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

Implants that don't need an external charge could make it easy to aid hearing.

from arstechnica.com

key words: cochlea chip,  self-sufficient, self-powering implants

Inner ear implant uses biological battery to self-charge. A team of surgeons, neuroscientists, and electrical engineers has developed a cochlea chip that extracts electrical signals from the inner ear to power itself. The chip is the latest in a series of inventions aimed at creating entirely self-sufficient, self-powering implants that will remove the need for external power and enable permanent surgical implantation in some cases. This year alone, Stanford University announced the creation of its radio wave-powered heart implant and infrared light-powered retinal implants.

Cochlear implants have been around for decades, with the first electrical stimulation of auditory nerves taking place in the 50s. Though the implant has been a great success, with hundreds of thousands of people with severe hearing difficulties receiving the implant each year, they still run on batteries so are fairly cumbersome. MIT hopes to change all that by taking advantage of a natural battery that lies dormant within the ear.

"In the past, people have thought that the space where the high potential [in the ear] is located is inaccessible for implantable devices, because potentially it's very dangerous if you encroach on it," said Konstantina Stankovic, an otologic surgeon at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. "We have known for 60 years that this battery exists and that it's really important for normal hearing, but nobody has attempted to use this battery to power useful electronics."

Full text at: 

http://arstechnica.com/science/2012/11/inner-ear-implant-uses-biological-battery-to-self-charge/

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/

mHealth Challenges

from Telecare Aware:

Rather surprising in their synchronicity were two new reports--the first from research company Frost & Sullivan, the second an academic study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR)--detailing problems and concerns with mobile health from the perspective of those who are considering or currently working with it.

Frost & Sullivan's Advances in mHealth Technologies surveyed approximately 60 healthcare executives, academics and developers currently implementing mobile health systems in the US, Canada, Europe and Asia/Pacific. Their top concerns were security of patient information, integrating the technology into providers' monitoring systems, and a lack of best practices. F&S projects that "developers will gain a superior understanding of the nature of security breach concerns and take necessary precautions" as mHealth is adopted by providers over the next 3-4 years. The F&S release provides an overview and of course encourages readers to purchase their study; Information Week's article has more details.

The JMIR study interviewed 27 US 'key informants' primarily from Federal agencies and integrated health systems. Concerns expressed here centered on the policy and regulatory environment (privacy, data security and regulation as medical devices); the wireless network environment (mobile cost and proprietary platforms); the health system environment (funding, lack of demonstrably successful business models); mHealth in current practice (not meeting consumer engagement needs); and mHealth research (evidence early, weak and generally lacking in quality). The study also included, from some respondents, approaches for these issues.Issues in mHealth: Findings From Key Informant Interviews Also: FierceMobileHealthcare article.

Full text at:
http://www.telecareaware.com/index.php/mhealth-challenges-two-perspectives.html#axzz29kOIPeV1A

Safety product: Automist - Affordable domestic fire sprinkler alternative

from Telecare Aware:

Will the Automist device (video below) become a standard addition to telecare (plesiocare?) providers' product offerings? However they incorporate it into their business models (via referral commissions or as an accredited installer?), the device is an interesting proposition for them and for care homes too.

Full text at:
http://www.telecareaware.com/#ixzz28o7avklL

5 trends will reshape Health IT in 2013

from InformationWeek Healthcare:

Look for growth in mobile health, telemedicine, clinical analytics, and personal health records—and an EHR vendor shakeout.

Ultimately the goal of all healthcare--IT included--is to put itself out of business. That may sound a bit strange but medicine's primary objective is to cure disease, or prevent it from occurring in the first place. And as the profession gets better at these two tasks, the public should become increasingly self-sufficient and have less and less need for its services.

How far down this path will we be in 12 months? Probably not too far. But we are making progress on five fronts: Mobile Health, Personal health records, Telemedicine, EHR vendor shakeout and Clinical Analytics.

Full text at:
http://www.informationweek.com/healthcare/leadership/5-trends-will-reshape-health-it-in-2013/240006254#

Automatic Stove Turn-Off Devices

from thisCaringhome.org:

These electric stove turn-off products can increase cooking safety for those with dementia who still have good stove skills and judgment but are liable to forget occasionally. These devices come with a timer, a motion sensor, and an automatic stove shut-off. Gas stove shut off devices are in development; we currently know of only one manufacturer that offers this product but we have not reviewed it yet. Below you will find three reviews of devices for electric stoves. All three turn off the stove top and the oven, but each one works a little differently. Some features may be safer or more convenient for your needs and/or the person you care for. Here are 4 things to consider...

Full text at:
http://www.thiscaringhome.org/products/auto-stove-turn-off-devices.php