Thursday, December 28, 2006

Whole Milk Beats Barium

The foul-tasting barium sulfate liquid that patients have to drink before a CT scan of the digestive system could be replaced by ordinary whole milk, a small study suggests.

Barium sulfate is used to distend the hollow digestive organs so they can be seen in the images produced by the scan. Presumably any liquid could do this, but some liquids, like water, move through the system too quickly, while barium sulfate lingers in the intestines. The researchers found that drinking whole milk before the scan has essentially the same effect, because its fat content is digested slowly.


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Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Scyllo-inositol prevents amyloid aggregation in mice

Certain variants of a simple sugar ameliorate Alzheimer's-like disease in mice, according to a new study by Canadian researchers. Although the new studies are still in the early stages, the findings could lead to new therapies that prevent or delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease.

The new studies show that some types of a sugar called cyclohexanehexol—also known as inositol—prevented the accumulation of amyloid β deposits, a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. Scyllo-inositol treatment also improved cognitive abilities in the mice and allowed them to live a normal lifetime. The study appeared in advance online publication of the journal Nature Medicine on June 11, 2006.


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Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Teastick



A combined tea scoop and infuser for loose leaf teas.

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Tuesday, December 05, 2006

VeinViewer





It looks like a ghoulish Halloween trick. Yet the device, which projects a creepy green video image of a patient’s veins onto their skin, is about to go on trial in a US hospital. The idea is that it will help staff to pinpoint a suitable vein for an injection or a drip.

The device is aimed at preventing the discomfort and delay of botched attempts to pierce veins for injections and blood tests, and to cut the time it takes to set up potentially life-saving intravenous drips.


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Sunday, December 03, 2006

OmniGuide optic fibers



OmniGuide offers the very first disposable fiber delivery system for CO2 laser beams. The CO2 laser offers unparalleled precision and a high degree of control over penetration into soft tissue. These attributes are critical in soft tissue procedures in otolaryngology, head and neck surgery, and pulmonology for which the potential damage to delicate untargeted structures and possible rupture of underlying blood vessels is a significant risk. Indeed 20,000 CO2 lasers have been deployed in operating rooms throughout the world. However, until now CO2 lasers have been precluded from minimally invasive surgery due to the absence of a fiber delivery system at their wavelength of operation.

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Saturday, December 02, 2006

Camel - Never Let Go



March 17, 1973 at Guildford Civic Hall