• Bovie Medical (Melville, New York) received FDA clearance for the J-Plasma ICON GS electrosurgical generator and handpiece. The technology uses a gas ionization process producing a stable thin focused beam of ionized helium gas that can be controlled in a range of temperatures and intensities, providing the surgeon greater precision, minimal invasiveness and an absence of conductive currents during surgery. Independent control of the beam power (heating) and helium flow rate (cooling) produces a localized effect with minimal collateral damage to the surrounding healthy tissue.

• BrainScope (Washington) said its first device, the Zoom-100DC brain electrical activity data collection system, has received FDA clearance. The Zoom-100DC is an 8-channel, portable, handheld electroencephalogram (EEG) device capable of recording and displaying EEG waveforms and providing conventional EEG measures displayed in tables. The Zoom-100DC is designed to be used at the initial point of care where traditional EEG tools are not readily available. It is intended to monitor the state of the brain by acquisition and display of EEG signals and by the calculation of standard quantitative EEG (qEEG) parameters.

• Ethicon (Somerville, New Jersey) said that its Biopatch protective disk with CHG (chlorhexidine gluconate) will include new design elements and updated packaging to make it easier for surgeons, nurses and other healthcare providers to apply the product correctly around catheters to reduce the risk of catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSIs). Biopatch is placed directly on the skin at the point of catheter insertion and provides seven days of continuous active antisepsis. In a clinical study, the use of Biopatch was associated with a 76% reduction in CRBSI.

• Helicos BioSciences (Cambridge, Massachusetts) reported the publication of a study in which a Helicos Genetic Analysis System was used to sequence a human genome at the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine. The study was carried out using less than four runs of a single HeliScope Single Molecule Sequencer, and achieved 28X average coverage of the human genome. The sequencing allowed the detection of over 2.8 million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), of which more than 370,000 were novel. The Helicos Genetic Analysis System is a single molecule sequencing technology, and enables scientists to conduct studies in the fields of genome biology, cancer research, common diseases genetics, and microbiology without adapter ligation or amplification. The Helicos Genetic Analysis System can analyze DNA directly, with very little manipulation, allowing individual laboratories to conduct affordable, large-scale experiments.

• The Quantum Group (Wellington, Florida) reported that the third version of PWeR (Personal Wellness electronic Record), PWeR 3.0, should launch within the month. The company claims that new functionality and enhanced user experience features dominate the upgrades for the new version of PWeR. With the product, medical records will follow the patient, giving every healthcare provider that sees a particular patient access to all the information needed to assist in their diagnosis and treatment plan. Providers can access a patient's entire medical record at one glance. Patients can look back over physician instructions or track their wellness progress.