A Medical Device Daily
Yulex (Carlsbad, California), a company that produces a domestic source of natural rubber derived from the desert plant guayule, has signed an R&D agreement with the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (USDA) to increase the rubber latex yield of guayule, a source of rubber latex that is safe for people with Type I latex allergy.
Scientists from Yulex and the USDA will create new guayule varieties by transforming existing high-yielding plant lines with rubber biosynthesis genes. Yulex obtained an exclusive license on a technology developed by the USDA in 1997 to extract natural rubber latex from the guayule plant.
In other agreement news:
• Mercury Computer Systems (Chelmsford, Massachusetts) reported a partnership with BRIT Systems (Dallas) for the integration and distribution of its image management system. The partnership paves the way for providing integrated high-end PACS systems, enabling a significantly faster radiological workflow and outstanding image quality for 2D, 3D and 4D data, Mercury said.
BRIT will integrate the Mercury Visage PACS and Visage CS Thin Client Server into its Roentgen RIS radiology information system so that BRIT can offer an extended product portfolio covering clinical applications in cardiology, PET-CT, surgery and orthopedics, and 3D tools. Mercury will also deliver professional services to BRIT to provide fast time-to-market turnkey solutions for clinics and healthcare institutions.
• Eastman Kodak (Rochester, New York) said it has integrated Siemens Medical Solutions (Malvern, Pennsylvania) FUSION7D Software designed to enhance visualization of cancerous tumors and lesions into the latest version of its Kodak Carestream PACS (picture archiving and communications system) platform. This optional feature is now available in the U.S., Canada and Europe.
Image fusion software creates a composite image by overlaying image data from PET, CT, SPECT and MRI systems so that oncologists have better visualization of anatomic and metabolic information and can more confidently assess tumor volumes and disease progression. Siemens’ FUSION7D software is designed to provide advanced visualization tools and registration capabilities that govern how the images are overlaid.