Wearables maker iRhythm Technologies on Monday released data suggesting its Zio patch increased the rate of atrial fibrillation (AFib) detection and reduced cardiac events, in results presented at the American Heart Association's annual scientific meeting.

Read more: Alphabet and iRhythm Partner Up to Develop Health Management Solutions for Atrial Fibrillation Patients

Atrial fibrillation (AF or AFib) is a quivering or irregular heartbeat, also known as an arrhythmia, which can lead to blood clots, stroke, heart failure, and other heart-related complications. Normally, your heart contracts and relaxes to a regular beat. In AF, the upper chambers of the heart (the atria) beat irregularly instead of beating effectively to move blood into the ventricles.

CDC estimates that 12.1 million people in the United States will have AFib in 2030. In 2018, 175,326 deaths occurred due to AFib. People of European descent are more likely to have AFib than African Americans.

The three-year-long mHealth Screening to Prevent Strokes (mSToPS) study evaluated the detection of silent, or previously undiagnosed, atrial fibrillation (AFib) in moderate-risk individuals using the FDA-cleared Zio by iRhythm ambulatory monitoring patch. This study is the first siteless, nationwide study of its kind and was led by researchers at the Scripps Research Translational Institute, in partnership with collaborators, Aetna and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, reports GlobeNewswire.

The study aimed to determine if participant-generated data available through a wearable ECG patch could improve the identification of AFib relative to routine care and to determine if screening for AFib by wearing Zio could improve clinical outcomes at three years after the initiation of screening.

At the end of three years after the initial onset of monitoring:

• AFib was newly diagnosed in 11.4% of those actively monitored with Zio versus only 7.7% of the control group (a statistically significant 48% improvement).
• The trial found the incidence rate of a cardiac event (stroke, myocardial infarction, systemic embolism, or death) was 8.4 per 100 person-years in people diagnosed with AF who underwent active monitoring, compared to the control group incidence rate of 13.8 per 100 person-years (a statistically significant improvement). This data demonstrates Zio’s detection of AFib in moderate-risk patients supported the prevention of serious cardiac events after diagnosis.
• Active monitoring with Zio also led to fewer hospitalizations for bleeding, the primary safety endpoint for the study (incidence rate of 0.32 per 100 person-years versus 0.71 per 100 person-years).
• Active monitoring also led to fewer total hospitalizations (12.9 versus 18.9 per 100 person-years).

Ultimately, the mSToPS study found that active screening for AF, as part of a prospective, pragmatic, direct-to-participant, and nationwide study, was associated with a significant improvement in clinical outcomes and safety at three years relative to routine care.

“Through clinical validation with studies like mSToPS, iRhythm demonstrates the importance of shifting to preventative and more proactive care to catch undiagnosed atrial fibrillation and improve the lives of millions of people,” said Kevin King, CEO of iRhythm. “Zio also helps decrease costs associated with increased healthcare utilization and more significant, potentially life-threatening clinical events. At iRhythm, we are helping to create a new standard of patient care.”

Read more: Apple Heart Study Shows Wearable Technology Can Help Detect Atrial Fibrillation

iRhythm is a leading digital health care company redefining the way cardiac arrhythmias are clinically diagnosed. The company combines wearable biosensor devices worn for up to 14 days and cloud-based data analytics with powerful proprietary algorithms that distill data from millions of heartbeats into clinically actionable information.

VivaLNK, a leading provider of connected healthcare solutions, announced the availability of the newest addition to its medical wearable platform, the Vitals Data Service. This turnkey service is designed for clinical trials and healthcare applications - in remote or clinical settings.

Read more: SPHCC Partners with Cassia and VivaLNK to Use Wearable Tech for Monitoring COVID-19 Patients

The Vitals Data Service includes VivaLNK's line of FDA-cleared ambulatory medical wearable sensors, a customizable remote patient monitoring app, cloud and data concierge services for consolidated data access in customizable data formats. It is designed for fast and easy continuous data capture in remote locations even in the event of intermittent network disconnections common in ambulatory situations. Data captured from patients are sent to a centralized cloud service that offers both on-demand and retrospective data access, says a press release.

Used in pharmaceutical clinical trials including hypertension and neurological drug development, the Vitals Data Service is designed to capture and deliver a continuous dataset from anywhere the patient is located. In addition, leading institutions are using the service for advanced research such as the 3,000-patient atrial fibrillation study at UCSF and a study on the effects of stress and teenage depression at Stanford University.

“The launch of the Vitals Data Service is an important step towards enabling the diverse and ever-growing need to bring life-changing healthcare applications to market,” said Jiang Li, CEO of VivaLNK. “The next generation of medical application and drug discovery is dependent on the ability to rapidly analyze continuous streams of data in order to understand a more complete picture of human physiology.”

Vitals Data Service also offers a convenient way to download data files from multiple sites for retrospective analysis, or directly integrate clinical applications for machine-to-machine processing on demand. The vitals data available with the service include ECG rhythm, heart rate, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, and accelerometer.

Read more: Current Health Partners with VivaLNK and MIR to Improve Remote Patient Monitoring

VivaLNK’s portfolio includes medical wearable sensors and data services that continuously monitor physiological parameters. The company's vision is to improve the quality and accessibility of healthcare worldwide by combining technology, data, and analytics into an integrated solution.

Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have developed a circuit board that provides true flexibility and can be easily recycled. Described as “really wearable”, the device is inspired by, and sticks onto, human skin, the authors said.

Read more: Stretchable Sensor Provides Skin-Like Sensation to Robots, AR/VR

The team, led by Jianliang Xiao and Wei Zhang, reports its new electronic skin in a paper published in the journal Science Advances. The device can heal itself, much like real skin. It also reliably performs a range of sensory tasks, from measuring the body temperature of users to tracking their daily step counts.

The device is also reconfigurable, meaning that the device can be shaped to fit anywhere on the body, reports Daniel Strain in CU Boulder Today.

“If you want to wear this like a watch, you can put it around your wrist,” said Xiao, an associate professor in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering at CU Boulder. “If you want to wear this like a necklace, you can put it on your neck.”

The researchers said that one day, such high-tech skin could allow people to collect accurate data about their bodies—all while cutting down on the world’s surging quantities of electronic waste.

“Smartwatches are functionally nice, but they’re always a big chunk of metal on a band,” said Zhang, a professor in the Department of Chemistry. “If we want a truly wearable device, ideally it will be a thin film that can comfortably fit onto your body.”

The researchers previously described their design for electronic skin in 2018. But their latest version of the technology makes a lot of improvements on the concept—for a start, it’s far more elastic, not to mention functional.

To manufacture their bouncy product, Xiao and his colleagues use screen printing to create a network of liquid metal wires. They then sandwich those circuits in between two thin films made out of a highly flexible and self-healing material called polyimine, the CU Boulder report said.

The resulting device is a little thicker than a Band-Aid and can be applied to skin with heat. It can also stretch by 60% in any direction without disrupting the electronics inside, the team reports.

“It’s really stretchy, which enables a lot of possibilities that weren’t an option before,” Xiao said.

Read more: Artificial Skin Could Enhance Sense of Touch and Provide Real-Time Haptic Feedback

Another advantage of this electronic skin is reusability. If thrown into a recycling solution, the polyimine will depolymerize, or separate into its component molecules, while the electronic components sink to the bottom. Both the electronics and the stretchy material can then be reused.

“Our solution to electronic waste is to start with how we make the device, not from the endpoint, or when it’s already been thrown away,” Xiao said. “We want a device that is easy to recycle."

One of the biggest challenges faced by companies in the medtech industry is to protect the trade secrets of wearable medical devices. Medical Wearables are the handheld monitoring tools primarily used in monitoring and identification of disease.

With the rise in prevalence of chronic diseases, patients are opting for home healthcare tools as an efficient and cost-effective of treatment, instead of hospital services. Many people are working from home as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the risk of coronavirus exposure, patients tend to prefer wearables and telehealth options over in-office visits. As the pandemic is making wearables more important than ever, more companies are now turning to trade secret law for protection.

Read more: New Startup Medical Ledger Offers Health Data Privacy with Blockchain-Powered EHR

The Medical Wearables Market size is projected to reach USD 19.5 billion by 2025 from USD 7.4 billion in 2020, at a CAGR of 21.4 % during the forecast period, according to the new market research report by MarketsandMarkets.

Medical wearables encompass technologies such as hardware, software, telemetry, sensors and diagnostic tools. While some of these technologies may be easy to protect by a patent, in some countries, it may be difficult to protect software and computer-implemented technologies. In the same way, protecting ways of treatment or diagnosis can be difficult in some countries, especially in the United States, reports Amanda Stark in ManagingIP.

Patents vs. Trade secrets

Patent protection encompasses a costly and lengthy process, but on the other hand trade secrets arise automatically. Trade secrets may be used to protect data, algorithms and processes provided they can be kept confidential. Trade secrets have an immediate effect and there’s no requirement to register them. The cost is also significantly lower compared to patents.

Copyright

Medical wearables and apps collect data and transfer them to healthcare professionals for evaluation. While the data per se aren’t protected by copyright, collection of it or the database itself may be protected under copyright.

Read more: How Secured is Blockchain for Healthcare Data Security?

Design rights

Design rights allow the protection of a product’s shape or appearance but not its function. As the appearance of the wearable device is often a key factor in its demand, design rights should be clearly explained in the IP portfolio of the company.

There are time limits in patent protection but trade secrets protection is not limited in time. Trade secrets may be protected forever, helping a digital health firm to keep ahead of the competition.

Medtronic has launched InPen, an FDA- cleared smart insulin pen for people on multiple daily injections (MDI). The smart insulin pen will link with the Medtech giant’s Guardian Connect continuous glucose monitoring system, to help track insulin doses alongside real-time blood sugar readings through a single smartphone app provided by Medtronic.

Related: Medtronic Buys Smart Insulin Pen Company Companion Medical

The integration of real-time CGM data into the smart insulin pen app is a result of the addition of Companion Medical's InPen to the Medtronic portfolio, as of September 2020. The acquisition enables Medtronic to serve more people — regardless of how they prefer their insulin to be delivered — and offers a unique and expansive ecosystem of support across their diabetes journey, reports Medtronic.

“We're strongly committed to delivering solutions that make life easier for people living with diabetes. We're pleased to build on the success of InPen with added real-time glucose data which provides a complete picture for users as they look to give themselves the right dose of insulin at the right time," said Sean Salmon, executive vice president and president of the Diabetes Business at Medtronic. "Our successful integration of these devices in just two months following the close of our Companion Medical acquisition is a testament to the close collaboration of our employees and a strong passion to serve our customers with better solutions to manage their diabetes.”

The InPen app will continue to display information from other currently compatible CGM systems on a three-hour delay.

Medtronic is working together with the global community to change the way people manage diabetes. The company aims to transform diabetes care by expanding access, integrating care and improving outcomes, so people living with diabetes can enjoy greater freedom and better health.

Related: Medtronic Wins FDA Clearance And CE Approval For LINQ II Insertable Cardiac Monitor

Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, Medtronic is among the world's largest medical technology, services and solutions companies – alleviating pain, restoring health and extending life for millions of people around the world. Medtronic employs more than 90,000 people worldwide, serving physicians, hospitals and patients in more than 150 countries. The company is focused on collaborating with stakeholders around the world to take healthcare further.

The combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and IoT with 5G wireless networks is opening new horizons on the planet, and even in outer space.

Read more: How 5G Will Make Wearables More Advanced and Futuristic

AI and 5G are two of the most disruptive technologies we’ve seen in decades. While each is individually transforming various industries, their combined power will truly revolutionize everything.

“5G will cause a proliferation in sensors all around us, and each one of those sensors is a new input available to create better models,” Jake Moskowitz, Head of the Emodo Institute at Ericsson Emodo told Forbes. “Many of these 5G sensors will directly enable vast data aggregation for remote monitoring and immediate reaction. In some cases, there will be opportunities to use those sensors as AI inputs. In other cases, there will be new AI efforts that require the distribution of new sensors.”

When compared with 4G, 5G technology provides very high data rates (several gigabits per second) and low rates of latency. 5G technology is designed to enhance connection between devices and speed up wireless applications. This technology will revolutionize wireless infrastructure for the service providers.

Applying artificial intelligence to 5G network will lead to more efficient wireless communications, longer battery life, and enhanced user experiences.

AI will be present in other aspects of 5G as well. While AI already is playing an important role in our daily interactions with our cell phones, it will bring major changes in how we use voice assistants such as Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant.

Using 5G, industries including manufacturing, logistics and supply chain, construction, and warehousing that manufacture and do their business globally may be able to compete with countries that offer lower-paid labor rates, suggests Rui Inacio, head of consultancy and solutions at Vilicom, an IT services management firm, in an interview in Silicon. “This means that developed countries affected by the offshoring advent of the 1990s and 2000s can retain a competitive position,” he said.

Read more: FDA is Backing the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Telemedicine

There are numerous candidates for 5G applications and it is hard to predict how it’ll impact industries. As we’ve seen before, the applications that are expected to make a huge change at an early stage aren’t always successful.

Since its release, the AirPods have been maintaining its status as premium wireless earbuds, But now Samsung wants to beat Apple with its Galaxy Buds Live. Since the two tech giants are no strangers to fierce rivalry, let’s find out who becomes the winner when it comes to earbuds.

Read more: Samsung Launches First All-In-One PMIC for Wireless Earbuds

Price

Apple’s devices are always a bit pricier than its competitors’ and the same goes for its AirPods.

Design and Comfort

Galaxy Buds Live are without a doubt more comfortable and better-looking than AirPods. Their bean-like design really complements your ear, but AirPods Pro, with their stems, are easier to take in and out of your ears, and their rubber tips allow them to fit in most people’s ears easily.

Noise Cancelling

Both of AirPods and Galaxy Buds Live sound good. But the Galaxy Buds Live have a much more dynamic sound profile when left on default settings. The AirPods Pro on the other hand, sound more neutral, with less bass, reports CNet.

Voice Assistants (Both have same features)

You can give enjoy a hands-free experience with Siri when you’re using an iPhone. Also, when using Galaxy Buds Live, you can summon Samsung's smart assistant Bixby while you’re using a Samsung phone. These voice assistants can give you the news on the weather, play music, or send messages to a friend, entirely hands-free. The voice assistants can also be triggered via a touch gesture on both the AirPods Pro and Buds Live.

Read more: Halo Launches Wireless, USB Battery Charging Solution for True Wireless Stereo Earbuds

Comparing Price and Other Features‍

AirPods Pro:     

Price: $249

Colors: White

Weight: .19 ounces

Battery life: 4.5 hours (24 hrs. with charging case)

Water resistance: IPX4 water and sweat resistance

Other features: Adaptive EQ, Customizable fit, Audio sharing, Wireless charging, Spatial audio‍

Galaxy Buds Live:        

Price: $169

Colors: White, Black, Bronze

Weight: .19 ounces

Battery life: 6 hours (ANC on), 21 hours with charging case

Water resistance: IPX2 water and sweat resistance

Other features: EQ, Spotify integration, Game mode, Music share, Wireless charging

Researchers at Cornell University have created fiber-optic sensor that can detect sensations like pressure, strain, and bending, much like human skin. The sensor that combines low-cost LEDs and dyes, could give soft robotic systems – and anyone using augmented reality technology – the ability to feel the same rich, tactile sensations that mammals depend on to navigate the natural world.

Read more: Artificial Skin Could Enhance Sense of Touch and Provide Real-Time Haptic Feedback

The researchers published their findings in the journal Science. The research team was led by Rob Shepherd, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in the College of Engineering. The paper’s co-lead authors are doctoral student Hedan Bai ’16 and Shuo Li, Ph.D. ’20.

The project builds upon an earlier stretchable sensor, developed in 2016 in Shepherd’s Organic Robotics Lab. To create that sensor, researchers sent light through an optical waveguide, and a photodiode detected changes in the beam’s intensity to determine when the material was deformed, reports David Nutt in Cornell University.

For the new project, Bai drew inspiration from silica-based distributed fiber-optic sensors, which detect minor wavelength shifts as a way to identify multiple properties, such as changes in humidity, temperature and strain. However, silica fibers aren’t compatible with soft and stretchable electronics. Intelligent soft systems also present their own structural challenges.

“We know that soft matters can be deformed in a very complicated, combinational way, and there are a lot of deformations happening at the same time,” Bai said. “We wanted a sensor that could decouple these.”

Bai’s solution was to make a stretchable lightguide for multimodal sensing (SLIMS). This long tube contains a pair of polyurethane elastomeric cores. One core is transparent; the other is filled with absorbing dyes at multiple locations and connects to an LED. Each core is coupled with a red-green-blue sensor chip to register geometric changes in the optical path of light.

The dual-core design increases the number of outputs by which the sensor can detect a range of deformations – pressure, bending or elongation – by lighting up the dyes, which act as spatial encoders. Bai paired that technology with a mathematical model that can decouple, or separate, the different deformations and pinpoint their exact locations and magnitudes.

The new SLIMS sensors are simpler to make and can be easily integrated into systems, like incorporating into a robot’s hand to detect slippage.

Using this wearable technology, the researchers designed a 3D-printed glove with sensors running along each finger. The glove is powered by a lithium battery and equipped with Bluetooth so it can transmit data to basic software, which Bai designed, that reconstructs the glove’s movements and deformations in real-time, the Cornell report said.

Read more: H&M and Boltware Partnership Develops A Jeans Jacket That Mimics Touch

“Right now, sensing is done mostly by vision,” Shepherd said. “We hardly ever measure touch in real life. This skin is a way to allow ourselves and machines to measure tactile interactions in a way that we now currently use the cameras in our phones. It’s using vision to measure touch. This is the most convenient and practical way to do it in a scalable way.”

The researchers are now looking into the ways SLIMS sensors can boost virtual and augmented reality experiences.

The U.S. military’s coronavirus response includes protection help for service members and families, along with resources and many announced cancellations. Now AFWERX, the innovation-pushing startup of the US Air Force, is planning to buy around 10,000 wearable devices that can pinpoint and tip-off personnel of potential COVID-19 infections early on.

Read more: U.S. Military’s AI-Powered Wearable Can Detect COVID-19 Two Days Before You Get Sick

While the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 continues to ravage the globe – and some regions are seeing spikes in cases – AFWERX, in collaboration with the Office of the Joint Surgeon General, wants to put the coronavirus-tracking apparatuses to use, reports Brandi Vincent in Nextgov.

This is not the first time the Air Force considered utilizing wearables to monitor its employees’ health, in July, the organization revealed intentions to purchase a wrist-worn gadget that captures data about wearers’ health.

“The government is seeking commercially available wearable technologies that can provide insight into biometric data (ex: heart rate fluctuation, O2 levels, etc.) that can identify a potential COVID-19 infection early and alert the user through its user dashboard with warnings,” said a request for information published late Tuesday.

According to the RFI, “the work will be done in support of the Pandemic Case Management Suite, which it deems an operational requirement meant to boost the Air Force’s moves to combat the pandemic and inform and enhance key leaders’ choices around unit readiness.”

Devices to be potentially purchased through this latest solicitation should not trace wearers’ locations, or collect or store personally identifiable information, the RFI notes, as published in Nextgov.

Read more: US Army Is Testing AR Goggles for Dogs To Give Remote Commands

AFWERX is the Air Force's team of innovators who encourage and facilitate connections across industry, academia, and the military to create transformative opportunities and foster a culture of innovation. Our mission is to solve problems and enhance the effectiveness of the service by enabling thoughtful, deliberate, ground-up innovation.

Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and MIT have developed a new reusable respirator that could serve as an alternative to an N95 respirator. The transparent, elastomeric, adaptable, long-lasting (TEAL) respirator has embedded sensors which inform the user if the respirator is on properly and whether the filters are becoming saturated. The TEAL respirator can be sterilized repeatedly, helping to reduce waste and avoid respirator shortages.

Related: Huami’s Amazfit Aeri Mask Self-Disinfects and Unlocks Your Phone With Face ID

The team tested the respirator at the Brigham and at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and reports a 100% success rate for fit testing among 40 participants, with feedback demonstrating exceptional fit, breathability and filter exchange. Results are published in ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science.

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for respirators and masks has been urgent. Our team has worked to develop a respirator platform that not only fits comfortably and snugly but can also be sterilized and re-sterilized,” said corresponding author Giovanni Traverso, MB, BChir, PhD, a gastroenterologist and biomedical engineer in the Division of Gastroenterology at the Brigham and assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT. “In this study, we looked at up to 100 re-sterilization cycles and found that the TEAL respirator we've designed can withstand that.”

The team evaluated 7 different methods for repeatedly sterilizing the TEAL respirator, including 100 cycles of autoclaving, 100 cycles of microwaving, prolonged exposure to UV treatment, high heat (200 °C), 100 percent isopropyl alcohol, and bleach. The researchers found minimal change to the respirator's elasticity after repeated sterilization, according to a news release.

The TEAL respirator is comprised of a transparent, stretchy shell that can be sterilized and filters that can be replaced by the user. The team found that all participants could successfully replace their filters and most participants (90 percent) reported an excellent or good fit for the respirator.

"TEAL is the first elastomeric respirator designed for use in a surgical setting, preserving the sterile field and providing the user a comfortable, reusable personal protective equipment solution," said co-author Adam Wentworth, MS, a senior research engineer in the Brigham's Division of Gastroenterology and the Traverso lab.

Related: Face Masks Made Of Electroceutical Fabric Kills Coronavirus On Contact

The respirator's sensors can help detect respiratory rate, exhalation temperature, and exhalation and inhalation pressures. The team also added a thermochromic coating to the respirator -- a coating that changes color from black to pink when the respirator is in direct contact with a person's face and therefore has a snug fit.

The researchers filed multiple patents surrounding the respirator and sensors. In addition, Wentworth, Byrne and Traverso have a financial interest in TEAL Bio, a biotechnology company focused on developing the next generation of personal protective equipment.

Nanowear, a leading connected-care and remote diagnostic platform, announced it has received FDA Class II 510(k) clearance for a first-of-its-kind cloth-based diagnostic platform, SimpleSENSE. SimpleSENSE is a multi-parameter remote diagnostic undergarment and machine learning digital platform, which simultaneously and synchronously monitors and assesses the heart, lungs, and upper vascular system.

Read more: Abbott Receives FDA Approval for Gallant Heart Rhythm Implants Featuring Continuous Remote Monitoring

Gender-neutral and size adjustable, the SimpleSENSE platform effectively replaces the digital stethoscope, multi-channel Holter monitor, Capnogram respiration machine, and blood pressure cuff by providing a diagnostic quality monitoring system that remotely captures more than 100 million data points per patient per day across cardiac, pulmonary, and circulatory biomarkers. With the increased need for telemedicine and remote diagnostic monitoring, SimpleSENSE provides a digital tool to assess medical data and trends between these biomarkers in a way that has not been previously available, empowering clinicians to treat patients earlier and more effectively, Nanowear said in a press release.

“SimpleSENSE marks the company's second FDA 510(k) clearance and follows Nanowear's strategy of continued data-driven differentiation in the connected-care and remote diagnostic market,” said Venk Varadan, co-founder and CEO of Nanowear. “In the face of the unexpected and unprecedented COVID-19 public health emergency, Nanowear began working collaboratively with FDA to evaluate a broadened indication for use for SimpleSENSE. Our platform can now efficiently serve the new need for remote diagnostics across primary care, acute illness and procedure, and chronic disease cases.”

In addition to near-term commercialization of SimpleSENSE with select channel partners, Nanowear plans to continue its SimpleSENSE clinical trials in diagnosing worsening Heart Failure and COVID-19, maintaining a robust product and clinical R&D pipeline.

“Nanowear is transforming the virtual care continuum as physicians and hospitals can now safely monitor patients' multiple biomarkers and assess the associated medical trends indicative of clinical deterioration,” said Spero Theodorou MD, Chief Medical Officer of InMode. “The pandemic is transforming the way healthcare services are accessed and delivered today and for years to come. We are excited about the role that Nanowear will play in the field of remote diagnostics and how it will provide patients around the world access to better outcomes and improved quality of life, regardless of whether they are being cared for in the clinic or in the comfort of their homes.”

Read more: PhysIQ Partners with DoD and Henry M. Jackson Foundation To Use Continuous Remote Monitoring For COVID-19 Study

Nanowear is a leading developer of patented, cloth-based nanosensor technology with applications in the cardiac, neurological, industrial safety/government and sports medicine/performance diagnostics monitoring markets. The company's proprietary technology enables continuous and synchronous electrophysiological, hemodynamic, acoustic, metabolic and activity monitoring that empowers medical professionals with accurate diagnostic data through a cost-effective and gender-neutral, size adjustable undergarment.

Italian IT and communications firm Partitalia is known for producing smart cards, RFID (radio frequency identification) tags and other forms of ID tags, but earlier this year it started making wearable devices that track social distancing in response to Covid-19.

Read more: Coolpad Partners With M2MD To Develop Innovative Social Distancing and Contact Tracing Solutions For Workplace

The “Close-to-me” wearable device is small and unobtrusive, designed to be worn around the wrist or the neck all day long without becoming uncomfortable, reports Healthcare.

When worn by two or more people present in the same room, it monitors "social distancing" based on a variable distance that can be set according to directives and regulations.

This is how "Close-to-me" works:

Using radiofrequency technology, it creates a non-invasive, low-frequency radio bubble around the person.

A sound and vibration warn wearers when the set distance is not respected.

Moreover, through simple adaptations, the device can be used to control accesses, detect presences and pay the company canteen.

Alfredo Salvatore, CEO of Sensor ID, an engineering company that designed the technology for Partitalia, describes the new product which is already in demand in view of the imminent re-opening of businesses: "Close-to-me can be personalized and purchased either as a wristband or key-ring: it is non-invasive, designed above all to simplify procedures involved in re-opening businesses and can be implemented easily and rapidly."

S.I.BE.G. srl, one of Coca Cola’s bottling companies, purchased 550 of the devices to track social distancing between employees at its plants in Catania, Sicily, and Tirana, capital of Albania.

Read more: How Technology Is Helping Employers Reopen Their Businesses After COVID-19 Lockdown

“In March, at the peak of the Covid-19 emergency, the company set up a task force to define and implement appropriate safety measures, including the indispensable adoption of a system that would help us observe social distancing rules” explains Gaetano Russo, S.I.BE.G. srl Procurement Manager.

“We needed a simple but effective device, something that would remind employees and everyone present in the plant to keep a distance of one and a half to two meters from each other. We needed something that was light to wear, an acoustically non-invasive device, but that performed this function.

The term "shin splints" refers to pain along the shin bone, also known as the tibia. It is the large bone in the front of your lower leg. Shin splints are common in runners, dancers, and military recruits. The strained tissue usually heals after two weeks of rest, but if exacerbated, shin splints can result in more serious stress fractures.

Read more: Vanderbilt Researchers Develop Next-Gen Wearable Sensor Algorithms To Prevent Injury in Athletes

Nurvv, a London-based wearable device maker, launched smart insoles that will help runners understand their gait and run injury-free. While there are similar products in the market, Nurvv Run is a little different. The device uses 32 high-precision sensors fitted inside lightweight insoles to accurately capture data from the feet at 1,000 times per second, per sensor. In February, the company raised $9 Million Venture Round Led by Hiro Capital.

Features include:

• 16 high-precision sensors for each foot capture data at the point of action
• Multi-sensor trackers record your run with world-leading accuracy
• Real-time monitoring generates metrics with live audio and visual cues
• Running Health helps you to manage and improve injury risk
• Daily Run recommendation to maintain your optimal fitness
• Lightweight trackers (22g each) with IP67 rating, giving full protection against dust, mud, sweat and water
• Long-lasting innersoles built to last over the duration of 3 pairs of running shoes
• Soft, light and breathable. Designed to fit comfortably in any running shoe and with any custom insole
• Supports four ways to run: Garmin, Apple Watch, phone or in standalone mode with NURVV Run only
• Connects to Bluetooth Heart Rate monitor to provide live HR zone cues during your run and a comprehensive report on your heart rate after
• 5+ hours of operation on a single charge

Over the past three years, Nurvv Run has been tested by hundreds of athletes, universities and leading institutions including SATRA Technology and the National Physical Laboratory.

Read more: Runners At This Year’s London Marathon Will Wear Social Distancing Wearables

The captured data, which includes unique running metrics such as cadence, step length, footstrike, pronation and balance, is fed into the NURVV Run coaching app to show a complete picture of the wearer’s running technique. It uses advanced biomechanics to deliver simple, actionable insights as well as personalized coaching that gives guidance on how to improve before, during and after each run.

Researchers at Penn State have developed a highly sensitive flexible gas sensor that can be implanted in the body — and, after it’s no longer needed, safely biodegrade into materials that are absorbed by the body.

Read more: Penn State Engineers Print Sensors Directly On Human Skin Without Using Heat

The team reported their findings in NPG Asia Materials.

Monitoring various forms of nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) gas is important because these gases can significantly impact human health. However, exposure to NO2 from the environment is linked to the progression of conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, reports Matt Swayne in Penn State News. The conventional method uses devices outside of the body to monitor gas levels, but they aren’t as accurate and the patients have to go through another surgery to remove these implantable devices.

All the components in the new sensor are biodegradable in water or in bodily fluids, but remain functional enough to capture the information on the gas levels. The researchers made the device’s conductors out of magnesium, and for the functional materials, they used silicon, which is also highly sensitive to nitric oxide. The body can safely absorb all of the materials used in the device.

“Silicon is unique — it’s the building block for modern electronics and people consider it to be super-stable,” said Huanyu “Larry” Cheng, Dorothy Quiggle Career Development Professor in the Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics and an affiliate of the Institute for Computational and Data Sciences. “Silicon has been shown to be biodegradable, as well. It can dissolve in a really slow manner, at about one to two nanometers a day, depending on the environment.”

The researchers tested their sensor in humid conditions and aqueous solutions to see if it could stably perform in the harsh conditions of the body.

The team used computational resources of ICDS’s Roar supercomputer to create the computer simulations that can calculate extremely small changes caused by slight changes of shape, or deformations, of the material.

“We base the measurement on resistance, which can change based on the gas absorption, but it can also be changed due to the deformation,” said Cheng. “So, if we deform the sensor on the skin surface, that will cause a large force and a large change in resistance and we would have no idea whether the gas’ performance is from the deformation or the exposed environment.”

Read more: This Wearable Gas Sensor is Meant for Monitoring Health and Environment

In the future, the team plans to design integrated systems that could monitor other bodily functions for healthy aging and various disease applications.

Kinetic, a New York-based wearables startup that provides safety wearables for industrial workers, raised $11.25 million in series A funding. The funding round was led by existing investor Crosslink Capital. The company said the money will help it grow and scale its engineering, sales, and marketing teams and support R&D.

Read more: Kinetic raises $4.5M for its Wearable REFLEX Aimed at Reducing Workplace Injuries

A total of 5,250 workers died from a work-related injury in the U.S. in 2018, up 2 percent from the 2017 total of 5,147. The fatal injury rate was unchanged in 2018 at 3.5 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers.

Kinetic cofounder and CEO Haytham Elhawary says during his childhood in London, his mother worked as an elderly care nurse, a job that severely strained her back, reports VentureBeat. In 2014, he partnered with cofounder Aditya Bansal to start developing a wearable device that could reduce workplace injuries.

KINETIC’s wearable device is aimed at reducing workplace injuries. The company’s Reflex is a Bluetooth-enabled, battery-powered, and fully rechargeable wearable device that fastens to belts or pant waistbands of industrial workers. It automatically detects unsafe work postures and provides users with real-time feedback to reduce injuries and create better work habits.

The technology was recently updated with proximity alert features to enable workers to practice proper social distancing and to help keep them safe during this pandemic. With this feature, workers are notified of potential risk via a gentle vibration if they are too close to one another.

“We created the KINETIC Reflex to reduce workplace injuries for the industrial workforce. Once COVID-19 spread, customers started reaching out asking if we could use the devices to help with social distancing and contact tracing,” said KINETIC co-founder and CEO, Haytham Elhawary. “That really inspired us to enhance the technology with new COVID-19 safety features, and we’re excited to deploy it to JLG and their workforce, who have been a partner.”

Read more: Nymi Launches Wearable Wristband For Health and Safety of Workers

Tens of thousands of workers have worn Reflex devices in hundreds of facilities around the world, according to Kinetic. The company says its customers range from companies in retail, logistics, and manufacturing industries, including six of the Fortune 50.

Lumen, the world's first hand-held metabolic tracking device, together with Garmin, have launched a Connect IQ Lumen App and Garmin Health API integration, allowing users to better understand the impact of fitness and nutrition decisions on their body in real-time.

Read more: Lumen Introduces at Home Metabolism Tracking Device, Available Worldwide Now

“We are thrilled to work with Garmin on this crucial integration. We know how important it is for our users to get valuable insights into their fitness and this will allow them to make more informed decisions about their nutrition and improve their metabolic health,” said Lumen CEO, Daniel Tal.

Through the CO2 concentration in a single breath, Lumen measures your metabolic health and provides daily personalized nutrition plans and insights into what your body is burning - fats or carbs. Lumen supports fat burn and improves your metabolic flexibility, which is your body's ability to efficiently switch between using carbs and fats as a fuel source, says a press release.

Garmin activity trackers and smartwatches help you track and share your activities.  Thanks to Lumen data and the Garmin Health API integration, Garmin users can now seamlessly integrate their health and activity data such as heart rate, sleep, steps and calories burned, into the Lumen app and instantly optimize their fitness journey.

By combining Garmin and Lumen data, users will be able to monitor their carb fuel consumption through notifications that guide them on when to breathe into Lumen and unlock their day or take a post-workout breath. Users can now see how their workout affects their metabolism through recovery macros and a comprehensive Garmin workout summary.

“Lumen is an innovative organization pushing the boundaries on metabolic health and performance optimization.  Garmin's Connect IQ platform will enable users to act in real-time to make the right fitness and nutrition decisions at every moment,” said Sean McNamara, Garmin Health Senior Manager Sales and Marketing.

Read more: Garmin Joins Forces with Children’s Mercy Kansas City to Keep Kids Active During COVID-19 Pandemic

For continual metabolic tracking, Garmin users with compatible devices will also have access to crucial Lumen data such as morning insights, daily and weekly Lumen levels and the Lumen Flex Score which indicates the degree of metabolic flexibility. The goal is to make sure that nutrition and metabolic health remain top of mind.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge used 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, techniques to create electronic fibers that are a hundred times thinner than a human hair.

Read more: Face Masks Made Of Electroceutical Fabric Kills Coronavirus On Contact

The transparent conducting fibers, described Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, could be used to create a variety of biomedical devices, including moisture flow sensors and portable respiratory sensors. The researchers said their highly sensitive, low-cost sensors can be attached to a mobile phone to collect breath pattern information, sound and images at the same time.

For respiratory conditions such as rapid breathing, normal breathing, simulated coughing, the amount of breath moisture leaked through face covering was tested using the fiber sensor by a Ph.D. student from Cambridge’s Department of Engineering, Andy Wang, the first author of the study.

While the fiber sensor has not been designed to detect viral particles, since scientific evidence increasingly points to the fact that viral particles such as coronavirus can be transmitted through respiratory droplets and aerosols, measuring the amount and direction of breath moisture that leaks through different types of face coverings could act an indicator in the protection 'weak' points, reports University of Cambridge.

The team found that most leakage from fabric or surgical masks comes from the front, especially during coughing, while most leakage from N95 masks comes from the top and sides with tight fittings. Nonetheless, both types of face masks, when worn properly, help to weaken the flow of exhaled breath.

"Sensors made from small conducting fibers are especially useful for volumetric sensing of fluid and gas in 3D, compared to conventional thin film techniques, but so far, it has been challenging to print and incorporate them into devices, and to manufacture them at scale," said Dr Yan Yan Shery Huang from Cambridge's Department of Engineering, who led the research.

Made from semiconducting and/or silver polymers, Huang and her colleagues 3D printed the composite fibers. This fiber printing technique creates a core-shell fiber structure, with a high-purity conducting fiber core wrapped by a thin protective polymer sheath, similar to the structure of common electrical wires, but at a scale of a few micrometers in diameter.

In addition to the respiratory sensors, the printing technique can also be used to make biocompatible fibers of a similar dimension to biological cells, which enables them to guide cell movements and 'feel' this dynamic process as electrical signals. Also, the fibers are so tiny that they are invisible to the naked eye, so when they are used to connect small electronic elements in 3D, it would seem that the electronics are 'floating' in mid-air.

Read more: Graphene Facemask Kills Bacteria and Showed Potential In Deactivating Coronavirus

"Our fiber sensors are lightweight, cheap, small and easy to use, so they could potentially be turned into home-test devices to allow the general public to perform self-administered tests to get information about their environments," said Huang.

The researchers are currently looking to develop the IFP method for a number of multi-functional sensors.

Researchers at the University of Houston and colleagues from other institutions have developed a patch made from fully rubbery electronics that can be placed directly on the heart to collect electrophysiological activity, temperature, heartbeat and other indicators, all at the same time. The device can harvest power directly from the movement of the beating heart and its flexibility means that it conforms well with the epicardial surface. That allows it to not just track data for diagnostics and monitoring but to also offer therapeutic benefits such as electrical pacing and thermal ablation, the researchers reported in Nature Electronics.

Read more: University of Houston Researchers Develop Super Thin Wearable That’s Barely Noticeable to the Wearer

Cunjiang Yu, Bill D. Cook Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at UH and corresponding author for the paper, said the device marks the first time bioelectronics have been developed based on fully rubbery electronic materials that are compatible with heart tissue, allowing the device to solve the limitations of previous cardiac implants, which are mainly made out of rigid electronic materials, reports University of Houston.

“For people who have heart arrhythmia or a heart attack, you need to quickly identify the problem,” Yu said. “This device can do that.” Yu is also a principle investigator with the Texas Center for Superconductivity at UH.

Yu is a leader in the development of fully rubbery electronics with sensing and other biological capabilities, including for use in robotic hands, skins and other devices. The epicardial bioelectronics patch builds upon that with a material with mechanical properties that mimic cardiac tissue, allowing for a closer interface and reducing the risk that the implant could damage the heart muscle.

“Unlike bioelectronics primarily based on rigid materials with mechanical structures that are stretchable on the macroscopic level, constructing bioelectronics out of materials with moduli matching those of the biological tissues suggests a promising route towards next-generational bioelectronics and biosensors that do not have a hard–soft interface for the heart and other organs,” the researchers wrote. “Our rubbery epicardial patch is capable of multiplexed ECG mapping, strain and temperature sensing, electrical pacing, thermal ablation and energy harvesting functions.”

Read more: This Wearable Patch May Provide Painless, More Effective Chemotherapy For Melanoma

In addition to Yu, researchers from UH, the Texas Heart Institute and the University of Chicago were involved.

U-blox, a global provider of leading positioning and wireless communication technologies, has launched a new highly integrated global navigation satellite system (GNSS) platform designed for ultra-low power high-performance positioning applications. The U‑blox M10 delivers precise positioning performance in a wide range of applications such as sport watches or asset and livestock trackers, all in an extremely compact format and with very long battery life.

Read more: MarketsandMarkets Report: IoT Chip Market Will Be Worth $525.4 Billion by 2025

Tailored to the needs of wearable and industrial applications, the u‑blox M10 platform can track up to four GNSS constellations at once to deliver positioning data even in challenging environments such as deep urban canyons. It delivers ultra-low power positioning in an ultra-compact form factor without sacrificing accuracy and availability.

With 12 mW power consumption in continuous tracking mode and high RF sensitivity that cuts the time required to establish a position fix, the u‑blox M10 platform is ideal for small battery-powered applications. The platform features advanced jamming, spoofing, and RF interference mitigation, as well as Super-S technology to boost performance in weak signal environments or when used with small antennas, making it ideal for compact product designs, reports U-blox.

This new GNSS platform will be supported by AssistNow, u‑blox’s well established assisted GNSS service, to accelerate positioning and improve accuracy. Depending on the required level of assistance, the service is available free of charge or for a recurring fee.

The u‑blox M10 platform benefits from u‑blox’s experience in building robust GNSS receivers, incorporating proven techniques for detecting spoofed signals through the analysis of raw GNSS data, jamming-detection strategies, and embedded filters to mitigate the effects of in-band RF interference.

“u‑blox can be proud of over 20 years of experience with GNSS technology, and with u‑blox M10 we are setting a new benchmark in ultra-low power high-performance positioning applications,” says Bernd Heidtmann, Product Manager, Product Center Positioning, u‑blox. “We have increased concurrent reception of satellite signals by a GNSS platform from three to four constellations and improved the power consumption level five-fold compared to previous generations while shrinking the chip size by 35 percent.”

Read more: Coros Pace 2 Is the World’s Lightest GPS Watch Especially Designed for Competitive Runners

The first products based on the u‑blox M10 positioning platform are the MAX- M10S GNSS module and the UBX-M10050 GNSS chipset, which are both available now.

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The market for ultraviolet (UV) sensors is expected to grow by USD 2.69 billion during 2020-2024, as the use of these sensors in wearables and the internet of things (IoT) accelerates, according to a new report from Technavio. The market is expected to progress at a CAGR of almost 23% during the forecast period.

A majority of demand for UV sensors came from the industrial segment in 2019. UV sensors are extensively used in industrial applications to detect heat and provide alerts and ensure the safety of the employees.

Read more: Wearables Market Will Reach $97.9 Billion by 2025, Reveals Yole Report

The Technavio report provides a detailed analysis of the market by end-user (industrial, automotive, consumer electronics, medical, and others) and geography (APAC, North America, Europe, South America, and MEA). Also, the report analyzes the market’s competitive landscape and offers information on several market vendors, including Broadcom Inc., Davis Instruments Corp., LAPIS Semiconductor Co. Ltd., Panasonic Corp., Silicon Laboratories Inc., Skye Instruments Ltd., Solar Light Co. Inc., STMicroelectronics NV, Vernier Software & Technology LLC, and Vishay Intertechnology Inc.

Internet of Things (IoT) helps electronic devices connect to the Internet, which in turn, reduces the need for human intervention. To ensure the efficient performance of this technology and to aid in mobile sensing, devices connected to an IoT network use a number of sensors and actuators. In the coming years, IoT will find significance in several applications including wearable devices, smart homes, industrial automation, and automated cars. With the growth of the IoT industry, the demand for sensors will subsequently increase, fueling the growth of the UV sensor market, the Technavio report said.

The use of UV sensors in wearables will be one of the major trends that will gain traction in the UV sensor market during the next few years. UV sensors integrated into wearables is accelerating as consumers adopt these devices to monitor daily activities and health, and to enable connected communication. The integration of UV sensors in wearables devices will help in preventing sunburns and skin blemishes by alerting individuals when the UV levels go beyond danger limits. In addition to wearable devices, these sensors are also used in smartphones. One of the major smartphone manufacturer Samsung has already equipped its Galaxy Note 4 UV sensor. Incorporated with Samsung's S Health app, the sensor measures UV radiation and prevents users from damaging their skin, which helps in reducing the risk of skin cancer. The UV sensor market will register a CAGR of almost 23% by 2024.

According to the Technavio report, Asia Pacific or APAC was the largest UV sensor market in 2019, and the region will offer several growth opportunities to market vendors during the forecast period.

Read more: Researchers Develop Wearable Paper-Based UV Sensors that Warn You When it’s Time to Get Out of the Sun

Factors for growth in the APAC region include expansion of manufacturing facilities and the investment in process automation and smart production techniques such as productivity and product tracking.

During the forecast period, 38% of the market’s growth will originate from APAC. China and Japan are the key markets for UV sensors in APAC. Market growth in this region will be faster than the growth of the market in other regions.