This Week in Electronics: Facebook as a Model for Medicine; Rethinking Pediatric X-Rays
Facebook as a Model for Medicine Think about it for a second: a single tech company, launched in 2004, is worth more than most makers of medicine. More than that, this single company has done as much to create very rich people as, basically, the entire medical device and drug industry. Forbes Medical Devices and Homeland Security The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has issued a warning...
Sony, Panasonic to Focus on Medical Devices
After getting trounced by their Korean and American competition in the consumer electronics realm, Japan's biggest electronics companies are hitching their wagons to the medical device market in hopes of making a comeback. Sony and Panasonic are both forecasting heavy losses for the year, while competitors like Apple and Samsung are ejoying hearty profits, Bloomberg reports. Looking forward, both...
2012 Predictions: POC and Wireless Imaging Poised for Growth
EMDT editor Norbert Sparrow says the medical electronics industry has a lot to look forward to, based on a report from InMedica. (The report, "12 Predictions for 2012 in the Medical Electronics Industry" is available for download after free registration.) Among the key observations: Point-of-care ultrasound should see 44% growth from 2011 to 2015. In fact, InMedica says almost all...
Students Shine at NIWeek
NI Week, which wrapped up today, has showcased a lot of pretty cool ways in which engineers are using National Instruments products. A few of them came not from wizened veterans but from students—some as young as 14. Today’s keynote address highlighted innovations from the next generation of engineers, and there were some amazing examples of projects with applications in the medical...
FDA Issues Draft Guidance For Mobile Apps
As promised, FDA has issued draft guidance laying out plans for the oversight of mobile applications used for medical or healthcare purposes. In a press release dated July 19, the administration explained that the proposed guidelines will only impact applications that “are used as an accessory to a medical device already regulated by the FDA” or “transform a mobile...
This Week in Electronics: Device Excise Tax Repeal; R&D at TI's Kilby Labs
In stories you might have missed this week, Republicans are trying to give medical device excise tax repeal a piggy back ride. Also, EE Times takes a look at R&D at TI's Kilby Labs and brings you some of the messiest desks in engineering. Medical Device Exise Tax Repeal Tries to Piggy Back on Free Trade Act (MEDCITY News) How R&D is Done at Kilby Labs (EE Times) Engineers Have...
Software Enables a Google Earth-Style View of the Bladder
From the place that brought us the pill camera comes a Google Earth-like view of the bladder. Researchers at the University of Washington have developed software that combines a mosaic of images captured via an ultrathin scanning-fiber endoscope to form a 3-D image of the bladder. The endoscope, which resembles a piece of cooked spaghetti, scans the internal surface in a spiral trajectory using...
Accurate Stroke Diagnosis with an App
Following up yesterday's post about physicians' preference for Apple products, researchers at Canada's University of Calvary have determined that doctors can accurately diagnose stroke using an iPhone app. Using the app, Calgary Scientific Inc.’s ResolutionMD Mobile, doctors were able to achieve the same diagnosis accuracy as with a medical computer workstation. “This iPhone app...
A Fix for Overradiated Babies
The New York Times recently stepped into the world of medical imaging (again) to show what can go wrong when workers aren't trained properly. Although news of it only surfaced this month, a doctor at a NY hospital discovered four years ago that premature babies were being given full-body x-rays. In addition, radiation levels on CT scanners were set too high for infants and the babies weren't...