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Medtronic’s New Insulin Pump Aims To Prevent Hypoglycemia

g345yedy23wr Medtronics Low Glucose Suspend Technology Brings Insulin Pump Closer to Artificial Pancreas FunctionalityMedtronic received the go-ahead to begin an at-home U.S. trial of its Low Glucose Suspend technology that aims to prevent hypoglycemia by automatically stopping basal insulin delivery when measured glucose reaches a critically low level.

The pump technology is already available in Europe on the company’s Paradigm Veo insulin pump.

This is the second phase of the ASPIRE (Automation to Simulate Pancreatic Insulin REsponse) study, following the completion of the in-patient clinical study. ASPIRE is a multi-center, randomized, pivotal in-home study being conducted at multiple investigational centers to determine the safety and efficacy of the Low Glucose Suspend feature in the sensor-augmented MiniMed Paradigm insulin pump. Medtronic’s newest continuous glucose sensor, the Enlite™ sensor, will be tested as part of the overall system.

ASPIRE will compare Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*

How Can iPhone’s Siri Aid The Medical Professional?

Next week,  it will be my turn to write our article for the Clinical Psychiatry News website.  Over there, we try to have our writing more specifically aimed at an audience of psychiatrists.  I’m going to be writing an article on Siri and the Psychiatrist….in honor of my new iPhone 4s and the “personal assistant” function named Siri.  Okay, I’m obsessed.  Everyday, I find new things it can help me with.  Today, I asked it, “What’s the meaning of life.”  What, you don’t ask your cell phone the finer existential questions?  Siri answered, “All available evidence suggests chocolate.”  Wow!  How old is Liza Minelli?  65 years, 7 months, 20 days.  Calculate a tip? No problem.  Convert Celius to Fahrenheit?  A cinch.  And she takes dictation.  “Siri, please text Patient A Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Shrink Rap*

Robots Allow Experts In The Medical Field To Bring Care To Rural Areas


Both in the United States and around the globe there is a mismatch between needed medical care and the doctors who can provide it.  Most physicians are located in urban areas where there are hospitals, teaching schools, lab and Xray and specialists to deal with most every medical condition.  Rural areas in the United States lack these resources and patients either do without,  or must travel far to be seen.  In developing countries there may be no services at all for hundreds of miles.  That is where telehealth can play a huge role in bringing medicine to the  people.

The “In-touch” robot is one technology that can work all over the world.  Through a simple lap-top computer a doctor can Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*

Prometheus Labs Takes Steps Toward Applied Precision Medicine

If you want a glimpse at a company putting precision medicine into practice look no further than Prometheus Labs.  They make diagnostic products for personalized care in digestive disease and oncology.  I use their products to diagnose and target therapy in children with inflammatory bowel diseases (crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis).

IBD offers a nice place to see the evolution of precision diagnostics:

Early biomarker testing.  Initially we had ASCA and pANCA antibodies to discern crohn’s and ulcerative colitis.

Advanced biomarker testing. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*

Emergency Contacts In Your Mobile Phone: Let ICE Speak For You When You Can’t

A good friend and fellow physician sent me this notice. This is an important public service announcement.

An individual citizen, not the government, initiated the program.  If adoption of the program becomes a national standard, it will demonstrate people power and individual responsibility.

The key to Repairing the Healthcare System is individual responsibility. This program represents an opportunity for every individual to assume responsibility for themselves and alert everyone they know to be responsible for themselves.

A paramedic conceived ICE.  At the scene of accidents he found cell phones on an unconscious victim but he could not find whom to notify.

He thought it would be a good idea if there was a nationally recognized symbol to find a victim’s contact person In Case of an Emergency in the victims cell phone directory.

The ICE cell phone number could be Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Repairing the Healthcare System*

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The Spirit Of The Place: Samuel Shem’s New Book May Depress You

When I was in medical school I read Samuel Shem s House Of God as a right of passage. At the time I found it to be a cynical yet eerily accurate portrayal of the underbelly of academic medicine. I gained comfort from its gallows humor and it made me…

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Eat To Save Your Life: Another Half-True Diet Book

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