Medical scientists have known for some time that gold nanoparticles, coated with a thin layer of a special polymer, are an effective way of delivering drugs, nutrients, or biosensors into cells without damaging or destroying the cell. But researchers have been puzzled as to why this combination works so well or how it made it through the difficult-to-penetrate membrane walls.

St. Jude Medical (St. Paul, Minnesota) says it has acquired Endosense (Geneva, Switzerland), a private company that has pioneered contact-force measurement in catheter ablation. St. Jude said it made an initial payment of about CHF 159 million ($170 million) and acquired 100% of the outstanding equity of Endosense. The company also has agreed to pay up to CHF 150 million ($161 million), in cash milestone payments, contingent upon both the achievement and timing of a regulatory milestone. This brings the potential total of the deal up to $331 million.

One of the lesser known problems associated with combat injuries is that as many as 10% of battle wounds result in deadly infections that ultimately lead to septicemia and/or sepsis. A team of three U.S.-based companies are working under a contract from DARPA to develop a new device that may save the lives of both soldiers and civilians by treating sepsis.

Latoya Lucas was well aware of the dangers she faced when she enlisted in the U.S. Army, but not in a million years did she think she would have to face the challenges of a traumatic brain injury, second-degree burns and numerous lacerations and fractures.

During World War I, combat medics learned how to prioritize the wounded and the concept of triage eventually became standard practice in U.S. hospital emergency rooms; from World War II came mass production of penicillin and the modern day blood-banking system; wound adhesives debuted during the Vietnam War; Operation Desert Storm saw the advent of hemostatic bandages; and over the past twelve years combat injuries sustained in Iraq and Afghanistan have led to immeasurable advancements in medical technology as everything from tourniquets to prosthetics have been improved to meet the needs of service members on the front lines.

A decade ago it would have been hard to imagine a bioabsorbable tissue-lined stent graft capable of treating blood vessels that have been ripped apart by a bomb, or a spray-on solution that would promote the regrowth of your own skin after a traumatic injury or burn, or even a portable machine that could treat deadly infections like sepsis in much the same way that dialysis machines treat kidney failure. But today these innovations and many more are being developed to treat wounded warriors and will someday be used not just on the battlefield but in civilian hospitals as well....

Medtronic (Minneapolis) stepped into the field of deep brain stimulation (DBS) back in 1987 when it implanted its first DBS system in a patient in France, followed by FDA approval of that system 10 years later to treat essential tremor and tremor associated with Parkinson's disease. This week the company made another giant leap forward in the DBS space with the first implant of a new DBS plus sensing system that, for the first time, enables the sensing and recording of select brain activity while simultaneously providing targeted DBS therapy.

Edwards Lifesciences (Irvine, California) reported today that it has received conditional investigational device exemption approval from the FDA to initiate a clinical trial of its Sapien 3 transcatheter aortic heart valve and accessories. The news came as a surprise to those in the industry who follow the TAVI space because Edwards had not previously discussed its plans for bringing Sapien 3 to the U.S.