This educational article discusses the use of 3D printing or additive manufacturing in hospitals, not just for rapid prototyping but also for creating end-use products, such as clinical, diagnostic, and educational tools. The flexibility of 3D printing is valuable for creating patient-specific medical devices, custom surgical tools, anatomical models, implants, research tools and on-demand parts, among others. The advantages of and requirements for implementing a clinical 3D printing service in a hospital environment are discussed, including centralized 3D printing management, technology, example use cases, and considerations for implementation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The use of radio frequency identification (RFID) systems in healthcare is increasing, and concerns for electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) pose one of the biggest obstacles for widespread adoption. Numerous studies have demonstrated that RFID systems can interfere with medical devices; however, the majority of past studies relied on time-consuming and burdensome test schemes based on ad hoc test methods applied to individual RFID systems.
Methods: This paper presents the results of using an RFID simulator that allows for faster evaluation of RFID-medical device EMC against a library of RFID test signals at various field strengths.
Bioelectromagnetics
September 2014
Previously, we found that extremely low frequency (ELF) electric fields were able to elicit an approximate 3.5-fold increase in heat shock gene expression, a response which may have applicability to cancer therapy. Based on recent studies demonstrating the ability of magnetic fields to influence gene expression, we hypothesized that low level static magnetic fields may be able to affect heat shock gene expression while avoiding some of the clinical difficulties that arise with electric fields.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRecent studies have demonstrated that the Ku70 gene fragment can be placed in the anti-sense orientation under the control of a heat-inducible heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) promoter and activated through heat shock exposure. This results in attenuation of the Ku70 protein expression, inhibiting cellular repair processes, and sensitizing the transfected cells to exposures such as the ionizing radiation exposures used clinically. However, achieving the tissue temperatures necessary to thermally induce the HSP70 response presents significant limitations to the clinical application of this strategy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiomed Instrum Technol
April 2010