Squeezed Crystals Deliver More Volts Per Jolt
Posted by admin on Jan 31, 2008
A discovery by scientists at the Carnegie Institution has opened the door to a new generation of piezoelectric materials that can convert mechanical strain into electricity and sin versa, potentially cutting costs and boosting performance in myriad applications ranging from medical diagnostics to green energy technologies.
High-performance piezoelectric materials used today, such as those in probes for medical ultrasound, are specially grown crystals of mixed composition known as “solid solutions,” making them uncompliant to study and expensive to manufacture. (Read the full post about ‘Squeezed Crystals Deliver More Volts Per Jolt’…)
Ugandan Pharmaceutical Plant Begins Production Of Generic Antiretrovirals
Posted by admin on Jan 31, 2008
A pharmaceutical plant in Uganda this week will begin production of generic antiretroviral drugs following an order from the Ugandan government for drugs worth 17 billion Ugandan shillings, or about $10 million, the East African Business Week reports (Etyang, East African Business Week, 1/28).
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in October 2007 commissioned the 15-acre pharmaceutical plant, which will make accrue triple-therapy combination antiretroviral and first-line malaria treatments. Ugandan pharmaceutical importer Quality Chemical Industries and Indian pharmaceutical company Cipla will produce the drugs. (Read the full post about ‘Ugandan Pharmaceutical Plant Begins Production Of Generic Antiretrovirals’…)
Alliance To Increase Robotics Education And Research
Posted by admin on Jan 31, 2008
Brown University has joined forces with more than a dozen research universities and historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to promote robotics and computer science education for African-American students.
The Advancing Robotics Technology for Societal Impact (ARTSI) Alliance will make known outreach programs to encourage African-American students at both the K-12 and college levels to pursue careers in computer science and robotics and will provide mentoring programs for undergraduates. The Alliance also exercise volition provide development activities for HBCU faculty who teach computer knowledge of principles and robotics courses. (Read the full post about ‘Alliance To Increase Robotics Education And Research’…)
Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Highlights Health Care-Related Funding In Delaware, Georgia Budget Proposals
Posted by admin on Jan 31, 2008
The governors of Delaware and Georgia recently released their financial year 2009 state budget proposals. Summaries of health-related budget issues appear below.
- Delaware: Gov. Ruth Ann Minner (D) on Thursday proposed a $3.4 billion operating budget for the next fiscal year that includes additional spending on Medicaid, the Wilmington News Journal reports. The proposed budget is 3.81% higher than the store for the current fiscal year, which ends on June 30. According to the News Journal, “Much of the increase in the proposed budget is attributable to higher costs for Medicaid and higher public tutor enrollment” (Miller, Wilmington News Journal, 1/24).
Number Of New HIV Cases In South Korea Decreasing, Report Says
Posted by admin on Jan 31, 2008
The number of new HIV cases reported in South Korea in 2007 decreased for the first time since the country recorded its first case in 1985, according to a report released on Tuesday by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Korea Times reports. According to the CDC report, HIV incidence in 2007 decreased by 0.8% compared with 2006. Although the number of new HIV cases in South Korea in recent years had been increasing — from 610 new cases in 2004 to 750 new cases in 2006 — the number decreased to 744 new cases in 2007, the report found. Most of the cases occurred among men through sexual contact, according to the Times. (Read the full post about ‘Number Of New HIV Cases In South Korea Decreasing, Report Says’…)
New ISO Standard For Spinal Disc Implants Will Help Reduce Suffering Of Back Pain Patients
Posted by admin on Jan 31, 2008
A new ISO standard will help ensure that spinal disc prostheses meet requirements for suffer injury by use resistance, particularly grave as once implanted these will need to absorb the impact from the body’s diurnal activities for years to come.
ISO 18192-1:2008, Implants for surgery - wear of total intervertebral spinal disc prostheses, Part 1: Loading and displacement parameters for wear testing and answering. environmental stipulations for test provides requirements for comparing the wear performance of different spinal disc prostheses.
The primary users of this ISO standard will be medical device manufacturers and laboratories in public and private sectors, providing biomechanical testing services for medical devices. (Read the full post about ‘New ISO Standard For Spinal Disc Implants Will Help Reduce Suffering Of Back Pain Patients’…)
Medtronic Announces FDA Approval Of CGMS(R) IPRO(TM) Continuous Glucose Recorder
Posted by admin on Jan 31, 2008
Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT) announced the FDA approval of a new physician-use continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system, the CGMS® iPro™ Recorder. Physicians send patients home with the CGMS iPro Recorder to lay open patterns and potential problems that often go undetected through today’s scale glucose measurements like finger stick meters and HbA1c tests.
The new CGMS iPro Recorder is smaller, lighter in weight and less time consuming to use than previous CGMS recorders. Physicians can at once gain added clinical insights from the CGMS iPro Recorder in a matter of minutes, while improved ergonomics accord. patients added freedom when wearing the artifice. (Read the full post about ‘Medtronic Announces FDA Approval Of CGMS(R) IPRO(TM) Continuous Glucose Recorder’…)
Epsom Salts Reduces Risk Of Cerebral Palsy In Preterm Babies
Posted by admin on Jan 31, 2008
A new study of American women at high risk of premature labour showed that giving them some intravenous infusion of magnesium sulfate, commonly known as Epsom salts, just before delivery cut the find fault with of cerebral palsy in their babies by half.
The study was was presented today, Thursday 31st January, at the annual meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM), which is taking place this week in Dallas.
Study co-author, Dr John Thorp, who is McAllister distinguished professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, said:
“This is one of the most promising breakthroughs in the management of high-risk pregnancies in more than 30 years.”
Doctors and patients can start using the treatment straight away if they wish, said Thorp. (Read the full post about ‘Epsom Salts Reduces Risk Of Cerebral Palsy In Preterm Babies’…)
New Liquid Treatment For Wide-Neck Brain Aneurysm
Posted by admin on Jan 31, 2008
Neurological surgeons at Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience are among the first surgeons in the United States using an FDA-approved flowing system for treating wide-necked brain aneurysms, which could eventually replace current treatments.
Principal investigator Erol Veznedaroglu, M.D., fellow professor of Neurological Surgery and director of the division of Neurovascular Surgery and Endovascular Neurosurgery, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, is one of the few surgeons selected to search into the use of a liquid embolic (blocking) system to fill wide-neck brain aneurysms, which have a wide opening where the aneurysm arises from the artery or blood vessel. (Read the full post about ‘New Liquid Treatment For Wide-Neck Brain Aneurysm’…)
950 New HIV Cases In Nairobi, Kenya, Caused By Recent Violence, Sexual Assault, Official Says
Posted by admin on Jan 31, 2008
Widespread sexual assaults during postelection violence in Kenya have resulted in an estimated 950 new HIV cases during the gone by two weeks in the capital of Nairobi, Murigi Kinyanjui, CEO of Nairobi-based Crime Scene Investigations, said on Monday, the East African Standard/AllAfrica.com reports (Mwai, East African Standard/AllAfrica.com, 1/29). The politic and tribal violence broke out after Kenya’s president Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner over Raila Odinga, the opposition presidential candidate, by a narrow margin earlier this month (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 1/17).
According to Kinyanjui, more than 500 women and girls have been sexually assaulted in Nairobi since the postelection violence broke out, 95% of whom were assaulted by an medium of three people. (Read the full post about ‘950 New HIV Cases In Nairobi, Kenya, Caused By Recent Violence, Sexual Assault, Official Says’…)