Optical Defibrillation to Soothe Arrhythmic Hearts
While electric cardiac defibrillators are successful life-saving devices that have been used in practice for many years now, they are extremely shocking (forgive the pun) and potentially harmful to cardiac tissue when they fire. A new approach, that of optical defibrillation, may be a lot more tender and maybe even pleasant to get an arrhythmic heart into a normal rhythm. We’ve written about early attempts to use light to successfully influence the beating of animal hearts before (see flashbacks below), but the new study from Johns Hopkins University points to this approach also working on humans.
The investigators ...
Source: Medgadget - September 13, 2016 Category: Medical Equipment Authors: Editors Tags: Cardiac Surgery Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Transgender healthcare coverage: Prevalence, recent trends, and considerations for payers
The post originally ran on Milliman, Inc. on July 28, 2016.
Recently, the concept of gender identity and what it means from a health insurance coverage perspective has been receiving increased attention. This paper lays out recent trends, including recent federal and state laws affecting health insurance benefits for transgender individuals. We also examine health insurance clinical coverage policies related to gender reassignment surgery as well as prevalence estimates. Finally, we provide future considerations for healthcare payers, including appropriately capturing data relevant to the healthcare needs of the transgende...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - September 9, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Transgender Healthcare Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Short Pulsed Electric Fields for Prevention of Burn Scars
Appearance of treated and untreated wound healing 6 months after burn injury. Images from representative rats from all treatment groups are shown (n=3 animals per experimental condition). Yellow lines indicate the measured surface area of burn scars.
Although the proliferation of collagen-producing cells following burn injury is the body’s natural response to trauma, the excessive collagen production leads to the formation of permanent, painful scars. Burn scars secondary to collagen cell proliferation cause intense and ongoing physical and psychological suffering to burn patients who survive the initial destruction of...
Source: Medgadget - August 11, 2016 Category: Medical Equipment Authors: Iris Kulbatski Tags: Dermatology Plastic Surgery Source Type: blogs
Transparent Skull Implant for Repeat Brain Laser Therapy
Researchers at University of California, Riverside and Mexico’s Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada have been working on confirming the safety and usefulness of their transparent cranial window implant we first reported on a few years ago. It was designed to allow lasers to be used to repeatedly treat locations deep inside the brain that are currently impossible to get to using traditional means. This would allow for new therapies to be developed that rely on treating patients over long periods since access to the brain would remain.
The implant that replaces a part of the skull...
Source: Medgadget - July 21, 2016 Category: Medical Equipment Authors: Editors Tags: Neurology Neurosurgery Oncology Source Type: blogs
From Good to Great: 6 Steps to Get in The Zone
Note: This post is written by Cris Antonio
Imagine yourself going about your tasks as you normally would, but today, you feel everything around you begin to gradually fade out. It’s like becoming a third-party observer. There is no one else but you – just your hands and your body in motion. You know this process too well. Soon, your mind begins to focus on only one thing: the job that lies ahead. There are no people, no wind, no birds, no time. Your lips curl into a small smile as your hands swiftly move on its own accord.
Congratulations: you have just entered the elusive zone.
A lot of people think that “the zo...
Source: Life Optimizer - July 21, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Donald Latumahina Tags: Thinking Working Source Type: blogs
A Surgeon Goes Hands-on With Microsoft’s Hololens
Microsoft‘s Hololens has been getting a tremendous amount of attention over the past few years. Hype has been steadily accelerating about the technological, financial, and social potential for augmented reality, especially given the recent frenzy surrounding Pokemon Go. To clarify, while “mixed reality” is probably a more accurate term to describe a technology that blends simulated objects with your surroundings in an almost indistinguishable fashion, we will use the term “augmented reality” in this post as it is still more common. If you don’t have the time to read this lengthy hand...
Source: Medgadget - July 14, 2016 Category: Medical Equipment Authors: Justin Barad Tags: Exclusive Informatics Orthopedic Surgery Plastic Surgery Telemedicine Thoracic Surgery Vascular Surgery Source Type: blogs
Gold and Lasers Produce Plasmonic Nanobubbles to Kill Residual Cancer Cells
Plasmonic nanobubbles intraoperatively detect microscopic residual disease in a surgical bed and guide its resection in real time with standard surgery
A team of scientists headed by folks at Rice University have developed a way of killing off neoplastic cells that often remain after surgical procedures and end up causing a recurrence of cancers. The investigators managed to produce gold nanoparticles with cancer antibodies attached to them that seek out specific cancer cells. The gold nanoparticles are sensitive to laser light, quickly heating up and producing a so-called plasmonic nanobubble within surrounding liquid....
Source: Medgadget - July 13, 2016 Category: Medical Equipment Authors: Editors Tags: Nanomedicine Oncology Source Type: blogs
Bogotá, Colombia – A Study of Medtech Contrasts
In conclusion, Colombia has a very pioneering spirit when it comes to medical technology. Despite some lack of resources as a still developing nation, an imperfect healthcare system, and a not-so-positive reputation based on its checkered history, Colombians have found a way to make things work, and in some cases, have shown themselves to be ahead of the curve in medical technology. With numerous tax incentives, a strategic location, and a friendly culture with a low cost of living, the government is hoping to make Bogotá the capital of medical technology in Latin America. If the country continues to make as much progres...
Source: Medgadget - July 7, 2016 Category: Medical Equipment Authors: Scott Jung Tags: Exclusive Source Type: blogs
Powerful Perspectives on Diabetes Complications
from Dr. Jeremy Pettus & Dr. Steve Edelman I was really moved by a recent newsletter from Dr. Steve Edelman & Dr. Jeremy Pettus about diabetes complications and asked for permission to share their thoughts with you.
When Diabetes Gets Complicated
And what could be more complicated than complications? Yes, that’s right. It’s not a fun or funny topic. In fact, it’s the opposite of those things, but it is something that we do need to talk about. What we want to discuss is not how to prevent them, or the rates of complications, or other “medical” things, but rather the struggle we all face when confronting ...
Source: Scott's Diabetes Blog - February 28, 2016 Category: Endocrinology Authors: Scott K. Johnson Tags: Best Of Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
An Approach to Solving the Blood Vessel Problem in the Tissue Engineering of Organs
This study provides a first step toward developing a transplant model for tissue engineering where the surgeon can directly connect arteries to an engineered tissue. In the future we aim to utilize a biodegradable material that also contains live cells next to these perfusable vessels for direct transplantation and monitoring long term."
In vivo anastomosis and perfusion of a 3D printed construct containing microchannel networks
The field of tissue engineering has advanced the development of increasingly biocompatible materials to mimic the extracellular matrix of vascularized tissue. However, a majority of studies inste...
Source: Fight Aging! - November 3, 2015 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs
Making an informed choice about indoor tanning
With May being Skin Cancer Awareness Month and in tandem with our event today co-hosted with the Congressional Families Cancer Prevention Program, The Hazards and Allure of Indoor Tanning Beds on College Campuses we are running a series on skin cancer. Be sure to check back daily for posts on skin cancer including how you prevent and detect it. Enjoy!
I am so pleased to have the opportunity present on behalf of the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) during “The Hazards and Allure of Indoor Tanning Beds on College Campuses” event co-hosted by Disruptive Women in Health Care and Congressional Families for Cancer Pre...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - May 20, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Cancer Source Type: blogs
Endo Awareness
March is endometriosis awareness month. According the CDC, endometriosis occurs “when the kind of tissue that normally lines the uterus grows somewhere else”. In other words your uterine lining can grow on ovaries, it can wrap around your intestines and in some cases on parts of the body nowhere near the female reproductive organs, like in a few rare cases the lungs. As serious as this sounds, unfortunately, many people have heard more about ovarian cancer (which is very serious) than endometriosis. I, however, have known about this disease and the havoc it can wreak for my entire life.
Growing up I used to pra...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - March 16, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Advocacy Women's Health Source Type: blogs
Laser Hair Removal: Think Summer!
If the unrelenting Winter of 2015 has got you down, set your sights on Summer and take advantage of the time you have to get ready to " strut your stuff " come beach season! Winter is a great time for cosmetic surgery enhancements and non-invasive treatments in ourSkin Spa — giving you plenty of recovery time and avoiding any conflict with sun exposure.Our most popular treatment for the chilly months isLaser Hair Removal. Our newest laser uses “light pulse” technology, allowing our nurse or trained aesthetician to customize treatment plans for more hair types and densities than ever before.Other treatments to c...
Source: What's New In Plastic Surgery? - February 20, 2015 Category: Cosmetic Surgery Tags: laser hair removal Source Type: blogs
Laser Hair Removal: Think Summer!
If the unrelenting Winter of 2015 has got you down, set your sights on Summer and take advantage of the time you have to get ready to "strut your stuff" come beach season! Winter is a great time for cosmetic surgery enhancements and non-invasive treatments in our Skin Spa — giving you plenty of recovery time and avoiding any conflict with sun exposure.Our most popular treatment for the chilly months is Laser Hair Removal. Our newest laser uses “light pulse” technology, allowing our nurse or trained aesthetician to customize treatment plans for more hair types and densities than ever before.Other treatments to ...
Source: What's New In Plastic Surgery? - February 20, 2015 Category: Cosmetic Surgery Tags: laser hair removal Source Type: blogs
