http://www.forbes.com/sites/nextavenue/2013/04/16/the-newest-high-tech-pill-will-text-when-swallowed/Proteus Digital Health is creating a new category of products, services and data systems that have the potential to significantly improve the effectiveness of existing pharmaceutical treatments. Called Digital Medicines, these new pharmaceuticals will contain a tiny sensor that can communicate, via a digital health feedback system, vital information about an individual’s medication-taking behavior and how their body is responding.
Category: mHealth
http://www.kth.se/en/aktuellt/nyheter/hudnara-elektronisk-doktor-ar-framtiden-1.382668
The Bio-patch, developed by researchers at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, measures bioelectrical signals through the skin, gathering data on different parts of the body depending on where it is placed.
“On the chest it provides electrocardiography (ECG), on the skull it measures brainwaves (EEG), and on the forearm it can measure muscle response to stimulation from the nervous system (EMG),” says KTH researcher Geng Yang. It also has a built-in sensor that constantly monitors body temperature.
http://www.fiercemobilehealthcare.com/special-reports/mobile-monitors-expectant-mothers
AirStrip OB is a mobile patient monitoring solution for women in labor. The system, developed by San-Antonio-based AirStrip Technologies, captures vital patient waveform data, including fetal heart tracing and maternal contraction patterns, in “virtual real time” and sends it to a physician’s mobile device.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=affordable-care-act-technology
The Obama administration introduced the ACA in 2010 to move health care away from a fee-for-service model to one that promotes preventative care and overall wellness. Beginning this October the ACA will reinforce this approach by penalizing hospitals with chronic readmission problems by cutting Medicare reimbursement payments to those facilities. This policy initially targets patients suffering from three health conditions—heart failure, pneumonia and heart attack—but penalties will apply to additional conditions beginning in 2015.
Remote health monitoring systems have patients wear sensors that wirelessly collect, store, analyze and transmit health-related data. One of several approaches is the Wearable Wellness System from Italy’s Smartex, essentially an undershirt with embedded sensors and a processor that can monitor heart and respiration rates. Although not as fashionable, the Metria wearable sensor, from Vancive Medical Technologies, a medical division of Avery Dennison, can be adhesively bound to the body to measure heart rate, respiration, sleep duration and activity levels.
http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow/story/309765/doctor-recommended-7-top-health-apps/1
PCMag visited seven specialists—an allergist, a dermatologist, a pediatrician, and a nutritionist—and asked which apps they recommend to their patients.
http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/05/asthmapolis-wants-to-hack-the-inhaler-and-help-26-million-americans-better-track-and-manage-their-asthma/Asthmapolis uses a novel combination of smartphone applications and snap-on inhaler sensors that track when and how often patients use their inhaled medications. The geomedicine platform, available in both English and Spanish, is designed to help individuals with their daily preventive medications, reveal insights about their use of rescue medications and provide personalized feedback to improve their ability to successfully manage the disease.
Two new sensor-based early detection tools for diabetic foot ulcers are being developed.
http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/383644/The-alarm-that-can-save-limbs
Orpyx Medical Technologies has developed a wristwatch and shoe insert. An insole is designed to support the foot, with three separate foam layers. Eight tiny electronic sensors are packed in the top of the insole so that they rest against thesurface of the foot once the shoe has been put on. These sensors are programmed to detect when pressure exceeds predetermined levels at certain points of the foot that are most susceptible to ulcers. Once they do, they wirelessly transmit a warning to the watch, which immediately sounds an alert.
Cambridge based Podimetrics is developing a home-monitoring bath mat with sensors that record changes in blood flow patterns when a diabetic patient steps on the mat. The sensors scan the foot to collect data about blood flow and send the data to the cloud to be stored and analyzed. The company’s algorithms look at that data in two ways: longitudinally over time and comparatively between the left and right foot to detect patterns that may indicate the presence of a developing ulcer. When the algorithms detect a pre-ulcer, an alert is sent to the patient and his doctor prompting an intervention early on.
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/04/the-diabetics-paradox/274507/
Diabetes patients have been self monitoring for years. Advances in mHealth have made the process more efficient, though still complicated.
The iPhone can improve the functionality of glucometers; last month the FDA approved LifeScan’s VerioSync glucometer; the device automatically sends blood sugar levels to an iPhone via Bluetooth (fewer steps mean fewer mistakes and less anxiety). The iBGStar is a similar patient-centric tool.
The ultimate goal is a non-invasive glucose monitor, which will allow patients to check their blood levels without drawing blood. We aren’t there yet. When such devices can connect to automatic insulin pumps, which adminster insulin into a patient’s bloodstream subcutaneously through an open line rather than an injection, some of the hassle and stigma of diabetes may be lessened.
http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/health/gallery/wearable_trackers/
An overview of 8 new sensor based health tracking devices. Some predict that 400 million such products will enter the market by 2014.
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-03/20/implantable-chip-doctor
A multidisciplinary Swiss team has developed a tiny, implantable device that instantly analyses the blood before wirelessly sending the data to a doctor.
The device can be used for monitoring general health, but the team also sees immediate applications in monitoring the efficacy of treatments such as chemotherapy in order to tailor drug delivery to a patient’s unique needs.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324323904578368572640617966.html
The Health eHeart Study will use smartphone apps, sensors and other devices to gather data on a wide variety of measures associated with cardiovascular health—including blood pressure, physical activity, diet and sleep habits—in real time.
http://www.sys-con.com/node/2582171
A Fujitsu research lab has developed software that can accurately measure a subject’s pulse using the small digital cameras attached to smartphones and tablets.
The technology is based on the fact that the brightness of an individual’s face changes slightly as their heart beats, due to their blood flow. Hemoglobin, which carries oxygen around the body, absorbs green light, so analyzing the change in color of parts of the face reveals their heart rate.
As most image sensors capture pixel information in red, blue and green, they have the ability to detect hemoglobin built in. Fujitsu’s technology keeps track of specific regions of the face over time to take pulse measurements.