July 2010 Archives

Laparoscopic gastric banding is a common surgical treatment for morbid obesity and the most critical factor in the success of the operation lies in the hands of the surgeon – who needs the proficiency and skill to insert slender, handheld tools into the body of the patient. A team of interdisciplinary researchers, led by engineering expert Professor Suvranu De, associate professor in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering at Rensselaer, has recently won a US $2.3M federal grant to develop a touch-sensitive virtual reality simulator that will realistically replicate how performing a gastric band operation feels – making it ideal for developing and teaching fundamental surgical skills and for assessing physicians wanting to be certified as a laparoscopic surgeon.

De said that physicians who performed less than 100 laparoscopic procedures had more complication rates when compared to experienced surgeons.  Being proficient at using remote control tools to perform minimally invasive laparoscopic procedures is critical in successfully performing laparoscopic surgery. This new testing and training system that uses haptic technology – or touch feedback – will allow surgeons to practice and refine the surgical skills needed to perform a laparoscopic procedure in their own virtual operating theater.

Read more:  gizmag.com.

The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court recently ruled that in workers' compensation cases, an expert's opinion could be held valid even if the expert did not personally examine a specific injury the worker suffered. In Stancell v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board, the court affirmed a benefits termination petition after the employer's medical expert testified regarding the employee's ability to return to work.

The court's holding suggests that as long as testifying physicians have sufficient, credible information regarding a worker's recovery, findings on a specific injury (especially when multiple injuries are the basis for benefits) may not be necessary to support the physician's opinion.

Read more: 24-7pressrelease.com.

BP engineers began a critical test of their leaking Gulf of Mexico oil well on Wednesday evening in an effort to determine if the pipes were structurally sound enough to allow them to seal off the gushing crude.  The test will measure the pressure inside the well. High-pressure readings for at least 48 hours may suggest that the well casings are relatively undamaged, which could mean it is safe to leave the well capped from above. And that, of course, would mean the incessant gush of oil, which has already despoiled ecosystems, livelihoods and lives, may finally stop, perhaps by the end of the week.

But the test itself is risky business. It requires that the well be sealed off temporarily with a snug, specially constructed capping stack that was latched onto the top of the well on Monday. And much like a thumb in a hole-studded garden hose, the cap could push oil out of any cracks that might exist in the well.

That scenario, in turn, could cause oil to seep upward and begin gushing from the sea bed, potentially turning the well into a ragged crater.  “That is THE worst case scenario,” said Iraj Ershaghi, a petroleum engineering expert at the University of Southern California. “Nobody has the technology to handle that.”

Read more: BusinessMirror.com.

A public inquiry report that concluded a Taser jolt carries a small risk of death is entirely supported by the evidence and is actually confirmed by the "fine print" the company now attaches to its weapons, the British Columbia government argued Tuesday as it defended the inquiry's findings in court. Taser International is challenging the first report into the death of Robert Dziekanski, arguing commissioner Thomas Braidwood treated the company unfairly and then reached conclusions that weren't supported by the facts. 

The Taser International's co-founder and several of its own experts appeared before the hearings in 2008.  But a lawyer for B.C.'s attorney general told a judge Tuesday the conclusion that a shock from a Taser has the capacity to affect the heart is confirmed by a training bulletin issued by the company last September — two months after the report's release.  The document, which received wide media coverage and prompted police forces across Canada to adjust their policies, recommended the devices be aimed away from the heart to "avoid the remote potential risk of cardiac effect."

Read more: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/

The defense brought their first medical expert to the stand on Tuesday in the trial of Paul Hill.  Hill is the Sioux City man charged with child endangerment resulting in the death of his 4-month-old daughter Tryniti Hill.  The defense called forensic neuropathology expert Dr. Jan who described the differences in the several hemorrhages found by medical examiners in Tryniti's brain during her autopsy.

When a hemorrhage occurs in the brain, Leestma says, "scavenger cells" take over to try and clean it up.  Leetsma says its difficult to say how long each have been there.  "Those cells can be present for years or longer they seem to get trapped there and that's the end," says Dr. Jan Leestma, forensic neuropathology consultant.  Leestma also says many people both adults and children, don't know they have hemorrhages right away.

For more, see ktv.com.