Category: Wearables

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Heart Wearables

Verily developing low-power health wearable

While visiting Verily last week, an MIT Technology Review journalist saw and described the company’s wearable vital tracker, called the “Cardiac and Activity Monitor” by  CTO Brian Otis.  Its novelty is a low-power e-paper display, which will address the universal problem of battery life.  Only with guaranteed continuous measurement can meaningful data be gathered and health analyzed.

The watch is reported to track pulse, heart rythm, skin temperature, light exposure, and noise levels — and perhaps cuffless blood pressure monitoring will be added to the mix.

The device is meant for use in medical research, with the goal of predicting disease.  According to scientific adviser (and former Mass General Physician-in-Chief) Dennis Ausiello: “The watch is one of several hardware activities that have a common goal, which is how to better manage the human condition and interrogate the human organism at scale across health and illness.”

ApplySci’s 6th   Wearable Tech + Digital Health + NeuroTech Silicon Valley  –  February 7-8 2017 @ Stanford   |   Featuring:   Vinod Khosla – Tom Insel – Zhenan Bao – Phillip Alvelda – Nathan Intrator – John Rogers – Mary Lou Jepsen – Vivek Wadhwa – Miguel Nicolelis – Roozbeh Ghaffari –Tarun Wadhwa – Eythor Bender – Unity Stoakes – Mounir Zok – Krishna Shenoy – Karl Deisseroth

Categories
Data Wearables

Continuously generated “small data” analysis to improve health

The discussion of “big data” analysis in healthcare continues, unabated.  At ApplySci’s recent Wearable Tech + Digital Health + NeuroTech NYC conference, Cornell professor Deborah Estrin, who is also a founder of Open mHealth, described how “small data” — our digital patterns and interactions — can help physicians by creating a more meaningful representation of our personal health.

Click to view Professor Estrin’s interview with StartUp Health’s Unity Stoakes, filmed at the conference.

ApplySci’s 6th   Wearable Tech + Digital Health + NeuroTech Silicon Valley  –  February 7-8 2017 @ Stanford   |   Featuring:   Vinod Khosla – Tom Insel – Zhenan Bao – Phillip Alvelda – Nathan Intrator – John Rogers – Mary Lou Jepsen – Vivek Wadhwa – Miguel Nicolelis – Roozbeh Ghaffari – Unity Stoakes – Mounir Zok

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Brain Data Machine Learning Sensors Wearables

Wearable + cloud analysis track Huntington’s disease progression

In the latest pharma/tech partnership, Teva and Intel are developing a wearable platform to track the progression of Huntington’s disease.  There is no cure for the disease, which causes a breakdown of nerve cells in the brain, resulting in a  decline in motor control, cognition and mental stability.

The technology can be used to assess the effectiveness of drugs that treat symptoms, and in developing new drugs.  (Teva will use it in a  mid-stage study.)

Wearable sensors (in this case a watch, but the concept could progress to patches)  continuously measure patient functioning.  Data is wirelessly transmitted to the cloud, and algorithms score motor symptom severity.

In recent months, ApplySci has described similar pharma/device/big data/machine learning alliances, including:

  •  Sanofi and Verily’s Onduo platiform to treat diabetes
  • GlaxoSmithKline and Verily targeting electrical signals in the body
  • A Verily and Novartis smart contact lense glucose monitor
  • A Biogen /Alphabet MS study

ApplySci looks forward to the use of brain-monitoring wearables to enable users to see and address neurodegenerative changes before symptoms appear.

ApplySci’s 6th   Wearable Tech + Digital Health + NeuroTech Silicon Valley  –  February 7-8 2017 @ Stanford   |   Featuring:   Vinod Khosla – Tom Insel – Zhenan Bao – Phillip Alvelda – Nathan Intrator – John Rogers – Mary Lou Jepsen – Vivek Wadhwa – Miguel Nicolelis – Roozbeh Ghaffari – Unity Stoakes – Mounir Zok

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Data Diabetes Pharmaceuticals Wearables

Sanofi/Verily joint venture to fight diabetes

Big pharma + big tech/data partnerships continue to proliferate.

Onduo is a Sanofi/Verily joint venture that will use each company’s expertise to help manage diabetes  — Sanofi’s drugs  plus Verily’s software, data analysis, and devices. CEO Josh Riff and has not announced a project pipeline, as they are taking “a thoughtful approach to finding lasting solutions.”

Sutter Health and Allegheny Health Network will  be the first systems to test Onduo solutions.

ApplySci’s 6th   Wearable Tech + Digital Health + NeuroTech Silicon Valley  –  February 7-8 2017 @ Stanford   |   Featuring:   Vinod Khosla – Tom Insel – Zhenan Bao – Phillip Alvelda – Nathan Intrator – John Rogers – Mary Lou Jepsen – Vivek Wadhwa – Miguel Nicolelis – Roozbeh Ghaffari – Unity Stoakes

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Apps Data fitness Wearables

“Data, not drugs” for elite sport performance

With equal parts modesty, enthusiasm, and wearable tech expertise, Olympic cyclist Sky Christopherson came to ApplySci’s recent Wearable Tech + Digital Health + NeuroTech NYC conference to “thank this community for helping the US Olympic team before the last Olympics with a lot of the same technology to help athletes prepare, using data and not drugs.”

Sky launched OAthlete at the 2012 London Olympics, to develop technology that will allow elite athletes — and the rest of us — to “fine tune” training to “understand how each athlete is responding as a unique individual.”

His mission is to put forth the use of data — not drugs — to enhance performance — healthfully, and sustainably.  Click to view his interview with StartUp Health’s Unity Stoakes at the conference.

ApplySci’s 6th Wearable Tech + Digital Health + NeuroTech Silicon Valley – February 7-8 2017 @ Stanford  | Featuring:   Vinod Khosla – Tom Insel – Zhenan Bao – Phillip Alvelda – Nathan Intrator – John Rogers – Mary Lou Jepsen – Vivek Wadhwa – Miguel Nicolelis 

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Seniors Sensors Wearables

Gait sensors predict falls, allowing preventive intervention

University of Missouri’s Marjorie Skubic has used sensors to measure gait speed and stride length, to predict falls.  The goals is to use wearables and smart home technology to preserve independence and allow seniors to age in place.

Data was collected at an independent-living style retirement residence. Images and nurse alert emails were generated when irregular motion was detected. The researchers determined that a gait speed decline of 5 centimeters per second was associated with an 86.3 percent probability of falling within three weeks.  A shortened stride length was associated with a 50.6 percent probability of falling within three weeks.

Wearable Tech + Digital Health + NeuroTech Silicon Valley – February 7-8 @ Stanford University – Featuring:   Vinod Khosla – Tom Insel – Zhenan Bao – Phillip Alvelda – Nathan Intrator – John Rogers – Mary Lou Jepsen – Vivek Wadhwa – Miguel Nicolelis

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Seniors Sensors Wearables

Affective computing system responds to dementia patient emotions

Doctor holding a senior patiens 's hand on a walking stick - special medical care concept for Alzheimer 's syndrome.

SenseCare (Sensor Enabled Affective Computing for Enhancing Medical Care) is a Cork Institute of Technology led project meant to teach computers how to recognize and respond to human emotions.  The goal is to use applied psychology to monitor and improve the care of dementia patients.

The affective computing based system will manage data from voice and face recognition systems, and wearables that measure health, wellness, and activity levels. The open platform’s goal is “full emotional analytics” and will work with companion robots and other technologies to manage care.

Digital Health + NeuroTech Silicon Valley – February 7-8, 2016 @ Stanford University

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Asthma Diabetes Orthopedics Sensors Wearables

GSK/Verily “biolectronic medicine” partnership for disease management

Galvani Biolectronics is a Verily/GSK company, created to accelerate the research, development and commercialization of bioelectronic medicines. The goal is to find solutions to manage chronic diseases, such as arthritis, diabetes, and asthma, using  miniaturized electronics.  Implanted devices would  modify electrical signals that pass along nerves, including irregular impulses that occur in illness.

Initial work will focus on developing precision devices for inflammatory, metabolic and endocrine disorders, including type 2 diabetes, where substantial evidence already exists in animal models.

Every major pharmaceutical company (globally) attended  ApplySci’s recent Wearable Tech + Digital Health + NeuroTech conferences in San Francisco and New York.  We believe that partnerships similar to the Verily/GSK venture will proliferate — and that they will improve the lives of those with chronic diseases.

Digital Health + NeuroTech Silicon Valley – February 7-8, 2017 @ Stanford University

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Heart Seniors Wearables

Wearable detects cardiac arrest, notifies emergency services

 iBeat is a wearable emergency response system that continuously monitors the heart.  Meant for seniors, it detects cardiac arrest in real time, provides alerts, and sends regular updates to caregivers.

If cardiac arrest is detected, the wearer receives a call within 10 seconds.  If he/she cannot be reached, an emergency contact and emergency medical services are called.

A user can also activate the device manually in an emergency, such as a fall, car accident, or home invasion.

Wearable Tech + Digital Health NYC – June 7, 2016 @ the New York Academy of Sciences

NeuroTech NYC – June 8, 2016 @ the New York Academy of Sciences

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IoT Robotics Sensors Wearables

Tiny, ingestible robot can deliver medicine, patch wounds, remove objects

Daniela Rus and MIT, University of  Sheffield, and Tokyo Institute of Technology colleagues have developed an ingestible origami robot designed to patch wounds, deliver medicine or remove foreign objects from a person’s stomach.

The tiny robot, made of pig intestines, can unfold itself from a swallowed capsule. Steered by a doctor using external magnetic fields, the “microsurgeon” crawls across the stomach wall, and propels itself using a “stick-slip” motion.

Click to view MIT video

Wearable Tech + Digital Health NYC – June 7, 2016 @ the New York Academy of Sciences

NeuroTech NYC – June 8, 2016 @ the New York Academy of Sciences

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Brain Wearables

“Cognitive Dress” colors reflect observer emotions

At the Met Gala, New York’s most sought-after invitation, Karolina Kurkova wore a Marchesa dress that was powered by IBM Watson to react to social media sentiment in real-time.

The “Cognitive Dress” was covered in LED embedded fabric flowers that lit in colors to reflect joy, passion, excitement, encouragement and curiosity, as expressed on twitter.

While name of the dress is deceiving, as it did not “think” on its own, the statement represents the mainstreaming of wearable technology and cognitive computing.  Most interesting was the analysis and translation of tweets into emotional statistics, which were represented in the LED-responsive fabric.

Click to view IBM video

Wearable Tech + Digital Health NYC – June 7, 2016 @ the New York Academy of Sciences

NeuroTech NYC – June 8, 2016 @ the New York Academy of Sciences

 

Categories
fitness Heart Wearables

Sports camera collects, overlays health data

As part of its new developer program, GoPro has partnered with Polar to overlay health data on videos. Similar to video games, sports videos will be able to display heart rate, speed, distance, and altitude.  This has been presented as a fun feature, but could also provide physicians with a better understanding of one’s health in various scenarios.

Click to view Polar video

Wearable Tech + Digital Health NYC – June 7, 2016 @ the New York Academy of Sciences

NeuroTech NYC – June 8, 2016 @ the New York Academy of Sciences