> The FDA has awarded a two-year, $2.2 million grant to University of Michigan researchers, under the leadership of pediatric surgeon James Geiger. The grant will support three of more than 40 ongoing pediatric device projects for children. U of M release
> Alere has lowered its acceptance threshold for Axis-Shield as it appears unlikely that the U.S. firm will win over enough shareholders for a full takeover. Unmoved, Axis-Shield termed the takeover approach as "highly opportunistic" and said it was "disappointed" the U.S. firm had not taken notice of its previous rejections. Story
> Belgian researchers have found that a new technique can more accurately determine whether people have the disease when compared with the current method of PET-CT scans. European Respiratory Society release
> Given Imaging ($GIVN) has announced the publication of data from the largest multi-center study of PillCam COLON 2 in the September print edition of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. The results confirm the second-generation PillCam COLON capsule demonstrated a high sensitivity for the detection of clinically relevant polypoid lesions and could be an appropriate tool for visualizing the colon. Given Imaging release
> A smartphone app could one day allow heart-failure patients to keep track of the pressure inside their heart as measured by an implanted sensor. And that data could help patients adjust their medication to maintain a healthy pressure, much as diabetics do with insulin and blood sugar readings. News
And Finally... In 2002, graduate student Marie Johnson started listening to her husband's heart with an electronic stethoscope to record the sounds of heart murmurs. Unfortunately, she didn't know she was capturing a few faint, erratic signals that foreshadowed his death roughly 6 months later. She spent the next two years looking at the stethoscope data and ultimately pinpointed a murmur that was both fatal for her husband and the inspiration for new technology. News