Johns Hopkins Researchers Develop “Lab on a chip” To Aid Study Of Neurons
By admin | February 26, 2008 at 1:15 am
Researchers from the Johns Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering and the NanoBio Technology Institute have developed a micro laboratory that allows researchers to individually control the chemical composition surrounding single neurons.
Please click here for the complete press release.
Topics: Nanotechology, Neurology | No Comments »
Medihoney™ Now Available For Ordering
By admin | November 21, 2007 at 8:34 pm
An active Manuka honey absorbent dressing from Derma Sciences, Inc. is now available to clinicians in the United States and Canada for use in the treatment of both acute and chronic wounds.
It is the first honey-based wound dressing to be approved for use in both countries. Many European countries have approved honey-based dressings.
The active ingredient in the dressing is Leptospermum honey, which is derived from the Manuka bush in New Zealand. Honey has been used for medicinal purposes for centuries by native New Zealanders and it’s properties are now being researched by scientists such as Peter Molan, PhD, professor of biological sciences at the University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand.
The basis of Leptospermum honey’s antibacterial effect is the production of hydrogen peroxide when bees add a certain enzyme to the nectar when they are collecting it. Manuka honey is effective against gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria, anaeroboic and aerobic bacteria, and fungi.
Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »
FDA Approves Silver-Coated Agento™ Breathing Tube For Marketing
By admin | November 21, 2007 at 3:31 am
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced recently that it has cleared for marketing the Agento endotrachael tube (breathing tube) manufactured by CR Bard in Murray Hill, New Jersey.
The Agento tube is coated with a thin layer of silver, which acts to retard the growth of bacteria that can lead to the development of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). It is estimated that up to 15% of patients on a ventilator with an endotracheal tube will develop VAP.
There are an estimated 26,000 deaths a year in the United States due to ventilator-associated pneumonia, according to the Centers for Disease Control. In a recent study, the use of the silver-coated Agento endotracheal tube reduced the incidence of VAP from 7.8% to 4.5%.
Although other medical devices have used the silver coating to reduce microbial infections on their surfaces, the Agento product is the first endotracheal tube to use the technology.
Copyright 2007 Medgizmo.com
Topics: Critical Care, Infectious Diseases, Pulmonary | No Comments »
Nano-arthroscope Allows Researchers To Diagnose Osteoarthritis In Earliest Stages
By admin | November 21, 2007 at 2:48 am
Reseachers in Switzerland have modified a scanning force microscope so that it can be used to diagnose the earlies stages of osteoarthritis.
Osteoarthritis is a progressive disease that is characterized by the degradation of articular cartilage. Significant and irreversible damage is usually present by the time symptoms appear in middle age.
Current devices used for measuring the biomechanical properties of cartilage are sensitive only down to a resolution of millimeters which is much too large to pick up early lesions.
Scanning force microscopes (SFM) use a fine nanometer scanning tip which can be run over any surface to accurately map surface changes ranging from nanometers to millimeters. It can also detect biomechanical properties of a surface by having the tip pressed into the surface and recording and analyzing the resultant deformation.
Recently, Martin Stolz and colleagues at the Swiss Nanoscience Institute have placed a SFM into a standard arthroscopic cannula to image the human knee in vivo.
Previously, the team had studied healthy and diseased tissue ex vivo and found that the collagen fibrils in the osteoarthritic knee that are normally oriented in 3D become clumped in the direction that the knee moves.
Copyright 2007 Medgizmo.com
Topics: Nanotechology, Orthopedics | No Comments »