This Week in Devices [ 8/31/12]: St. Jude to Cut 300 Jobs; ICDs Endangered by Europe's Financial Crisis; Turning Your Body into a Wireless Hotspot; Libel Claim File Against the Lipotron 3000; Virtual Clinical Trials

St. Jude has announced it will be eliminating 300 jobs as part of a reorganization of its various medical device-making divisions. Source: Bloomberg Businessweek

Admist growing concern that the European financial crisis could lead to further underuse of implantable cardiac devices, the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) has started an initiative, ICD for Life, to raise awareness about the importance of ICDs and sudden cardiac death in countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Source: Medical News Today

Researchers say that Body Area Networks (BANs), which will provide wireless connectivity for the human body for potential telehealth applications, may be coming much sooner than we think. Source: EE Times

We previously wrote about the Lipotron 3000, an unintrusive liposuction device that has been sold and distributed without FDA clearance. Now a medical device distributor has filed a libel claim against FairWarning, the consumer group Public Citizen, and several other parties, claiming they made false statements about the sales of the Lipotron 3000. Source: NBC News

Researchers at the University of Tennessee are collecting scores of data from optometry patients with the aim of creating virtual clinical trial simulations that can be accessed and used by manufacturers. Source: University of Tennessee