Brain Temperature Tunnel Technology Licensed to Top Corporation by EterLink - a Partnership for Advancing the Standard of Care While Reducing Health Care Costs.

PLEASANTON, Calif. -- EterLink International Corporation announced that it has entered into a licensing agreement with Top Corporation of Tokyo, Japan, in connection with EterLink's proprietary Brain Temperature Tunnel[TM] (BTT[TM]) technology.

"We welcome Top Corporation to our Global Licensing Program and are pleased that Top and its customers will be able to benefit from our revolutionary technology," said Armstrong Wong, President of EterLink. Under the terms of the royalty-bearing agreement Top Corporation has paid EterLink an undisclosed sum of licensing fees in return for certain intellectual property and patent rights pertaining to the BTT[TM] technology. "This agreement signifies our continuous progress with the BTT[TM] technology and our goal to partner with the world-class leaders and innovators like Top Corporation," said Armstrong Wong.

While machines for decades have had their temperature monitored continuously to ensure better performance and longer survival, humans lag behind and cannot non-invasively measure core body temperature on a continuous basis. The technological deficiencies of measuring body temperature on a continuous and spot-check manner are reflected in the 2002 article by Moran and Mendal in the scientific journal Sports Medicine, which stated: "Surprisingly, the method used for measuring body temperature has not changed since the 18th century." The BTT[TM] technology has changed this previous 200 years old scenario (Yale University Press Release, http://www.yale.edu/opa/newsr/03-07-02-01.all.html). "The BTT[TM] technology offers clinical and technological advantages that were previously unavailable, and creates a paradigm shift in the traditional practice of thermometry," said James Johnson, Vice President, Corporate Development of EterLink.

Some oral and ear spot-check thermometers used in hospitals and at home, besides having the problem of entering the body and contacting internal secretions, predict temperature instead of measuring, leading to underestimating or overestimating temperature. Thermometers predicting temperature can falsely indicate fever, which may trigger needless diagnostic tests and therapies, causing unnecessary increase in health care costs and patient suffering. Clinical studies(1) have showed the problems of using predictive thermometers, and revealed false diagnosis of fever in a significant number of patients and unnecessary medical interventions. Considering that patient temperature is checked about 2 billion times a year in U.S. clinics and hospitals alone, even a small percentage of false diagnosis of fever may lead to unnecessary astronomical increase in health care costs.

The BTT[TM] thermometer measures temperature, and therefore it does not have the problem of falsely indicating high temperature that can occur during guessing. Furthermore, the BTT[TM] thermometer is not affected by eating or drinking as it occurs with oral thermometers. Clinical studies(2) have showed that the BTT[TM] device hygienically and accurately measures core temperature non-invasively. "We believe our BTT[TM] technology will reduce health care costs for the government, insurance companies, hospitals, employers, and consumers while improving the quality of patient care," stated Frederick Wu, Sr. Vice President of EterLink.

Invented by physician and physicist Dr. M. Marc Abreu, the BTT[TM] technology is an innovative system for temperature monitoring from the brain using high precision, fast, fully noninvasive, and user-friendly devices including handheld devices for spot-check, eyewear, and small sensing patches next to the nose bridge for continuous measurement. The BTT[TM] technology has been recognized as clinically significant for health care applications in hospitals, clinics, emergency transport, nursing homes, and for continuous ovulation detection and fever monitoring at home.

Besides patient care, the BTT[TM] technology can increase the safety of the general public during heat waves and of athletes, firefighters, outdoor professionals and enthusiasts, and military personnel at risk of heatstroke or hypothermia. The BTT[TM] technology may also enhance productivity at work and comfort in homes, facilities, and vehicles by automatically adjusting air-conditioning and heat. The BTT[TM] thermometer is not inserted into the body, and therefore it has minimal risk of cross contamination offering a solution for temperature measurement during a bird flu pandemic. The invention has been depicted in televised and printed media, and received various awards and nominations. The BTT[TM] TechXtreme Wireless Eyewear was awarded "Best Innovations of 2005" by the Men's Journal, http://www.mensjournal.com/feature/0509/gear.html.

About Top Corporation

Top Corporation, established in 1940, is a privately held company with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. Top Corporation, a world-class innovator, is one of the well known advanced medical product manufacturers for critical care markets in Japan and various other countries. Top carries out advanced research and development in a broad array of leading edge technology fields to assure the highest quality and safety of Top's products. Top's innovative thinking has given birth to several high precision products including its line of infusion pumps, devices for anesthesia, artificial respiration, endoscopy, angiography, clinical thermometers, catheters, and many other medical apparatus for the operating room, critical care, and other hospital environments. Top Corporation and its affiliated companies have over 3,000 employees worldwide with medical manufacturing facilities in Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia.

About EterLink International Corporation

EterLink International Corporation is a privately held technology company based in Pleasanton, California, focused on the development and manufacturing of medical products and electronic devices. The company is developing a diverse pipeline of proprietary products for medical professionals monitoring patient temperature, consumer temperature monitoring, thermal management and therapy, medication management, and consumer electronics. Product lines include spot-check thermometers and continuous monitoring devices using wired and wireless systems as well as BTT[TM] contact sensors and non-contact infrared devices.

EterLink welcomes private parties, strategic partners, government agencies, insurance companies, health care professionals, institutions providing healthcare, and employers to join this exciting journey to create a new dimension for body temperature measurement while improving the standard of healthcare and reducing health care costs.

(1) About Clinical Studies Showing the Problems of Predictive Thermometers

Numerous studies have showed the problem of predictive thermometers. A sample of scientific articles can be found below, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query/static/citmatch.html.

(a) Journal of Pediatric Oncology Nursing, 1998 Oct;15(4):216-22

(b) Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica, 1998 Nov;42(10):1222-6

(c) Academic Emergency Medicine, 2000 Sep;7(9):1061-4

(d) Anesthesia Analgesia, 2002 Jul;95(1):67-71

(e) Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen, 2005 Oct 20;125(20):2763-5

(f) Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 2006 Apr;59(4):354-7

(2) About BTT[TM] Clinical Studies

Clinical studies have validated the BTT[TM] technology for noninvasive monitoring core body temperature. Selected studies can be found at the American Society of Anesthesiologists' web site:

http://www.asaabstracts.com/strands/asaabstracts/abstract.htm; jsessionid=0E45BBFDCA666C6FC676DE30561CD9CF?year=2006&index=5&absnum =1814

http://www.asaabstracts.com/strands/asaabstracts/abstract.htm; jsessionid=0E45BBFDCA666C6FC676DE30561CD9CF?year=2005&index=4&absnum =1662

http://www.asaabstracts.com/strands/asaabstracts/abstract.htm; jsessionid=0E45BBFDCA666C6FC676DE30561CD9CF?year=2005&index=7&absnum =1348

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