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August 2009

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Siemens exhibits new cardiac imaging application for aortic valve prosthesis at ESC 2009
With the syngo DynaCT Cardiac, the cardiologist can position the valve prosthesis more accurately and quickly than before. 28 August 2009

Philips launches new cardiograph with rapid diagnosis
The PageWriter TC50 cardiograph offers an intuitive operation and advanced clinical decision support. 28 August 2009

How to reduce the millions wasted on purchases based on physicians' personal preferences
ECRI Institute has revealed some of the processes that hospital  administrators can implement to better manage the high cost of personal preferences in a new white paper. 28 August 2009

Norovirus outbreak aboard cruise ship eradicated by revolutionary vaporisation process
The cruise ship Marco Polo, whose round-Britain cruise had to be cancelled because hundreds of passengers became ill with the vomiting bug Norovirus, has been disinfected by SitexOrbis' revolutionary infection control fogging service in just 5 hours at the Tilbury docks. 28 August 2009

Touch-sensitive robot aids tumour detection in minimally invasive surgery
Canadian researchers have created a touch-sensitive robot that detects tougher tumour tissue in half the time, and with 40% more accuracy than a human. The technique also minimises tissue damage. 28 August 2009

 

Genetically engineered bacteria deliver protein therapy for colitis
For the first time, scientists have used a genetically engineered bacterium to deliver a therapy. In studies of animals with colitis, the bacterium Bacteroides ovatus activated a human growth factor protein when exposed to a specific type of sugar, xylan. 28 August 2009

Cochlear launches breakthrough hearing implant
Cochlear is launching a new hearing system that gives profoundly deaf people a more advanced hearing performance, with what it claims is the world’s thinnest cochlear implant. 28 August 2009

Leica launches integrated platform to study dynamics of cellular processes
Leica Microsystems has released the first single-molecule detection (SMD) system that offers an integrated platform for the most common single molecule techniques, such as FLIM and FCS. 28 August 2009 Deutsch

t+ blood pressure lite enables monitoring of patients' blood pressure at home
Oxford University spin-out t+ Medical has launched t+ blood pressure lite, which enables healthcare professionals to effectively monitor their patients’ blood pressure without patients having to leave their home. 28 August 2009

New adaptive cancer therapy system from Siemens
The IM-RealART Solution enables treatment plans for radiotherapy to be adapted especially fast to changes in the shape and position of tumours. The treatment plan cn be revised even while the patient is still lying on the treatment table. 28 August 2009 Deutsch

Basingstoke first hospital in UK to intall Zoll AutoPulse in cath lab
Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital in Hampshire, UK is the first hospital in the UK to install the AutoPulse non-invasive cardiac support pump in a cardiac catheterization laboratory. 26 August 2009

Lab21 to provide AdnaGen’s tumour cell detection system UK and Ireland
Lab21 Ltd and AdnaGen AG have entered into an exclusive service and distribution agreement for AdnaGen’s proprietary circulating tumour cell diagnostic assays in the United Kingdom and Ireland. 26 August 2009

Stanford University professor sequences own genome with 'low-cost' technology
A Stanford University professor has sequenced his entire genome for less than $50,000 and with a team of just two other people, compared to the early efforts costing millions of dollars and using teams of hundreds.  26 August 2009

Americans would embrace comprehensive healthcare reform if properly informed
With polls pointing to a decline in public support for healthcare reform in the US, new research shows that getting Americans more involved in the debate is essential to swinging public opinion in its favour. 26 August 2009

Lab-on-chip device for blood cell count being developed at Southampton University
A hand-held device using lab-on-chip technology that could enable doctors to offer blood cell analysis in their surgeries is being developed by academics at the University of Southampton. 26 August 2009

Breakthrough drug-eluting stent to treat peripheral artery disease available in Europe
Surgeons in the UK have completed patient implants of the first CE Mark approved drug-eluting stent designed specifically to treat severe blockages in the largest artery in the leg. 20 August 2009 Deutsch

Touch Bionics opens UK Centre of Excellence for amputees
The Centre of Excellence in Livingstone, Scotland, offers full clinical services to upper limb amputees. The services are tailored to each individual’s needs and governed by the company’s Touch Life Total Care Program, which takes the whole range of prosthetic solutions into account. 20 August 2009

Siemens and Impac expand co-operation in oncology information systems
The partnership will give Siemens customers access to Impac’s oncology information system (OIS) will develop interfaces for their software to interoperate. 20 August 2009

Philips enhances Xcelera cardiology image management system
Philips has introduced new enhancements to its Xcelera multimodality cardiology image management, analysis and reporting solution featuring telecardiology capabilities to increase access to images and information. 20 August 2009

BVMed presents 10-point plan for use of advanced medical technology in Germany
BVMed has published a 10-point plan for the care of patients with advanced medical technology as a basis for the health policy discussions that are to come during the German general elections in the next few months. 20 August 2009

Neurimmune's Alzheimer’s antibody program moves into preclinical development
Following successful completion of key research milestones, Neurimmune Therapeutics lead antibody for Alzheimer’s disease has advanced into preclinical development, triggering milestone payments of an undisclosed amount from Biogen Idec. 20 August 2009

Philips begins shipments of MX 16-slice CT scanners. 20 August 2009

SonoSite completes acquisition of CardioDynamics
CardioDynamics will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of SonoSite, Inc. The transaction is valued at approximately $10.0 million. 20 August 2009

Universal flu vaccines to be developed under Inovio and US Vaccine Research Center collaboration
The VRC and Inovio will pool technologies to develop the vaccines as well as rapidly advance development of vaccine candidates targeting the emerging pandemic 2009 H1N1 swine flu strains. 20 August 2009

The Micromed ventricular assist devicePulse-less artificial heart gets new lease of life with US$2.8m grant
The Texas Heart Institute has been awarded the grant by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) for a second year of research to develop a pulse-less total artificial heart based on two MicroMed ventricular assist devices. 20 August 2009

BASi thermal laser technology speeds up spectrometer sample analysis
BASi is offering clients increased mass spectrometer sample analysis speed and quick turnaround with LDTD (laser diode thermal desorption) technology. 20 August 2009

Omnio Healer selects Eden Biodesign for production of wound healing and anti-infection products
Eden Biodesign will provide process development and production services for Omnio Healer’s wound healing and anti-infection products for supplying the products for clinical trials. 20 August 2009

Baxter completes production of first commercial batches of A(H1N1) flu vaccine
Baxter International Inc. completed production of its first commercial batches of Celvapan A(H1N1) flu vaccine using its proprietary Vero cell culture technology in late July and is discussing plans for distribution with national health authorities, subject to obtaining appropriate authorizations. 20 August 2009

Ichor awarded US$3.3m grant to develop DNA-based Alzheimer’s disease vaccine
Ichor Medical Systems of San Diego has been awarded the grant from the US National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) for development of the vaccine and studies required to support eventual initiation of human clinical testing. 20 August 2009

Bacterial evolution shows how to fine-tune novel anti-cancer drug
Biochemists at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen and Nereus Pharmaceuticals have illuminated a reaction pathway that shows how the uncontrolled growth of cancer cells can be thwarted by blocking the action of proteasomes. 20 August 2009

Alzheimer's risk shown by cerebrospinal fluid proteins
A combination of proteins in the cerebrospinal fluid can reliably identify which patients with early symptoms of dementia will subsequently develop full-blown Alzheimer's disease, according to an international study. 20 August 2009

Formal education lessens impact of Alzheimer’s disease
Researchers at the Department of Psychiatry, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München have shown that education diminishes the impact of Alzheimer’s disease on cognition even if a manifest brain volume loss has already occurred. 20 August 2009

Britain conducts first swine-flu vaccine trials
Britain’s first swine flu vaccine trials are taking place at the Leicester Royal Infirmary using 175 volunteers. 20 August 2009

Germgard's room-temperature surgical instrument sterilizer achieves three-minute cycle time
Germgard Lighting LLC of New Jersey has demonstrated a breakthrough advancement of its gas-based, room-temperature surgical instrument sterilization system. 20 August 2009

Magnetic irrigated catheter procedures reach 2500
Stereotaxis, Inc. (NASDAQ: STXS) has announced that clinicians have performed more than 2,500 procedures with the magnetic irrigated catheter since its commercial release. 20 August 2009

ImmunoVaccine Technologies partners with Scancell to advance DNA vaccine delivery
Canadian company IVT has signed an agreement with UK-based Scancell Ltd to explore the potential of using IVT's DepoVax delivery system for Scancell's novel ImmunoBody DNA vaccines. 17 August 2009

Novavax achieves milestone in novel H1N1 influenza vaccine production technology
Novavax has announced that it has manufactured a virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine candidate in 11 weeks after receiving the gene sequence for the H1N1 strain using novel production technology which is not dependent on growing influenza virus in eggs. 17 August 2009

1957-58 flu pandemic can provide clues to planning for current H1N1 outbreak
The Center for Biosecurity of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) has examined documents and newspaper coverage related to the 1957-58 influenza pandemic to compare the progress and severity of that outbreak and study the practical actions taken that allowed the US to continue functioning with minimal disruption.  17 August 2009

Diabetes rate for South Asian children in UK 13 times that of white children
The shocking statistic is from health charity Diabetes UK’s new report, Diabetes in the UK 2009: Key statistics on diabetes. The charity says that this is particularly worrying as type 2 diabetes is usually only found in South Asian adults who are over 25. 17 August 2009

Turkish Hospital Group orders four RapidArc radiotherapy systems
Acibadem Healthcare Group has acquired four additional radiotherapy treatment machines from Varian Medical Systems and expanded its radiotherapy facilities with new centres in Adana and Kayseri. 17 August 2009

Sigma-Aldrich offers customisable synthetic extracellular matrix for stem cell research
Under an agreement with Glycosan BioSystems, Sigma-Aldrich can offer the HyStem platform for stem cell research. This consists of hydrogel cell culture scaffolds that provide a complex, three-dimensional environment in which cells are able to proliferate. 17 August 2009

Dutch Center for Translational Molecular Medicine completes €265 million funding
The funding, which was completed with the approval of a prostate cancer research project, makes CTTM one of the largest public-private partnerships in the world. 17 August 2009

World's population aging at unprecedented rate
The average age of the world’s population is increasing at an unprecedented rate. The number of people worldwide aged 65 and older is estimated at 506 million as of mid 2008 and by 2040 it will reach 1.3 billion. 17 August 2009

Origin of malaria discovered
An international group of researchers has traced the source of malaria to chimpanzees and showed that malaria jumped from animals to humans, much the way that HIV, SARS and swine flu originated. The findings could provide key insights for drug development. 17 August 2009

LabCorp completes acquisition of Monogram Biosciences
As a result of the acquisition, Monogram became a wholly-owned subsidiary of LabCorp, and Monogram shares ceased to be traded on the NASDAQ Global Market at the close of trading on August 4. 9 August 2009.

Elan's NanoCrystal technology approved for long-acting injectable formulation
Elan Drug Technologies, a business unit of Elan Corporation has announced the first approval of a long-acting injectable formulation using its proprietary NanoCrystal technology. 9 August 2009

Simple blood test may help predict risk of Alzheimer's
Scientists at UCLA have discovered a way to measure the amount of amyloid beta that is being absorbed by immune cells in the blood. If the immune system isn't adequately clearing amyloid beta, it may indicate Alzheimer's risk. A diagnostic blood test is now being developed for public use. 9 August 2009

Promega expands life science products with takeover of Turner BioSystems. 9 August 2009

Wellcome Trust continues funds for Edinburgh's SPRINT high-performance gene-analysis tool
SPRINT is a prototype framework developed at Edinburgh University that allows biostatisticians to more easily exploit high-performance computing systems for analysing the large amount of data generated from microarray analysis. 7 August 2009

UK parliamentary committee criticises government for inadequate support for science and technology
The UK Government has reduced science to a political bargaining chip and must raise its game to produce an ambitious science and engineering strategy for the future, concludes an all-party committee of MPs in a report published last month. 7 August 2009

Leica Microsystems and A Menarini Diagnostics extend distribution agreement
Leica Microsystems GmbH and A Menarini Diagnostics Srl have signed a five-year agreement to extend their successful co-operation in distributing Leica products in Europe. 7 August 2009

Professor Chris ToumazouToumaz Technology co-founder wins 2009 World Technology Award for Health and Medicine
Toumaz Technology Limited, a provider of ultra-low power wireless infrastructure for body-monitoring solutions, has announced that its co-founder, Chairman and Chief Technology Officer Professor Chris Toumazou FRS has won the 2009 World Technology Award in the Health and Medicine category. 7 August 2009

Brain's mechanism for understanding words and pictures discovered
For the first time, scientists studying the brain have worked out how words and pictures paint concepts in our minds. The results are important for understanding how perception and memory formation occurs. 7 August 2009

BD launches closed IV catheter system for protecting healthcare workers
BD Medical, a segment of BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company),
has announced the UK launch of the latest BD Nexiva closed intravenous (IV) catheter system designed to reduce healthcare workers’ risk of needlestick injuries and minimise exposure to blood. 
4 August.

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