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Scientists from Case Western Reserve and Vanderbilt universities are reporting a surprising finding that lasers can be used to pace the contractions of embryonic quail hearts. It has been reported previously that light can excite cardiac tissue, but this is the first time that a heart rate was set to a particular frequency using light. According to the scientists, this non-invasive device may prove an effective tool in understanding how environmental factors that alter an embryo's heart rate lead to congenital defects. It may also lead to investigations of cardiac electrophysiology at the cellular, tissue and organ levels, and possibly the development of a new generation of pacemakers. "The mechanisms behind many congenital defects are not well known. But, there is a suspicion that when the early embryonic heart beats slower or faster than normal, that changes gene regulation and changes development," said Michael Jenkins, a postdoctoral researcher in biomedical engineering at Case Western Reserve. Jenkins came up with the idea to try the infrared laser on an embryonic heart. He stumbled on an obscure paper from the 1960s in which researchers found that continuous exposure to visible light accelerated the heart rate of an embryonic chicken. He also knew of the success that Eric D. "Duco" Jansen, a professor of biomedical engineering at Vanderbilt University, had using an infrared laser to stimulate nerves. He then hypothesized that pulsed infrared light may enable pacing of the embryonic heart. Case Western press release: A heart beats to a different drummer... Article in Nature Photonics: Optical pacing of the embryonic heart... Michael

A new discovery, reported in the latest Nature, hints at higher universal laws of the physical world, as well as new ways to approach and understand life in general. Even though the European discovery actually dealt with superconductors, it has an interesting twist with implications for the life sciences. A group of physicists from London Centre for Nanotechnology at UCL and their collaborators at Sapienza University of Rome and European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, France were studying properties of so-called high-transition-temperature (high-Tc) copper oxide superconductors. They were looking at the microstructures that these superconductors form as they are cooled down. To the surprise of investigators, they discovered that microstructures, exhibited by oxygen atoms, seemed to organize into self-repeating fractals. Moreover, these fractal shapes, some extending almost to the millimeter scale, were correlating to superconductivity. In fact, larger fractals correlated with higher superconductivity temps. What does it have to do with life? We think, plenty. Fractals, known for their geometric morphologies that are made up of patterns that repeat themselves at smaller scales infinitely, were first discovered by mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot in 1960s. Since then, they took the world of natural sciences by storm. As mathematicians and physicists discovered more and more interesting properties of these unique constructs, we started to notice fractals' ubiquitous presence everywhere we look. Whether in the living world or in inorganic one, they seem to pop up in unexpected places. Somehow, there are laws of physics that favor these structures for whatever reason. To us, the discovery of fractal function is eerily reminiscent of polarization in pre-quantum mechanical physics. Not until Niels Bohr, Albert Einstein and others laid the foundations of quantum mechanics, polarization of light has remained a mystery. Now we have a new puzzle to answer. Fractals are ubiquitous in the physical and living world for some unknown reason, and there is a function to them. Paper in Nature: Scale-free structural organization of oxygen interstitials in La2CuO4+y UCL press release: Fractals make better superconductors ... More from Wired: Inexplicable Superconductor Fractals Hint at Higher Universal Laws... Side image: Heat treatment improves the superconductivity of a ceramic copper oxide by creating a fractal network of connected channels of ordered oxygen defects. The green and red spheres represent the paired electrons responsible for superconductivity. Artwork by Manuel Vogtli (LCN).... Michael

By JANE SARASOHN-KAHN Best Buy is teaming up with Cardiac Science, targeting potential purchasers of electronic health records (EHRs) and noninvasive cardiac devices. The venture looks to take advantage of economic stimulus funding available through the HITECH Act aimed at...

It has been known for a while now that cooling the body after cardiac arrest improves neurological outcome, and therapeutic hypothermia has become a standard measure in many hospitals. However, in a study in this month's Circulation, a new nasopharyngeal device was used to initiate cooling during cardiac arrest. The RhinoChill Intra-Nasal Cooling System from BeneChill (San Diego, CA) uses a non-invasive nasal catheter that sprays a rapidly evaporating coolant liquid into the nasal cavity, adjacent to the major vascular structures of the brain. The system is compact, battery operated and easy and fast to insert, making it more practical in emergency situations than surface or intravascular cooling devices. In the study witnessed cardiac arrest patients were randomized to either intra-arrest cooling with the RhinoChill device while CPR was being conducted (n=96) or standard care (n=104), with both groups being cooled after hospital arrival. The target temperature of 34°C was reached much faster in the RhinoChill group. Although the study was not powered to detect outcome differences, in subgroup analysis nasal cooling and early CPR within 10 minutes after arrest, when combined, resulted in a 27% absolute increase in survival over CPR alone and a 26% increase in neurologically intact survival. These are pretty impressive results for such a simple device and we are sure you will hear more about this one when larger trials are able to confirm these results. Article abstract in Circulation: Intra-Arrest Transnasal Evaporative Cooling. A Randomized, Prehospital, Multicenter Study (PRINCE: Pre-ROSC IntraNasal Cooling Effectiveness)... Product page: RhinoChill Intra-Nasal Cooling System...... Wouter Stomp

The UK supermarket chain Sainsbury's is running a trial with two different drug vending machines in two of its West Sussex stores. Basically you can drop your prescription at the machine, the pharmacy will collect the prescriptions and deliver the medications which you can later pick up. As the machines are placed in stores with an in-store pharmacy service, the only benefit seems to be the lack of face-to-face contact (for those people who consider that a benefit). The trial will run for a year after which it will be decided whether they will be rolled-out across all of England. Some UK hospitals plan to trial a more useful drug vending machines this winter, which have a video-link and can dispense medication directly. Patient and pharmacists can talk to each other and a photograph of the prescription is sent over at the same time. The pharmacist can then authorize the machine to deliver drugs from an internal stock. This might prove a useful application for remote places and to provide coverage during evenings, nights and weekends. Although law currently only permits use of these machines in hospitals and healthcare centers, PharmaTrust, the company supplying the machines, hopes that in the future they will be able to place them in High Streets, shopping malls and rural locations. Source: BBC News...... Wouter Stomp

Just a decade after HAL 9000 was supposed to make its appearance, researchers at the University of Hertfordshire have unveiled a prototype of a robot capable of developing emotions through interactions with human caregivers and getting emotionally attached to them. The robots are programmed to learn to interact with humans the same way babies do, using the same expressive and behavioral cues. This has been implemented by modeling early attachment processes in human and chimpanzee infants. They will become attached to their primary caregiver, developing a stronger bond as they interact. They can express anger, fear, sadness, happiness, excitement and pride, or show distress if not cared for in stressful situations. Still to be added is understanding of non-verbal cues and emotions expressed through physical postures, gestures and body movements. The robots have been developed as part of a project of several universities and robotics companies funded by the European Commission called FEELIX GROWING (Feel, Interact, eXpress: a Global approach to development with Interdisciplinary Grounding). One of the future goals is to have the robot be a carer/companion for diabetic children in the hospital. Here's a video of an earlier prototype: Press release: Robots That Develop Emotions in Interaction with Humans...... Wouter Stomp

By Matthew Holt Mary Hiller is Executive Director at MedExpert International -- one of the companies behind Safeway's remarkable results in reducing health care costs. The company manages a system that aligns best practices from intensive literature searches (although Mary...

By BOB WACHTER Don’t read this. That is, if you have a limited amount of time for reading today, I’d rather you read Atul Gawande’s essay on end-of-life care in this month’s New Yorker than this blog. But if you...

Proteus Biomedical has received CE Mark approval from the European Union to bring to market the firm's Raisin ingestible drug sensors and monitoring system. When a patient swallows tablets that have individually tagged beacons on them, a sensor can automatically record the precise time and basic vital signs of the patient at that time. The system allows physicians to get a better picture of how a patient responds to a given medication. The system received FDA regulatory approval back in April. Additionally MobiHealthNews is reporting that UK's National Health Service will be testing the system in a trial involving 40 patients over four months. Proteus’s ingestible sensor and personal monitor system, called the RaisinTM System, is indicated under the CE Mark to timestamp, via ingestion, any discrete event (such as the ingestion of a specific pharmaceutical) and to record this event along with physiologic information such as heart rate, activity, body angle and patient-logged information. The unique ingestion event and personalized physiologic information are then communicated via Bluetooth to any computerized device, such as a mobile phone for emerging mHealth applications. The Raisin System is being developed as part of Proteus’s integrated intelligent medicine system to link sensor-based formulations of pharmaceutical products to individualized physiologic response and outcomes-based treatment systems. Proteus and its partners are currently developing these integrated product systems in diabetes, cardiovascular disease, psychiatric disorders, organ transplantation and infectious disease. Press release: Proteus Biomedical Announces European CE Mark Approval of Ingestible Sensor and Monitor System Proteus Biomedical technology page... Flashbacks: Proteus' Wireless Personal Health Monitor Receives 510(k) Clearance; A Quick Look at The Status of Smart Pill Technology; Microchipped BP Pills Remind Patients to Take Their Meds; NextGen Pharmaceuticals: Pills That Talk, Sensors That Listen; Chip-on-a-Pill, and Other Micro-Electro-Medical Devices (hat tip: MassDevice)... Michael

In two papers presented at the meeting of the Society of Experimental Mechanics in Indianapolis and at the Nanotech 2010 Conference and Expo in Anaheim, California, Purdue University scientists detail a new mechanism that allows for precise automatic calibration of micro electromechanical systems (MEMS). Current methods of calibration are about 10% off the correct number in small scale systems, but the new technique promises near perfect readings leading to precise micro-sensors. MEMS accelerometers and gyroscopes currently are being used in commercial products, including the Nintendo Wii video game, the iPhone, walking robots and automotive airbags. "Those MEMS work well because they don't need ultra-high precision or accuracy," Clark said. "It is difficult for conventional technology to accurately measure very small forces, such as van der Waals forces between molecules or a phenomenon called the Casimir effect that is due to particles popping in and out of existence everywhere in the universe." These forces are measured in "piconewtons," a trillionth of the weight of a medium-size apple. "If we are trying to investigate or exploit picoscale phenomena like Casimir forces, van der Waals forces, the hydrogen bond forces in DNA, high-density data storage or even nanoassembly, we need much higher precision and accuracy than conventional methods provide," Clark said. "With conventional tools, we know we are sensing something, but without accurate measurements it is difficult to fully understand the phenomena, repeat the experiments and create predictive models." Press release: Innovation could bring super-accurate sensors, crime forensics... Michael

By KENT BOTTLES, MD Not long ago I was lucky to be invited to a New England Healthcare Institute discussion entitled “From Evidence to Practice: Making Comparative Effectiveness Research Findings Work for Providers and Patients “ in Washington, DC. How...

Engineers at Saitama University's Human-Robot Interaction Center in Saitama, Japan have created a wheelchair movement system that keeps it always next to a walking person wearing a radio beacon. The wheelchair is smart enough to realize both its position and orientation relative to the person guiding it and realizes when its best to follow behind rather than on the side in tight and congested areas. Undoubtedly this is a big deal for people with disabilities for whom controlling the wheelchair is in itself a challenge. Judging by the video below, which demonstrates the wheelchair in a public area, it looks like it's just about ready for commercial production. More at DigInfo TV... (hat tip: Engadget)... Michael

By ROGER COLLIER I’ve been reading a recent paper from the Committee for Economic Development, one of the less doctrinaire business research groups, that should give health care reform advocates (and opponents) food for thought. " Health Care in California...

Fenwal, Inc. (Lake Zurich, Illinois) has announced 510(k) clearance for use of the company's Amicus separator with the new InterSol platelet additive. InterSol can take the place of plasma, which is currently used as a storage medium for platelets collected from donated blood. This frees up additional plasma for hospital use without requiring an increase in blood donations. From the press release: While practices vary at blood centers, healthy donors may donate platelets as often as once a week, but no more than 24 times in a 12-month period. In granting the new 510(k) clearance, the FDA has approved an addition to Fenwal labeling that defines specific conditions under which the volume of plasma replaced by InterSol® solution may be collected without increasing the donor deferral period. Press release: FDA Grants Fenwal New 510(k) Clearance... Product page: AMICUS® Separator...... Smit

Researchers from Ohio State University just published a paper in Nature describing a new MRI technique that is capable of imaging the insides of micro-scale magnets, providing the highest ever resolution of magnetic fields. The technology, known as scanned probe ferromagnetic resonance imaging, promises the development of small scale biosensors that depend on tiny magnets to do their work. From the article abstract: Conventional ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) provides quantitative information about ferromagnetic materials and interacting multicomponent magnetic structures with spectroscopic precision and can distinguish components of complex bulk samples through their distinctive spectroscopic features. However, it lacks the sensitivity to probe nanoscale volumes and has no imaging capabilities. Here we demonstrate FMR imaging through spin-wave localization. Although the strong interactions in a ferromagnet favour the excitation of extended collective modes, we show that the intense, spatially confined magnetic field of the micromagnetic probe tip used in FMR force microscopy can be used to localize the FMR mode immediately beneath the probe. We demonstrate FMR modes localized within volumes having 200 nm lateral dimensions, and improvements of the approach may allow these dimensions to be decreased to tens of nanometres. Our study shows that this approach is capable of providing the microscopic detail required for the characterization of ferromagnets used in fields ranging from spintronics to biomagnetism. This method is applicable to buried and surface magnets, and, being a resonance technique, measures local internal fields and other magnetic properties with spectroscopic precision. Abstract in Nature: Nanoscale scanning probe ferromagnetic resonance imaging using localized modes... Press release: Scientists achieve highest-resolution MRI of a magnet...... Michael

Introducing chemicals for research and therapeutic uses into individual cells can be tricky using microscopic needles, so researchers at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore have developed a method of shooting ultra-precise jets of liquid straight through the membrane. The method does not seem to damage the function of living cells. The physicists produced the jets by focusing lasers into a fluid surrounding a target cell. The lasers heated molecules of a blue dye dissolved in the fluid, which in turn created tiny bubbles to rapidly grow and collapse. When these sorts of bubbles are produced individually, they create shock waves that spread throughout the liquid. But producing two adjacent bubbles in rapid succession results in small, powerful jets capable of poking tiny holes, measuring only 0.2 millionths of a meter across, in cell membranes. The researchers confirmed that the jets allowed the introduction of fluids into the cell by checking for signs of the blue dye inside the pierced cells. The dye is toxic, and it killed the pierced cells, but the holes the jets produced were small enough that it's likely that the jets will offer a way to inject live cells with nontoxic substances without significantly damaging them. Article in Physical Review Letters: Aiming with bubbles... APS press release: Single cell injections...... Michael

Researchers at Technion - Israel Institute of Technology have shown that nanosensors can be effective in detecting certain types of cancer in exhaled breath. Pending further studies, it is hoped that this technology will be used for regular screening of patients as part of doctors' appointments. Exhaled alveolar breath was collected from 177 volunteers aged 20–75 years (patients with lung, colon, breast, and prostate cancers and healthy controls). Breath from cancerous subjects was collected before any treatment. The healthy population was healthy according to subjective patient's data. The breath of volunteers was examined by a tailor-made array of cross-reactive nanosensors based on organically functionalised gold nanoparticles and gas chromatography linked to the mass spectrometry technique (GC-MS). The results showed that the nanosensor array could differentiate between ‘healthy’ and ‘cancerous’ breath, and, furthermore, between the breath of patients having different cancer types. Moreover, the nanosensor array could distinguish between the breath patterns of different cancers in the same statistical analysis, irrespective of age, gender, lifestyle, and other confounding factors. The GC-MS results showed that each cancer could have a unique pattern of VOCs, when compared with healthy states, but not when compared with other cancer types. The reported results could lead to the development of an inexpensive, easy-to-use, portable, non-invasive tool that overcomes many of the deficiencies associated with the currently available diagnostic methods for cancer. Link: Breath test could help to detect cancer... Abstract in British Journal of Cancer: Detection of lung, breast, colorectal, and prostate cancers from exhaled breath using a single array of nanosensors Image credit: Fernando de Sousa... Michael

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a new imaging technique for melanoma. For melanoma resection it is very important to obtain tumor free margins in order to prevent recurrence. Photoacoustic imaging works by absorption of light by tissue which causes slight heating (a matter of millikelvins) and with that thermoelastic expansion. By using pulsed light, an acoustic signal can be generated using this effect. Photoacoustic tomography detects structures that strongly absorb light such as melanomas which contain melanin. However even melanoma images are still fuzzy using only this method, so the researchers decided to use gold nanocages as a contrast agent. Using nanocages bioconjugated with a certain type of melanocyte-stimulating hormone, they were able to capture high-resolution photoacoustic tomography images where margins are clearly visible. Potential applications of this technique include detection of early stage melanomas and metastatic lymph nodes, treatment using photothermal effects and image-guided surgical resection. Here's a short video showing the obtained images: Press release: Seeing melanoma... Article abstract: In Vivo Molecular Photoacoustic Tomography of Melanomas Targeted by Bioconjugated Gold Nanocages...... Wouter Stomp

According to Israeli business newspaper Globes, a local company called OrthoSpace Ltd. has obtained CE Mark of approval for its product, the InSpace balloon, which is designed to be a temporary bursa-like padding for patients suffering from rotator cuff tears. A spokesperson for the company tells us the following about the device: Massive Rotator cuff tears present both a physical and biological challenge to the surgeon attempting to repair them. The tear is considered irreparable according to pre-procedural MRI imaging or intra-operative assessment. The cuff tissue is often retracted and degenerated. The muscle tissue can be atrophied and with fat infiltratation. While the average rate of rotator cuff re-tear post repair is approximately 20-40%, failure rates of massive tears can approach 100%. Surgeons are looking for a solution which will reduce significantly their patient pain. By having the Biodegradable InSpace™ Balloon implanted between the acromion and the humeral head, a space is created between the bone structures; allowing for smooth and frictionless gliding. The InSpace™ Balloon demonstrated successfully pain reduction and ROM improvement, with very high safety profile. The Balloon was initially designed for chronic, massive, non-reparable rotator-cuff tears; enabling leverage of other muscles. The Balloon may be inserted arthroscopically, or with a mini-open procedure. The InSpace™ Balloon surgical technique is only five steps of fast and elegant procedure, which has the potential for a quick rehabilitation program. Globes: Orthospace obtains CE Mark for shoulder balloon implant... Company page: OrthoSpace ...... Michael

By INDU SUBAIYA The Health 2.0 Developer Challenge welcomes its four newest challenges. Yesterday, West Wireless Health Institute, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), the California Healthcare Foundation, the Markle Foundation and the University of Wisconsin released new challenges with prize...