June 15, 2007 — According to a Yale School of Medicine Study, when medical residents work shorter hours, fewer patients are transferred to intensive care and there are not as many interventions by pharmacists to avoid errors in medication.

In addition, when residents' work schedules are limited to 80 hours per week more patients are discharged to their homes or rehabilitation centers instead of facilities such as nursing homes, the researchers found.

June 15, 2007 — Officials at Luna Innovations recently announced an agreement with Intuitive Surgical Inc., the world's only maker of surgical robots.

Luna is tapping into a trend known as minimally invasive surgery, in which doctors use tiny instruments inserted through small incisions in a patient.

In more than 90 percent of cases, the procedure is done manually, and the surgeon manipulates the instruments with the aid of a tiny camera inserted into the patient.

June 15, 2007 – The nonprofit Caring for Carcinoid Foundation announced it is moving forward on the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Carcinoid Summit now confirmed for Sept. 24-25 in Washington, D.C.

As the world’s largest funder of cancer research, NCI is the nation’s principal governmental cancer research agency with a budget of more than $5 billion.

The goal of the CFCF’s 2007 Research Action Plan is the facilitation of the Summit as part of its quest to revolutionize carcinoid/NET research and rapidly discover a cure.

June 15, 2007 - Quest International announced Totoku has achieved new ISO 13485:2003, Medical Device Certification, covering the design, development, manufacturing and service of medical image display systems for use in modalities and PACS.

For more information: www.questinc.com

June 15, 2007 - With a technology transfer agreement recently announced, the first compact proton therapy system, one that would fit in any major cancer center and cost a fifth as much as a full-scale machine is nearing reality thanks to scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in a project jointly funded by the Laboratory and UC Davis Cancer Center.

Proton therapy is considered the most advanced form of radiation therapy available, but size and cost have limited the technology’s use to only six cancer centers nationwide.