Small, robust and extremely non-magnetic! These are the qualities of the new micro-D connectors developed by Axon’ Cable. These miniature connectors are designed for devices, which rely on magnetism when operating. This is the case, for example, for MRI scanners where the magnetic field generated must remain constant and stable to obtain reliable and high quality 3D images. 
The non-magnetic connectors developed by Axon’ Cable have not only a very low residual magnetic field (less than 1 nT – about 50,000 times lower than the earth’s magnetic field), but it is also almost impossible to magnetize them. They cannot, therefore, interfere with the magnetic fields produced by the magnets of
medical imaging devices or
particle accelerators used by scientists.
Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is perhaps the most useful technique in the organic chemist’s toolkit. But conventional NMR requires the sample to be placed in a very high magnetic field, which needs large and expensive superconducting magnets cooled by liquid helium. Now, an interdisciplinary group in the US has managed to accomplish NMR spectroscopy without magnets. The work could lead to portable NMR spectrometers, and possibly even small personalized spectrometers for medical diagnosis.
Exposure to an MRI magnetic field can cause unintended cardiac stimulation and considerably alter pulse in patients implanted with pacemakers–conditions that can have potentially devastating consequences–according to research published Dec. 15 in BioMedical Engineering Online.
Howard I. Bassen, a researcher with the FDA in Rockville, Md., and Gonzalo G. Mendoza, a biomedical engineer at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., measured the electric fields (E-fields) induced near the tips of pacemakers by a simulated MRI gradient system to assess the risks involved in patients with a cardiac device who undergo MRI.
According to the researchers, “patients are generally not allowed (by present practices) to undergo MRI procedures if they have implanted cardiac and neurological stimulations devices,” however, some clinicians “condone scanning patients” implanted with cardiac pacemakers. In addition, Bassen and Gonzalo noted that there has been a push to develop medical implants that are MRI compatible.
