Prof. Dominic Zerulla, whose company PEARlabs is developing an imaging technique that sets out to push the boundaries once more – by looking at in-vivo nano-scale processes in motion.
Mark Nicholls reports from the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) virtual Festival, with four expert speakers discussing the role of liquid biopsy in cancer detection.
Researchers have identified a mechanism that impairs the proliferation of cancer cells and induces their death without affecting healthy cells. This could lead to improved cancer treatment.
Drug delivery, blood extraction, contrast agent injection – many procedures in modern medicine would be utterly impossible without needles. Despite the benefits, inserting pointy metal tubes into a patient also comes with several drawbacks. By downscaling the to micrometer-size, Japanese researchers open even more areas of application for needles, while bypassing some of the most important…
When the coronavirus first struck in the US, hospitals in New York City were the first to feel the impact. Radiologists Professor Judy Yee, M.D., and Mark C. Liszewski, M.D., describe the lessons learned and talk about their firsthand experiences.
One size does not fit all when it comes to diagnostics. Different diagnostic locations need solutions that meet their needs, whether for on-demand testing in a healthcare setting or a laboratory managing population screening. Finding the right solution can be a challenge especially when the future may change what a laboratory needs, Hologic Inc. reports.
Founded in 2018 as a DNA extraction chemistry company, Dutch company MolGen entered the market operating within the agricultural sector. At first, the company’s founders, Maarten de Groot, Wim van Haeringen and Niels Kruize, focused solely on this one industry, mainly developing and marketing advanced bulk chemistry kits for DNA/RNA extraction. These testing products and solutions successfully…
Test could measure patient immunity against multiple COVID-19 variants such as Omicron and Delta at once and inform which synthetic monoclonal antibody to use for treatments.
According to scientists at Rice University’s George R. Brown School of Engineering, discarded polystyrene broken down into microplastics provides a cozy home not only for microbes and chemical contaminants but also for the free-floating genetic materials that deliver to bacteria the gift of resistance.
Mammograms are a safe, effective way to detect the presence of breast cancer in women. But doctors recommend most females should start getting mammograms after the age of 40 in part because the procedure involves small doses of ionizing radiation. While the risk of getting breast cancer is higher for older people, it can strike at any age. Studies show that 5% to 7% of females with breast cancer…
PET/MRI is offering new imaging opportunities for cancer patients at various points along the care pathway with its ability to assess different biological processes and its increased specificity.
Artificial intelligence-based technique reveals previously unknown cell components that may provide new clues to human development and disease.
Researchers at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis found a way to significantly reduce the noise and maintain image quality while reducing the laser energy needed to generate images by 80%.
Professor Dina Tiniakos, from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, predicts that NASH (Non-alcohol related steatohepatitis) cases will soar worldwide by 2030, with 800,000 liver deaths, costing health economies billions of dollars.
Focused ultrasound waves create microbubbles in a fluid – a phenomenon called cavitation. In a current study, this process is used to destroy liver tumors and metastases. In this Medica-tradefair.com interview, Prof. Maciej Pech talks about testing cavitation events generated during histotripsy, explains the process, and reveals its advantages.
Since Compamed could only be held digitally last year, due to the pandemic, the event now takes place publicly again. Almost 500 registrations from exhibitors prove that there is a high level of interest from medical technology suppliers – a huge step towards reaching normality again.
Wearable technology has become an important part of medicine, from tracking vital signs to disease diagnosis. In surgery, wearable technologies can now assist, augment, and provide a means of patient assessment before, during and after surgical procedures. Wearable technologies are applied before the patient even reaches the operating room, for example in prehabilitation, i.e. pre-treatment…
Considerable advances in point-of-care testing (POCT) devices are emerging from lab-on-a-chip platforms, innovations in smartphone-based technology and wearable technology. Cloud-based deep learning systems herald a future revolution.
Researchers from Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) demonstrate a thorough and non-invasive imaging technique to identify areas of the eye affected by diabetic retinopathy (DR), a progressive eye disease associated with diabetes and a leading cause of blindness. The researchers have found that blue light can be used to probe the depths of the eye and uncover areas affected by DR.
A research team led by Professor Lim Chwee Teck from the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Department of Biomedical Engineering and Institute for Health Innovation & Technology (iHealthtech), in collaboration with clinical partners from Singapore General Hospital, has developed a smart wearable sensor that can conduct real-time, point-of-care assessment of chronic wounds wirelessly…
Blood transfusions save lives, yet the precious fluid is in desperately short supply around the globe. But what if transfusions don’t always require blood? A new mathematical model of the body’s interacting physiological and biochemical processes – including blood vessel expansion, blood thickening and flow-rate changes in response to the transfusion of red blood cells – shows that…
“Twindemic” is a term that has not yet been in the headlines but is likely to become part of our lexicon as the summer progresses.
A new rapid molecular diagnostic test from Cepheid has received the CE mark for distribution in the European market. The test, called Xpert Xpress CoV-2/Flu/RSV plus, is designed for qualitative detection of the viruses causing Covid-19, Flu A, Flu B, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections from a single patient sample. The new plus version of the test provides a third gene target for…
Making recommendations for change, academics analyzed global data into the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance in urban areas—the rise of which is threatening the lifesaving role of the medications.
Hope for a future without fear of Covid-19 comes down to circulating antibodies and memory B cells. Unlike circulating antibodies, which peak soon after vaccination or infection only to fade a few months later, memory B cells can stick around to prevent severe disease for decades. And they evolve over time, learning to produce successively more potent “memory antibodies” that are better at…
“An artificial uterus – the incubator 2.0 – will become a reality within 10 years,” says Jasmijn Kok, one of the founders of Juno, a spin-off from the Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands. Together with researchers from the department of Industrial Design from the University, including her twin sister Lyla Kok, she wants to bring a technology that increases the chances of…
It is still elusive to what extent interactions between different cell types of the heart influence the normal heart rhythm and possibly trigger life-threatening arrhythmias. A new measurement method developed at the University of Bern combines for the first time optical and electrical recording of cardiac ventricular activation which, in conjunction with optogenetics, will permit finding…
If the suspicion of Alzheimer's disease creeps up, those affected must prepare themselves for lengthy and complex procedures until the case is clear. A team from Empa and the Cantonal Hospital of St. Gallen is now in the process of developing a blood test that will enable a reliable diagnosis using atomic force microscopy (AFM).
The FDA approved Byooviz (ranibizumab-nuna) as the first biosimilar to Lucentis (ranibizumab injection) for the treatment of several eye diseases and conditions.
By analysing secondary acute myeloid leukaemias, researchers at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB) Barcelona have detected mutations caused by platinum-based chemotherapies in cells that were healthy at the time of treatment. Treatment with chemotherapies influences the development of blood cells, favouring clonal hematopoiesis from cells with pre-existing mutations. The study has…
Researchers at Umeå University now demonstrate a method by which specific cell types in human organs can be studied with micrometer precision. The method can be used to reveal previously unrecognised alterations in the pancreas, but it can also be used to study other human organs and diseases.
Scientists use super-resolution microscopy to study previously undiscovered cellular worlds, revealing nanometer-scale details inside cells. This method revolutionized light microscopy and earned its inventors the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. In an international collaboration, AI researchers from Tübingen have now developed an algorithm that significantly accelerates this technology.
Molecular imaging, guided by novel tracers, is emerging as an important diagnostic and therapeutic tool in cardiovascular medicine. Delegates at ICNC-CT, the online International Conference on Nuclear Cardiology and Cardiac CT, also heard that cardiology can learn from fields such as oncology and neurology that have already made important advances in this area. Professor Frank Bengel, who is…
Coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) is a non-invasive imaging test which can be used to evaluate coronary artery stenosis and measure plaques. Current plaque analysis is time-consuming and needs expert readers in order to help assess a patient’s heart attack risk. That’s about to change.
To avoid adverse reactions, personalised laboratory medicine can help to predict a patient’s drug response. Investigations based on DNA and other omics technologies – e.g. genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics – along with microarray technologies, is making a particularly valuable contribution to cancer care, in which personalised approaches are becoming possible through…
Covid-19 disease severity is determined by the individual patient’s immune response. The precise mechanisms taking place inside the lungs and blood during the early phase of the disease, however, remain unclear. Researchers from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) and Freie Universität Berlin have now studied the cellular mechanisms…
Small aggregates of proteins known as Aβ oligomers are suspected as the main cause for the development of Alzheimer’s disease. However, it is not yet clear where and under what conditions these toxic aggregates form.
Some people change the narrative about technology and society. One of them is Nuria Oliver, Chief Data Scientist at Data-Pop Alliance, Chief Scientific Advisor at the Vodafone Institute, and Co-founder and Vice-president of the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS). In an interview with HiE, she explains how she develops computational tools and uses artificial…
Beige is considered a calming paint color, and scientists have new evidence that beige fat has a similar impact on the brain, bringing down the inflammation associated with the more common white fat and providing protection from dementia. They have found that beige fat cells, which are typically intermingled with white fat cells in the subcutaneous fat present on “pear shaped” people, mediate…
Nanocontainers can transport substances into cells where they can then take effect. This is the method used in, for example, the mRNA vaccines currently being employed against Covid-19 as well as certain cancer drugs. In research, similar transporters can also be used to deliver labelled substances into cells in order to study basic cellular functions. To take advantage of their full potential,…
A research team led by scientists in the labs of Jennifer Doudna, David Savage and Patrick Hsu at the University of California, Berkeley, is aiming to develop a rapid Covid-19 diagnostic test that is much faster and easier to deploy than qRT-PCR. It has now combined two different types of CRISPR enzymes to create an assay that can detect small amounts of viral RNA in less than an hour. Doudna…
Roche announced the decision to discontinue dosing in the Phase III GENERATION HD1 study of tominersen (previously IONIS-HTTRx and RG6042) in manifest Huntington’s disease (HD). The decision was based on the results of a pre-planned review of the data from the Phase III study conducted by an unblinded Independent Data Monitoring Committee (iDMC). The iDMC made its recommendation based on the…
Using lab-created tissue to heal or replace damaged organs is one of the great visions for the future of medicine. Synthetic materials could be suitable as scaffolding for tissue because, unlike natural tissues, they remain stable in the organism long enough for the body to form new natural structures. A fundamental requirement for functional tissue is that blood vessels must be able to grow in…
To date, there are no effective antidotes against most virus infections. An interdisciplinary research team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has now developed a new approach: they engulf and neutralize viruses with nano-capsules tailored from genetic material using the DNA origami method. The strategy has already been tested against hepatitis and adeno-associated viruses in cell…
A team of engineers and clinicians has developed an ultra-thin, inflatable device that can be used to treat the most severe forms of pain without the need for invasive surgery. The device, developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge, uses a combination of soft robotic fabrication techniques, ultra-thin electronics and microfluidics.
The tell-tale signs of a person’s susceptibility to a stroke may appear up to 10 years before the event, suggests research published online in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry. Stroke patients experienced much steeper declines in cognitive abilities and routine daily functioning, starting around a decade before their first stroke, than people who didn’t have a stroke,…
Computer models have been standard tools in basic biomedical research for many years. However, around 70 years after the first publication of an ion current model of a nerve cell by Hodgkin & Huxley in 1952, researchers at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), in collaboration with the Medical University of Graz and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, have finally…
Aerosol generated by playing woodwind and brass instruments is less than that produced when vocalising (speaking and singing) and is no different than a person breathing, new research has found. The findings could be crucial to developing a roadmap for lifting Covid-19 restrictions in the performing arts, which have been significantly restricted since the start of the pandemic.
Researchers at RMIT University in Australia have developed smart wound dressings with built-in nanosensors that glow to alert patients when a wound is not healing properly. The multifunctional, antimicrobial dressings feature fluorescent sensors that glow brightly under UV light if infection starts to set in and can be used to monitor healing progress.
When viruses infect cells, changes in the cell nucleus occur, and these can be observed through fluorescence microscopy. Using fluoresence images from live cells, researchers at the University of Zurich have trained an artificial neural network to reliably recognize cells that are infected by adenoviruses or herpes viruses. The procedure also identifies severe acute infections at an early stage.
The idea of visiting the doctor’s office with symptoms of an illness and leaving with a scientifically confirmed diagnosis is much closer to reality because of new technology developed by researchers at McMaster University. Engineering, biochemistry and medical researchers from across campus have combined their skills to create a hand-held rapid test for bacterial infections that can produce…
Interdisciplinary team from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the university’s McKelvey School of Engineering finds better way to design clot-prone grafts currently used for dialysis.
SmartXR is designed to make users' work easier and to support them in image acquisition, for example in aligning the DR detector, positioning the patient or setting optimal acquisition parameters. The intelligent assistance systems thus aim to optimize operative and clinical performance, for example. The new robust Dura XD detectors are particularly characterized by their long battery life, and…
Greiner Bio-One presents the Vacuette® Evoprotect Safety Blood Collection Set - the ideal choice for venous blood collection and short-term infusion of intervenous fluids.
Researchers from ETH Zurich and University of Zurich have developed a new microscopy technique that lights up the brain with high resolution imagery. This allows neuroscientists to study brain functions and ailments more closely and non-invasively.
Communities benefit from sharing knowledge and experience among their members. Following a similar principle - called “swarm learning” - an international research team has trained artificial intelligence algorithms to detect blood cancer, lung diseases and Covid-19 in data stored in a decentralized fashion. This approach has advantage over conventional methods since it inherently provides…
Before the huge potential of tiny nanocarriers for highly targeted drug delivery and environmental clean-up can be realized, scientists first need to be able to see them. Currently researchers have to rely on attaching fluorescent dyes or heavy metals to label parts of organic nanocarrier structures for investigation, often changing them in the process. A new technique using chemically-sensitive…
The Covid-19 pandemic made it clear technological innovations were urgently needed to detect, treat, and prevent the SARS-CoV-2 virus. A year and a half into this epidemic, waves of successive outbreaks and the dire need for new medical solutions — especially testing — continue to exist. In the Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B, researchers from the University of Florida and…
University of Birmingham scientists have developed a new microscopic imaging approach to take a closer look at 3D-printing for developing future patient implants, as well as improved disease modelling and drug screening. Additive manufacturing (3D printing) platforms create bioprinted structures by moving a special bioink, containing cells, biomolecules and materials, through a narrow tube, but…
A low-cost, rapid diagnostic test for Covid-19 developed by Penn Medicine provides Covid-19 results within four minutes with 90 percent accuracy. A paper published this week in Matter details the fast and inexpensive diagnostic test, called RAPID 1.0 (Real-time Accurate Portable Impedimetric Detection prototype 1.0). Compared to existing methods for Covid-19 detection, RAPID is inexpensive and…
Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have developed a new material that prevents infections in wounds – a specially designed hydrogel, that works against all types of bacteria, including antibiotic-resistant ones. The new material offers great hope for combating a growing global problem. The World Health Organization describes antibiotic-resistant bacteria as one of…
By discovering a potential new cellular mechanism for migraines, researchers may have also found a new way to treat chronic migraine. Amynah Pradhan, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Illinois Chicago, is the senior author of the study, whose goal was to identify a new mechanism of chronic migraine, and propose a cellular pathway for migraine therapies. The study, “Neuronal…
A research team from the Institut de Neurociències at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (INc-UAB) has showed that inhibition through a drug of the Tac2 neuronal circuit, involved in the formation of the memory of fear, has opposite effects on the ability to remember aversive events in mice according to sex: it is reduced in male mice and increased in female mice.
Robotics, AI, and machine learning can make spinal surgery more accurate, efficient, and safer, thereby reducing costs, patient recovery time, and radiation exposure.
A major study from the Washington University School of Medicine details numerous long-term effects of COVID-19, pointing to massive health burden.
Fluxergy envisions that a fully articulated democratized testing health system has the potential to reduce the likelihood and the ultimate severity of pandemics like Covid-19. Our mission is to unlock the true potential of diagnostics to play a far greater and more important role in the early detection of diseases and ongoing monitoring of health status, where and when it matters most: at the…
Vigorous and rapid air exchanges might not always be a good thing when it comes to addressing levels of coronavirus particles in a multiroom building, according to a new modeling study. The study suggests that, in a multiroom building, rapid air exchanges can spread the virus rapidly from the source room into other rooms at high concentrations. Particle levels spike in adjacent rooms within 30…
What happens when patients can no longer breathe on their own and need to be supported by machines? How far does infected air spread throughout a room? And what safety precautions do medical and nursing staff need to take? Respiratory specialists Dr. Dominic Dellweg and Dr. Jens Kerl together with Dr.-Ing. Conrad Völker, Amayu Wakoya Gena, and Dr. Hayder Alsaad from the Department of Building…
Now Available: The Fluxergy Analyzer System is a testing platform designed for sample-to-answer point-of-care testing, enabling clinicians to cost-effectively conduct molecular in vitro diagnostic tests. The analyzer system is designed to deliver test results within one hour. This device is solely intended to be used by healthcare professionals.
What’s in a name? In the case of Asensus Surgical, Inc., previously known as TransEnterix, Inc., the recent rebranding doubles as a mission statement for the manufacturer of surgical robotics systems: The initial ‘A’ stands for artificial intelligence and augmented surgery, reflecting the company’s emphasis on new technologies designed to enhance the operator’s cognition (‘sensus’…
Healthy and cancer cells can look similar under a microscope. One way of differentiating them is by examining the level of acidity, or pH level, inside the cells. Tapping on this distinguishing characteristic, a research team from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has developed a technique that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to determine whether a single cell is healthy or cancerous…
Liquid metal bearing (LMB) technology has been a key aspect of extending the lifespan of CT scanners, improving workflow, and enhancing patient and operator experience via noise reduction. The LMB concept has been pioneered by Dunlee, with senior CT product manager Robert Bayerlein noting that the Hamburg-based company has a long heritage in imaging innovation.
It is possible to identify Parkinson’s Disease based on compounds found on the surface of skin, according to new research. The findings offer hope that a pioneering new test could be developed to diagnose the degenerative condition through a simple and painless skin swab. Scientists at The University of Manchester have developed a technique which works by analysing compounds found in sebum -…
A new study carried out by a team of laser physicists, molecular biologists and physicians based at LMU Munich and the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics has confirmed the temporal stability of the molecular composition of blood in a population of healthy individuals. The data provide a basis for a new method of monitoring the constituents of blood and detecting alterations that reveal…
Tumour metabolism can be imaged with MRI as a technique to help determine cancer aggressiveness and response to therapy. The work by a UK-based group, on probing cancer metabolism non-invasively with clinical hyperpolarised carbon-13 MRI, can detect metabolic changes in the tumour. As metabolic changes occur much earlier than change in tumour size, this could have implications for quicker…
A research team of pharmacists at the University of Bonn has discovered two families of active substances that can block the replication of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. The drug candidates are able to switch off the the key enzyme of the virus, the so-called main protease. The study is based on laboratory experiments. Extensive clinical trials are still required for their further development as…
At this year's virtual ECR congress, Ziehm Imaging showcases its portfolio of mobile C-arms and advanced imaging solutions. Highlights on display include two clinical packages for cardio and vascular interventions based on the fully motorized Ziehm Vision RFD Hybrid Edition, that provide clinical users with state-of-the-art imaging support and further workflow integration. The virtual booth,…
Improving workflow is one of the major challenges that radiology departments face. The need to be more efficient, deliver timely and effective patient care, and keep an eye on costs are all factors that seem to be ever-present in the modern imaging department. With the added demands of the coronavirus pandemic as radiology departments continue to play a critical role in the fight against…
Grafting neurons grown from monkeys’ own cells into their brains relieved the debilitating movement and depression symptoms associated with Parkinson’s disease, researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison report. In a study published in the journal Nature Medicine, the team describes its success with neurons made from induced pluripotent stem cells from the monkeys’ own bodies.…
Plasma glucose levels are essential for the evaluation of diabetes mellitus as well as gestational diabetes. Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common metabolic disorders in the world. The breakdown of glucose (glycolysis) in venous blood samples is of great significance in pre-analytics, particularly in relation to the diagnosis of diabetes mellitus and gestational diabetes.
An improved high-tech fluorescence microscopy technique is allowing researchers to film cells inside the breast as never seen before. This new protocol provides detailed instructions on how to capture hi-res movies of cell movement, division and cooperation, in hard-to-reach regions of breast tissue. The technology – called multiphoton microscopy – uses infrared lasers to illuminate…
Working with colleagues from Germany and the US, researchers at Leipzig University have achieved a breakthrough in research into how cancer cells spread. In experiments, the team of biophysicists led by Professor Josef Alfons Käs, Steffen Grosser and Jürgen Lippoldt demonstrated for the first time how cells deform in order to move in dense tumour tissues and squeeze past neighbouring cells. The…
Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a soft, stretchy skin patch that can be worn on the neck to continuously track blood pressure and heart rate while measuring the wearer’s levels of glucose as well as lactate, alcohol or caffeine. It is the first wearable device that monitors cardiovascular signals and multiple biochemical levels in the human body at the same…
Beta-glucan tests are proving to be pivotal in the better detection and diagnosis of fungal infections. As a robust complimentary test for traditional testing techniques and biomarkers, it is helping clinicians deliver rapid results and offering greater reassurance in more accurately identifying such infections. β-glucan testing, which is an in vitro diagnostic test, is regularly used at…
Anyone needing a tomography gets the clearest possible images of an organ or other body structure slice by slice. But the further inside the potential problem lies, the more difficult it is to obtain high-resolution images in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). An international team of scientists led by the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) has developed a high-frequency coil that allows for much…
Scientific and public health experts have been raising the alarm for decades, imploring public officials to prepare for the inevitability of a viral pandemic. Infectious epidemics seemingly as benign as "the flu" and as deadly as the Ebola virus provided ample warning, yet government officials seemed caught off guard and ill prepared for dealing with Covid-19.
In a recent study, researchers at the Texas A&M University have described a new process to purify astatine-211, a promising radioactive isotope for targeted cancer treatment. Unlike other elaborate purification methods, their technique can extract astatine-211 from bismuth in minutes rather than hours, which can greatly reduce the time between production and delivery to the patient.
Hybrid PET/CT imaging can fully play to its strengths and steer treatment towards more effective procedures for diagnosing prostate cancer. The examination of the specific antigen PSMA with hybrid PET imaging enables treatment monitoring with significantly higher diagnostic accuracy than conventional imaging and therefore, Professor Clemens Cyran believes, will soon become the standard diagnostic…
Researchers at the University of Arizona are developing a Covid-19 testing method that uses a smartphone microscope to analyze saliva samples and deliver results in about 10 minutes. The research team, led by biomedical engineering professor Jeong-Yeol Yoon, aims to combine the speed of existing nasal swab antigen tests with the high accuracy of nasal swab PCR, or polymerase chain reaction,…
This FAQ from the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology is provided to help answer patient questions about COVID-19 vaccines. These recommendations are based on best knowledge to date, but could change at any time, pending new information and further guidance from the FDA or CDC.
Olympus Corporation announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Quest Photonic Devices B.V. for up to EUR50 million including milestone payments to strengthen its surgical endoscopy capabilities. Quest offers advanced fluorescence imaging systems (FIS) for the medical field, enabling more surgical endoscopy capabilities, compared to conventional imaging technologies.
As the pandemic has continued to spread globally, studies indicate the COVID-19 virus may be contained in aerosols that can be generated and spread through breathing, coughing, sneezing, or talking by infected individuals. Researchers are increasingly focused on developing tools and methods to assist in decontaminating surfaces and spaces.
Pregnancy complications and early menopause increase women’s future risk of heart disease. Cardiologists, gynaecologists and endocrinologists recommend how to help middle-aged women prevent later heart problems in a European Society of Cardiology (ESC) consensus document published in European Heart Journal, a journal of the ESC.
Blood draws are no fun. They hurt. Veins can burst, or even roll — like they’re trying to avoid the needle, too. Oftentimes, doctors use blood samples to check for biomarkers of disease: antibodies that signal a viral or bacterial infection, such as SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, or cytokines indicative of inflammation seen in conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and…
According to current studies, the Covid-19 disease which is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus comprises at least five different variants. These differ in how the immune system responds to the infection. Researchers from the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) and the University of Bonn, together with other experts from Germany, Greece and the Netherlands, present these findings…
An unfortunate truth about the use of mechanical ventilation to save the lives of patients in respiratory distress is that the pressure used to inflate the lungs is likely to cause further lung damage. In a new study, scientists identified a molecule that is produced by immune cells during mechanical ventilation to try to decrease inflammation, but isn’t able to completely prevent…
Bacteria or viruses like influenza that cause pneumonia can spread across large regions of the lung within hours. In the modern intensive care unit, these bacteria or viruses are usually controlled either by antibiotics or by the body’s immune system within the first few days of the illness. But in a study published in Nature, investigators at Northwestern Medicine show Covid-19 pneumonia is…
A microbe found in the colon and commonly associated with the development of colitis and colon cancer also may play a role in the development of some breast cancers, according to new research from investigators with the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and its Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. Breast tissue cells exposed to this toxin retain a long-term memory, increasing the…
Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute and the University of Western Australia have developed a new imaging method to see where antibiotics have reached bacteria within tissues. The method could be used to help develop more effective antibiotic treatments, reducing the risk of antibiotic resistance.
The search for antiviral agents against the new coronavirus is in full swing. Using a novel approach, Bioinformaticians have now discovered a weakness in the virus that could be exploited for drug development. In a computer model, the scientists discovered a human enzyme that is crucial for the virus. When it was switched off in the model, the virus could no longer multiply.
A new method for visualizing breath that is exhaled while someone is speaking or singing could provide important new insights into how diseases such as Covid-19 spread and the effectiveness of face masks. “Scientists believe the SARS-CoV-2 virus is primarily spread through respiratory droplets that can be carried in the breath or expelled through coughing or sneezing,” said Thomas Moore from…
Stringent endoscope cleaning between procedures is vital. However, with so many steps in the process – plus high demand for rapid turnaround of endoscopes – contamination and biofilm build-up are still being reported. Endoscope hygiene and cleaning protocols were central to an online event organised by Pentax Medical, with important contributions from leading specialists. The event examined…
Patterns of brain activity can be used to forecast seizure risk in epilepsy patients several days in advance, according to a new analysis of data obtained from clinically approved brain implants by neuroscientists at UC San Francisco, the University of Bern and the University of Geneva.
Nearly twice as many people were admitted to hospital for Covid-19 at the height of the pandemic than were for influenza at the peak of the 2018/2019 flu season, a study of French national data published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal has found (Covid-19, 89,530 patients vs influenza, 45,819 patients).
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) scientists developed the world’s first mobile genome sequence analyzer, a new iPhone app called iGenomics. By pairing an iPhone with a handheld DNA sequencer, users can create a mobile genetics laboratory, reminiscent of the “tricorder” featured in Star Trek.
Scientists at UC Berkeley and Gladstone Institutes have developed a new CRISPR-based COVID-19 diagnostic test that, with the help of a smartphone camera, can provide a positive or negative result in 15 to 30 minutes.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the first diagnostic test for at home collection of patient samples to detect both Covid-19 and influenza A and B (flu). The FDA authorized Quest Diagnostics RC Covid-19 +Flu RT-PCR Test for prescription use with the Quest Diagnostics Self-Collection Kit for Covid-19 +Flu by individuals who are suspected of respiratory viral infection consistent…
A software tool to predict the most effective therapy for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) developed by applying deep learning artificial intelligence (AI) to positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) images has been developed by researchers at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa, Florida. The tool is designed to provide a noninvasive, accurate method to…
Acute stroke in children has the same incidence as brain tumours and can seriously affect a patient’s life. Two kinds of arteriopathies are common drivers of paediatric acute stroke and radiologists must learn to distinguish their signs as early as possible to improve prognosis, according to Béatrice Husson, a paediatric radiologist at Le Kremlin Bicêtre Hospital in Paris.
Italian neurosurgeon Professor Francesco Di Meco, explored the current and potential role of intra-operative ultrasound in neurosurgical oncology during the annual meeting of the European Association of Neurosurgical Societies (EANS) this October. The extent of resection is considered a prognostic factor in operative neuro oncology surgery and image-guided surgery is being regarded as one of the…
At this year's virtual RSNA congress, Ziehm Imaging showcases its leading portfolio of mobile C-arms and advanced imaging solutions. Highlights on display include the Ziehm Vision RFD Hybrid Edition in combination with Therenva’s EndoNaut solution for advanced endovascular 3D intraoperative navigation as well as the Ziehm Vision RFD 3D, one of the most successful 3D mobile imaging solutions in…
Germany’s lack of diagnostic ability led to significantly underestimation of its own as well as global Covid-19 infection levels during the first wave. Now, however, improved testing and diagnosis of the condition more realistically reveal nearer 20,000 new cases a day across the country, according to Professor Hendrik Streeck, one of the country’s leading virologists. Speaking at a virtual…
About 2,200 satellites are currently orbiting the Earth and soon space stations may be equipped with the latest medical imaging technology, including interventional radiology devices. In France, radiologists and astronauts are putting their heads together to make this vision materialise in a unique partnership between the French Society of Radiology (SFR) and the French Space Agency (CNES).
Researchers at Heriot-Watt University have developed a new technique that will allow medical professionals to see disease deep inside the human body in 10 times more detail. Professor Robert Thomson and his team want to improve endoscopies, when long, thin optical fibres are used to look inside the body. The new technique will open up a route to unprecedented imaging resolution, says Thomson, and…
Digital epidemiology is on the frontline in the Covid-19 war, with innovative techniques used to observe and monitor this viral spread across populations. Its increasingly important role was outlined to a virtual session at Medica 2020 by theoretical biologist Professor Dirk Brockmann. In a keynote presentation ‘Perspective of digital epidemiology – opportunities, promises and challenges’,…
Clinical biochemistry laboratories face many daily challenges, including managing high sample workloads, managing clinician requests for novel tests, and generating and reporting out results in a timely fashion. Irrespective of the methodology employed, high quality and reproducible results are imperative since patient diagnosis and treatment plans are based largely on lab results. For this…
A UK biotech laboratory has used mass spectrometry in a new approach to coronavirus testing. MAP Sciences developed a gargle test, which collects samples from the back of the throat, and avoids the unpleasant sensation of the current PCR (polymerase chain reaction) swab tests. From there, the sample is tested for coronavirus using mass spectrometry (MS) with high levels of accuracy.
Recent research in Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) has identified two enzymes that can detect Covid-19 RNA as simply as a pregnancy test Jesús Pla, an eminent microbiologist at the Complutense University in Madrid, explained in our exclusive interview. CRISPR technology could help alleviate workloads in packed hospitals and expand testing to primary care and…
Wearable ultrasound sensors can help patients monitor their lung health from their own homes. The potential application of this technology were outlined in a session at MEDICA 2020.
Measures to reduce the spread of Covid-19 through non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) such as mask wearing and social distancing are a key tool in combatting the impact of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. These actions also have greatly reduced incidence of many other diseases, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
Leukemia frequently originates from the so-called leukemic stem cell, which resides in a tumor promoting and protecting niche within the bone marrow. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried, Germany, have found a new way to make these cells vulnerable by specifically dislodging these cells from their niches.
‘Mini-lungs’ grown from tissue donated to Cambridge hospitals has provided a team of scientists from South Korea and the UK with important insights into how COVID-19 damages the lungs. Writing in the journal Cell Stem Cell, the researchers detail the mechanisms underlying SARS-CoV-2 infection and the early innate immune response in the lungs.
In an emergency, point-of-care-testing can provide results in minutes. However, sources of error must be understood to ensure result accuracy and confident diagnosis (particularly important during the current pandemic). Medical teams frequently use POCT devices to assess acutely ill patients; a hospital’s diagnostic laboratory is responsible for the analysers, plus training non-laboratory…
Researchers at the University of Helsinki and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have identified the mechanism behind bone marrow failure developing in children that suffer from Fanconi anaemia. The findings will help to develop new therapies for the disorder.
Although uncommon, sudden permanent hearing loss seems to be linked to COVID-19 infection in some people, warn doctors, reporting the first UK case in the journal BMJ Case Reports. Awareness of this possible side effect is important, because a prompt course of steroid treatment can reverse this disabling condition, they emphasise. Sudden hearing loss is frequently seen by ear, nose and throat…
Researchers at CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, have found that SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, can survive for up to 28 days on common surfaces including banknotes, glass – such as that found on mobile phone screens - and stainless steel.
It is only 120 millionths of a millimetre in size but can bring entire countries to a standstill: the Corona virus. Even if it were to disappear one day, viral infections will still be among the most frequent and difficult-to-treat diseases in humans. Even decades of research have only produced a few standardized vaccines and strategies for treatment to combat just a small number of viruses. Nor…
University of Maryland scientists have developed a method to determine the structures of large RNA molecules at high resolution.
The 2020 Nobel Prize in Medicine is awarded to three scientists who have made a decisive contribution to the fight against blood-borne hepatitis, a major global health problem that causes cirrhosis and liver cancer in people around the world. Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice made seminal discoveries that led to the identification of a novel virus, Hepatitis C virus.
Focused ultrasound waves help researchers at ETH Zurich to deliver drugs to the brain only to where their effect is desired. This method is set to enable treatment of psychiatric and neurological disorders and tumours with fewer side effects in the future.
Siemens Healthineers is debuting its new fluoroscopy system, the Luminos Lotus Max, at the annual French JFR 2020 (Journées Francophones de Radiologie Diagnostique & Interventionnelle). The system offers industry-leading technology in radiography and fluoroscopy. “Combining these state-of-the-art technologies poses one major challenge: ensuring efficient workflows and high system…
Ventilation systems in many modern office buildings, which are designed to keep temperatures comfortable and increase energy efficiency, may increase the risk of exposure to the coronavirus, particularly during the coming winter, according to new research.
An analysis by ECRI, the U.S.’s largest patient safety organization, shows that up to 70 percent of KN95 masks it tested do not meet its standards for effectiveness, raising risks of contracting Covid-19 for care providers and patients at hospitals and other healthcare organizations that imported masks from China.
As COVID-19 infections begin to rise again, a novel testing strategy proposed by researchers at the University of Oxford at the start of the pandemic has become urgent once again. The strategy aims to bring the virus’s reproduction number (‘R’) down to below 1, by concentrating testing resources on particular groups in the population that are most likely to spread the infection to others,…
More than 32,000 people from over 160 countries registered for The Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC 2020) in July. This largest and most influential international conference on dementia science had to be held virtually this year, when important highlights were aired. The ability to identify individuals at high risk of developing Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), or at early…
Researchers at the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new method of 3D-printing gels and other soft materials. Published in a new paper, it has the potential to create complex structures with nanometer-scale precision. Because many gels are compatible with living cells, the new method could jump-start the production of soft tiny medical devices such as…
Ultrasound could become the prime modality in emergency settings for tracking disease progression in COVID-19 patients. While chest CT has held a key diagnostic role thus far, many experts now advocate the benefits of ultrasound within the context of the coronavirus epidemic. Dr Rachel Liu, who recently led a high-profile panel discussion with experts from the USA and areas of Europe with high…
Researchers predict that COVID-19 will likely become seasonal, waning in the summer and prevalent in the winter. But, only once herd immunity is achieved through natural infection or vaccinations. Until then, COVID-19 will be here year-round.
On the occasion of this year's World Sepsis Day, we spoke with Elena Sukhacheva, Ph.D., director of medical and scientific affairs at Beckman Coulter, about the status quo and outlook on sepsis diagnostics. With the severity of sepsis symptoms, it’s easy to comprehend why it is invaluable to diagnose this disease properly and in a timely manner. Dr Sukhacheva takes an in-depth look at…
Carestream Health has entered the personal protection equipment (PPE) market with the launch of the CARESTREAM Shield, solving problems of discomfort and difficulty of use commonly associated with personal face shields.
Contrary to expectations, the risk of COVID-19 infection among hospital staff at the height of the coronavirus pandemic was lowest among intensive care clinicians, reveals a study of one major UK medical centre, published in the journal Thorax.
Rhinovirus, the most frequent cause of common colds, can prevent the flu virus from infecting airways by jumpstarting the body's antiviral defenses.
COVID-19 patients can suffer long-term lung and heart damage but, for many, this tends to improve over time, according to the first, prospective follow-up of patients infected with the coronavirus, presented at the European Respiratory Society International Congress. [1]
As COVID-19 continues to spread, bottlenecks in supplies and laboratory personnel have led to long waiting times for results in some areas. In a new study, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign researchers have demonstrated a prototype of a rapid COVID-19 molecular test and a simple-to-use, portable instrument for reading the results with a smartphone in 30 minutes, which could enable…
The airborne transmission of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 via aerosol particles in indoor environment seems to be strongly influenced by relative humidity. This is the conclusion drawn by researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) in Leipzig and the CSIR National Physical Laboratory in New Delhi from the analysis of 10 most relevant international studies on the…
Researchers studying tissue removed from patients noses during surgery believe they may have discovered the reason why so many people with COVID-19 lose their sense of smell, even when they have no other symptoms. In their experiments they found extremely high levels of angiotensin converting enzyme II (ACE-2) only in the area of the nose responsible for smelling. This Enzyme is thought to be the…
Women are more likely than men to suffer adverse side effects of medications because drug dosages have historically been based on clinical trials conducted on men, suggests new research from UC Berkeley and the University of Chicago. Researchers analyzed data from several thousand medical journal articles and found clear evidence of a drug dose gender gap for 86 different medications approved by…
Using highly complex analytical techniques, a group of researchers from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin were able to observe in detail how different metals are released from joint implants and accumulate in the surrounding bone tissue. Findings showed a steady release of metals from various implant components. In contrast to previous assumptions, this was not related to the degree of…
A new mathematical model is helping develop the current understanding of how airborne diseases such as COVID-19 can spread during breathing and aerosol generating procedures. Researchers from Heriot-Watt University and the University of Edinburgh have developed a mathematical model of droplet migration. Dr Cathal Cummins of Heriot-Watt’s School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences and…
The SARS CoV-2 virus which causes COVID-19 may have been named prematurely. As more has become known about the infection, the severe disease does not appear to be a respiratory syndrome at all. Patients who only have a respiratory illness tend not to have a severe condition, while patients who develop a severe condition tend to have non-respiratory conditions, primarily thrombotic or hyper-immune…
Several thousand strains of bacteria live in the human gut. Some of these are associated with disease, while others have beneficial effects on human health. Figuring out the precise role of each of these bacteria can be difficult, because many of them can’t be grown in lab studies using human tissue. This difficulty is especially pronounced for species that cannot live in oxygen-rich…
Scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) have showed that applying “temporal pressure” to the skin of mice can create a new way to deliver drugs. In a paper published in Science Advances, the researchers showed that bringing together two magnets so that they pinch and apply pressure to a fold of…
Dr. Jesus Casado Cerrada, Internist at the Hospital Universitario de Getafe and Professor at the Universidad Europea, Madrid, Spain, has travelled to the Rasuwa district of Nepal to help a local NGO rebuild the region’s infrastructure following a severe earthquake in 2015. Dr. Casado explains: “University colleagues from the architectural and engineering departments had already established…
Researchers have developed a novel three-dimensional imaging system to diagnose cervical cancer faster, non-invasively and more efficiently than conventional methods.
Researchers have designed a fluid that works like a luminous ink to obtain very sharp images of damaged tissues, organs and cartilages in diagnostic tests. This new compound, still in the laboratory phase, reduces adverse effects on the human body because it allows lower amounts to be injected and the dose to be targeted only at the affected area.
Airborne and potentially deadly, the virus that causes COVID-19 can only be studied safely under high-level biosafety conditions. Scientists handling the infectious virus must wear full-body biohazard suits with pressurized respirators, and work inside laboratories with multiple containment levels and specialized ventilation systems. While necessary to protect laboratory workers, these safety…
This year’s ”MS Experts Summit” sees 18 clinicians and researchers convene online for seven sessions during this summer. Under the motto “People with MS: 360º evidence-based daily management” international speakers with expertise in various domains of multiple sclerosis (MS) exchange their latest advances in managing patients suffering from this disease. In his talk “MRI imaging in…
Former ESR President Katrine Riklund will explore the clinical applications of hybrid imaging in a virtual session for the European Congress of Radiology 2020. She will discuss a number of common indications of hybrid imaging in areas of oncological diagnosis, the indications and limitations of hybrid imaging in common diseases, and the added value of hybrid imaging. “The major benefit of…
Nuclear Medicine techniques have an important role in the clinical diagnosis of patients with cognitive impairment. And such techniques are not only valuable in a clinical setting but also in research, according one of the leading experts in the field, Javier Arbizu, who is Professor of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Navarra, Spain.
EKF Diagnostics, the global in vitro diagnostics company, announces that it has added a novel viral transport media for the safe sample handling and testing of multiple infectious diseases from a single swab to its product range.
Half of COVID-19 patients who received a heart scan in hospital showed abnormalities in heart function, according to new research funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF). The study, published in the European Heart Journal - Cardiovascular Imaging, found that around one in seven showed severe abnormalities likely to have a major effect on their survival and recovery. It also showed that one…
Department B for Internal Medicine of the University Medical Center Greifswald successfully used, within an international multi-center trial, a special diaphragmatic stimulation therapy to treat a COVID-19 patient as the first clinical site in Europe. "The first patient treated in this trial happened to be a woman who survived COVID-19, but was not able to be weaned from mechanical…
The human species maintains symbiotic relationships with a multitude of microbial organisms that colonise the inside as well as the surface of the body. Scientists, for a long time, underestimated the significance of these organisms for humans.
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected children with direct impacts of the infection as well as on them leading normal lives. Schooling, play and vaccinations are among issues that can affect children’s health. Delay in taking paediatric patients to the emergency room (ER) has also had a negative impact, for example late treatment of acute appendicitis. Two experts from Spain tackled these topics…
Researchers have developed a human cell ‘membrane on a chip’ that allows continuous monitoring of how drugs and infectious agents interact with our cells, and may soon be used to test potential drug candidates for COVID-19. The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, Cornell University and Stanford University, say their device could mimic any cell type - bacterial, human or even the…
The vampire myth is likely related to a medical condition with symptoms that may explain many elements of centuries-old folklore. The concept of a vampire predates Bram Stoker’s tales of Count Dracula — probably by several centuries. But did vampires ever really exist? In 1819, 80 years before the publication of Dracula, John Polidori, an Anglo-Italian physician, published a novel called The…
How high is the risk that aerosol transmission during choral singing could cause infection with the coronavirus? After occurrences of infection among choirs in the USA and Germany, Bavarian Broadcasting carried out a complex series of experiments for its musical ensembles in conjunction with the LMU University Hospital Munich and the Universitätsklinikum Erlangen (FAU).
Imagine a dressing that releases antibiotics on demand and absorbs excessive wound exudate at the same time. Researchers at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) hope to achieve just that, by developing a smart coating that actively releases and absorbs multiple fluids, triggered by a radio signal. This material is not only beneficial for the healthcare industry, it is also very promising in…
Voice analysis by a smartphone app identifies lung congestion in heart failure patients, allowing early intervention before their condition deteriorates. The small study is presented on HFA Discoveries, a scientific platform of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). “Speech is personal and as such, very small changes (related to the same person) can be detected – for example, the ability…
A standard drug for the treatment of depression might also be effective against Covid-19, a new study by Würzburg scientists shows which has been published on a preprint server
Benchtop tools for studying the respiratory system misrepresent the interdependence between the diaphragm, abdomen and lungs. Meanwhile, computational models often hide the mechanisms in a black box computation, without a clear picture of what transpires in the process. This means students form a poor understanding of respiratory mechanisms and makes it hard to train clinicians for real scenarios…
Our body is able to treat many injuries and wounds all by itself. Self-healing powers repair skin abrasions and enable bones to grow back together. However, doctors often have to lend a helping hand to repair bones after a fracture or due to a defect. Increasingly, bone replacement materials are being used, which partially or completely restore the form and function of the bone at the site of the…
Biomedical engineering researchers at Texas A&M University designed a medical device that mimics blood vessels to design and monitor drugs for patients with clotting disorders. This approach could be especially beneficial for pediatric patients. Unlike what a biology textbook may show, blood vessels are not straight cylinders. They are tortuous, meaning they have complex curves, spirals and…
MRI imaging is one of the best ways of examining different body tissue and obtaining information about injuries and illnesses. However, MRI scanners are typically large, heavy, and very expensive devices that need to be operated by specially trained healthcare personnel. Aalto University has just launched a project that studies and builds new magnetic resonance imaging technology, which enables…
University of Melbourne researchers are finding ways to beat dangerous superbugs with ‘resistance resistant’ antibiotics, and it could help in the fight against coronavirus (COVID-19) complications. As bacteria evolve, they develop strategies that undermine antibiotics and morph into ‘superbugs’ that can resist most available treatments and cause potentially lethal infections. The…
Siemens Healthineers announced today that it is now shipping worldwide its laboratory-based total antibody test1 to detect the presence of SARS-CoV-2 IgM and IgG antibodies in blood.
Researchers at Hokkaido University have succeeded in detecting anti-avian influenza virus antibody in blood serum within 20 minutes, using a portable analyzer they have developed to conduct rapid on-site bio tests. If a suitable reagent is developed, this technology could be used to detect antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, the causative virus of COVID-19.
A team of scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS) in Stuttgart invented a tiny microrobot that resembles a white blood cell travelling through the circulatory system. It has the shape, the size and the moving capabilities of leukocytes and could perhaps be well on its way – in a rolling motion of course – to revolutionize the minimally invasive treatment of…
Scientists at the University of Delaware and Princeton University have developed a method to monitor blood damage in real-time. “Our goal was to find a method that could detect red blood cell damage without the need for lab sample testing,” said Tyler Van Buren, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering with expertise in fluid dynamics. The researchers recently reported their technique…
The organ of balance in the inner ear is surrounded by the hardest bone in the body. Using synchrotron X-rays, researchers at Uppsala University have discovered a drainage system that may be assumed to play a major role in the onset of Ménière's disease, a common and troublesome disorder. These results are published in the journal Scientific Reports. Ménière's disease is manifested in sudden…
Leading immunologists in Japan are proposing a possible molecular mechanism that causes massive release of proinflammatory cytokines, or a cytokine storm, leading to the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in COVID-19 patients. Their suggestions, published in the journal Immunity, are based on recent findings that explain how SARS-CoV-2 enters human cells.
New imaging technique combines two technologies to spot early warning signs of Alzehimer's disease in mice.
A research team co-led by a scientist at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has discovered a new, non-invasive way to detect early-stage Alzheimer’s disease, helping patients get the necessary treatments around 10 years before any symptoms appear. In collaboration with Johns Hopkins University in the US, Dr Kannie Chan Wai-yan, Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering…
More than one in four of the most viewed COVID-19 videos on YouTube in spoken English contains misleading or inaccurate information, reveals the first study of its kind, published online in BMJ Global Health. Public health misinformation on COVID-19 is reaching far more people than in previous pandemics and has considerable potential for harm, warn the researchers. While good quality accurate…
Researchers at King’s College London, Massachusetts General Hospital and health science company ZOE have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) diagnostic that can predict whether someone is likely to have COVID-19 based on their symptoms. Their findings are published in Nature Medicine. The AI model uses data from the COVID Symptom Study app to predict COVID-19 infection, by comparing…
Despite the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), reports show that many health care workers contracted the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which raises substantial concerns about the effectiveness of the PPE.
Whole body diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW MRI) may aid in the assessment of cancer treatment response in children and youth at much lower levels of radiation than current approaches, suggests a small study funded by the National Institutes of Health. The results appear in Radiology. Researchers compared DW MRI, which measures the density of tumors by tracking the movement of…
Niels-Bjarne Woods, a researcher at Lund University in Sweden, has developed lung-specific mesenchymal stem cells to treat inflammation of the lungs and fibrosis. This research now may be the needed breakthrough for treatment of the severe respiratory issues related to COVID-19. A clinical study may soon be underway contingent on a successful application to the Swedish Medical Products Agency.…
A new way to deliver therapeutic proteins inside the body uses an acoustically sensitive carrier to encapsulate the proteins and ultrasound to image and guide the package to the exact location required, according to Penn State researchers.
Two specific cell types in the nose have been identified as likely initial infection points for COVID-19 coronavirus. Scientists discovered that goblet and ciliated cells in the nose have high levels of the entry proteins that the COVID-19 virus uses to get into our cells. The identification of these cells by researchers from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, University Medical Centre Groningen,…
Hsinhan Tsai and a research team in materials, nanotechnology, nuclear engineering and X-ray science at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Argonne National Laboratory in the U.S. demonstrated a new thin film X-ray detector prototype.
Olympus has announced the winners of its first Global Image of the Year Life Science Light Microscopy Award, a competition that recognizes the best in life science imaging worldwide.
European photonics scientists are developing an ultrasensitive laser sensor that detects coronavirus at the earliest point of infection from a saliva or nasal swab in minutes.
In order for a COVID-19 vaccine and antiviral drugs to be developed, scientists first need to understand why this virus spreads so easily and quickly, and why it invades our bodies with seemingly little resistance from our immune system. To understand how COVID-19 enters the body and does its damage, a team of top researchers from universities, hospitals and the National Research Council of…
In a small clinical trial just granted approval, about 30 COVID-19 patients at Karolinska University Hospital may soon begin to receive blood plasma from people who have recovered from the disease. Sweden's Ethical Review Authority has approved the trial treatment, and its effectiveness will be evaluated in a study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and the Karolinska University Hospital.…
The COVID-19 pandemic is putting extra pressure on radiology services. Radiographers are particularly at risk of catching and spreading the disease. This is why they must follow strict cleaning and disinfection protocols, according to Pablo Valdés Solís, President of the Spanish Society of Radiology (SERAM), who has just published new guidelines on how to protect staff and patients, as the…
The causes of 40 percent of all cases of certain medulloblastoma – dangerous brain tumors affecting children – are hereditary. A genetic defect that occurs in 15 percent of these children plays a key role by destabilizing the production and breakdown of proteins. The researchers suspect that protein metabolism defects could be a previously underestimated cause of other types of cancer.
The sense of fear is palpable in the images and videos of hospital intensive care units (ICUs) and emergency departments that are broadcast on television and posted on social media. Fear and heartbreak can be heard in the voices of physicians and nurses who describe what they are experiencing.
University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers have invented a portable surveillance device powered by machine learning – called FluSense – which can detect coughing and crowd size in real time, then analyze the data to directly monitor flu-like illnesses and influenza trends. The FluSense creators say the new edge-computing platform, envisioned for use in hospitals, healthcare waiting rooms…
As coronavirus disease COVID-19 continues to jet and alight invisibly around the globe, scientists now report that the virus has mutated to become two strains: the older ‘S-type’ appears milder and less infectious, while the later-emerging ‘L-type’, is more aggressive, spreads more quickly, and currently accounts for about 70 per cent of cases. Worldwide, medical researchers are exploring…
A group of researchers led by Leif Schröder from the Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP) have found a way to detect metastases in certain types of cancer in the brain at an early stage, using only minimal amounts of contrast agent. To this end, the team uses a synthetic molecule that helps to detect the formation of new blood vessels, producing much more sophisticated…
Chest X-ray is the first imaging method to diagnose COVID-19 coronavirus infection in Spain, but in the light of new evidence this may change soon, according to Milagros Martí de Gracia, Vice President of the Spanish Society of Radiology (SERAM) and head of the emergency radiology unit at La Paz Hospital in Madrid, one of the hot spots for viral re-production of COVID-19.
Diseases of the brain are often associated with typical vascular changes. Now, scientists at LMU University Hospital Munich, Helmholtz Research Centre for Environmental Health and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have come up with a technique for visualising the structures of all the brain's blood vessels – right down to the finest capillaries – including any pathological changes. So…
Glioblastomas are complex, fast-growing malignant brain tumors that are made up of various types of cells. Even with aggressive treatment — which often includes surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy — glioblastomas are difficult to treat, leading to an average survival of 11-15 months. In research published in Science Advances, Xavier Intes, a professor of biomedical engineering at Rensselaer,…
A coronavirus app coupled with machine intelligence will soon enable an individual to get an at-home risk assessment based on how they feel and where they’ve been in about a minute, and direct those deemed at risk to the nearest definitive testing facility, investigators say. It will also help provide local and public health officials with real time information on emerging demographics of those…
The coronavirus last week reached the Netherlands and began to spread around the country. How has the Dutch population reacted? What is a useful frame of reference for this situation? And what are the legal guidelines for dealing with the outbreak? Four researchers from the University of Amsterdam – a clinical microbiologist, an anthropologist, a social scientist and a health lawyer – explain…
Engineers at Rutgers University have created a tabletop device that combines a robot, artificial intelligence and near-infrared and ultrasound imaging to draw blood or insert catheters to deliver fluids and drugs. Their most recent research results, published in the journal Nature Machine Intelligence, suggest that autonomous systems like the image-guided robotic device could outperform people on…
The human immune system can recognize and eliminate not only germs but also cancer cells. This is why treatments with weakened germs can help the immune system in its fight against cancer. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin have genetically modified the tuberculosis vaccine BCG in a way that it stimulates the immune system more specifically. Consequently, the…
Supermicrosurgery – operations on vessels ranging from 0.3 to 0.8 millimeters – is limited by the dexterity of the surgeon’s hands. To bypass this limitation, robots can assist in the surgical process. One such robot is MUSA – the world’s first robotic platform for supermicrosurgery, which was co-developed by researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) and the TU/e…
The novel coronavirus that recently originated in Wuhan, China has grabbed headlines and caused concern among public health officials around the world. Two infectious disease experts share their insights on the novel coronavirus epidemic.
Cystic lesions of the pancreas can occur in many forms, not all of which pose a serious threat to the patient. A thorough diagnosis using multi-modality imaging is therefore indispensable to differentiate between benign and malignant lesions.
Twice as many people as previously believed are dying of sepsis worldwide, according to an analysis published in The Lancet and announced at the Critical Care Reviews annual meeting in Belfast. Among them are a disproportionately high number of children in poor areas.
A preliminary study has found that when young, healthy men were deprived of just one night of sleep, they had higher levels of tau, a biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease, in their blood than when they had a full, uninterrupted night of rest. The study is published in the January 8, 2020, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Tau is a protein found in…
Each year almost 80,000 new patients in France alone receive fluoropyrimidines, a group of anti-cancer drugs including 5-FU which is normally administered intravenously to treat digestive, breast and head and neck cancer. However, fluoropyrimidines-based chemotherapies can cause severe toxicities (incidence at around 20%) and sometimes lethal toxicity (incidence between 0.1 and 1%) with part of…
Unfortunately, cancers that occur in the back of the mouth and upper throat are often not diagnosed until they become advanced, partly because their location makes them difficult to see during routine clinical exams. A report in The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics describes the use of acoustofluidics, a new non-invasive method that analyzes saliva for the presence of human papilloma virus…
Teams at Helmholtz Zentrum München, LMU Munich and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed a new algorithm that enables automated detection of metastases at the level of single disseminated cancer cells in whole mice. Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. More than 90% of cancer patients die of distal metastases rather than as a direct result of the primary…
Johns Hopkins engineers have created a new lens-free ultra-miniaturized endoscope, the size of a few human hairs in width, that is less bulky and can produce higher quality images. Their findings were published in Science Advances. “Usually, you have sacrifice either size or image quality. We’ve been able to achieve both with our microendoscope,” says Mark Foster, an associate professor of…
A common first-line treatment approach for cryptococcal meningitis in low-income countries is being compromised by the emergence of drug resistance, new University of Liverpool research warns. Published in the journal mBio, the findings highlight the need to develop new drugs and treatment regimens for the lethal brain infection, which kills around 180,000 people each year. Cryptococcal…
A material that is particularly toxic when bacteria are present in its environment? Physicists from the University of Augsburg, together with colleagues from Hamburg and Munich, have developed just such an "smart" coating. In the future, it could help prevent complications in the healing of endoprostheses. The coating also offers further advantages: It is extremely wear-resistant and…
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is becoming the most common chronic liver disorder in developed countries. Histological analysis of liver tissue is the only widely accepted test for diagnosing and distinguishing different stages of NAFLD. However, this technique provides only two-dimensional images of the liver tissue in low resolution and overlooks potentially important 3D structural…
It’s a world’s first. The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) is collaborating with Amazon to provide reliable health information from the service’s website through voice-assisted technology. In a speech announcing the service, Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, addressed the need for dependable information.
The EU four-year project ELSAH, which began at the dawn of 2019, aims to design a wearable to enable continuous determination of biomarker concentrations. Project coordinator Dr Joerg Schotter, Molecular Diagnostics, Centre for Health & Bioresources, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH, explains the project’s objectives and potential applications for the planned wearable.
In practice, the drying of the endoscope is often underestimated and therefore a possible pitfall for hygiene and reprocessing steps. As the importance of endoscopic retrograde cholangio-pancreatography (ERCP) procedures and their impact on patients’ lives remains unwavering, the medical community is continuously looking for ways to improve this field of expertise. What better way to learn more…
Health tech Made in Taiwan is among the mainstays of every MEDICA; this year’s fair is no exception. In co-operation with the Bureau of Foreign Trade (BOFT) of the Taiwanese Ministry of Economics and the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), 20 world-class healthcare companies are demonstrating innovative medical solutions based on national advances in Artificial Intelligence…
From an initial focus on innovative manufacturing, in-house ICT technologies drove production efficiency and quality. Today, Taiwan has advanced to become a leader with its "Asian Silicon Valley" concept. The government also wants to further strengthen Taiwan's key position by independently developing medical products that meet the high demands of international markets – at…
Inhalation therapy is widely used for the treatment of lung diseases. Targeting of drugs to the site of disease is a major goal to improve drug efficacy and minimize side effects. Scientists at the Helmholtz Zentrum München and the Technical University of Munich have now shown that combined insight from various imaging methods allows for real-time monitoring of the dynamic process of drug…
Many life-threatening bacteria are becoming increasingly resistant to existing antibiotics. Swiss researchers co-headed by the University of Zurich have now discovered a new class of antibiotics with a unique spectrum of activity and mechanism of action. By disrupting outer membrane synthesis, the antibiotics effectively kill Gram-negative bacteria. According to the World Health Organization…
Researchers in Zurich have recently been able to monitor the corrosion of bioresorbable magnesium alloys at the nanoscale over a time scale of a few seconds to many hours. This is an important step towards accurately predicting how fast implants are resorbed by the body to enable the development of tailored materials for temporary implant applications. Magnesium and its alloys are increasingly…
Scientists at St George’s, University of London, in collaboration with researchers from Germany, the USA, Tunisia and Iran have identified a new gene associated with the neuromuscular disorder, hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP). The study, published in Nature Communications, also highlights a potential mechanism for the disease, which is already being targeted in drug trials for Alzheimer’s…
Influenza viruses cause substantial health hazards and claim many lives worldwide each year. Vaccines can keep the virus in check, however, they only protect against influenza when they match the circulating strains – which vary every season. But now, a reasearch team may have found a way to generate a universal vaccine. Led by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the…
For the first time, scientists have found a way that can effectively transport medication into the brain - which could lead to improved treatments for neurological and neurodegenerative diseases. In a study, scientists from Newcastle University have led an international team in a major breakthrough in unlocking the secrets of how medications can infiltrate the brain.
The potential impact of undiagnosed sexually transmitted chlamydia infection on men’s fertility has been highlighted in an Australian-led study, which for the first time found chlamydia in the testicular tissue biopsies of infertile men whose infertility had no identified cause. The researchers from Queensland University of Technology also found antibodies specific to the bacteria responsible,…
Viscosity sensors are used by scientists fighting various diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Diabetes. Vilnius-based chemist Aurimas Vyšniauskas has enhanced their measuring capabilities. This breakthrough will equip researchers with additional tools to study living cells and how they change in a sick organism.
The realization of an artificial womb has come one step closer, thanks to a new €2.9 million grant from the EU program Horizon 2020 for researchers in Eindhoven. The goal of the artificial womb is to increase the chances of survival for extremely premature babies outside the body. Just one year ago, the artificial womb was presented as a first design during the Dutch Design Week. This grant…
An international research group at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics developed a brain imaging method for improved and early assessment of stroke. Their study presents a methodology which monitors calcium ion fluctuations in the brain using a molecular functional MRI approach.
Nosocomial infections present enormous challenges for medical facilities, involving huge hygiene efforts from staff, on patients as well as medical and non-medical products. At MedtecLIVE 2019, in Nuremberg, Susanne Harpel (Dipl. Ing), Deputy Head of the Institute for Hygiene and Environmental Medicine at Giessen/Marburg University Hospital, presented desirable contamination efforts during the…
Healthcare is going digital worldwide at an incredibly rapid pace. More and more applications for prevention, diagnostics and therapy are being made into apps (with matching hardware) for smartphones and tablets or are even available as wearables for direct use on the body. Digitalisation is also striding forward in Germany, where doctors, therapists and patients still take a fairly analogue…
Cells are the basic building blocks of life – and, as such, they have been the object of intense study since the invention of the optical microscope in the 17th century. The development of mass spectrometry (MS) methods – those which define the chemical composition of cells – represented a further milestone for research in the field of cell biology. In the latest issue of the journal Nature…
Levels of molecules associated with genetic function, such as microRNA, can be an important indicator of abnormal activity associated with cancer. However, little is known about how different molecules are altered in cancerous cells. Now, researchers from Japan have found a new way of distinguishing cancerous from non-cancerous tissues. In a study published in Nature Communications, researchers…
Uwe Joseph Schoepf, Professor for Radiology, Cardiology and Paediatrics and Director of the Department of Cardiovascular Imaging at the Medical University of South Carolina, discusses areas of application for AI-based radiology. The cardiothoracic imaging expert and his team were largely involved in the development and early clinical trials of the Siemens AI-Rad Companion Chest CT, a software…
Scientists from EPFL have developed an algorithm that can determine whether a super-resolution microscope is operating at maximum resolution based on a single image. The method is compatible with all types of microscopes and could one day be a standard feature of automated models.
A little bit of norovirus – the highly infectious microbe that causes about 20 million cases of food poisoning in the United States each year – goes a long way. Just 10 particles of the virus can cause illness in humans. A team of University of Arizona researchers has created a simple, portable and inexpensive method for detecting extremely low levels of norovirus. Jeong-Yeol Yoon, a…
In terms of success in revolutionary cancer treatment, molecular genetic examination procedures have developed immensely over recent years. They now range from conventional polymerase chain reactions (PCR) or fluorescence-in-situ hybridisation (FISH) to Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) with analysis of the entire exome or genome (Whole-Exome, WES or Whole-Genome, WGS) and of the transcriptome…
Kiel biochemistry research team proves the existence of a previously unknown alternative cholesterol transport mechanism inside cells. Cholesterol is a vital cell building block in humans and animals, and an integral part of the so-called cell membrane. This boundary layer separates the interior of the cell from the neighbouring cells and the surrounding environment. By means of certain proteins,…
Researchers from Northwestern University are using Argonne supercomputers to advance the development of an optical microscopy technique that can predict and quantify cancer risks at extremely early stages. The basic principle driving Allen Taflove’s computational electrodynamics research — which bears the potential to transform how we diagnose, and possibly treat, various forms of cancer —…
Analytically sensitive and specific detection of pharmaceuticals or metabolites in bodily fluids, as well as fast and reliable detection of human pathogens, are major challenges for instrument-based analytics in medical diagnostics. Over the past few years the combination of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and microfluidic devices (Lab-on-a-Chip) has emerged as a perfectly suited…
A group of scientists from Vilnius University have developed the world’s fastest DNA testing method, reducing DNA testing costs by 90%. It identifies changes in chromosomes, genes, or proteins to determine a genetic condition or eliminate the chance of the formation or passing on of a gene-based disorder amongst humans and animals. At present, the sole method of genetic testing is the DNA…
Prostate-specific membrane antigen imaging should be the positron emission tomography imaging agent of choice for men who have a prostate cancer recurrence after radical prostatectomy, which needs to be detected and located. For these men, it should become the standard of care, new research shows.
It appears that an influenza vaccine does not just work when it comes to influenza. A new study shows that elderly people who have been admitted to an intensive care units have less risk of dying and of suffering a blood clot or bleeding in the brain if they have been vaccinated. And this is despite the fact that they are typically older, have more chronic diseases and take more medicine then…
For patients with kidney failure who need dialysis, removing fluid at the correct rate and stopping at the right time is critical. This typically requires guessing how much water to remove and carefully monitoring the patient for sudden drops in blood pressure. Currently there is no reliable, easy way to measure hydration levels in these patients, who number around half a million in the United…
Targeting medical treatment to an ailing body part is a practice as old as medicine itself. A Band-Aid is placed on a skinned knee. Drops go into itchy eyes. A broken arm goes into a cast. But often what ails us is inside the body and is not so easy to reach. In such cases, a treatment like surgery or chemotherapy might be called for. A pair of researchers in Caltech's Division of Engineering and…
Scientists have developed minute flexible robots that could help revolutionise drug delivery in the future. These ‘microrobots’ are so small that they could be ingested, or inserted into human veins to deliver drug therapies directly to diseased body areas.
A team of researchers from the SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medicine Centre’s Viral Research and Experimental Medicine Centre (ViREMiCS) found that immune cells undergoing stress and an altered metabolism are the reasons why some individuals become sick from viral infections while others do not, when exposed to the same virus. The findings, published in medical journal Nature Medicine, have…
Olympus and Cytosurge AG, developer of the disruptive and patented FluidFM technology, announced their collaboration to significantly expand the awareness and availability of the FluidFM BOT* – a cutting-edge system for single cell manipulation and live cell imaging – in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). By pooling together each other’s world-class competences and by listening to…
The pros and cons of CT (computed tomography), MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) and CEUS (contrast enhanced ultrasound) for emergency abdominal use were highlighted by speakers in an ECR 2019 session under the broader heading: ‘Abdominal Emergencies: advanced imaging in daily routine’.
Siemens Healthineers and Mentice AB announced the collaboration to fully integrate Mentice’s VIST Virtual Patient into the Artis icono angiography system from Siemens Healthineers. The VIST Virtual Patient thus becomes a fully integrated simulation solution for the angio-suite. The global partnership between the two companies will allow interventional radiologists, neuroradiologists, and…
Radiation measurement often requires different devices for varying applications adding to the cost and complexity of data collection. The new RaySafe 452 Survey Meter is a versatile, powerful tool that can be used for multiple situations, reducing the number of devices technicians need to carry, learn, and calibrate. The 452 Survey Meter is the ideal tool to measure radiation in a wide variety of…
A researcher has created an objective model that classifies the degrees of the iridocorneal angle, a key element for assessing the severity of glaucoma. With this model, ophthalmologists will have a tool to help patients make a decision when considering surgery.
In a clinical trial of 220 people with “wet” age-related macular degeneration, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers, collaborators from many sites across the country, and Genentech in South San Francisco have added to evidence that using a new implant technology that continuously delivers medication into the eyes is safe and effective in helping maintain vision and reduces the need for…
With a case fatality rate of 35 percent, a Middle East respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection – also called camel flu – is a dangerous disease. About seven years ago, when the virus was first isolated, mortality was close to 100 percent since only severe infections that led to the patient being in intensive care were recorded. Today the environment of each victim is…
The migrant population is fast growing and heterogeneous. Experts at a session held during the European Congress of Radiology (ECR 2019) concluded that radiologists can play a key role in detecting and differentiating related diseases. Migration is a growing phenomenon and has an impact on health, according to Jozef Bartovic from the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Copenhagen, Denmark.…
Cheap and compact instrument based on two near-infrared light techniques diagnoses poor blood flow quickly and noninvasively.
Olympus has broken down barriers to imaging quality with the launch of its next-generation objectives. The breakthrough polishing technique enables the company to produce ultra-thin lenses that overcome the traditional trade-off between numerical aperture (NA), flatness and chromatic correction – enabling all three parameters to be significantly improved. Olympus has harnessed this proprietary…
Oxford Gene Technology (OGT), A Sysmex Group Company, has celebrated the opening of its new facility in Cambridge, UK. The opening ceremony, which took place at the company’s new premises on the prestigious Cambridge Science Park, was attended by the Department for International Trade (DIT) and local media as well as top-level representatives from OGT and its parent company, Sysmex Corporation.…
A genetic mutation that a Chinese scientist attempted to create in twin babies born last year, ostensibly to help them fend off HIV infection, is also associated with a 21% increase in mortality in later life, according to an analysis by scientists from UC Berkeley. The researchers scanned more than 400,000 genomes and associated health records contained in a British database, UK Biobank, and…
Scientists from Imperial College London and the University of Edinburgh have used gene-editing techniques to stop the bird flu virus from spreading, in chicken cells grown in the lab.
A team of specialists at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital and UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh have performed UPMC's first in-utero surgery to close an open neural tube defect in a baby months before her birth.
With mounting pressures on funding and making healthcare more affordable for national health services and private sector providers alike, technology providers must strive to continuously innovate in order to improve product portfolios. Thales’s strategy is underpinned by its world leadership in digital technologies, which are becoming intrinsic to medical imaging and radiology. The result of…
Virtual reality (VR) can identify early Alzheimer’s disease more accurately than ‘gold standard’ cognitive tests currently in use, suggests new research from the University of Cambridge. The study highlights the potential of new technologies to help diagnose and monitor conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, which affects more than 525,000 people in the UK. In 2014, Professor John…
The new Yumizen H2500 is a high-end haematology analyser with CBC, 8-DIFF, NRBC, reticulocytes, optical platelets and Body Fluids (CE). Full automation for demanding haematology diagnostics, can be integrated into the Horiba T6000 conveyor belt solution, with the option of a fully-automatic blood smear and staining unit (Yumizen SPS).
In the modern diagnostic lab, analytical challenges demand increased sensitivity, speed, robustness and reliability of any diagnostic system, and mass spectrometry is no different. Designed and manufactured with industry-leading technologies, Citrine meets these challenges head on, giving you confidence in your results and the best possible service to your patients. Citrine MS/MS from SCIEX…
Using urine to obtain diagnostic insights has been done for thousands of years and still remains an important tool to obtain crucial information. Covering a range of tests, urinalysis may be used to screen for or help to diagnose ailments such as urinary tract infections, kidney disorders, liver problems, diabetes or other medical conditions, just to name a few. Because urinalysis has been around…
The critical element of testing for sepsis lies not so much in the location but in the timing and rapidity of results, according to Professor Jeannine T. Holden from Beckman Coulter Early identification enables treatment protocols to be delivered more quickly, offering better patient outcomes. Those most at risk, suggests Holden, are not patients within the intensive care unit – who are already…
The team of the Heinz Nixdorf Chair of Biomedical Electronics at the Technical University of Munich focuses on innovative diagnostic tools to accelerate the development towards personalized medicine. Therapies tailored to the individual patient – this is the future not only of oncology but of many medical disciplines. “At this point, however,” concedes Professor Dr Oliver Hayden,…
Fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapies are widely used, at least in the European area, for treating various types of cancer including digestive, breast, throat and brain cancer. Fluoropyrimidines are a group of anticancer drugs including the well-known 5-FluoroUracil (5-FU) and the prodrug capecitabine.
A novel imaging technique that uses a synthesized form of scorpion venom to light up brain tumors has shown promise in a clinical trial. The imaging system enables neurosurgeons to better see malignant growths that often are difficult to fully eliminate.
Cognitive impairment associated with cancer, also known as “chemobrain”, has gained recognition as a complication of the disease and its treatment, as it can negatively affect the daily lives of cancer patients and survivors. Chemobrain can be subtle yet persistent, with some cancer patients reporting difficulties related to memory and attention even months after completing their treatment.…
As a synthetic opioid approved for treating severe pain, fentanyl has shown clear medical benefits. However, in recent years, continuous abuse of fentanyl and its derived analogues substances has become a major public health issue – overdoses and deaths associated with illicitly-manufactured fentanyl rose dramatically.
Sixty-two percent of Germans fear antibiotic resistance, according to a survey recently conducted by the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment. ‘Patients colonised by multi-resistant pathogens are particularly scared. But many of these fears are rooted in misunderstandings,’ explained Professor Mathias Pletz at the Congress for Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine (KIT).
The safety of blood transfusions is questioned again and again by the mass media. Sometimes ‘bad’ blood causes infections; sometimes a transfusion leads to cancer years later. The fact is that transfer blood is subjected to the highest safety standards – there are very clear statutory regulations. Nonetheless, there will be shortages of ‘life’s fluid’ because, given increasing…
It’s undeniable: the bulk of our population is growing older. Yet, this demographic change has not altered laboratory medicine: the reference values for many analyses are still based on data of a younger cohort. Inevitably this could lead to serious errors in the interpretation of older patients’ test results.
With increased precision, speed of service and reduced cost, 3D printing presents an opportunity to transform traditional healthcare and its delivery, and radiology is at the center of this new technology. In the ECR 2019 Special Focus Session “The 3D printing lab from bench to bedside”, the speakers emphasized that 3D printing does not only enable a new and innovative way to display imaging,…
White matter on the brain is a difficult subject. Even the terminology is varied, making differential diagnosis complex. An understanding of prevalence and of the tools available to facilitate the diagnosis of individual diseases is important, Dr Gunther Fesl, radiologist at Praxis Radiologie Augsburg, explains.
The professionals we all rely on to keep us healthy, they rely on X-Ray imaging systems empowered by flat panel detectors and software solutions provided by Thales. Our solutions offer superior accuracy and advanced image processing to help image interpretation while decreasing radiation exposure. They also include a variety of innovative features that simplify the daily workflow of healthcare…
Grocery store aisles are stocked with products that promise to kill bacteria. People snap up those items to protect themselves from the germs that make them sick. However, new research from Washington University in St. Louis finds that a chemical that is supposed to kill bacteria is actually making them stronger and more capable of surviving antibiotic treatment. The study, available online in…
Cancer patients who undergo chemotherapy could soon benefit from a new AI that is able to identify and predict the development of different combinations of symptoms – helping to alleviate much of the distress caused by their occurrence and severity. In the first study of its kind, published by Nature Scientific Reports, researchers from the University of Surrey and the University of California…
During our interview with Professor Felice Eugenio Agrò, Professor, Director and Chairman of the Postgraduate School in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care at the University Campus Bio-Medico of Rome, he spoke of the use of Mindray’s TE7 ultrasound system, which provides a touchscreen and focused exam pre-sets. ‘Anaesthesiologists are seeking safe and accurate methods during procedures. Many…
Body painting is considered by some to be the most ancient form of art. Its origins stem from tribal cultures, where its use was for ritual and ceremony. Today it is a familiar sight at carnivals and sporting events. It is also a frequently observed activity within the anatomy classrooms of medical schools around the world. But now lecturers at Hull York Medical School are pioneering the use of…
Many methods to treat current or chronic wounds are available. However, the differences in general conditions prevailing in hospital, or for out-patient care, make effective therapy more difficult. Each patient also has other preconditions for healing. Improved communication between everyone involved in the treatment would benefit patients. We see a lot of progress with the issue of “wounds”,…
A new study shows that there is a very limited regeneration of cells in the brain of patients diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). These findings underline the importance of treating MS at an early stage of the disease progression, when the affected cells can repair the damage as they are not replaced by new ones. The results are published in the journal Nature by researchers from Karolinska…
Until now, researchers haven’t been able to accurately quantify a latent form of HIV that persists in patients’ immune cells. A new genetic technique is fast and 10 to 100 times more accurate than previous diagnostics. This hidden, inactive version of HIV embeds into cells’ genomes and can persist despite otherwise successful therapies – thwarting attempts to cure the infection. Using a…
A wearable brain-based device called NGoggle that incorporates virtual reality (VR) could help improve glaucoma diagnosis and prevent vision loss. Duke University researchers funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI) have launched a clinical study testing the device in hopes that it could decrease the burden of glaucoma, a major cause of blindness in the U.S. The device consists of head-mounted…
In patients with kidney failure, influenza-like illness (ILI) likely contributes to more than 1,000 deaths per year. The finding, which comes from a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN), points to the importance of protection against, surveillance of, and, where possible, treatment of such infections in patients with kidney dysfunction.…
Poor sleep has long been linked with Alzheimer’s disease, but researchers have understood little about how sleep disruptions drive the disease. Now, studying mice and people, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that sleep deprivation increases levels of the key Alzheimer’s protein tau. And, in follow-up studies in the mice, the research team has…
You’re sweating and feverish and have no idea why. Fortunately, Sandia National Laboratories scientists have built a device that can pinpoint what’s wrong in less than an hour. Unlike most medical diagnostic devices which can perform only one type of test — either protein or nucleic acid tests — Sandia’s SpinDx can now perform both. This allows it to identify nearly any cause of…
A new device developed by Stanford University researchers could make it easier for doctors to monitor the success of blood vessel surgery. The sensor, detailed in a paper published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, monitors the flow of blood through an artery. It is biodegradable, battery-free and wireless, so it is compact and doesn’t need to be removed and it can warn a patient’s doctor if…
As Shimadzu celebrates its 50th anniversary in Europe, we spoke with Stéphane Moreau, Manager of LC-MS & Life Sciences at the Marketing Europe/Analytical Business Unit of Shimadzu Europa GmbH, about today’s and many more decades of exciting clinical developments.
A team of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign researchers led by Bioengineering Professor Stephen Boppart has successfully visualized the tumor microenvironment of human breast tissue shortly after it was surgically removed from a patient in the operating room. The researchers achieved this using a new portable optical imaging system developed in Boppart's lab.
A material based on a natural product of bones and citrus fruits, called citrate, provides the extra energy stem cells need to form new bone tissue, according to a team of Penn State bioengineers. The new understanding of the mechanism that allows citrate to aid in bone regeneration will help the researchers develop slow-release, biodegradable citrate-releasing scaffolds to act as bone-growth…
A research team led by Tufts University engineers has developed a non-invasive method for detecting bladder cancer that might make screening easier and more accurate than current invasive clinical tests involving visual inspection of bladder. In the first successful use of atomic force microscopy (AFM) for clinical diagnostic purposes, the researchers have been able to identify signature features…
This could be a major step towards a better understanding of the functions of deeply hidden brain compartments, such as the formation of memories, as well as related dysfunctions, including Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers from the Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology (Leibniz IPHT) in Jena and the University of Edinburgh have succeeded in using a hair-thin fibre endoscope to gain insights…
Using artificial intelligence, metabolic brain changes can be identified earlier leading to timely diagnosis and intervention of Alzheimer’s disease.
Flow cytometry has proved an invaluable diagnostic tool for leukaemia and lymphoma for almost three decades. Now, however, this is evolving in applications to seek out residual disease in cases and in fusion with molecular testing to advance its diagnostic potential. However, although recognised as fast, flexible and accurate, flow cytometry suffers from a lack of standardisation, according to…
The lab-in-the-box design of LabTurbo SP-qPCR All-in-one system offers true automation for the molecular laboratory, the manufacturer reports, adding that this ‘delivers testing confidence and laboratory efficiency. LabTurbo fully automates the complete workflow of molecular diagnostic laboratories. The sample-to-result procedure includes: automatic sample transfer from primary tubes, DNA/RNA…
Virtual Reality (VR) technology is aiding trainee surgeons to practise complex procedures in a simulated setting, rather than learning skills on real patients. VR is also helping to demystify neurosurgery in that it enables medical students and patients to ‘enter’ and experience a neurosurgical operating theatre. Alex Alamri, a trainee neurosurgeon at Barts Health NHS Trust in London, UK,…
Successful pilot scheme means TERR-eSanté will be rolled out for the whole of the Ile-de-France. The French have a reputation as early adopters of telemedicine driven by the desire to modernise healthcare by the judicious use of the latest technology. The first ‘carte vitale’ (national health card) with a microchip was introduced in 1998. Since 2011, the information stored on the cards has…
Researchers have developed laser-activated nanomaterials that integrate with wounded tissues to form seals that are superior to sutures for containing body fluids and preventing bacterial infection. Tissue repair following injury or during surgery is conventionally performed with sutures and staples, which can cause tissue damage and complications, including infection. Glues and adhesives have…
Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) has become an important adjunct to clinical diagnosis and procedural guidance in the Pediatric Emergency Department (PED), supported by literature demonstrating that its use can improve patient safety and expedite life-saving care. POCUS further helps to reduce costs and children’s exposure to ionizing radiation. Not only is POCUS ideally suited for…
Accelerate your workflow with the intelligent, high-resolution DP74 brightfield and fluorescence camera from Olympus. Histologists and pathologists face intense, rushed workloads where every minute counts. Experience enhanced efficiency with our next-generation camera. The DP74 creates a map of where you’ve been and can easily and rapidly lead you back to previous positions on the sample,…
Nanosystems that deliver anticancer drugs or imaging materials to tumours are showing significant progress, particularly those that respond to tumour-related stimuli, according to a review published in the journal Science and Technology of Advanced Materials. However, further research is still required to make sure these delivery systems are stable, non-toxic and biodegradable. Nanocarriers…
It is non-invasive, delivers a chance of early diagnosis, prognostic information and sequential monitoring, and, believes Professor Francesco Salvatore, the enormous potential of liquid biopsies has still to be reached. However, the positive results obtained so far have ‘opened the door to a promising new multi-faceted group of tumour markers, at present collectively designated “liquid…
Researchers at McMaster University have solved a vexing problem by engineering surface coatings that can repel everything, such as bacteria, viruses and living cells, but can be modified to permit beneficial exceptions. The discovery holds significant promise for medical and other applications, making it possible for implants such as vascular grafts, replacement heart valves and artificial joints…
Breast surgeons across the UK must ensure women are aware of BIA-ALCL, a non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma that is associated with implants; and more responsibility must be taken to diagnose and report cases, surgeons attending the 2018 London Breast Meeting have warned. Hundreds of breast specialists from around the world met at the Royal College of Physicians for the four-day conference this autumn,…
The most common form of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) originated in Europe and spread to Asia, Africa and the Americas with European explorers and colonialists, reveals a new study led by UCL and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.
Sepsis remains a common and deadly condition that occurs when the body reacts to an infection in the bloodstream. Scientists know little about the early stages of the condition; however, physicians must act fast. Every hour that passes without one or more of the few treatments available increases the risk of death.
Lab-on-a-chip devices harness electrical signals to measure glucose, discern blood type and detect viruses or cancer. But biological samples need hafnium oxide for protection from electric fields.
Text messages aren't just a way to chat with family and friends—they are a viable method for rapidly gathering information during a public health crisis.
Researchers at the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford have discovered a new molecule that plays a key role in the immune response that is triggered by influenza infections.
In healthy individuals, the Zika virus causes flu-like symptoms. If a pregnant woman becomes infected, the unborn child can suffer from severe brain abnormalities as a result of mechanisms that have not yet been explained. A study by the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry (MPI-B) shows that Zika virus proteins bind to cellular proteins that are…
While the role of the laboratory in disease diagnosis and management has expanded in recent years, causing an overwhelming rise in testing demands, the availability of skilled technologists and specialists has been diminishing. To meet the needs of an overworked and increasingly generalized workforce, today’s products not only must deliver more clinical data than ever before, but also must be…
FUJIFILM SonoSite has recently become an Official Supplier of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship (BSB), providing point-of-care ultrasound systems to support the first-class care of riders and teams competing in the championship. The company’s robust and highly portable ultrasound systems will provide the BSB medical team with on-site imaging capabilities, complementing clinical…
Four potentially game changing solutions selected for the annual commercial acceleration program of the Spanish foundation for innovation and prospective in healthcare (Spanish: FIPSE), included Duralock, a system that could ease post partum pain by avoiding postdural puncture headache (PDPH), a common complication of epidural anaesthesia. PDPH occurs when the anaesthesiologist punctures the dura…
Experts outlined approaches to ischaemia imaging during the recent British Cardiovascular Society conference. In a ‘Detection of ischaemia by cardiac imaging in 2018’ session, comparisons were made between solid state SPECT cameras, whether spatial resolution or visual assessment was of the greater importance, if CT-FFR offered advantages over CT perfusion, and the challenges in defining a…
The Thermo Scientific TSG Series of refrigerators maintain optimal cold storage conditions with minimal energy consumption and noise output. They have been specifically developed to address the need of clinical laboratories and patient care facilities for cold storage equipment that enable secure and energy-efficient storage of vaccines, medicines, lab kits and breast milk, while offering quiet…
Researchers Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center report that they figured out why air sacs in the lungs clog up with a thick substance called surfactant in a brutal disease called Pulmonary Alveolar Proteinosis (PAP), and they show taking cholesterol-busting pills called statins can effectively treat the disease.
Over the last several years, technological advancements have enabled the development of tests that can be performed right where the patient is, whether that’s in a hospital room, primary care office, or community health center. This is a paradigm shift in healthcare delivery that will make it easier for patients to get accurate diagnoses and treatment, and could especially benefit patients in…
Beckman Coulter announced commercialization of its DxM MicroScan WalkAway system, a diagnostic solution for bacterial identification and antibiotic susceptibility testing for microbiology laboratories. The DxM MicroScan WalkAway system uses direct minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) for detection of antimicrobial resistance, offering greater confidence in results through gold-standard…
A team led by the University of California San Diego has developed a chip that can detect a type of genetic mutation known as a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and send the results in real time to a smartphone, computer, or other electronic device. The chip is at least 1,000 times more sensitive at detecting an SNP than current technology. The advance could lead to cheaper, faster and…
‘With Vacuette safety products you can minimise the risk of contamination and injury,’ the manufacturer Greiner Bio-One reports. ‘Needlestick injuries from contaminated puncture devices are the most common source of infection for diseases transmitted by blood or other bodily fluids and are still among the most common occupational accidents today. This is a serious danger!
Medicines given to household pets to kill fleas and ticks might be effective for preventing outbreaks of malaria, Zika fever and other dangerous insect-borne diseases that infect millions of people worldwide, according to a new study led by scientists at Calibr, a non-profit drug discovery institute closely affiliated with Scripps Research and TropIQ Health Sciences, a Dutch social enterprise.
Olympus’ Image of the Year Award for light microscopy in Europe recognizes the very best in life science imaging. Inspired by the beauty and breadth of images submitted for Image of the Year 2017, Olympus is now continuing its quest for the best light microscopy art in 2018. For the chance to win one of three prizes, applicants can submit life science light microscopy images to…
LC/MS, i.e. the combination of liquid chromatography (LC) with mass spectrometry (MS) – an analytical method developed primarily for environmental analysis and live science – remains a keen topic in the medical laboratory. In recent European Hospital issues, we have outlined various reasons why this procedure is in increasingly popular in the medical lab. Here we continue with an interview…
Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) and end-users in the field of dynamic radiology can now benefit from new detectors and imaging solutions to further enhance patients’ examinations. The digital technologies produce greater quality images at a lower dose for end-users and patients, which helps OEMs to make their systems more attractive on the market. Thales is driving the shift from…
Babraham Institute researchers have shown that some tumours use not one but two levels of protection against the immune system. Knocking out one level boosted the protective effects of the second and vice versa. The research demonstrates that a two-pronged approach targeting both cell types simultaneously may offer a promising route for the development of new cancer immunotherapies.
In an international study, scientists of the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) have discovered a new therapeutic option for a large group of stroke patients. The main results of the European WAKE-UP trial were presented at the European Stroke Organisation Conference (ESOC) in Gothenburg, Sweden. At the same time, the trial results were published in the New England Journal of…
Pediatric researchers have found that children and adults treated with some oral antibiotics have a significantly higher risk of developing kidney stones. This is the first time that these medicines have been linked to this condition. The strongest risks appeared at younger ages and among patients most recently exposed to antibiotics. “The overall prevalence of kidney stones has risen by 70…
It’s well known that exposure to extremely loud noises — whether it’s an explosion, a firecracker or even a concert — can lead to permanent hearing loss. But knowing how to treat noise-induced hearing loss, which affects about 15 percent of Americans, has largely remained a mystery. That may eventually change, thanks to new research from the Keck School of Medicine of USC, which sheds…
The APOE gene, the strongest genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, may play a more prominent role in disease development among women than men, according to new research from the Vanderbilt Memory and Alzheimer’s Center. The research confirmed recent studies that carrying the APOE ε4 allele has a greater association with Alzheimer’s disease among women compared to men, and went one…
In today’s operating rooms, increasing fluoroscopic procedures keep interventionists at work longer, wearing the hugely heavy lead aprons necessary for protection against radiation. Chronic back pain is often accepted as something that simply comes with the job. Relief has arrived at last in the form of Zero-Gravity, a suspended radiation protection system designed to increase radiation…
Of the more than 38 million Americans who experience migraine headaches, 28 million are women. Compared to men, women also experience more frequent and severe migraines and don’t respond as well to drug treatments. Findings from a new study conducted in rats reveal that females may be more susceptible to migraines and less responsive to treatment because of the way fluctuations in the hormone…
Partners who could hardly be further apart – yet have a lot in common – have united to fight resistant pathogens. The International Consortium for Anti-Infective Research (iCAIR) is based in Germany and Australia – separated by nearly 16,000 km as the crow flies. This has not stopped the research cooperation from achieving its objectives: the development of new agents against infections.
An interdisciplinary team of researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the School of Engineering & Applied Science is redefining the notion of a wisdom tooth. The team is developing a smart-tooth technology that could someday be used to detect early signs of certain diseases in high-risk patients by analyzing saliva or gingival crevicular fluid.…
A thin copper wire wrapped around a channel slightly thicker than a strand of hair could be the key to manufacturing a compact electronic device capable of counting white blood cells from the comfort of one’s home, a Kennesaw State University researcher says. Hoseon Lee, an assistant professor of electrical engineering in the Southern Polytechnic College of Engineering and Engineering…
Faced with the constant challenge of increasing demand and a backdrop of falling reimbursement, Mayo Clinic in the United States has adopted an innovative and proactive approach to managing its laboratory services. That has seen the US-based medical giant embrace a variety of tools and reference materials to aid clinician decision making, improve care and lower costs. Dr Curt Hanson, Chief…
Most of us don’t think about our teeth and bones until one aches or breaks. A team of engineers at Washington University in St. Louis looked deep within collagen fibers to see how the body forms new bone and teeth, seeking insights into faster bone healing and new biomaterials. Young-Shin Jun, professor of energy, environmental & chemical engineering in the School of Engineering &…
Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is a common infectious disorder that affects millions of women worldwide. Women of all ages are at risk for BV and its complications, which include a greater susceptibility to sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as herpes simplex virus and HIV. If left undetected and untreated, BV can increase a woman's risk of upper genital tract infections such as pelvic…
It’s not unusual for your body to make “popping” or “cracking” sounds as you lean over, twist or reach for something. Fortunately, it’s also typically not a cause for worry. Dr. Aman Dhawan, an orthopedic sports medicine specialist at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, said complaints about such joint sounds are common, but are usually nothing to be concerned about.…
Until very recently, Parkinson’s had been thought a disease that starts in the brain, destroying motion centers and resulting in tremors and loss of movement. New research published this week, shows the most common Parkinson’s gene mutation may change how immune cells react to generic infections like colds, which in turn trigger the inflammatory reaction in the brain that causes…
This year’s unexpectedly aggressive flu season reminds everyone that although the flu vaccine can reduce the number of people who contract the virus, it is still not 100 percent effective. Researchers report that a tweak to a small-molecule drug shows promise for future production of new antiviral therapies that could help patients, regardless of the strain with which they are infected. The…
Health chiefs are failing to investigate a clear pattern of rising death rates and worsening health outcomes in England and Wales, argue experts in The BMJ today. Lucinda Hiam at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Danny Dorling at the University of Oxford say weekly mortality figures show 10,375 additional deaths (a rise of 12.4%) in England and Wales in the first seven…
For the first time, scientists at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center have been able to measure a specific molecule indicative of osteoarthritis and a number of other inflammatory diseases using a newly developed technology. This preclinical study used a solid-state nanopore sensor as a tool for the analysis of hyaluronic acid (HA). HA is a naturally occurring molecule that is involved in tissue…
Scientists at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health developed a system to accurately predict the geographic spread of seasonal influenza in the United States up to six weeks ahead of time.
In standard settings, the analysis of each DNA modification requires a carefully optimised assay that runs under specific conditions. This increases cost and labour and is a severe limitation to throughput. Now, however, researchers at Stanford University and the Technical University of Denmark have come up with a new method that will enable doctors to make a more precise diagnosis, prognosis and…
Recognising malignant tissue remains a tricky task. While today, most patients undergo a biopsy, an invasive procedure where tissue is sampled, stained and assessed, researchers are exploring the potential of optical biopsy, the visual assessment of suspect tissue. The interest in optical biopsy ‘is indeed enormous,’ confirms Dr Thomas Bocklitz, physicist at Friedrich-Schiller University in…
Synchronised efforts between preventive medicine and immunology enable powerful vaccination strategies in a Spanish seniors hub. Efficient prevention also comes with proper infection control and regulating antibiotics use in primary care, local expert in preventive medicine explained in an exclusive interview with EH. Working in a small structure has its perks, one of which is that departments…
Immunotherapy is taking center stage in imaging, but patient follow-up with CT is no cookie and may fall short in the peripheral limbs, brain and bone marrow. MRI offers specific benefits in these situations, and, combined with PET, it may bring even more results. Research must be carried out on quantitative techniques and tracers developed to fully exploit that potential, Prof. Dow-Mu Koh…
Over the last 60 years, medicine has made major advances in diagnosis, treatment and surgery. Radiography and Fluoroscopy imaging are essential to medical science. As a result, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM’s) need to deliver ever more sophisticated turnkey platforms for their systems which are dedicated to end-users. Thales has designed a platform that meets all of these needs. ArtPix…
‘With our new MRI method, we can finally visualise tiny leaks in the blood-brain barrier. They shed light on the vascular contribution to dementia and may indicate Alzheimer’s disease. However, the MRI scan is only a tool to diagnose cerebrovascular damage. We have not yet found a cure for Alzheimer’s,’ confirms Walter H Backes, medical physicist and professor at Maastricht University…
Two new systems developed by Hologic Inc. recently received the European CE Mark: The MyoSure Manual and the Brevera Breast Biopsy System with CorLumina Imaging Technology.
Population imaging is key to determining disease prediction and risk prevention, and Big Data will be key to extracting information and drawing analysis from imaging results, experts highlighted during the annual meeting of the European Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine and Biology (ESMRMB) held in Barcelona in October. Interest in cohort studies has been increasing over the years and…
“With Your Stories – lifetime healthcare support” is the future-driven approach combining the best of two worlds by using our insight and expertise in medical imaging systems and laboratory instrumentation to benefit patients through even better prevention, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up and thus help them in the pursuit of a healthy life.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) decided to suspend authorisation for certain linear gadolinium agents. The review by the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) states: “There is currently no evidence that gadolinium deposition in the brain has caused any harm to patients; however EMA has recommended restrictions and suspensions for some intravenous linear agents in order to…
Diabetic eye disease is the leading cause of blindness among people ages 40 to 60. The longer you have diabetes, the greater your likelihood of developing vision problems increases. Keeping blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol levels under control can help people with diabetes maintain good eye health. They must also have a dilated eye exam once a year, says Dr. Malav Joshi, an…
Nurses have a distinctive and crucial role in the development and implementation of sound health policy,’ according to Annette Kennedy, President of the International Council of Nurses, which represents 135 National Nurses Associations and around 17 million nurses worldwide.
Scientists at the University of Delaware and the University of Illinois at Chicago have found a new way to kill liver cancer cells and inhibit tumor growth. First, they silence a key cellular enzyme, and then they add a powerful drug. They describe their methods in a new paper published in Nature Communications. This research could accelerate the development of new treatments for liver cancer,…
Indiana University researchers have made an important step forward in the design of drugs that fight the hepatitis B virus, which can cause liver failure and liver cancer. It's estimated that 2 billion people worldwide have had a hepatitis B virus infection in their lifetime, with about 250 million -- including 2 million Americans -- living with chronic infection. Although a vaccine exists, there…
While a couple of glasses of wine can help clear the mind after a busy day, new research shows that it may actually help clean the mind as well. The new study, which appears in the journal Scientific Reports, shows that low levels of alcohol consumption tamp down inflammation and helps the brain clear away toxins, including those associated with Alzheimer’s disease. “Prolonged intake of…
Hologic, Inc. announced the launch of the next generation in mini C-arm imaging, the Fluoroscan InSight FD Mini C-Arm, the latest product illustrating the Company’s commitment to addressing the continuum of skeletal health care. The enhanced system adds to Hologic’s portfolio of market-leading skeletal imaging solutions. It offers a variety of improved features designed to arm orthopedists,…
Carestream is a dynamic, global company with more than 100 years of leadership. We are committed to doing whatever it takes to help our customers be successful – in Europe and hospitals around the world. By applying our insights and experience, we create inventive, elegant solutions that offer a smarter way forward.
Tumor imaging technique has potential as anti-cancer weapon, mouse study shows.
Machine learning is playing an increasing role in computer-aided diagnosis, and Big Data is beginning to penetrate oncological imaging. However, some time may pass before it truly impacts on clinical practice, according to leading UK-based German researcher Professor Julia Schnabel, who spoke during the last ESMRMB annual meeting. Machine learning techniques are starting to reach levels of human…
The emerging field of psychoradiology is taking a major step ahead. A new study highlights MRI’s role in identifying people with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and classifies subtypes of the condition, a leading Chinese researcher explained at the ESMRMB annual meeting.
Communicating with patients can be tough. Reminder pamphlets often go straight into the rubbish and emails are deleted before they are read. But one doctor found that chatbots could be a key to patient outreach. Brett Swenson, MD, is no stranger to digital health. He runs a concierge practice in Arizona and started working with EMRs about 20 years ago when they were first introduced. He said he…
Bacteria are stealthy organisms. They can multiply in minutes and evolve to survive what we throw at them—including antibiotics. The World Health Organization calls antibiotic resistance “one of the biggest threats to global health, food security, and development today.” Each year, about 2 million people in the United States become infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, according to…
Merivaara has unveiled one of the world’s most versatile operating tables for elective procedures. The new, smarter Practico was designed to improve ergonomics with the industry’s widest range of posture possibilities. “Customers have been asking for a table like this for years,” says Jyrki Nieminen, Merivaara’s R&D director. “It has been in development for two years and we have…
SCIEX Diagnostics, the in vitro diagnostics division of SCIEX, a global leader in mass spectrometry in the life sciences industry, announced the launch of the Citrine Triple Quad MS/MS and Citrine QTRAP MS/MS systems for clinical diagnostics. The Citrine system is designed specifically to meet the unique needs of clinical labs that require maximum sensitivity, the highest throughput, a wide…
Sutures and staples are the traditional methods for closing surgical incisions and wounds in emergency situations. However, these methods can be inadequate in complex surgeries and cannot make an air-tight or liquid-tight seal on a lung or artery wound or incision. Now researchers funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) have created a surgical glue that…
A powerful antiviral protein may act as a checkpoint for keeping or ending a pregnancy. When exposed to Zika virus before birth, mouse fetuses with the protein commit cell suicide, while fetuses without it continued to develop. The result, published in Science Immunology, suggests that the protein, a receptor involved in immune cell signaling, plays a role in spontaneous abortions and other human…
Smith & Nephew, the global medical technology business, announces the European launch of MolecuLight i:X, the easy to use, handheld imaging device that instantly measures wound surface area and visualises the presence and distribution of potentially harmful bacteria in wounds. Currently wound assessments are made with the naked eye which can lack the accuracy required to most effectively…
The chemical compound “anle138b” eases cognitive deficits and normalizes gene expression in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease. Furthermore, the drug seems to close harmful openings in the membrane of nerve cells. An international collaboration reports these findings in the journal “EMBO Molecular Medicine”. The scientists suggest that anle138b should be validated in clinical trials…
For many of us, a flu shot is a fall routine. Roll up a sleeve, take a needle to the upper arm and hope this year’s vaccine matches whichever viruses circulate through the winter. The most common method to make that vaccine is now more than 70 years old. It requires growing viruses in special, pathogen-free chicken eggs. It’s not a quick and easy manufacturing process. And, at best, it…
Genentech researchers have identified an enzyme that shifts pancreatic cancer cells to a more aggressive, drug-resistant state by epigenetically modifying the cells’ chromatin. The study, which will be published in the Journal of Cell Biology, suggests that targeting this enzyme could make pancreatic cancer cells more vulnerable to existing therapies that currently have only limited effect…
Princeton researchers have discovered that when water flows around long plastic fibers, the flexible fiber strands tangle like a plate of spaghetti. Instead of a muddled mess, however, this product is in fact a highly useful material known as a hydrogel. Investigated for half a century, hydrogels are increasingly finding uses in areas including artificial tissue engineering, sustained drug…
Loyola University Medical Center is the only Chicago center that participated in the pivotal clinical trial of a groundbreaking cancer treatment that genetically engineers a patient's immune system to attack cancer cells. Patrick Stiff, MD, director of Loyola's Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, is a co-author of the study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The treatment used in…
By no means are only elderly people at risk from heart diseases. Physically active individuals can also be affected, for example if a seemingly harmless flu bug spreads to the heart muscle. Should this remain undetected and if, for example, a builder continues with his strenuous job or an athlete carries on training, this can lead to chronic inflammation and in the worst case even to sudden…
Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center researchers demonstrated that mice with ovarian cancer that received drugs to reactivate dormant genes along with other drugs that activate the immune system had a greater reduction of tumor burden and significantly longer survival than those that received any of the drugs alone. The study already spurred a clinical trial in ovarian cancer patients. The…
Facilitating precise sample documentation and audience engagement, Olympus’ 18 megapixel SC180 camera shows unprecedented detail, especially at low magnifications. The easy-to-use and cost-effective SC180 camera reinforces Olympus’ commitment to making 4K Microscopy the new standard.
Findings published in Oncotarget offer new hope for children with highly aggressive brain tumors like atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor (AT/RT) and medulloblastoma. Previously, the authors of the study have shown that an experimental drug that inhibits polo-like kinase 4 (PLK4) stopped pediatric brain tumor growth in vitro. Now, they have demonstrated its success in an animal model – the drug…
Combining molecular information and high contrast resolution may well improve current performance in colorectal cancer (CRC) cases, according to Vicky Goh, who presented the latest results on PET/MRI during the last European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) meeting in Madrid PET/MRI brings the best of both modalities together: high contrast to noise and high spatial resolution combined with…
Training was at the heart of the biggest annual fair in the world, thanks to the newly introduced Medica Academy sessions, i.e. full-day seminars that dealt with practical questions, current techniques and advances in medicine. One of the hot topics tackled by the new format was emergency ultrasound, as renowned experts such as Dr Wolfgang Heinz from Stuttgart gave hands-on training on this…
‘Ultrasound plays a key role in diagnosis and monitoring of treatment in the A&E department,’ emphasises Professor Joseph Osterwalder, Medical Director of the Cantonal Hospital in Appenzell, Switzerland. ‘I cannot imagine emergency medicine without ultrasound.’
Bright and new come the revolutionary portable ultrasound scanners EXAPAD and EXAPAD mini which French manufacturer ECM Echo Control Medical reports were developed in close collaboration with key opinion leaders in various medical fields. ‘Optimal image quality for a perfect visualisation, an intuitive and streamlined user interface for a fluid workflow and the unique and useful features…
‘In prenatal diagnostics, particularly in the first trimester, ultrasound continues to be the modality of choice when looking for malformations,’ says Professor Markus Hoopmann, deputy director of prenatal medicine and gynaecological ultrasound at the Women’s Health Clinic in Tübingen University Hospital. This case for ultrasound is significant because today fetal DNA that circulates in…
‘Ultrasound imaging is an attractive non-ionising medical imaging tool. It’s safe, free of side effects and offers an unmatched real-time imaging capability,’ interventional radiologist Professor Giancarlo Bizzarri underlines during our EH interview.
Nanosensors are incredible information-gathering tools for myriad applications, including molecular targets such as the brain. Neurotransmitter molecules govern brain function through chemistry found deep within the brain, so University of California, Berkeley researchers are developing nanosensors to gain a better understanding of exactly how this all plays out. During the AVS 64th…
Each year, public health officials monitor the spread of influenza to identify which flu strains need to go into that year’s vaccines and where outbreaks will occur. But it can be difficult to predict how bad a particular flu season will be until people actually start getting sick. A new flu forecasting tool built by scientists at the University of Chicago aims to make better predictions by…
21st century challenges are multitudinous for all. Ageing populations, a changing disease burden; increasing obesity with associated morbidities – Type 2 diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease; climate change pressures and more. Any new build plan demands a low carbon footprint; respect for the environment is paramount. To capture all those elements, the plan to regenerate a previously 10…
Heart surgery significantly decreases in-hospital mortality among infants with either of two genetic disorders that cause severe physical and intellectual disabilities, according to a new study by a researcher at the Stanford University School of Medicine and his colleagues at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Trisomy 13 and 18, which result from having extra chromosomes, often…
Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers have identified cells in the upper digestive tract that can give rise to Barrett’s esophagus, a precursor to esophageal cancer. The discovery of this “cell of origin” promises to accelerate the development of more precise screening tools and therapies for Barrett’s esophagus and esophageal adenocarcinoma, the fastest growing form of…
Siemens Healthineers announced its Atellica NEPH 630 System is now available to laboratories. The Atellica NEPH 630 System is a low- to mid-volume nephelometric protein testing solution that simplifies laboratory operations by unifying instrument, assay, IT connectivity and remote service disciplines to deliver advancements in protein testing.
For many years, we thought that all proteins must fold into complicated shapes to fulfill their functions, looking like thousands of sets of custom-tailored locks and keys. But over the past two decades, scientists have begun to realize other proteins—including those involved in many essential cellular functions—remain fully or partially unfolded for parts of their lives. Out of this…
Surgeons at Penn Medicine are using a fluorescent dye that makes cancerous cells glow in hopes of identifying suspicious lymph nodes during head and neck cancer procedures. Led by Jason G. Newman, MD, FACS, an associate professor of Otorhinolaryngology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, the study is the first in the world to look at the effectiveness of…
In a sharp and pointy world, wound healing is a critical and marvelous process. Despite a tremendous amount of scientific study, many outstanding mysteries still surround the way in which cells in living tissue respond to and repair physical damage. One prominent mystery is exactly how wound-healing is triggered: A better understanding of this process is essential for developing new and improved…
Multidrug-resistant organisms (MDRO) are keeping infection specialists worldwide on their toes. One of these specialists travelled all the way from Leipzig to India to gain insights in one of the sources of the problem.
A new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent being tested by researchers at Case Western Reserve University not only pinpoints breast cancers at early stages but differentiates between aggressive and slow-growing types.
Older people who use steroid inhalers for asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are more likely to suffer particular bacterial infections, according to a large study published in the European Respiratory Journal.
Shimadzu, a worldwide leading manufacturer of diagnostic imaging equipment, achieved the ‘Global General Radiography Product Line Strategy Leadership Award 2017’.
Agfa HealthCare celebrates 150 years of expertise and innovation at RSNA 2017, showcasing its contemporary solutions' direct impact on productivity and costs. Demonstrations of "Care You Can See" include highlighting the company's signature integrated platform approach to elevate medical imaging as network-wide assets throughout the continuum of care.
As cancer grows, it evolves. Individual cells become more aggressive and break away to flow through the body and spread to distant areas. What if there were a way to find those early aggressors? How are they different from the rest of the cells? And more importantly: Is there a way to stop them before they spread?
Certain members of Generation Y, who grew up alongside enormous information technology (IT) advances, now occupy decision-making roles. Meanwhile, generation Z is emerging into the continuing IT revolution; the digital world surrounds us.
Point-of-care ultrasound plays an important role in the emergency sector, enabling hospital clinicians and paramedics responding to an urgent call for medical assistance to assess a patient’s condition. Dr Matthew Reed, an Emergency Medicine consultant at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, explained how ultrasound contributes to the management of cardiac arrest.
A Spanish team has, for the first time, successfully placed a pulmonary valve using catheterisation through the hepatic vein in a paediatric patient. Specialists believe this type of intervention could become an interesting alternative when traditional access points are not available.
Shielding cardiologists from harmful radiation is the goal for two systems capable of navigating the vascular highway.
Over recent years, virology, once medicine‘s step-child, moved into the limelight, pushed by impressive progress and pulled by globalisation-induced need for expertise in virus diagnostics and viral epidemics.
Columbia University Medical Center researchers have found that it may be possible to access memories “lost” to Alzheimer’s disease, if their discoveries about memory loss in mice also apply to people with the disease.
Scientists from the University of Würzburg have synthesized a complex sugar molecule which specifically binds to the tumor protein Galectin-1. This could help to recognize tumors at an early stage and to combat them in a targeted manner.
The reasons why doctors request urinary analysis are varied – perhaps to detect a possible or suspected infection, or to screen for kidney diseases. In all cases a reliable and rapid result is the major aim. Urinary microscopy and culture have been the mainstays of urinary analysis for many, many years both of which require time and specialist handling.
In more than 21% of complex anatomical osteosynthesis procedures, an intraoperative improvement of the implant position or a revision of reduction has to be performed (Recum von, J. et al., Unfallchirurg 2012, 115:196-201, Die intraoperative 3D-C-Bogen-Anwendung. State of the art).
In a review of half a dozen published studies in which patients self-reported use of opioids prescribed to them after surgery, researchers at Johns Hopkins report that a substantial majority of patients used only some or none of the pills, and more than 90 percent failed to dispose of the leftovers in recommended ways.
Saliva is no way to pass a Zika virus infection. According to researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison who conducted studies with monkeys, casual contact like kissing or sharing a fork or spoon is not enough for the virus to move between hosts.
Thermo Scientific presents its TSX505 Series - undercounter refrigerators designed to provide sustainable cold storage for demanding applications.
Genes do not exist in isolation. So far, little has been known about how the position of a gene on a chromosome affects its evolution.
The association of biofilms with multi-drug resistance has highlighted the need for further understanding of biofilms and for anti-biofilm strategies.
A saliva test developed by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health nearly matches the performance of a blood test widely used to assess recent or past hepatitis E virus infections, a new study reports. The findings could offer an easier, less expensive alternative to gathering data for studying and eventually treating the disease, which infects an estimated 20 million…
Summer colds might seem rare, but people are actually just as likely to catch one in the summer as in the winter.
By 2040, there will be over 1.2 million people living with dementia in England and Wales, an increase of 57 per cent from 2016. The rise is largely due to increased life expectancy say researchers in The BMJ today.
Olympus’ new BX53 microscope provides bright, sharp images with excellent color rendering performance equivalent to halogen lamps. The long-life LED light source, the True Color LED, is brighter and more uniform than a 100-watt halogen bulb – matching every contrast method and providing bright images to multi-head discussion systems for up to 26 people.
Canadian researchers have invented an intraoperative probe that reliably detects multiple types of tumour cells.
Scientists from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have developed an algorithm that functions like a Rosetta Stone to help decipher how the immune system recognizes and binds antigens. The research should aid development of more personalized cancer immunotherapy and advance diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases.
Today, tracking the development of individual cells and spotting the associated factors under the microscope is nothing unusual. However, impairments like shadows or changes in the background complicate the interpretation of data. Now, researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Helmholtz Zentrum München have developed a software that corrects images to make hitherto hidden…
Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is helping to provide MS experts some insight into what drives progression of the disease. PET also has the potential to quantify the effects of new, targeted therapies on MS patients, according to consultant neurologist Professor Bruno Stankoff.
While IA’s (Immunoassay) has been the most used technic for clinical analysis, the shift to LC-MS / MS is constantly increasing for several type of analysis like immunosuppressant, vitamin D or steroids panel, but also for several new assays including anti-coagulants, antibiotics, plasma renin activity, etc. The change from Immunoassay to LC-MS / MS could have been faster if sample…
Researchers at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) of A*STAR have engineered a three-dimensional heart tissue from human stem cells to test the safety and efficacy of new drugs on the heart.
Long before symptoms of Alzheimer's disease become apparent to patients and their families, biological changes are occurring within the brain. Amyloid plaques, which are clusters of protein fragments, along with tangles of protein known as tau, form in the brain and grow in number, eventually getting in the way of the brain's ability to function. These biological changes can be detected early in…
Oxford Gene Technology (OGT), The Molecular Genetics Company, today announced that it has signed an agreement to be acquired by Sysmex Corporation, a Japanese in vitro diagnostic company.
Light microscopy today offers a wealth of techniques that provide fascinating insights into life on subcellular level. “In light microscopy these days there are so many new techniques that each of us can only handle a subset of them,” says Christian Tischer, scientific officer in der Advanced Light Microscopy Facility of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany,…
Infertile couples have a major opportunity to achieve a successful pregnancy without the need for IVF, thanks to new research into a 100-year-old medical technique.
Study reveals the surprising role of omega-3 fatty acids in keeping the blood-brain barrier closed
Glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness worldwide, most often is diagnosed during a routine eye exam. Over time, elevated pressure inside the eye damages the optic nerve, leading to vision loss. Unfortunately, there’s no way to accurately predict which patients might lose vision most rapidly. Now, studying mice, rats and fluid removed from the eyes of patients with glaucoma, researchers at…
Ideal for high-throughput, regular use, Olympus’ ergonomic CX43 and CX33 microscopes deliver superior comfort and reduce fatigue during long periods of routine microscopy.
A simple eye test could help solve the biggest global cause of irreversible blindness, glaucoma. In clinical trials, the pioneering diagnostic test - developed by researchers at UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and the Western Eye Hospital - allowed doctors to see individual nerve cell death in the back of the eye.
A unique womb-like environment designed by pediatric researchers could transform care for extremely premature babies, by mimicking the prenatal fluid-filled environment to give the tiniest newborns a precious few weeks to develop their lungs and other organs.
By definition, biobanks are collections of specimens of human bodily substances, such as tissue, cells, DNA, proteins, blood or other fluids, with data on the donor attached.
Repeated infection with the bacterium Clostridium difficile (C. difficile), which causes stomach upsets and diarrhoea, is linked to higher death rates, as well as having a significant impact on health services in terms of cost and hospital beds occupied. This issue will be adressed in two presentations at the 27th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID),…
Following a top level EU report showing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) remains high, Professor Mike Catchpole, Chief Scientist at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), has warned that stricter use of antibiotics is critical.
The UK’s first dedicated emergency department sepsis team has been set up in one of the country’s leading hospitals. Leicester Hospital’s created the team to recognise and manage sepsis. The key aim is to strengthen the response, in a timely manner, to sepsis cases admitted to the emergency department or to identify rapidly any patients who deteriorate within the unit.
Genetic testing of tumor and blood fluid samples from people with and without one of the most aggressive forms of skin cancer has shown that two new blood tests can reliably detect previously unidentifiable forms of the disease.
About six years ago, liquid biopsy appeared on the diagnostic lab stage. Last December, a seminar offered by Agena Bioscience in Frankfurt, Germany, was set to explore the enormous potential of this new technique for oncology.
Space missions are famous for driving innovation, from Mylar blankets to microchips. So when French scientists learned one of their compatriots would be aboard the Soyuz MS-03 spacecraft to reach the International Space Station (ISS), they gathered cutting edge technologies for him to carry into orbit.
Royal Philips today announced that the results from two large clinical trials comparing patient outcomes using instant wave-free ratio (iFR) and fractional flow reserve (FFR) in the diagnosis and treatment of heart disease have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine. First released in 2013, iFR is an innovative pressure-derived index unique to Philips, a global leader in…
Malaria infections may soon be treated much more efficiently than they are at present. Researchers at the Universities of Bayreuth and Jerusalem have developed a novel drug release procedure for this purpose. The procedure enables the active ingredient Artemisone to be administered reliably at quantities and time intervals that are tailored exactly to the patients’ individual needs. The…
A pioneering scalp cooling treatment that prevents alopecia in early stage breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy will be showcased at the 15th St. Gallen International Breast Cancer Conference, Vienna.
Unfors RaySafe, the global leader of X-ray quality assurance solutions, yesterday introduced the RaySafe i3, to its suite of real-time dosimetry products, at the European Society of Radiology in Vienna.
Employing new photonics technology, European scientists are developing a new Augmented Reality surgical visor in a bid to improve accuracy of interventions, showing anaesthetic and medical data while superimposing a patient’s x-ray in perfect unison with their body, meaning surgeons never having to look away during an operation and surgery times reduced by over 20 minutes for every 3 hours.
New 3-D simulation models that include haemodynamics enable better treatment of hepatic tumours via radio-embolisation, according to eminent Spanish radiologist José Ignacio Bilbao Jaureguizar.
It is a collaboration that could push vascular imaging to a new level.
Autonomous driving, automatic speech recognition, and the game Go: Deep Learning is generating more and more public awareness. Scientists at the Helmholtz Zentrum München and their partners at ETH Zurich and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have now used it to determine the development of hematopoietic stem cells in advance. In ‘Nature Methods’ they describe how their software…
Before an operation, surgeons have to obtain the most precise image possible of the anatomical structures of the part of the body undergoing surgery. University of Basel researchers have now developed a technology that uses computed tomography data to generate a three-dimensional image in real time for use in a virtual environment.
The implantation of knee and hip joints is considered one of the success stories of recent years. But periprosthetic joints infections (PJI) are one of the severe complications, with an infection rate of 2%. The probability of revision surgery increases with concomitant diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, with fracture prosthesis or after previous surgery.
Helping to save time and increase comfort at the microscope, Olympus’ new DP74 camera delivers intelligent imaging with a range of innovative features designed to facilitate the workflow and enhance return on investment (ROI).
An international group of researchers report success in mice of a method of using positron emission tomography (PET) scans to track, in real time, an antibody targeting a hormone receptor pathway specifically involved in prostate cancer.
Since lung diseases tend to be complex, imaging is a crucial diagnostic tool. While computed tomography has become the standard modality, which is frequently used outside hospital settings, specialised MRI diagnostics remains the preserve of large university medical centres.
Menarini-Silicon Biosystems announced the company’s DEPArray single-cell isolation technology played a key role in a study conducted by researchers from The University of Manchester to develop a model for predicting whether small-cell lung cancer patients will be sensitive or resistant to initial chemotherapy treatment.
On European Antibiotic Awareness Day (EAAD), the European Public Health Alliance and the European Patients Forum jointly call on the European Commission and national governments to step up the fight against drug-resistant infections in the follow-up EU Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance announced for 2017. The EU has a vital role to play in protecting health security in Europe and empowering…
Ultrasound examinations are considered cost-efficient, fast and effective. The E-FAST (Extended-Focused Assessment with Sonography for Trauma) is a standardised examination used in accident & emergency medicine worldwide. The procedure helps to diagnose internal bleeding and organ damage in severely injured patients in the resuscitation room and, in some regions, even during emergency…
Using specialized CT scans of a healthy heart and one with heart disease, a team of Johns Hopkins cardiologists and biomedical engineers say they've created computer models of the "shape" of blood flow through the heart's upper left chamber that someday may help predict stroke risk.
Virology is fast emerging as a key discipline within modern healthcare against a backdrop of a shifting global demographic and the impact of climate change.
Illuminating blood vessels, opening the blood-brain barrier and delivering drugs. What will be the next big thing that tiny microbubbles can do?
Bladder cancer (BC) is the most common malignancy involving the urinary system and the ninth most common malignancy worldwide.
A 50-year-old man was admitted to the emergency department with hepatitis, most likely due to his intake of 4-5 energy drinks every day for three weeks, reveal doctors writing in the journal BMJ Case Reports.
A European health consortium is developing a set of low radiation, low cost, flat panel X-ray detectors that use novel photonics technology to make diagnosis safer for patients, hospital and dental staff, generating some of the highest resolution images ever seen in rapid moving body functions, such as malicious growths or the beating heart of a baby.
For the first time, fetal medicine experts have performed prenatal heart surgery to remove a life-threatening tumor, called intrapericardial teratoma. The patient, who underwent the operation at 24 weeks of gestation while in his mother’s womb, is now a healthy three-year-old preschooler. “We have shown that we can accurately diagnose and provide a prognosis for this rare condition in utero,…
The increasing numbers of bacteria resistant to the newer generations of antibiotics is a public health problem on a global scale. Bacteria have an extraordinary capacity for adaptation, mutating permanently to overcome the action of our increasingly impotent antimicrobial armamentarium. A situation further aggravated by the use of the powerful ‘large spectrum’ antibiotics, creating further…
Resuscitation is always a desperate attempt by an entire team to save a human life. If a reversible cause can be discovered, a patient’s chances of survival increase considerably. All medics therefore know the ‘4 Hs’ and ‘HITS’. Report: Brigitte Dinkloh
Nanoparticles known as Cornell dots, or C dots, have shown great promise as a therapeutic tool in the detection and treatment of cancer. Now, the ultrasmall particles – developed more than a dozen years ago by Ulrich Wiesner, the Spencer T. Olin Professor of Engineering at Cornell University – have shown they can do something even better: kill cancer cells without attaching a cytotoxic drug.
A team of researchers at Yale found that a treatment using bioadhesive nanoparticles loaded with a potent chemotherapy drug proved more effective and less toxic than conventional treatments for gynecological cancer.
NIBIB researchers have created a nanovaccine that could make a current approach to cancer immunotherapy more effective while also reducing side effects. The nanovaccine helps to efficiently deliver a unique DNA sequence to immune cells – a sequence derived from bacterial DNA and used to trigger an immune reaction. The nanovaccine also protects the DNA from being destroyed inside the body, where…
Researchers have found that Zika virus can live in eyes and have identified genetic material from the virus in tears, according to a study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The research, in mice, helps explain why some Zika patients develop eye disease, including a condition known as uveitis that can lead to permanent vision loss.
Researchers at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute sprayed a dye on oesophageal tissue samples taken from people with Barrett’s oesophagus – a condition that increases the risk of developing oesophageal cancer. The dye sticks to healthy oesophageal cells but not to pre-cancerous cells. They then shone near-infrared light - which is just beyond the red colours that our eyes can normally…
Curetis N.V. announced the successful completion of the CE Performance Evaluation study of the next generation of its Unyvero ITI Implant and Tissue Infection Application Cartridge (Unyvero ITI).
Hamamatsu Photonics has been granted patents for their “Lightsheet Readout Mode” which takes advantage of the rolling shutter readout in scientific CMOS cameras. Lightsheet Readout Mode is currently available in the ORCA-Flash4.0V2 camera. The patents place Hamamatsu’s cameras in an ideal position regarding the lightsheet application and Hamamatsu will move forward on enforcing their rights…
Coronary interventions often rely more on art than science as the decision to treat a patient tends to be based on what clinicians can see, a subjective interpretation of cardiac imaging. Two new techniques have emerged for cardiovascular diagnostics that are enabling software to help surgeons and cardiologists measure, and thereby better manage cardiac disease. Both rely on powerful computer…
Cold plasma looks like the glow from the “Star Wars” blue light saber but this beam of energy, made of electrons that change polarity at micro-second or nanosecond speeds, could help bones heal faster, according to researcher from the Thomas Jefferson University.
Researchers have discovered that secondary infection with the Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacterium (or “superbug”) often kills influenza patients because the flu virus alters the antibacterial response of white blood cells, causing them to damage the patients’ lungs instead of destroying the bacterium. The study suggests that inhibiting this response may help treat…
Osnabrueck cognitive scientists and their students are developing new and intelligent expert systems, which help to effectively utilize the flood of daily information in everyday life. To enable working with large amounts of data, the Institute of Cognitive Science at Osnabrück University has engaged in a cooperation with the global corporation IBM, and will be able to access the IBM computer…
IBM scientists have developed a new lab-on-a-chip technology that can, for the first time, separate biological particles at the nanoscale and could enable physicians to detect diseases such as cancer before symptoms appear.
Cancer patients today can benefit from much better drugs providing treatments tailor-made to specific mutations. However, broad application is still hampered by a considerable bottleneck: fast, reliable, and cost-effective diagnosis. Agena's MassARRAY platform is addressing this bottleneck with an elegant new solution.
Since several years, LC-MS/MS technology is making an important breakthrough in the field of clinical research. The progress of tandem MS or MS/MS in that field is mainly due to its ability for high sensitivity detection, high selectivity, as well as possibilities of multiplexing compounds in one analysis without the risk of cross reactions inherent to immuno-assay tests.
Researchers from Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC), New York State Psychiatric Institute, and NewYork-Presbyterian reported that an odor identification test may prove useful in predicting cognitive decline and detecting early-stage Alzheimer’s disease. Their two studies, presented at the Alzheimer’s Association’s International Conference in Toronto, Canada, suggest that the…
UK researchers have identified a new approach, which could make it easier to identify fatty plaques that could cause heart attacks or a stroke.
The cause of Alzheimer’s disease remains unknown. Early diagnosis is currently not possible as clinical symptoms only occur once a large number of neurones in the brain have already been destroyed. There is no treatment available either.
As part of a national, joint research project in cooperation with Chronix Biomedical (San Jose, CA/USA/Göttingen/Germany), Professor Michael Oellerich MD is on new biomarkers in organ transplantation, aiming to develop personalised immunosuppression for patients. This also entails the development of molecular test procedures, among others for the early detection of rejection. The keyword here is…
A gene called ‘Wars2’ has been pinpointed as a potential new target in treating heart disease. These latest findings are the first to show that Wars2 has a star role in driving the growth of blood vessels in the heart.
When a woman is diagnosed with the earliest stage of breast cancer, how aggressive should her treatment be? Will the non-invasive cancer become invasive? Or is it a slow-growing variety that will likely never be harmful? Researchers at the University of Michigan developed a new technology that can identify aggressive forms of ductal carcinoma in situ, or stage 0 breast cancer, from non-aggressive…
‘The combination of nuclear medicine and modern imaging procedures such as CT and MRI is becoming increasingly important in the diagnosis, treatment planning and aftercare of cancerous diseases,’ explains Professor Katrine Åhlström Riklund, who presides over the newly established European Society for Hybrid Medical Imaging, ESHI.
The Sonialvision G4 high performance R/F table provides numerous best-in-class features significantly increasing its functionality and operability. Sonialvision G4 unites the widest possible range of examinations with inter-departmental hospital capability.
Scientists at the University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health have proven that multiple sclerosis (MS) can be caused by a single genetic mutation – a rare alteration in DNA that makes it very likely a person will develop the more devastating form of the neurological disease.
The group of Russian and French researchers, with the participation of scientists from the Lomonosov Moscow State University, has succeeded to synthesize nanoparticles of ultrapure silicon, which exhibited the property of efficient photoluminescence, i.e., secondary light emission after photoexcitation. These particles were able to easily penetrate into cancer cells and it allowed to use them as…
In brief, the new method involves exposing cells to ultrasound when they flow through a so-called micro-channel inside a chip. The individual cells are separated in the acoustic field and by studying the cells’ lateral movement at the end of the channel it is possible to identify the acoustic properties of the cells. Conversely, if you know the cells’ acoustic characteristics, you can detect…
Two new optical devices could reduce the need to take tissue samples during medical examinations and operations and to then send them for testing – potentially speeding up diagnosis and treatment and cutting healthcare costs.
Cancer accounts for 13 percent of all deaths worldwide and despite recent medical improvements remains one of the most deadly diseases in the world. Early detection, usually through advanced medical imaging, is crucial as it increases the chances of survival and the potential for full recovery. The EU-funded project GlucoCEST Imaging of Neoplastic Tumours (GLINT) will develop an innovative…
Strictly speaking, digital pathology has not yet resulted in any groundbreaking changes for clinical diagnostics. The conventional light microscope introduced to pathology around 100 years ago continues to be the most important tool for pathologists.
Scientists from the universities in Münster and Munich have discovered what precisely goes wrong in the body in the case of multiple sclerosis (MS). At the same time the neuroscientists were able to demonstrate that for MS, which occurs in bouts, there is a therapy which is tailor-made to eliminate the deficit.
Histopathologists play key roles in diagnosing disease entities and determining biomarkers related to the prognosis and response to specific therapy of malignant tumours. Report: Bela Molnar
The University Hospital Jena (UKJ) is the first one in Germany and one of the first in Europe to use the GE Revolution CT for faster diagnostics in an emergency center. Thanks to innovative technology, several steps of the examination can now be done in one single scan, exposing the patient to a quite low radiation dose.
As a leading global provider of both diagnostic imaging and analytical instrumentation technologies, Shimadzu offers broad expertise in medical imaging and mass spectrometry detection platforms helping to deliver a measurable impact on healthcare and diagnosis. The company is the perfect partner for transformational technologies to accelerate diagnosis.
As medical professionals search for new ways to personalize diagnosis and treatment of disease, RPB-supported researchers at the University of Iowa have already put into practice what may be the next big step in precision medicine: personalized proteomics.
Before his presentation at ECCMID 2016, Dr Guillaume Béraud, Infectious Disease Specialist, in the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Poitiers, Poitiers, France, talked to European Hospital about the results from his modelling of these three “childhood” diseases measles, mumps and rubella.
Researchers have found that a combination of chemotherapy and modern radiotherapy can benefit patients with advanced nasopharyngeal cancer – a cancer that starts at the back of the nose. These cancers are very rare in the UK and so modern treatments had not been previously studied in patients with advanced disease.
Although tuberculosis (TB) is commonly thought of as being a disease that mainly affects nineteenth century poets and Victor Hugo characters, it is still the second-most common cause of mortality from an infectious disease in the world, killing nearly three people every minute.
Not all innovations marketed as ‘world premieres’ actually make a significant impact on the world. However, the new robotic X-ray system ‘Multitom Rax’ (Robotic Advanced X-ray) introduced by Siemens Healthcare and the University Hospital Erlangen is one innovation in the world of medicine technology that deserves this label, the manufacturer reports. ‘With the combination of robotic and…
An international team working at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has captured the first high-resolution 3-D images from individual double-helix DNA segments attached at either end to gold nanoparticles. The images detail the flexible structure of the DNA segments, which appear as nanoscale jump ropes.
Scientists have many tools at their disposal for looking at preserved tissue under a microscope in incredible detail, or peering into the living body at lower resolution. What they haven't had is a way to do both: create a three-dimensional real-time image of individual cells or even molecules in a living animal.
A research team headed by scientists at the Institute of Neuroimmunology and the Institute for Multiple Sclerosis Research (IMSF), University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG), has gained new insights into the immune function of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). They used real-time microscopy to film the lively trafficking of immune cells between the CSF and the nervous tissue. Here the meninges play the…
With 4,360 transplant operations from 1,682 donations in 2014, Spain broke the country’s own record and confirmed its place as the world leader in organ donations, a position it has held for the past 24 years.
Every year around a quarter of a million children worldwide die from sickle cell disease. In Germany around 3,000 people suffer from this rare inherited blood disorder.
From the beginning the accusation somehow beggared belief. A ‘mild’ virus was blamed for causing hideous malformations in babies’ heads. Brazil, a country suffering its worst recession since the 1930s, as well as political upheaval, became the focus of a worldwide healthcare scare.
The ongoing debate about breast cancer diagnostics has left many women confused — particularly over what age they should get mammograms and who needs treatment. An issue with current methods is that they often identify lumps but cannot conclusively pinpoint which ones are cancerous. To help resolve this uncertainty, researchers have developed a pill that could improve imaging techniques so that…
Following a meeting of professional organisations on the healthcare workforce implications on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) held at World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters on 2 March 2016, the International Council of Nurses calls on governments to support the Global Action Plan on AMR and stresses the key role of nurses in reducing the impact and limiting the spread of this major threat to…
Frost & Sullivan has awarded Carestream Health its 2016 North America Frost & Sullivan Award for New Product Innovation Leadership for innovation focused on value-based imaging that solves real-life problems and addresses unmet customer needs.
Emergency medicine requires smooth, patient-oriented and perfectly timed cooperation of several clinical disciplines.
Neurologists are gaining new insights into dementia imaging by harnessing the latest opportunities offered by Positron Emission Tomography (PET).
The radiology department at the German hospital Asklepios-Klinik Lindau recently received the high-performance R/F table Sonialvision G4, a new generation of X-ray and fluoroscopy systems, which complements examination and therapy options, particularly in internal medicine, as well as general surgery and for spinal disorders, the manufacturer Shimadzu reports.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center nephrologist and associate professor of medicine Dr. William H. Fissell IV, is making major progress on a first-of-its kind device to free kidney patients from dialysis. He is building an implantable artificial kidney with microchip filters and living kidney cells that will be powered by a patient’s own heart.
There may be a “silver bullet” for Ebola. Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston (UTMB) reported that they have isolated human monoclonal antibodies from Ebola survivors which can neutralize multiple species of the virus.
MRI, CT, pathology: doctors have to consider medical image data – increasing in both amount and complexity – to perform diagnoses and monitor therapy. The Fraunhofer Institute for Medical Image Computing MEVIS in Bremen is creating a new approach to provide effective assistance.
Stopping the growth of blood vessels in tumours is a key target for glioblastoma therapies, and imaging methods are essential for initial diagnosis and monitoring the effects of treatments. While mapping vessels in tumours has proven a challenge, researchers have now developed a combined magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultramicroscopy 'toolkit' to study vessel growth in glioma models in more…
Scientists of the Göttingen Cluster of Excellence CNMPB and the EMBL describe efficient fluorescence tag for super-resolution microscopy.
For the first time, and using physical methods, scientists have demonstrated how red blood cells move. They recognized that fast molecules in the vicinity make the cell membrane in the blood cells wriggle – but that the cells themselves also become active when they have enough reaction time.
Researchers at Duke Health are fine-tuning a test that can determine whether a respiratory illness is caused by infection from a virus or bacteria so that antibiotics can be more precisely prescribed.
When the Ebola virus outbreak erupted in West Africa in 2014, children infected with the virus — particularly those under age 5 — faced overwhelming challenges. Not only was there a high death rate among young children infected with the disease, they often were isolated from their families, leaving them feeling distressed and without the intensive care they needed.
Researchers have identified a mechanism that allows cancer cells to respond and grow rapidly when levels of sugar in the blood rise. This may help to explain why people who develop conditions in which they have chronically high sugar levels in their blood, such as obesity, also have an increased risk of developing certain types of cancer.
Since September 2015, Greifswald University Hospital in Germany has been using the HMS-3000MT 3D head mount display from Sony Professional — currently up to eight times a week for laparoscopic procedures with varying levels of difficulty. The team, led by Consultant Doctor Maciej Patrzyk, is convinced by the advantages of the new system—in terms of both ergonomics and imaging technology—in…
Doctors at the Duke University School of Medicine have tested a new injectable agent that causes cancer cells in a tumor to fluoresce, potentially increasing a surgeon’s ability to locate and remove all of a cancerous tumor on the first attempt. The imaging technology was developed through collaboration with scientists at Duke, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Lumicell Inc.
Proteins are like a body’s in-house Lego set. These large, complex molecules are made up of building blocks called amino acids. Most of the time, proteins fold correctly, but sometimes they can misfold. This misfolding causes the proteins to get sticky, and that can promote clumping, or aggregation, which is the hallmark of several neurodegenerative diseases such as ALS, Alzheimer’s and…
Antibodies combat viruses and bacteria. They also attach themselves to cancer cells – in a typical, characteristic way. Fraunhofer scientists are using this property to detect cancer cells in tissue samples. Such rapid tests can already be applied by surgeons during operations – within a few minutes and without expensive equipment.
Scientists have shown for the first time that an enzyme crucial to keeping our immune system healthy “surfs” along the strands of DNA inside our cells. The researchers used extremely powerful microscopy to watch how the enzyme AID (activation-induced deoxycytidine deaminase) moves around and interacts with other molecules.
Bladder cancer is associated with high recurrence rates, necessitating prolonged surveillance and repeated treatments. As a result, it is one of the most challenging and costly of all solid tumours to manage. Although most patients present at an early stage with non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC), between 13% and 61% will experience recurrence within 1 year of initial transurethral…
As the World Health Organization (WHO) ramps up its fight against antibiotic resistance, a new multi-country survey shows people are confused about this major threat to public health and do not understand how to prevent it from growing.
JADAK will launch the XE-80P, a portable, battery-powered thermal printer and chart recorder, at Medica, in Düsseldorf, Germany, Nov. 16-19, in Hall 13, Suite Room 8. The XE-80P’s unique Charge-on-Demand™ feature allows the user to choose when the printer will charge, which reserves all power for the host device’s functions during a critical event. The XE-80P is the first printer JADAK…
With 3-D printing revolutionising manufacturing, its healthcare potential is being explored for medical devices, prosthetics, dentistry and drug development. One area under the spotlight is the creation of artificial muscles using a 3-D printing system. Dr Fergal Coulter, who has played an important role in helping develop the technique, outlined the manufacturing process, which he invented for…
One goal of immunotherapy is to rally a patient’s often over-burdened immune cells to effectively attack a tumor. Among foot soldiers on the immune front line is a subpopulation of white blood cells called “patrolling monocytes,” whose job is to cruise the bloodstream, cart off cellular debris, and block invasion of a less benign population of inflammatory cells.
When it comes to fending off disease and helping prevent people from falling ill, the body’s immune system – armed with T-cells that help eliminate cancer cells, virus-infected cells and more – is second to none. But exactly how the immune system works remains, in many ways, a mystery, as there are numerous cell types whose functions and interactions with our immune systems have not been…
In the year of its 140th anniversary, Shimadzu has released the new Trinias MiX package (Minimally invasive eXperience) to support less invasive treatments through a variety of applications. The Trinias MiX package is an exten¬sion of the Trinias angiography system, which facilitates high-level interventions through proprietary image processing technology. Shimadzu provides functional…
The European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Disease (ESCMID) is calling on the healthcare industry to lead by example and implement universal flu vaccination for healthcare workers. ESCMID is encouraging all health workers to take personal responsibility and get vaccinated this season, particularly those who come into contact with high-risk groups.
A banana a day may not keep the doctor away, but a substance originally found in bananas and carefully edited by scientists could someday fight off a wide range of viruses, new research suggests. And the process used to create the virus-fighting form may help scientists develop even more drugs, by harnessing the “sugar code” that our cells use to communicate. That code gets hijacked by…
The Swedish healthcare Region Östergötland is making a full commitment to digital pathology by investing in a solution from Sectra for storage, review and sharing of digital pathology images. The aim of the region’s investment is more rapid care for cancer patients, in which pathology has a key role in diagnosis and treatment.
A team of researchers from Brown University, ETH Zurich, the Universita da Svizzera Italiana (USI) and Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) is using America’s most powerful supercomputer to help understand and fight diseases affecting some of the body’s smallest building blocks.
Northwestern University scientists have developed the first liquid nanoscale laser. And it’s tunable in real time, meaning you can quickly and simply produce different colors, a unique and useful feature. The laser technology could lead to practical applications, such as a new form of a “lab on a chip” for medical diagnostics.
Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences have found that the breast cancer drug tamoxifen gives white blood cells a boost, better enabling them to respond to, ensnare and kill bacteria in laboratory experiments. Tamoxifen treatment in mice also enhances clearance of the antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogen…
Virtual models can be created in the angiography room thanks to an approach developed by researchers at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM) and the university’s departments of radiology, radiation oncology, and nuclear medicine. The latest advances were presented by Dr. Gilles Soulez at the Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology Society of Europe (CIRSE) conference…
The newly founded Tübingen company CENATA GmbH has been offering the Harmony non-invasive pre-natal test since May 2015. CENATA has obtained a licence from the U.S. company Ariosa Diagnostics, and is now the only company in the world outside the United States that is permitted to conduct the analysis and evaluation. This examination enables pregnant mothers to test their unborn children for…
At Agfa HealthCare, we have long recognized the need for a balance between high image quality and the management of dose. With the cesium phosphor technology enhanced and empowered by the gold standard MUSICA image processing software, renowned for delivering diagnostic value images and making it easy to see details, radiologists are potentially able to provide a dose reduction of 50% to 60%*.…
A team of scientists at the Children’s Research Institute at UT Southwestern (CRI) has become the first to use a tissue-clearing technique to localize a rare stem cell population, in the process cracking open a black box containing detailed information about where blood-forming stem cells are located and how they are maintained. The findings provide a significant advance toward understanding…
Half a million square feet. More than 350 beds. And tomorrow, they clean it all over again. Every day, Environmental Services (EVS) staff members work to disinfect every surface in Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, playing a crucial behind-the-scenes role in preventing infections and keeping patients safe. Now, on top of scrubbing, spraying, mopping and wiping, they can add another action –…
Fetuses with enlarged ventricles--the fluid-filled cavities inside the brain--may be less likely than their counterparts to benefit from surgery in the womb to treat spina bifida, according to a study supported by the National Institutes of Health.
Systems biology allows the mathematical visualisation through graphs and networks of complex body processes such as disease development. The aim is to improve understanding processes and triggers of diseases, so as to access and repair a damaged network. ‘We are still approaching this issue with a lot of naivety and underestimate the complexity of biological systems, and therefore of…
Vascular surgeon Pat Kelly of Sanford Health in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, knew his patients were doing better with the stent graft he designed, but he wanted a better understanding of the mechanics before testing the device more widely in a clinical trial. For that, he reached out to South Dakota State University. Associate professor Stephen Gent in mechanical engineering had done computational…
Researchers at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech have uncovered key cellular functions that help regulate inflammation -- a discovery that could have important implications for the treatment of allergies, heart disease, and certain forms of cancer.
It’s a race against the clock; every hour counts in efforts to halt the spread of a disease, but identifying anyone with whom the infected patient has had contact is time-consuming, with Contact Officers generally collecting data on paper. Now, however, scientists from the Nigerian Field Epidemiology Laboratory & Training Programme, the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, the Hasso…
There may be two new ways to fight AIDS -- using a heat shock protein or a small molecule – to attack fibrils in semen associated with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) during the initial phases of infection, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
For some, TOR may bring to mind a Celtic mountain or perhaps an Internet privacy group. In the world of molecular biology it’s a cellular pathway that’s found in everything from yeast to mammals. mTOR (as it’s called in mammals) plays a central role in instructing the cell to grow and divide in response to nutrients. When it’s turned down, the cell shifts into a second, tidying mode,…
Automated image analysis shows significant potential within histopathology to help identify novel and subtle prognostic features. UK expert Dr Peter Caie also believes such image analysis can turn aspects of histopathology from a traditionally semi-quantitative field into a fully quantifiable and standardised science. However, he also points out that challenges remain before the full potential is…
Working as part of an international team in the United States and West Africa, a researcher at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has published new findings showing the ancient roots of the deadly Lassa virus, a relative of Ebola virus, and how Lassa virus has changed over time.
Stony Brook researchers publish experimental findings in the Journal of Neuroscience that show the lateral position more efficiently rids the brain of solutes that may contribute to disease.
As the Ebola virus disease pandemic unfolded in 2014, it may have seemed like a sudden and unprecedented event. But the disease has a long history, the epidemic is ongoing, and new outbreaks are certain to occur in the future, reports the September issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia.
Philips Minicare delivers rule-in/rule-out readings for heart attacks in 10 minutes. It takes a lot of hard work to make things easy. Biomedical experts at Royal Philips have spent more than 10 years developing a simple test for the emergency department that, in less than 10 minutes, may indicate whether a patient suffering chest pains is having a heart attack.
In a proof-of-concept study at Johns Hopkins, researchers have shown that results of common and routine blood tests are not affected by up to 40 minutes of travel on hobby-sized drones.
NIH-funded study highlights the possible role of glial brain cells in neurological disorders.
A new technology that will dramatically enhance investigations of epigenomes, the machinery that turns on and off genes and a very prominent field of study in diseases such as stem cell differentiation, inflammation and cancer, is reported in the research journal Nature Methods.
Researchers at Rice University and University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have developed a way to mimic the conditions under which cancer tumors grow in bones.
A combination of three proteins found at high levels in urine can accurately detect early-stage pancreatic cancer, UK researchers have found. The discovery could lead to a non-invasive, inexpensive test to screen people at high risk of developing the disease.
The field is neither tedious nor monotonous; it’s fascinating every day, Professor Katharina Rentsch emphasises, when explaining the need to attract students to this often overlooked but intreguing and varied discipline.
Founded in 1968, The Sysmex Corporation has challenged its way past far larger companies to become one of the leading healthcare companies around the world. How? By focusing constantly on one objective: maximising the strength of our people, knowledge and resourcefulness to live up to our mission statement: Shaping the Advancement of Healthcare.
With its previous LCMS-8030, LCMS-8040 and LCMS-8050 triple-quadrupole systems, Shimadzu has set leading standards in terms of speed, sensitivity and functional design. With the introduction of the new LCMS-8060 (Figure 1), the success story of the LCMS-triple-quadrupole family reaches another milestone.
Fostering a collaborative way of working won the UK’s Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust recognition as an elite public sector healthcare employer, recently judged one of the top 100 ‘Best Places to Work’. The trust, led by chief executive Susan Acott, has created an energy-driven, patient-focused culture within the hospital, reflected by staff at all levels. This has been the driving force…
Wallace Coulter, one of the founders of Beckman Coulter, was motivated by a belief that science should serve humanity. This was the inspiration behind the principle he invented that became the basis for all blood counting solutions. This same drive to keep the science of hematology moving forward is behind Beckman Coulter's new ©Automated Intelligent Morphology© (AIM), a multidimensional,…
Researchers at Columbia University have reported a new approach to visualize glucose uptake activity in single living cells by light microscopy with minimum disturbance.
Researchers at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute have uncovered a new mechanism for the regulation of blood pressure. Published in Molecular Cell, the study links events at the single-cell level to a system-level effect, showing that blood pressure can drop dramatically if the protein ERAP1 is released from cells and enters the blood stream.
For over one hundred years, scientists have debated the question of the origins of the lymphatic system – a parallel system to the blood vessels that serves as a conduit for everything from immune cells to fat molecules to cancer cells. This issue has now been resolved by Dr. Karina Yaniv of Weizmann Institute’s Biological Regulation Department. In a study reported in Nature, she and her team…
Seegene Inc. today announced that it has entered into a worldwide collaboration agreement with QIAGEN N.V. to develop and supply molecular diagnostic assays.
The view across the Atlantic – it fills Professor Fabian Kiessling, Chair of Experimental Molecular Imaging at the RWTH Aachen (Rhine-Westphalia Institute of Technology Aachen), with optimism. The USA offers more opportunities for molecular imaging. Only recently, new tracers for Alzheimer’s were accepted as reimbursable in some centres, whilst the development of new diagnostics in Europe…
New research in The FASEB Journal suggests that clinical trials of omega-3 and antioxidant supplementation should be undertaken for people with Alzheimer's disease with mild clinical impairment.
‘Health insurers should keep a tighter rein on the quality of endoscopic interventions because, mostly, they represent a gentler alternative to surgery,’ asserts international expert Horst Neuhaus, during an EH interview. Report: Daniela Zimmermann/Juliane Dannert
The focus of the 2015 Diabetes Congress held in Berlin this May was ‘Personalised diabetes treatment: innovative – individual – sustained’. EH reports on points aired during the supporting press briefing. Report: Bettina Döbereiner
Although Romania joined the EU in 2007, only recently has its macroeconomic increases influenced a rise in a middle class and dented the country’s widespread poverty. However, development is still hampered by corruption and red tape in its commercial world. Report: Daniela Zimmermann/Brenda Marsh
Shimadzu, worldwide leading manufacturer of diagnostic imaging equipment, has released the new digital radiography system RADspeed Pro EDGE in 2015 – the year of Shimadzu’s 140th anniversary. The system provides a wide range of functionalities: from tomosynthesis via dual-energy subtraction to modern auto-stitching to support diagnostics in clinical applications.
Researchers at the University of Toronto design diagnostic chip to reduce testing time from days to one hour, allowing doctors to pick the right antibiotic the first time.
A new detailed guide gives doctors and nurses information to help decide which hospital patients may benefit from a urinary catheter - and which ones do not. That should help spare patients the pain, embarrassment, and potentially serious side effects that can come with having a catheter placed - which may bring more risk than benefit to the patient.
Research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) demonstrates that technology invented by researchers at Oregon Health & Science University’s Casey Eye Institute can improve the clinical management of the leading causes of blindness. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) angiography could largely replace current dye-based angiography in the management of these…
People waiting for organ transplants may soon have higher hopes of getting the help that they need in time. Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology have developed a new technique that extends the time that donor organs last and can also resuscitate organs obtained after cardiac arrest.
Genetically engineered fibers of the protein spidroin, which is the construction material for spider webs, has proven to be a perfect substrate for cultivating heart tissue cells, MIPT researchers found. They discuss their findings in an article that has recently come out in the journal PLOS ONE.
Dr Sven Ballnus is Director of the Department of Intensive Care Medicine at the Hospital Centre Biel/Bienne, Switzerland, and an active member of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine. Formerly a chief consultant in intensive care medicine at Westküstenkliniken in Heide, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, he oversaw the development of an ultrasound course focusing on the specific needs of…
Looking back, the founding fathers of laboratory medicine were doctors who carried out the historic medical practice of uroscopy in the Middle Ages, explains Professor Klaus Kohse MD, Director of the Institute for Laboratory Medicine in Oldenburg Clinical Centre at Oldenburg University Medical Faculty. Report: Walter Depner
Hospital-based pathologists may soon gain a new diagnostic assay that could prove effective in detecting hospital-acquired infections more quickly and more accurately than with existing rapid molecular diagnostic tests
A group of leading scientists has warned that Britain and Europe collectively could face more than a million deaths in an impending "Antibiotic Armageddon” unless more is spent on developing new cures, rapid diagnostics and preventative measures to combat the spread of drug resistant diseases.
Agfa HealthCare announced that it has entered into a sales and marketing agreement with Hitachi Medical Systems America, Inc. (Hitachi) whereby Hitachi will promote Agfa HealthCare's complete portfolio of Direct Radiography (DR) and Computed Radiography (CR) solutions to its large and growing community of MRI and CT customers in the United States, including hospitals, imaging centers and…
The importance of cardiac imaging is increasing, but nuclear medicine procedures are by no means obsolete, observes Okan Ekinci, during our EH interview with the Siemens Vice President for Healthcare Consulting & Clinical Affairs about the latest innovations for cardiology.
PET scanners are not the only way to image radiotracers. Recent work developed around a phenomenon called Cerenkov luminescence aims to bring a new modality out of preclinical development and into clinical practice.
Fluke Biomedical released Ansur 3.0, the largest update to its test automation software platform to date. Ansur 3.0 provides new login features, customization options and reporting choices to customers than ever before.
The ELEKIN research group of the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country is working to develop various non-invasive methodologies for the early detection of Alzheimer's disease.
In breast cancer care each patient receives personalised, highly effective diagnosis and treatment procedures. In breast diagnostics this mainly revolves around new MRI scanning procedures that allow the quantification of biological and physiological processes on a cellular and molecular level.
For medical ultrasound it’s quick, easy and portable – and so popular with Professor Christoph Dietrich, chief of Medical Department 2 at Caritas Hospital, Bad Mergentheim, one of the first physicians worldwide to test the M9 in clinical routine. ‘The compact Mindray colour Doppler system is about the same size as a notebook computer. The imaging suite comes to the patient,’ the…
Toshiba Medical Systems Europe today announced that it has signed a European Union-wide reseller agreement with French radiology manufacturer, Apelem, to market Xantara, a remote controlled, digital radiography and fluoroscopy (RF) system developed for Toshiba Medical Systems Europe.
The son of a craftsman making Buddhist altars, he was driven to create instruments for physics and chemistry. Attending the Physics and Chemistry Research Institute he gained experience with a variety of technologies and fields of expertise. He was convinced that Japan, as a should work towards becoming a leader in science. At the dawn of the industrial revolution and scientific age in 1875 he…
When the Medical Radiological Institute (MRI) at the private Bethanien Hospital in Zurich and the local hospital in Ærø, Denmark, needed new fluoroscopy and radiography equipment, they investigated quality, functionality, service quality and cost. Among systems examined was Shimadzu’s Sonialvision G4, which has been completely revised, with innovations in all areas, including dose reduction…
In the weeks leading up to World Oral Health Day on 20 March, the FDI is calling for a focus on prevention to help achieve a healthy ‘Smile for life’.
Taking antibiotics for diarrhea may put travelers visiting developing parts of the world at higher risk for contracting superbugs and spreading these daunting drug-resistant bacteria to their home countries, according to a new study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases and now available online.
Glucose testing is both a headache and an opportunity for clinical laboratories here in the United States and across the globe. It is a headache because many point-of-care and patient self-test glucose devices in wide use today lack the reliability of glucose testing performed in medical laboratories that use sophisticated diagnostic instruments.
Gideon Ho, CEO and co-founder of Singapore-based HistoIndex is confident: ‘After a biopsy a patient waits in a hospital bed, but now, instead of waiting a couple days until doctors know how to treat this patient, we can deliver results while the patient is still in the hospital.’ Report: John Brosky
Prosthetic joint infections (PJI) are the most frequent complication in orthopaedic implant patients and may occur any time: weeks, months, or even years after an implantation. Report: Ludger Weß
Early diagnosis and effective therapy of periprosthetic joint infections (PJI) remain a challenge for many physicians due to the complexity and heterogeneity of clinical symptoms. As individual solutions are needed, opportunities to discuss and exchange ideas are welcome, as clearly shown during the satellite symposium on the diagnosis and treatment of periprosthetic knee infections held at this…
On the occasion of the 100th edition of Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), the largest international event in the field of radiology, Thales is proud to announce the launch of new innovative products.
What's the ideal solution for vulnerable plaque imaging? 'A non-invasive imaging procedure with high spatial and temporal resolution, and without radiation exposure, and which provides information on coronary plaque composition precisely and in series.' Report: Axel Viola
Trichomonias, with an estimated 187 million cases, and Chlamydia with around 100 million, are the most prevalent sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). There are approximately 36 million cases each of gonorrhoea and syphilis. HIV1/2 cases are around 34 million. Report: Cynthia Keen
The human gut literally teems with microorganisms from at least 1,000 different species that are increasingly considered to be a valuable resource for the prediction, aetiology and prognosis of disease. Due to continual contact with the environment, primarily via food, the gut is susceptible to infection when a virus, parasite or bacterium enters and disrupts normal gut microbiota (or flora).
Optimising protective operating theatre clothing in terms of comfort and durability enables significant amounts of waste to be avoided and valuable resources saved.
In the USA, some patients have bled to death while in the CT scanner because this type of examination takes too long for blunt abdominal trauma diagnosis. Report: Chrissanthi Nikolakudi
A tiny nanoscale device can accurately measure a patient’s blood for methotrexate – a commonly used but potentially toxic cancer drug – in under 60 seconds, according to biomedical instrument designer Jean-François Masson, and Joelle Pelletier, a DHFR enzyme specialist, both at the Chemistry Department, University of Montreal.
Reading radiology exams has become a real pain. According to Piet Candeel, General Manager for Healthcare at visualisation expert Barco, ‘Today there are more studies of more patients with more images and typically with fewer people.’ Report: John Brosky
UT Arlington researchers have been awarded a $744,300 grant from the Department of Defense Peer Reviewed Orthopaedic Research Program to create an adaptive interface that fits between a prosthetic and a patient’s limb so that the fit and comfort of the prosthetic are improved.
Accident and Emergency (A&E) teams play a key role in identifying patients with sepsis, followed by risk stratification for severe sepsis and septic shock, initiating resuscitation and treatment, and ensuring the correct onward management of patients identified with sepsis. Report: Mark Nicholls
Unlike some news reports the Ebola virus is not as easily transmitted as influenza or other infections. Still, healthcare and laboratory workers must take precautions to quickly identify those infected and prevent an outbreak. Report: Lisa Chamoff
Curetis AG, a developer of next-level molecular diagnostic solutions, today announced it has joined the European Prosthetic Joint Infection Cohort Study (EPJIC).
Donor transplant rejection and cancer relapse have two things in common: early recognition is vital and monitoring is hugely challenged.
Viktor Mayer-Schönberger is a visionary author of the book Big Data, which, as its subtitle suggests, defines the debate over the ‘Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think.’
Founded in Germany 25 years ago, EKF Diagnostics’ PLC HQ is currently in Cardiff, Wales, where the firm is pursuing the development of a molecular assay for specific cancer types.
Personalised medicine is often equated with the development of drugs tailored to the genetic make-up of patients or cancers.
The current ebola outbreak in West Africa, which began in December 2013 in Guinea and has since spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Congo, is considered the largest ebola outbreak ever in West Africa. As of today more than 2,600 cases were reported and more than 1,400 people have died of the disease.
By recognition and early intervention against the most significant risk factors, many heart diseases can be prevented.
Radiotherapy is being proposed to treat heart diseases, specifically for hypertension and atrial fibrillation (AF).
The heart is a structure in three dimensions and today we see it in three dimensions,’ Jose Luis Zamorano Gomez MD declared with satisfaction.
The risk of terrorist attacks, nuclear-radiological hazards, power outages and epidemic-pandemic infections as well as earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis and fires are increasing worldwide. Mass casualty incidents, or MCIs, provide a constant reminder of why hospitals need a plan in place to be able to function optimally during and after a catastrophe.
Researchers from the University of Heidelberg and the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) have developed a new method that uses light to control processes in living cells.
A recent study from the Heidelberg-based company Sciomics, a spin-off from scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), has presented an advanced method to predict the recurrence of bladder cancer after surgery. The method, which can help avoid frequent cystoscopy examinations in a majority of patients, is based on an analysis of the protein composition of cancer tissue obtained…
It was long overdue: Seven years after the arrival of the USA’s Image Wisely and Image Gently Campaigns, a European campaign for greater radiation protection in diagnostic and interventional imaging has arrived.
The not-for-profit Chicago-based organisation HIMSS aims to boost electronic health records, analytics, mobile and other technologies by ‘meaningful use’ or other financial stimuli. Cornelia Wels-Maug reports on highlights at the HIMSS 14 conference and exhibition.
Bayer has agreed to acquire the consumer care business of U.S. pharmaceutical company Merck & Co., Inc., Whitehouse Station, NJ, USA, for a purchase price of USD 14.2 billion (EUR 10.4 billion).
imec, the European research centre for nanoelectronics, has linked with Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA, to develop the next generation of highly miniaturised medical tools.
Approximately 1.7 billion people worldwide carry Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), i.e. about one-third of the population. The rate of new infections is highest in Africa, followed by certain Asian regions, including areas in Russia.
The words ‘Image Gently’ are synonymous with protecting children from unnecessary or excessive exposure to X-rays.
For gastrointestinal exams, MRI fluoroscopy offers an alternative to conventional methods of swallowing and gastric emptying that are so repugnant to patients.
You’ll find Élie Azoulay everywhere during this year’s International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (ISICEM).
Johns Hopkins scientists have developed three new Web-based software tools designed to help hospital emergency departments, first responder organizations and others model and prepare for major disasters, including flu outbreaks.
Olympus launches its OlyVIA Mobile iPad App, an image viewer dedicated to virtual slides.
The insight that psychological, social and environmental conditions affect a person’s health is insufficiently considered in medical training and in the every-day diagnosis and treatment of patients.
The number of patients treated with implants – from cardiac pacemakers, heart valves and vascular implants to artificial hips and knees – is rising worldwide.
Down’s syndrome (also referred to as trisomy 21) is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of an extra copy of chromosome 21 in a person’s DNA. Current screening for Down’s syndrome and other trisomy conditions includes a combined test done between the 11th and 13th weeks of pregnancy.
Okan Ekinci, Global Director of Cardiology at Siemens Healthcare, is convinced that, ultimately, ultrasound will remain the ‘entry level’ imaging procedure for patients. European Hospital met up with him at this year’s ESC congress to hear his thoughts on the potential of ultrasound – and particularly its fusion with other imaging modalities.
Down’s syndrome (also referred to as trisomy 21) is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of an extra copy of chromosome 21 in a person’s DNA.
Along with others, Germany has unanimously welcomed the revision of the EU directive on clinical trials. The change from mere guideline into a regulation valid in all member states, specifically aimed at making it easier to carry out multinational studies, is particularly welcomed, Bettina Döbereiner reports
Over the past decade, laboratory medicine developed rapid, accurate tests that help in diagnoses, prognoses, treatments – and the overall theragnostics; but is it economical? This November, at the Journées Internationales de Biologie (JIB) meeting in Paris, that question will shape the medical economics session Medical biology: a key factor in the healthcare effectiveness, organised by the in…
The realisation that the fight against C. difficile needs its own specific hygiene management dawned relatively recently. Up to the new millennium a common perception regarding European hospital infection prevention and control was that this bacterium was under control; it was considered a marginal phenomenon, which is why C. difficile was not the focus of problematic pathogen monitoring.
Medical technologies have maintained a leading position in European patent registrations for 15 years.
Professional mobility has always been high on the EU agenda. But what are the impacts on the medical sector, if physicians and nurses leave their countries en masse? Daniela Zimmermann asked Günter Danner, Associate Director of the European Representation of the German Social Insurance in Brussels
The number of medical practitioners in France is 216,000, among which 17,835 were trained elsewhere, representing almost 10% of the total, according to the Centre National de l’Ordre des Médecins (CNOM), which registers doctors in practice.
A new procedure may help people with persistent hypertension. By burning or ablating the nerves in the renal arteries, blood pressure levels can be reduced significantly.
Ultrasound expands its role in cardiac imaging with disruptive applications. Fasten your seat belt. Cardiac diagnostics is entering a zone of turbulence. Manufacturers of leading systems continue to mine data from the sonic signal that opens new fields for research. John Brosky reports
The potential of cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI) is still largely untapped. One novel application might be ablation follow-up. The first MRI-guided cardiac interventions were performed at Herzzentrum Leipzig, but, as far as coronary imaging is concerned, MDCT remains superior to MRI
Two statements from publications by Dr Stephanie Dancer, Department of Microbiology, Hairmyres Hospital, East Kilbride (UK) prompted Ralf Mateblowski to interview Professor Markus Dettenkofer, Acting Director of the Institute for Environmental Medicine and Hospital Hygiene, Freiburg University Medical Centre about environmental and infection control
While clinical labs and lab IT solutions appear to be able to meet current requirements, biobanking presents a whole new world of challenges to data flows and IT systems. Report: Michael Reiter
A British teenager, 17-year-old Fred Turner, has won a major accolade for building a DNA testing analyser in his own home for a few hundred euros.
Apart from tumour immunologists themselves, for a long time oncologists have underestimated the role of the immune system in cancer treatment. Nonetheless, in recent years increasing attention has been given to this aspect of cancer.
Run by Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, the new automated Medical Laboratory at the Northern General Hospital has drawn a previously fragmented service into a purpose-built centre.
Countries vary considerably in the number of cases in which artificial knee joints are employed, according to researchers from the Medical University of Graz (Austria) reporting at the EFORT Congress in Istanbul.
Taking a comprehensive approach to reducing dose, each link in the imaging chain was reengineered to deliver a superior clinical image with Ziehm Vision mobile C-arms. The importance of imaging for interventional radiologists is clear the moment you step into the operating theatre.
Dutch virologist Ron Fouchier and his colleagues around the world stopped their research into the bird flu virus H5N1 for a whole year to allow an international debate surrounding the benefits and risks of their work.
Although receding since late March, the 2012-13 seasonal flu epidemic in metropolitan France, appears to be the longest in some 30 years, even if it did not strike the highest numbers, according to the monitoring network Sentinelles-Inserm.
Demand is increasing for point of care (POC) diagnostic testing, particularly for tests that help foster clinical decision-making within 30 minutes or less.
In the meantime, the Compamed Spring forum has become as much a part of the furniture as the Compamed in Düsseldorf - the leading international specialist trade fair for suppliers to the medical technology industry which has been held every year in November since 1992.
This May it will be exactly 60 years since the first extracorporeal circulation device to temporarily replace heart/ lung function was successfully used in a clinical setting.
Disorientation, anxiety and hallucinations are symptoms of delirium, which may also occur after major surgery. Older people are particularly affected by postoperative delirium. Delirium after surgery occurs in up to 70% of cases, Anja Behringer reports
In a Special Focus Session, experts addressed the necessity to perform palliative interventional techniques in cancer treatment and they insisted that interventional radiologists should become more than just technicians.
One year ago there was a flurry of excitement, even sensation, as consumer electronics giant Samsung Electronics arrived for the first time at the European Congress of Radiology (ECR) as the new owner of ultrasound specialist Medisson.
MRI has become the gold standard for many indications in cardiac imaging, apart from imaging the coronary arteries. For function and morphology assessment, MRI is the leading technology. A further advance into as yet unknown territory is myocardial imaging aided by one of the first integrated 3-Tesla PET/MR systems currently used at the Institute of Radiology, Essen University Hospital,…
"If you want to compete in C-arms, you have to specialize," says Martin Herzmann with Ziehm Imaging.