In Global News: Remembering Earl Bakken, Wearable High Blood Pressure Monitor, and Apple Watch EKG

Patient Care and General Interest

Earl Bakken, Medtronic co-founder and inventor of the pacemaker, has died at age 94.

A 5-year-old boy in Sacramento, California, USA, who has a congenital heart defect and has undergone four related heart surgeries, has had his wish of becoming a Ghostbuster fulfilled.

A study published in The BMJ suggests that a group of common blood pressure drugs may be linked to lung cancer.

A collection of apps called PulsePoint, which are designed to connect CPR-certified locals to individuals experiencing cardiac arrest nearby, is slated to launch in early 2019.

Drugs and Devices

A study published via the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America indicates that wearable technology could potentially monitor the relationship between blood pressure and pulse wave velocity in arteries, possibly helping patients monitor high blood pressure.

According to a study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, an electrocardiogram reading from a specially equipped Apple Watch could potentially prove highly effective in detecting atrial fibrillation.

Research, Trials, and Funding

The Northern New England Biomarker Study suggests that elevated preoperative Galectin-3 is associated with acute kidney injury after cardiac surgery.

Researchers at the University College London’s Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health in the UK have successfully grown a functional esophagus from stem cells and transplanted it in mice.