From The Editor
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Solving Spinal Surgery’s “I Need A Third Hand” Dilemma
11/3/2017
Facet joints are the joints between your vertebrae that guide your spine’s movement. About 10 percent of adults suffer from chronic back pain and 31 percent of those cases have facet joint involvement. There are several treatment options available including radio frequency ablation. Innovations in treatment devices are allowing providers to have a "third hand" during this procedure.
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Skeletal Wonder From Down Under
10/30/2017
What a perfect day to talk about skeletons! What is a skeleton without a sternum and some ribs? A skeleton without a sternum and some ribs represents a person who may benefit from technologies by Melbourne, Australia-based medical device company Anatomics.
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Treating Depression As Easy As 1-2-3-4
10/24/2017
Depression is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest. Also called major depressive disorder or clinical depression, it affects how you feel, think, and behave, and can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems. Although depression can be treated with medication, there may be another way.
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Good Money No Longer Goes To Die In Neuroscience
10/23/2017
The human body is miraculous in its ability to heal. We cut ourselves shaving and the wound quickly scabs over, healing completely in a couple weeks. We break a bone in our arm or leg and the ends of the broken bone knit themselves back together, healing in a couple months. But, what happens when we injure our brain?
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Diners, Devices, And Dives
10/18/2017
We are often drawn to bright, shiny objects of some sort. This holds true for the medical device industry as well. The top four economic areas in the U.S. for medical device employment in 2015 were Los Angeles, New York City, Boston, and Minneapolis. As I look at my home state of Pennsylvania, I see a microcosm of the national paradigm.
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Hammering Home A Solution For The Opioid Crisis
10/9/2017
Have you ever accidently struck your thumb or finger with a hammer? What was your immediate reaction? I mean after the few choice expletives! Most, if not all of us, will grab and rub the impacted appendage. Why do we do this, and what does this have to do with a potential solution for the opioid crisis?
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Putting The Cybathon Into Action
10/6/2017
Professor Robert Riener from the ETHZ was inspired by a man who climbed 103 flights of stairs in the Willis Tower in Chicago using a motorized prosthesis. This was the birth of his idea for the first Cybathlon.
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Grateful Patients Turn The Spotlight On You!
9/29/2017
When was the last time someone expressed gratitude for the work you do? I don’t just mean a simple “thank you” for completing a task or deliverable. I’m not even talking about receiving a bonus because your company hit its performance targets this past year. Being told “thank you” is important and getting a bonus is very nice, but I am talking about something deeper and more meaningful.
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When Regulatory Goes Wrong
9/27/2017
In spite of my preference for “happily ever-after” as detailed in a previous article, sometimes things do not go well for medical device companies as it pertains to regulatory affairs.
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Human Factors Align At The RAPS 2017 Regulatory Convergence
9/21/2017
Recently I had the privilege of co-presenting a session at the RAPS 2017 Regulatory Convergence with former colleagues from Regulatory & Quality Solutions (R&Q) and members of the FDA. Read more about the session here.