The Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center opened the country’s most advanced hybrid, robotic operating room. The new suite integrates advanced robotics, imaging and navigation with surgery to offer patients the least invasive and safest surgical and interventional treatments for cardiovascular disease. As medicine becomes less invasive for the patient, the new hybrid, robotic OR blurs the lines between an operating room and a catheterization lab.

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A new research project at the University of Leicester is set to play a vital role in continuing research into viable alternatives to invasive autopsies, which many families find to be unpleasant. The research team at the University of Leicester’s East Midlands Forensic Pathology Unit has won a substantive award by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) to investigate and develop the use of cardiac angiography in relation to near virtual autopsies.

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An over-the-counter drug for constipation offers superior symptom relief compared with a commonly used prescription agent, results of a systematic review suggest. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) led to greater improvement in stool frequency and form, relief of abdominal pain, and need for additional treatments as compared with lactulose, according to combined data from 10 randomized clinical trials involving more than 850 adults and children. PEG demonstrated superiority in children and adults alike.

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Seegene has announced the availability of Magicplex™ Sepsis, a new multi-pathogen screening test capable of quick and accurate identification of over 90 leading sepsis-causing pathogens. Magicplex Sepsis provides a novel and fast-acting diagnostic technique for hospitals to simultaneously verify a complex range of targets that indicate sepsis, the leading cause of death in non-coronary intensive care units worldwide. Magicplex Sepsis Test will not be available in the USA until regulatory clearance.

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Siemens has launched a new device in Europe for prostate cancer testing, which is designed to offer improved detection rates. The Advia Centaur free prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests have been released after receiving CE-mark accreditation and complete a full menu of prostate cancer tests available from Siemens.

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Genelex and Helix have announced a personalized prescribing strategic alliance to increase the availability of important new DNA Drug Sensitivity Tests such as Plavitest™ and Tamoxitest™. These tests and the GeneMedRx medication management software can save lives and healthcare dollars by allowing doctors to personalize their prescribing practices in order to prevent adverse medication outcomes, including treatment failures and dangerous side effects.

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Roche Holding AG said a study showed that its HPV test can detect cervical pre-cancer that could otherwhise be missed in a cytologic examination. The ATHENA (Addressing THE Need for Advanced HPV Diagnostics) U.S. registration trial of over 47,000 women demonstrates that two human papillomavirus genotypes, HPV 16 and HPV 18, can identify those women with cervical pre-cancer missed by cytologic examination with a Papanicolau (Pap) test.

Information from an EEG (electroencephalography) test could allow doctors to identify people at high risk of a particular mental disorder, such as schizophrenia. Scientists have found that a type of EEG brain wave is slightly different in people who have siblings with schizophrenia, compared with that seen in the general population. The researchers believe the information could be used to identify those at highest risk and pre-emptively treat them before they develop a full-blown mental disorder.

Abbott has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to market a new, sensitive molecular diagnostic test and instrument to simultaneously detect two of the nation’s most prevalent sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), gonorrhea and chlamydia, including a new variant strain of chlamydia recently discovered in Sweden. Abbott received independent 510(k) clearances for both the Abbott RealTime Chlamydia trachomatis/Neisseria gonorrhoeae (CT/NG) assay and the Abbott m2000 System.

Roche Molecular Systems Inc announced that the FDA has cleared its new LightCycler® MRSA Advanced Test for the detection of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) for clinical use in the United States. The LightCycler® MRSA Advanced Test is a qualitative in-vitro diagnostic test for the direct detection of nasal colonization with bacterial MRSA. The test is designed to aid in the prevention and control of MRSA infections in healthcare settings.