Biomedical Equipment Technician

By John F Smith

In this modern age when population's health and life span is continuously declining, works and positions related to medical industry are thriving. People rely on doctors, nurses, therapists and medical practitioners to take care of their health that mostly, they themselves have neglected. In this scenario, an individual works silently behind the scene but his role in medical world is of great importance as well. He is the biomedical equipment technician (BMET). He is responsible in the installation, inspection, calibration, modification, testing and repair of highly technical medical equipments. Not anybody can work as biomedical equipment technician because this position requires a 2-year associate's degree in Biomedical Equipment Technology, Biomedical Electronics Technology, or Biomedical Engineering Technology or about one year in full-time military training.
As competition is getting stiffer as time goes by, a biomedical equipment technician's resume must be well written, comprehensive and detailed. One must highlight qualifications especially professional certifications such as Certified Radiology Equipment Specialists (CRES), and Certified Laboratory Equipment Specialists (CLES). Carrying the title of certified biomedical equipment technician (CBET) is not mandatory but is highly encouraged as this generates respect within the technical community. Additionally, a BMET can list all equipments that he can handle to show multi-tasking ability. He can also include character traits such detail-oriented, patience or tolerance to stress and willingness to work on irregular hours as BMET are mostly on call. He should also emphasize his good communication skills as this is important in listening to the problems of the equipment as explained by the user and is important in training people on the proper procedure in handling of equipment and correcting operator error tactfully and in a professional manner.
It would be advantageous for a BMET to enhance and update his understanding of software and electronics as many new medical devices are increasingly reliant on computers.

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Biomedical Engineering Combines Many Skills

By Sally Tolentino

Twenty years ago, any graduating college student with just about any major was able to acquire basically any job they desired, as long as they fulfilled the qualifications. Now, though, even with all the qualifications, graduating college students must enter a rigorous process of interviews and intense competition-all for the possibility of a job. These days, choosing the right major is an extremely important choice for anyone aspiring to be successful-and the perfect way to achieve success is to acquire a major in biomedical engineering.
Now, success is measured in innumerable ways. One is the financial stability that can be gained from occupations involving that major. The median annual salary for a first year biomedical engineer is roughly $48,000, which is only slightly less than that the roughly $56,000 earned by first year electrical engineers (information acquired from salary.com). However, given the heavily large amount of applicants who apply for electrical engineering (EE) majors nationwide, the competition and rivalry among EE is exceptionally higher and stronger than in biomedical engineering.
When applying for college in pursuit of an electrical engineering major, the risk of being rejected is also higher, especially since biomedical engineering is still a relatively new major, which has just recently begun to become more popular. Even if a student succeeds in being accepted into a college for EE, he will then find himself plagued with multitude of other students aspiring to achieve a degree in EE. This just continues into the job application stage, where the thousands of hardworking EE degree holding bachelors will be narrowed down until only a portion are accepted into actually high paying jobs, since the supply of EE majors is much greater than the demand. The same applies for many other popular majors. Biomedical engineering overcomes any of these challenges, ensuring the degree-receiver a well paying job.
Another measure of success is by the amount of enjoyment or excitement one receives from their job. Biomedical engineering combines the skills and techniques used in chemical, electrical, mechanical, and optical engineering. Knowledge of all these different subjects is necessary in order to be a proper biomedical engineer. For those many students who know they wish to pursue a scientific career-but are not sure which one-this is a perfect assortment of all scientific subjects into one major. A student taking this major will take a variety of classes, and not be anchored down to a specific, detailed analysis of one particular branch of science. Biomedical engineering combines all of science into career.
In a world where more and more people are applying for college, the best way to have fun and ensure a successful future is through biomedical engineering. With more people working in this field, the technological advancement in medicine will also grow, and the world will become a better place. After all, isn't that what America is all about?

Sally is a dedicated writer for StudentScholarships.org. She is an expert in Biomedical engineering Scholarships, Financial Aid, Career Advice, and most other things college related.

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Autism Treatment - A Biomedical Approach

By Dr. Kurt Woeller

I'd like to discuss my feelings about biomedical interventions for Autism and talk about the reasons why I think it is important to begin a biomedical approach for your child. I lecture around the country and talk on these videos on my website about how important biomedical intervention is. But one thing to recognize is that when we look to implement a biomedical protocol whether that is through diet, supplements, etc, we are really assessing the underlying medical issues.
What that can entail is the use of diagnostic testing, urine, stool, blood, etc. in order to look for imbalances. The imbalances could be nutritional like vitamins and minerals, essential fats or amino acids. Or the imbalances could be biochemical or involve digestive problems. Kids may not be digesting their food appropriately and they may have chronic diarrhea or chronic constipation. So regardless of the diagnosis of the child, I think we can all agree that the right assessment is still needed. But often a label of Autism can exclude a child from getting the appropriate assessment for these underlying medical disorders.
First and foremost I want to know what is going on with my patient's health, as their biomedical specialist. That is the reason for the testing that we use. But that does not mean that I can say that one specific therapy will treat a certain core set of symptoms or eradicate them completely. But, when you address the underlying medical issues of a child with Autism and you look at the diagnostic results and treat accordingly, in many cases you can have an improvement in the individual's Autism and in some cases it can go away. When we use a biomedical treatment approach what we really are doing is optimizing the individual's potential.
You are evaluating the underlying medical issues and addressing them as appropriate. Whether the person has a diagnosis of Autism or not should not matter in the diagnosis and treatment of these specific underlying health issues. The Autism diagnosis should not impede the use of diagnostic testing to ensure that your child is as healthy as they can be. It does require a unique and specialized physician's approach to implement some of this testing and the therapies that we use. But when you take a step back, you realize that what we are doing is to optimize the potential of the individual. And some of the ways we do that are through nutrition, supplementation and diagnostic testing.

Autism really is treatable! Biomedical Autism treatments and therapies have resulted in many, many children improving, or even even losing their autism-spectrum disorder diagnosis. For lots more free biomedical autism intervention information and videos from Dr. Woeller, go to http://www.AutismRecoveryTreatment.com.
Dr. Kurt Woeller is an biomedical autism Intervention specialist, with a private practice in Southern California for over 10 years. He has helped children recover from autism, ADD, ADHD, and other disorders, and has the information you need to help your child. Download his free ebook at http://www.AutismActionPlan.org.

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Finding the Right Biomedical Equipment

By Dominic Ivankovich

Medical equipment is designed to help and assist in the diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring of various medical conditions. During production, this equipment goes through stringent safety tests to ensure optimal, safe performance. Biomedical equipment is often referred to as diagnostic equipment because it helps in determining underlying medical conditions. X-rays are one of the most common examples of biomedical equipment. With the improvement in technology over the past decades, medical equipment too has seen phenomenal growth. The motto of modern biomedical engineering is "Better health care through technology," and this is clearly defined through the advanced equipment available. These machines, too, are constantly monitored to ensure a smooth functioning.
Radiation protection is the science of protecting people from the harmful effects of radiation. Radiation is present everywhere, not just in medical facilities like hospitals. Equipment for radiation detection is important for hospitals, fire departments, HAZMAT teams, nuclear power and testing facilities, and x-ray departments. Radiation detectors allow us to monitor the amount of radiation present in an area and control it within safety limits. An excess of exposure to radiation is known to cause cancers, genetic ailments, and tumors. That is why radiation detectors have come to play such a key role in facilities where radiation is present.
The quality of the equipment, too, is extremely important. With biomedical equipment, a faulty device can be risky for a human life. When choosing equipment, it is important to choose wisely and to go with a trusted brand name which provides a benchmark in terms of quality control. Good biomedical equipment will go through a series of tests to make sure it is working safely for the patient's health. Safety must be a higher priority than other factors like cost.
Radiation is present everywhere. Minor traces of radiation are even present in our homes because of devices like microwaves and television. Exposure to minor radiation has become virtually impossible to avoid. In excess, however, radiation can cause extreme damage not just to one person, but also to future generations. That's why radiation detectors are vital for places where people are at risk for exposure to radiation. Hospitals are one example of a place where employees and patients are at a risk of exposure. Therefore, radiation detection equipment is necessary to monitor radiation level. It is wise to choose equipment from a trusted source that will provide well-tested and safe equipment.

Fluke Biomedical is the premiere, global provider of test and measurement equipment and services to the healthcare industry. We serve biomedical engineers, quality-assurance technicians, medical physicists, oncologists and radiation-safety professionals. Fluke Biomedical offers a complete line of simulators such as patient simulators and blood pressure simulator and safety products and solutions that allow these professionals the versatility they need to get the job done.

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Are Biomedical Therapies Safe For Children?

By Dr. Kurt Woeller
Are biomedical therapies for children with an autism spectrum disorder safe? Is there any risk to doing therapies such as diet (gluten and casein-free), supplements (multivitamin/minerals, calcium and magnesium, fish oil, etc.) or even Methyl-B12 therapy?
Implementing biomedical autism interventions such as the gluten and casein-free diet or nutritional supplements can be an effective process for many children with an autism spectrum disorder. The question is are they safe, or are there any inherent dangers with biomedical therapy?
The simplest statement to give is, "diet and supplement support is safe and effective." Like anything in medicine there is no guarantee of absolute safety or side effect-free therapy. Each child is different in their genetic and biochemical make-up and their reaction to therapy will vary. For example, when incorporating a new supplement such as Methyl-B12 (which helps many kids with language, social, attention and focusing issues) hyperactivity can be stimulated for some in the beginning. This reaction is not life-threatening or toxic, but some kids can respond this way - usually it is short-lived.
The same can be seen with dietary changes such as gluten and casein removal. Some children have such strong chemical reactions to these food items that when they are removed from their diet significant aberrant behavior can occur such as irritability, aggression and/or restlessness, sleeping problems, etc. Again, these behaviors usually subside on in a few days. These are not life-threatening or toxic reactions, but do indicate that gluten and casein are causing some abnormal chemical alterations - which they are known to do. On the flip side, many times positive gains are also seen such as improved eye contact, language skill, cognitive awareness, and others when these therapies are implemented.
Contrast this with common drug therapy such as Risperdal. Risperdal is a drug often prescribed for autism to help with aggressive behavior. It can be helpful in some, but the side effect profile is lengthy and in some can cause permanent neurological damage.
In my experience, biomedical intervention through the use of diet and nutritional support has never created toxic reactions or side effects that are seen with many pharmaceutical drugs. In fact, in many cases biomedical treatment has lessened the need for drug therapy all together in many children.

Don't let ANYONE tell you there is nothing you can do to help your child. Autism really is treatable! Start your child down the road to recovery from autism. Biomedical Autism treatments and therapies have resulted in many, many children improving - even losing their autism-spectrum disorder diagnosis. For more information and a free ebook on biomedical autism treatment go to http://www.AutismActionPlan.org.
Dr. Kurt Woeller is an autism biomedical specialist, with a private practice in Southern California for over 10 years. He has helped children recover from autism, ADD, ADHD, and other disorders, and has the information you need to help your child. Get his ebook, "7 Facts You Need To Know About Autism (But Probably Weren't Told)." You can download it right now for free at http://www.AutismActionPlan.org.

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Autism Treatment Using Biomedical Therapies

By Dr. Kurt Woeller

Previously in other videos I have talked about therapies that are considered traditional treatments for Autism spectrum disorders like medications such as Risperdal and therapies like speech therapy, occupational therapy and behavioral therapy. Now I would like to cover something called biomedical therapies. Biomedical therapies are therapies that are utilized medically but are not what we would consider a recognized therapy in traditional medical communities. However, that does not reduce their effectiveness since these therapies can be very effective. They may not be well known or recognized throughout the medical world but biomedical therapies really break down into multiple categories.
The first category we will cover is supplements. We have seen that using various supplements like multi-vitamins, multi-minerals, B-12, folic acid, etc. can be helpful for some individuals. In fact, B-6 which is a specific vitamin, can be very helpful for quite a few individuals on the Autism spectrum because it has a bolstering effect on brain chemistry that can aid in eye contact, focusing, attention and even in some cases, behavioral problems.
There are also therapies out there that address the digestive problems that many children with Autism have. We know there is a link between digestive toxicity and brain function. So when we look at yeast and bacterial issues in the digestive tract and we use things like probiotics or prescriptions like Nystatin, Diflucan or even sometimes antibiotics to treat these issues, we see children improve cognitively.
We can also intervene biomedically through the use of dietary therapy. Once of the most common dietary therapy is the gluten and casein free diet. Gluten and casein can produce a chemical effect on the brain. We have seen issues with this in regards to individuals with depression, schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder. And for people on the Autism spectrum we also see that these specific food proteins have a negative impact on brain chemistry and cause problems in attention, eye contact, socialization, language and behavior.
So although biomedical therapies tend to fall outside of the norm from the perspective of the traditional medical community, they can be incredibly powerful and useful. Biomedical therapies are medical interventions through the use of supplements, dietary therapies, digestive interventions, etc. They can help support traditional therapies like ABA, OT and speech therapy and in many cases can be even more powerful than those other interventions. So it is very important to remain open minded about other possibilities and to continue to learn and search out new ways to support individuals with Autism. There are so many treatment avenues and I have just touched on a few of them in this video.

Don't let ANYONE tell you there is nothing you can do to help your child. Autism really is treatable! Start your child down the road to recovery from autism. Biomedical Autism treatments and therapies have resulted in many, many children improving, or even even losing their autism-spectrum disorder diagnosis. For lots more free biomedical autism intervention information and videos from Dr. Woeller go to http://www.AutismRecoveryTreatment.com. Dr. Kurt Woeller is an biomedical autism Intervention specialist, with a private practice in Southern California for over 10 years. He has helped children recover from autism, ADD, ADHD, and other disorders, and has the information you need to help your child. Get the information you need at his free blog above, interact with him directly at his membership website at http://www.AutismActionPlan.org.

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Biomedical Engineering Training Studies

By Renata McGee

The use of medical tools and aides to treat patients is possible by integrating medicine and biology to create workable technologies. Biomedical engineering is a field that is highly specialized and students can enter an education through numerous colleges and universities. There are a number of things to learn prior to enrollment in an online biomedical engineering school.
1. Studies encompass all the areas that are needed to create usable technologies for the health care field. These can include inflatable casts, ear thermometers, surgical staples, and magnetic resonance imaging machines. Students dive into a curriculum that covers biology in regards to medical engineering. Biomechanics, biomaterials, biomedical systems, linear differential equations, biofluids, and nanotechnologies are some courses that make up the overall career study. Education concentrates on how to combine science and technology to create needed biological processes to deliver improved health care. Over 100 colleges and universities offer degree programs allowing students to utilize their strengths. Specialties can include medical imaging, rehabilitation engineering, biomaterial engineering, and biomechanics engineering.
2. Introductory courses like biomedical engineering, research, and nanotechnology are typically taken in the first two years of a degree program. An introduction to biomedical engineering course teaches students the history and social relevancy of modern bioengineering areas. Study covers industry areas like action potential, signal process, genetic engineering, and bioimaging. A research course goes into how to collect and analyze biophysical measurements. Colleges teach students the process, which includes measuring, testing, and linear regression. Collecting data using different equipment like A/D boards is also touched on. The use of emerging nanoscale materials is taught in a nanotechnology course. The study on this newer form of technology is centered on applications that include electrical, biomedical, and mechanical engineering.
3. In the third and fourth years of a traditional program studies focus more on advanced subjects and concentration courses are taken. Biomechanics engineering, genetic engineering, tissue engineering, and drug delivery engineering are a few courses included in the second portion of a typical degree program. A biomechanics course focuses on the mechanics that apply to living organisms. The behaviors of organisms are studied to understand how biological processes restrain them. A genetic engineering course teaches students to understand how molecular bioengineering works and how it is used inside the industry. All areas of genetics are taught, which includes DNA breakdown, cell information, and recombinant technology in regards to DNA. Students look at all the societal issues and ethics related to genetic engineering to establish considerations for regulation. A drug delivery course focuses on the engineering of designing systems that administer drugs to patients. Biocompatibility and the formulation of controlled release devices are focused on. These courses make up key areas of studies that students follow up with advanced training and understanding.
Students can enter training at all levels allowing them to enter the field with ease. Earning a bachelor's degree is the industry standard to enter a career as a biomedical engineer. Completing an accredited degree program at the graduate level prepares students for specialties, research, and technology innovation careers. Full accreditation is provided by agencies like the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (http://www.abet.org/) to programs that offer quality educational training. Begin working through a degree program to become a part of the fast growing and technology driven industry of biomedical engineering.
DISCLAIMER: Above is a GENERIC OUTLINE and may or may not depict precise methods, courses and/or focuses related to ANY ONE specific school(s) that may or may not be advertised at PETAP.org.
Copyright 2010 - All rights reserved by PETAP.org.

Renata McGee is a staff writer for PETAP.org. Locate Biomedical Engineering Schools and Colleges as well as Online Biomedical Engineering Schools at PETAP.org, your Partners in Education and Tuition Assistance Programs.

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Recent Progress in Biomedical Applications of Magnetic Nanoparticles

Magnetic nanoparticles have been proposed for biomedical applications for several years. Various research groups worldwide have focused on improving their synthesis, their characterization techniques and the specific tailoring of their properties. Yet, it is the recent, impressive advances in nanotechnology and biotechnology which caused the breakthrough in their successful application in biomedicine. This paper aims at reviewing some current biomedical applications of magnetic nanoparticles as well as some recent patents in this field. Special emphasis is placed on i) hyperthermia, ii) therapeutics iii) diagnostics. Future prospects are also discussed.

Alzheimer's disease linked to mid-life cholesterol

Alzheimer’s disease takes many years to develop and, with an aging population, it has become increasingly urgent to discover ways of preventing this, the most common form of dementia, from taking hold. 
Previously,  high cholesterol in mid-life has been linked to an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease.  Now researchers at Kaiser Permanente’s Research Division and at the University of Kuopio, Finland, unveil the longest, and largest, study to link high cholesterol with Alzheimer’s disease.  They also find a link with vascular dementia,  which suggests some overlap in the two forms of dementia.

A group of nearly 10,000 men and women had their cholesterol levels measured between 1964 and 1973 and were then followed up for around 40 years. During this time, there were 469 patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and 127 with vascular dementia.  Taking a baseline of less than 220 mg/dL cholesterol, the researchers say that raised levels increase the risk of both Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia in later years.  That is, having cholesterol levels higher than 240 mg/dL increases Alzheimer’s disease risk by 66% and even borderline levels, between 220 and 240 mg/dL, increase the risk of both forms of dementia.  This study is notable because it includes a large and diverse group of people – previous studies on Alzheimer’s disease and high cholesterol have been more limited.

Around 100 million Americans are estimated to have cholesterol levels that are higher than desirable. Worse, many do not even know it! The take home message is to be aware of your cholesterol figures (this means total cholesterol but also the high and low density lipoprotein cholesterol figures).  And if they stray beyond desirable levels, there are both lifestyle modifications that can be made and medications, like statins, which are proven effective in cholesterol lowering.  It is surely worthwhile aiming for a healthy cholesterol figure if the payoff is a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia.

Recent developments in biomedical optics

The rapid growth in laser and photonic technology has resulted in new tools being proposed and developed for use in the medical and biological sciences. Specifically, a discipline known as biomedical optics has emerged which is providing a broad variety of optical techniques and instruments for diagnostic, therapeutic and basic science applications. New laser sources, detectors and measurement techniques are yielding powerful new methods for the study of diseases on all scales, from single molecules, to specific tissues and whole organs. For example, novel laser microscopes permit spectroscopic and force measurements to be performed on single protein molecules; new optical devices provide information on molecular dynamics and structure to perform `optical biopsy' non-invasively and almost instantaneously; and optical coherence tomography and diffuse optical tomography allow visualization of specific tissues and organs. Using genetic promoters to derive luciferase expression, bioluminescence methods can generate molecular light switches, which serve as functional indicator lights reporting cellular conditions and responses in living animals. This technique could allow rapid assessment of and response to the effects of anti-tumour drugs, antibiotics, or antiviral drugs. This issue of Physics in Medicine and Biology highlights recent research in biomedical optics, and is based on invited contributions to the International Conference on Advanced Laser Technology (Focused on Biomedical Optics) held at Cranfield University at Silsoe on 19--23 September 2003. This meeting included sessions devoted to: diffuse optical imaging and spectroscopy; optical coherence tomography and coherent domain techniques; optical sensing and applications in life science; microscopic, spectroscopic and opto-acoustic imaging; therapeutic and diagnostic applications; and laser interaction with organic and inorganic materials. Twenty-one papers are included in this special issue. The first paper gives an overview on the current status of scanning laser ophthalmoscopy and its role in bioscience and medicine, while the second paper describes the current problems in tissue engineering and the potential role for optical coherence tomography. The following seven papers present and discuss latest developments in infrared spectroscopy and diffuse optical tomography for medical diagnostics. Eight further papers report recent advances in optical coherence tomography, covering new and evolving methods and instrumentation, theoretical and numerical modelling, and its clinical applications. The remaining papers cover miscellaneous topics in biomedical optics, including new developments in opto-acoustic imaging techniques, laser speckle imaging of blood flow in microcirculations, and potential of hollow-core photonic-crystal fibres for laser dentistry. We thank all the authors for their valuable contributions and their prompt responses to reviewers' comments. We are also very grateful to the reviewers for their hard work and their considerable efforts to meet tight deadlines.

Recent developments in biomedical optics

The rapid growth in laser and photonic technology has resulted in new tools being proposed and developed for use in the medical and biological sciences. Specifically, a discipline known as biomedical optics has emerged which is providing a broad variety of optical techniques and instruments for diagnostic, therapeutic and basic science applications. New laser sources, detectors and measurement techniques are yielding powerful new methods for the study of diseases on all scales, from single molecules, to specific tissues and whole organs. For example, novel laser microscopes permit spectroscopic and force measurements to be performed on single protein molecules; new optical devices provide information on molecular dynamics and structure to perform `optical biopsy' non-invasively and almost instantaneously; and optical coherence tomography and diffuse optical tomography allow visualization of specific tissues and organs. Using genetic promoters to derive luciferase expression, bioluminescence methods can generate molecular light switches, which serve as functional indicator lights reporting cellular conditions and responses in living animals. This technique could allow rapid assessment of and response to the effects of anti-tumour drugs, antibiotics, or antiviral drugs. This issue of Physics in Medicine and Biology highlights recent research in biomedical optics, and is based on invited contributions to the International Conference on Advanced Laser Technology (Focused on Biomedical Optics) held at Cranfield University at Silsoe on 19--23 September 2003. This meeting included sessions devoted to: diffuse optical imaging and spectroscopy; optical coherence tomography and coherent domain techniques; optical sensing and applications in life science; microscopic, spectroscopic and opto-acoustic imaging; therapeutic and diagnostic applications; and laser interaction with organic and inorganic materials. Twenty-one papers are included in this special issue. The first paper gives an overview on the current status of scanning laser ophthalmoscopy and its role in bioscience and medicine, while the second paper describes the current problems in tissue engineering and the potential role for optical coherence tomography. The following seven papers present and discuss latest developments in infrared spectroscopy and diffuse optical tomography for medical diagnostics. Eight further papers report recent advances in optical coherence tomography, covering new and evolving methods and instrumentation, theoretical and numerical modelling, and its clinical applications. The remaining papers cover miscellaneous topics in biomedical optics, including new developments in opto-acoustic imaging techniques, laser speckle imaging of blood flow in microcirculations, and potential of hollow-core photonic-crystal fibres for laser dentistry. We thank all the authors for their valuable contributions and their prompt responses to reviewers' comments. We are also very grateful to the reviewers for their hard work and their considerable efforts to meet tight deadlines.

remor suppression in ECG.(Research)(Electrocardiogram)(Report)

Electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings are very often contaminated by residual power-line (PL) interference [1, 2, 3, 4], base-line drift [5, 6, 7], artefacts and EMG disturbances due to involuntary muscle contractions (tremor) of the patient [8, 9, 10, 11, 12]. The base-line drift resulting from electrochemical processes at the electrode-to-skin barrier [7] is a typical low-frequency noise that distorts the susceptible ST segment [6, 13]. Interference and tremor have overlapping frequency bands. Therefore, many algorithms are aimed at their common suppression [14, 15, 16, 17] in order to provide an accurate automatic delineation of the ECG wave boundaries [18].
Specific digital filter for PL interference cancellation, called subtraction procedure, has been developed some two decades ago and permanently improved later on [19]. It does not affect the signal frequency components around the rated PL frequency. Moving averaging is applied on linear segments of the signal (usually found in the PQ and TP intervals, but also in sufficiently long straight parts of the R and T waves) to remove the interference components. They are stored as phase locked corrections and further subtracted from the signal wherever non-linear segments are encountered, e.g. QRS complexes or other high and steep waves. Several criteria for linearity have been tested and implemented depending on the purpose. In general, they are based on the second difference of the signal (mathematical evaluation of the curvature).
Filtering out the tremor is
a priori partially successful since it has a relatively wide spectrum, which covers the useful ECG frequency band. One of the first recommendations for ECG instruments [20] suggests a low-pass filter with minimum 35 Hz cut-off. However, in this way the amplitudes of sharp QRS waves are reduced. The moving averaging (comb filter with linear phase characteristic) gives similar results [21].The time averaging is one of the classic methods for ECG noise suppression. It is based on the assumption that the ECG signal is repeatable [22]. As the variability of the ECG morphology is also suppressed, some authors [23, 24] proposed adaptive triggered filtering. Another way to preserve the ECG individuality is to reduce the number of the averaged beats but thus the effect of noise suppression is decreased. The variable ECG morphology, which is related to the respiration, may be compensated in multilead recordings by spatial transformations [24]. However, they can not be applied in the case of single channel time alignment.
Kotas [25] published projective filtering of time-aligned ECG beats. This is an extension of time averaging, which preserves the variability of the beat morphology. The method employs the rules of principal component analysis for the desired ECG reconstruction and aims to retain to some extent the deviations from the averaged component changes, in the same time, rejecting deviations caused by noise. However, the nonlinear projective filtering is computationally intensive and is known to be sensitive to noise changes.
Adaptive filtration has been also attempted but with limited success because the QRS complexes disturb the adaptation process up to the end of the T-waves [14]. Luo and Tompkins [8] obtained faster convergence using additional EMG channel as reference input. Bensadoun
et al [9] proposed a multidimensional method but the reduction of sharp Q-waves amplitudes is too high.Clifford
et al [26] reported a model-based filtering method. P-, Q-, R-, S- and T-waves are defined by a Gaussian with three parameters: amplitude, width and relative position with respect to the R-peak. T-wave is described by T+ and T- because of its asymmetric turning point. Non-linear least-squares optimization is applied to fit this ECG model to the observed signal. The authors present one cleanly recorded P-QRS-T interval superimposed by electrode motion noise. The result shows almost total noise suppression but also significant waveform distortions. However, the locations of the wave peaks match the uncorrupted signal; the errors around the isoelectric line and the S-T segment are negligible. Thus, much of the clinical information of the beats is captured after the noise removal. Nevertheless, the error tolerance has to be tested over a set of databases, since non-parameterized beat will be considered to be an artefact, while some artefacts may closely resemble a known beat. An important advantage of the method is the almost total elimination of series of pulses (artefacts).Sameni
et al [27] proposed a nonlinear Bayesian filtering framework consisting of Extended Kalman Filter (EKF), Extended Kalman Smoother (EKS) and Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF) as suboptimal filtering schemes. They are based on modified dynamic ECG model thus utilizing a priori information about the underlying dynamics of ECG signals. Recordings taken from the MIT-BIH Normal Sinus Rhythm Database are …

BioMedical Research Market Report

PWRM, Power 3 Medical Products Inc., (OTCBB: PWRM.OB) is a leader in bio-medical research and the commercialization of neurodegenerative disease and cancer biomarkers, pathways, and mechanisms of diseases through the development of diagnostic tests and drug targets. Four abstracts were accepted for presentation to the annual meeting of the International Congress of Alzheimer’s Disease on July 12, 2010 in Honolulu, Hawaii. The presentations will cover results from protein biomarker discovery, drug response, test development, and ongoing clinical validation trials of the PWRM’s NuroPro AD biomarkers and blood test for Alzheimer’s disease. The four studies to be presented involve a total of 154 Alzheimer’s disease patients and 91 Parkinson’s disease patients, as well as 210 age-matched normal control individuals and 173 disease control individuals. NexMed, Inc. (Nasdaq: NEXMD), a specialty CRO with a pipeline of product candidates based on the NexACT technology, recently announced that the Company will present data at the International Liver Cancer Association (ILCA) Fourth Annual Conference from September 10-12, 2010 in Montreal, Canada. The presentation, entitled, “PrevOnco® Exhibits In Vitro Cytolytic Activity, Prolongs Survival in Kidney Cancer and Leukemia Models and Reduces Tumor Growth Rates Alone and in Concert in a Liver Cancer Model,” is scheduled to be presented by Bassam Damaj, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of NexMed, on Saturday, September 11, 2010 from 2:30 - 4:30 p.m. NexMed is the largest specialty CRO based in San Diego, CA and is one of the industry's most experienced CROs for in vitro and in vivo pharmacology services and research models. The Company’s goal is to generate revenues from the growth of its Discovery Pre-clinical CRO business, while aggressively seeking to monetize its proprietary NexACT drug delivery technology through out-licensing agreements with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, worldwide.Sangamo BioSciences, Inc. (Nasdaq:SGMO) announced the publication of data demonstrating the preclinical efficacy of a human stem cell therapy for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) based on its proprietary zinc finger DNA-binding protein nuclease (ZFN) technology. The ZFN approach enables the permanent disruption of the CCR5 gene, which encodes an important receptor for HIV infection, in all the cell types comprising the immune system that develop from hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), and is the basis for a promising therapeutic strategy for the treatment of HIV/AIDS. Sangamo has two ongoing Phase 1 clinical trials to evaluate the safety and clinical efficacy of this approach in CD4+ T-cells. SGMO engages in the research, development, and commercialization of zinc finger DNA-binding proteins (ZFPs) for gene regulation and gene modification in the United States. Its ZFPs can be engineered to make ZFP transcription factors (ZFP TFs), proteins that can be used to turn genes on or off; and ZFP nucleases, proteins that enable to modify DNA sequences in various ways.

Nanjing to build biomedical innovation platform

In recent years, with the Life Sciences Innovation Park, Jiangsu, Nanjing Biomedical Research Institute to establish a series of development platforms, the Nanjing Yangtze River Delta region began to build the biggest "trough." The next 3 years, the national, provincial, municipal, district four 10.0 billion joint investment of the funds will be directly contributing to guide various types of social capital invested 100 billion yuan or more, support a number of strong innovation ability and bio-pharmaceutical enterprises own intellectual property rights growing rapidly. 2013,10-Hydroxydecanoic Acid price , Nanjing will achieve super-scale bio-pharmaceutical industry, 500 billion total. In last week's 2010 International Technology Transfer Conference, Nanjing create new drugs and medical testing upload the International Cooperation Forum this information.

Forum, bio-pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Nanjing Aide Kai Teng issued by the Ministry of Science and demonstration base of international cooperation in bio-medicine; Nanjing Pharmaceutical Industrial Group Company in Jiangsu Province was awarded the Fellow of the workstation; Nanjing Pharmaceutical Industrial Group was awarded the engineering center in Nanjing biological diagnostic reagents. In this regard, Jiangsu Province, Li Qi, deputy director of Science and Technology Department, said more than 50 billion yuan output value to achieve the goal,10-Hydroxydecanoic Acid , Nanjing, the technology needs of biomedical industry must be innovative resources overseas docking, which depends on the carrier's construction. In undertaking technology transfer from overseas, in addition to the introduction of technical understanding,10-Hydroxydecanoic Acid supplier, digestion, absorption, according to the characteristics of the Chinese market and consumer focused development and incubation, to achieve in the domestic industry.

Pharmaceutical R & D as an important base in Jiangsu, one of the bio-pharmaceutical enterprises in Nanjing in 2008, although the total number exceeded 100 years ago,CAS 1679-53-4 , of which more than 60 passed GMP certification, but in general R & D investment is still small, is still relatively Combination weak state. Nanjing International Technology Transfer Conference for this special release of the "medical testing and new drug in Nanjing Industrial Technology Innovation Alliance Proposal." Nanjing Medical testing and new drug industry technology innovation strategic alliance initiated by the six units and is still awaiting approval. After the establishment of joint venture alliances to reach dozens of plans to start operations next year.

Energy scavenging sources for biomedical sensors

Energy scavenging has increasingly become an interesting option for powering electronic devices because of the almost infinite lifetime and the non-dependence on fuels for energy generation. Moreover, the rise of wireless technologies promises new applications in medical monitoring systems, but these still face limitations due to battery lifetime and size. A trade-off of these two factors has typically governed the size, useful life and capabilities of an autonomous system. Energy generation from sources such as motion, light and temperature gradients has been established as commercially viable alternatives to batteries for human-powered flashlights, solar calculators, radio receivers and thermal-powered wristwatches, among others. Research on energy harvesting from human activities has also addressed the feasibility of powering wearable or implantable systems. Biomedical sensors can take advantage of human-based activities as the energy source for energy scavengers. This review describes the state of the art of energy scavenging technologies for powering sensors and instrumentation of physiological variables. After a short description of the human power and the energy generation limits, the different transduction mechanisms, recent developments and challenges faced are reviewed and discussed.

iomedical Article Classification Using an Agent-Based Model of T-Cell Cross-Regulation

We propose a novel bio-inspired solution for biomedical article classification. Our method draws from an existing model of T-cell cross-regulation in the vertebrate immune system (IS), which is a complex adaptive system of millions of cells interacting to distinguish between harmless and harmful intruders. Analogously, automatic biomedical article classification assumes that the interaction and co-occurrence of thousands of words in text can be used to identify conceptually-related classes of articles—at a minimum, two classes with relevant and irrelevant articles for a given concept (e.g. articles with protein-protein interaction information). Our agent-based method for document classification expands the existing analytical model of Carneiro et al. [1], by allowing us to deal simultaneously with many distinct T-cell features (epitomes) and their collective dynamics using agent based modeling. We already extended this model to develop a bio-inspired spam-detection system [2, 3]. Here we develop our agent-base model further, and test it on a dataset of publicly available full-text biomedical articles provided by the BioCreative challenge [4].We study several new parameter configurations leading to encouraging results comparable to state-of-the-art classifiers. These results help us understand both T-cell cross-regulation and its applicability to document classification in general. Therefore, we show that our bio-inspired algorithm is a promising novel method for biomedical article classification and for binary document classification in general.

Biomedical Autism Intervention

When treating a child with Autism biomedically, there can be many benefits from using methyl B-12 injections. In my book I discuss the many benefits of methyl B-12 injection therapy. I talk a lot in my own practice about methyl B-12 therapy and specifically methyl B-12 injection therapy. Thanks to Dr. Jim Neubrander, methyl B-12 injection therapy it is a very common treatment in the biomedical community.
Dr. Jim Neubrander was a pioneer in the usage of methyl B-12 injection therapy in Autism and he has a tremendous amount of information on this therapy. Dr. Neubrander was the first to introduce this important therapy to the Autism community many years ago. In my practice, I have implemented methyl B-12 injection therapy with my patients using the same principles Dr. Neubrander discusses and with great success. Dr. Neubrander found during his research and clinical experiences that children using methyl B-12 injection therapy saw many gains. I have also found that methyl B-12 injection therapy is very beneficial for many kids on the Autism spectrum over my years of implementing it in my practice. Some of the gains that can be seen in methyl B-12 injection therapy include cognition, language and social interaction. I talk a lot about higher cognitive functioning that comes with methyl B-12 injection therapy, this includes things like being more aware of their environment, better focus, better attention, etc. Methyl B-12 injection therapy can also be very helpful at improving speech capacity and general language gains as well. A fascinating gain comes with the increased socialization we see in children with Autism who are given methyl B-12 injection therapy. Children using methyl B-12 injection therapy can be more willing to socialize with adults, other children, siblings, etc. as a result of the therapy. They may also begin to initiate social interaction with others as a result of the methyl B-12 injection therapy. When you learn about methyl B-12 therapy you soon realize that there are many different forms of methyl B-12. There are nasal sprays, creams, even methyl B-12 lollipops. But, in my practical and clinical experience the methyl B-12 injection therapy is the form that is most effective and beneficial. It is the therapy that has shown the greatest long term effects, is the most effective form and is the most consistent of the methyl B-12 therapies.
If you want more in-depth information as to the benefits, ways to administer methyl B-12 injection therapy as well as proper dosing instructions, refer to my book on Methyl B-12 injection therapy.

Biomedical Technology: Information and Career Opportunities

An associate’s degree and a bachelor’s degree are required for an entry level job in the biomedical technology field. A master’s degree can open new opportunities for career advancement. This science uses technology and engineering for solving different biological and medical issues. Biomedical researchers are studying chemicals to find treatments for various diseases. This research can improve the medicine. The equipment used for research is created by biomedical technicians.

Biomedical Technology is used to create new medical equipment. This can lead to diagnosing and treating various diseases. An associate’s degree and a bachelor’s degree are required for an entry level job in the biomedical technology field. A master’s degree can open new opportunities for career advancement. This science uses technology and engineering for solving different biological and medical issues. The biomedical technology includes branches like:

• Biomedical informatics
• Biomedical science
• Biomedical engineering
• Biomedical research
• Biotechnology

Biomedical informatics

One of the branches included in the biomedical technology is the biomedical informatics. Technology is being used for measuring the physiological functions. Biomedical informatics can help technicians to study the human body.

Biomedical science

The biomedical science is being used for researching and treating various diseases. This is also called the health science. In order to research the health issues, biomedical scientists are using the following disciplines:

• Chemistry
• Biology
• Physics
• Engineering

Biomedical technicians are focusing on the research and technology used for treating health issues.

Biomedical engineering

Biomedical engineers are using the engineering design to resolve medical or biological problems. Some of the goals for biomedical engineers are:

• Developing synthetic organs
• Creating prosthetic limbs

Biomedical research

Biomedical research is another branch included in the biomedical technology. Biomedical researchers are studying chemicals to find treatments for various diseases. This research can improve the medicine. The equipment used for research is created by biomedical technicians.

Biotechnology

Scientists are using biotechnology to study the human genetics. Biotechnology is focusing on modifying genetically the human body.

Career opportunities

A degree in biomedical technology can help students to find employment in:

• Criminal investigative laboratories
• Pharmaceutical companies
• Agricultural agencies

Some of the most common jobs for graduates with a degree in biomedical technology are:

• Biomedical equipment repair technician
• Biomedical equipment operator
• Biomedical device manufacturing
• Biomedical device sales

Biomedical Products Marketer Saves Big With High-Tech Aerogel Cartons

Increases in raw materials and packaging costs are pressuring relationships between product manufacturers and contract packagers. The need to control costs is particularly important in shipping “cold chain” products globally, and pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies are seeking budget-saving alternatives in packaging temperature-sensitive products effectively and shipping them worldwide.

Places to look to ease this pressure include the packaging materials and how they are used. One area that is ripe for review in reducing excessive costs is the capabilities of containers used in shipping temperature-sensitive products. New materials are coming on the market that, when used with the right products, can help medical product manufacturers—and potentially marketers of packaged foods—by keeping the product at the required temperature and also trimming waste during distribution.

Among these materials are thermal insulators, and one of the new ones on the market is Aeroblack^™, an enhanced form of aerogel, from American Aerogel Corp. In the biomedical industry, Advanced BioHealing Inc., a La Jolla, CA, biotechnology products company, uses Aeroblack panels in its master cases to extend the time that the desired subzero temperature can be maintained inside cartons containing an advanced wound-care product. Besides extended “shelf life,” Advanced BioHealing has reduced the shipping carton size 30% by switching from polyurethane containers and has cut shipping costs by 40%.

In its simplest form, aerogel is a very low-density, low-porosity, open-cell material that is 95% or more air. It consists of a gel of alcohol- and silicon dioxide-based molecules that are linked together. When the mixture is exposed to heat and pressure, the alcohol slowly vaporizes and escapes, leaving the solid material intact as a massive surface area with the capability to maintain temperature-sensitive products under optimum shipping conditions.

Aerogel, also known as “frozen smoke,” has been around since the 1930s in industries such as coatings and insulation. But Dennis Young, American Aerogel CEO, believes the time is right to extend aerogel more widely into packaging.

“The problem has been that it's very difficult to make a monolithic, solid-piece aerogel, such as in cube form,” Young explains. “Aerogels tend to crack, shrink, and powder. Their performance has been better than some competitive products, but not enough to offset cost.”

Anticipating demand from product manufacturers, American Aerogel has patented technology under the Aeroblack brand that Young claims has overcome production and cost barriers, while preserving the material's physical properties. “It has the strength to be the core material for a vacuum-insulated panel and to give high performance at a price that's appropriate for the packaging insulation market,” Young says.

Product manufacturers and contract packagers in the biomedical, pharmaceutical, and food industries may find that this enhanced form of aerogel meets their needs. That was the case with Advanced BioHealing. By using shipping cartons containing Aeroblack, the company extends the amount of time it can keep its Dermagraft skin-substitute product frozen at the required temperature.

This capability is critical because Advanced BioHealing ships Dermagraft across the United States and to Europe and South Africa. Dermagraft is a cryopreserved human fibroblast-derived dermal substitute and is used in treating diabetic foot ulcers. The product is composed of fibroblasts, extracellular matrix, and a bioabsorbable and dissolvable suture-like material. This composition of materials requires that the product be frozen at -75˚ C (-103˚ F) from the time it is packaged until it is used in a doctor's office.

Advanced BioHealing had been shipping one product per package in larger polyurethane containers packed in lots of dry ice. “We only could validate maintaining the shipment at -75˚ C for 72 hours,” says Gerald Vovis, Advanced BioHealing's vice president and general manager. “Domestic shipping can be done overnight but international shipping requires one to two days. So the doctor's office had to have its own freezer to maintain that temperature once the dry ice expired, and not every doctor's office does.”

Shipping containers incorporating Aeroblack offer several advantages over the former containers, Vovis says.

• Testing has validated that the containers maintain the -75˚ C environment for 105 hours.

• Less dry ice is required than with a polyurethane shipper. The package is lighter, therefore reducing shipping costs.

• Even though the new shipper cartons are smaller, the need for less dry ice enables the carton to hold five Dermagraft units, as opposed to one unit in the former carton, also contributing to savings on freight.

Each Dermagraft piece is 2” to 3” long and designed for a single use. In preparation for shipping, each frozen piece is poly-bagged with a preservative. The poly bag is sealed and then placed in a tri-laminate foil pouch. The pouch, in turn, is packed in a labeled chipboard carton measuring about 3”x5”x1/3”—similar in size to an audio-cassette tape carton, Vovis says. The chipboard cartons are then packed with a smaller quantity of dry ice and placed within the vacuum-insulated panels of the shipping container.

For contract packagers working with temperature-sensitive products, the need to preserve product quality is critical. For example, American Aerogel's Young cites World Health Organization research showing that 50% of all vaccines—with a value of $3.3 billion—spoil during transit. “The risk of loss because of payload spoilage is significant,” he says.

If contract packagers can play a role in reducing spoilage and also reduce shipping costs, they increase their value to their customers, Young explains. In a business-to-consumer scenario, the shipping focus centers primarily on the size and weight of the carton. “Anything you can do to reduce those is a cost bonus,” Young notes.

But in a business-to-business transaction, by working with materials that improve a package's thermal insulation, companies can increase second-day and third-day shipping as an option for lowering shipping costs.

The hypothetical case study in the box on this page compares the cost differences associated with shipping temperature-sensitive medical products internationally in plastic foam and aerogel.

Nanoparticles Used in Biotechnology

Extensive libraries of nanoparticles, composed of an assortment of different sizes, shapes, and materials, and with various chemical and surface properties, have already been constructed. The field of nanotechnology is under constant and rapid growth and new additions continue to suppliment these libraries. The classes of nanoparticles listed below are all very general and multi-functional, however, some of their basic properties and current known uses in biotechnology, and particularly nanomedicine, are described here.

New Technology Puts Biomedical Imaging In Palm Of Hands

Researchers at Georgia Tech have developed a narrowband filter mosaic that will expand the uses and functionality of multispectral imaging—a technology that enables subsurface characterization. The new, single-exposure imaging tool could significantly improve point-of-care medical and forensic imaging by empowering front line clinicians with no specialized training to detect and assess, in real-time, the severity of bruises and erythema, regardless of patient skin pigmentation or available lighting.
In addition to this application, the filter could potentially offer a reliabile, low-cost method to instantaneously classify military targets, sort produce, inspect product quality in manufacturing, detect contamination in foods, perform remote sensing in mining, monitor atmospheric composition in environmental engineering and diagnose early stage cancer and tumors.
The technology was developed in Georgia Tech’s Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access (CATEA) as part of a project to design a portable erythema and bruise-detection technology that will enhance early prevention and diagnosis of pressure ulcers, a secondary complication for people with impaired mobility and sensation.
Currently, clinical assessment of bruises is subjective and unreliable, especially when on persons with darkly pigmented skin. Improved imaging can lead to earlier intervention which is vital in cases of suspected physical abuse. Similarly, early detection of erythema can trigger preventive care that can stop progression into pressure ulcers.
Pressure ulcers are a serious secondary complication for people with impaired mobility and sensation. Annual Medicare spending is conservatively approximated at $1.34 billion for the treatment of pressure ulcers. Early detection of erythema can prevent progression into more serious Stage III or Stage IV pressure ulcers.
The filter mosaic can be conveniently laminated with imaging sensors used in digital cameras. With a patent pending, CATEA researchers are currently seeking collaborative or financial support to further develop and design the device.
“Although multispectral imaging has matured into a technology with applications in many fields, clinicians and practitioners in these fields have generally stayed away from it due to extremely high costs and lack of portability,” said Dr. Stephen Sprigle, director of CATEA and professor of industrial design and human physiology. “Now, the possibilities are plentiful.”

Centennial College offers Full time Biomedical Engineering Technology Program

In today's competitive job market, employers are seeking to hire graduates that are highly specialized and well trained. You can't afford to waste your time with an education that wont help you get the job you want. At Centennial College, all our programs are geared for success.
As part of your program, you will not only learn how to use the latest cutting edge tools, but you will also learn how to apply the latest principles from business professionals. To compliment your classroom learning, you will also get hands-on experience in the labs.
Centennial's staff not only believe in providing students with the best teaching experience possible, but also to offer the best guidance and career advice.
Admission Requirements
Centennial College expects students applying for admission to certificate or diploma programs to present at minimum an Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD) or equivalent or be 19 years of age or older. Possession of minimum admission requirements does not guarantee admission to the program.
Academic Requirements

• Compulsory English 12C or U or skills assessment, or equivalent
• Math 11M or U, or 12C or U or skills assessment, or equivalent

Co-op Requirements

• Minimum C grade in COMM-170/171, minimum 2.5 GPA, and minimum 80 per cent of year 1 courses required for COOP-221

Semester/ Graduation Requirements

• Minimum 2.0 GPA required for progression to semester 5 and 6 and technology graduation

Notes

• Student will be placed in the appropriate English level based on skills assessment results
• Student will be placed in the appropriate math level based on skills assessment results

The qualification requirements and costs for each external accreditation, designation, certification or recognition are set by the granting body and not by Centennial College. In order to qualify for any of those external accreditations, designations, certification or recognition, students and graduates will need to follow the processes and meet the applicable requirements listed on the websites and materials of those external bodies.

Ultra-High-Tech Biomedical Uses Ahead?

Natural gelatin, extracted from the shiny skin of a seagoing fish called Alaskan pollock, may someday be put to intriguing new biomedical uses. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) chemist Bor-Sen Chiou is developing strong yet pliable sheets, known as films or membranes, that might be made from a blend of gelatin from the fish skins and a bioplastic called polylactic acid or PLA that's produced from fermented corn sugar.

The fish- and corn-derived films might be suitable for use commercially in tissue-engineering laboratories that would produce semi-synthetic tissue for repair of injured bone or cartilage, for example. That might speed patients' recovery times, given that damaged bone and cartilage are often slow to form tissue needed for self-repair.

Chiou is testing the experimental films in his laboratory at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Western Regional Research Center in Albany, Calif. ARS is the USDA's chief intramural scientific research agency.

At the Albany center, Chiou and colleagues use an ultra-high-tech process known as "electrospinning" to literally spin together the fish gelatin and the polylactic acid to form slender, submicroscopic fibers. When amassed, these nanofibers form sheets of a milky white film or membrane. In tomorrow's tissue-engineering labs, the films could be "seeded" with cultures of human cells. The nanofibers would provide the infinitesimally small scaffolding or support matrices upon which the cells could replicate. Later, the tissue resulting from the replicating cells could be used as transplants. The fish-and-PLA membranes are not expected to pose problems such as allergic reactions. Some surgically implanted medical devices already in use today are made of PLA, or contain components made of PLA. Chiou and his colleagues - chemist Roberto Avena-Bustillos and technicians Haani Jafri and Tina Williams - may be the first to use a blend of fish gelatin and corn-derived plastic to make next-generation nanofibers. They are collaborating in the research with food technologists Peter J. Bechtel and Cynthia K. Bower of the ARS Subarctic Agricultural Research Unit in Kodiak, Alaska, in seeking new uses for fish skins and other leftovers from Alaska's fish-processing plants.

BioMedical Technology (BMTL.OB) Expands Demolizer II Market with More Orders in Wyoming

BioMedical Technology Solutions, Inc. announced yesterday that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has ordered an additional two Demolizer® Systems for facilities in the State of Wyoming.
The Demolizer II, BioMedical’s flagship product, allows medical staff members to safely and inexpensively dispose of medical waste that would normally be subject to expensive medical waste hauling, and cradle-to-grave liability for the facility. A green solution to biomedical waste disposal, the Demolizer II patented treatment process uses dry heat technology, rendering waste 99.9999 percent sterile and sharps non-reusable. The treated waste is then properly labeled and thrown away as common trash. The Demolizer II is compact with dimensions of only 13” wide by 16” tall and 22.5” deep.

Tom Von Bank, National Director of Sales for BioMedical, commented, “Based on many discussions with the technical experts onsite, we strongly believe that the Demolizer® II system is ideally suited for V.A. medical centers and outpatient clinics.” He continued, “The potential application of the Demolizer II within the V.A. could easily exceed several hundred systems. We look forward to working closely with the Cheyenne, WY region as a platform for further expansion within the V.A. over the next several months as the advantages of our innovative technology are realized.”
The list of potential markets for the Demolizer II is lengthy, including medical offices, dental offices, urgent care centers, nursing homes, and assisted living facilities; and veterinary care market, which include veterinary hospitals, emergency veterinary care, livestock medicine, equine medicine, zoos, and sanctuaries. These are only some of the potential markets. Others include schools, home health care, the military, the entertainment travel industry and sports arenas, to name a few.

BioMedical Technology is broadly marketing the Demolizer II both nationally and internationally and is establishing a positive relationship with the Department of Veterans Affairs. “With 153 large medical centers and over 700 outpatient centers, the V.A. represents an important opportunity for our company,” says Don Cox, BMTS’ President and C.E.O. “The Demolizer® II is an excellent fit for V.A. medical facilities allowing the organization to lower their biomedical waste management costs and increase their facility security.”
BioMedical Technology announced earlier this month a placement of the Demolizer II in American Samoa. This was the third system that had been installed in the past 30 days within the V.A. Health Network.
BMTL is a thinly traded stock with only approximately 10 million shares in the float. More information on BioMedical Technology Solutions, their products and the investment opportunity they present can be found on the Company’s website at www.bmtscorp.com.

Medical Assistants in Allied Health

Medical assistants are allied health professionals; however, since this is such a large area within allied health, they’ve been placed in their own category. Medical assisting careers are important because these individuals help accomplish many detail-oriented jobs within the health care industry. Types of medical assisting professions include medical administrative assistants, anesthesiology assistants, physician’s assistants, occupational therapy aides and more.
The need for medical assistants in the health care industry is increasing, so jobs in medical assisting are expected to increase in upcoming years. Before you can become a medical assistant, you’ll need to acquire the appropriate education and training qualifications. You can learn more about medical assisting careers in allied health by reading these articles.

Laboratory and Biomedical Technology

Before you can work in laboratory and biomedical technology careers, you’ll need training in medical lab procedures and in some cases, biomedical engineering. Laboratory and biomedical technology careers include professions such as a lab technician, biomedical technician, biomedical equipment technician, biomedical engineer and more.
Since lab research is continuously being done in the medical industry, people with experience in lab and biomedical technology are highly sought after healthcare professionals. In these careers you’ll work with laboratory equipment and machines to better healthcare and treatment for patients. Although you don’t often work directly with patients, you’ll usually get to work in a lab for most of the day. Before pursuing these careers, make sure you enjoy the science and math fields. These articles will help you learn more about the job descriptions and requirements for laboratory and biomedical technology careers.

Biomedical Equipment Technician

Imagine you're in a hospital bed, hooked up to a heart monitor and a ventilator. Those machines had better be working properly. Fortunately, they almost always are. Whom do you thank? A biomedical equipment tech.

This is one of the few health careers in which you are key to helping patients recover yet there's (usually) no blood or gore. Biomed techs enjoy other pluses, too. You're not limited to repairing stuff: You install, train, calibrate, and perform maintenance. And you're always working on new, ever better equipment such as combined PET/CT scanners and robotic radiosurgery units, which irradiate a tumor but not the surrounding cells. Only a two-year degree is required, and the job market is terrific—you're unlikely to ever hear the word "layoff." This career is resistant to off-shoring, although some state-of-the-art machines allow remote diagnostics, so if a Texas MRI machine breaks down in the middle of the night, a tech in Indiana or India can figure out what's wrong.
This career's main downside is periodic stress. If that heart-lung machine stops working in the middle of a bypass operation, you'd better fix it now. Of course, if you do save the day, you are a true hero. A more significant downside is that biomed techs increasingly need aptitude both for fixing equipment and for tweaking the computers embedded in leading-edge machines, like an automatic infusion pump that can say, "No. That's too big a dose." Ever more knowledge of computer hardware, software, and networking is required.
Another downside is that perhaps one week a month, you'll be on 24-hour call—that patient on the heart-lung machine can't wait until the morning. Fortunately, you're likely to be called in only once or twice a week.
Next time you're visiting someone in the hospital and hear those lifesaving beeps and alarms, think about whether you just want to be grateful to a biomed tech or become one.
Day in the Life. The way the day started, you would never have guessed that this would be one of your most stressful days ever. You arrive at the community hospital that employs you and start on routine maintenance of EKG, ultrasound, and defibrillator machines, and you recalibrate a laser scalpel.
You're interrupted by an emergency page to a patient room—the ventilator isn't working properly. Worse, the hospital's other ventilators are all in use. You race in to check the machine's components: Yes, it's dispensing the oxygen at the proper rate, but you discover that the depth of the "respiration" is too low. Fortunately, the problem is just that a rubber tube came loose. You fix it, and the patient begins breathing normally again.
You're relieved that your next task is to help the manufacturer's field rep install your hospital's second CT scanner. Cool—the new machine is a real improvement over the old one. But the calm doesn't last long. You receive a distress call from a temporary nurse who doesn't understand how to get the new patient monitor to retrieve the needed information. You train her, as a few other nurses look on.
Surgery calls to tell you that the voice-controlled surgical table won't lift the patient's legs up. Lucky again, it's simply a dead battery in the voice-control module.
Finally, you want to give yourself a reward, so, rather than going back to the routine maintenance you started your day with, you tackle repairing the hospital's X-ray film processor. You tinker with it: no luck. You peruse the manual: no luck. But fortunately, there's no rush with this; X-ray film processors aren't used much in today's era of digital radiography. It can wait until tomorrow.
Salary Data
Note: If you're employed by an equipment manufacturer and you hold the appropriate specialty certification, your salary can exceed $90,000.

Biomedical Technician Salary

The biomedical technicians are the professionals who are well trained in the operation and the maintenance of the biomedical machinery, which is widely used in the hospitals and also in the laboratories. They accurately detect any sort of defect in the equipment and correct it instantly. The job of the biomedical technicians is mainly of helping the scientists working in laboratories on various research projects. The job prospects for the biomedical technicians are believed to become bright and very promising with the years to come, due to the increasing demand for their skills in the job market.
Biomedical Technician Job Description
The biomedical technicians are specialists in the operation and repair of the complex medical equipments, such as machines for the procedure of dialysis, imaging machines, defibrillators, etc. Biomedical technicians teach the hospital staff such as the nurses, how to handle and use the medical equipments. They maintain detailed records of the condition of all the medical equipments and note down the problems in their functioning if any. They send back the faulty machines to the makers of the equipment and inform them what the problem exactly is. Apart from maintaining and testing the equipment in the hospitals and the laboratories, the biomedical technicians also carry out the tasks of modifying and calibrating them. Many of these technicians report their work to the biomedical engineers. Testing new equipment, detecting the problems in the old equipments, giving orders for the parts which are necessary for making the machines work properly, reassembling of machines and devices are some other job responsibilities of biomedical technicians. Another challenge before the biomedical technicians is to ensure the safety and security of the devices and machines in the hospitals to avoid any kind of accidents. They are known to conduct frequent safety and quality checks for this very reason.
Biomedical Technician Educational Requirements
Students with a keen interest in science and mechanics can pursue a career as a biomedical technician. The training for becoming a biomedical technician is imparted by several colleges after completing high school. However, in your high school, you should ideally take subjects like mathematics, science subjects like physics, and electronics, English language, computers, machine drawing etc. The preparation made in the high school will build a strong foundation for your further training as a biomedical technician and will help you to grasp the concepts and subject matter fast. After clearing an examination, you will get a certificate from The Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation, which will help you achieve the desired level in this career. You can become a Certified Biomedical Equipment Technician by earning a certificate from the United States Certification Commission.
Biomedical Technician Salary Details
The biomedical technician salary range depends largely on the skills, educational qualifications, the location of work and the number of years of experience. Those who have passed out from reputed institutes can command a much better salary and perks. As per the various salary surveys, the starting average salary of a biomedical technician is around USD 32000 per year. However, with a few years of experience, the biomedical technician salary can cross the USD 40000 per year mark. The median salary for professionals with around seven years of experience is around USD 50000 per year. With more than ten years of quality experience, the biomedical technician salary can be in excess of USD 60000 per year. The average biomedical technician salary for those working in Utah is around USD 56000 per year, while that for California and Washington is around USD 50000 per year.

Biomedical Technology - Some interesting facts

Biomedical Technology is the combination of three words which converge to form Biomedical Technology.  These words are Bio(logy), Medical and Technology!
Medical fraternity depends on research of biology, a highly intricate subject.  With the advent of the communications revolution, and the growing use of computers, technology has come to the aid of medicine.
Biology, as we all know, is the study of various intricate parts of each body, which is a living organism (our human body too is classified as one). This also includes plants, mammals, or anything that grows, on land, sea or air. Relevant examples range from the tiniest creature that this author can think of, the mosquito, to small and large birds, mammals, reptiles, and small plants like grass to the tallest Banyan tree. All are living organisms, and therefore are the subject of biology.
Biology in ancient days was one of trial and error. In ancient civilizations, there were many texts which were used to heal wounds and other diseases. Some of them are lost to mankind. Practically every civilization had its own set of medicines that were obtained naturally. In the last century came the advent of what is called synthetic medicine, that is the pills and capsules that are manufactured in large scale by various pharmacy companies.
Biology is the study of how each cell in the organism works. This includes a wide range of activity. What made it what it is, what is its relation to the cell next to it, what is contained in each cell, what does it do, how does it do it, from where  does it get the ‘instructions to act in a particular manner’, how does it communicate with others, how does it send certain chemicals or juices to other cells, or molecules, what makes it produce those juices at particular times only, and who or what really controls it and the other millions, sorry, billions of similar cells. How long does a cell last, why does it have to fade away (die), and what makes it do so, how is the new cell brought into its place and so on.
Studying these characteristics helps the researcher to identify various cells which contribute to our well being or to our ailments. In analyzing the characteristics of each cell, which takes years and years, it obviously requires the researchers to maintain a huge volume of databases. The databases contain bioinformation taken at different times and allows researchers to check back and forth where the evolutionary cycle of that cell started, how it worked, how it broke down, and how it was replaced. The questions are endless.
To collate all this information, and to find relationships which could withstand the scrutiny of scientists required reams of paper meticulously written down. With the advent of computers this task became much easier. With the adding and growing of computing power, the databases are now safe, and the intricate relationships can be examined a little more scientifically by using math models and algorithms.  The results of these could be shared amongst all researchers across borders, and they could collaborate with each other.
Further, with the complex equations used, it became faster to get results, thus leading researchers to hasten the pace of their research, and find solutions to some of the ailments which once defied the medical fraternity’s efforts to find solutions.
Today’s non invasive technologies like X-rays, CT Scans,  CAT scans, MRIs and other similar diagnostic tools which are engineered by technologies, help the medical fraternity to find diseases faster, diagnose them quickly, and also to offer various other medication, earlier not known, due to the synergies between biology, medical fraternity and technology. All of these have been described above in a short and general form for you to assimilate and understand the co-relation between the three.