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Eizo debuts 56-inch 4k x 2k RadiForce LS560W LCD monitor
Eizo's known for doling out less-than-affordable LCD monitors, but this one just takes the crown (for now). Slated to dazzle in operating rooms everywhere this July, the RadiForce LS560W is a 56-inch behemoth of an LCD that boasts a resolution of 3,840 x 2,160 (or darn close to native 4k x 2k). We're also told that the panel features a 176-degree field of view, a 1,200:1 contrast ratio and 450 nits of brightness. And to think -- we were beginning to wonder if all that 4k surgery footage would ever find a dedicated screen to run on.
Wii blamed for ridiculous increase in British hospital visits
Nintendo's Wii has been maiming careless gamers since the day it was launched, but an inexplicable uptick in Britain has professionals scratching their heads. According to Dr. Dev Mukerjee of Broomfield Hospital: "There has been a 100 percent increase in patients complaining of Wii-itis." Turns out, Wii-itis is their word for playing so much Wii that you injure yourself. Astonishingly, up to ten people per week are being "hospitalized with injuries caused by playing Nintendo Wii games," which has forced medical personnel to "issue warnings of the dangers associated with the video game system." Some of the most common injuries are Wii-knee (seriously) and tendon stretching / tearing, both of which could likely be avoided if gamers would bother to stretch before breaking a sweat. Sheesh -- what do folks even learn in Physical Education these days?
15-year-old collapses after playing Wrath for hours on no sleep or food
Reader Danny sent us this article from Holland Sweden, where apparently (a rough translation of the piece, thanks to Google, is after the break), a young boy of 15 was taken to the hospital after collapsing while playing Wrath of the Lich King. He reportedly had played the game for fifteen hours straight, and because he'd only gotten two hours of sleep and had almost nothing to eat the entire time, felt cramps and apparently collapsed from exhaustion.Obviously, it's a stretch to blame this on the game -- doing anything for 15 hours straight with no sleep or food won't be good for your health. There were millions of people who played this very same game this weekend (some probably even for the same amount of time or more) and had no problems at all -- they realize that to stay healthy, you take breaks, get sleep, and eat healthy. But this kid (and his parents) didn't do things correctly, and as a result, he ended up in the hospital.Hopefully the kid's all right, and the parents have learned their lesson: they have decided to limit his time in front of the computer, which is exactly what they should do if he can't limit it himself. The article ends by saying that "teenagers" around the world are playing the new expansion, except that the average age of gamers is now up to just under 30, and the average World of Warcraft player is actually older than that. Fortunately, the vast majority of them know how to enjoy the game and stay safe and healthy at the same time.
Wii fans' wish come true: Nintendo Fun Center in action
WiiHacks forum moderator ModderMan recently took his kid to the hospital for a broken leg, and discovered one of the Starlight Foundation Fun Centers made specifically for hospitals. We're sure he paid appropriate attention to his son and all, but the calling of, uh, someone who cares a lot about the Wii cannot be ignored. While he was unable to figure out how to open up the unit, ModderMan took video footage of the device and its interface instead. The selection of games ranges from the expected Nintendo hits to things like Elebits and Zack and Wiki, whose release Nintendo apparently noticed! He also inspected the inside of the unit with the aid of a flashlight. The biggest revelation here is that since there are 20 games on the device, and since one of the USB slots was occupied, there's probably a hard drive at work here. In a Wii. But this probably has as much to do with the development of retail Wiis as those hotel systems did with other Nintendo systems.[Thanks, Eoin!]
Swallowable microgrippers could make surgery more / less invasive
While the scientists that developed these newfangled ingestible microgrippers call them minimally invasive, we're not so sure that swallowing minuscule devices that can cut and grab tissue when chemically activated fits our definition of keyhole surgery. Nevertheless, tiny "handlike grippers" are currently being shown off to highly intelligent professionals in the medical realm, and if proven feasible, they could one day be used to perform biopsies from within. More specifically, the devices could reportedly "react to the biochemicals released by infected tissue by closing around the tissue, so that pieces can be removed for analysis." Yeah, we reckon this is a bit less painful than actually going under the knife, but the mere thought of having blade-wielding microorganisms floating around our innards spooks us just a wee bit. Go on, fling your "pansies!" this way -- we can take it.[Via medGadget]
Powerful lasers damage eyesight of some Russian ravers
Here's one straight from the bizarro chapters. Dozens of individuals that attended an all night dance party near Moscow have been "partially blinded after a laser light show burned their retinas," according to Russian health officials. Apparently someone responsible for erecting the equipment decided to aim a few lights powerful enough to brighten the night sky down at the crowd (after rain necessitated a makeshift roof, we're told), with some of those who stared too long losing up to "80%" of their vision. We're not exactly sure what will happen to the promoters of the event, but at least now you have a valid excuse to rock those face-engulfing sunglasses (or a welding mask, if you're really paranoid) in every night club you waltz into.[Via Switched, image courtesy of iGouGo]
TRUMPF intros TruVidia HD operating room camera
Weak stomach? Yeah, you may want to utilize that scroll wheel over there and pass this one on by. TRUMPF Medical Systems has just introduced what it's calling the "world's first in-light high definition operating room camera," the TruVidia HD. Said device is designed to be "integrated into the central handle of the TRUMPF iLED surgical light," but it's also available on a separate arm for different applications. Captured images taken during procedures are stored conveniently on a USB flash drive for easy portability, but there's no mention of what hospitals are planning (or already have) to integrate a few of these into their wards. [Via TechRadar, thanks sk]
Hospital puts Wii to use, surgeons praise it
We all know about the relationship between surgeons and the Wii. No, we don't mean Trauma Center, we mean real-life doctors using the tech behind the Wii to train them for surgery. This piece from ABC7 news in California shows one hospital where it's being put to work.Surgical resident, Jeff Henke, commented that "this does really help." He further added that it "prepares you to enter the operating room." Now, we may be a bit biased, but we're not surprised that the Wii is such a diverse system. it's used to doing what no video game console could in the past.[Via Codename Revolution]
Hospitals now less boring -- Fun Centers on the way
Sick kids are in for some fun, thanks to Nintendo and the Starlight Foundation. The Wii is heading for hundreds of hospitals in North America and Canada, all bundled up in Fun Centers packed with awesome stuff. Rehabilitation seems to be the Wii's favorite word, as Nintendo manufactures 1250 Fun Centers -- with 500 to be in place by the end of the year.The Fun Centers come with a Sharp flat-screen TV, a DVD player and a Wii with a bunch of games including Super Mario Galaxy, Wii Sports and Mario Party 8. What, you were expecting Resident Evil 4?Paula Van Ness of Starlight said "Our Fun Centers transform the hospital experience for children, bringing enjoyment and laughter to an otherwise daunting experience." Yeah, damn straight it's daunting -- and what did the friendly hospital staff bring this blogger when he was down and out with appendicitis? Battletoads. Yeah, the most ball-breakingly difficult game ever conceived didn't make the hospital stay any more fun.[Via press release]
RFID "virtual walls" could keep tabs on hospital assets
RFID has long since been a pretty common find in your modern day hospital, but now GE and CenTrak are teaming up to make the technology even more useful in those long, winding hallways. Simply hailed as RFID "virtual walls," the creation enables venues to "track tagged mobile medical equipment down to a portion of a single room." By providing sub-room-level distinction, personnel can locate hardware within a monitored area as tiny as 6- x 8-feet, and although it'll likely be used to locate cardiac defibrillators and portable ultrasound machines, patients could theoretically be tracked, too. The new tech will be shown off at the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) Conference in San Jose next week, though there's no word on how soon the duo will roll this stuff out en masse.[Via medGadget]
Xbox 360 kiosks headed to children's hospitals across the US
Here's your heartwarming story for the day. Microsoft has teamed up with Companions in Courage in order to bring "hundreds" of Xbox 360 kiosks to children's hospitals across the nation, and the gaming stations have already been installed at Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of New York-Presbyterian, Children's Hospital & Regional Medical Center of Seattle and the Children's Hospital of Orange County, California. The customized units are "hospital-friendly" and come pre-loaded with a variety of E and E10+ rated games, Y-rated television programs, G-rated movies and the Xbox Live headset / Vision camera in order for gamers to play online. Speaking of, each kiosk is wired to a private Live network which "allows hospitalized children across the country to play games and chat" with each other. There's no word on where the stations are slated to arrive outside of the three venues already mentioned, but those interested in broadening the reach of the endeavor can feel free to donate to the cause.[Via OhGizmo]
White space networking could disrupt hospital telemetry systems
The stumbling blocks keep piling up as white space networking struggles to get off the ground: it looks like the manufacturers of healthcare equipment are set to join NAB in opposing the technology. Wireless medical telemetry devices like heart monitors have been operating in broadcast white spaces since the late 80s, and manufacturers like GE Healthcare say that the Microsoft- and Google-backed white space networking initiative could potentially "directly interfere" and "prevent patient monitoring." For its part, the FCC has set aside all of channel 37 for medical telemetry devices in 1998 after interference from a nearby TV station shut down the system at Baylor University Medical Center, but it wasn't mandatory, and hospitals that haven't made the switch could face millions of dollars in upgrade costs. That's not say that medical telemetry concerns are a problem that can't be solved -- the new Google push includes a channel 37 exception, for example, and there are some other compromise solutions on the table -- but it seems like there's no end of issues for a technology that hasn't really even been demonstrated working yet.
5-year-olds repair OLPC laptops at Nigerian "hospital"
During the recent Greener Gadgets Conference in New York, former OLPC CTO (and XO challenger) Mary Lou Jepsen discussed the real-world difficulties with using the kid-friendly laptops, including the creation of an XO "hospital" used to repair broken computers. Apparently, in the crowded conditions of schools in places like Nigeria, the little green laptops have a tendency to be jostled around and even knocked on the floor from time to time. As there's typically no repair shops nearby, the kids have learned to fix the systems themselves, setting up a "laptop hospital" where they can repair what's broken using simple tools and cheap replacement parts. Mary Lou says the company designed the systems to be easily fixable, including extra screws embedded in the computers themselves, and allowing for quick changes of the LCD backlight and other components. The in-house repairs cut down on shipping, promote reuse, and increase kids' understanding of ownership and responsibility, thus furthering the OLPC mission, and making everyone generally want to hug.[Image courtesy NotebookReview / Kevin O'Brien]
Nintendo of Italy donates handhelds to hospital
In the latest show of charity for Nintendo, the company's Italian division donated a DS to every child in the pediatric ward at San Paolo Hospital. Nintendo also gave copies of Nintendogs, New Super Mario Bros., and Pokemon Diamond and Pearl for the kids to enjoy, as well as a few Wiis. Some cynics might cite ulterior motives for Nintendo's actions, but the fact is, you can't argue with a smile on a sick child's face. Check out the video (with music that Super Mario Galaxy fans might recognize) of the event embedded above to get a nice feel-good start to the weekend.[Update: The video is now after the break because of its autostarting tendencies. Be warned, if you check past the break, the video will autostart.]
CNN explores the Wii as rehab
Considering the Wii has been on shelves for over a year, we wouldn't call this "breaking news," but mainstream media hasn't ever been all that informed about gaming. Still, it's nice to see the console being covered from an angle other than "video games turn your child into a psycho killer." That and a 30-minute session of Wii three times a week can really help in the physical recovery process. It really is a wonderful little system.See also: Video games more effective than medication for pain?[Via Go Nintendo]
CTC-chip isolates, analyzes rare tumor cells in bloodstream
Circulating tumor cells, which are more commonly referred to as CTCs, have thus far remained practically useless when it came to aiding in clinical decision making, but a new development could enable these rare cells to finally be used for guiding treatment. Reportedly, a crew of investigators from the Massachusetts General Hospital have crafted a "microchip-based device (dubbed CTC-chip) that can isolate, enumerate and analyze CTCs from a blood sample," which has the "potential to be an invaluable tool for monitoring and guiding cancer treatment." Additionally, researchers can look forward to "better understanding the biology of cancer cells and the mechanisms of metastasis," but there's still quite a bit of work to be done before the device can be put to clinical use.[Via Physorg]
Connecticut hospital jumps on the Wii rehab bandwagon
The mass appeal of the Wii is something we, as well as you, fine reader (seriously, you look good, are you using a new shampoo?) know full well. Retirement communities, rehabilitation centers and now, even some gyms are utilizing it. Heck, we wouldn't be surprised if the console one day cured cancer on its own (probably using Wii Sports).The latest center to take part in the phenomenon is none other than Bridgeport Hospital's Ahlbin Centers Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit. There, stroke victim Barbara Everlith is enjoying the wonders of the console, taking part in Wii Sports: Tennis and finding a new and exciting treatment option. Why, in the six weeks since beginning the program, her therapist Courtney Benedetto has said that Barbara has already gained some movement in her left hand. And, it's all thanks to the Wii.[Via Tech.Blorge]
Philips shows off health and wellness concepts at Simplicity Event
Philips' regular Simplicity Events have never seen a shortage of futuriffic concept devices in the past, and this week's event in London looks to be no exception, with it focusing on health and wellness in particular. Among the concepts on display is a 'Celebrating Pregnancy' scenario which, among other things, consists of a so-called "Presentation Bump" that allows for "4-D Baby Visualization", and a seat with an integrated scanning belt that enables "fast, hygienic scanning." Other concepts include an 'Ambient Healing Space' for patients recovering in the hospital, which includes a body sensing blanket that replaces other monitoring devices, along with a HeartStart portable heart monitor and resuscitation device, a whole 'Care for Guests' scenario, and even a newfangled espresso machine and a juicer/blender. Click on through to the gallery below for a closer look at each of those, plus a few other things Philips foresees in your future.[Via Pocket-lint] %Gallery-8985%
Cellphones are dangerous/not dangerous, hospital edition redux
Well, in true dangerous / not dangerous fashion, the bit we did on cells being safe to use in hospitals has been rolled over and proven false by yet another study. The BBC is reporting that in a study performed by Dutch researchers, the case for mobile phones interfering with hospital equipment has been stregthened. The group tested 61 devices, and the majority could be affected by mobiles -- though no word on what was considered as "affected". Of all of the equipment poked at, six intensive care ventilator systems behavior was classified as hazardous as they are plugged directly into patients. As a side note, 3G handsets are less likely to cause problems, but don't appear to be completely guilt free.
'GPS techniques' help surgeons carry out delicate procedures
While some courageous individuals may not mind a lifeless being slicing them up in the name of health, there remains a number of us who'd still rather have a human counterpart handling their operation. Thankfully, even skilled doctors could soon be given a hand by GPS location techniques, which have already assisted in some joint-replacement procedures. Essentially, the technology dishes out a "three-dimensional view of the joint area on a television monitor," and enables the knife wielder to make "more accurate cuts and place prostheses much more accurately." The signals are generated by a trio of tiny satellites that are inserted into the surgical incision and "triangulate the exact position of surgical instruments and the anatomy of the patient." Just be careful one of those things don't get sewn up in you, or else you'll likely be a walking beacon for the rest of your days.[Via TGDaily, image courtesy of AVHaspen]
