Two of the country’s preeminent health organizations, the American Heart Association (AHA) and the American Medical Association (AMA), announced a new nationwide initiative aimed at addressing the growing burden of high blood pressure in the United States.

Medtronic plc announced that the Medtronic Micra Transcatheter Pacing System (TPS) was successfully implanted in nearly all patients in the trial and met its safety and effectiveness endpoints with wide margins. These data, from the Medtronic Micra TPS Global Clinical Trial, were presented during a late-breaking special report session at the 2015 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions and simultaneously published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

TherOx Inc. announced it has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) approval for a confirmatory safety study of a second-generation supersaturated oxygen (SSO2) therapy system. The system helps reduce infarct size after an acute myocardial infarction (AMI). This 100-patient study is being conducted to support a pre-market approval submission to the FDA.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS is introducing the FitnessSHIRT during the MEDICA trade fair. This smart apparel can continuously monitor various body signals in mobile application scenarios. The shirt can be worn during daily routine, is washable and features integrated sensors that measure the pulse and respiratory rate simultaneously.