• Glucon (Boulder, Colorado), developer of a continuous, non-invasive, glucose monitoring technology for home and clinical use, said it has been granted U.S. patent No. 6,846,288 for the use of photoacoustic waves originating in a specific region (a blood vessel) to calculate the concentration of a component (glucose) in the blood vessel. Glucon's flagship device, the Glucose Monitoring Watch, displays a continuous reading of the patient's real time blood glucose level, enabling the patient to take the necessary measures to treat their condition. Ultrasound imaging is employed to identify a blood vessel and optical spectroscopy is used to quantify the glucose concentration within the blood vessel.

• Lumenis (Yokneam, Israel), a manufacturer of laser and light-based devices, said it will introduce at the American Academy of Dermatology meeting in New Orleans its Aluma with FACES (Functional Aspiration Controlled Electrothermal Stimulation) technology for the non-invasive treatment of wrinkles. Upon FDA approval, the Aluma system will be available in the U.S. as both a stand-alone system and a module for the flagship Lumenis One multi-application platform.

• Medtronic (Minneapolis) said researchers recently implanted in the first U.S. patient its new, high-power investigational neurostimulation system for chronic pain patients. The implant launched a nationwide, multi-center study of the Restore System, with features that include a battery life not available with currently approved devices on the market for chronic pain. The system's design allows patients to intermittently recharge the battery. It also is intended to reduce physician burden by offering multiple program options and decrease the number of physician visits required to manually program the devices.

• NanoHorizons (State College, Pennsylvania), which is focused on applied nanoscale materials and solutions, said it has been awarded a patent covering a deposited thin-film system for high-throughput small-molecule mass spectrometry. QuickMass-enhanced targets enable MALDI mass spectrometers to be used for accurate and convenient small molecule analysis using matrix-less and thin-layer matrix test techniques, the company said.

• Pall (East Hills, New York) said it is introducing in Europe the Pall-Aquasafe AQF1C water filter, the latest addition to its line of point-of-use water filters for hospitals and other healthcare facilities. The new filter is designed to prevent microbial contamination of heat-sensitive medical devices as well as machines that dispense ice and water. The CE-marked disposable filter, which is installed in the water supply line, contains a 0.2 micron bacterial retention membrane validated to produce bacteria-free water.