Renal denervation (RDN) was among the most prevalent and buzzed-about topics pumping up the crowd at this year's European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress 2012. And in light of the parade of presentations focused on validating or making new claims of safety and efficacy for the still-nascent technology, it's becoming evident that the hypertension-treatment method may just live up to the hype.St. Jude Medical's EnligHTN renal denervation catheter-based ablation system. Image provided...

Developing an alternative approach to blood glucose monitoring that does not rely on lancets and pinpricks has been a primary goal of diabetes device R&D in recent years. Contributing to this effort, researchers at Purdue University have engineered a noninvasive, low-cost biosensor capable of detecting glucose in concentrations as low as 0.3 micromolar in blood, urine, saliva, and tears.SEM images show nanosheets that are key components of a new type of biosensor that can detect minute...

Bad press has plagued St. Jude Medical's ICD leads since the Riata recall in December and the company is now riding out the latest wave. During the past week, the company received a surprising order from FDA to conduct studies on the recalled Riata as well as the non-recalled Durata and other leads. Then, it was dealt another public blow upon the release of a study questioning the safety of its Durata lead, which St. Jude has fervently been promoting to deflect the bad press stemming from the...

Transmission electron microscopic images show the structure of BioNanomatrix, a natural, peptide-based nanofiber material developed by Endomimetics to inhibit the proliferation of smooth muscle cells and prevent platelets from clotting.Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States today, resulting in the implantation of more than two million stents each year. Although stents are lifesavers, however, they are far from trouble free. While 15 to 45% of all bare-metal...

The three blind mice immortalized in nursery rhyme could have had entirely different fates today, thanks to a breakthrough in retinal implants that has restored sight in blind mice. Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College have cracked the code for both a mouse and a monkey retina's neural code, which has enabled them to develop a working artificial retina for mice that they hope will pave the way for a similar device that will restore sight in humans.When caused by diseases of the retina,...

Home to Warsaw, IN—also known as the "Orthopedic Capital of the World"—Northeast Indiana boasts $12 billion in total regional orthopedic device industry revenues in addition to nearly 100 life sciences, orthopedic, and medical device companies. Looking to leverage and support these local thriving orthopedics and life sciences sectors, Northeast Indiana's Whitley County Economic Development Corp. is now launching an initiative to cultivate a medical device and disposables packaging cluster....

Innovative and tech-savvy university researchers have been pioneering the development of low-cost medical devices that leverage cell phones, which are often much more accessible in developing countries than traditional medical devices or technologies. Continuing to push progress in this area, student researchers at Johns Hopkins University have created an inexpensive technology that converts a healthcare worker's cell phone into an anemia-detection device for pregnant women and newborns that is...

Former Vante CFO Adam Smith brought some unexpected controversy to the doorstep of his employer, a supplier to the medical device industry, this past week. Smith gained national attention when he posted a video on YouTube that went viral showing him berate an employee of the fast-food chain Chick-fil-A for working for the company, whose president, Dan Cathy, has openly opposed same-sex marriage. Smith was fired and issued an apology following the uproar. In other news, MPMN explores the driving...

At the micron scale, objects have difficulty swimming because the viscosity of water prevents objects from relying on momentum to maintain forward motion. Now, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta) have used complex computational models to design swimming microrobots that could overcome these challenges. Ultimately, the researchers' work could contribute to the development of robots capable of serving as drug-delivery vehicles.Designed by Alexander Alexeev, an assistant...