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Latest Medical Technology

• Avandia May Raise Osteoporosis Risk

  28Jan
  Categories: Information, News and Updates Comments: 0

  
  The popular diabetes drug marketed as Avandia may increase bone thinning, a discovery that could help explain why diabetics can have an increased risk of fractures.

  New research raises the possibility that long-term treatment with rosiglitazone, as Avandia is also called, could lead to osteoporosis. The diabetes drug is used to improved response to insulin.

  Researchers found that in mice, the drug increased the activity of the cells that degrade bones, according to a report in this week’s online issue of Nature Medicine.

  The finding “has led to a better understanding of the challenges associated with long-term treatment of patients with Type II diabetes,” said Ronald M. Evans of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, Calif., lead author of the report.

  “The long-term use of rosiglitazone should be cautious in patients with higher risk of fractures such as older women,” he added. Using it in combination with anti-osteoporosis drugs could be beneficial, he said.

  (Source)

• Cancer Resistance

  25Jan
  Categories: Developmental stage Comments: 0

  

  Researchers at the University of Kentucky has created a cancer-resistant mouse. They have found in the prostate a tumor-suppressor gene called Par-4. It kills only cancer cells, and spares normal cells from damage. They have discovered that mice with this gene do not develop tumors. There is a great potential in developing treatment for cancer that do not have the side-effects experienced by patients undergoing chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

  The mice under study have been bred and observed, and so far, the results showed that the gene did not harm the next generations of mice. It will still be a long way before this is developed and tested on humans, but it is the way forward.

  (reference)

• Crestor Fails Heart-Failure Study

  20Jan
  Categories: News and Updates, Pharmaceuticals Comments: 0

  
  The results of a recent study has shown that heart-failure patients who are given AstraZeneca’s Crestor and standard drugs are just as likely to have heart attacks and strokes or die of cardiovascular problems as those on standard therapy alone.
  
  AstraZeneca has hoped to establish Crestor as the first cholesterol-lowering statin to show clear benefits in treating elderly patients with the chronic heart condition.

  Results of a 5,000-patient study showed Crestor was no better than a placebo, although it did cut levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol and C-reactive protein and reduced hospitalizations for cardiovascular causes. AstraZeneca said that the study had been “novel and challenging” and, though unsuccessful, had established Crestor’s safety in heart-failure patients.

  (Source)

• Brain talk

  19Jan
  Categories: Information Comments: 0

  
  There is a latest technology out in the market today which allows the human brain to make a direct contact with a computer. This will really help those who are obsessive multi-taskers as they would no longer have to be in direct contact with a computer to avail of its services. This could also help patients who are in a coma as the computers can direct interaction when there is one from the sleeping brain. With the digital automatic consciousness, patients can now stop relying on people to interact with slumbering patients and also, unlike people, computers don’t lose hope as they are programmed to do their job which is to awaken brain power in the patient. It becomes necessary to hope for this kind of computer to proliferate if only to help the medical community cope with almost hopeless cases.

• Stereo mammography a big leap in breast imaging

  15Jan
  Categories: Diagnostics, Imaging, News and Updates Comments: 0

  
  Stereoscopic digital mammography, a new diagnostic technique capable of producing three-dimensional, in-depth views of breast tissue, could significantly reduce the number of women who are recalled for additional tests following routine screening mammography. Results of a clinical trial being conducted at Emory University Breast Clinic in Atlanta were presented Thursday at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

  Stereoscopic digital mammography consists of two digital x-ray images of the breast acquired from two different points of view separated by about eight degrees. When the images are viewed on a stereo display workstation, the radiologist is able to see the internal structure of the breast in three dimensions. In the ongoing clinical trial, researchers use a full-field digital mammography unit modified to take stereo pairs of images. The workstation enables the mammographer to fuse the stereo image pair and to view the breast in depth.

  In the study, stereo mammography reduced false positives by 49%. This huge drop in percentage has strong implications with regard to needless cost in time and money. BBN Technologies and Planar Systems developed the stereo display workstation used in the trial.

  (Source)

• New blood biomarker to predict cancer spread

  13Jan
  Categories: Developmental stage, Diagnostics Comments: 0

  Recent research came up with a new blood biomarker that has a high accuracy of predicting the spread of prostate cancer to other parts of the body through the lymph nodes. Such spreading of cancer cells are usually not detected by conventional imaging methods like CT scans. This new blood test measures the level of endoglin, a plasma biomarker which was also studied to predict the spread of colon and breast cancer.

  The levels of endoglin in the blood were associated with increased risk of cancer cells spreading to the lymph nodes. Each 1ng/mL increase of plasma endoglin increases the risk of cancer spread by 17 percent.

  (source)

• Latest Technology in Hearing Aid

  10Jan
  Categories: Hearing Technology Comments: 0

  

  Siemens, one of the leaders in hearing technology, introduced one of their most advanced hearing devices.

  Meet Artis 2 – “helping people with hearing loss fully appreciate all that life has to offer”. Artis 2 is a smart little device that learns the wearer’s volume preference, so that it adjusts automatically while it is being worn. Artis 2 actually records and stores hearing aid use data so your hearing health professional can access the data for quick adjustments as needed. This tiny little device is so smart, it utilizes wireless technology. Yes, both ear pieces can communicate with each other wirelessly.

  The Artis 2 can also differentiate between sound and just plain noise by upping the volume on speech while reducing background din. The screeching feedback problems have also been reduced digitally with feedback cancellation.

  Whew. All this high technology packed in one tiny device!

  (Source)

• New test to detect breast cancer

  08Jan
  Categories: Diagnostics Comments: 0

  The Medical College of Georgia uses a new tool to examine half of the tissue in the sentinel lymph node where breast cancer usually starts to spread. This tool is called the GeneSearch Breast Lymph Node Assay, manufactured by Veridex, L.L.C.

  Traditional sentinel node biopsy examines a node that has been cut to wafer thin slices, have it frozen and stained before looking for cancer cells under a microscope. With GeneSearch, the tissue is examined with molecular diagnostic methods, which is more sensitive. The test looks for excessive amounts of mamoglobin and cytikeratin 19, genes that are more expressed in breast cancer tissues. This reduces the incident of false negative test results.

  (source)