Hasta La Gadget!

According to the Centers for Disease Control, one out of every 20 patients would be on the receiving end of an infection whenever they stay at the hospital. That sounds like a pretty high chance – 5%, to be exact. Well, for a certain hospital over in Fort Worth, the hospital intends to fight this particular issue with an ultraviolet light machine which resembles a droid from the world of science fiction. Over at the Texas Health Resources Southwest Fort Worth, a robot known as Xenex will move around operating rooms on its routine, sending out ultraviolet light in order to kill potentially dangerous microbes.

Kathy Rhodes, the infection prevention co-ordinator, shared, “We put this in the room, close the door and it gives a pulsated ultraviolet light that actually essentially ruptures the bacteria and viruses and kills them on the spot.” The Xenex robot was purchased over a year ago where it came with a $82,000 price tag. The Xenex robot stands at 3 feet in height, where it will raise its round head for approximately two feet as it turns its head 360 degrees while emitting the pulses of UV light, performing what is known as environmental cleaning. Do you think that all hospitals should employ such robots to get the job done?

Xenex Robot Does Its Rounds At The Hospital original content from Ubergizmo.

Samsung has just announced their first tablet-based ultrasound system, where this particular device will be known as the Samsung UGEO PT60A. Just as how one does not judge a book by its cover, the Samsung UGEO PT60A might be slim and compact in size, but that does not mean it would offer a performance level that is not quite up to par. The UGEO PT60A was specially designed to satisfy all applications in the Point-of-Care market, which also happens to be the fastest growing medical segment right now in the healthcare industry. This is one of the more recent devices among a number of innovative medical imaging products that Samsung will be showcasing later at this week’s American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA) annual meeting.

The UGEO PT60A has already picked up 510(k) FDA clearance in August, and it will be in time for the October launch. Some of the features found in the UGEO PT60A tablet include an industry leading, full 10.1” LED touch-screen monitor, Needle Mate that offers precise identification of the needle’s location, SDMR that provides clearer imaging with an innovative noise reduction filter, and SCI which delivers remarkable spatial and contrast resolution. [Press Release]

Samsung UGEO PT60A Ultrasound System Is Tablet-Based original content from Ubergizmo.

We have seen some interesting prosthetic hands in the past, where they are all definitely able to do their bit to make our lives easier – especially for those who have already lost their limbs in some way or another, but much work and research can still be made to improve the prosthetic hand. This time around, researchers from the University of Chicago have come up with an interesting prosthetic hand that when fitted on a monkey, it will provide an artificial sense of touch after pairing it up with brain stimulation. In a nutshell, the scientists successfully replicated the sensations of pressure as the prosthetic hand grabbed an object by sending electrical signals to different parts of the brain.

For those who want to find out more about how this particular technology would be able to work, the University of Chicago researchers have already published a paper that talks about stimulating a prosthetic limb wearer’s brain with electrical signals in detail, where that would be able to replicate feelings of touch. Theoretically speaking, since it worked with monkeys, it should also work just fine on humans, although there are still plenty of kinks and issues left to be ironed out before something like this can be commercially available and ready.

Prosthetic Hand Gives Monkey Artificial Sense Of Touch original content from Ubergizmo.

This is just totally nuts – it has been reported that Kuwait, one of the states in the oil rich Gulf area, will soon introduce what they call medical testing on travellers. The whole reason of these medical tests is to ‘detect’ gay people, and upon positive identification, they will be barred from entering the country. Right now, the countries that outlaw homosexuality in the Gulf area include Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and this announcement does nothing but to add more incredulity.

A Kuwaiti government official was quoted as saying that this medical test, which is developed in Kuwait, will eventually be able to prevent ‘detected’ homosexuals from entering any of the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC). In fact, those who were convicted of taking part in homosexual acts in Kuwait, assuming they are under 21, will be on the receiving end of a maximum 10 year jail sentence. I wonder what kind of criteria is used to detect these ‘gays’, and would only foreigners be subjected to such a test? I would be extremely surprised if this were to be implemented in the first place, as it would certainly make it pointless for folks to book their holidays there.

Kuwait To Prevent Entry On Travelers Who Have Been Detected As ‘Gay’ original content from Ubergizmo.

Google Glass can be used in a multitude of ways, some novel, some useful, and some even medical as one mom has been doing with her own pair of Google Glass. Delsa Darline has a son who was diagnosed with autism when he was just 14 months old, and she is hoping that together with Google Glass, she will be able to capture photos and videos in the moment which she hopes can then be used to share with doctors to help diagnose and treat her son.  (more…)

Google Glass Used By Mom To Help Her Autistic Son original content from Ubergizmo.