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Some tattoos truly make the heart go pitter-patter. In rats, a graphene “tattoo” stuck to the heart could treat an abnormally sluggish beat. Like a futuristic pacemaker, the device delivered electrical signals that kept the heart pumping properly, scientists report online March 25 in Advanced Materials. The electronic device is currently a proof of concept, but a version for use in human hearts could be ready for testing within five years, estimates Igor Efimov, a cardiovascular engineer at Northwestern University in Chicago. Efimov and his colleagues have worked for years creating implantable devices that conform to the body. A main...

Former Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday said he’s spoken “many times” with former President Donald Trump since they left office and that they don’t “see eye to eye” on the events of Jan. 6. But he said Republicans “must move forward united” and focus on opposing President Biden’s agenda. Pence called the Capitol riot a “dark day,” but said that it was being used as a smokescreen to facilitate Biden’s agenda. “As I said that day, Jan. 6 was a dark day in the history of the United States Capitol. But thanks to the swift action of the Capitol...

Mike Pence has had a pacemaker implanted during a procedure in Indiana, the former VP’s office said Thursday. “I am grateful for the swift professionalism and care of the outstanding doctors, nurses and staff at Inova Heart and Vascular Institute,” the ex-veep said in the statement.

Shortly after the recall, the FDA and Medtronic made a deal to keep reports about the widely used device’s malfunction incidents — now totaling 50,000 — shielded from public scrutiny. The FDA has allowed device makers to file 1.1 million reports of injuries or malfunctions to a little-known internal FDA database since 2016, a recent Kaiser Health News investigation has found, spurring top FDA officials to pledge to open those records within weeks and shut down the “alternative summary reporting” program. For the past two decades, the agency has granted various devices different types of so-called exemptions from reporting to...

A computer hacker who gained cult status across the internet after revealing how to hack cash machines has been found a week before he was due to demonstrate how to kill someone by hacking their pacemaker. The body of Barnaby Jack was found in San Francisco yesterday. The city's medical examiner's office would not give any further details. Jack, a security expert, became one of the most famous hackers on the planet after a 2010 demonstration in which he forced ATMs to spit out cash, dubbed 'Jackpotting'.

How listening to an iPod could stop your pacemaker workingBy DANIEL MARTIN - More by this author » Last updated at 23:27pm on 11th May 2007  Ipods can cause pacemakers to malfunction by making them go too fast, too slow or even stop altogether, according to a study. Researchers found that iPods could make pacemakers malfunction by interfering with the electromagnetic equipment monitoring the heart rate. As a result, the pacemaker was unable to effectively monitor how fast the heart was beating, making it unable to regulate its speed. The study may concern the increasing number of older people...

There's no denying the technological impact of Apple's iconic iPod and its subsequent dominance in the digital music marketplace, and, considering its prolific rise and ongoing consumer dominance, the occasional bug, fault, and glitch are perhaps tolerable in an otherwise superb piece of kit. However, one of this week's news stories would suggest that loving your iPod and duly keeping it close to your heart might be bad for your health, especially if you're fitted with a pacemaker. More pointedly, according to a study carried out by Jay Thaker, a 17-year-old high school student, which was presented to a selection...

Apple iPods can cause cardiac implantable pacemakers to malfunction by interfering with the electromagnetic equipment monitoring the heart, according to a study presented by a 17-year-old US high school student to a meeting of heart specialists. The study tested the effect of the portable music devices on 100 patients, mean age 77, fitted with pacemakers. Electrical interference was detected half of the time when the iPod was held just five cm from the patient's chest for five to 10 seconds. ~ snip ~

ROCHESTER, Minn. - Former President Ford received a cardiac pacemaker Monday at the Mayo Clinic, a top aide said. Ford, 93, was resting comfortably after the operation, and his wife and children were with him, according to a statement issued Monday afternoon by Penny Circle, his chief of staff. Ford was expected to continue to recuperate at the clinic for several days. The pacemaker is designed to enhance his heart's performance. He was admitted Aug. 15 for tests and evaluation. At the time, neither the clinic nor his chief of staff would comment in detail on his condition. Ford spent...

Texan held for cutting pacemaker from mother's body 7 minutes ago HOUSTON (Reuters) - A Texas man has been charged with cutting a pacemaker out of his dead mother's chest with a kitchen knife as part of a long-running dispute with a medical company. Harris County sheriff's deputies arrested James A. Donalson, 59, on Sunday after paramedics responding to the death of his mother discovered a large incision in her chest, Sergeant Bruce Williams said. "The son, her caretaker, made the comment, 'I removed the pacemaker,'" Williams said on Monday. "It's my understanding there's been some kind of ongoing dispute...

<p>July 9, 2003 -- WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney, who has had four eart attacks, got a clean bill of health yesterday after his yearly physical exam.</p> <p>Cheney's high-tech pacemaker, which turns on if his heart gives out, hasn't needed to spring into action since being implanted in June 2001, according to his spokeswoman. "All the news is very good," said Cheney spokeswoman Jennifer Millerwise.</p>

WASHINGTON (AP)--Vice President Dick Cheney will undergo a routine physical Tuesday to check the condition of a high-tech pacemaker that was placed in his chest in June 2001. Spokeswoman Cathie Martin said the tests at George Washington University Medical Center would include a physical exam, an electrocardiogram, an echocardiogram and a stress test. It is a noninvasive procedure and the vice president plans to be back at work by midday, she said. The doctor will electronically scan the pacemaking device _ called an implantable cardioverter defibrillator--to make sure it is working and to see if it has ever been activated...

<p>WASHINGTON - Sen. George Voinovich will have a cardiac pacemaker implanted on Friday, his office announced Wednesday.</p> <p>Voinovich, 66, said in a statement that his heart rate has slowed down over the past several years due to a condition called progressive sinus bradycardia, which means that he has a slow heart rate even at rest.</p>

Hospital Implants Emotional-Stress Pacemaker Fri Jan 10, 5:28 PM ET CHICAGO (Reuters) - The first of a new kind of cardiac pacemaker, which responds to emotional stress, has been implanted in an 81-year-old female patient in Louisiana, doctors said on Friday. The patient, whose name was withheld, was released from the Heart and Vascular Center in Lake Charles, Louisiana, on Thursday evening and is doing well, they said. The Protos Pacemaker, manufactured by Biotronik of Germany, translates cardiac signals sent directly from the heart to determine the appropriate heartbeat rate. Unlike traditional pacemakers, which use motion sensors and therefore respond...

Researchers have created a ``biological pacemaker'' in guinea pigs by slipping a gene into their hearts _ a first step in what could lead to alternatives to the electronic devices now implanted in hundreds of thousands of people each year. The healthy human heart already contains a small number of specialized ``pacemaker'' cells, which initiate the muscle's beat and determine its rate and rhythm of contraction. But old age or disease can cause the cells to malfunction, and mechanical pacemakers are needed to fix the trouble. In their study, researchers at Johns Hopkins University used a virus to deliver genes...