The Mini Manus contest sponsored by Igus Inc. looks to uncover unusual plastic bearings applications. Contestants enter online at igus.com/mini_manus_contest.asp where they answer questions and submit a form detailing their application. The contest ends June 30, 2005 and winners will be announced in July.

Phillips Plastics Corp. is relocating its magnesium molding (thixomolding) process to a facility in Eau Claire, Wisc. The expansion will let Phillips conduct research and development to advance the technology.

A medical record system stores a complete medical history on a device the size of an ordinary keychain. The system, from Patient Practitioners, Chipley, Fla., can be accessed by any desktop or laptop computer as well as ambulances, making the records instantly available. The medical record contained in the miniature device can be read on any computer with a USB port.

A lightning-fast laser technique, developed by a Sandia National Laboratories team led by researcher Paul Gourley, identifies liver tumor cells without invasive chemical reagents. The technique generates a laser beam in single human cells pumped from a flask through tiny microchannels. The beam is altered by what it encounters. These changes, registered by an imaging spectrometer, instantly identify cancer-modified mitochondria in cells gone wrong. The old way requires a time-consuming process such as fluorescent tagging or a chemical reagent. The techniques could be critical to advancing early detection, diagnosis, and treatment of disease.

New monitoring technology being tested at Clarian Health Partners' Methodist Hospital, Indianapolis, may give doctors and nurses an early warning of patient problems. The monitoring system, called BioSign, from Oxford BioSignals Ltd., Oxford, U.K., is based on technology also being used in the next generation of Boeing and Airbus jet engines. It combines data from a patient's heart rate, respiratory rate, temperature, blood pressure, and blood-oxygen-saturation level. When a patient's vital signs stray from the norm the system sounds an alarm, up to four hours sooner than traditional bedside monitors.