• Cardiac Science (Bothell, Washington), a manufacturer of advanced cardiac monitoring and defibrillation products, reported that it has secured three new U.S. patents. The first patent covers an external defibrillation module for integration into standard hospital patient monitors. The module has numerous modes of operation and is designed for integration with generic patient monitoring equipment to share certain functions and provide patients with the appropriate anti-tachycardia therapy. The second covers a publicly-available portable defibrillator capable of being used by a bystander to automatically deliver life-saving defibrillation shock to a heart attack victim. The third patent covers a method of microvolt T-wave Alternans testing, a non-invasive testing method that employs statistical analysis to identify microvolt abnormalities in a patient's electrocardiogram in order to determine a patient's vulnerability to sudden cardiac arrest.

• Nanogen (San Diego), developer of advanced diagnostic products, reported that it has been issued two patents by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for inventions related to disease biomarkers. U.S. patent No. 7,014,854 claims use of immune system modulation to remove proteins associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The patent relates to a therapeutic model wherein the AD autoantibody to human glial fibrillary acidic protein can be targeted with antibodies for removal from serum. The second issued patent, No. 7,015,004, relates to the isolation and use of a biomarker to diagnose metabolic syndrome. The patent for the metabolic syndrome biomarker, an inter-alpha trypsin inhibitor, covers the steps required to isolate the protein from body fluids such as blood, serum, saliva or urine. The patent also allows the immunological detection of the biomarker.

• Vital Images (Minneapolis), a provider of enterprise-wide advanced visualization and analysis software solutions, and R2 Technology (Sunnyvale, California), a developer of computer aided detection (CAD) for earlier detection of breast cancer, actionable lung nodules and other abnormalities, reported the recent launch of the next-generation Vitrea solution, featuring the integration of R2's ImageChecker CT Lung CAD software. Vital Images' flagship product, Vitrea, creates 2-D, 3-D and 4-D images of human anatomy from CT and MRI data. The integrated CT Lung CAD solution includes automatic detection of pulmonary nodules, AutoPoint –automatic temporal comparison of pulmonary nodules, pulmonary artery patency examination (PE) detection software and a flexible, but consolidated reporting feature scalable to the unique requirements of a clinical enterprise. The integration of the two high-performance solutions enhances the signature anticipatory automation of Vitrea's workflow, ensuring an intuitive, fast and easy-to-use solution, the companies said.