By JANET MOORE, Minneapolis Star Tribune

When it comes to the newest and most-advanced medical devices, Europe is getting them first, according to a study released Tuesday morning by a group of researchers at Northwestern University in Chicago.

A study of nearly 500 individuals who helped craft treatment guidelines for heart conditions found that more than half reported financial conflicts of interest involving drug companies and medical technology firms.

The innovative edge that brought the U.S. medical technology industry to global dominance may be slipping, according to a study that consulting firm PwC is releasing today.

Types of back surgery:

-- Diskectomy: Removal of the herniated (or bulging) portion of a disk to relieve inflammation of a nerve.

-- Laminectomy: Removal of bone overlying the spinal canal to relieve nerve pressure caused by spinal stenosis.

It's an increasingly familiar story in American medicine. Four out of five Americans will suffer from disabling back pain sometime, according to the National Institutes of Health. Spending on back care soared between 1997 and 2005, reaching $86 billion -- just shy of what Americans spent battling cancer.

An airline employee in Arkansas peeked into an otherwise unremarkable container last week and made a surprising discovery: Parts of human heads.

Now authorities in Arkansas have launched an investigation after four human heads and 40 partial ones were seized at Little Rock National Airport, apparently bound for a Medtronic facility in Texas for use in medical training.

Last summer, Steven Erickson was in such sad shape he could barely make it out to his vegetable garden without huffing and puffing. The retired schoolteacher from northern Minnesota would drag a chair from his kitchen out to the patch and pick his beloved heirloom tomatoes while seated among the plants.

ST PAUL, Minn. - The single-room office of OrthoCor Medical has the distinct aura of a young start-up company -- mismatched furniture, disheveled desktops and maze of boxes shoved here and there.

Gail Roper was fearful of making a scene.

For about 10 years, Tom Berner felt "a kind of shaking" in his chest between heartbeats.

The 49-year-old Grantsburg, Wis., guidance counselor and football coach figured he was just getting older. But when he went in for a medical procedure last December, a heart monitor told a different story.