April 1, 2008
Articles
Medical devices pull costs down, not drive them up
It's bad enough the FDA slows development of medical devices with costly and schedule-stretching MDUFMA rules...
Custom implants save patient limbs
People with tumors or cancer and suffering major bone loss are not good candidates for joint implants. The maladies weaken the bone so much that conventional...
Watch cellular events as they happen
Harvard University engineers have built a laser that may let researchers peer into cells with ultrahigh resolution and watch cellular events as they happen....
Touch here to feel the graph
Researchers let the blind feel graphs, diagrams, and other visuals...
When you're stuck, diagram the problem
Newly minted engineer Joel Segre and the organization he hooked up with have the worthy goal of making glasses affordable to people who earn less than $2 a day....
Microneedles work where patches do not
Researchers at the University of Kentucky and the Georgia Institute of Technology say that pads filled with drugs and fitted on one side with microscopic needles can transdermally and painlessly deliver drugs that normally cannot pass through the skin....
Pulsing fabric may give sick hearts a hand
A fibrous web that contracts and expands quickly could be wrapped around diseased hearts to help them beat longer and possibly recover from their ailments....
China gets tough with sloppy manufacturers
A draft regarding the handling of medical-device recalls says Chinese authorities can revoke licenses of producers of unqualified medical products. The...
After 50 years of FEA, what's next?
In the medical-device industry, manufacturers use FEA to analyze implants such as stents. Designers must consider the nonlinear behavior, material, and...
FDA, GAO SAY REPROCESSED SUDS SEEM OK
Single-use devices are intended for, of course, one time. But the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) says using such a device a second time may...
Microchip names Invisar a technology partner
Engineering and design-services company Invisar Inc, Durham, N.C. (invisar.com) has been named a Microchip Technology Medical Design Partner Specialist....
Sterilizers and the war on terror
Steris Corp. Mentor, Ohio, (steris.com) says the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has designated and certified the firm's proprietary VHP sterilization...
Bearing company acquires injection molder
GGB Bearing Technology, formerly Glacier Garlock Bearings, Thorofare, N.J. (ggbearings.com) has acquired Bhringer Kunststofftechnik GmbH, Sinsheim-Hilsbach,...
Glenbrook MicroFluor wins life sciences award
The New Jersey Technology Council has given its Life Sciences award to Glenbrook Technologies, Randolph, N.J. (glenbrooktech.com) for its new MicroFluor,...
Electrical firm forms medical branch
Johnson Electric, Methuen, Mass., (johnsonelectric.com) has formed Johnson Medtech to meet, it says, the needs of medical-device manufacturers. The company...
Midwest stamper adds manufacture and training facilities
Stamping manufacturer Boker's Inc, Minneapolis (bokers.com) has added a new manufacturing and training facility to the company's headquarters campus....
A closer look at 5-axis machining
Wire EDM and milling machines with multiple axes can make complex parts in a single setup. This boosts production, slashes labor costs, while giving a...
Seal design and material let processing equipment run cleaner
Processing and analytical equipment require seals to prevent even the slightest contamination of medical and pharmaceutical products. One seal design...
Copper showing off germ-killing qualities
MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, pronounced mersa) may have met its match in nothing more than touch surfaces made of copper, bronze, or brass. Research out of the U.K. by Bill Keevil and others at the University of Southampton shows an antimicrobial effect on a range of microbes that can cause hospital-acquired infections....
Tubing extruders and cutters go for precision
Recent machines that make tubing for medical applications do more than just extrude and cut material. They expand and heat tubing, make products with...
An alternative to quartz oscillators: MEMS
MEMS oscillators are showing great potential as an alternative to quartz oscillators in many medical applications. Essentially, the output frequency on...
Dummy teaches healthcare workers
No industry involves more life and death decisions than the healthcare industry. But when it comes to training hospital staff, nurses, and doctors, many...
Designing single-use medical devices
Designing disposables calls for balancing user requirements, cost targets, design specs, and several risk assessments....
If PVC must go, what's to replace it?
PVC has been a solid performer in disposable medical products because it's relatively inexpensive, easily manufactured, and works well. But questions...
Choosing connectors for hand-held devices
Although the hand-held electronic devices being used in surgery are becoming more and more complicated, there is a high priority to keep the connectors...
Troubleshooting extrusions
High resin costs and requirements that medical parts comply with Six Sigma standards demand the use of statistics to help control the extruding of thermoplastics, whether film, pipe, coating, or profiles. Of all these methods, profile extrusion is the most difficult because it requires holding many dimensions to satisfy shape requirements. The focus here is on how statistics help pinpoint ways to troubleshoot errors in profile extrusion....
Listening for liquid levels
When medical labs reduce errors they trim costs and improve processing uniformity. One way to make such gains is with automated laboratory equipment for...
Designer's guide to PSA tapes
Most know that pressure-sensitive-adhesive tapes can hold electrodes to patient chests for ECGs. But did you know the tapes can hold assemblies together and even provide a path for heat and stray electric currents?...
Motors and Motion Control
Brushless dc motors run fast and quiet NEMA DIN34 series brushless dc motors are available in three standard frame lengths of 2.0, 2.6, and 3.2- in. with...
April 2008 Medical Design Featured Products
April 2008 Medical Design Featured Products...
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