Top TechTop Tech #39: Special All-Health Edition
Promising products and interesting innovations
— By Paul Worthington
Today’s Top Tech:
• First medical tricorder
• Smartphone diagnoses tumor
• Smartphone tests for STDs
• Wearable cloth motion sensors
• Skin scanner skims below surface
• Contact lens sees eye disease
• Contact lens will see farther
• Samsung senses strokes
Scanadu Scout: “First medical tricorder”
“Finally, information about our body is not locked away inside the walls of a hospital.”
Scanadu says its Scout is a handheld scanner packed with sensors “that enables anyone to capture important physiological data — in a snap.”
Based at NASA-Ames Research Center, Scanadu says it is using mobile and sensor technology to develop a portfolio of “FDA approved, consumer friendly products that put the experience of an emergency room in the palm of your hand.” The company is working to “ensure this is the last generation to know so little about our health.”
How does it work? You simply place it to your forehead, and “as if it is reading your mind, the Scout provides valuable data about your body” such as temperature, respiratory rate, oximetry, ECG, systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure - in 10 seconds.
Scanadu will conduct its first clinical trials at the Scripps Translational Science Institute.
Digital Trends has a review of the device here.
(“Damnit Jim, I’m a doctor, not a scanner!”)
Smartphone-based tumor diagnosis
A smartphone-based device could bring rapid, accurate molecular diagnosis of cancer and other diseases.
It uses technology similar to that for “making holograms to collect detailed microscopic images for digital analysis of the molecular composition of cells and tissues,” Kurzweil AI reports. “A pilot test of the system with cancer cell lines detected the presence of tumor proteins with an accuracy matching the current gold standard for molecular profiling. The larger field of view enabled simultaneous analysis of more than 100,000 cells at a time.”
Developed by Harvard Medical School investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital, it would be most helpful at locations lacking the latest medical technology, the article adds.
Textile turns garments into motion sensors
With bend-sensitive wearable optical technology, XelfleX turns garments into active motion sensors.
Design firm Cambridge Consultants says its fiber-optic thread acts as the sensor, yielding comfortable, washable, robust clothing.
“By integrating the fiber into a close-fitting garment, the movement of a joint can change the amount of bending at a defined sensor point in the fiber,” the company says. “Algorithms then turn the results from the sensors into guidance that users can easily understand, giving feedback on their posture and movement, and coaching them on how to improve.”
The technology could be used for fitness and sports coaching, the design firm adds, as part of physiotherapy to help patients recover after injury, surgery or neurological problems, or for motion capture for gaming, film making and virtual reality applications.
There’s more information here.
International Business Times looks at the company here.
Smartphone tests for STDs
A smartphone can detect infectious disease markers for HIV
and syphilis.
The low-cost accessory needs just a finger-prick of blood to perform all mechanical, optical, and electronic functions of a lab-based blood test in just 15 minutes, Kurzweil AI reports.
Researchers at Columbia Engineering developed a $34 dongle that connects to a smartphone. It’s being tested by health care workers in Rwanda. “Our work shows that a full laboratory-quality immunoassay can be run on a smartphone accessory,” the researchers report.
Skin scanner skims below surface
A handheld device will “literally look under your skin,” its makers claim, and “analyze it in detail” to “help your skin achieve its optimal youthful potential by getting real-time, personalized skincare advice.”
OKU says it offers “the world’s first iPhone-connected device developed specifically for looking after and maintaining the wellness of your skin.” The $300 accessory and iPhone app also takes your lifestyle information into account and “provides you with an easy to understand value called the SkinScore,” the company adds. “This will tell you how your skin is faring and identifies areas for improvement. Oku gives advice on your lifestyle and diet and will recommend the right products for your current issue, or the right routine to improve your skin wellness.”
There’s more information here.
Contact lens sees eye disease
Doctors at the University of Washington are developing a wireless sensor small enough to attach to a lens that is implanted in the eye, and send data to clinicians in real-time.
Glaucoma causes blindness in some 60 million people worldwide. It’s highly treatable if caught early.
Popular Science reports the silicone replacement lens is similar to ones used in cataract surgery. It contains the device’s electronics. A sensor on a printed circuit board continually monitors fluid pressure inside the eye. A microchip converts pressure data into a radio-frequency signal.
A doctor will interpret the data and look for pressure spikes.
Contact lens will see farther
A prototype telescopic contact lens magnifies 2.8 times.
Developed by EPFL in Switzerland working with Paragon Vision Sciences on a DARPA-funded project, the contacts work by incorporating a very thin reflective telescope inside a 1.55mm thick lens. Small mirrors within bounce light around, expanding the perceived size of objects and magnifying the view, so it’s like looking through low magnification binoculars. The final lenses will be made from several precision cut and carefully assembled pieces of plastics, aluminum mirrors, and polarizing thin films, along with biologically safe glues.
The report notes an estimated 285 million people are visually impaired worldwide. Age-related macular degeneration alone is the leading cause of blindness among older adults in the Western world.
Samsung senses strokes
Samsung says engineers at its Creativity Lab developed a prototype solution “Early Detection Sensor & Algorithm Package” — a stroke detection solution using brainwaves.
It can “allow anyone with a smartphone or tablet to monitor the electrical impulses that are brainwaves, thereby gauging the probability of an oncoming stroke,” the company says. “The objective is to provide early warning, so that those at risk can visit the doctor for a proper diagnosis with sufficient time to prevent the potentially tragic consequences of a stroke.”
The researchers site World Health Organization statistics showing 15 million people across the world suffer from stroke each year, with roughly 66% of those cases resulting in either death or permanent physical disabilities. “With the ageing population in many countries, that is a serious concern,” they add.
There’s more information here.
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