Browsing Category: Diabetes

Glucose monitoring breath test

Applied Nanodetectors is in the early stages of developing a noninvasive breath sensor for diabetics to monitor daily glucose levels.  By measuring the levels of volatile organic compounds in breath, if accurate, this could replace finger pricking for disease sufferers, and create a simple diagnostic test. The company has a related product that monitors the concentration of exhaled […]

AI for diabetes management

Novo Nordisk  and IBM Watson are partnering to create an AI system to help diabetes patients better manage their disease. Data from continuous blood sugar monitors will be analyzed and used to inform treatment decisions, such as insulin dosage.  Food intake, exercise and the timing and dosage of insulin injections could also be added to […]

Needle-free blood draw + smartwatch

Google has filed a patent for a “needle-free blood draw” system that could be incorporated into a wearable. The filing describes a machine that sends a pulse of gas into a barrel containing a “micro-particle” that can puncture the skin and draw a small drop of blood. This could dramatically improve the management of diabetes, and continues […]

External power supply for Google contact lens

Power efficiency in wearables is key to continuous, accurate monitoring, for both medical and fitness applications. Google has filed a patent application suggesting  that an external device will power the sensor of its contact lens, and it could be handheld or embedded into a companion wearable. The application states that “an external reader device or ‘reader’ […]

Cheap, disposable, tiny, adhesive glucose monitor

Google Life Sciences ha partnered with DexCom to develop cheap, miniaturized, disposable, bandaid-like continuous glucose sensors. The devices will incorporate Google’s miniaturized electronics platform with DexCom’s sensors.   The goal is to shrink DexCom’s current monitor, giving patients a less obtrusive way to monitor their condition in real time. Alphabet has announced that Google Life Sciences, Google […]

Noninvasive, laser based glucose sensor

Gin Jose and University of Leeds colleagues have developed GlucoSense, a laser based glucose monitor that could eliminate the need for finger pricking. A finger is placed against a glass window. A low-powered laser beam is projected through the window, into the finger. Surface ions  fluorescence in infrared when exposed to the reflected light. (The […]

Smartphone fluid sensors to detect pregnancy, STDs, diabetes

Kort Bremer and Bernhard Roth at the Hanover Centre for Optical Technologies are developing lab-on-a-chip devices for smartphones to monitor blood, urine, saliva, sweat or breath.  This could enable phone based detection and monitoring of pregnancy, STDs, or diabetes, among other applications. The surface plasmon resonance sensors  detect biomolecular interactions when polarized light strikes an electrically conducting surface […]

Integrated insulin sensor, infusion, data, notification system

Medtronic’s MiniMed Connect is placed in a pocket or on a keychain. It reads, displays and transmits data from the company’s implanted pumps. An external glucose sensor and insulin pump continually deliver insulin through an infusion system under the skin. It can be programmed to shut off automatically if glucose levels reach predefined thresholds. Glucose and […]

Heart rate as diabetes marker

Wearables can effectively monitor heart rate.  A recent study shows a new use for this data – predicting diabetes. Penn State‘s Xiang Gao observed an association between faster heart rates and an increased risk of developing diabetes in 73,357 Chinese adults. In the same population, faster heart rates were also associated with impaired fasting glucose levels and […]