http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Somites, precursors for the segmental structures such as the vertebral column, ribs and skeletal muscles, form periodically by segmentation of the rostral parts of the presomitic mesoderm (PSM). This periodic event is regulated by the somite segmentation clock, which is composed of Notch signaling molecules. In the PSM, the Notch components such as the basic helix-loop-helix gene Hes7 are cyclically expressed, and this cyclical expression leads to segmentation of a bilateral pair of somites (Figure 1). While Hes7 plays an important role in the segmentation clock, it was not known whether Hes7 is the fundamental pacemaker or whether it acts downstream of another oscillator. http://phys.org/news276945092.html Biology Wed, 09 Jan 2013 09:11:43 EST news276945092 As a new year approaches, the University of Notre Dame's John J. Reilly Center for Science, Technology and Values has announced its first annual list of emerging ethical dilemmas and policy issues in Science and Technology for 2013. http://phys.org/news274985570.html Other Sciences Mon, 17 Dec 2012 16:52:58 EST news274985570 University of British Columbia researchers have invented a safe, efficient technology to wirelessly charge electric vehicles using "remote magnetic gears" – and successfully tested it on campus service vehicles. http://phys.org/news270722127.html Technology Mon, 29 Oct 2012 09:35:49 EST news270722127 Biologists at New York University have uncovered one way that biological clocks control neuronal activity—a discovery that sheds new light on sleep-wake cycles and offers potential new directions for research into therapies to address sleep disorders and jetlag. http://phys.org/news267809317.html Biology Tue, 25 Sep 2012 16:28:59 EST news267809317 A team of engineers at Stanford has demonstrated the feasibility of a super-small, implantable cardiac device that gets its power not from batteries, but from radio waves transmitted from outside the body. The implanted device is contained in a cube just eight-tenths of a millimeter in radius. It could fit on the head of pin. http://phys.org/news265640584.html Technology Fri, 31 Aug 2012 14:03:13 EST news265640584 MIT engineers have developed a fuel cell that runs on the same sugar that powers human cells: glucose. This glucose fuel cell could be used to drive highly efficient brain implants of the future, which could help paralyzed patients move their arms and legs again. http://phys.org/news258788592.html Technology Wed, 13 Jun 2012 06:43:36 EST news258788592 A new power scheme for cardiac pacemakers turns to an unlikely source: vibrations from heartbeats themselves. http://phys.org/news249931826.html Physics Fri, 02 Mar 2012 17:30:38 EST news249931826 Sick hearts may help to keep themselves beating longer with a device that could harvest energy from heartbeat-induced chest cavity vibrations. http://phys.org/news247338019.html Physics Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:00:24 EST news247338019 Coating the surface of an implant such as a new hip or pacemaker with nanosized metallic particles reduces the risk of rejection, and researchers at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, can now explain why: they fool the innate immune system. The results are presented in the International Journal of Nanomedicine. http://phys.org/news241795327.html Nanotechnology Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:22:18 EST news241795327 In a compact lab space at Stanford University, Oscar Abilez, MD, trains a microscope on a small collection of cells in a petri dish. A video recorder projects what the microscope sees on a nearby monitor. The cells in the dish pulse rhythmically, about once a second. The cells are cardiomyocytes, which drive the force-producing and pacemaker functions of the human heart. They are programmed to pulse. They will beat this way until they die. http://phys.org/news235740474.html Biology Tue, 20 Sep 2011 12:28:11 EST news235740474 (PhysOrg.com) -- A small turbine located inside a millimeters-wide human artery could harvest enough energy from blood flow to power implanted medical devices, such as pacemakers and drug-delivery pumps. The concept has been presented by researchers at the University of Bern and the Bern University of Applied Sciences during the Microtechnologies in Medicine and Biology conference in Lucerne, Switzerland, earlier this month. http://phys.org/news225111902.html Technology Fri, 20 May 2011 12:05:24 EST news225111902 Victor Timmins was having trouble doing even the simplest tasks; even walking was difficult. http://phys.org/news217669771.html Medicine & Health Wed, 23 Feb 2011 08:10:02 EST news217669771 The US Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved the first pacemaker system -- produced by medical device giant Medtronic Inc. -- that can be used safely with MRI scanners. http://phys.org/news216410880.html Medicine & Health Tue, 08 Feb 2011 18:20:01 EST news216410880 Physicians from the University of Bonn, Germany, together with colleagues from the US, have suggested a new target structure for a very promising depression therapy, the so-called deep brain stimulation. They hope to achieve an even better success rate with fewer side effects. http://phys.org/news215693142.html Medicine & Health Mon, 31 Jan 2011 10:45:58 EST news215693142 (PhysOrg.com) -- UCSF researchers have for the first time shown that an external optical pacemaker can be used in a vertebrate to control its heart rate. http://phys.org/news209116744.html Chemistry Tue, 16 Nov 2010 07:59:21 EST news209116744 Millions worldwide die each year because they can't afford a pacemaker. Meanwhile heart patients in the United States say they'd be willing to donate theirs after death to someone in need. http://phys.org/news206728604.html Medicine & Health Tue, 19 Oct 2010 17:36:57 EST news206728604 By creating a unique system of blood vessels that is engineered to interact with the tissue surrounding an implanted device, the longevity and function of these devices may be better preserved, according to a study led by researchers in the University of Louisville/ Jewish Hospital's Cardiovascular Innovation Institute (CII). http://phys.org/news201777336.html Medicine & Health Mon, 23 Aug 2010 10:30:01 EST news201777336 By stimulating certain areas of the brain, scientists can alleviate the effects of disorders such as depression or Parkinson's disease. That's the good news. But because controlling that stimulation currently lacks precision, over-stimulation is a serious concern — losing some of its therapeutic benefits for the patient over time. http://phys.org/news196958657.html Medicine & Health Mon, 28 Jun 2010 16:20:01 EST news196958657 Pacemaker reuse may be a safe, effective and ethical alternative to address the medical needs for people in Third World countries who couldn't otherwise afford therapy, according to a new study. http://phys.org/news193583862.html Medicine & Health Thu, 20 May 2010 17:00:09 EST news193583862 (PhysOrg.com) -- Results from clinical trials performed in Europe and New Zealand, published online in the New England Journal of Medicine, demonstrate the effectiveness of a new less-invasive, subcutaneous implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) for sudden cardiac arrest, a potentially fatal electrical malfunction of the heart. http://phys.org/news193503290.html Medicine & Health Wed, 19 May 2010 15:55:02 EST news193503290 Physiological signals can nowadays be easily monitored with measurement devices implanted inside a living body. The object - animal or human - is barely aware of the presence of the implant. An example of a device implantable in humans is the pacemaker that has long since become standard treatment for heart patients. Researcher Jarno Riistama from Tampere University of Technology (TUT) believes that the next tech-savvy generation represents a potential customer base for new applications in the field. http://phys.org/news192713792.html Medicine & Health Mon, 10 May 2010 13:00:01 EST news192713792 People with severe stomach disorders can sometimes suffer from chronic vomiting. This symptom can be treated with electrical impulses from a pacemaker in the stomach. A new method enables patients who could benefit from this treatment to be identified, and electrical stimulation leads to reduced nausea and fewer days in hospital, shows a study from the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. http://phys.org/news189080723.html Medicine & Health Mon, 29 Mar 2010 11:26:16 EST news189080723 Tiny generators developed at the University of Michigan could produce enough electricity from random, ambient vibrations to power a wristwatch, pacemaker or wireless sensor. http://phys.org/news188569711.html Technology Tue, 23 Mar 2010 13:28:57 EST news188569711 The electrophysiology team at the Montreal Heart Institute (MHI) recently performed the first implantation of a new type of cardiac pacemaker (Accent RF) in Canada. This landmark procedure was carried out on October 22, 2009 by Drs. Bernard Thibault and Peter Guerra. Both are cardiologists, electrophysiologists at the MHI and professors at the Université de Montréal. The Accent RF™ pacemaker uses wireless technology and is intended for people with bradycardia, an abnormally slow heart rate. The patient responded favourably to the procedure, and four additional implantations have since been performed, again with successful outcomes. http://phys.org/news180081429.html Medicine & Health Tue, 15 Dec 2009 06:50:04 EST news180081429 Most patients with heart failure likely to benefit from a pacemaker including the capacity for cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) do not receive such an implantable device, reports a national study in the December 2009 issue of the American Heart Journal. Less than half who qualify for the device therapy may actually get it, the large-scale study led by University of South Florida cardiologist Anne Curtis, MD, found. http://phys.org/news179777005.html Medicine & Health Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:30:01 EST news179777005 Thanks to a new method there is a reason for hope for patients with very severe depression. German physicians at the University Clinics of Bonn and Cologne have treated ten patients with deep brain stimulation. This involved implanting electrodes in the patients' nucleus accumbens. This centre has a key role in as the brains reward system, whose function may be impaired in depressive people. Subsequent to this treatment, the patients' depression improved significantly in half of the patients. All patients had suffered from very severe depression for many years and did not respond to any other therapies. The results of the study will be published in the journal Biological Psychiatry. http://phys.org/news176377535.html Medicine & Health Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:50:01 EST news176377535 A study published today, in JAMA (October 21) by Nancy M. Albert and colleagues, exploring aldosterone antagonist usage among US patients hospitalised with heart failure, found that only one-third of patients meeting current US Clinical Practice Guidelines criteria were actually being treated (1). http://phys.org/news175338357.html Medicine & Health Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:00:02 EST news175338357 Patients who received refurbished pacemakers donated from Detroit area funeral homes survived without complications from the devices, according to a case series reported by the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center. http://phys.org/news174285882.html Medicine & Health Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:00:01 EST news174285882 Research presented at the 21st annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium, sponsored by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF), demonstrated an "exceptionally low" rate of complications one year after implantation of transcatheter aortic valve prostheses. http://phys.org/news172761836.html Medicine & Health Mon, 21 Sep 2009 14:40:14 EST news172761836 (AP) -- I've always secretly wanted to learn to DJ, so I was excited to develop my skills on the awkwardly named Pacemaker portable DJ system. After spending some time determining the difference between a crossfader and a cue point, I've found that it's not easy - at least, not on this device. http://phys.org/news165081406.html Electronics Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:57:08 EST news165081406