The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given (501k) clearance to the Loop System, a continuous remote monitor for patients with COPD. Developed by Spry Health, a Palo Alto, CA-based provider of remote patient monitoring solutions, the wristband wearable is designed for management of COPD and other chronic conditions.

Read more Cambridge Consultants Develops Verum – an AI-Powered Remote Patient Monitoring Platform

The wearable device collects and monitors a user’s pulse-oximetry, respiration and heart rate. These data are automatically analyzed to identify clinically relevant signs of deterioration, with any changes highlighted for providers on an accompanying dashboard, reports MobiHealthNews.

“In a given year, over 28 million hospitalizations are attributed to chronically ill patients, resulting in an average bill of $37,300 per stay with some patients winding up in the hospital three or more times per year,” said Elad Ferber, co-founder of Spry Health, in a statement.

The Loop is the first clinical grade wearable that measures pulse oximetry, respiration rate, and heart rate.

The Loop wearable continuously and noninvasively collects vital signs to assess the patient’s baseline and monitor their evolving condition. The device’s analytic platform spots subtle physiological changes and provides relevant, actionable insights to healthcare organizations before new symptoms are noticeable to the patient. Healthcare facilities can then identify their most vulnerable patients and guide them to the right care at the right time.

Before marketing the Loop, the company conducted comprehensive pre-market evaluations of a digital medical device. More than 250 participants took part in the evaluation, which proved the Loop was clinically equivalent to standard heart rate, oxygen saturation and respiration monitoring devices.

Read more Samsung Might Launch a Sensor-Covered Smart Shirt that Detects Breathing Problem and Lung Disease

“Typically, when you’re giving somebody a blood pressure monitor, a spirometer, a pulse oximeter, a scale, people just don’t use these devices,” Cobut told MobiHealthNews. “So, we’ve made the bet that if we can build a product that has great usability; that people will be engaged with it, they’ll get data that they understand is useful and has value for them. In return, they’ll reward us with all this clinical data that we can use to build predictive models.”

By the year 2050, approximately 70% of the world’s population will be living in cities, according to Gartner. Cities have evolved a lot over the last few years, and the Internet of Things (IoT) is making a big impact on these changes.

Read more IBM Research: The Sensors Powering Smart Cities Are Vulnerable to Hackers

It is estimated that millions of devices are connecting to the internet every second. The IoT devices are forecasted to grow to between 25-30 billion devices by 2020. The IoT economy will see billions of dollars spent over the next several years, reports Forbes.

As smart cities of tomorrow are taking shape against this backdrop, IoT is playing a huge role in running our smart homes and businesses and enhance our quality of life.

IoT is easing the burden of rapid urban growth by improving infrastructures and communications.

Here are some ways IoT is changing our smart cities:

Improve Public Transportation

Public transportation is disrupted whenever there are road closures, bad weather, or equipment breakdowns. IoT can provide mass transit authorities the real-time insights they need to implement contingency plans, ensuring that city dwellers always have access to safe, reliable, and efficient public transportation. This might be done using insights from cameras or connected devices at bus shelters or other public areas.

Provide More Efficient Water Supply

IoT can potentially change the way cities consume water. Water leaks and improved data integrity are possible with the help of smart meters. This will in turn prevent lost revenue and boost productivity. Also, these meters can be designed to help consumers with delivering real-time access about their consumption and water supply.

Improve Security and Privacy

IoT is already providing improved security with video surveillance, allowing police to monitor live feeds from across an entire city and relying on artificial intelligence systems to detect and report incidences of crime.

Read more AIStorm Introduces Real-Time AI-in-Sensor Solutions for IoT, Mobile Handsets and Driverless Cars

How Nokia is Helping to Advance Smart Cities

Nokia has launched “IoT for Smart Cities”, a fully integrated framework to efficiently deliver and manage smart city services. The ‘fully integrated’ approach fulfills the vital requirement of a connected city that is shared, secure and scalable – where every ‘thing’ can talk to each other to make tomorrow’s cities smart, safe and sustainable. Nokia’s Integrated Operations Center (IOC) orchestrates all smart city operations for enhanced efficiency, faster responsiveness and improved decision making.

A large study conducted by Stanford University researchers suggests Apple Watch can detect an alarming irregular heartbeat, demonstrating a potential future role for wearable technology in healthcare.

Although the findings were presented at the 2019 American College of Cardiology (ACC) Annual Scientific Session, experts say the results are not definitive, and more work is needed to tell if using wearable technology to screen for heart problems really helps. The study was funded by Apple Inc.

Read more Wearable ECG Monitoring Patch Can Detect Atrial Fibrillation Earlier and More Efficiently, Says Study

“The findings provide the evidence we need to continue investigating this strategy and to see if wearable technologies can identify AFib earlier, leading to earlier treatment and reducing the number of strokes,” said Dr. Campbell, a clinical pharmacist in electrophysiology at Duke University Hospital, in Durham, N.C., who was not involved in the research.

More than 419,000 Apple Watch users signed up for the unprecedented analysis, known as the Apple Heart Study. This was the largest ever study to explore screening seemingly healthy people for atrial fibrillation (A-fib).

Atrial fibrillation is an abnormal heart rhythm (arrhythmia). Blood flow from the top chambers of the heart to the bottom chambers varies from beat to beat, and the heart cannot pump blood to the rest of the body efficiently. If left untreated, A-fib can cause potentially life-threatening health issues, such as a stroke.

Of the participants, 0.5%, or about 2,000 subjects were warned by the watch that they might have a problem. Those people were sent an ECG (electrocardiography) patch to wear for subsequent detection of atrial fibrillation episodes, reports Reuters.

A third of those whose watches detected an irregular pulse were confirmed to have atrial fibrillation using the ECG technology, researchers said.

Some 84 percent of the irregular pulse notifications were later confirmed to have been AF episodes, data showed.

Read more Boston Scientific Receives CE Mark for Next Generation WATCHMAN FLX Stroke-Preventing Device

The study also found that 57 percent of participants who received an alert on their watch sought medical attention.

“The study’s findings have the potential to help patients and clinicians understand how devices like the Apple Watch can play a role in detecting conditions such as atrial fibrillation, a deadly and often undiagnosed disease,” Mintu Turakhia, the study’s lead author and an associate professor of cardiovascular medicine at Stanford, said in a statement.

Sticking a wearable device to skin can be very tricky. That’s why it’s very important to have a good adhesive to hold the device together or adhere the device to the wearer’s skin. 3M just announced it has added 3M™ Extended Wear Medical Transfer Adhesive, 4075 to its lineup of advanced adhesives for medical devices. Designed to laminate many substrates, 3M medical transfer adhesive, 4075 features an extended wear pressure sensitive transfer adhesive and allows design engineers to use a variety of backings.

Related DowDuPont Launches New Soft Skin Adhesive for Wearable Medical Devices at MD&M West 2019

The new adhesive offers excellent initial skin adhesion with up to a 14-day wear time, depending on the backing material used.

“We are excited to broaden our extended wear family with a product that provides customers greater design flexibility by letting them select a wide variety of backings,” said Marcello Napol, vice president in 3M’s Medical Solutions Division. “Offering design engineers more patient-friendly adhesive options that provide comfort and a strong, reliable bond is a key part of our mission. Our customers work hard to make a difference in people’s lives, and our goal is to make it easier for them to work with challenging substrates like skin.”

The 4075 adhesive can be used on intact skin.

3M medical transfer adhesive, 4075 meets requirements to use on intact skin. It was tested to meet ISO:10993-5 and ISO:10993-10 standards, which assess the in vitro cytotoxicity and a product’s potential to produce irritation and skin sensitization, respectively. It is ethylene oxide sterilization compatible. The tape is part of the extensive adhesives product line 3M offers the medical device manufacturing, design and supply industries. Through the company’s diversity of technologies – paired with its 55+ years of experience in the medical adhesive business and team of experts – 3M provides medical device professionals with the tools they need to satisfy their project requirements and confidently navigate their way to market.

Related 3M Exhibited Wearable Smart Medical Adhesives at CES 2019

3M is trying to improve lives by applying science in collaborative ways. With $33 billion in sales, the company’s 93,000 employees connect with customers all around the world.

In the last five years, big tech companies such as Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet have been trying to gain a firm foothold in the digital health market. And there’s a simple explanation for this: the aging baby boomer and the rising cost of healthcare.

Read more The State of Wearable Technology in Healthcare: Current and Future

Wearable technology in combination with Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being used to detect health conditions such as heart disease, stroke and cancer. AI is enabling doctors to perform robotic surgery with precision, reducing the risk of post-surgery complications. Surgeons are also routinely utilizing Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality during surgical procedure.

Last year, Microsoft launched Healthcare NExT, a new initiative aimed at transforming the healthcare sector by leveraging its existing AI work and Azure cloud resources, reports MicroSmallCap. Microsoft said its new service will help healthcare companies store patient data in the cloud and a Healthcare Bot service that will be integrated with Electronic Health Records. To facilitate this, the tech giant is integrating robots, voice recognition, and cognitive services into new collaborative healthcare applications.

In January, Verily, the life sciences division of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, raised $1 billion from investors to support its healthcare projects beyond merely research. This funding should help Verily advance their ongoing projects in healthcare. Many of the projects on which the company is working are focused on research. One example of such project is a study being conducted in conjunction with Gilead Sciences–a research-based biopharmaceutical company–that aims to identify the genomic cause of inflammatory disease.

Many are wondering exactly what Amazon has up its sleeve when it comes to digital health. After signing an alliance with JP Morgan Chase and Berkshire Hathaway in late January to form a non-profit health care entity, the Ecommerce giant appears to be amassing a number of puzzle pie. The company hasn’t clearly explained its goals, but they include finding ways to lower health care costs and increase access to consumers, with a focus on technologies such as AI, mobile, and cloud computing.

Read more FDA Digital Health Regulations Could Create New Opportunities for Pharma

Following in the footsteps of the big companies, several startups are about to disrupt healthcare in 2019. These include Virta Health, Helix, Omcare, Sensely, Pear therapeutics and more.

According to Mercom Capital Group, global venture capital funding in the digital healthcare market was almost $10 billion in 2018, an increase of $2.8 billion from the previous year. The speed at which tech firms are embracing digital health, we can expect to see funding figures continue to rise in the coming years.

Scientists at the University of Michigan have developed a wearable device that could soon replace traditional biopsies to diagnose cancer. The watch-sized device can harvest more than three times as many cancer cells than a standard blood test, according to the researchers. This novel device could help doctors to identify cancer in the blood that traditional blood tests can miss, preventing the need for invasive biopsies.

Read more Canadian Researcher Develop Low-Cost Handheld Cancer Probe to Detect Melanoma Early

“Nobody wants to have a biopsy,” said Dr. Daniel F. Hayes, a professor at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center and the paper’s senior author. “If we could get enough cancer cells from the blood, we could use them to learn about the tumor biology and direct care for the patients. That’s the excitement of why we’re doing this.”

Tumors can release more than 1,000 cancer cells into the bloodstream in a single minute. Current methods of capturing cancer cells from blood rely on samples from the patient — usually no more than a tablespoon taken in a single draw. Some blood draws come back with no cancer cells, even in patients with advanced cancer, and a typical sample contains no more than 10 cancer cells.

The device is made up of four major components: a micro-controller, a peristaltic pump, a heparin injector and a CTC capture module containing a microfluidic capture chip. The whole system sits inside a 3D printed casing and can be controlled wirelessly using a custom-built app, reports MobiHealthNews.

When a patient wears the device, whole blood from his or her peripheral vein is routed into the device through an indwelling intravenous catheter, and then back into their bloodstream. Because of this procedure, the device can screen a substantially larger volume of the patient’s blood with minimal loss.

Over a couple of hours in the hospital, the new device could continuously capture cancer cells directly from the vein, screening much larger volumes of a patient’s blood. In animal tests, the chip in the wearable device trapped 3.5 times as many cancer cells per milliliter of blood as it did running samples collected by blood draw.

Read more Breakthrough Microfluidic Device Detects Cancer Faster and Less Invasively

Hayes believes the device could start human clinical trials in three to five years. It would be used to help to optimize treatments for human cancers by enabling doctors to see if the cancer cells are making the molecules that serve as targets for many newer cancer drugs.

“This is the epitome of precision medicine, which is so exciting in the field of oncology right now,” says Hayes.

The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.

#TheRaceIsBack! The wait is finally over, the world’s leading competition in the area of IoT is back! We are welcoming techpreneurs from all around the world to submit their disruptive solutions in the following categories: Industrial | City | Transport | Agriculture | Healthcare | Sports | Home | Lifestyle.

Together with our partner Innovation World Cup®, we are looking for the best innovative Internet of Things and Wearable Technologies start-ups, scale-ups and SMEs to take part in the 11^th IOT/WT Innovation World Cup®.

Every year, the Innovation World Cup® selects about 60 techpreneurs and their ground-breaking solutions out of more than 1,000 submissions for the Innovation World Cup® finals. These finalists will have the opportunity to pitch at leading industry events and get the support needed to take their solutions to the next level.

The participation in the competition is free of charge and the advantage you will get is invaluable! Win prizes worth over $500,000 including €10,000 in cash. Winners and finalists will get exclusive benefits to boost their development:

• Speaking slots on the main stages of WT | Wearable Technologies Conferences, BIM World, MEDICA, Mobile World Congress MWC, and many more leading tech events.
• Free development kits offered by STMicroelectronics, Würth Elektronik, EBV Elektronik and Microtronics.
• Free use of productions labs and testing facilities offered by our partners.
• Free marketing packages and extensive media coverage at a global level.
• Significant advice from international tech experts to support your business development: finding the right components, go-to-market strategy, and commercial launch, to mention but a few.
• Placement in the Hall of Fame of the IoT/WT Innovation World Cup®.

Each participant has also the opportunity to compete in the special prizes of the 11^th IOT/WT Innovation World Cup®: EBV IoT Hero powered by EBV Elektronik, rapidM2M Challenge powered by Microtronics, Gore Innovation Center Prize powered by Gore, Trusted Connectivity Award powered by Gemalto, Logistics Game Changer powered by LOXXESS, and Smart Clothing Challenge powered by AIQ Smart Clothing.

Leading tech players STMicroelectronics, EBV Elektronik, W.L. Gore & Associates, LOXXESS, AIQ Smart Clothing, Gemalto, Microtronics, Würth Elektronik and VARTA Microbattery are main corporate partners of the competition and are excited to see who has the disruptive potential to rise above the others!

iBreve, GaitUp, Bonbouton, COBI, Sigfox, Sensoria and other top techpreneurs made history after debuting at the Innovation World Cup®. Your company could be next.

The registration will take you only a few minutes, apply now here www.innovationworldcup.com (The submission deadline closes on September 18th)

A team of engineers at the UC Berkeley and the Keck Graduate Institute (KGI) of The Claremont Colleges have developed a device called CRISPR-Chip that can detect genetic mutations in minutes. The hand-held device was made by combining CRISPR with electronic graphene transistors.

The new CRISPR-Chip, which was described in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering, could be used to rapidly diagnose genetic diseases or to evaluate the accuracy of gene-editing techniques. The team used the device to identify genetic mutations in DNA samples from Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients, reports Berkley News.

“We have developed the first transistor that uses CRISPR to search your genome for potential mutations,” said senior author Kiana Aran, an assistant professor at KGI who conceived of the technology while a postdoctoral scholar in UC Berkeley bioengineering professor Irina Conboy’s lab. “You just put your purified DNA sample on the chip, allow CRISPR to do the search and the graphene transistor reports the result of this search in minutes.”

Read more AI Tool Accurately Detects Cancer Type and Genetic Changes in Patient’s Tumor

Graphene, built of a single atomic layer of carbon, is so electrically sensitive that it can detect a DNA sequence “hit” in a full-genome sample without PCR amplification.

“Graphene’s super-sensitivity enabled us to detect the DNA searching activities of CRISPR,” Aran said. “CRISPR brought the selectivity, graphene transistors brought the sensitivity and, together, we were able to do this PCR-free or amplification-free detection.” She hopes to soon “multiplex” the device, allowing doctors to plug in multiple guide RNAs at once to simultaneously detect a number of genetic mutations in minutes.

So far, the CRISPR-Chip’s sensitivity was tested by using blood samples from Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patients. It successfully detected two common genetic mutations associated with the disease. Point-of-care diagnosis of genetic diseases is an obvious use for the chip, but other applications include drug sensitivity testing.

Co-author of the paper Professor Irina Conboy said the new device could be especially helpful for screening DMD, as the severe muscle-wasting disease can be caused by mutations throughout the massive dystrophin gene – one of the longest in the human genome – and spotting mutations can be costly and time-consuming using PCR-based genetic testing.

“As a practice right now, boys who have DMD are typically not screened until we know that something is wrong, and then they undergo a genetic confirmation,” said Conboy, who is also working on CRISPR-based treatments for DMD.

Read more UC-Berkeley Researchers Develop Flexible Sensor to Map Blood-Oxygen Levels Across the Body

Co-author Niren Murthy, professor of bioengineering, concluded:

“If you have certain mutations or certain DNA sequences, that will very accurately predict how you will respond to certain drugs,”

New and proposed FDA regulations could create new opportunities for pharmaceutical companies looking to develop digital tools, according to a new PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report.

Within the last few years the FDA has made several changes in digital health regulations. Though many of these aren’t yet reinforced, a recent PwC report predicts that these changes could open new doors for pharma companies looking to jump into the digital arena.

Read more Aparito’s Wearable Aims to Save Big Pharmas Billions of Dollars in Clinical Trials

“Recent changes made by the FDA have made it easier for digital health products to be cleared and approved, offering life sciences companies – and pharmaceutical companies in particular – the opportunity to accelerate approvals and improve provider and patient satisfaction. Companies willing to invest in strengthening or building digital competencies may win market share, while those without sufficient investments may find themselves at a disadvantage,” the report said.

Here are four major regulatory changes to digital health are driving new opportunities for pharma, according to PwC:

1. Digital Health Precertification. Pharma companies with high degrees of regulatory quality are eligible for shorter reviews and ONC certification.

2. Companion Applications. The FDA will allow digital apps intended to supplement prescription drugs to be regulated as labeling, meaning they will not require FDA approval.

3. Multiple-Function Devices. The FDA will treat as separate the various functions of a digital health device, making it easier to have full-function products.

4. OTC Drug Digital Labeling. Over the Counter (OTC) drugs may be approved based on evidence that consumers can use digital labeling to select a drug for treatment.

These regulatory changes can make it easier for pharma to go digital, and at the same time it could be an indicator of the future of the healthcare industry, reports MobiHealthNews.

However, authors of the PwC report continued to advise companies to implement digital into its existing portfolios and expertise.

Read more New PwC Study Reveals Consumers Use Wearables to Stay Fit and Live longer

“New regulatory pathways will simplify market access and product development cycles, but companies will still need to take stock of how they can best leverage digital health with their new or existing product portfolios, and the data that will be necessary to support these products,” the report said.

A new study has found that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may find it easier to read facial expressions and navigate social interactions when they use Google Glass paired with a smartphone app.

Related Brain Power Ships Empowered Brain, World’s First Smartglasses to Help People with Autism

The small study found when children used the new AI system, dubbed “Superpower Glass” at home, it helped them decipher what’s happening with people around them, bringing significant improvements in their socialization skills, compared to their counterparts that received only the standard care, the researchers said.

For their study, the researchers recruited 71 children between the ages of six and 12 with ASD. The children were receiving standard treatment for ASD, which typically involves using structured exercises like flash cards depicting faces to help kids learn to recognize different emotions.

Forty children were randomly assigned to the study group and 31 were assigned to the control group.

The children in the “Superpower Glass” had a camera and speaker in their glasses which allowed them to send information on what they saw and heard to a smartphone app designed to help them decode and respond to social interactions, reports Reuters.

Children with ASD can struggle to recognize and respond to emotions, but the app reinforced these skills by providing them feedback in real time.

The children used the glasses in 20-minute sessions four times a week. After six weeks of using the glasses, the children scored better on tests of socialization, communication and behavior than the kids in the control group who received only standard care for autism.

“Children learn to seek out social interactions, learn that faces are interesting, and that they can learn what they’re saying or what the faces are telling them,” said senior study author Dennis Wall of Stanford University in California.

Read more This Therapy Robot Helps Children with Autism by Teaching Them Social Skills

“This is powerful since it encourages social initiations – a form of fostering social motivation – by the child and they’re learning that they can get these things – the emotions of their social partners- themselves,” Wall added.

The study was published in JAMA Pediatrics.

The term ‘Artificial Intelligence’ was coined by a Stanford University scientist, while others at the university created some of the most significant applications of it. Now, the university wants to put humans and ethics at the center of this field.

Read more IBM Develops Fingernail Sensor That Uses Artificial Intelligence to Monitor Parkinson’s, Other Diseases

Stanford University just launched a new institute committed to studying, guiding and developing human-centered artificial intelligence technologies and applications. The mission of the new institute, known as the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI), is to advance artificial intelligence (AI) research, education, policy and practice to improve the human condition, reports Wu Tsai Neuroscience Institute at Stanford University.

Stanford HAI leverages the university’s strength across all disciplines, including: business, economics, education, genomics, law, literature, medicine, neuroscience, philosophy and more. These complement Stanford’s tradition of leadership in AI, computer science, engineering and robotics.

HAI will be led by John Etchemendy, professor of philosophy and former Stanford University provost, and Fei-Fei Li, professor of computer science and former director of the Stanford AI Lab.

Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne said artificial intelligence has the potential to radically change how we live our lives. “Now is our opportunity to shape that future by putting humanists and social scientists alongside people who are developing artificial intelligence,” he said. “This approach aligns with Stanford’s founding purpose to produce knowledge for the betterment of humanity. I am deeply thankful to our supporters who are providing foundational funding for the institute, which is a critical element for our vision for the future of Stanford University.”

Stanford HAI was formally launched at a symposium on March 18 featuring speakers such as Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates and California Governor Gavin Newsom, as well as leading experts Kate Crawford of NYU, Jeff Dean of Google, Demis Hassabis of DeepMind, Alison Gopnik of UC Berkeley, Reid Hoffman of Greylock Partners, and Eric Horvitz of Microsoft Research.

Read more Stanford Researchers Develop Wearable That Measures Stress Through Sweat

“I could not have envisioned that the discipline I was so interested in would, a decade and a half later, become one of the driving forces of the changes that humanity will undergo,” said Fei-Fei Li, an AI pioneer and former Google vice president who is one of two directors of the new Stanford institute. “That realization became a tremendous sense of responsibility.”

Stanford University will be part of the WT | Wearable Technologies Conference in San Francisco on July 9-10. Stay tuned for the agenda release!

Zinc, a consulting firm has collaborated with iBreve, a company that develops self-care solutions, to design a wearable system for tracking and improving breathing patterns. Both companies are former contributors of the WT | Wearable Technologies Conference Series and iBreve was an Innovation World Cup® finalist in 2018. Do not hesitate to join in the Innovation World Cup® Series ecosystem, extend your business horizon and compete to be the winner of the next 11th IOT/WT Innovation World Cup®.

Today’s hectic lifestyle is making us very stressful, which in turn is affecting our physical health. “Stress doesn’t only make us feel awful emotionally, it can also exacerbate just about any health condition you can think of,” says Jay Winner, MD, author of Take the Stress Out of Your Life and director of the Stress Management Program for Sansum Clinic in Santa Barbara, California.

Studies have found stress worsens or increases the risk of conditions like obesity, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, depression, gastrointestinal problems, and asthma.

Breathing is very important for managing stress. The proper breathing method can help you relieve stress. So, the companies designed a system – including a wearable device and mobile application – that could empower women to understand and adapt their breathing accordingly. A male version will be coming later.

Read more Bellabeat’s Time is a Hybrid Smartwatch that Also Predicts Your Stress

A key challenge was to design a device that would attach to any bra whilst still being comfortable, and able to provide real time feedback to the user, something no other product currently does.

The first generation of the App provides feedback on the speed and size of each breath, and at the same time it includes some gamification to make it more motivating and fun. The vision is to further develop the App into something more meaningful, integrating activities like yoga and exercise, with other links to relevant services and information, the companies said.

The word iBreve is a combination of “I breathe” and “Eve” – as it’s focused initially on women’s health & well-being.

Biosensors are devices that combine a biological component with a physiochemical detector to observe and analyze how a chemical substance reacts to the body. Despite great advancements, traditional biosensor still has limitations. Researchers at Binghamton University have now developed a skin-inspired, open-mesh electromechanical sensor that is capable of monitoring lactate and oxygen on the skin, allowing for long-term, high-performance, real-time wound monitoring in users.

Related Flexible self-powered biosensors for Precisely and Continuously Monitoring Biological Signals

“We eventually hope that these sensors and engineering accomplishments can help advance healthcare applications and provide a better quantitative understanding in disease progression, wound care, general health, fitness monitoring, and more,” says Matthew Brown, a Ph.D. student at Binghamton University, State University of New York.

The researchers hope to create a new mode of sensor that will merge seamlessly with the wearer’s body to maximize body analysis to help understand chemical and physiological information, reports CACM.

“We are focused on developing next-generation platforms that can integrate with biological tissue (e.g. skin, neural, and cardiac tissue),” says Brown.

Master’s students Brandon Ashley and Youjoong Park, and undergraduate student Sally Kuan, under the guidance of Brown and Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering Ahyeon Koh, designed a sensor that is structured similarly to that of the skin’s micro architecture. This wearable sensor is equipped with gold sensor cables capable of exhibiting similar mechanics to that of skin elasticity.

The researchers hope that in the future research can be conducted to utilize their skin-inspired sensor design to incorporate more biomarkers and create even more multifunctional sensors to help with wound healing. They hope to see these sensors being developed incorporated into internal organs to gain an increased understanding about the diseases that affect these organs and the human body.

Related Low-Cost Biosensor Can Detect HER-2 Breast Cancer Biomarker

“The bio-mimicry structured sensor platform allows free mass transfer between biological tissue and bio-interfaced electronics,” says Koh. “Therefore, this intimately bio-integrated sensing system is capable of determining critical biochemical events while being invisible to the biological system or not evoking an inflammatory response.”

Facebook announced its newest VR headset, the Oculus Rift S at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. But the social media platform, which acquired Oculus in 2016, also introduced the Oculus Quest, a totally new standalone, self-contained mobile VR system. Both the headsets are due to be launched this spring, which makes it clear that Oculus is using it as an opportunity to unify its PC-based VR headset and standalone VR headset.

Read more HP’s Reverb High Resolution VR headset is Available in Consumer and Enterprise Versions

Comparing the two, you can see they’re extremely similar. They share the same game platform that will play most, if not all, of the same titles, and a software experience that will look familiar to anyone who previously used an Oculus product. Perhaps the biggest difference between them is in maneuverability.

While Oculus Rift S isn’t Oculus Rift 2, it is a replacement for the original Rift CV1, and it too requires a connected PC to power it. Oculus Quest, on the other hand, doesn’t need to PC to be powered, instead it’s powered by a self-contained Snapdragon 835 processor (CPU) and has a higher resolution for its dual OLED displays.

“The Oculus Rift S works with the Oculus Touch controllers that also work with the Quest. These shared controllers have vibration, analog control sticks, buttons and dual triggers. They’re able to recognize when your fingers are on or off the buttons, allowing for grabbing-like motions,” reports CNet.

Oculus Rift S has access to existing Rift CV1 titles, but the Oculus Quest doesn’t use the existing Rift library.

Read more Qualcomm’s Next Generation Wireless VR Headsets Can Connect to Both PCs and Mobiles

Oculus Rift S has five insight sensors and a higher refresh rate, but the Oculus Quest has four insight sensors and a lower refresh rate.

Oculus Rift S has a lower-res LCD display, while Oculus Quest boasts high-res, dual OLED displays.

Both headsets have updated touch controllers.

Both Oculus Rift S and Oculus Quest are priced at $399.  

So, which one should you buy?

If you want a wireless experience, the Quest is for you. But if you want the most advanced Oculus VR immersion, buy the Rift S, suggests Mashable.

Chinese tech giant Huawei is launching new smartglasses in collaboration with Korean sunglasses and optical glasses brand Gentle Monster. The company said this won’t be only a single model of smartglasses, but a collection of glasses with integrated electronics.

Related Bose Announces Frames – Revolutionary Smartglasses that Combine Sunglasses, Wireless Headphones and Audio Augmented Reality

Initially called the Huawei x Gentle Monster Eyewear, the glasses feature dual mics and speakers, and users can tap the temple of the glasses to answer calls and access the voice assistant.

Surprisingly, there are no cameras on the glasses, so it seems that Huawei wants you to use them mainly for making and receiving calls. This Bluetooth gadget can easily replace your earbuds.

The speakers are positioned right above your ears so you won’t disturb your neighbors while listening.

The glasses are IP67 dust and water resistant, and they can charge wirelessly via the carrying case for the glasses, which has a 2,200mAh battery, or via the USB-C port, reports The Verge. The glasses are also said to have NFC that may be used for other purposes.

Huawei announced the glasses at the P30 press conference in Paris, but the glasses won’t be available before July 2019. The company hasn’t said anything about the price of the glasses either. However, they will come in several models.

Related SOLOS Smartglasses Collaborates with CTS to Provide Cutting-Edge Technology to Coaches and Athletes

Gentle Monster is a luxury sunglasses and optical wear brand that’s popular across Asia. The company is known for its experimental design, and their showrooms look more like art galleries. Gentle Monster’s CEO Hankook Kim criticized the Snapchat Spectacles while he was introducing the new smartglasses on state. “How many people want to wear this as we meet our friends or lovers?” he said.

Aiming to participate at this year’s METRO Marathon in Düsseldorf on April 28, sixteen runners are in the midst of preparation. All of the runners are equipped with stick-on smart health patches using cutting edge printed electronics. These patches are worn 24/7 and do continuously measure and record motion (IMU), electrocardiogram (ECG) and respiration (RES).

Preparing for a 42-km race is stretching the capabilities of the human body and the health patch makes the journey towards the marathon more safe, personalized and efficient.

Three companies have engaged to develop the smart health patch for this project: Henkel, a multinational bringing expertise in functional materials used in the patch, Quad Industries, a Belgian SME specialized in printed electronics and the manufacturing thereof and Byteflies, a Belgian wearable health startup with extensive experience in the design and production of high-quality and versatile wearable devices.

The smart health patch consists of a peel-and-stick disposable part that is adhered to the skin on the chest, and a reusable part, the Byteflies Sensor Dot that snaps into the sticker. Battery, communication and data storage is all included into the Sensor Dot that can be used up to 24 hours, after which the dot must be put in a docking station to recharge and transmit the data to the cloud.

The disposable patch is designed and manufactured by Quad Industries using Henkel’s innovative printed electronic conductive inks. The patch is a two lead ECG device that can be worn up to 24 hours currently using standard electrolyte gel to capture the ECG signal from the heart. Moving forward the electrolyte gel will be replaced by Henkel’s new, self-adhering dry electrode technology allowing the patch can be worn continuously for a week before renewing the disposable sticker. Skin-friendly adhesives robustly stick the patch to the chest and cause no itching or irritation. Stretchable conductive silver inks transport the electrical signal to the Sensor Dot while allowing the sticker to stretch while breathing.

The complete device is built on an ultra-thin, breathable TPU substrate that is laminated against a high-end sport textile. Quad Industries has overcome many challenges to integrate printed circuits on skin-compatible materials, including automated screen printing and handling of these  stretchable substrates, skin adhesive and electrode integration, textile lamination and reliable interconnection technologies. These developments enable Quad to offer a full new range of printed electronic solutions and to serve new markets for wearable sensor and electronics applications.

The Sensor Dot, the software platform and the cloud storage with data analysis are performed by Byteflies. This health-tech company has built up a team of specialists in the field of wearable health, Machine Learning, and the development of digital biomarkers. With a proprietary platform to set up wearable health solutions instantly, Byteflies targets companies that want to push new wearable technology to the market, researchers that are looking for new ways to monitor patients, and pharmaceutical companies that are making the transition towards a value-based healthcare model. Byteflies’ goal is to revolutionize healthcare, and the Sensor Dot capabilities for 24/7 synchronized vital sign acquisition outside the hospital, and large and accurate data sets, will be a key player in achieving improved prevention, prediction, and personalized care.

The Sensor Dot snaps magnetically into an adhesive disposable health patch, which are used to affix the device to the user’s skin. The docking station is used to charge the Sensor Dots and transfer the recorded data to the cloud.

What insights does the smart health patch provide?

On top of the standard heart rate (HR), the athlete will get a clear overview of other vital signs that are hardly monitored by existing wearables (e.g. smart watches). Heart rate variability (HRV) for example is a very important parameter indicating general fitness and stress levels of the body. Also, a much more accurate determination of VO₂max (maximal oxygen consumption) is possible using the health patch. Next to that, the ECG and respiration waveforms can be analysed for more accurate insights into, for example, cardiac function, sleep apnea and sleep patterns. Overall, this makes the health patch a much more complete monitoring solution as it records continuously, and guides the runner towards optimal recuperation period based on individual vital signs.

If you want to learn more about smart patches and medical wearable devices or even showcase your own solution, join us at the WT | Wearable Technologies Show at MEDICA 2019 on Nov 18-21, the hotspot for innovation at the worldwide largest medical marketplace.

Senseonics, a company well-known for its continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system announced a new program called Eversense Bridge for patients who carry a high-deductible insurance plans or patients whose insurance plans do not cover the full cost of CGM.

Patients are charged $99 for the Eversense CGM system through the new program on top of the cost of the sensor placement by their provider. Patients will be able to get their second sensor for the same price, although the price will increase afterward, reports MobiHealthNews.

“As with any new medical device or drug, we knew it would take some time for insurance companies to add Eversense CGM to their covered diabetes management options,” Mike Gill, VP and general manager for the US region at Senseonics, told MobiHealthNews in an email. “We were pleased to have many insurers cover Eversense from the beginning, but there are many other people that need this technology and are being denied coverage for this revolutionary long-term technology, and we wanted to help them while they await favorable policy decisions from their insurers.”

In the United States more than 30 million people are living with diabetes. Unlike some chronic diseases, managing diabetes is extremely complex. Successful diabetes management requires creating new habits around medication adherence and glucose monitoring, change diets dramatically, exercise, and more.

Several companies including Abbott, Dexcom and Medtronic are working on Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) systems.

The Eversense CGM system received FDA approval in July after waiting more than two-and-a-half years for the clearance.

“Eversense provides people with diabetes the freedom from self-insertions and has a removable transmitter can be taken off and on for those times they don’t want anything on their body,” Gill wrote. “All glucose readings are sent directly to a smartphone, so no additional receiver is required. The system also has on-body vibe alerts and audible alerts to warn if glucose levels are too high or about to go low, which is especially important during the night.”

Senseonics recently announced that Eversense would be integrating with Glooko’s diabetes management system.

A common complaint among workers in factories, construction sites and several other fields is back pain. While back injuries affect more than 1 million workers, it costs the nation billions of dollars each year, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institutes for Production Systems and Design Technology IPK and for Reliability and Microintegration IZM in Berlin have now developed ErgoJack – a soft-robotic wearable robotics system for the upper body. The smart soft orthosis relieves back strain and encourage workers to execute strenuous movements in a more ergonomic way, says a press release.

The IPK orthosis uses motion analysis to distinguish between ergonomic and unergonomic movements. The miniaturized motion sensors are located on the shoulders, back and thighs. An intelligent real-time motion analysis captures ergonomic and non-ergonomic movements and delivers a vibration alarm in case of malposition or overload. Inertial measurement units (IMU) built into the vest compare pre-learned movement patterns with the worker’s actual movement and assess it in real time. This takes just a few hundred milliseconds, says a press release.

“Our soft robotic upper-body orthosis’ unique selling point is its real-time motion analysis. Specially developed algorithms based on machine learning and AI enable the ergonomics to be analyzed. This sets this orthosis apart from commercially available exoskeletons. The latter are wearable robots that, inherently to their functional principles, amplify all types of movements – even unergonomic ones – and merely divert the load placed on the wearer from an overloaded part of the body to a less taxed area,” says Dipl.-Ing. Henning Schmidt, a scientist at Fraunhofer IPK.

Related Ford Unveils Exoskeleton Vests Worldwide to Help Lessen Worker Fatigue and Injury

The soft robotics vest also features robust, miniaturized electronics, including an embedded controller, a vibration module and a rechargeable battery. Fraunhofer IPK’s is to design the system layout, human-system-interface, mechanics, electronics and software including the machine learning/AI real-time algorithm.

“The real-time algorithm requires complex calculations and has to be very robust, but a very small data set suffices to train the system to a new worker’s movement pattern,” says Schmidt.

Swiss watchmaker TAG Heuer announced Connected Modular 45 Golf Edition – a golf-focused version of its Tag Heuer Connected Modular 45 Wear OS smartwatch at the Baselworld 2019. According to the company the new watch is “A special edition to improve your game on golf courses around the world. Discover a unique watch and application dedicated to golf, and enjoy a connected caddy on your wrist for all of your games.”

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The overall design of the watch is golf-centered, and its shock-resistant 45mm dial boasts a black ceramic bezel ring engraved with the numbers 1 through 18 for the 18 holes in a round of golf. As it is made from ceramic, the white lacquered numbers won’t fade, and a sheet of sapphire crystal covers the 400 x 400 pixel screen.

The titanium body is strong but feels light due to its lower 64-gram weight. It is suitable for wearing for hours on the golf course.

The fine-looking strap is made of white synthetic leather with green stitching making it perfect to wear on a sunny day.

The smartwatch is identical to other Connected Modular 45 watches. Powered by Atom processor, the watch has 512MB of RAM, 4GB of storage space, GPS, NFC, microphone, tilt detection sensor, gyroscope, a 410-mAh battery, and runs on Google Wear OS.

The sapphire cover glass is 2.5 mm thick, and scratch resistant.

The free Golf app works on both iOS and Android smartphones. It has 3D renderings of more than 39,000 golf courses and also provides performance stats. But, you’ll need your smartphone to see the 3D course mapping and the watch will display interactive 2D course mapping, reports Android Headlines.

TAG Heuer says its databases are up-to-date and it routinely checks for new courses and adds them to the database to make sure its 3D maps are accurate.

Related GolfLogix Apple Watch App Provides Golfers with Yardages, Green Images, Hole Selection and More

The watch comes in an attractive collector’s box. Inside the box there is an extra black rubber strap and 3 Tag Heuer-branded Titleist golf balls.

The watch is available now for $1,850.

Pacemakers are designed to monitor and record the rate and rhythm of the heart and make sure the heart rate doesn’t get too slow. An ICD acts as a pacemaker, but it can also detect dangerously fast heart rates, called ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation, and stop them. However, these devices don’t do anything to improve the heart’s innate ability to contract. Now, Impulse Dynamics’ Optimizer® Smart System for delivering cardiac contractility modulation (CCM) Therapy has received approval from FDA. The system is the first and only CCM device approved by the FDA to improve 6-minute hall walk distance, quality of life and functional status of NYHA Class III heart failure patients.

Read more BIOTRONIK Receives FDA Approval for Six Tachycardia Devices

“With the FDA’s approval of the Optimizer System for the delivery of CCM, we finally have available in the US an effective device-based therapy for advanced heart failure patients with mildly to moderately reduced left ventricular ejection fractions who are not eligible for CRT,” said Professor William T. Abraham, MD, Professor of Medicine, Physiology, and Cell Biology, and College of Medicine Distinguished Professor at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. “The Optimizer System, along with guideline-directed medical therapies, can improve the lives of many heart failure patients in the US who previously did not have access to this therapy. As such, it represents a real game-changer for these patients.”

CCM is a unique electrical pulse delivered during the absolute refractory period, which is just after the heart contracts. In contrast to a pacemaker or defibrillator, CCM works by modulating the strength of the heart muscle contraction rather than the rhythm, reports Impulse Dynamics.

“FDA approval is the culmination of many years of clinical development for this disruptive technology, addressing a significant unmet need in today’s heart failure treatment paradigm,” commented Dr. Daniel Burkhoff, Impulse Dynamics’ Medical Advisor. “We continue to develop the technology with ongoing clinical trials designed to evaluate CCM therapy in additional heart failure populations.”

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Impulse Dynamics develops electrical therapies for the treatment of chronic heart failure. The company has operations in the United States, Europe, and Asia.