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Pacemaker-type device and medicines reduce hospital stays and death rates

A nationwide clinical trial of more than 1,600 heart failure patients showed that when medicines are combined with the use of a pacemaker-type device that resynchronizes both sides of the heart, hospital stays and death rates drop significantly.

20 May 2004

Scientists aim to develop an intelligent robotic wheelchair

Researchers from the Department of Computer Science will work alongside scientists from the Institute of Automation at Beijing in developing the advanced technology needed for a high performance, low cost RoboChair which will enable the elderly and disabled to gain increased mobility and live more independently.

20 May 2004

Dental appliance may help weight loss

Many Americans eat so fast, there isn't time to feel full until we realize we've overdone it. So we keep on eating, consuming more calories than we need. Now, there is an innovative appliance helps accomplish what our mothers always told us -- slow down, take smaller bites, and chew our food longer. Unlike many approaches to diets, this appliance is focused not on what we eat -- but how we eat.

19 May 2004

CRT implantable defibrillators significantly reduce hospitalization rates and extend lives

Researchers at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center have announced the findings of a large-scale clinical trial for patients with late-stage heart failure. Results showed that cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) from implantable pacemaker-like devices or CRT combined with an implantable defibrillator (CRT-D), when used in addition to optimal drug therapy, reduced significantly the mortality and first hospitalization rate when compared to drug therapy alone. CRT-D also substantially lowered mortality.

19 May 2004

HHS creates task force to encourage medical technology innovation

HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson has announced that the department is forming an internal task force to weigh new ideas and promote new solutions to encourage innovation in health care and to speed the development of effective new medical technologies, such as drug and biological products and medical devices.

19 May 2004

National Cancer Institute (NCI) purchases Starbridge Hypercomputer® to accelerate genome data research

Starbridge Systems announced today that the National Cancer Institute's Advanced Biomedical Computing Center (ABCC) in Frederick, MD, recently purchased a Starbridge Hypercomputer®, the first high-end reconfigurable computer acquired for bioscience research.

19 May 2004

Multimillion-dollar electron microscope unveils shapes of viruses and proteins

With a multimillion-dollar electron microscope and computer programs that can pick out the shapes of structures only six atoms wide, Dr. Wah Chiu and his colleagues at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston are attempting to explain the intricate structures of viruses and proteins.

19 May 2004

Sensing device that when implanted in the mouth can detect hydration levels in soldiers

Working with a $729,000 grant from the U.S. Army, Porter and a team of undergraduate and graduate students have developed a sensing device that when implanted in the mouth can detect hydration levels in soldiers. It can also monitor toxins and, used in a hand-held device, could be used to detect nerve agents.

18 May 2004

Microwaving the heart may soon become a routine procedure for the treatment of heart rhythm disorders

Microwaving the heart may soon become a routine procedure for the treatment of heart rhythm disorders, a common cause of heart attack and stroke, reports Marina Murphy in Chemistry & Industry magazine.

18 May 2004

Australian University gets new cutting edge body scanner

Installed in the University of Adelaide's Medical School, it will be used to collect data for the pilot study of human body size and shape for the future Body Size Survey of the Australian population.

17 May 2004

Researchers demonstrate wearable electronics to aid health and fashion

Soon you may be wearing your computer, or elements of it, according to a team of researchers and designers at Arizona State University. The era of smart bodysuits is about to begin.

17 May 2004

Technology will help as world's population over 60 doubles

It's just a collection of bloody nuts and bolts." That was the damning reaction of a 69-year-old resident at a Scottish nursing home - let's call him William Brown - when asked if he would like a robotic pet as a companion to help relieve his boredom and loneliness. But once he realised that the robot could play games with him, he quickly changed his mind.

15 May 2004

Unique computer system to help patient care in America

Like a chain with many fragile links, the care of every hospital patient in America is made up of dozens, even hundreds, of daily interactions and handoffs between the doctors, nurses, therapists, residents and medical students who care for them.

15 May 2004

New device lab-on-a-chip sensor to detect milk contamination

Whitaker investigator David Beebe, Ph.D., of the University of Wisconsin-Madison has developed a process to make on-demand, miniature sensors for a wide variety of poisons, including naturally occurring contaminants and intentionally introduced toxins.

15 May 2004