Oregon State University engineers develop tiny, inexpensive chip to monitor vital signs

from Oregon Live:

Call them toys or call them training tools, electronic fitness monitors can offer intriguing insight into everything from the rate at which your heart beats to the number of steps you take or calories you expend over the course of the day. 

Typically they're not cheap, though. Take, for instance, Nike's $150 FuelBand, or Fitbit brand monitors costing $55 to $99 that can track your activity or sleep.

Now, electrical engineering students and faculty at Oregon State University hope to give such gizmos a run for their money. They've developed, are patenting and planning to take to market technology that can monitor vital signs with sensors so miniscule and inexpensive they could fit on a small adhesive bandage, cost less than 25 cents and be disposable.

In collaboration with private industry, they expect to move the sensor-packed microchip, the size and thickness of a postage stamp, into the consumer marketplace, perhaps by mid 2013.

Plus, they'll pursue U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval so the system could one day be used in everyday medical care.

Full text at:

http://www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2012/11/oregon_state_university_engine.html

Lionsgate Technology turns Smartphones into medical monitors

from ep&t:

Accessible, real-time measurement of body through mobile devices

Vancouver-based Lionsgate Technologies Inc., leading provider of mobile health (mHealth) technology, will launch a universal interface that transforms Smartphones, tablets and laptops into mobile medical diagnostic tools capable of real-time vital signs monitoring.

Using standard medical sensors connected directly through the universal audio port of virtually any mobile device, the proprietary interface, called the Vital Signs DSP (Digital Signal Processor), provides precise monitoring of blood oxygen levels, blood pressure and body temperature which are displayed on the mobile device's monitor.

The availability of an accurate, affordable mobile medical diagnostic tool has sweeping applications in the medical/clinical and consumer markets as well as in the developing world where 64% of mobile phone users are found.

Full text at:

http://www.ept.ca/news/lionsgate-technology-turns-smartphones-into-medical-monitors/1001779401/

Experimental weigh scale also checks your heart

from gizmag:

People being monitored for heart conditions currently have to go into a hospital or clinic on a regular basis, to have an electrocardiogram performed on them. That may be about to change, however, as researchers from Spain’s Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya have developed a bathroom scale that performs the procedure right in the user’s home.

Full text at:

http://www.gizmag.com/weigh-scale-electrocardiogram/23519/

Fall Monitoring Device Could Help Keep Seniors Safer

from ScienceDaily: 

It's a scenario played out all too frequently: Adult children, worried about the safety of their aging parents, foist devices on them to monitor their safety. And their parents, resentful of having their privacy invaded and losing their independence, resist fiercely.

Now a team of researchers at the University of South Carolina has developed and is testing a simple, innovative program that might just end such standoffs -- and create a safer environment for seniors.

Lead USC researcher Juan Caicedo has taken standard sensors that monitor bridge safety and developed an algorithm that can detect and possibly prevent falls by sensing vibrations associated with an individual's movement. The matchbox-sized sensors, which are placed on a floor or a baseboard of a room, can detect any movement or vibration and then transmit them to a nearby computer.

"The beauty of the program is that it does not use cameras or microphones, so it is a lot less intrusive," Caicedo, a professor of civil engineering, said. "Someone can't listen to what you are saying or see inside your home. Although sensors are not new, the innovation is in how the different signals are processed."

"In this case, the program detects the vibrations, (a possible fall), the exact spot of the vibrations and then estimates the force of impact of the object hitting the floor," Caicedo said. "It can identify the impact of a small ball bouncing or the weight of an adult."

Full text at:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120207095529.htm

FLORA - a platform for your wearable DIY electronics projects

from gizmag:

A new platform for wearable electronics, known as the FLORA, was announced by its creators Adafruit Industries on Friday. Essentially a small, round, fabric-friendly circuit board that looks a little like a flower, the FLORA will, when ready, be launched with a variety of accessories and software. These will include, we gather, controllers for iPhone, iPad and Android hardware. The FLORA is ripe for wearable DIY electronics projects: announced modules include Bluetooth, GPS, 3-axis accelerometer, compass, and, intriguingly, OLED.

The FLORA is a 1.75-inch (44.5 mm) diameter Arduino-compatible circuit board designed from the outset to be both user and fabric-friendly, as well as safe for beginners. As such, there are no thread-catching sticky-outy things like FTDI headers, plus it includes polarized connectors, protection diodes and an onboard regulator to avoid battery mishap, and it's compatible with an array of battery technologies.

Full text at:
http://www.gizmag.com/flora-wearable-electronics/21184/

Remote and Wireless Patient Monitors showing growth

from Health Market Science:

A new report from Kalorama Information found remote patient monitoring devices are the fasting growing medical device in the industry, in terms of growing yearly revenue. The Remote and Wireless Patient Monitoring Markets report found between 2008 and 2010, the growth rate of the medical devices was 23 percent, and is expected to double in the next four years.

Remote and wireless patient monitors can transmit a patient's vital signs to anywhere in a hospital building, or connect a patient's home with a provider's office to share patient data between locations. They are categorized along with minimally invasive surgical devices, specialty catheters and defibrillators, which have all grown in popularity and consumption in recent years.

Full text at:

http://hmsonline.com/industry-news/remote-and-wireless-patient-monitors-showing-growth

Save Doris

Telecare Aware:

At last there is a game you can justify playing at work! The challenging game Save Doris that was introduced by key safe provider Supra UK at the TSA conference last month is now online. 

Full text at:

http://www.telecareaware.com/index.php/will-you-save-doris-or-is-she-doomed.html

The game:
http://www.keysafe.co.uk/save_doris#game

Noncontact Wireless Technology Performs Vital Signs Monitoring from a Distance

QMed:
TNO, a Dutch research organization, has developed a noncontact wireless technology capable of performing continuous vital signs monitoring of a patient from up to 10 m away. Capable of measuring body motion, heart rate, and respiration, the radar-based technology could be on the market within the next six months to a year, according to Ted Punt, who presented on the technology at the Quantified Self Amsterdam conference.

Ted Punt - Contactless monitoring systems from Quantified Self Amsterdam on Vimeo.

Full text at:

http://www.qmed.com/mpmn/medtechpulse/noncontact-wireless-technology-performs-vital-signs-monitoring-distance

Health Check While Driving the Car

ScienceDaily:

Safety in traffic depends on a number of factors. One decisive aspect is how fit the driver is. A research team at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM), in collaboration with researchers at the BMW Group, managed to develop a sensor system integrated into the steering wheel that can monitor the driver's state of health while driving. The driver can use his time behind the wheel for a minor health check. At the same time the device might be used recognize the onset fainting spells or heart attacks.

Full text at:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111103122425.htm

Putting your things on the internet

gizmag:
If you're the kind of person that sometimes finds themselves talking to inanimate objects around the house then it might not be too long before they start talking back - not directly but via an SMS, tweet or email. MIT Media Lab graduates David Carr and John Kestner are looking to hook household objects up to the Web via Twine, a 2.5-inch square (16 cm2) box with internal and/or external sensors that connects to a Wi-Fi network to enable it to send a message when certain user customizable criteria are recognized by the unit's sensors.

While the number of devices connected to the internet has exploded since that time, the majority of household appliances and objects have been slow to make the move online. Despite talk of the emerging "Internet of Things" connecting anything other than a computer, games console, tablet or smartphone to the internet via a home network generally still requires some specialized knowledge.

It is this hurdle that Carr and Kestner are aiming to clear with Twine, which they say will make it easy to connect things to the internet "without a nerd degree" - meaning there's no programming or soldering and wiring expertise required. The Twine module provides Wi-Fi connectivity out of the box and comes with on-board temperature and vibration sensors. Power is supplied either via the unit's mini-USB port or by two AAA batteries, with an email alert being sent when the batteries need replacing.

Full text at:
http://www.gizmag.com/twine-internet-of-things/20583/

Comparison report on Bed Occupancy Monitors

T-Cubed:
In order to help service providers determine the most appropriate device for their client-base, T-Cubed and their partners have conducted research on over 15 bed occupancy monitoring devices currently on the market, ranging from standard telecare offerings through to stand-alone variants and systems that employ technologies that do not require a sensing element on the bed itself.

Full text at:

http://www.t-cubed.co.uk/news/index.html#30102011

Researchers Turn a Smart Phone Into a Medical Monitor

ScienceDaily:

An iPhone app that measures the user's heart rate is not only a popular feature with consumers, but it sparked an idea for a Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) researcher who is now turning smart phones, and eventually tablet devices, into sophisticated medical monitors able to capture and transmit vital physiological data.

A team led by Ki Chon, professor and head of biomedical engineering at WPI, has developed a smart phone application that can measure not only heart rate, but also heart rhythm, respiration rate and blood oxygen saturation using the phone's built-in video camera. The new app yields vital signs as accurate as standard medical monitors now in clinical use. Details of the new technology are published online, in advance of print, by the journal IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

Full text at:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111006113622.htm

Telemonitoring babies at home

Research Minute:
Pediatric Cardiology Home Telehealth Project.

Calling and locating caregiver

This video shows the functions developed in the MIDAS project based on Kompaï robot and Geomobile RFID tags. The primary goal of MIDAS is to develop complete and intelligent solutions, making use of different types of sensors, actuators, and connectivity technologies.

Smart shirt monitors your breathing while you sleep

smartplanet: To help track your sleep wellbeing, a nightshirt embedded with sensors monitors your breathing patterns, while a small chip in the pocket processes the data.

It determines your phase of sleep – REM ‘dream’ sleep, light sleep, or deep sleep. And these sleep diagnostics can help track how various things like alcohol or stress affect how well you sleep.

Fulltext at:
http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/rethinking-healthcare/smart-shirt-monitors-your-breathing-while-you-sleep/4699?tag=nl.e550

Monitoring patients using intelligent t-shirts

Universidad Carlos III de Madrid:Scientists at la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M - Carlos III University in Madrid) who participate in the LOBIN consortium have developed an “intelligent” t- shirt that monitors the human body (temperature, heart rate, etc.) and locates patients within the hospital, as if it were a GPS system that works in closed spaces; it can even determine if the subject is seated, lying down, walking or running.

http://www.uc3m.es/portal/page/portal/actualidad_cientifica/noticias/intelligent_tshirts

Staffordshire answers the call of assistive technologies

theguardian: Technologies both simple and high tech can support people living in their own homes

Phones with giant numbers and keys, an example of assistive technology. Photograph: Staffordshire county council

http://www.guardian.co.uk/healthcare-network/2011/sep/15/staffordshire-assistive-technology

App-based remote room monitoring system for iPad and iPhone

gizmag: When I lived in what is generally described as an unsavory neighborhood, I had a device installed which would ring my mobile phone if the alarm sounded. Technology has moved on a tad since then with home monitoring options like this one from Florida-based Stem Innovation. The company has developed an app-controlled video camera called the iZON Remote Room Monitor that streams live video and audio to your iOS device when movement or sound is detected at home. The system can even send the recording direct to a private YouTube account for safe-keeping or sharing.

http://www.gizmag.com/izon-live-stream-remote-monitor-iphone/19727/

Kinect Used To Help Detect Increased Fall Risk In Elderly Patients

Gamasutra: Researchers at Missouri University are using Microsoft's 3D depth sensing Kinect to help gauge changes in behavior that could indicate increased risk of a fall in elderly patients.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/37085/Kinect_Used_To_Help_Detect_Increased_Fall_Risk_In_Elderly_Patients.php

New Video Gaming Technology Used to Detect Illness, Prevent Falls in Older Adults

ScienceDaily (Sep. 8, 2011) — Many older adults lose their independence as their health declines and they are compelled to move into assisted care facilities. Researchers at the University of Missouri and TigerPlace, an independent living community, have been using motion-sensing technology to monitor changes in residents' health for several years. Now, researchers have found that two devices commonly used for video gaming and security systems are effective in detecting the early onset of illness and fall risk in seniors.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110906144600.htm