Geno:type

I attended the Magstim 2007 Summer School from the 25th-27th May, which saw the release of the first issue of Neuromodulation and Brain Stimulation (NBS) News. The newsletter, produced in collaboration with Alto Marketing, provides an introduction to magnetic stimulation and its useful applications. Contents include an informative overview of current research in transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and an insight into the applications of TMS as used by four of the most prominent researchers in the field.

For a free subscription, please send your full postal address and preferred e-mail address to editor@neuromodulationnews.org.
For more information on the company, have a look at the Magstim website.

The September issue of European Clinical Laboratory is out, containing Sarah’s article, “Exploring definitive diagnoses of Alzheimer’s disease”.  The article covers recent developments in establishing a definitive test for Alzheimer’s, which is currently diagnosed through a series of evaluations and tests that strongly suggest Alzheimer’s and rule out other conditions that display similar symptoms.

If you don’t already receive ECL, you can subscribe to it for free at the ECL subscription page.

Another of our white papers for Inion’s line of biodegradable orthopaedic implants has gone up on their website. This one on “The Importance of Sterile Packed, Single Use Implants in Orthopaedic Surgery”. You can view all of the white papers and download them at Inion’s white paper section.

Sarah has a piece on “Detecting and Preventing Cardiovascular Disease - The Role of the Patient, the Physician and the Laboratory” appearing in the June/July issue of European Clinical Laboratory. There’ll be an article from her in each issue so go and subscribe. Those nice people at ISC will make sure you don’t miss out on the fun.

We wandered over to Analytica 2006 yesterday and tired ourselves out walking around the place. Thanks to everyone we chatted with, lots of friendly folk there and many interesting gadgets. I’m a sucker for mechanical analytical devices, put a complicated machine automatically taking samples with a mechanical arm on your stand and I’ll happily stand there and watch it go until Sarah drags me away.

Speaking of Sarah, she managed to come away without any free pens this time. This is contrary to her usual behaviour - where our office is buried under a mountain of branded promotional writing implements after any given trade show. So I’m happy about that.

Everyone we promised to get in touch with, we will do so post-haste and forthwith.

Two more white papers are available for download on the Inion website: Inion OTPS^TM Mesh for Reconstruction of the Iliac Crest and Advantages of Biodegradable Pins over Metal Fixation.

March was a great month for Inion and saw them granted a patent for a genetically modified variant of bone morphogenetic protein along with FDA clearance for a new 6mm Hexalon screw, expanding their product range in sports medicine.

Working on it for a second time with the splendid Alto Marketing we’ve put together the latest issue of Theatre Matters for Regent Medical. Again covering topical issues, technology and events that may be of interest to Surgeons, Anaesthetists, Nurses and other theatre staff, Theatre Matters goes out to thousands of people in hospitals around the UK.

Issue 7 (Winter 2005) was distributed at the end of December and is now available in PDF form from the Resources section of the Regent Medical website.

Healthcare Equipment & Supplies (HES) magazine is becoming more focused on supply and purchasing and were interested in publishing an article on the financial benefits of biodegradable implants - such as those made by Inion. The story has now hit the streets in the November issue of HES and can be seen online here.

Toby and I were pleased to attend the star-studded opening of a European Technical Centre (ETC) for Inion at Cambridge Science Park on Friday the 11th November.

Officially opened by Lord Sainsbury, Minister for Science, the new centre is headed by Professor Franz Weber and will be used by Inion to research next-generation biomaterials.

It was a great opportunity for us to meet the guys from Finland including Dr Auvo Kaikkonen, CEO of Inion and to meet the new Cambridge-based research team.

Inion’s press release

Continuing the series, we have produced two more white papers for Inion, entitled: “Biodegradable Screws for Syndesmosis Repair” and “Versatility and Stability of Biodegradable Materials in Cranio-Maxillofacial Surgery”. See the whole list on Inion.com.

Looks like the BHF Annual Report is available on their website now. You can go and read Sarah’s wonderful words without having to wait for the postman.

We’ve just had our first look at the finished product for the British Heart Foundation Annual Report 2005 and we’re blown away. M-Corp have done an incredible job with the design and layout and have had their efforts rewarded with a picture of them all standing in a heart-shape on the front of the report! It’s a brilliant acknowledgement of their hard work and shows how the BHF care about people.

Along the same vein our very own Sarah has received a “Written by” credit at the back of the report, which we never saw in any of the initial reviews (honest!). We keep a low-profile on our work - it’s part of the service, to be clichéd - so we were really touched by this.

Many thanks to everyone at the BHF, you’re very nice people to work with.

Sarah and Samantha are going to be attending the Institute of Biomedical Scientists (IBMS) Congress 2005 in Birmingham on the 26th of September. We’ll be there representing with our Alto Marketing and Horiba ABX friends.

The very next day Sarah will be in Torquay for the Infection Control Nurses Association (ICNA) get-together. If you see her wandering around say hello, she’s actually quite friendly.

We need some help around here, say hello to Samantha. I have to go and write some more things on the About Us page. See you there!

We have the first two of our series of white papers for Inion up on their website.

Sarah’s done a bang-up job on these and they’ve been very well received. “Economic Benefit of Biodegradable Ankle Fracture Fixation” in particular is an enjoyable romp, with a surprising twist to the plot. Have a look at “An Introduction to Biodegradable Polymers as Implant Materials” while you’re there.

The M-Corporation and ourselves are producing the 2004/2005 Annual Report for the British Heart Foundation. A wonderful charitable organisation and we’re extremely happy to be helping them.

We’re handling the words and the M-Corporation is ably taking care of the design, layout and technical side of the report - and what a technical side. This marks the first annual report by a major British charity to be produced on a CD-Rom as well as being published in the usual paper form and also to be available as a fully-accessible area of their website once published.

Presenting the BHF’s accomplishments across print, web and multimedia is going to be a challenge for us as well as M-Corp.

No time for chats, there’s work to do.

Issue 6 of Theatre Matters is now available from the resources area of the Regent Medical website. We’ve got a printed copy here - it’s blue, glossy and smells delicious.

Please give a warm welcome to Inion, for whom we are producing a series of white papers and case reports on their nifty line of biodegrable implants. We’re going to see these polymer-based orthopaedic implants really start to gain ground on the traditional metal ones currently in use, for many reasons which I’ll leave the white papers to explain.

They’ll be used by their sales forces and distribution channels, providing some good data to base purchasing decisions on. I expect they’ll also appear on the Inion website. There will be links.

With our special chums at Alto Marketing we’re putting together the next issue of Theatre Matters, a Regent Medical publication. Covering topical issues, technology and events related to operative practice, Theatre Matters goes out to thousands of people in hospitals around the UK.

Issue 6 will be sent out in June, and will also be available in PDF form from the Regent Medical website. We’ll put up a link to it when it arrives.