Category: Monitoring

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fitness Heart mHealth Monitoring Sleep

Update: Samsung increases health applications with Gear 2 watch, Gear Fit, Galaxy S5

Samsung has updated its devices as it tries to establish dominance in the health and fitness tracking market.

Its Gear 2 watch is now based on Samsung’s Tizen operating system rather than Android. It includes an accelerometer and gyroscope – capable of acting as a pedometer and an optical heart rate monitor. This allows the watch to integrate with Samsung’s health and fitness tracking applications, replacing the need for additional tracking gadgets.  Its various tools will measure exercise, sleep and stress levels.

Apple is expected to release a smartwatch in the near future with a strong focus on fitness and health tracking, as well as a “Healthbook” application for its next iteration of its iOS iPhone and iPad software.

The Gear Fit band tracks movement, heart rate and sleep patterns. It is water-resistant and includes phone notifications, a timer, stopwatch and a curved OLED screen.

The Galaxy S5 smartphone features an enhanced S Health 3.0 app, a comprehensive personal fitness tracker, a pedometer, diet and exercise records, and a built-in heart rate monitor. It will pair seamlessly with the next generation Gear products for real-time fitness coaching.

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mHealth Monitoring Sensors

Apple patents health monitoring earbuds

United States Patent 8655004

As the sensor based health monitoring market continues to expand, the USPTO on has granted Apple a patent for a biometric headphone system.

By positioning the headset in or near the ear, an embedded activity sensor can measure temperature, perspiration and heart rate data, among other metrics.  In addition to skin-based readings, an accelerometer may also be incorporated into the earbud chassis to facilitate the collection of accurate movement data.

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Eyes Monitoring Sensors

Smart holograms diagnose and monitor medical conditions

http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/holographic-diagnostics-0

Cambridge researchers are developing responsive, color-changing diagnostic holograms.  Silver nanoparticles are formed into three dimensional holograms of predetermined shapes in a fraction of a second using a single laser pulse.  They will be used for portable medical tests and devices, to monitor diabetes, cardiac function, infections, electrolyte or hormone imbalance easily,inexpensively, and non-invasively.

The ‘smart’ holograms can be used to test blood, breath, urine, saliva or tears for a wide range of compounds, such as glucose, alcohol, hormones, drugs, or bacteria. When one of these compounds is present, the hologram changes color, potentially making the monitoring of various conditions as simple as checking the color of the hologram against a color gradient. Clinical trials of the holographic sensors to monitor glucose levels and urinary tract infections in diabetic patients are currently underway.

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Cancer mHealth Monitoring Sensors

Sensors detect radiation complications early, at home

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24395986

Susan Peterson and colleagues at MD Anderson have completed a feasibility study showing that equipping head and neck cancer patients with home-based sensors can identify dehydration during radiation treatment.

Physicians reviewed patients’ information daily using CYCORE (CYberinfrastructure for COmparative Effectiveness REsearch), a software-based platform to collect and manage data from multiple systems through a suite of home-based and mobile sensors. They followed 48 patients during two five-day periods. Sensors were used to monitor daily weight and blood pressure fluctuations.  Patients also reported daily food and drink consumption, degree of pain with swallowing, and other side effects, using a smartphone.  60 percent of patients had at least one event that would suggest risk for dehydration and would warrant clinical intervention, and 35 percent had two or more events.

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Diabetes mHealth Monitoring Sensors

Smart contact lens prototype to monitor glucose

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2014/01/introducing-our-smart-contact-lens.html

Google is testing a smart contact lens that’s built to measure glucose levels in tears.  It uses a tiny wireless chip and miniaturized glucose sensor embedded between two layers of soft contact lens material. The prototype can generate a reading once per second. They are investigating the potential of integrating tiny LED lights that could light up to indicate that glucose levels have crossed above or below thresholds.  Google says it is working with the FDA to turn the prototypes into products.

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Monitoring

Illinois and NIH researchers develop ultrathin “diagnostic skin” for continuous monitoring

http://newswise.com/articles/ultrathin-diagnostic-skin-allows-continuous-patient-monitoring

Subtle variations in temperature can indicate harmful underlying conditions such as constriction or dilation of blood vessels or dehydration. Even changes in mental activity, such as increased concentration while solving a mathematical equation, are accompanied by measureable changes in body temperature.

University of Illinois researchers and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering have developed a sophisticated, continous temperature measuring ”electronic skin” that adheres non-invasively to human skin, conforms well to contours, and provides a detailed temperature map of any surface of the body.

The temperature sensor array is a variation of a technology developed by Professor John Rogers at the University of Illinois called “epidermal electronics,” consisting of ultrathin, flexible skin-like arrays, which resemble a tattoo of a micro-circuit board. The arrays developed with NIBIB contain sensors and heating elements. The technology offers the potential for a wide range of diagnostic and therapeutic capabilities with little patient discomfort.

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mHealth Monitoring Sensors Wearables

Sony’s “SmartWig” can monitor and transmit health data

US Patent Office

Sony has submitted a patent application for a health monitoring “SmartWig.”  It can include a GPS and camera placed near the forehead. Users can receive vibrating feedback on specific parts of their head.  A laser pointer and remote can be controlled by the head’s movement. An ultrasound transducer could transmit or receive ultrasound waves to detect surrounding objects, warning users if there are obstacles behind or above their heads.  A circuit board in the hair can talk to a second device wirelessly — such as a phone or pair of smartglasses.

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Monitoring Seniors Sensors

NEC’s PaPeRo Petit robot uses third party apps to monitor seniors at home

http://jpn.nec.com/press/201311/20131111_01.html

NEC has introduced the PaPeRo Petit robot, which is about half the size of earlier PaPeRo senior companions, and a cloud computing system for services using the new robot.  PaPeRo Petit combines multiple sensors (cameras, ultrasonic range finders, temperature sensor, and microphones) to detect people and look in their direction even in complete darkness.  It can also link to online databases to better communicate with loved ones.  The robot can recognize faces and has between 80 to 90 percent success rate at speech recognition.

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Diabetes Monitoring Nanotubes Sensors

Implanted nanotube sensor monitors health for up to one year

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/new-implantable-sensor-1103.html

MIT scientists are developing injectable and embeddable carbon nanotube sensors that can monitor blood sugar levels, inflammation, and other health issues.  The continuous monitor can stay in a person’s body for up to a year.

Researcher Nicole Iverson wrapped carbon nanotubes in DNA sensitive to nitric oxide and made two types of sensors.  One is injectable for short-term monitoring of problems such as a reaction during surgery.  The other is implanted for long-term monitoring of cancer, diabetes or immune reactions to artificial joints.

The next step will be to link the nanotube sensor to a medical device, such as an insulin pump. The sensor would be implanted under a person’s skin, detecting blood glucose levels. The nanotubes would fluoresce when exposed to certain levels of glucose, and the light could signal the pump to start working and release insulin.

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fitness mHealth Monitoring Sensors Wearables

Printable, multi-touch sensors consumers can cut with scissors

http://embodied.mpi-inf.mpg.de/files/2012/11/ACuttableMultiTouchSensor.pdf

Max Planck Institute researchers and the MIT Media Lab have developed printable, multi-touch sensors that are printed with e-ink and can be cut with scissors.  A new circuit layout makes it robust against cuts, damage, and removed areas.  By customizing and pasting such a sensor, one can make every surface interactive, including the wristband of a watch, a fabric or an object.  This implies many digital health and fitness applications.

The scientists use “printed electronics” – electrical components and devices which are printed. The approach is similar to that of inkjet printers. Instead of printing with normal ink, electrically-functional electronic ink is printed on flexible, thin films called substrates.

In the circuit layout, the wires run horizontally, vertically, and parallel to each other. At the intersection of one parallel and one horizontal layer are the touch-sensitive electrodes. Via the wires they are connected to a controller. This type of layout requires only a minimal number of wires, but is not robust. Since each wire addresses several electrodes, a small cut has a huge effect: many electrodes become unusable and possibly large sensor areas do not work anymore. “It was not easy to find an alternative layout, robust enough for our approach” said lead developer Simon Olberding. They took their inspiration from nature, looking at the human nerve system and fungal root networks, and thus came up with two basic layouts. The “star topology” has the controller in the center. It is connected to every electrode separately. The “tree topology” also has the controller in its center connected to each electrode separately. But the wires are bundled similarly to a tree structure. They all run through a vertical line in the middle and then branch off to reach their electrodes.

The scientists found out that the star topology supports  basic forms like triangles, rectangles, or ovals best. It is suited for shapes commonly used for crafts, like stars, clouds, or hearts. In contrast, with the tree topology it is possible to cut out whole areas. The researchers were also able to combine both layouts in a space-saving way, so that the sensor supports all basic forms.
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mHealth Monitoring Seniors Sensors

Ambient Assisted Living system monitors senior health at home

http://www.theengineer.co.uk/medical-and-healthcare/news/wireless-system-provides-ambient-health-monitoring-of-elderly/1017120.article

One outcome of the EU’s support of Ambiant Assistant Living is the following multi-bio-marker home monitoring device which continuously monitors glucose, cholesterol and blood oxygen levels.  It is expected that several similar monitors will be introduced in the near future, enabling seniors to better manage various diseases at home.

Fraunhofer FIT has developed an AAL system using miniature sensors integrated into one platform.  A nano potentiostat measures biochemical information in a patient’s assay, including glucose, lactate and cholesterol levels. A fluorescence sensor is used to detect color-marked biomarkers. An SpO2 sensor monitors heart rate and arterial oxygen saturation. A smartphone app processes the data from the three sensors and transfers them to a server. For secure data communication, a Bluetooth connection with a specifically developed protocol is used.

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fitness Heart mHealth Monitoring Wearables

Mayo Clinic studies step tracking data as a post-surgery monitoring tool

http://www.annalsthoracicsurgery.org/article/S0003-4975(13)01253-8/fulltext

Mayo Clinic has published a study using step recording from a  Fitbit activity tracker to monitor recovery in cardiac surgery patients and help hospitals determine the appropriate length of stay.  Those who had the shortest hospital stay walked the most on all days in the study, by a statistically significant margin. Likewise, patients bound for home walked more than those headed for a nursing facility.