A new wearable ultrasound patch that non-invasively monitors blood pressure in arteries deep beneath the skin could help people detect cardiovascular problems earlier on and with greater precision. In tests, the patch performed as well as some clinical methods to measure blood pressure.

Applications include real-time, continuous monitoring of blood pressure changes in patients with heart or lung disease, as well as patients who are critically ill or undergoing surgery. The patch uses ultrasound, so it could potentially be used to non-invasively track other vital signs and physiological signals from places deep inside the body.

A portable, easy-to-use device provides quick and accurate screening of diseases. The versatile technology platform called enVision (enzyme-assisted nanocomplexes for visual identification of nucleic acids) can be designed to detect a wide range of diseases.

The platform can test everything from emerging infectious diseases (e.g., Zika and Ebola) and high-prevalence infections (e.g., hepatitis, dengue, and malaria) to various types of cancers and genetic diseases.

By creating a new twist on fiber optic sensors, researchers have developed a smart, flexible photoacoustic imaging technique that may have potential applications in wearable devices, instrumentation, and medical diagnostics.

Their new technique relies on optical fiber technology to provide new sensors for photoacoustic imaging. It uses fiber-optic ultrasound detection, exploiting the acoustic effects on laser pulses via the thermoelastic effect — temperature changes that occur as a result of the elastic strain.

Researchers have developed a process by which 2D hydrogels can be programmed to expand and shrink in a space- and time-controlled way that applies force to their surfaces, enabling the formation of complex 3D shapes and motions.

This process could potentially transform the way soft engineering systems or devices are designed and fabricated. Potential applications for the technology include bioinspired soft robotics, artificial muscles — which are soft materials that change their shapes or move in response to external signals as our muscles do — and programmable matter. The concept is also applicable to other programmable materials.

The cost and time required to obtain a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan may be significantly reduced in the future, thanks to the application of artificial intelligence (AI) strategies. The imaging project, called fastMRI, will use AI to make MRI scans up to 10 times faster.

The New York University (NYU) School of Medicine’s Center for Advanced Imaging Innovation and Research (CAI2R) is collaborating with the Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR) group to work with researchers in academia to advance the state-of-the art in the rapidly emerging AI field. FAIR will provide access to AI models, metrics, and techniques; CAI2R offers extensive medical imaging expertise and an enormous dataset. The resulting tools and data will be openly accessible to the research community.

Medical device maker Medtronic has awarded Weiss-Aug, East Hanover, NJ, as one of the top 12 suppliers from its 52,000 worldwide vendor base. For more than 25 years, Weiss-Aug has collaborated with R&D teams of Medtronic at both its Boulder, CO, and North Haven, CT, locations on the development and manufacture of surgical instrument components and subassemblies.

Designing and developing surgical tools that heat tissue for necrosis requires understanding the temperature distribution that develops during the use of the device. Multiphysics simulation enables designers to understand and address the interaction of the heat source with the body in order to develop devices that target specific tissue without damaging the surrounding healthy tissue.

Global production of Polylactic Acid (PLA) is increasing dramatically as it becomes the biodegradable plastic of choice for a wide range of medical and industrial applications. PLA requires a specialized recycling plan…is your company ready? Attend this Webinar to learn what you need to know to prepare for the PLA revolution.

Tech-Etch, Inc., Plymouth, MA, has sold 100 percent of the company to its employees through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). An ESOP is a qualified defined-contribution employee benefit plan that provides a company's workforce with an ownership interest in the company.

A team of physicians and computer scientists has shown that it is easy to modify medical test results remotely by attacking the connection between hospital laboratory devices and medical record systems. While the vulnerabilities the researchers exploited are not new, this is the first time that a research team has shown how they could be exploited to compromise patient health.

These vulnerabilities arise from the standards used to transfer patient data within hospital networks, known as the Health Level Seven standards, or HL7. Essentially the language that allows all devices and systems in a medical facility to communicate, HL7 was developed in the 1970s and has remained untouched by many of the cybersecurity advances made in the last four decades.