ApplySci - Deep Tech Health + Neurotech
http://rijuven.com/cardiosleeve.html
CardioSleeve, when attached to a stethoscope, records, displays and analyzes electrical and acoustical footprints of the heart in real time via any wirelessly connected portable device. The data can be stored in the cloud or uploaded into an EHR.
Ford is testing health monitoring smart seats, steering wheels and seat belts in India. Technologies include steering wheel positioned infrared sensors that monitor a driver’s hands and face, and temperature monitors that can detect seizures. Examples of use include a car that can drive itself if a driver becomes ill or falls asleep, and “car ambulances” that contain medical sensors that enable doctors to examine patients remotely. The company believes that similar sensors, with similar applications, will soon become a part of all vehicles.
Crowdfunded digital diaper by Pixie Scientific detects urinary tract infections, kidney dysfunction, and dehydration, and analyzes health patterns after months of tracking. It has an accompanying smartphone app that transmits the data to a central location that can be viewed by a doctor.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130708124423.htm
Professor Hossam Haick at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology has created a flexible sensor that could be integrated into electronic skin, enabling those with prosthetic limbs to feel changes in their environments. The Technion invention simultaneously senses touch, humidity, and temperature. According to Professor Haick, it is at least 10 times more sensitive to touch than current systems. It should be compared to the technology developed by University of Illinois Professor John Rogers (see ApplySci posts of March 13, 2013 and June 8, 2013) and being commercialized by mc10.
http://research.microsoft.com/apps/pubs/default.aspx?id=194498
Microsoft’s MoodScope is a “sensor” that measures a smartphone user’s mental state. It analyzes an enormous array of interactions including app usage, phone calls, emails, text messages, browsing history, and geographic location — thousands of data points each day. 32 study participants used the system for two months, and completed mood self-assessments to gauge the accuracy of the software. The app was able to guess someone’s mood with 66% accuracy. When the software was “calibrated” for an individual user, accuracy increased to 93%.
http://www.njit.edu/news/2013/2013-218.php
Professors Reginald Farrow and Alokik Kanwal of the New Jersey Institute of Technology have created a carbon nanotube-based device to non-invasively and quickly detect mobile single cells with the potential to maintain a high degree of spatial resolution. They are now overseeing the manufacture of a prototype lab-on-a-chip that would enable a physician to detect disease or virus from just one drop of liquid, including blood.
The military was the initial funder of the research, in an attempt to identify biological warfare agents. Farrow believes that it can be applied much more widely to detect viruses, bacteria, or cancer. The next phase of research will include a study of the device’s ability to assess the health of brain neurons.
Vigi’Fall detects falls using multidimensional contextual analysis. It is a miniature accelerometric box attached to the chest with an adhesive patch. Motion sensors are placed in several rooms of the home and doubt-removal software is placed in a home box. The system is linked to a remote call center which contacts rescue teams in the event of a fall. The next phase of the product will incorporate heartbeat monitoring.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/16/business/a-wearable-alert-to-head-injuries-in-sports.html?_r=0
The New York Times reports on the growing trend of sensor based protection/early warning systems for athletes. The devices, packed with sensors and microprocessors, register a blow to a player’s skull and immediately signal the news by blinking brightly, or by sending a wireless alert. Algorithms evaluate the impact and determine severity.
A team led by Professor A. T. Charlie Johnson of the University of Pennsylvania has developed a biosensor from carbon-nanotube transistors that can rapidly detect the antigens of Lyme disease. The device can detect the biomarkers at concentrations as low as 1 ng/ml.
The group’s work is a continuation of similar strategies to detect prostate cancer biomarkers using CNTs. The researchers hope to one day be able to detect any disease with such nanotube devices simply by coating them with the appropriate proteins.
http://medcitynews.com/2013/06/sensors-and-smartphones-bring-the-baby-monitor-into-2013/
Sensible Baby’s “Smart One” is a small, round sensor worn inside a newborn’s onesie. It constantly measures a baby’s temperature, position and chest movement, and sends the data to a smartphone app once per second. Parents can program their app to set off an alert when the baby isn’t moving, reaches a temperature above a certain threshold, or is sleeping on its stomach.
http://www.utexas.edu/know/2013/06/07/high-tech-tattoos-health-care-solutions/
Professor Nanshu Lu at The University of Texas is developing the next-generation of flexible/stretchable electronics, photonics and therapeutics. Pioneered by John Rogers at the University of Illionois, flexible skin “tattoos” measure vital signs and muscle movement, transmitting data wirelessly and harvesting solar energy. Future versions may play critical roles inside the body in watching for signs of disease or damage, or treating problems automatically.
Professor Lu has designed a bio-integrated electronic tattoo. The ultrathin, ultrasoft stamp-sized patch clings to the human skin without adhesive, which would interrupt electrical connectivity. Lu’s area of expertise — the interface of flexible electronics with biosystems — is one of three areas crucial to the future of bio-integrated electronics, the others being wireless data transmission and wireless power transmission.
http://www.buffalo.edu/news/releases/2013/05/0570.html
Navy sonar technology is being miniaturized by University at Buffalo professor Tommaso Melodia to be applied inside the human body to treat diseases like diabetes and heart failure in real time.
A network of wireless body sensors that use ultrasounds could be used to wirelessly share information between medical devices implanted in or worn by diabetic/heart failure patients.
Previously, researchers focused on linking sensors together via electromagnetic radio frequency waves – the same type used in cellular phones, GPS and wireless devices. Radio waves can be effective, but they generate heat and require large amounts of energy to propagate through skin, muscle and tissue. Ultrasound may be a more efficient way to share information as 65 percent of the body is composed of water. This suggests that medical devices, such as a pacemaker and a blood oxygen level monitor, could communicate more effectively via ultrasounds compared to radio waves.
Melodia highlights the technology’s use in diabetes patients, where wireless blood glucose sensors could be connected to implantable insulin pumps. The sensors would monitor the blood and, via the pumps, control the dosage of insulin as needed in real time.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2360694/Ford-car-monitor-HEALTH-drive–ill-fall-asleep.html
http://pixiescientific.com.jpg)
http://www.theengineer.co.uk/medical-and-healthcare/news/fall-sensor-for-elderly-receives-2m-to-improve-technology/1016542.article
http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/news/penn-researchers-attach-lyme-disease-antibodies-nanotubes-paving-way-diagnostic-device