Violet 405-nm light: a novel therapeutic agent against common pathogenic bacteria.

Background: The increasing incidence of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and multidrug-resistant organisms demonstrate the need for innovative technological solutions. Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pneumonia, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa in particular are common pathogens responsible for a large percentage of indwelling medical device-associated clinical infections. The bactericidal effects of visible light sterilization (VLS) using 405-nm is one potential therapeutic under investigation.

Industry-academic partnerships: an approach to accelerate innovation.

Background: Biotechnology companies are process-driven organizations and often struggle with their ability to innovate. Universities, on the other hand, thrive on discovery and variation as a source of innovation. As such, properly structured academic-industry partnerships in medical technology development may enhance and accelerate innovation.

Implementation of national practice guidelines to reduce waste and optimize patient value.

Background: The financial health care crisis has provided the platform to drive operational improvements at US health care facilities. This has led to adoption of lean operation principles by many health care organizations as a means of eliminating waste and improving operational efficiencies and overall value to patients. We believe that standardized implementation of national practice guidelines can provide the framework to help to reduce financial waste.

A noncontact RF-based respiratory sensor: results of a clinical trial.

Background: Respiratory rate (RR) is a critical vital signs monitored in health care setting. Current monitors suffer from sensor-contact failure, inaccurate data, and limited patient mobility. There is a critical need for an accurate and reliable and noncontact system to monitor RR.

Unresectable Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma: Eight Years Later.

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States, and is considered uniformly fatal when patients present with unresectable, advanced-stage disease at the time of diagnosis. Long-term survival of patients with advanced-stage pancreatic adenocarcinoma remains rare, despite advances in adjuvant chemoradiation protocols. A 73-year-old male presented to our emergency department with abdominal pain and a history of biopsy-proven, stage III pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

Violet 405 nm light: A novel therapeutic agent against β-lactam-resistant Escherichia coli.

Background And Objective: Approximately 1.7 million patients are affected by hospital-acquired infections every year in the United States. The increasing prevalence of multidrug-resistant bacteria associated with these infections prompts the investigation of alternative sterilization and antibacterial therapies.

Addressing challenges of training a new generation of clinician-innovators through an interdisciplinary medical technology design program: Bench-to-Bedside.

Graduate medical education has traditionally focused on training future physicians to be outstanding clinicians with basic and clinical science research skills. This focus has resulted in substantial knowledge gains, but a modest return on investment based on direct improvements in clinical care. In today's shifting healthcare landscape, a number of important challenges must be overcome to not only improve the delivery of healthcare, but to prepare future physicians to think outside the box, focus on and create healthcare innovations, and navigate the complex legal, business and regulatory hurdles of bringing innovation to the bedside.

Gastrointestinal perforation and the acute abdomen.

The acute abdomen accounts for up to 40% of all emergency-surgical hospital admissions and is considered in the differential in the more than 7 million visits to the emergency department annually for abdominal pain in the United States. A large percentage of these cases are secondary to perforation or impending gastrointestinal perforation. Gastrointestinal perforation causes considerable mortality and usually requires emergency surgery.