Medgear

Dan Didrick, CEO of Didrick Medical, has developed steel-and-plastic prosthetic fingers dubbed the X-Finger, which won him second place in a national invention contest sponsored by the History Channel and the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation. Around 2,500 submissions were filed for the event. The novel device is not based on any modern technology as it is non-robotic and doesn’t work on any microchips. Instead, the X-Finger is power driven by the person’s own normal movements once the residual stump comes into contact with the plunger inside the X-Finger. The X-Finger works from the knuckle rather than from the tip. Didrick says:

I’m proud of what I’ve done. I can only hope what I’ve made can also help change as many lives.

Didrick has currently funding for just 100 fingers to be made per month that sends the cost per finger up to $10,000. Didrick says he needs at least $11 million to fulfill the demand of X-Finger.

Via: Nerdgrind / Trendhunter

With significant development in medical diagnostics and imaging, we see a lot of new products coming to health care market. Anyone who has undergone the traditional Endoscopy would vouch about the difficulty he faced while swallowing the rigid or flexible cable. This also leads to the risk of infection, harming body organs and over-sedation, etc. The wireless capsule camera has been a savior in this regard.

The cameras known by different names such as capsule camera, video pill, PillCam, EndoCapsule or Sayaka are look and size wise similar to a pill or capsule. These capsules are capable to see areas, which traditionally used endoscopes are unable to see. The capsule travels through the intestines after the patient swallows it. It’s true that it takes longer time to send images but it definitely sends better quality images.

You have used mints and sprays to freshen your breath, but have you ever imagined that a stainless steel stick could do the trick?

How does it work?

Just suck on it like a lollipop for 2 minutes, and your mouth is left miraculously odour free. Now, this new technology sure sounds like a breath of fresh air!

Zilopop comes attached to the end of a loop that you hang around your neck, and is shaped rather like a removable disk drive that you see on just about everyone these days. If you don’t like carrying it around your neck, Zilopop comes with a neat keyring too.

After exploiting robot to perform numerous official and surgical tasks now doctors have got one more robotic machine that facilitate doctors to examine their patients by using videoconferencing robot even when they are miles away from you.

This RP-7 Remote Presence Robotic System developed by InTouch Technologies is bundled with cameras, a screen and microphone and the joystick-controlled robot that is guided into the patients room and when the doctor communicate it appears that he is just sitting next to the patient. The robot can also circle the bed and to make the patient feel more real communication it can adjust the position of its two cameras automatically.

This new innovation will not only help doctors to communicate their patients but it will also help to make better, just like real time, face to face communication flow between doctors and patients by sitting miles away.

The device is available in the market for $150,000.

Via: Medlaunches

Imagine how painful it is for a thin tube with a camera sent from the groin to inside the heart. Imagine the risks involved; of the catheter rupturing or bruising any of the delicate blood vessels. Now think of a heart patient getting simply a less expensive X-ray done to know his heart. The total bill including hospitalization charges is huge in the invasive angiogram done now. MSNBC reports of the spat between radiologists and cardiologists who perform traditional angiograms. Doctors point out the risk from huge doses of radiation required for this new ’super’ X-ray.

What they do not say is that angiogram fatality is not uncommon. Bacterial invasion may infect the areas of insertion of the catheter while the doses of radiation for a one-time test patient will hardly be causing any cancerous mutation. The real issue here is not angiograms versus super X-rays. It is all about livelihoods and money.

A new mammography system developed by investigators from Argonne National Laboratory in collaboration with a group from Germany will produce better imaging, lowering deaths and increasing early detection and prevention of cancer.

The Ultra-High Resolution Mammography System uses a glass-ceramic plate, which is transparent to lessen scattering of light and a readout device, designed specifically to increase the efficiency of the glass-ceramic plates. The plates made from photo stimulating phosphor have many advantages over the traditional photographic films.

Do you often wake up feeling weary after a full night’s sleep? Have you been told frequently that you snore very loudly while sleeping? Do you feel lethargic and sleepy through out the day? If the answer is yes to all of them, then, maybe you are suffering from sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder wherein breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep. The word apnea literally means without breath.
Do you know polysomnogram is the name of the test which is conducted to diagnose sleep apnea? It is very important to undergo this test, because, in severe and prolonged cases of sleep apnea people may suffer from heart failure.
According to Dr. Brian Schroder,

as people fall asleep, their muscle tone decreases, their jaw may fall open, and it may drop back a little bit. When it does, the tongue and all the soft tissue tends to impinge or close the airway, which causes the snoring sounds.

Don’t panic, various treatments are available for sleep apnea. The Thornton Adjustable Positioner (TAP®) is one of them. TAP® is a custom adjustable oral appliance that is worn while sleeping. This appliance prevents snoring and sleep apnea, by holding the lower jaw forward and thus avoids the tongue and the soft tissue of the throat from collapsing into the airway.

Let the price tag of about $1,800 to $2,000 for the Thornton Adjustable Positioner, not dishearten you. The TAP® is covered by insurance. So, when you file for insurance to cover the price for TAP®, do so under medical insurance and not under dental insurance. This is because, oral appliances, are in the same category as durable medical equipment and prostheses.

Stop suffering anymore from sleep-disordered breathing. Go ahead, and improve your health and lifestyle by having the Thornton Adjustable Positioner fitted into your mouth by a qualified dentist.
via: cbs13, amisleep

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The last time I can remember hearing the word ‘exoskeleton’ was in the movie Terminator 2. With his deep-throated monotone, Big Arnie tells the kid, ‘... human tissue over metal exoskeleton’. Back then, Exoskeletons were quite a rage and I still remember a dozen cyborg-tale spawns on television and all of them had those never-blink characters with voices that sounded like the audio-help companion on my desktop. And Exoskeletons, for sure, were a fantasy then. Imagine a 60 kg human walking on the streets with a robotic exoskeleton. These contraptions would undoubtedly enhance our strength and endurance. However, at the end of the day, all of us would end up with a sore body and our superhuman qualities would vanish in an instant.

Well, all said and believed, Exoskeletons could be a reality someday. If scientists at the MIT media lab US are to be trusted, they can build an exoskeleton that can match and mimic human movement to act in parallel with our motions. Of the two models that the scientists are looking to develop, one would transfer the load of a backpack on to the exoskeleton, for use in military or emergency services and the other transfers the weight of the wearer on to the exoskeleton. So, you could emulate Arnie after all. He will be back!!

Via: newscientist

Monty Reed, the executive director of They Shall Walk, a nonprofit, got badly entangled in wire while preparing lifesuit for competition at the RoboGames. The significance of lifesuit is for paralysis victims, as their walking aid. Lifesuit weighs around 75 pounds and compressed air has powered it.

Major highlights of lifesuit are walking, ascending and descending stairs. It can also effectively lift around 150 pounds. When Reed was Army Airborne Ranger, he was badly injured. After nine years of rehab, he was completely recovered, but design still exists. For the medical trials of lifesuit, They Shall Walk is also arranging for funds. It seems that determined They Shall Walk will surely make everybody walk.
Via:blog.wired

Fixing a micro device into human body to monitor how tired you are might sound awkward to you, but, C3B researchers are working tenaciously to make it a reality. The researchers are developing an implantable biosensor for soldier to monitor lactate and glucose levels.

Sponsored by the Department of Defense, the main objective of the project is to develop a temporary implantable biosensor with wireless transmission capabilities.

The chip will also assist diabetes and other diseases that need monitoring and can be used to assess how exhausted the bodies are whereas the remote monitoring potential will give insurance companies a method to reject claims based on monitored behavior.

Nevertheless, it is also worth mentioning that the research breakthroughs in the project area will certainly offer extraordinary contributions to mass triage situations in combat zones and natural disaster sites by offering a means for medical workforce to compose life saving decisions.

Via: dvorak