The ITDS detected fever in patients through split-second, non-contact skin temperature measurements. Fever is a primary symptom of seasonal influenza, H1N1, avian influenza, SARS and other infectious diseases.
Angela Hewlett and colleagues evaluated the ITDS during the height of the H1N1 pandemic from November 18, 2009 to January 9, 2010 to test the tool's viability in a practical clinical setting. The ITDS employs a thermal imaging camera to measure skin temperature by detecting and quantifying the infrared energy being emitted from the face. The ITDS temperature measurements were compared with standard temperature measurements for 566 patients, ages 15 days to 89 years old.
Infrared thermal detection systems have been used in several countries to screen for fever in travellers. Hewlett and her team wanted to utilize the technology as an infection control option in a clinical setting. "This technology allows clinicians to rapidly screen people for fever, so that incoming patients and visitors who may be ill can be identified quickly and reduce the danger of spreading diseases like influenza to other people in the hospital," said Hewlett.
During the study period, participating patients at the emergency department had their temperature measured by the ITDS and then by routine oral or rectal temperature measurements. Patients who were identified with fever were managed with routine protocols, including separation or surgical masks.
The ITDS proved to be an effective screening tool for identifying patients with fever across all age ranges and genders. While the ITDS had a high negative predictive value–correctly excluding most patients without fever–the machine also generated a high percentage of false positive results, measuring higher temperatures than routine temperature measurements. According to the study, if fever was not detected by the ITDS, then there was a 97 percent chance that there was no fever present. Further evaluation of the performance and utility of the device is needed.
Wednesday, 31 March 2010
T Cells: Surprise for Stroke Researchers
The blood vessels tend to be blocked by clotted blood. Dissolving these clots or stopping them from occurring in the first place is the primary objective in the treatment and prevention of strokes.
Consequently, the search for new and better therapies starts where the cause of the illness lies: with the blood coagulation that leads to the formation of clots. The Würzburg scientists were all the more astonished, then, when they made a discovery elsewhere - the T cells of the immune system also play a role in strokes. These are actually the cells responsible for combating pathogens.
What exactly did the researchers discover? Mice with no T cells due to a genetic defect suffer less severe strokes than their normal fellow mice. What is more, they develop fewer symptoms of neurological deficiencies, such as paralyses, after a stroke. This means that T cells have a negative effect on the progression of a stroke. This has been proven by the working groups of Guido Stoll, Christoph Kleinschnitz, and Heinz Wiendl from the university's Department of Neurology together with Bernhard Nieswandt from the Rudolf Virchow Center for Experimental Biomedicine.
"The fact that T cells have such a damaging effect in the case of acute strokes came as a complete surprise to us," reports Christoph Kleinschnitz. The adverse effect can be traced back to two sub-groups of immune cells, the so-called CD4- and CD8-positive T helper cells. Further research is now needed to clarify how the T cells exercise their damaging effect.
The Würzburg researchers hope that their work will help improve stroke therapy for humans. If the findings can be transferred to people, it might be possible to devise new approaches by purposefully manipulating the T cells. It is conceivable, for example, that in the early stages of a stroke the harmful fraction of the T cells may be deactivated temporarily to thereby reduce the symptoms of deficiencies. "But further studies are needed before we reach that point," says neurologist Guido Stoll.
Source: MEDICA.de Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg
Consequently, the search for new and better therapies starts where the cause of the illness lies: with the blood coagulation that leads to the formation of clots. The Würzburg scientists were all the more astonished, then, when they made a discovery elsewhere - the T cells of the immune system also play a role in strokes. These are actually the cells responsible for combating pathogens.
What exactly did the researchers discover? Mice with no T cells due to a genetic defect suffer less severe strokes than their normal fellow mice. What is more, they develop fewer symptoms of neurological deficiencies, such as paralyses, after a stroke. This means that T cells have a negative effect on the progression of a stroke. This has been proven by the working groups of Guido Stoll, Christoph Kleinschnitz, and Heinz Wiendl from the university's Department of Neurology together with Bernhard Nieswandt from the Rudolf Virchow Center for Experimental Biomedicine.
"The fact that T cells have such a damaging effect in the case of acute strokes came as a complete surprise to us," reports Christoph Kleinschnitz. The adverse effect can be traced back to two sub-groups of immune cells, the so-called CD4- and CD8-positive T helper cells. Further research is now needed to clarify how the T cells exercise their damaging effect.
The Würzburg researchers hope that their work will help improve stroke therapy for humans. If the findings can be transferred to people, it might be possible to devise new approaches by purposefully manipulating the T cells. It is conceivable, for example, that in the early stages of a stroke the harmful fraction of the T cells may be deactivated temporarily to thereby reduce the symptoms of deficiencies. "But further studies are needed before we reach that point," says neurologist Guido Stoll.
Source: MEDICA.de Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg
Images Speed Decision Making
"The imaging exam report provides an important means of communication between the radiologist and the other physicians rendering care and is often the only form of communication between the radiologist and the referring physician," said researcher Veena R. Iyer. It has been suggested that providing the referring physician with selected images embedded in the text report over the web could improve and support the information contained in the report. "We undertook this study to measure the utility to the referring physician, of radiology reports with attached, relevant images of the abnormal findings," said Iyer.
Thirty-five cases referred for abdominal computed tomography (CT) scans were included in the study, which was performed at Massachusetts General Hospital. Referring physicians were asked to view a text-only report followed by the same report with pertinent embedded images. "In 32 of the 35 cases, the text-only report satisfactorily answered the clinical query. In these 32 cases, the report with the attached images helped in making a more confident management decision and reduced time in planning management. Attached images altered management in two cases," said Iyer.
"The results of our study indicate that although clinician's queries are satisfactorily answered by the current itemized report, providing additional images conveys useful information. It may enable the referring clinician to formulate response plans more rapidly and with increased confidence," she said.
"Providing referring clinicians with a selected subsample of relevant images attached to the report improves the radiologist's communication with them. Such a report has the ability to save the clinician's time, and possibly improve patient management," said Iyer.
Source: American College of Radiology / American Roentgen Ray Society
Thirty-five cases referred for abdominal computed tomography (CT) scans were included in the study, which was performed at Massachusetts General Hospital. Referring physicians were asked to view a text-only report followed by the same report with pertinent embedded images. "In 32 of the 35 cases, the text-only report satisfactorily answered the clinical query. In these 32 cases, the report with the attached images helped in making a more confident management decision and reduced time in planning management. Attached images altered management in two cases," said Iyer.
"The results of our study indicate that although clinician's queries are satisfactorily answered by the current itemized report, providing additional images conveys useful information. It may enable the referring clinician to formulate response plans more rapidly and with increased confidence," she said.
"Providing referring clinicians with a selected subsample of relevant images attached to the report improves the radiologist's communication with them. Such a report has the ability to save the clinician's time, and possibly improve patient management," said Iyer.
Source: American College of Radiology / American Roentgen Ray Society
Inappropriate CT and MRI Referrals
"Radiologists, hospitals, health plans, and policy makers have struggled with ways to improve the rate of appropriate utilization of imaging studies, particularly CT, MRI, and PET," said Robert L. Bree, lead author of the study. "Our study looked at a large group of CT and MRI examinations. Evidence-based appropriateness criteria developed by a radiology management company were used to determine if the examinations were appropriate," said Bree.
The study, performed at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, included medical records from 459 elective outpatient CT and MRI examinations from primary care physicians that were reviewed. "Of the 459 reviewed, 74 percent were considered appropriate and 26 percent were considered inappropriate. 58 percent of the appropriate studies were positive and affected subsequent management while only 24 percent of inappropriate studies were positive affecting management," said Bree. Examples of inappropriate examinations include brain CT for chronic headache, lumbar spine MR for acute back pain, and knee or shoulder MRI in patients with osteoarthritis.
"Our study shows that CT and MRI examinations ordered in the outpatient primary care setting are frequently not appropriate based on the application of a national radiology benefit management company's evidence-based guidelines. A high percentage of examinations not meeting appropriateness criteria and subsequently yielding negative results suggest a need for tools to help primary care physicians improve the quality of their imaging decision requests," said Bree.
Source : MEDICA.de / American College of Radiology / American Roentgen Ray Society
Wednesday, 24 March 2010
NEW LECTURE NOTES UPDATED
Sunday, 7 March 2010
Medidynamic - medica
Hello, everyone. We are an international medical device consulting firm
with headquarter locating in Seattle, United states and we have offices
in Beijing, China as well. Since our company establishment in 2002,
with our extensive distributor database nationwide in China territory
and excellent relationship with hospitals and medical regulation
authorities (SFDA), we have been successfully helping a large number of
international companies, in particular, orthopaedic and surgical
manufacturers in developing business in China, these companies are
generally from USA, Japan, Czech,Australia, France and Germany etc.
We
have been actively attending international medical exhibitions around
the world including Medica show held in Germany, AAOS(American academy
of orthopaedic surgeons) etc.
Here is our company profile below:
Introduction
China is recognized as one of the most important medical growth markets of
the 21st century, but succeeding in China can be difficult. These days,
Chinese consumer preferences, regulatory requirements, and disease profiles
are all changing rapidly. Business strategies that work well today may become
obsolete after just a few years. MediDynamic has the experience necessary to
help you excel in China.
MediDynamic
can assist medical companies in developing their China business and
marketingstrategies. Each strategy is tailored to the company's
specific goals and objectives.
MediDynamic can help those newly entering the Chinese medical market as well as those
interested in expanding their existing China operations.
MediDynamic
examines a wide range of issues, including: market demand; prospects
for growth,analysis of key partners/distributors, etc.
Company Profile
MediDynamic LLC is a medical device consulting firm with offices in the United
States and China. By focusing on providing outstanding service and value for
companies/manufactures who are interested in developing business in China,
we have grown to become one of the leading medical device regulatory and
marketing consultants with expertise in China SFDA registration, marketing
research, in-country distribution representation and many other areas. Major
services we are offering include:
1. Product registration:
The medical device market in China is worth about $7.5 billion. The regulator of medical
devices in China is the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), which handles
medical device product registration as well as many other regulatory issues.
From
year 2000, SFDA began to strengthen the supervision and administration
of medicaldevices. All imported medical devices in China (including
Class I medical devices) must be approved directly by SFDA, any
equipments or supplies without certificate will be prohibited to be
sold or used in China. This registration process is getting more and
more complicated since year 2003, it will take about one year period to
get it approved. This is a prerequisite condition needs to be fulfilled
in the whole promoting process. MediDynamic can act as your legal and
after sales agent in China. Our expertise will helpyou navigate the
Chinese regulatory system, achieve medical product registration, and
access the huge Chinese medical markets. We will help you register your
medical product in a cost-effective and timely way.
Through our office in Beijing, MediDynamic can help you obtain SFDA approval for your
medical device. Our specialists in Beijing work directly with the SFDA on regular basis,
coordinating the submission of regulatory documents, answering SFDA follow up
questions and providing insight on how to navigate the evolving regulatory landscape in
China.
Generally, we can help you with these China medical device regulatory issues:
· Determine device classification.
· Ascertain the best route to SFDA approval in China.
· Development of a Product Registration Standard.
· Develop clinical protocols and coordinate clinical trials, if required.
· Translate documents and labeling.
· Obtain the CCC Mark, if required.
· Prepare final submissions
· Handle incident reporting, SFDA inspections and device registration renewals.
Up to the present, we maintain 100% of success on completion of the complicated
registration procedure. Our qualified personnel well connected with SFDA will be able to
provide you with all the information about the regulations and provisions as well as the
step-by-step instructions including classification method, document list and pricing list
related to the registration process. We have been very successfully cooperating with
many famous manufacturers from United States and Japan as their registration agency in China.
2. Local channel sales and partnership setup (distributor identification):
As everyone knows, China is an enormous market with 1.3 billion people, over 300,000
hospitals and more than 161,000 medical distributors. The city of Beijing has 7,700
medical distributors and Shanghai has 5,700, respectively. In the rapidly expanding
Chinese
medical market, there are many local Chinese distributors ready to take
on your medical device, but not all of them are qualified or
trustworthy. To take full advantage of the Chinese economic boom and to
protect your intellectual property, it is vital to find the right
distributor.
Through assistance given by our office in Beijing, we can assist medical device
manufacturers with finding and analyzing medical distributors in China. Our experienced
marketing team has plenty of sources and channels to locate the matching candidates,
figuring out their actual sales strength and financial capabilities accurately and selecting
the best one. Clients will get the satisfied partner more efficiently and save the budget for sure.
Plus, we will be able to not only meet this requirement, but should give full assistance to
the operation process after the selecting task is done. Based on our past seven years
experience, we are familiar with all kinds of problems could be happened during each
stage of operations, we know the proper solution and ways to tackle them in order to
increase sales smoothly. This will ease both clients and its local partners to be able to
focus more energy on its core capabilities.
3. Market research and feasibility analysis:
China's medical market is one of great contrasts. While the countryside has rudimentary
healthcare, the major cities like Beijing and Shanghai have sophisticated facilities
approaching Western standards. Everywhere in China between these two extremes is
developing
at a very rapid pace too. The medical market in China is changing
greatly as it grows, making careful market research is a key to your
success there.
MediDynamic will give full assistance to clients to do market research on their core
product system. It will include:
a) Current market investigation report. This will give clients a comprehensive idea
of its product market status in China.
b) Feasibility analysis for entering into China step by step. It contains information
such as:
i. Feasibility methodology for marketing and selling promoted system in China.
ii. Selection of Distributors and management
iii. Fixation of product price in China market
iv. What sales volume should be identified in the first three years
v. How to furnish the sales target through first level and second level
distributors, etc
vi. Product registration and logistic issues in China
vii. Much more
4. Innovative products selection:
As the golden bridge between western world and China, resellers from China now have
opportunities
to know more overseas innovative technology through us. Our Seattle
team is playing the major role in locating the cutting edge product
line in the world for our clients in China. This will help them
partnering with technology based companies that features innovative
products and produce more effective outcomes at lower costs.
Please
feel free to contact us, we welcome any inquiries from you and our
sales specialist will get back to you as soon as possible.
Sales specialist: Shawn Liu
Contact information:
Phone number: Either +86 13718364590 (China)
Or +61 (0)430277436 (Australia)
Email address: shawn.liu@medidynamic.cn
Website: www.medidynamic.com
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