Andoid phones become heart rate monitors with new app: The developers of Google (NSDQ:GOOG) Android app Instant Heart Rate claim that they can use your phone’s camera to measure your heart rate. When a user places their index finger over the camera lens, the app will be able to detect slight changes in skin color as oxygenated blood passes through with each heart beat, according to the app’s developers.
Latest News on MassDevice
Max Endoscopy, TheraVasc receive $250,000 infusions from non-profit development firm
Device maker MAX Endoscopy Inc. and drug developer TheraVasc Inc. have each received $250,000 follow-on investments from JumpStart Ventures, the investment arm of non-profit venture development firm JumpStart Inc.
The new commitments follow initial investments of the same amount that Cleveland-based JumpStart made in the two companies last winter.
Viking wins FDA clearance for 3D surgery visualization system
Viking Systems Inc. (OTC:VKNG) won 510(k) clearance from the Food & Drug Administration for its next-generation 3DHD visualization system.
The Westborough, Mass.-based company said the system, which it designed to provide surgeons with 3D video of minimally invasive procedures, restores the depth perception lost with conventional 2D video systems, with which most minimally invasive procedures are performed.
Lamberth denies stem cell stay
Research involving stem cells lines derived from human embryos won’t resume, after a federal judge denied a U.S. Justice Dept. request to stay a ban on federal funding of the projects.
Judge Royce Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia declined to stay a decision that funding of the research, which President Barack Obama had sought to restore from constraints imposed under the Bush administration. Lamberth ruled that Obama’s stem cell funding policy violated the Dickey-Wicker Amendment, which was aimed at stopping the destruction of human embryos.
Barrx inks Japanese distribution deal
Barrx Medical Inc. signed an exclusive distribution deal with Medico’s Hirata for its Halo gastrointestinal disease treatment system.
Osaka, Japan-based Medico’s Hirata, a medical product supplier, said it is well-positioned to make the Halo device the standard of care in Japan.
ReSound integrates hearing aids into consumer electronics
Harvey Fletcher, a scientist at Bell Laboratories, is widely credited with inventing the electric hearing aid — a cumbersome, body-worn device that debuted in the 1930’s.
Eighty years later, a Minnesota company is trying to solve a problem that has eluded decades of innovation: reconcile the problematic device with ordinary life.
Bloomington, Minn.-based ReSound recently introduced technology that can wirelessly stream sound from televisions, cell phones, computers and even iPods to a hearing aid.
MedGadget’s MedTech Monday: Stand-up wheelchair
Stand-up wheelchair: The folks at the design news blog Yanko Designs seem to have an affinity for wheelchair designs and posted another iteration of the idea, this one by designer Tim Leeding.
Zogenix files for $90 million IPO
Zogenix Inc. is attempting to raise $90 million through an initial public offering.
The San Diego-based company said it plans utilize the new funds to help commercialize its Sumavel DosePro drug-device combination and the clinical advancement of its ZX002 drug in a Securities & Exchange Commission filing.
Medtronic achieves across the pond
Medtronic Inc. (NYSE:MDT) announced a pair of accomplishments for two of its cardiac treatment devices in Europe.
The Minneapolis-based medical device behemoth won CE Mark approval in the European Union for its CoreValve transcatheter aortic valve implantation system.
The company said the device, which has not yet been approved by the Food & Drug Administration for use in the U.S., increases the accuracy of the deployment of its CoreValve artificial aortic heart valve.
How (not) to take a pre-employment assessment
Many companies today use some sort of personality test or skills assessment for prospective employees. For employers, they can be a useful source of information that provides additional information about a candidate’s fit with the organization.
Few prospective employees enjoy such assessments, however. Sometimes candidates feel as though their entire career is being reduced to a pop quiz. There are a few who detest such assessments so much that they would prefer to refuse to complete such surveys. That would be a mistake, since it would likely rule them out of contention entirely.
Organizations use such survey assessments differently. In some organizations, the results of assessments are open to broader interpretation.
GI Dynamics touts EndoBarrier’s weight loss results
Patients implanted with GI Dynamics Inc.’s EndoBarrier device reduced their weight by 20 percent and experienced lowered risk for heart attack, according to the latest results of a clinical trial.