Mission Accomplished

Oxford Software Spin-out Improving Ultrasound Diagnostics

With medical costs rising year after year worldwide, it becomes increasingly important to make the correct diagnosis, yet keep diagnostics costs contained. Conventional imaging...

BYU Engineers Conceive Disc Replacement to Treat Chronic Low Back Pain

In between the vertebrae of the human spine are 23 Oreo™ cookie-sized, cartilage-filled discs that hold the vertebrae together and allow for spine movement.

Tooling Techniques Enhance Medical Imaging

They can release as much energy as tens of billions of hydrogen bombs exploding at the same time. They send protons and electrons rocketing at near the speed of light. They heat gas in the Sun’s...

Medical Device Uses Musical Lullabies to Help Premature Babies

Research has shown that music has a profound effect on the human body and psyche. The practice of music therapy is based on well-researched clinical and empirical evidence. There is...

ER Doc, Sandia Engineer Join Forces to Develop Better Trauma Shears

An Albuquerque physician teamed with a Sandia National Laboratories engineer to improve the design of doctors' trauma shears so emergency personnel can get to the injuries they...

New Early Warning System for Seizures Could Lead to Fewer False Alarms

Epilepsy affects 50 million people worldwide, but in a third of these cases, medication cannot keep seizures from occurring. One solution is to shoot a short pulse of...

Soft Tissue Expansion Solutions for Reconstructive Surgery

The concept of tissue expansion for surgical reconstruction was first reported over 50 years ago, although the technique did not gain popular acceptance until the 1980s, when it was...

Signal Processing Methods Monitor Cranial Pressure

When you think of a beating heart, you might assume it beats at regular intervals, but in actuality, velocity, and pressure change with every beat, and the time interval between each beat is...

Polarization-Sensitive OCT Device Could Enable Earlier Glaucoma Detection

Three days a week, Dr. Grady Rylander treats patients at the Eye Institute of Austin, a private practice he joined 34 years ago after graduating from The University of...

Assessing a Patient's Risk for Sudden Cardiac Arrest

Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) is a leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for an estimated 300,000 deaths each year — more than lung cancer, breast cancer, and HIV/AIDS...

Space Researchers Develop Ultrasound Technology That Detects, Treats Kidney Stones

Just the mention of kidney stones can cause a person to cringe. They are often painful and sometimes difficult to remove, and 10 percent of the population will...

“Smart” Sunglasses That Block Blinding Glare

The days of being blinded by glare from the sun, despite the $300 sunglasses straddling your face, may soon be over. Since 2003, Chris Mullin, PhD, and CEO of Dynamic Eye (Pittsburgh, PA), has...

Microneedle Injection: Drug Delivery Targeted to the Back of the Eye

Diseases the affect the back of the eye include age-related macular degeneration (AMD), diabetic retinopathy, and uveitis. Although many therapies exist to treat these...

Ultraviolet-Blocking Lenses Protect, Enhance Vision

In the 1980s, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) scientists James Stephens and Charles Miller were studying the harmful properties of light in space, as well as that of artificial radiation...

Fighting the Epidemics of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Every year, 1.5 million Americans incur head injury; the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have further increased this number. Head injury affects people of all ages and is the leading cause of...

Ultra-Portable Device Makes Negative Pressure Wound Therapy More Affordable, Accessible

Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) is a widely used modality to improve healing of acute and chronic wounds though the application of topical reduced...

Radiation-Free Breast Cancer Detection Device

Currently, mammography is the only FDA-approved independent breast cancer screening method — but it has its limitations, and may be ineffective for women with dense breasts — about 25% of women....

Open Surgical Simulation Platform Trains Trauma Surgeons and Surgical Residents

While surgeon and surgical educator Howard Champion was conducting research and training for improving U.S. military combat care, he noticed the need for the...

Technique Developed for Space Research Helps Drive Early Detection of Cataracts on Earth

A compact fiber-optic probe initially developed for the space program has now proven valuable for patients in the clinic as the first non-invasive early...

Pioneering a New Class of MEMS Heart Monitoring Devices

CardioMEMS (Atlanta, GA), a graduate of Georgia Tech's ATDC startup accelerator, is pioneering a new class of heart monitoring devices, based on a sensor that measures intracardiac...

Real Time Location System Tracks Blood Coolers, Saves Blood

Human blood is a precious resource. Because stored blood has a very limited shelf life, keeping every available unit of it suitable for medical use is a crucial function at hospitals...

Balance Tools Used for Return-to-Duty Assessment and Rehabilitation

Dizziness and balance issues are the most frequently reported symptoms following exposure to an improvised explosive device.

NASA Light Technology Helps Reduce Painful Side Effects from Radiation and Chemotherapy

Results of a two-year clinical trial indicate that a NASA technology originally developed for plant growth experiments on space shuttle missions has...

Portable Ultrasound Device to Boost Emergency Medical Care on Earth and in Space

With funding from a space medicine research institute, a breakthrough device could someday kill tumors and stop internal bleeding without knives, scalpels, or...

Combat Casualty Care Educational Program Developed for U.S. Armed Forces

With American troops leaving Iraq and military efforts continuing in Afghanistan, educators at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) have helped develop a...

Crew Management Processes Revitalize Patient Care

In January 2009, birds struck the engines of US Airways Flight 1549 and forced an emergency landing into the Hudson River. Everyone on board survived, and the crew was lauded for remaining calm...

Freeing Water From Viruses and Bacteria

Argonide Corporation, a company focused on the research, production, and marketing of specialty nano-materials, was seeking to develop applications for its NanoCeram® fibers. Only 2 nanometers in...

Braille Displays Get New Life With Artificial Muscles

Research with tiny artificial muscles may yield a full-page active Braille system that can refresh automatically and come to life right beneath your fingertips.

Burnishing Techniques Strengthen Hip Implants

When compressed air mixes with jet fuel and is ignited in a turbine engine, the temperature can reach 3,000 °F. As a result of this fiery exhaust, the turbine spins and then forces the air through...