Health and Wellbeing
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Bluetooth health monitoring lets you upload your vital stats to your doctor from home
May 9, 2007 Turning the health-care model upside down, a small Australian company is working on bluetooth technology that logs and transmits medical observation data to a central network through a mobile phone - so your doctor can call YOU when a problem is developing. Alive's bluetooth technology is already proving useful in the recovery of cardiac outpatients and the diagnosis of sleep apnea - and a range of products in development aim to make advancements in health monitoring for diabetics, mountaineers and athletes in training. (read more...)
Cooling glove invigorates overheated athletes - and also delivers training performance gains
May 9, 2007 While traditional body cooling systems such as ice vests, wet towels and misting fans may feel like they're working to the benefit of the user, they're actually quite ineffective at reducing the body's core temperature, as they work against the body's natural insulation and heat retention systems. Through extensive research into mammalian heat regulation systems, AVAcore has developed a simple, portable device that effects heat exchange to the body core extremely quickly. You don't necessarily feel cooler, you just feel completely refreshed and less fatigued - and the system is producing some remarkable and unexpected results for athletes. (read more...)
New table saw can tell the difference between wood and hands
May 7, 2007 Table saws are involved in more than 60,000 accidents every year in the United States alone - an accident every nine minutes, costing US$2 billion before you consider the pain and disruption. Now a small Oregon company is changing woodworking professionals’ jobs with a table saw that only cuts wood – not fingers. The company has invented a table saw that immediately retracts the blade when it touches a finger, making woodworking safer and eliminating painful and very costly medical procedures. When the blade touches a finger (or something else that conducts electrical current), the current drops and engages a brake. As the blade’s teeth sink into the brake, the momentum forces the blade to drop below the table. The entire process takes only three milliseconds, which is a fraction of the time it takes to blink your eye. (read more...)
3-D ultrasound from 2-D scanners for less than US$1000
May 7, 2007 Almost every doctor’s surgery in a developed country has a 2-D ultrasound scanner and for most parents it’s the first time they see their child-to-be. Apart from enabling us to see an unborn child in its mother’s womb, medical ultrasonography helps to detect gall stones, identify tumor-like lumps and it plays a particularly important role in the early detection of breast cancer. Three-dimensional sonography can provide especially informative images, for instance allowing the structure of tumors, their growth pattern and their blood supply to be clearly distinguished from healthy tissue. Although 3-D technology has been available since the 1990s, it remains prohibitively expensive. Physicians and clinics wishing to upgrade from 2-D to 3-D technology usually have to invest more than US$100,000 in new equipment. Now researchers have produced a system that enables conventional 2-D ultrasound scanners to be upgraded to provide 3-D images for less than US$1000. (read more...)
Disaster response unit delivers power, water and communications to stricken and remote areas
April 30, 2007 In response to the dismal Hurricane Katrina response, Ecosphere Technologies has produced a portable solar- and wind-powered disaster response unit to provide clean water, electricity and comunications services in stricken areas where key utilities are cut off. (read more...)
The Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitor
April 16, 2007 Taking one’s blood pressure can clearly tell you a lot about your health, but not nearly as much as SunTech Medical’s Oscar 2 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitor (ABP) monitor. Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring provides a comprehensive assessment of a patient’s blood pressure profile with BP variability, overnight dipping and morning surge that in-clinic and home BP monitoring cannot provide. (read more...)
Precise and low-cost submicron fabrication technique for manufacturing human spare parts
April 12, 2007 VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Tampere University of Technology and Nanofoot Finland Oy have developed a direct-write three-dimensional forming method of biomaterials. The methodology enables fabrication of nano and micrometer scale structures that can be used as parts of tissue engineering scaffolds. The project is funded by the BioneXt Tampere Research Programme. (read more...)
Behaviour scientists shake Darwin’s foundation - chickens inherited parents' stress symptoms
April 12, 2007 Evolutionary theory ever since Darwin is based on the assumption that acquired traits, such as learnt modifications of behaviour, cannot be inherited by the offspring. Now, a Swedish-Norwegian research group, led by professor Per Jensen at Linköping university in Sweden, shows that chickens can actually inherit behavioural modifications induced by stress in their parents. (read more...)
Sportkat’s Korebalance balances mind and body
April 12, 2007 Korebalance, the latest exercise machine fromSportkat, is different from other fitness equipment – it exercises the brain as well as the body. Korebalance includes a 17 inch touch screen monitor, supported by the Linux operating system, that runs 3D software games as you exercise. Lee Samango, Chief Executive Officer of Sportkat, says “This product forces users to employ their vision, the body and brain. Your brain acts like the rest of your muscles—it can get stronger, make new ways (or find different ways) of doing the same task...Korebalance radically improves muscle and mental agility to increase athletic performance.” (read more...)
The emergence of the Convenient Care Clinic
April 4, 2007 An interesting development in the health system in the U.S. of recent times has been a new type of health facility that is beginning to pop-up at local drug stores, discount stores and various supermarkets. In the store's local pharmacy, many establishments have set up mini-clinics. Operating specifically in high-traffic retail outlets with accessible pharmacy services, these clinics provide routine, non-emergency services to walk-in patients at affordable prices seven days a week. These mini-clinics cost half of what patients typically pay for a regular doctor's visit and are roughly one-sixth the cost of an emergency room visit. Patients who visit these mini-clinics are treated by a family nurse practitioner or a physician's assistant – both of whom can write prescriptions and perform a full exam. Although mini-clinics do not handle chronic illnesses, they are ideal for ailments like strep throat, sinus infections or common colds and with no appointment necessary, extended hours, and seven days a week, the approach is more in keeping with modern business practices than the unyielding, inefficient and expensive traditional health system. As Charles Darwin said: “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” (read more...)
The Wilderness Medicine Book
March 24, 2007 This is one of those books that will come in handy, even if you never use it. If that sounds silly, you’ve never been 50 miles from the nearest road with a man down and no telecommunications or medical knowledge. Each year, more and more people venture outdoors, including wilderness and rugged environments, and many suffer from injuries or illnesses while in the mountains, deserts, forests, jungles, or oceans. The 5th edition of Wilderness Medicine, is the definitive clinical reference on its unique subject and explains how to manage everything from frostbite to infection by marine microbes and situations stemming from natural disasters to diverse everyday injuries, such as bites, stings, poisonous plant exposures and animal attacks. (read more...)
Recreational Drugs and their level of harm
March 24, 2007 Just how dangerous are recreational drugs and what’s the most effective way to classify drugs as the basis for law enforcement? With the technologies for creating new substances now well ahead of the law’s ability to even recognise them, it’s clearly time for a new way of doing things. Last year, the UK’s House of Commons Science and Technology Committee tabled a report entitled Drug classification: making a hash of it? which concluded that the current UK classification of drugs into A, B and C classes should be replaced with a new system more closely reflecting the harm they cause. One of the most striking findings of the report was that based on the committee’s assessment of harm, tobacco and alcohol (in red on the chart) would be ranked as more harmful than cannabis, LSD and ecstasy. The report also stated that, on the basis of harm, "alcohol would be classed as B bordering on A, while cigarettes would probably be in the borderline between B and C". Now a leading researcher on substance misuse has expressed concern that the proposed classification regime is too limited in its approach to serve as a basis for changes in the law. (read more...)
The first Conception Kit for at-home use
March 23, 2007 Millions of people the world over struggle with fertility issues each yea and until recently have had few options beyond expensive drugs or very expensive, invasive medical procedures. The Conceivex Conception Kit is the first comprehensive reproductive healthcare system designed for couples and was this week granted 510K clearance by the U.S. FDA. The Conception Kit contains fertility prediction tools, semen collectors and the only FDA-cleared home-use cervical cap for conception, which are designed to be used together for up to three months in order to enhance the couple’s chance of becoming pregnant. The cornerstone of the US$300 kit is the Conception Cap, which brings the semen in direct contact with the cervix for four to six hours, increasing the opportunity for sperm to move into the uterine cavity and fertilize an egg at the most opportune time. (read more...)
Bodywall finding application in all sports
March 21, 2007 The Bodywall is designed to assist athletes to stretch effectively, with its combination of high-adhesion gloves and shoes and high-tech wall surface offering spiderman-like capabilities. It is so effective at stretching the muscles an athlete uses in any particular sport that when we first wrote it up last September, we forecast it would become part of the training regime of all athletes. The reason it is applicable to all sports, and hence a generic sporting product is that it achieves its goals using the wall, gravity and the human body - the only common element in every sport. As the worldwide interest in the product has blossomed since our article, thye man who conceived Bodywall, Chris Toal, has seen it used in a fascinating variety of ways to achieve stretching and exercise in different sports. The company is now developing aids so that the Bodywall can be used even more specifically - see the images here and here and here. (read more...)
Thermal vest keeps troops cool in the heat of battle
March 19, 2007 Scientists at the University of Portsmouth are testing new high-tech thermal vests to be used by soldiers in Iraq to help them cope with the heat of battle. The vests use a combination of air, liquid and new applications of old technologies such as converting paraffin wax into liquid in chambers within the vests to absorb heat from the body. (read more...)
First Global Tsunami Alarm System
March 17, 2007 Holidaying on the water just hasn’t been the same since the Boxing Day Tsunami in the Indian Ocean in 2004. Tsunamis are not new – they have been occurring regularly since time began. The probability of a tsunami is greatest in areas where the earth’s tectonic plates meet. Most fear created by the dreaded tidal wave however comes from the unknown – Tsunamis can travel at speeds up to 1000 km/h so if the early warning signs are missed, by the time you can see it, it’s too late. Now a new tsunami warning system brings hope that holidaymakers can relax on their beach holidays and residents of coastal areas need no longer live fearfully. You must be connected to a GSM mobile phone network, and signing up is as simple as entering your phone number on a web site, immediately enabling the alarm system on your phone. Nothing has to be installed or downloaded - a one-year subscription costs only EUR 30 and there is also a monthly subscription for holidaymakers at EUR 10. The system uses “Flash SMS” messaging which “pushes” the message onto the front screen of the phone even if it is being used. (read more...)
New 3D Imaging technology promises early detection of Alzheimer’s and Dementia
March 15, 2007 The older people become, the greater risk they have of sharing the tragic fate of those who remain alive yet are increasingly unaware of the world around them. In industrialised countries, one to six percent of the population over the age of 65 and an even more alarming ten to twenty percent over the age of 80 suffer a progressive loss of their cognitive abilities. Alzheimers disease is the most common cause, affecting 50 to 60 percent of all cases, followed by circulatory disorders in small blood vessels, capillaries and venules (calcifications), which make up about 20 percent. These disorders cause ever larger parts of the brain to become necrotic due to an insufficient supply of blood. (read more...)
BioLED Lab on a Chip
March 13, 2007 Acrongenomics and Molecular Vision have developed an extremely promising technology that will enable disposable, Point Of Care diagnostics for a large range of biomarkers. BioLED Lab on a Chip technology uses Molecular Vision’s patented, organic semiconductor technology in a high sensitivity, small size, medical diagnostic device. The device has been demonstrated to measure biomarkers with high sensitivity and at low cost, and the companies forsee such BioLED technology applications being used at home, in doctor’s offices and hospitals. (read more...)
Bilingual learning benefits second and third generation children
March 13, 2007 Bilingual learning can provide substantial benefits for second and third generation children whose families speak a language other than English, according to ESRC-funded research by Goldsmiths, University of London. Even when children have grown up with English as their stronger language, using both languages aids cognitive development and strengthens their identities as learners. (read more...)
Hospital Equipment Unaffected By Cell Phone Use, Study Finds
March 12, 2007 Although cellular telephone use has been prohibited in hospitals because of concerns of interference with medical devices, a new study by Mayo Clinic researchers shows that calls made on cellular phones have no negative impact on hospital medical devices, dispelling the long-held notion that they are unsafe to use in health care facilities. Three hundred tests were performed over a five-month period in 2006 using two cellular phones, which used different technologies from different carriers and 192 medical devices. Not a single problem was found. The study's authors say the findings should prompt hospitals to alter or abandon their bans on cell phone use. (read more...)
New security alert tracking system monitors the vital signs of all employees and reports wirelessly
March 9, 2007 A new and unique employee security and safety tracking system will be shown for the first time at the ISC West EXPO, in Las Vegas, March 28-30, 2007. The system revolves around a bio-sensor chip with proprietary algorithms that collects information from the reflectance of light on the human body, in a non-invasive manner, to monitor key vital signs, including heart rate and oxygen saturation levels. The Third Eye SATS unit is a wrist-mounted device for employees, which collects and sends information wirelessly to the employer’s central monitoring system. If the heart rate exhibits unnatural fluctuations, the information is captured on the wrist unit and transmitted to the central monitoring system. The receiving system can be configured with a video surveillance system to trigger cameras to zoom in on the employee. (read more...)
Andara OFS Therapy for Acute Spinal Cord Injury repair
March 9, 2007 We’ve written before about Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems’ BrainGate, a brain-implant device designed to control a computer, assistive devices and eventually, limb movement. The company’s focus is neural stimulation, sensing and processing technology to improve the lives of those with severe paralysis resulting from spinal cord injuries, neurological disorders and other conditions of the nervous system. Cyberkinetics' product development pipeline includes: Andara OFS (Oscillating Field Stimulator) Therapy for acute spinal cord injury, an investigative device designed to stimulate nerve repair and restore sensation and motor function; the; and a pilot program in the detection and prediction of seizures due to Epilepsy. Cyberkinetics has now filed to market its Andara OFS Therapy for Acute Spinal Cord Injury under Humanitarian Device Exemption. Cyberkinetics recently submitted a Humanitarian Device Exemption (HDE) to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to obtain market clearance for the implantable Andara OFS System, a nerve growth stimulator. If approved, Andara would be the first commercially available neurotechnology device designed to partially restore sensation and motor function in acute spinal cord injuries by stimulating nerve repair. The company sees it as its first step toward building a Nerve Repair Franchise. (read more...)
Evidence based happiness advice: a special issue of the Journal of Happiness Studies
March 6, 2007 For most of modern civilization, efforts to understand the human psyche have concentrated on understanding the downsides of anger, depression, anxiety and mental illness. In more recent times, there has been a great deal of scientific exploration of what makes people happy. In our increasingly complex society, happiness is not the simple product of favourable circumstance. Well-being is dependent on making the right individual choices. Handling freedom is not always easy and that has created a demand for happiness advice. Philosophers, psychologists and spiritual thinkers offer happiness counsel, but their widely differing views have never been empirically scrutinized. A special issue on Happiness Advice of the Journal of Happiness Studies published online this week, fills this gap, by comparing the advice given with what is known about the conditions of happiness observed in empirical research. (read more...)
An intelligent metered dose inhaler (MDI)
March 5, 2007 Here’s an interesting new inhaler that provides metered dose inhaler (MDI) users with breath-activated delivery and dose-counting capabilities. From Accentia Biopharmaceuticals, the MD Turbo offers significant advantages for the users of many of the 40 million MDIs prescribed each year in the United States alone. Studies show that many patients using traditional press-and-breathe pMDIs (pressurized metered dose inhalers) to control asthma or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), regardless of age or MDI experience, cannot successfully coordinate the press-and-breathe action necessary for drug delivery to the lungs. More than 70% of MDI users do not know the number of doses remaining in their inhalers at a given time. (read more...)
New drugs promise two days without sleep and improved alertness and cognitive powers
March 5, 2007 Two years ago, we wrote about the “time-shifting” drug, Modafinil that enables you to stay awake for 40+ hours with close to full mental capacity and with few side effects. The drug is a eugeroic and offers improved memory, mood enhancement, improved alertness and cognitive powers, and has a much smoother feel than amphetamines because they work differently. Popular Science is now reporting that we’re just about to see new forms of super eugeroic called armodafinil (Modafinil’s creator Cephalon is awaiting FDA approval for the drug), and a drug code-named CX717 from Cortex. Both drugs promise even longer periods of wakefulness, and in experiments with Ampakine CX717, sleep-deprived rhesus monkeys on the drug often outperformed their own well-rested but undrugged best efforts on mental-performance tests. While these drugs will be marketed to assist people with sleep disorders like narcolepsy, it’s their potential as recreational and workplace performance-enhancing drugs that make them worth watching. The times they are a changing … (read more...)
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