Category: Sensors

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Sensors

Sensors detect flu in feverless patients

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201306010011

Professor Takemi Matsui of Tokyo Metropolitan University has developed a sensor based system to determine if a person is infected with the flu.  It combines thermography to monitor facial temperature, an optical sensor to count pulse rates, and microwave radar to measure respiratory rates.

Test subjects must place the palms of their hands on a screen, and results are received in 5-10 seconds. Researchers claim that the system can detect influenza sufferers with an accuracy rate of 85 percent, and healthy subjects at a rate of 90 percent.

We hope and assume that a cleaning/sterilization system is in place, ensuring that disease is not spread through the administration of the test.

Categories
Apps Asthma fitness mHealth Monitoring Sensors Sleep

Mobile phone microphones as health sensors

http://www.economist.com/news/technology-quarterly/21578518-sensor-technology-microphones-are-designed-capture-sound-they-turn-out

The Economist’s Technology Quarterly describes how mobile phone microphones are being used as versatile sensors with myriad health applications.  Examples follow:

1. Professor Tanzeem Choudhury of Cornell has created StressSense to capture and analyze voice characteristics such as amplitude and frequency. Her team concluded that “it is feasible to implement a computationally demanding stress-classification system on off-the-shelf smartphones”.

2. BeWell’s sleep-tracking feature, also by Professor Choudhury,  determines whether the phone’s user is awake or not by analyzing usage, light and sound levels, and charging habits. Physical activity is monitored using built-in accelerometers for motion-detection. Social activity is measured by sounds that indicate that the user is talking to someone, either in person or over the phone.

3. Professor John Stankovic of the University of Virginia uses microphones to capture heartbeats. Researchers in his group use earphones modified with accelerometers and additional microphones that detect the pulse in arteries in the wearer’s ear. This makes it possible to collect physical state information, including heart rate and activity level, which is transmitted to the smartphone via the audio jack.

4. Shwetak Patel of the University of Washington uses a smartphone to measure lung function when users blow on its microphone. His team has developed the SpiroSmart app, which simulates a digital spirometer, to measure the volume of air a person can expel from his or her lungs. Spirometers help doctors better understand the health status of patients with conditions like asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and cystic fibrosis.

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Apps Machine Learning Sensors

Wearable sensors, data analytics track fertility

https://www.glowing.com

http://www.ovuline.com

http://www.duofertility.com

Several recently launched companies are trying to assist couples conceive by using wearable sensors and big data analytics to pinpoint a woman’s most fertile days.

Categories
Apps mHealth Monitoring Sensors

Smartphone as handheld biosensor

http://news.illinois.edu/news/13/0523iphone_biosensor_BrianCunningham.html

University of Illinois researchers have developed an iPhone cradle and app that uses its camera and processing power as a biosensor to detect toxins, proteins, bacteria, viruses and other molecules.    Professor Brian Cunningham, the team’s leader, discussed healthcare applications:  “A lot of medical conditions might be monitored very inexpensively and non-invasively using mobile platforms like phones. They can detect molecular things, like pathogens, disease biomarkers or DNA, things that are currently only done in big diagnostic labs with lots of expense and large volumes of blood.”

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Crowdfunding fitness Monitoring Sensors

Another crowdfunded vital sign monitor

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/scanadu-scout-the-first-medical-tricorder

As the crowdfunding of remote health devices increases, another vital sign monitor has launched on Indiegogo.

Scanadu Scout analyzes and tracks temperature, respiratory rate, blood oxygen, heart rate, blood pressure and stress trends.  The company states that it accomplishes this in 10 seconds.

The device is still pre-FDA approval but quite promising. They claim that they can read systolic and diastolic blood pressure at 95% accuracy.  It looks like they are not reading oxygen saturation level.  We hope they’ll add it in the next version.

Categories
Assistive Technologies BCI Seniors Sensors

Eldercare robots perform essential tasks

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/19/disruptions-helper-robots-are-steered-tentatively-to-elder-care/

Already popular in Japan, today’s New York Times reports on the developing trend of robotic companions for the elderly.

A typical Japanese example is the Tsukuba University created Hybrid Assistive Limb. The battery-powered suit senses and amplifies the wearer’s muscle action when carrying or lifting heavy objects.  Caregivers can also use the suit to aid them while lifting patients from a bed, and patients can wear it to support their movements.  Other Japanese devices include a small, battery-powered trolley to aid independent walking; a portable, self-cleaning bedside toilet; and a monitoring robot which tracks and reports the location of dementia patients.

The Times describes several interesting US developed robots:   Cody, a Georgia Tech created robotic nurse cable of bathing patients;  HERB, a Carnegie Mellon developed butler which retrieves objects and cleans; Hector, a University of Reading robot which provides medication reminders, locates lost objects, and can assist in a fall; and Paro, a baby seal looking robot which calms dementia patients.

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Crowdfunding fitness Sensors

Crowdfunding an autonomic nervous system monitor

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/723246920/finally-a-wearable-device-that-can-improve-your-li?ref=category

The W/Me sensor has the ability to capture electrical impulses relayed from the sinoatrial (SA) node, a group of specialized cells in the right atrium. It uses a proprietary algorithm to measure heart rate variability, map the autonomic nervous system, and indicate mental state.

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Eyes Sensors

Microrobots sense retinal oxygen levels

http://www.ethlife.ethz.ch/archive_articles/130506_SauerstoffMikroroboter_aj/index_EN

Professor Bradley Nelson and researchers at ETH Zurich have created a miniature robot that can be injected into the eye to precisely measure the retina’s oxygen supply.  Many diseases, including Glaucoma, can interfere with oxygen delivery to the retina.  Rapid diagnosis and treatment is essential in the attempt to preserve vision.

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Brain Sensors

Wireless detection of brain trauma

http://health.universityofcalifornia.edu/2013/05/14/wireless-signals-could-transform-brain-trauma-diagnostics/

New technology developed at UC Berkeley uses wireless signals to provide real-time, noninvasive diagnoses of brain swelling or bleeding. The device analyzes data from low-energy electromagnetic waves, similar to the kind used to transmit radio and mobile signals.  It is sensitive enough to distinguish between a normal brain and a diseased brain with one single noncontact set of measurements.

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Diabetes Sensors

Nanotube sensor detects glucose in saliva

http://www.technologyreview.com/view/514456/carbon-nanotube-sensor-detects-glucose-in-saliva/

A team led by Mitchell Lerner at the University of Pennsylvania has developed a carbon nanotube based transistor that can detect glucose levels in body fluids, including saliva. The nanotubes are coated with molecules of pyrene-1-boronic acid, which makes them highly sensitive for glucose detection. When exposed to glucose, the nanotube transistor’s current-voltage curve changes, and that change can be measured to indicate the glucose concentration.

Categories
Heart Monitoring Sensors

Flexible “skin” heart monitor

Stanford professor Zhenan Bao has developed a flexible, skin-like heart monitor, worn under an adhesive bandage on the wrist.  This non-invasive method could replace intravascular catheters, which create a high risk of infection, making them impractical for newborns and high-risk patients.  An external monitor could give doctors a safer way to gather information about the heart, especially during infant surgeries.  Bao’s team is working with other Stanford researchers to make the device completely wireless.
Categories
Arthritis Monitoring Sensors

Haptic hand monitors joint mobility

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/innovation/item/30530-a-helping-hand-for-med-tech/

Ireland’s Tyndall National Institute’s “haptic hand” sensorized glove collects hand movement data to assist doctors’ understanding of arthritis patient mobility. Sensors built into the glove will provide 3-D simulations of joint movement and information on hand stiffness. The glove could potentially also be used to track hand movements in other applications, such as stroke rehab and training of surgeons.