Apple pulled its WatchOS 5.1 software update after a small group of users reported they installed the update only to find their watches bricked. While there's no immediate solution, Apple is working on a fix.
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Arcadia Group, a health brand consultancy, has teamed up with Amazon to sell a new brand of consumer-focused medical devices called Choice brand, which includes app-connected blood pressure cuffs and glucose monitors, exclusively on Amazon’s marketplace. The apps can track a patient’s health data and measurements.
Read more North Raises $130 M to Launch its Focals Smartglasses with Investors Including Amazon
For instance, the app can wirelessly connect to the Choice Blood Pressure Monitor and provide users with readings and the ability to share the data. Arcadia said the product line will include standard models and Bluetooth-enabled devices.
Arcadia (not to be confused with the British fashion company of the same name) also said that Amazon’s latest move into the healthcare arena will be focused on helping consumers manage their diabetes or cardiovascular conditions.
“I approached Amazon last year as they began to expand their health-care footprint,” Arcadia CEO Bob Guest told CNBC in a phone interview. “I felt that something that was missing from their offerings was products for people with diabetes and other chronic disease states.”
Around 30 million people have diabetes in the United States, and 1 in 3 Americans have high blood pressure.
Guest told CNBC that his company will retain the brand but sell the products only on Amazon. Similar products were developed by Arcadia Group for Walmart and other companies.
“Choice is exclusive to Amazon but is not an Amazon private-label brand,” an Amazon spokesperson told CNBC, explaining that the brand owner is in charge of the design and production.
Read more Snapchat’s New Feature Lets You Take a Photo of an Item to Buy it on Amazon
Besides ramping up its private label and exclusive business in recent years, with over 120 brands that sell exclusively on its marketplace, Amazon has also started selling more medical products on its marketplace, including hospital supplies and over-the-counter consumer health products.
Last year, Amazon made a deal with Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan, where the three companies agreed to form a nonprofit healthcare company focused on technology with the goal of increasing user satisfaction and reducing costs.
Android started out as just a mobile operating system, but 10 years in it's pretty much everywhere. Check out our round-up of all the different Android variations that have cropped up so far, and what might be coming in the future.
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Medtronic received an FDA approval for its myPTM smartphone-powered controller for the SynchroMed II drug delivery system for patients with chronic pain. This device enables patients to ease their unpredictable pain by delivering on-demand boluses, or drug doses, within therapeutic limits set by their physician.
Related How Wearable Devices Are Changing the World of Drug Delivery
The new myPTM is actually just an app installed on a Samsung J3 smartphone. The smartphone wirelessly interfaces with the SynchroMed II, an implantable drug pump, to deliver long-term pain relief at lower doses and with fewer side effects compared to oral pain medications and may allow some patients to stop using systemic opioids. Personalization of the therapy gives patients the ability to alleviate unpredictable pain and may further reduce the need for oral opioids, said a press release.
“Pain is very personal and can be unpredictable. myPTM is a simple, easy-to-use device that allows my patients to personalize their treatment based on their day-to-day needs,” said John A. Hatheway, M.D., owner and provider at Northwest Pain Care in Spokane, Washington. “Enabling patients to adjust their treatment provides them with some independence to control their pain and gives me confidence knowing that they are getting pain relief without oral opioids. The Medtronic pain pump and myPTM are powerful tools to safely treat chronic pain including intractable cancer pain.”
Using the app, healthcare providers can set daily therapeutic doses and allow for on-demand bolusing, or drug delivery, within pre-established limits. All the drug delivery events are saved and can be tracked within the app. If the drug delivery reaches the daily limit, patient is not able to dose again until the next day.
“Samsung and Medtronic have partnered to offer an innovative solution for patients with chronic pain,” said Dr. David Rhew, chief medical officer, vice president and general manager for Enterprise (B2B) Healthcare, Samsung Electronics America. “The ability to directly manage one’s medical condition from a smartphone device is ground breaking and changes the way we think about the personalization of care.”
Misuse of oral opioid is a significant problem. Every day, more than 115 people in the United States die after overdosing on opioids. The misuse of and addiction to opioids – including prescription pain – is a serious national crisis that affects public health as well as social and economic welfare. Therefore, it’s more important than ever for patients suffering from chronic pain to have access to proven alternatives. Targeted drug delivery (TDD) may enable systemic opioid reduction or elimination and may be considered as an alternative to oral treatment for chronic pain.
IDTechEx has released a new report, “Flexible, Printed and Thin Film Batteries 2019–2029.” The report includes information gleaned since 2014 about market progress of flexible, thin-film, or printed batteries, as well as those using novel form factors.
The market is complex, a recent release from IDTechEx says, involving solutions from many categories: printed batteries, thin-film batteries, advanced lithium-ion batteries, solid-state batteries, micro-batteries, stretchable batteries, thin flexible supercapacitors and a few more. The report also took into consideration products such as active radio frequency identification (RFIDs), skin patches, smart packaging, wearables and IoT.
The study found that in applications for wearable technology and electronic textiles, high-energy, thin-film batteries have the highest potential followed by printed rechargeable zinc batteries, provided the latter can improve. New market requirements will require energy storage solutions with novel form factors, the release notes.
In the health care sector, IDTechEx anticipates the market for disposable medical devices requiring micro-power batteries will expand and notes that medical diagnostic devices and medical sensors are also promising markets. In the area of skin patches, printed zinc batteries have the highest potential, but price needs to continue falling before a higher market uptake takes place.
Wireless sensor/network applications are predicted to combine energy harvesting with thin batteries using superior form factors.
IDTechEx says its report is based on granular market forecasts segmented by technology type and end-use applications. The forecasts are based on primary information obtained through its direct interview program with suppliers and end-users, attending conferences globally, and organizing conferences on wearable technologies, RFIDs and printed electronics; and a critical technical assessment of competing technologies.
IDTechEx provides independent market research, business intelligence and events on emerging technology to clients in over 80 countries.
RS Medical has been helping patients with its patented wearable pads for more than a decade. The garments allow patients to place pads on difficult to reach treatment areas and improve compliance and effectiveness while allowing patients to receive in-home treatment.
Today, RS Medical’s wearables perform better than ever, as the company is continuously working to improve the performance of its wearable garments.
Read more Astroskin Smart Shirt Will Monitor Astronauts’ Vital Signs in Space
The unique RS-LBG™ Low Back Garment is an adjustable, belt-like garment that allows electrotherapy patients to position stimulator pads on the lower back and hips without help.
The garment is made with sturdy, washable stretch fabric, and incorporates adjustable side panels to create a close form fit regardless of body size and shape. A single size fits waist sizes 19 to 54 inches, collar sizes 13 to 21 inches.
The RS-FBG is available exclusively from RS Medical and is manufactured for optimal performance with the RS-4i Plus. It accommodates four channels and up to eight pads, so multiple sites can be treated. Pads are reusable and can be removed for garment laundering or replacement.
Read more Medical Smart Fabric Market Shows Noteworthy Growth by Strong CAGR Up To 2027
As part of their goal of continuous improvement, RS Medical collected feedback from thousands of patients as well as healthcare professionals and used it to inform some recent enhancements. According to the company, the new improvements should provide patients with ease of use and healthcare professionals should notice that the wearables improved patient compliance. Changes include:
VELCRO top electrodes increase adherence to garments by 8X and virtually eliminate electrode roll-up during treatment
Electrode placement area is expanded to accommodate fine-tuning of pad placements based upon a patient’s muscle structure and is no long restricted to snap locations only
Grids allow easy reference and communication about pad location
A single pin cable type now used for all treatment applications, with or without wearables
Upgraded zippers on the RS-FBG™ Full Back Garment for enhanced durability
Side panel and size labels simplify how to adjust the RS-FBG Full Back Garment to fit properly
Added binding around the RS-LBG™ Low Back Garment increases durability
Garmin fans looking to get Spotify on their fitness watch now have another option besides the Fenix 5 Plus series. Starting October 31, Garmin is bringing Spotify on its Forerunner 645 Music smartwatch.
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Comau, a Turin, Italy-based technology and innovation company, has created MATE (muscular aiding tech exoskeleton), an exoskeleton designed for workers to enhance their strength and performance. The exoskeleton is fully able to replicate dynamic movements of the shoulder while enwrapping the body like a second skin. This ensures greater comfort for the worker and increases work quality and efficiency by providing consistent movement assistance during manual and repetitive tasks.
Related Hyundai Motor Deploys Industrial Exoskeletons in its North American Plants
The exoskeleton is worn on the upper body. It was designed in close collaboration with factory workers engaged in manual activities. MATE utilizes a passive spring-based mechanism, meaning that it is completely mechanical, requiring no electric power to function. It provides assistance to the wearer’s shoulder muscles as they lift heavy objects, reach above their heads, or perform other physically-taxing activities. MATE additionally keeps its user from rotating their shoulder joints beyond the safe range of motion.
“Mate has been designed in close collaboration with factory workers in response to their specific needs,” said Tobias Daniel, vice president of Comau’s robotics and automation products global sales & marketing. “With our exoskeleton, workers will be able to do the same tasks, but with less fatigue.”
This ergonomically designed spring-based structure eases the repetitive movements and relieves the effort, thanks to a lightweight, breathable and effective postural support.
MATE was designed in collaboration with Icelandic orthopedic company ÖSSUR and Italy’s IUVO, which is a spinoff company of the Italian BioRobotics Institute.
Related LG’s New Exoskeleton or ‘Wearable Robot’ Promises to Give Users Superhuman Strength
MATE comes in two sizes. The exoskeleton can be set to one of five positions depending on the task at hand, plus users can choose between seven assistance levels. It weighs 3 kg (6.6 lb).
According to Comau, MATE should be available as of December. But it didn’t mention any price for the exoskeleton.
Polar launched its latest lineup of devices. Known as the Polar Vantage V and the Polar Vantage M, both provide a new optical heart rate sensor, additional tracking metrics, and more.
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Misfitlaunched its latest smartwatch in the Vapor lineup, the Misfit Vapor 2. The smartwatch comes with improved heart rate tracking, built-in GPS, runs Google's latest version of Wear OS, and more. Here's everything you need to know.
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Swiss watch company Swatch is putting the finishing touches on its new smartwatch operating system called Swiss OS. The company is plans to release the software at the end of 2018 or beginning of 2019.
Swiss OS’s main rivals will be the watchOS platform from Apple, Tizen from Samsung and Wear OS from Google.
Read more Huawei’s Latest Smartwatch Watch GT Uses its Own LiteOS Instead of Google’s WearOS
The operating system was first announced by Swatch CEO Nick Hayek back in March 2017. “There’s a possibility for wearables to develop as a consumer product, but you have to miniaturize and have an independent operating system,” Hayek told Bloomberg last year.
Swiss OS is scheduled to make its debut on a new A Tissot-branded smartwatch. Unfortunately, the company is keeping mum about almost all other detail about the first Swiss OS-powered smartwatch ahead of its launch.
It’s also unclear whether the new wearable will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100, Snapdragon Wear 3100 chipset. They may even sport entirely different chipsets.
Swatch hasn’t unveiled a smartwatch since 2015, when the company launched Touch Zero One made for beach volleyball players.
Swiss OS will require few software updates and will feature improved security of user data, something that can be expected from a Swiss-made product. The smartwatch will also be battery efficient which might give it an edge over its rivals, reports GadgetsAndWearables.
Swatch had many requests from small U.S. startups looking for flexible open-source systems and would serve these customers while also using the system in its own watches, Hayek said last year.
Considering we’re nearing the end of October and we’ve yet to hear much from Swatch, we’d expect this to more likely launch in early 2019.
Read more Samsung Updates Galaxy Wearable App with Android Pie & Galaxy Watch Support
But for now, Swatch, the world’s biggest watchmaker, has a lot of work ahead if it wants to create an OS that’s able to compete with the Apple Watch, Wear OS, Tizen and an abundance of other smart products already available in the market.
To study brain functions, researchers commonly rely on monitoring two types of electromagnetism – electric fields and light. However, most methods for measuring these phenomena in the brain are very invasive.
Now, researchers at MIT have designed a new technique to detect either electrical activity or optical signals in the brain using a minimally invasive sensor for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Read more Draper Develops Wireless Brain Implant that Can Make a Big Impact on Treatment of Diseases
Precise measurement of the electric fields can be a way to find out the activity of the brain, while detecting the presence of fluorescent molecules can be a tool to help discover how to manipulate the brain for therapeutic and scientific purposes.
“MRI offers a way to sense things from the outside of the body in a minimally invasive fashion,” says Aviad Hai, an MIT postdoc and the lead author of the study. “It does not require a wired connection into the brain. We can implant the sensor and just leave it there.”
To create a sensor that could detect electromagnetic fields with spatial precision, the researchers used an electronic device, specifically, a tiny radio antenna, reports MIT.
MRI works by detecting radio waves emitted by the nuclei of hydrogen atoms in water. These signals are usually detected by a large radio antenna within an MRI scanner.
For their study, the researchers shrank the radio antenna down to just a few millimeters in size so that it could be implanted directly into the brain to receive the radio waves generated by water in the brain tissue.
To make it work, the sensor is initially tuned to the same frequency as the radio waves emitted by the hydrogen atoms. The sensors tuning changes when it picks up an electromagnetic signal from the tissue, and the sensor no longer matches the frequency of the hydrogen atoms. When this occurs, an external MRI machine scanning the sensor delivers a weaker image.
One major advantage of this sensor is that it doesn’t need additional power to run; the radio signals emitted from the external MRI scanner are enough to power the sensor.
The researchers demonstrated that the sensors can pick up electrical signals similar to those produced by action potentials (the electrical impulses fired by single neurons), or local field potentials (the sum of electrical currents produced by a group of neurons).
Read more This Wearable Brain Scanner Can Record Your Brain Activity While You’re Moving
“We showed that these devices are sensitive to biological-scale potentials, on the order of millivolts, which are comparable to what biological tissue generates, especially in the brain,” said senior author Alan Jasanoff, an MIT professor of biological engineering, brain and cognitive sciences, and nuclear science and engineering, and an associate member of MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research.
The research was published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering.
In recent years, we’ve witnessed great advances in implant technology. However, as the technology is advancing in full speed, the charging solution for these devices remain inefficient and cumbersome. The patient either is required to sit still for the entire period of charging, which can take more 4 to 6 hours or if they wish to move around, it may take longer and charge at less than optimal efficiency. When the charger is worn for too long, the power being transferred from the charger through the skin can even result in thermal wounds.
Read more Tiny, Remotely Powered Electronic chip provides big improvement to treat neurological disorders
Now, product design and development firm Cambridge Consultants has come up with a novel solution to the problem. They developed a through body wireless power transfer system called MagLense, which can be a game changer in the fields of medical implants and consumer wearable devices.
The MagLense system provides safe and efficient wireless power transfer to devices inside the body without having to worry about precise alignment with the implant, the size and body shape of the patient, reports Cambridge Consultants.
The system also reduces the risk of discomfort without compromising performance and eliminates the battery from the body.
“MagLense addresses one of the ‘holy grails’ of smart implant design,” said John Genova, head of smart implant development. “Efficient, safe and targeted through-body power delivery is a critical missing component for next generation implants. Our technology enables a level of performance that opens the door for a whole new generation of implanted therapeutics.”
Fast and efficient charging paves the way to a new generation of batteryless smart implants powered wirelessly from power sources up to 50 centimeters away.
The system, which is ready for integration into devices, could usher in a new era of treatment for people suffering from conditions such as diabetes, epilepsy, obesity and depression. Using the technology, doctors can perform implants in parts of the body where implants weren’t possible before. Aside from medical implants, the system could be used in consumer wearables as well.
According to Cambridge Consultants, the flexible power delivery system conforms to different body types without wasting power. The system can self-calibrate to deliver the optimal power for different implant locations, sizes and shapes. It can also avoid heat damage to surrounding tissues by targeting only the desired implant.
Read more Scientists Create Self-healing Health Wearable Powered by Body Heat
“There are patients with different body types and different implants go in different parts of the body – we needed to come up with a technology that was agnostic to all of that,” said Dr Arun Venkatasubramanian, head of implanted connectivity at Cambridge Consultants, and one of the two-man team behind the invention of MagLense.
“Because of the clever algorithms and coil designs that went into MagLense, and the fact that it is agnostic to implant orientation and position in the body and automatically calibrates itself when patients move, patients are not restricted in their quality of life,” he added. “They don’t have to minimise movement – they can go for a jog and do all sorts of things and wear the belt and it will charge. That’s the whole purpose of why we started this.”
NovioSense B.V., a Netherlands-based company that develops wireless technology platform for non-invasive monitoring of disease biomarkers, has demonstrated the measurement of tear glucose in diabetic patients and a close correlation to blood glucose with clinically relevant accuracy in a six-patient clinical trial, A second, 24-patient study, to validate the use of the new glucose sensor in type 1 diabetic patients is already under way.
Related Soft Contact Lens Can Monitor Glucose, Medical Conditions and Deliver Drugs
The NovioSense Glucose Sensor is a device that, when placed in the lower eyelid, continuously measures glucose levels in the tear fluid of diabetic patients. The results of the six-patient clinical trial are presented in the American Chemical Society Journal Biomacromolecules.
The completed Phase 2 study was initiated based on positive results from a Phase 1 pilot safety study in 6 healthy subjects. On October 18, 2018 NovioSense initiated a follow-on study in 24 diabetic patients to gather additional evidence for the use of its sensor platform for diabetic patients.
“Today marks an important step in our tear glucose program. We opted to deploy the tear glucose sensor in diabetic patients to obtain evidence that tear glucose levels may be utilized to predict blood glucose levels with a clinically acceptable accuracy,” said Dr. Christopher Wilson, CEO of NovioSense. “These positive results from our phase 2 study demonstrate that the NovioSense Glucose Sensor can be used to measure glucose non-invasively in tears and correlates to blood glucose levels with an accuracy comparable to commercial, minimally invasive devices,” he added.
Linze Dijkstra, Managing Partner of Health Innovations, said they invested in the company in 2012 “based on positive pre-clinical data and are delighted to see year-on-year progress in the development of this disruptive diagnostic platform.”
The flexible miniature sensor developed by NovioSense provides glucose measurements directly to a smartphone when the patient places the device in the lower eyelid.
Related Study Shows MIT’s Non-invasive Blood Glucose Monitor as Accurate as Finger Pricks
The novel eye-wearable is a wireless, battery-free glucose sensor that provides non-invasive, continuous glucose monitoring to people with diabetes at an affordable price. It uses NFC (near-field communication) technology to transfer its readings to a smartphone or another device that can display the measurements and keep a record of them.
In the near future, people will create their own wearables. That’s what zGlue, a Mountain View, CA-based startup believes. So, they created zOrigin – a chipset that allows you to create your own wearable device. The zOrigin aims at become a reference design and a way for anyone building a wearable device to have a starting point with basic elements.
zOrigin is a low-power, wireless wearable built with a reference design of chip-stacking technology. zOrigin is an example of zGlue’s process being applied to create a custom product, and demonstrates the success of their technology. Not only can zOrigin be reprogrammed and adapted for various applications with our dev board, the same technology can be used for a ground-up custom solution based on your needs.
Read more MediaTek Introduces Helio P70 SoC with Enhanced AI and Premium Upgrades to Mid-Range Devices
zOrigin, a tiny self-contained chipset with an ARM Cortex M0 processor, has the key components of what would be in the average fitness tracker: accelerometer, heart rate monitor, temperature sensor, vibrating motor, LED, 25mAh rechargeable battery and Bluetooth LE radio.
Out of the box, zOrigin is a compact, ready-to-use fitness monitor in a durable enclosure. All you need to do is download the phone app and you’re good to go.
zGlue offers a complete dev board and reprogrammable chips, so that you can develop your own product based on the chip that powers zOrigin.
Using the same ZiP technology in zOrigin, you too can design and manufacture custom chips by contacting business@zglue.com.
The Apple Watch Series 4 refines everything that we love about this smartwatch. We're offering a lucky reader a chance to win an Apple Watch Series 4 and Casetify strap bundle -- a $700 value -- totally free.
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HSBC and Samsung inked a deal to customize 12 Samsung Gear S3 watches for HSBC bankers at the company’s office in New York’s Fifth Avenue. In a first-of-its-kind pilot, HSBC frontline staff are using customized Samsung Gear S3 smartwatches to enhance customer service by making in-branch communications more seamless and efficient between team members.
Read more Samsung and ALICE Debut Gear S3-Based Hotel Communications Service
“Everything we do is centered on the customer and making it as easy as possible to bank with HSBC when, where and how they choose,” said Pablo Sanchez, Regional Head of Retail Banking and Wealth Management for HSBC in the U.S. and Canada.
The technology works by allowing employees to go beyond fixed locations like desks and offices with traditional communication channels and enjoy more freedom to communicate with each other anywhere, anytime, in order to better serve customers, says a press release.
The custom Gear S3 app for HSBC has deliver text messages that enable employees to quickly and discretely communicate about customer needs. Samsung Knox Configure will allow IT to automatically enroll new devices. They will also be able to re-configure the UI and messages based on the workflow needs.
“Our biggest asset are our people, and we believe the most innovative technology can help them free up time and be more efficient in how they communicate, which is a big win for our customers,” said Jeremy Balkin, Head of Innovation, Retail Banking and Wealth Management, HSBC US.
Highlights of the Samsung smart watch solution for HSBC include the following:
The cloud-based Gear S3 app includes several preset text messages, which the employees can use to discretely and quickly communicate about customer needs they frequently encounter, such as “Your 10 a.m. appointment is here.”
Using the simplified HSBC-branded watch face, employees can quickly send requests or notify colleagues of immediate service needs. The device discreetly notifies the sender when the request is fulfilled, allowing employees to pay more attention to meeting customer needs.
Gear S3 is 4G LTE-enabled, so employees can stay connected without needing their Galaxy smartphones nearby.
Read more How Wearable Technology Can Transform the Restaurant Industry?
Gear S3, like all Samsung mobile devices, is protected by defense-grade Samsung Knox mobile security, protecting against intrusion, malware and other malicious threats.
Initial results showed enhanced customer waiting times, as well as more efficient communication and responsiveness between team members. HSBC will also use the insights to better understand monitor peak times and identify better ways of working, so they can continue to make appropriate staffing decisions.
Emmesphere, a Hong Kong-based functional jewelry brand, launched its very first wearable collection, the Emmesphere Sound Necklace.
Related J’adore Adorn Launches Luxury Swarovski Elements Crystal Earphones for Women
The simple but useful headphone is a harmonized amalgam of aesthetics, ergonomics and good sound. By merging together jewelry and accessories with headphone functionality, the EMMESPHERE Sound Necklaces, brings to the market a whole new interpretation of style and elegance.
The Sound Necklace functions as headphones and is designed to offer a fashion statement without compromising on function and sound quality. As the headphones are embedded in the necklace, it makes it easy for the wearer to keep them neatly around their neck all the time with easy access to music listening, said a press release.
The Emmesphere Sound Necklace is designed to have ergonomic fit and comfort for listening all day long. The careful choice of drive unit and tuning of the earphones ensures an immaculate sonic clarity and a balanced sound signature, catering to playback of a wide variety of music genres. While the microphone is enhanced to accentuate human voice frequency range and insulate from background and surrounding noise.
Using Bluetooth 4.0, users can easily pair various devices with the Necklace. The built-in microphone and remote control allow wearers to take calls, talk to Siri or prompt voice commands, play/pause music, switch songs and adjust volume without touching the phone. The Emmesphere Sound Necklace is compatible with iPhone, iPad, Android, and most Bluetooth devices.
Related Chinese Company Totwoo Unveils Love Bloom Smart Necklace in the U.S. Market
“Emmesphere” and “Lovesphere” are the first two products to be launched and are part of the maiden lineup of necklaces embodied with wireless headphones feature. The interchangeable “Qliq!” jewelry pieces can easily be swapped and “clicked” into place with the embedded magnetic locking mechanism.
The products were recently launched on Indiegogo. The premium set features the Emmesphere Sound Necklace, with a choice from Crystalline Qliq! Collection, and the first 50 Indiegogo backers will receive the Hemisphere Pendant Necklace for free.
More specs
Check out our roundup of the best new crowdfunding projects and product announcements that hit the web this week. You may not be able to buy this stuff yet, but it sure is fun to gawk!
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Cyber Monday is still a ways off, but it's never too early to start planning ahead. With so many different deals to choose from during one of the biggest shopping holidays of the year, going in with a little know-how makes all the difference.
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As an average American, your health insurance payments change once a year. But the process could be made far more fluid with utilizing wearables such as Fitbit that regularly measure your health data. Your health metrics could be used to change your insurance rate as often as once a day. The powerful sensors in these devices can track how many steps you’ve walked, how much calories you’ve burned, as well as stress levels, the quality of your sleep, blood pressure, sun exposure and glucose levels. These are all the information needed to get a full picture of your health.
Read more The State of Wearable Technology in Healthcare: Current and Future
However, tech companies have always tried to stay away from entering the heavily regulated health care space. Wearables that track steps walked and calories burned are careful not to offer specific medical information to avoid FDA approval requirements. For example, the heartbeat monitor on previous Apple Watch models are less specialized than the new EKG, reports Brookings Institution blog.
Recording medical data was once a difficult job, requiring special-purpose medical devices. These medical devices could only be used in a medical facility, due to the cost, size, and complexity of these devices. Now, with the spread of smartphones, smartwatches, and fitness trackers, we’re accustomed to keeping sensors and computers on or near our bodies much of the time. Because of our intimacy with these wearable devices, we can now afford to use these sensors to collect our health metrics on a regular basis. As tech companies are involved in a competition to add functionality to their devices, they should consider receiving regulatory approval for medical applications.
What distinguishes Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology from traditional technologies in health care, is the ability to gain information, process it and give a well-defined output to the end-user. AI does this through machine learning algorithms, which can recognize patterns in behavior and create its own logic.
Tracking tiny changes as they happen could make a huge difference in diagnosis and treatment: Artificial Intelligence could detect abnormal heartbeat, high blood pressure, or other signs that indicate worsening health. Diagnosing a condition early may be key to improving health outcomes and lowering costs.
Read more How Mobile Monitoring Solutions are Improving Healthcare
According to the Brookings Institution blog article, when patients receive treatment from doctors or nurses, AI would complement that process by analyzing medical data recorded from wearable devices. These devices, which are already popular for activity tracking, could soon include more medical features like detecting certain disease if the device makers receive FDA approval. Automating the system of data collection during doctor’s visit could give the patient more face time with the doctor.
If a healthcare system becomes more personalized with the help of wearable devices, it could become a more personal healthcare system where doctors spend more time treating patients.
Enable Injections, a startup that develops and manufactures on-body delivery devices that allow patients to self-administer high volume and/or high viscosity therapeutics, has completed a first closing of a Series B round that will raise up to $50M, led by Sanofi, a Bridgewater, NJ-based global biopharmaceutical company. ORI Healthcare Fund, CincyTech, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Cintrifuse, Ohio Innovation Fund, Cleveland Clinic and other “key private investors” also contributed.
Related How Wearable Devices Are Changing the World of Drug Delivery
The company’s devices, which are available with or without a connected component, look to avoid inconvenient IV drug delivery.
“We are delighted by the level of enthusiasm and financial support from Sanofi and our existing investors as we scale from our existing clinical production to high-volume, large scale commercial manufacturing of our enFuse™ drug delivery platform,” said Michael D. Hooven, President and CEO of Enable Injections.
Biologics now make up the majority of top selling medications and drugs in pharmaceutical company pipelines for treating various forms of cancers, autoimmune diseases and genetic disorders. A large number of biologics now-a-days are required in doses exceeding 5mL. Their high volume and viscosity currently require costly, inconvenient intravenous (IV) administration. Subcutaneous injection of biologics is the preferred delivery method, which is currently not as feasible without new technology, such as Enable enFuse.
Enable’s enFuse drug delivery platform, which is currently available to pharma and biotech companies for investigational use, delivers a controlled flow of up to 50 ml of a biologic through an automatically inserted needle. This easy-to-use device is attached to the skin by patients themselves, and a simple press of a button triggers needle insertion and retraction, reports MobiHealthNews.
The company, through a partnership with Flex, offers a form of the drug delivery platform that may connect to smartphones via Bluetooth.
“Enable Injections has made significant progress and is now a clinical stage company with its initial products in human clinical trials,” said John Rice, PhD, Enable Injections Board Member and CincyTech Director of Life Sciences. “This financing will enable the company to advance to a commercial scale and bring its first products to market. The investment and partnership with Sanofi provide that commercial validation.”
Philips, a leading health-tech company focused on improving people’s health and enabling better outcomes, from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care, announced expansion of its General Care Solution, which comprises patient monitors, wearable biosensors, and clinical decision support algorithms, with the new Philips IntelliVue GuardianSoftware mobile client application.
Related Philips Healthcare Signs Deal with US Air Force for Remote Patient Monitoring
The innovative app enhances mobility for caregivers with real-time access to patient deterioration information delivered to mobile devices to help improve patient care.
The mobile app, which received FDA clearance, leverages Philips’ General Care solution, which includes Early Warning Scoring (EWS), to provide clinicians with the benefit of mobility and optimized workflows.
Current method of patient information and color-coded early warning scores, used in some hospital medical-surgical units, can sometimes lead to inefficiencies and delays in care, because clinicians aren’t receiving important updates in real-time, said a press release.
Using the IntelliVue GuardianSoftware mobile client application, clinicians can now view patient vital signs, collected via compatible devices like the wearable biosensor, and early warning scores on their mobile devices. The IntelliVue GuardianSoftware mobile client application can help notify clinicians to signs of potential patient deterioration before an adverse event might occur, supporting them to more efficiently intervene and focus on those patients who need their attention.
Clinicians can track the number of patients in a unit and receive automated event generated notifications, including bed exit and fall notifications, delivered directly to their mobile device. The IntelliVue GuardianSoftware mobile client application, specified for Android, is configured to meet caregiver preferences, including the ability to acknowledge they have seen active notifications.
Felix Baader, Business Leader, Monitoring and Analytics at Philips said patient deterioration is a major concern in hospitals and it may further worsen if right solutions aren’t in place. “Clinicians need data in real-time to help them identify adverse events before they occur. Philips IntelliVue GuardianSoftware is always evolving to offer clinicians an intuitive tool to optimize efficiencies and clinical resources. With the introduction of the IGS mobile client app, clinicians can deploy resources more efficiently, and have a deeper view into their patients’ status,” he said.
Philips IntelliVue GuardianSoftware leverages intelligent algorithms and predictive analytics to help clinicians identify patient deterioration, notify caregivers and enable appropriate, timely intervention to prioritize patient care.
Philips’ industry-leading monitoring and analytics portfolio supports a broad patient population – from basic screening to complex surveillance in critical care, including wearable patient monitors, connected wearable biosensors, and clinical decision support tools and mobile applications for real-time clinical information at the patient’s bedside. Philips’ patient monitoring solution enables more than 275 million patients to be monitored each year.
MediaTek, a Taiwanese fabless semiconductor company, announced the launch of the Helio P70 system-on-chip (SoC), with an improved Artificial Intelligence engine combined with CPU and GPU upgrades for more powerful AI processing. The new SoC also comes with upgraded imaging and camera support, a gaming performance boost and advanced connectivity features; all these packed into an ultra-power-efficient chipset.
The Helio P70 follows Helio P60, which the company launched earlier this year, and builds on its hallmark features to power the “New Premium” market of full-featured smartphones at affordable price. The Helio P70 is in volume production now, and is expected to be available in consumer devices by November of this year, said a press release.
The Helio P70, built with TSMC’s 12nm FinFET technology, features a multi-core APU operating at up to 525 MHz for fast and efficient edge-AI processing. The chipset packs four Arm Cortex-A73 2.1 GHz processors and four Arm Cortex-A53 2.0 GHz processors in an octa-core big.LITTLE configuration in order to maximize the performance of demanding AI applications. An Arm Mali-G72 MP3 GPU operating at up to 900 MHz gives the chipset additional power boost, providing a 13% performance improvement compared to Helio P60.
“With an enhanced AI engine that works seamlessly across the CPU and GPU, Helio P70 delivers much faster performance for AI applications and is still highly power efficient,” said TL Lee, General Manager of MediaTek’s Wireless Communication business unit. “The introduction of Helio P70 continues MediaTek’s commitment to deliver high-end smartphone features and advanced technology for the mass market.”
With 10 to 30 percent more AI processing power than its predecessor, the Helio P70 supports more complex AI applications such as real-time human pose recognition and AI based video encoding.
Its AI video encoder boosts video call quality even during limited connection bandwidth. It can be used for video calls including Skype calls, Facebook video calls and YouTube live video streaming.
Helio P70 GPU enhancements also deliver a better overall gaming experience. It’s optimized to reduce frame-rate jitter and improve latency for touch controls and display visuals for a smooth, fluid gaming experience.
Read more MediaTek Introduces New Helio A series for Entry-level Handsets, Starting With the A22
Helio P70 supports a variety of AI-infused photo and video experiences including real-time beautification, scene detection and artificial reality (AR) capabilities. It features improved deep-learning facial detection with up to 90 percent accuracy. With support for a super-sized 32MP single camera, or 24+16MP dual cameras, the chipset gives device makers more design flexibility.
Helio P70 comes with a 4G LTE modem and 300MBit/s of download performance. Dual 4G VoLTE support provides a seamless user experience across two different SIMs for higher quality calls and faster connection times. Helio P70 also features MediaTek’s smart antenna technology, which automatically uses the best antenna combination to sustain signal quality.
RAM Group, a Singapore based multi-national Technology Startup Company, announced its Quantum Cardio-Respiratory Monitor (qCRM™), the first-of-its-kind integrated single-point, non-invasive, bio-electro-mechanical sensor with the potential to provide full-body diagnostics and analysis.
In a feasibility study, the company conducted in collaboration with the Giessen University Hospital in Germany, the non-invasive device outperformed other more traditional measures. The technology holds great promise for SPM sensors that can be utilized at point-of-care or through wearable devices. RAM Group is now seeking additional funding for further research and validation, said a press release.
“In our study, the qCRM performed extremely well against the litany of accepted monitoring technologies. This is remarkable noting that the qCRM utilizes only one point of contact to receive data from the patient,” said Dr. Ardeshir Ghofrani, 2015 German Future Prize winner and leader of the research team at Giessen University Hospital. “To be able to receive this level of organ function detail from a single point sensor is extremely exciting. The potential uses for this diagnostic and monitoring technology are significant.”
The qCRM sensor integrates multi-parametric (Heart rate, Right Atrial Pressure, Left Atrial Pressure, Central Venous Pressure, Breathing rate) and multi variant (Heart Rate Variability, Blood Pressure, Cardiac-Output, Circulatory Dynamics, Field-Propagation Dynamics) signals into unified waveforms, representing the comprehensive bodily functions and processes. The greater insights and data-sets generated in any applications using the qCRM platform have great opportunities for integration with existing risk stratification algorithms and deciphering hidden risk factors for cardio-pulmonary conditions and beyond.
Existing technologies monitor a single-field or effect, like the photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor found in all wearable smartwatches today. The PPG sensor is limited to a single waveform measuring changes in light absorption representing the perfusion of blood to the dermis and subcutaneous tissue of the skin.
Utilizing RAM Group’s proprietary qDS technology, the sensor merely needs to touch a single point on the body to begin analyzing the REAL or DIRECT pressure(s) related to cardio-pulmonary function.
Read more Hexoskin Smart Shirt Monitors and Records Heart Rate, Breathing and Movement
Ayal Ram, Founder and CEO, the RAM Group said they are thrilled that after almost ten years of research and hard work, they’re on the verge of making single-point monitoring and analysis a reality. “Our dream of changing how illnesses are diagnosed is made possible through our quantum device sensing technology. Our research shows that we’re on the right track. These sensors are capable of reshaping medical science as we know it, with the potential to aid immediate and hyper-accurate diagnosis of illness or disorder in the heart, lungs and other organs,” he said.
The latest Casio G-Shock collaboration is with virtual pop group Gorillaz. Each band member is represented by a limited-edition watch, and a special animated short film has been made to celebrate.
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Tory Burch has become the latest fashion lifestyle brand to release a smartwatch with Google's Wear OS. The $395 ToryTrack Gigi watch is classy and modern, with fitness tracking tech to go along with the looks.
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The breakthrough MyoPro myoelectric powered arm brace promises to help restore functionality in the arms and hands of individuals with neuromuscular disease or injury. Here's how it works.
The post Powered brace proves restoring arm functionality is no longer out of reach appeared first on Digital Trends.
Digital well-being and disconnecting from your phone is one of 2018's big trends. Mobvoi wants you to think about its TicWatch C2 smartwatch as a great way to help use your phone less.
The post Put down your phone and put on the $200 TicWatch C2 smartwatch appeared first on Digital Trends.
Can buying another connected device ever reduce smartphone use? The Mobvoi TicWatch C2 is a $200 smartwatch with Wear OS that has those ambitions, and it’s well-designed enough that you’ll want to put it on your wrist.
The post Mobvoi TicWatch C2 hands-on review appeared first on Digital Trends.
Wearable respiratory device AireSone Junior recently launched its Kickstarter. Developed by AEvice Health, the device is designed to help parents of asthmatic children monitor their child’s vitals and sleep quality remotely and receive regular updates to their smartphones.
Related Wearable Baby Monitors May Get Vital Signs Wrong
AireSone, intended for children aged 3 and above, makes use of breakthrough technologies to monitor their heart-rate, breathing and sleep quality.
“When I was young, I lived 10 years as an asthmatic child. There were a couple of times where I found myself waking up in the middle of the night struggling to breathe – it felt as though I was drowning. In fact, I tried to sleep it off on one occasion and found myself in an emergency room. After that episode, my parents, especially my mother, had to sacrifice her sleep to check on me regularly through the night. Having witnessed first hand the pain and anxiety that I put my mother through, I was motivated to create a device that could help give parents a better peace of mind,” Adrian Ang, CEO AEvice Health told MedGadget’s Conn Hastings in an interview.
The device sits on the child’s chest via an adhesive hypoallergenic silicon patch. The sensors in the device collect acoustic signals and a proprietary algorithm which processes the signals in the cloud, the output of which is used to calculate your child’s AireScore. Ser Wee, an Associate professor at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University developed the method after years of research. Nanyang Technological University is a leading technological institute in Singapore.
With AireSone Junior, parents can have peace of mind knowing that their child’s respiratory wellness is monitored throughout the night.
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AireSone Junior comes with pre-set parameters to notify parents when their baby’s respiratory and heart rates move into an abnormal range. The technology also has the ability to learn and personalize the parameters based on each individual over time.
Cicor, a Boudry, Switzerland-based leading innovative technology company and manufacturer of printed circuit boards, microelectronics and Electronic Manufacturing Services, announced important measures for strengthening global competitiveness of the Cicor Group.
Cicor announced two strategic measures aimed at promoting new technologies and sustainable economic development.
In the first quarter of 2019, the Cicor Group will open a technology center for printed electronics at the Bronschhofen site in Switzerland and will invest around CHF 1.5 million in further expansion over the next two years. Within the technology center, a team of application engineers will take care of application development, said Cicor Group.
The unique printing technology will allow the company to print a wide range of conductive, non-conductive and biocompatible materials on a wide range of substrates and forms. Additionally, there are new technologies that can lead to performance improvements and cost optimization.
The new technology center for printed electronics in Bronschhofen site will allow Cicor to underline its ambition to become the technology leader and its claim to be able to offer customers new, innovative solutions in addition to proven technologies.
Cicor also announced that at the beginning of 2019, the company’s plastic injection molding activities in Singapore will be merged with the molding activities in Batam, Indonesia. The consolidation of the molding activities at the Batam site means a further simplification of the operational structures, an expansion of its service portfolio and additional efficiency gains through economies of scale.
In addition to providing a solid starting point for mastering future challenges in the technically demanding plastic injection molding business, the consolidation will also allow the Batam production site to be upgraded to “best-in-class” production for high-precision components including coating. Batam already produces various components and in particular sterile medical products under clean room conditions.
Read more Global Wearables Market Shows Slight Increase Due to Emerging Market Gains, IDC Study Suggests
The company’s competence center for the construction of complex tools and molds for the processing of thermoplastics will remain in Singapore. The buying of a new die-sinking EDM machine in the summer of 2018 allowed Cicor to further enhance the manufacturing capabilities of the competence center in terms of workpiece precision, surface quality, cutting speed and process reliability.
Cicor’s experienced designers and qualified polymechanics in tooling and plastics technologies will continue to benefit its customers from a central location in Singapore.
When you have to be away from your elderly family members, Walabot Home can serve as your surrogate. This device can detect when your loved one falls and will call for help — no wearables or user input required.
The post The Walabot Home is like a smoke detector for senior falls appeared first on Digital Trends.
Wearable tech will play a crucial role in developing precision medicine by facilitating measurement of health parameters describing a person’s physical wellbeing. Sensors in the form of skin patches can detect heart rate, temperature, perspiration and movement disorders. Experts believe this to be the future of truly personalized care.
Anna Kravets, director of business consulting at Merck, who was one of the speakers at the Connected Health Conference in Boston, said apps, devices and sensors create a digital expression of patients.
“Precision medicine is the ability to make medicine dynamic and learning,” she said. “A human is not a static system. Even if you design something for me today, the way I react may be different tomorrow.”
Read more This Smart Bandage Can Monitor Wounds and Deliver Drugs As Needed
Wearable skin patches of today are inconspicuous, making them both functional and useful. In addition to providing better knowledge of a person’s health, they increase mobile health and remote patient monitoring capabilities. By extending the geography of care by utilizing wearable sensors will further drive down healthcare costs.
Wearable devices are already transforming biomedicine through mobile and digital health by enabling continuous, health monitoring outside of the clinic. Wearables, which were once geared toward consumer health enthusiasts, are now being used by health professionals for patient monitoring. Wearables also make it easy for the development of algorithm for automatically predicting health condition, prevention and intervention. We’re seeing new wearables-based analytic platforms flooding the market at an unprecedented rate and transforming healthcare everywhere from ICUs to in-home diabetes management to resource-limited field settings. Among some of the advancements made by wearables are: continuous arrhythmia detection, improved ICU alarms and rural neo-natal temperature monitoring.
Wearables have made it easier for us to understand our body and its functions as data accumulated on a daily basis from smart wearable devices is being turned into valuable insights. Consumers are increasingly adopting wearable devices, from Google glass being used by advanced surgeons to teenagers donning simple smartwatches. It is easily noticeable that healthcare professionals are more open to such wearables than consumers themselves.
Read more Aparito’s Wearable Aims to Save Big Pharmas Billions of Dollars in Clinical Trials
Old applications in combination with newer innovation can be used to gather information progressively. Sensors are leading the way when it comes to achieving better health data in real-time and making care cost affordable.
Senseonics, a Germantown, Maryland-based medtech startup developing long-term, implantable continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system for people with diabetes, announced that Aetna, the third largest commercial health plan provider in the United States, is providing coverage for its Eversense CGM device.
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Aetna’s plan will cover approximately 22 million people in the U.S. This recent coverage decision adds to the growing body of payers processing claims and paying for Eversense in the country.
“We are pleased that one of the largest national payers in the U.S. is now covering Eversense, and that Aetna recognizes the value of CGM and the value Eversense can bring to the market in terms of patient adherence,” said Tim Goodnow, President and Chief Executive Officer of Senseonics. “We believe this coverage decision represents a major milestone and has the potential to facilitate broad patient and physician access to Eversense in the U.S.”
The Eversense Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) System continually measures glucose levels in people aged 18 and older with diabetes for up to 90 days. It is intended to complement, and not replace, fingerstick blood glucose monitoring. The sensor insertion and removal need to be performed by a trained physician. The Eversense CGM System is a prescription device and patients still need to talk to their doctor to learn more about it.
Senseonics Holdings, Inc. is a medical technology company focused on the design, development and commercialization of transformative glucose monitoring products designed to help people with diabetes confidently improve quality of their lifestyle. From its inception, Senseonics has been advancing the integration of innovative, fluorescence sensor technology with smart wearable devices. The Eversense® CGM System received PMA approval from the FDA for up to 90 days of continuous use and is available in the United States. The Eversense® CGM XL System received CE mark for up to 180 days of continuous use and is available in Europe.
Abbott Laboratories’ HeartMate 3 Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) has received FDA approval as a destination therapy for people living with advanced heart failure. The approval allows doctors to offer the HeartMate 3 system to patients with advanced heart failure not eligible for a transplant.
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About 5.7 million adults in the United States have heart failure, according to CDC, and around 915,000 new cases of heart failure are diagnosed annually. About half of people who develop heart failure die within 5 years of diagnosis.
For advanced heart failure patients who can’t depend on earlier stage treatment options, LVAD’s take the workload off a weakened heart by pumping blood through the body – providing crucial, life-saving support for patients awaiting a heart transplant or for those not able to receive one.
“Approximately a quarter of a million people are living with advanced heart failure, and many of these people will need a heart transplant; however, only a few thousand will receive a new heart,” said Nir Uriel, M.D., director of Heart Failure, Transplant and Mechanical Circulatory Support at the University of Chicago Medicine. “The destination therapy approval for Abbott’s HeartMate 3 device now gives these patients new hope that they can receive a heart pump clinically proven to mitigate challenges we’ve historically confronted with this therapy—stroke and blood clotting—while also offering survival rates on par with transplant.”
The HeartMate 3 system sets a new standard in LVAD treatment, reducing the size of the system while reimagining how blood passes through a heart pump. The HeartMate 3 pump utilizes technology known as Full MagLev™ (fully magnetically-levitated) Flow, which reduces trauma to the blood passing through the pump while improving flow, said a press release.
“We partner with physicians to holistically develop therapies that benefit patients and achieve better outcomes,” said Mike Pederson, senior vice president of Abbott’s Cardiac Arrhythmias and Heart Failure business. “The unique design of the HeartMate 3 LVAD—with its Full MagLev Technology—takes an established innovation and improves upon it in meaningful ways to help people with advanced heart failure live fuller lives.”
Related Wearable Cardioverter-Defibrillator Does Not Prevent Sudden Death After Myocardial Infarctions
The FDA approval for the HeartMate 3 system was backed by data from the MOMENTUM 3 study, which showed that patients with the HeartMate 3 LVAD had an unprecedented survival rate of 82.8% at two years. Furthermore, rates of suspected pump thrombosis (clotting of blood) remained very low at 1.1% at two years. The study also showcased the lowest-ever published stroke rate (10 percent) for a continuous-flow LVAD at two years.