Medgadget

Medpedia Expands System to Include Q&As, Alerts, Analysis of Medical News

2009-11-13T08:42:45Z

Medpedia, an information source styled on Wikipedia but with authoritative authorship, has released new tools to help people sift through medical information and even get some questions answered by experts.

Medpedia Answers collects questions and answers about health, medicine and the body. Each question is tagged with both MeSH and plain-English headings for better discovery. Each question is also pushed into relevant areas throughout the Medpedia Project such as patient communities and article pages. Questions and answers are for general information purposes only, not as a substitute for in-person evaluation or specific professional advice. Anyone with a profile on Medpedia can participate. The Medpedia Answers Top Contributors list gives recognition to the most active contributors.
Medpedia Alerts is a platform for aggregating and distributing health and medical news alerts. Organizations with real time alerts simply plug their feed into the platform -- joining other feeds such as the CDC, the Red Cross and the American Heart Association -- to attract more readers who can subscribe to custom aggregated alerts feeds for free. In addition, any member of the Medpedia community can submit an alert in the Medpedia Alert Stream, or submit a website or Twitter account to be integrated into the platform on an ongoing basis. Submissions to the Alerts platform are reviewed by the community and if approved, are included in the appropriate Alert categories.

Medpedia News & Analysis allows high-quality health and medical content sources to self organize by category and keywords on Medpedia, and then inter-link with Article pages and other parts of Medpedia. Sources reflect a wide range of professional, academic and scientific topics, and over 150 sources have added themselves and been accepted by the Medpedia community onto the News & Analysis platform. Content in the Medpedia News & Analysis section is not part of the (CC-BY-SA) license of Medpedia and copyright is held soley by the author(s). Organizations and individuals who regularly publish medical and health content online are encouraged to submit their source to the News & Analysis section of Medpedia at http://www.medpedia.com/news_analysis.

Full story: MEDPEDIA PROJECT EXPANDS PLATFORM TO INCLUDE Q&A, NEWS & ANALYSIS AND ALERTS ...

Link: The Medpedia Project...

Flashbacks: Medpedia Going Public ; Medpedia: Online Encyclopedia of Medicine

Gizmodo: Your Next Body Is Growing In a Lab Right Now

2009-11-13T08:19:46Z

At this year's TEDMED we saw a fascinating lecture by Dr. Anthony Atala of Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM). His presentation focused on groundbreaking work of the institute to develop artificial tissues which one day might allow replacement of failing organs and severed limbs. Now Gizmodo, in its series This Cyborg Life, has published a quick overview of what WFIRM is up to, including videos and an interview with Dr. Atala.

Link @ Gizmodo: Your Next Body Is Growing In a Lab Right Now

Image: 3D matrix being populated with human bladder cells.

How Green Fluorescent Proteins Bioluminesce

2009-11-13T08:19:45Z

Berkeley researchers have identified the mechanism that makes green fluorescent protein (GFP) light up the way it does. They used femtosecond lasers to image the molecules as they undergo structural changes that cause them to fluoresce.

The transfer of a positively-charged hydrogen atom – a bare proton – along a reaction chain in GFP generates a green flash of light. The laser snapshots show that when the light absorber, or chromophore, nestled in the middle of the protein barrel absorbs an incoming photon of blue light, it starts vibrating, and the electrons start sloshing around the chromophore until it is aligned just right for the proton to hop via a water molecule to a nearby amino acid in the protein. From there, it continues down the reaction chain, creating a state with a negatively charged chromophore that emits green light.
Previous studies had shown that after the chromophore absorbs blue light, it undergoes proton transfer, and green light is emitted. In the current study, Mathies, Fang and their colleagues could actually resolve the early stage of this proton transfer reaction, taking snapshots of the vibrational wagging of the chromophore skeleton in sync with the electron cloud in the chromophore sloshing back and forth. However, the wagging oscillation might have stopped after a few picoseconds, when the chromophore and its vicinity are aligned just right for the proton to hop off down the reaction chain, and the whole protein shines bright green – which it does in its own good time, in about 3 nanoseconds.

Femtosecond stimulated Raman spectroscopy on GFP involves hitting the protein molecule with an approximately 80 femtosecond pulse of ultraviolet light, which excites many vibrational modes in the molecule, and then a one-two punch of picosecond red and femtosecond white light to stimulate Raman emission. The spectrum of emitted signals tells researchers the vibrational modes of various parts of the molecule. If the molecule is in the middle of a reaction, the emitted light at different time delays tells the researcher the various steps the molecule goes through during the reaction.

Berkeley Lab press release: Vibrations key to efficiency of green fluorescent protein ...

Abstract in Nature: Mapping GFP structure evolution during proton transfer with femtosecond Raman spectroscopy

Conserve Plus Hip Resurfacing Wins OK in US

2009-11-13T08:11:55Z

Wright Medical received clearance from the FDA to bring to market the CONSERVE® Plus Total Hip Resurfacing System. Particularly appealing to younger, active patients, the Conserve Plus is designed as a potential alternative to traditional total hip replacement with the goal of saving as much bone tissue as possible.

The approval permits Wright to market CONSERVE® Plus in the original femoral and acetabular component configuration specified in its PreMarket Approval (PMA) application and enables the Company to initiate efforts to introduce additional enhancements to the system which are currently only available outside of the United States.
The CONSERVE® Plus system is designed to offer pain relief and restoration of function while retaining as much healthy bone as possible and preserving future surgery options, including a primary total hip replacement.

The approval follows a successful clinical trial involving more than 1,300 patients, including those enrolled under Continued Access protocols, providing patient data of CONSERVE® Plus clinical data in postoperative periods of up to eight years in length. Wright will commence surgeon training in the first phase of its U.S. introduction.

To date, the overall survivorship of CONSERVE® PLUS implants is 97%. Almost all the patients enrolled in the study have returned to their active lifestyles without pain.

Press release: Wright Medical Group, Inc. Receives FDA Approval to Market CONSERVE(R) Plus Total Hip Resurfacing System...

Product page: CONSERVE Plus Total Hip Resurfacing System...

Flashbacks: Birmingham Hip, or How to Sell Fresh Hips to Boomers ; iUni Resurfacing Knee Approved in US, Now Goes to Europe; Cormet™ Hip Resurfacing System; Personalized Bicompartmental Knee Resurfacing System from ConforMIS Gets CE Mark

The Sad State of Hand Washing at Your Local Hospital

2009-11-13T08:01:15Z

Freakonomists Steven Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner recently gave a talk at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. One of the topics was doctors' compliance with hand washing procedures and how to sway them into following the protocol. Here's a few minutes from the event:

Link to the complete talk...

Ultrasound System Overcomes Implant Hacking Attempts

2009-11-13T08:00:09Z

Ever since it has been shown that modern implantable devices can be hijacked by hackers, researches have been working to overcome the issue. Now engineers at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control developed a technology that uses ultrasound to gauge the proximity of the device communicating with the implant.

MIT Technology Review explains:

Under their plan, a device will always be accessible from up to 10 meters away, and will normally enforce a series of authentication steps before allowing access. In an emergency, however, when the device detects that the patient using it is in trouble, it will grant access to anyone who is physically close to the patient (within about three centimeters).
Other researchers have suggested requiring wireless reading devices to be physically close to an implant in order to access it. But Castelluccia says that attackers can get around this by using a strong radio transmitter to mimic close proximity. To solve this issue, his plan calls for ultrasound waves to be used in addition to radio signals--the speed of sound allows the device to calculate with confidence how far away the reader is.

Castelluccia says the device only needs a microphone in order to detect the ultrasound and that he doesn't expect the protocol to consume much power--a key concern with an implantable medical device because it's hard to replace the battery. Because the device won't respond to requests that come from outside the predetermined distance, it would also be harder for an attacker to wear down the battery by forcing it to process one request after another.

Ins and Outs

2009-11-12T19:46:45Z

Some medical device makers acquiesce to healthcare reform tax... [MassDevice]

Medicare Payroll Tax May Fund Reform ... [WSJ]

How Harry Reid's Fiddling With the Tax Plans in the Health Bill... [WSJ]

Google, Yahoo call for expanded online drug ads... [AP]

Who Wants to Talk to the FDA About Google and Facebook?... [WSJ]

Putting 22 Million Cases of Swine Flu in Context... [WSJ]

FDA Commissioner Addresses Nation's Healthcare Professionals on H1N1 Vaccine... [FDA]

Israeli gov't to invest $80m in biotech fund ... [Globes]

Fidelity Investments buys a big stake in Abiomed... [MassDevice]

Cardiac Science and Cambridge Heart Announce Development Partnership... [Cambridge Heart]

Stryker spends $103 million on a pair of acquisitions... [MassDevice]

Making the case for Bluetooth in healthcare... [Michael Foley, Ph.D., executive director, Bluetooth SIG]

Teva gets FDA, court nods for generic Prevacid ... [Globes]

Medtronic Introduces MASTERGRAFT® Strip for Spinal Surgeries... [Medtronic]

Medtronic Launches Global Clinical Trial Evaluating Outcomes From Comprehensive Attain® Family of Left-Heart Leads and Delivery Catheters... [Medtronic]

Best Buy brings health tech to 40 U.S. stores... [mobihealthnews]

MassDevice Q&A: American Well CEO Roy Schoenberg... [MassDevice]

Bisphenol A in trouble again... [Nature Blogs]

£4.9 million to develop metamaterials for 'invisibility cloaks' and 'perfect lenses'... [Imperial College London]

Explained: RNA interference... [MIT]

Gene linked to language... [Nature]

Circadian Clock Implicated in Kids' Bipolar Disorder... [MedPageToday]

Words, Gestures Are Translated by Same Brain Regions, Says New Research: Findings May Further Our Understanding of How Language Evolved... [NIH]

Common cold may hold off swine flu... [New Scientist]

Mechanisms of HTLV-1 persistence and transformation... [British Journal of Cancer]

Dynamics of HIV-1 Assembly and Release... [PLoS Pathogens]

A Dream Interpretation: Tuneups for the Brain... [NYT]

American Medical Association changes policy on med marijuana... [LATimes]

Shocker: Doctor Visits Are Getting Longer... [WSJ]

Penis tissue replaced in the lab... [BBC]

FDA Grants Vascular Solutions Clearance for The GuideLine Catheter

2009-11-12T08:22:56Z

US FDA has given 510(k) regulatory clearance to Vascular Solutions Inc., a Minneapolis, Minnesota firm, to market the GuideLiner™ catheter. The device, designed to provide a coaxial guide extension and rapid exchange for coronary or peripheral interventions, comes in 6F, 7F, 8F (Freedom Fries) sizes and is delivered through standard guide catheters, hence it allows physicians to use "standard length guidewires, balloons or stents through an existing hemostatic valve," according to the company.

From the press release:

The GuideLiner is a unique coaxial “mother and child” guide extension with rapid exchange convenience that provides back-up support and selective deep intubation in challenging coronary interventions. The GuideLiner catheter will be available in 6, 7 and 8 French sizes as part of Vascular Solutions’ specialty catheter product line. CE mark clearance of the GuideLiner was received and European sales and clinical uses commenced in October, with the U.S. launch of the GuideLiner catheter expected to commence in November through Vascular Solutions’ direct sales force.
Dr. Douglas Fraser, an Interventional cardiologist with Manchester Heart Centre in Manchester, United Kingdom, commented on his initial clinical experience with the GuideLiner: “Deep intubation of the Guideliner catheter within a soft 6F guide provides better backup support and is less traumatic than using stiff 7F and 8F guides that were previously required in complex disease. Furthermore, the soft and very flexible tip will often cross tortuous disease where a stent gets stuck, enabling delivery of stents and other equipment directly to the target lesion. The GuideLiner is as easy to insert as a standard rapid exchange balloon catheter and has quickly become a routine part of my angioplasty practice.”

Dr. Colm Hanratty, an interventional cardiologist at Belfast City Hospital in Belfast, Ireland, commented on one of his initial clinical uses of the GudieLiner: “In this patient, despite modification of the diseased segment and subsequent pre-dilatation, we could not track a 3.0 mm stent across the lesion due to significant friction in the proximal vessel. We then passed a 6F GuideLiner into the vessel and by removing the proximal resistance we could then deliver the 3.0 mm stent, followed by a 4.0 mm stent and post-dilatation with a 4.0 mm balloon. Deep intubation with the Guideliner facilitated delivery, allowed us to optimize stent apposition and also improved visualization of the vessel due to selective cannulation.”

Press release (.pdf)...

Product brochure: GuideLiner Catheter...

Product page: GuideLiner Catheter ...

New Tool Developed to Observe Function of Neural Systems

2009-11-12T08:00:06Z

Researchers at Howard Hughes Medical Institute have developed a method to dupe nerve cells to manufacture a protein that lights up when those cells depolarize. The fluorescent indicator, GCaMP3, for the first time allows live monitoring of large number of neurons as they undergo single action potentials. This amazing functional modality might open new possibilities in the study of neural networks.

Looking at the structure of GCaMP2, Looger could see exactly how the molecule grabbed on to calcium and turned this into brighter fluorescence. It did not take long before he and his team roughed out ideas for making modifications to the molecule that would make it grab calcium more tightly. They also identified a second set of modifications would make the molecule glow more brightly. Looger’s team made those adjustments and wound up with GCaMP3, which he says is three times brighter, three times more sensitive to calcium, and binds the calcium 1.3 times more tightly than GCaMP2.
With the new indicator in hand, Looger collaborated with Janelia Farm fellow Vivek Jayaraman to test GCaMP3’s power to track the activity of a single neuron in the fruit fly brain. “The tiny size of the fruit fly brain makes recording from its neurons with electrodes exceedingly hard,” explains Jayaraman. “GCaMP3 provides a non-invasive way to measure the activity of specific neurons with a bright signal that is unprecedented for such sensors.” Jayaraman says his research group uses the tool for their studies of the neural circuitry that guides visual processing.

GCaMP3 also proved useful in revealing neural activity in another popular animal model, the flatworm C. elegans. Cornelia Bargmann’s lab at Rockefeller genetically engineered worms that expressed the new calcium indicator in a neuron known to detect odors, and watched that neuron light up as certain smells were presented and taken away. The increase in fluorescence when the neuron fired was far more dramatic than the team saw with earlier generation GCaMPs.

Looger also collaborated with Janelia group leader Karel Svoboda to use GCaMP3 for imaging brain activity in the mouse. They engineered mice that produced GCaMP3 in a group of neurons that processes information from just one of the animal’s whiskers. They were able to watch 13 neurons within that group light up in a particular sequence as the mouse walked and the whisker moved.

Video and links are after the jump:

Press release: Teasing Apart Brain Function, Neuron by Neuron ...

Abstract in Nature Methods: Imaging neural activity in worms, flies and mice with improved GCaMP calcium indicators

Google Flu Shot Finder Goes Live

2009-11-12T08:00:05Z

Google has released a new tool to help Americans find local pharmacies and clinics offering seasonal and H1N1 flu shots. So far the database is far from complete and Google hopes providers will share information about availability once they get word of the service.

From the Official Google Blog:

At the moment we have data for locations of flu vaccine directly from 20 states and counting. We are also continuing to add information from chain pharmacies and other providers in all 50 states; today, you'll find results from chains such as Walgreens, CVS and PDX participants, such as Kmart, Duane Reade, WinnDixie and Giant Eagle.

Link: Flu Shot Finder...

Robert Sapolsky: "The Uniqueness of Humans"

2009-11-12T08:00:04Z

This year's Class Day Lecture at Stanford was given by Robert Sapolsky, a renowned neuroscientist who holds joint appointments in several departments, including Biological Sciences, Neurology & Neurological Sciences, and Neurosurgery. Here's the fascinating talk he gave on what sets humans apart from the rest of the animal kingdom:

(hat tip: Richard Dawkins)

New Intel Device Helps Overcome Problems With Reading, Learning

2009-11-12T08:00:03Z

Intel has released a new gadget for people with vision problems, autism, dyslexia, and other conditions that can make reading difficult. With the Intel Reader you can take pictures of book pages, letters, and product labels and the device will read out the text back while showing magnified print on the screen. While designed to be used by people with certain disabilities, we can also see using this device to learn how to read a new language.

The Intel Reader, about the size of a paperback book, converts printed text to digital text, and then reads it aloud to the user. Its unique design combines a high-resolution camera with the power of an Intel® Atom™ processor, allowing users to point, shoot and listen to printed text.

When the Intel Reader is used together with the Intel® Portable Capture Station, large amounts of text, such as a chapter or an entire book, can be easily captured for reading later. Users will have convenient and flexible access to a variety of printed materials, helping to not only increase their freedom, but improve their productivity and efficiency at school, work and home. The Intel Reader has been endorsed by the International Dyslexia Association as an important advance in assistive technology. Additionally, Intel is working with the Association of Assistive Technology Act Programs, the Council for Exceptional Children, Lighthouse International, the National Center for Learning Disabilities and the National Federation of the Blind to help reach and address the needs of people who have difficulty reading print.

Press release: Ready, Set, Read: Intel® Reader Transforms Printed Text to Spoken Word ...

Product page: Intel Reader ...

Software to Analyze Cough Sounds for Signs of Sickness

2009-11-12T08:00:02Z

DiscoveryNews is reporting on a Bedford, Massachusetts company developing software that can detect the difference between a typical cough and one caused by a cold, flu, COPD, or a number of other respiratory diseases. STAR Analytical Services is working with a database of pre-recorded coughs to determine signatures that point to underlying conditions.

The final 100 to 150 milliseconds of the cough contains the distinctive sounds that could help doctors and nurses remotely diagnose a cough as the common cold or more serious pneumonia.
Even with a limited amount of data, scientists can distinguish between a healthy, voluntary cough and the involuntary cough of a sick person. Healthy people have slightly louder coughs, about 2 percent louder than a sick person.

After the initial burst of sound, a cough becomes increasingly complex. The vocal cords vibrate. Mucus in the lungs, throat and nose absorb certain wavelengths while emitting their own noises. Most of this mucousal music emerges from the mouth, but some of it also comes from head, neck and chest.

If a doctor already has a disease diagnosis, the sound of a cough could contain clues about how much fluid has built up in a patient's lungs.

Before a definitive diagnose of cold or flu over the phone can be achieved, the scientists need more data. So far the scientists have gathered cough records from several dozen sick patients from a local hospital's emergency department.

Full story @ DiscoveryNews: Cough Into Your Cell Phone, Get Diagnosis...

STAR Analytical Services press release: STAR Analytical Services Receives $100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations Grant for Innovative Global Health Research...

Company homepage: STAR Analytical Services ...

(Image: courosa)

Gizmodo's This Cyborg Life

2009-11-12T08:00:01Z

This week Gizmodo's editors are turning attention to medical and body altering devices that can change the way we live. Here's how they describe the series:

"It's about what happens when we treat our body less as a sacred object and more as what it is: Nature's ultimate machine".

We'll be following the series to bring you some of the things we're particularly intrigued by.

Link: Gizmodo's This Cyborg Life...

3D CT Scans of a Lego Toy MRI

2009-11-10T18:55:59Z

Flickr user voxel123, who describes himself as "master of volume rendering (MRI, CT)," has posted a set of reconstructed CT images of a Lego MRI system.

Here's how voxel123 describes the picture above:

Some time ago, I built a Lego MRI system as a giveaway for a pediatric radiologist and had it CT scanned later.
This is a volume rendering based on the axial scan. Note that the density of the bricks is different for each color.

Link: Lego MRI...

(hat tip: SCOPE blog @ Stanford Medicine)