Medical Design articles from April 1 2009

Medical Design archives from April 1 2009

What would you say to FDA commish?(EDITORIAL)
April 1, 2009... President Obama recently announced Margaret Hamburg as his choice for FDA commissioner. Hamburg is former New York City health commissioner, while newly named deputy commissioner Joshua Sharfstein is former Baltimore health commissioner. Both...

Rapid 2009 emphasizes medical.(MEDICAL NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... North America's largest annual rapid manufacturing conference and exposition, The Rapid Conference & Exposition (sme.org/rapid), set for May 11-14 at the Schaumburg Renaissance Hotel & Convention Center, Schaumburg, IL, will devote much of its...

Machine vision focuses on eye disease.(MEDICAL NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... Researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, have borrowed a machine-vision technique used to find defects in ICs to seek out retinal diseases in patients. In a test project in Memphis, digital photos of patients' retinas...

Pressure sensor inserts into femoral artery.(MEDICAL NEWS IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2009... An implant now under development could include a blood pressure sensor, about 1-mm dia. including its casing, that takes measurements about 30 times per sec. "A doctor would introduce the pressure sensor directly into the femoral artery in the...

No stimulus for you.(INDUSTRY VIEWPOINT)
April 1, 2009... What a great time to talk about the recent stimulus package--tax month. It took me about a year to get through the 1,200 pages of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, so if you read like me, you'll finish the 1,100 pages of the spending bill (in the...

FDA to study BPA's impact.(FDA & REGULATIONS)
April 1, 2009... The FDA has initiated two studies to determine whether plastic components might be leaching BPA--a common chemical used in many everyday plastic items--into patients during cardiopulmonary bypass and hemodialysis. Previous food packaging...

Ablation catheters get go-ahead for atrial fibrillation treatment.(FDA & REGULATIONS)
April 1, 2009... The FDA approved the first ablation catheters for treatment of atrial fibrillation (uncoordinated contractions of the upper heart chambers), one of the most common types of arrhythmias (abnormal heart rhythms). Atrial fibrillation affects more...

OCD patients may see new treatment with implantable device.(FDA & REGULATIONS)
April 1, 2009... Patients may soon be able to access a new form of treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), with the recent approval by the FDA of a humanitarian device exemption for the first implantable device that delivers intermittent electrical...

Jabil launches single-use device business.(BUSINESS NEWS FROM CONTRACT MANUFACTURERS)
April 1, 2009... Electronics-maker Jabil, St. Petersburg, FL, (jabil.com) announced its single-use device (SUD) business. With about 85,000 employees at facilities in 22 countries, Jabil says its SUD outsourcing business will provide customers with global...

Name change reflects melt-extrusion focus.(BUSINESS NEWS FROM CONTRACT MANUFACTURERS)
April 1, 2009... To reflect its core competency in melt extrusion and markets served, Foster Pharma, a business unit of Foster Corp, Putnam, CT, (fostercorporation.com) changed its name to Delivery Science. The company specializes in melt-extrusion blending of...

Atek Medical opens in Costa Rica.(BUSINESS NEWS FROM CONTRACT MANUFACTURERS)
April 1, 2009... Atek Medical, a division of Atek Companies, San Jose, CA, (atekcompanies.com) opened its Costa Rica facility. The 33,000-sq.-ft. plant specializes in Class II single-use disposable medical devices for use in cardiovascular applications and is...

EDM for medical extrusion and injection-molding machinery.(MEDICAL MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY)
April 1, 2009... Electrical discharge machining (EDM), which "cuts" metal from a work piece with a series of electrical sparks that precisely shape the material into simple or complex geometries, is common in the manufacture of parts for surgical tools,...

CANopen turns robot into surgical assistant.(THE ART OF MOTION CONTROL)
April 1, 2009... A typical robot includes a manipulator, user interface, tracker and registration system, and a controller. These components have many of the same network communication requirements as medical devices. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] However,...

Engineering latex for fewer allergies.(DESIGNING WITH ADVANCED MATERIALS)
April 1, 2009... Up to 17% of healthcare workers and 1% of the general population are allergic to latex, according to the American Latex Allergy Association (ALAA). Latex allergies develop over time from continual contact with natural latex products, and those...

Human tissue modeling focuses on 'inside out' (and bottom) challenge: finite element analysis is used for in-depth study of stress and strain on bodies at rest.(R & D NOTEBOOK)
April 1, 2009... Bedsores... aka pressure sores... aka pressure ulcers, continue to slow the healing process for bedridden patients. (For purposes of this article, pressure sores will be the accepted term.) And while some mattress manufacturers claim to have...

Inside story on quoting tubes: some engineers are lousy at asking for quotes. Don't be one of them. Read on.(TODAY'S TUBING TECHNOLOGY)
April 1, 2009... Everyone wants a low figure for a piece-part tube or component, but after relaying a few dimensions they may absentmindedly omit that the tube must be coated or formed in a particular manner and with exacting precision. As a result, they may...

Student designers show off a low-cost prosthetic hand.(DESIGNING FOR ELECTRONICS)
April 1, 2009... Although medical prosthesis are expensive, device designers in developed nations can afford not to scrimp because government subsidies pay much of the bill. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Designers in developing countries, however, usually do...

Letting a robot handle the biopsy.(INNOVATIONS)
April 1, 2009... A robotic device is expected to improve patient comfort and lung-biopsy accuracy. Currently, a lung biopsy calls for a surgeon to inserts a needle into a patient, aiming for a location specified in terms of millimeters or less based on a CAT...

High flows in miniature device.(TECH SPOTLIGHT Pumps & Valves)
April 1, 2009... Ultra-miniature, single-stage diaphragm pressure regulators are designed for high flows. PRDHF is a 10-32 ported, non-relieving version and PRDHF8 is a manifold-mount version. PRDHF comes in brass, stainless steel, and aluminum. It controls...

Piezo for accurate flow.(TECH SPOTLIGHT Pumps & Valves)
April 1, 2009... Valve uses a piezoelectric rotary motor (piezomotor) system to provide quicker and more accurate flow regulation than motorized control valves. Piezoelectric effect creates rotation in a drive shaft. Its demand for electrical current is low....

Intrinsically safe enclosed design maximizes pressure control.(TECH SPOTLIGHT Pumps & Valves)
April 1, 2009... The 114 Rapid Load Pump-head features automatic tube stretch for high accuracy, repetitive flow, and reliable performance without operator adjustments. Safe and fully enclosed design results in spring-loaded operation for long tube life and...

Micro pump provides mounting flexibility.(TECH SPOTLIGHT Pumps & Valves)
April 1, 2009... FMM20 micro-diaphragm liquid pump is a solenoid-driven pump designed to dispense accurate volumes of 20 [mu]lit/stroke, and it is field-adjustable from 5-25 [mu]lit. It operates quietly and provides tight flow in both directions, and it offers...

Aluminum compares favorably with brass.(TECH SPOTLIGHT Pumps & Valves)
April 1, 2009... Total Air Control series valves feature lighter, anodized aluminum alloy bodies that offer the same corrosion resistance as dipped brass. They are available in three port sizes (10-32, 1/8, 1/4), and in 2-way, 3-way and 4-way, or spring return....

Surface treatments for wettability and 'stickability': both are critical processing considerations for medical devices. Both are achieved using advanced techniques.(Cover story)
April 1, 2009... Advanced surface treatment techniques such as air plasma, flame plasma, and chemical plasma discharges are playing key roles in the design and development of medical devices comprised of such polymers as high molecular weight polyethylene. ...

Putting the 'rapid' into injection molding: no more "freezing" designs to accommodate lead times.
April 1, 2009... Building prototypes with additive methods such as sterolithography and fused deposition modeling has been a hot topic lately and rightly so. But for parts that will eventually be injection molded, industry experts say it makes more sense to get...

Working with foreign patent preparers can be trouble: sending details of invention overseas for a firm to prepare a U.S. patent application may violate export control regulations.
April 1, 2009... Officials at the U.S. Patent and Technology Office (USPTO) recently began reminding the domestic patent community that foreign filing licenses do not let applicants outsource the preparation of U.S. patent applications to overseas firms. The...

Scanner inspects internal details of small molded parts.(PRODUCTS & SERVICES)
April 1, 2009... Inspection equipment and its software significantly reduces the time and expense usually needed to digitize, measure, and qualify first-article parts from injection molding tools. The Pearl 700 starts by encasing a part in hard, white,...

Quick connect fluid fittings.(PRODUCTS & SERVICES)
April 1, 2009... A line of quick connect fluid fittings, the SBL Series, takes the guesswork out of in-hospital and consumer-operated medical equipment. Four nylon component options come in a color combination of blue and grey. Other options include male and...

Adhesive goes on blue, cures clear.(PRODUCTS & SERVICES)
April 1, 2009... Medical Device Adhesive 1201-M-SC is for rapid bonding of a variety of rigid and flexible plastics typically used to make medical devices such as reservoirs, tube sets, and catheters. Recommended substrates include PC, PET, PS, PU, PVC, and...

Customized electronic transformers for medical.(PRODUCTS & SERVICES)
April 1, 2009... Custom designed electronic transformers use multi-braided wire wound by a proprietary process to reduce leakage inductance or energy transfer. This nearly eliminates the "noise" or electrical interference, a common reason for repeating medical...

How to use an X-Ray Test Device.(PRODUCTS & SERVICES)
April 1, 2009... An instructional video demonstrates the easy-to-use TNT 12000 X-Ray Test Device. This X-ray maintenance, calibration, and quality-assurance tool is for service and radiation management professionals and is suited for complex analyses that might...

Workforce development program.(MEETINGS & SHOWS)(Calendar)
April 1, 2009... April 21 and 22 -- How to design, manage, and fund a biotechnology workforce development program will be covered at the 2009 Workforce Development Summit at The Performance Institute, Arlington, VA. National Center for Biotechnology Workforce...

New England Biomedevice.(MEETINGS & SHOWS)(Calendar)
April 1, 2009... April 22 and 23 -- The first Biomedevice MD&M exposition and executive forum is set for Massachusetts's converging medical device and biopharmaceutical-manufacturing industries. The event, to be held at the Boston Convention & Exhibition...

RAPID 2009 product development & manufacturing solutions Y 3D imaging conference.(MEETINGS & SHOWS)(Conference news)(Calendar)
April 1, 2009... May 12 to 14 -- RAPID is North America's largest annual rapid manufacturing conference and exposition. It attracts buyers, sellers, and end-users of design, prototyping, tooling, and direct manufacturing technologies. Attendees will have the...

Abott Vascular to give Simulia keynote.(MEETINGS & SHOWS)(Calendar)
April 1, 2009... May 19 to 21 -- Dassault Systemes announced its two keynote speakers for the Simulia Customer conference in London. Mark Stanton, group chief engineer for Jaguar Land Rover and Kelly Pike, research and development advisor for Abbott Vascular,...

First-time event for orthopedics.(MEETINGS & SHOWS)(Conference news)(Calendar)
April 1, 2009... May 20 -- The future of the orthopedics industry will be the focus of the first-ever Orthopedic Design and Technology Forum at the FedEx Institute of Technology in Memphis. The conference agenda will feature two panel discussions, one focused...