After a successful launch of Halo Sport, San Francisco-based human performance company Halo Neuroscience recently launched a fully upgraded Halo Sport 2 at a price that makes neurostimulation more accessible to all.

Related USA Cycling Tackles Neuroscience by Partnering with Halo

Halo Sport was originally released at CES 2017, which earned them a Fast Company Award for “Most Innovative Companies” in Fitness. Now, they are unveiling the newest version of Halo Sport at CES 2019.

“In the new Halo Sport, Bluetooth audio is now integrated for an entirely wireless experience, and audio quality is in line with high-end headphones. We also revamped the Primer form factor to make Neuropriming as easy as possible, and the Halo Sport app to feature tracking, reminders, and new content,” said Halo Neuroscience CEO and co-founder, Dr. Daniel Chao. “From the beginning, we’ve been committed to making Neuropriming accessible to everyone, so Halo Sport 2 will retail for $399 — the same price as a pair of Beats Pro.”

Halo Neuroscience’s partners include the Berklee College of Music, U.S. Olympic teams, Titleist Performance Institute, and U.S. Naval Special Warfare. In addition, Halo Sport is trusted by teams and athletes from the U.S. military, Olympics, MLB, NBA, NFL, NCAA, and more. The company is backed by TPG, Andreessen Horowitz, Jazz Venture Partners, and Lux Capital.

Halo Sport 2 is a pair of smart headphones that deliver an electrical current to the motor center of your brain to help you learn new skills. The headset uses transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to send weak direct currents (below 2-3 mA) for a few minutes over the scalp, reported MedGadget.

Using this headset 20 minutes before workouts or practices can help athletes achieve gains in strength, skill, and endurance substantially faster than they would on their own. The device excites the tissue in your brain artificially, basically improving your capability to learn and embed new movements.

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The goal of Halo Sport 2 is to provide the same benefit to all athletes, musicians, and gamers as it has for elite athletes: the ability to do more in less practice time and reach higher levels of performance, the company said.

Drum Echoes, Inc., a Florida startup has developed a biofeedback therapeutic wearable that may ease the symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). Matt Giordano, the president of the company, was diagnosed with ADHD and Tourette syndrome when he was five. He and his team decided to do something about the struggles many people with this common disorder endure. They are now developing a patent pending personal biofeedback device for individuals with ADHD to assist them with self-management by using a variety of effective therapies and techniques.

Related FDA Approves Breakthrough Medical Device for Children with ADHD

ADHD is the most common neurological disorder in the U.S. 9.4% (6.1 Million) children ages 2-17 in the U.S. have ADHD. 4.4% (8 million) adults in the U.S. have ADHD.

Matt’s device is supposed to detect stress levels in real time through the use of biofeedback sensors. These sensors will function in conjunction with the therapeutic features for the most optimal results. The goal is to help these individuals function more independently, achieve higher grades in school, increase work productivity, have better relationships and improve their overall quality of life, the company said in a press release.

Matt started having his first symptoms of Tourette Syndrome and ADHD at the age of 2. He also started playing the drums when he was 2 and shortly after that, he learned how the power of music eases his symptoms. He realized that his symptoms disappear when he plays the drums.

Music and the arts are a great way for him to organize and express his thoughts and feelings. It helps to increase his level of focus and confidence. Most art forms require a form of collaboration and Matt’s drumming allowed his peers to see past his symptoms.

In 2003, Matt started his company Drum Echoes, Inc. His drumming work and personal story have received media attention by the BBC, PBS Nova and was written about in the New York Times bestseller book titled Musicophilia by the highly respected author and neurologist, Dr. Oliver Sacks.

Related Revibe is a Fitbit-Like Wearable that Vibrates to Refocus Wearers’ Attention

By providing his drumming workshops for thousands of children and adults with ADHD throughout the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Australia, Matt learned about their common struggles. He has also learned the most effective therapies and coping techniques for these individuals. It is those therapies and techniques he has carefully chosen to integrate into this new wearable technology.

The company is in need of funds to take this concept into a working prototype, to beta testing and into the lives of millions of people who need it. They need donations and are open to potential investors.

Neuroscience-based mental health and fitness platform Total Brain is collaborating with the American Heart Association’s Center for Health Technology & Innovation’s (the Center) Innovators Network to find innovative and scalable solutions across the healthcare market.

Read more USA Cycling Tackles Neuroscience by Partnering with Halo

“We are thrilled to join the American Heart Association’s Innovators Network. By combining Total Brain’s vast neuroscientific expertise and innovative platform with the American Heart Association’s cardiovascular expertise and resources, we are well-positioned to further understand the connection between the brain and the heart,” said Louis Gagnon, CEO of San Francisco-based Total Brain.

The Center helps members of its Innovators Network in the healthcare technology field align and integrate their technology with Association’s digital resources to encourage development of digital healthcare solutions. Total Brain wants to use this partnership to study the validity and reliability trade-offs involved in using continuous heart rate variability (HRV) signals to measure and affect stress and high blood pressure. Smart watch and other wearable device makers will be invited to participate in the study in exchange for insights, benchmarking information and product integration opportunities, said Total Brain in a press release.

Our mental health affects our physical health because the brain and heart are two highly connected organs. Each year, an estimated 44 million U.S. adults experience a mental health condition. Those with a mental health condition are at 67% higher risk of heart disease. They are also 85% more likely to suffer a heart attack and 3 times more likely to develop hypertension. If the brain and heart work together and generate precious insights that may lead to prevention or better treatments for both mental and cardiovascular health issues, the press release said.

Read more Brain Computer Interface with Neurofeedback Can Improve Your Performance, Says Columbia Study

“We’re excited to see Total Brain incorporate the Association’s condition management plans, called CarePlans, into this study and we look forward to applying our unique cardiovascular research expertise to help improve health education and health engagement,” said Patrick Wayte, Senior Vice President of the American Heart Association’s Center for Health Technology & Innovation.

Theranica is an Israeli bio-medical technology company that develops wearable devices to reduce pain. This Netanya based company envisions a future where pain can be managed or eased using a combination of digital technologies and devices, greatly reducing the risks brought about by conventional painkillers.

Recently, WT | Wearable Technologies reported on Theranica’s smartphone-controlled wearable device Nerivio Migra, which received FDA De Novo request. The device uses Remote Electrical Neuromodulation for acute migraine treatment.

The company is gearing up to launch the product in the USA – including putting together the distribution channels, hiring a sales and marketing team in the USA, building initial inventory, etc., reports MobiHealthNews.

Theranica’s wearables are affordable, easy-to-use, non-invasive, safe, non-chemical, free of side effects. Some of them include proprietary monitoring and reporting attributes, providing key parameters & indicators to the treatment’s efficiency level.

Nerivio Migra is a breakthrough electronic device for acute treatment of migraines. Attached to the patient’s arm (below the shoulder), it is a clinically-tested wearable suited to be worn everywhere and at any time. Nerivio Migra, as well as other types of wearables the company is planning, are controlled by intuitive smartphone applications to easily adapt therapy treatments to today’s modern lifestyle.

Read more Neurolief’s Relivion Provides Significant Pain Reduction in Migraine Patients, Clinical Trial Finds

According to Alon Ironi, CEO & Co-Founder of Theranica, it all started with a pilot study in Israel. In the study, they tried to find the most effective and tolerable neuromodulation waveform, and to solidifying the basic therapeutic hypothesis. They recruited 71 patients with migraine. For over more than six months, the participants received four different neuromodulation waveforms, plus a sham (placebo) waveform. “At the end of the study, when we analyzed the results, it was clear that we were onto something,” says Ironi.

About long-term goal and vision for Theranica, Ironi told MobiHealthNews:

“Our vision is to provide a whole line of drug-free digital devices that will become the global first-line of treatment for several diseases and syndromes associated with pain. It’s time to have effective, safe alternatives to pain killers! And migraine is only the beginning…”

Scientists have been working hard to improve prosthetic technology where artificial skin will have the ability to feel like a human skin. Many of the currently available electronic skins have complex wiring that’s needed for the sensors to work. Scientists at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have now developed electronic skin with ultra-high responsiveness and robustness.

Related University of Sydney Researcher Developing Electronic Skin That Could Help People with Disabilities

Dubbed Asynchronous Coded Electronic Skin (ACES), this new skin can be paired with any kind of sensor skin layers to function effectively as an electronic skin. The skin is also more responsive than anything similar developed in the past.

This innovation was achieved by Assistant Professor Benjamin Tee and his team from NUS Materials Science and Engineering, reports NUS News.

“Humans use our sense of touch to accomplish almost every daily task, such as picking up a cup of coffee or making a handshake. Without it, we will even lose our sense of balance when walking. Similarly, robots need to have a sense of touch in order to interact better with humans, but robots today still cannot feel objects very well,” explained Asst Prof Tee, who has been working on electronic skin technologies for over a decade in hopes of giving robots and prosthetic devices a better sense of touch.

The researchers drew inspiration from the human sensory nervous system. They spent a year and a half developing a sensor system that could potentially perform better. While the ACES electronic nervous system detects signals like the human sensor nervous system, unlike the nerve bundles in the human skin, it is made up of a network of sensors connected via a single electrical conductor. It is also unlike existing electronic skins which have interlinked wiring systems that can make them sensitive to damage and difficult to scale up.

ACES can detect touches more than 1,000 times faster than the human sensory nervous system. For example, it is capable of differentiating physical contact between different sensors in less than 60 nanoseconds — the fastest ever achieved for an electronic skin technology — even with large numbers of sensors, the NUS report stated.

The ACES platform can also be designed to achieve high robustness to physical damage, an important property for electronic skins because they come into the frequent physical contact with the environment.

Related Electronic Skin for Prosthetic Hands Lets Amputees Feel Pain

This type of electronic skin can be used to develop more realistic prosthetic limbs that will help disabled individuals restore their sense of touch, according to NUS. Other potential applications include developing more intelligent robots that can perform disaster recovery tasks or take over mundane operations such as packing of items in warehouses.

Withings announced the launch of two new blood pressure monitors, the BPM Core and the BPM Connect.

The BPM Connect, available now at Apple retail stores and through the Apple online store, is an updated version of the classic Withings blood pressure monitor. It’s designed to make it simple to take and view cardiovascular readings at home and share them with medical professionals when necessary.

Related Withings Returns to the Digital Health Market with Steel HR Sport

Withings BPM Core is the first over-the-counter device able to measure blood pressure, record an electrocardiogram (ECG) and listen to the heart via a digital stethoscope in one device, enabling users to detect serious conditions such as atrial fibrillation or valvular heart disease. It features an LED display and advanced syncing options to make it easy to take, view, and share cardiovascular readings.

Both devices allow users to share their readings and recordings with a providers through the app, and will integrate with Apple’s personal health record system, reports MobiHealthNews.

“We are excited to be introducing BPM Core and BPM Connect, as both medical devices go way beyond simply providing people with easy access to their personal blood pressure information,” Eric Carreel, president of Withings, said in a statement. “BPM Core is by far the most sophisticated and wide-ranging at-home cardiovascular monitor yet that gives people and their physicians a detailed look at their daily heart health from the comfort of their home. On the other hand, our new BPM Connect was specifically designed to offer people that want a simple way to monitor their general heart health a user-friendly and convenient solution they can use without the need of a phone and even while on-the-go.”

Related The Improved Withings Sleep Now Offers Sleep Apnea Tracking

BPM Core is priced at US $280 (€249.99) and can be purchased exclusively from Apple Stores (or the online store) in Europe, as well as through the Withings website in Europe. It will come to the U.S. later this year.

Withings BPM Connect, the new blood pressure monitor is now available in the United States. It can be purchased from Apple, Amazon, or Withings for $99.95.

Medical device recalls aren’t very uncommon, and the consequences can be severe. According to the FDA, there have been more than 25 medical device recalls so far this year.

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Boston-based startup Soom has now launched SoomSafety, an iOS mobile app that provides patients, nurses, and caregivers medical device recall information directly from the device manufacturer and U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Soom is a pioneer in using barcode and knowledge graph technologies to bridge information gaps between data sources and physical products.

“We built SoomSafety to help patients and caregivers relying on implanted medical devices and using medical devices at home answer one critical question, ‘Is this medical device safe to use?’” said Charlie Kim, President and CEO of Soom. “Our technology makes it possible to connect previously siloed medical device data, giving patients—and their caregivers—more proactive control over their health and safety.”

According to Kim, many patients are never informed of device recalls due to incomplete information in the medical device supply chain. Soom is empowering patients and caregivers to proactively manage their medical devices for improved patient outcomes and peace of mind, the company said in a press release.

SoomSafety is the first app to utilize openFDA, open-source databases that enable developers to quickly and easily use FDA data in applications.

SoomSafety users scan the barcode on a medical device, such as an insulin pump, nebulizer or apnea monitor, to automatically identify the device and store it in the app. The app also identifies and stores implanted medical devices like artificial joints, pacemakers and heart valves by scanning the barcode on a patient’s medical device identification card. If a user’s product has been recalled the system is able to give them resources on what to do next.

Read more Cellnovo Launches New Mobile App that Connects Directly to CGM Data via HealthKit

The idea for SoomSafety was prompted by Kim’s personal experience with a medical device recall that threatened the life of his youngest daughter.

“I’ve experienced first-hand what it feels like to wonder if a medical device that your loved one uses—relies on—is safe,” said Kim. “It’s a feeling that no patient, parent or caregiver should have to endure. That’s why at Soom we’re dedicated to finding new ways to use technology to ensure clarity and confidence in the medical devices we use.”

SoomSafety is available now for free in the Apple App Store.

Mendix, a Boston-based low-code software platform, has been placed as a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Multiexperience Development Platforms. In addition, Mendix is one of two vendors positioned furthest for completeness of vision. The company was founded in Rotterdam, the Netherlands in 2005 and moved its headquarters to the United States in early 2012.

Read more How to Build Magical Devices With Effective Hardware-Software Integration

The new Gartner Magic Quadrant for Multiexperience Development Platforms supersedes Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Mobile Application Development Platforms.

“This is the first Magic Quadrant for multiexperience development platforms (MXDPs), its predecessors having been Magic Quadrants for mobile app development platforms (MADPs). The change of name reflects the evolution of MADPs to serve expanding app use cases and development requirements. These requirements go beyond mobile apps to enable development of progressive web apps (PWAs), conversational apps (voice assistants and chatbots), immersive apps and wearable apps,” the company said in a report.

The Mendix application platform is based on visual, model-driven software development. It is the only low-code platform that offers true native mobile application development. Built on the React Native open source framework, Mendix enables mobile developers to deliver the genuine native experience users expect, leveraging the full interface capabilities of mobile devices including Touch ID, Bluetooth, pull to refresh, infinite swipe, the camera, geolocation, and others.

Additionally, Mendix supports the latest multiexperience interaction capabilities such as conversational UIs including Siri and Alexa, chatbots, augmented reality, and real-time access to SAP Leonardo, IBM Watson, and other cognitive AI cloud services.

“With Mendix, developers can deliver exceptional experiences that delight their users and create powerful competitive differentiation for their brands,” said Johan den Haan, chief technology officer for Mendix. “But it takes the right architecture, the right design thinking, and intense collaboration between business and technology experts to create meaningful experiences to deliver the value these enhanced interaction schemes promise.”

Read more Upskill’s AR Software Helping Big Companies Reduce Cost and Improve Quality and Productivity

Mendix’s cloud-native, microservices-based architecture enables developers to create an expanding set of experiences tailored for each point of interaction and persona, without having to recreate the underlying business logic, data, and integrations. These personalized and often contextualized experiences are increasingly expected by users as they are exposed to new interaction schemes that are more capable, user-friendly, and relevant.

American health care company Abbott, who was sharing exciting insights about their work in diabetes at the recently concluded WT | Wearable Technologies Conference 2019 USA in San Francisco, is planning to significantly ramp up manufacturing for its lower-cost continuous glucose monitor (CGM), the FreeStyle Libre. Abbott had a major sales bump in the second quarter of 2019. The company now plans to hike production of the CGM by three to five times in the next few years, aiming to reach millions more patients worldwide, the company told Reuters.

Related Abbott and Novo Nordisk Partner Up to Link Diabetes Devices

“When you’re making disposable diagnostic products, the more you can make, the lower the cost you can produce them at,” Jared Watkin, Abbott’s senior vice president for Diabetes Care, said in an interview.

Earlier this year the NHS announced detailed plans for increased FreeStyle Libre access in the UK, so that the device will be available for one in five people with type 1 diabetes.

FreeStyle Libre has been receiving acclaim for its positive impact on people with type 1 diabetes since it was made available in Europe in 2014. A UK study this year revealed the device reduced incidences of low blood glucose in roughly 80% of people with type 1 diabetes.

“The need to invest and bring up capacity is, we believe, going to be an ongoing activity for us,” Mr. Watkin said.

Abbott CEO and Chairman Miles White said that the system is becoming increasingly adopted by payers due to its relatively low cost and impact on health outcomes.

“We also continued to make excellent progress in the US, where Libre is now reimbursed for approximately 75% of people with private pharmacy benefit insurance,” Mr. White said during an investor’s call, reports MobiHealthNews. “Libre offers a unique value proposition, and that’s by design — it provides great clinical benefits, and we priced it to ensure affordability. Payers recognize that value and are increasingly providing reimbursement coverage for Libre, which helps lower out-of-pocket costs for patients.”

Related Abbott’s HeartMate 3 Heart Pump for Advanced Heart Failure Patients Gets FDA Approval

Robert Ford, president and COO of Abbott, also commented during the call, saying:

“The standards and special controls for the ICGM, they’re very clear and they’re very transparent as it relates to accuracy thresholds, alarms, sensor shutoffs, etc. And we wouldn’t have filed an ICGM if we felt that we were going to fall short of those special controls. In fact, we were encouraged by the agency to file as an ICGM. We’re not going to speculate on an exact date here, but we expect it relatively soon.”

Biofourmis, a global leader in digital therapeutics, has entered a research partnership with Yale University-Mayo Clinic Center of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation (CERSI). The study, which involves patients with heart failure, will leverage Biofourmis’ mobile platform BiovitalsHFTM to see if greater emphasis should be placed on functional capacity and quality of life of these individuals during drug approval process.

The Yale-Mayo CERSI is a joint effort between Yale University, Mayo Clinic and the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA). CERSIs are collaborations between FDA and academic institutions to advance regulatory science through innovative research, training and scientific exchanges, Biofourmis said in a press release.

“This joint project has the potential to advance the science of clinical trial design,” said Kuldeep Singh Rajput, CEO of Biofourmis. “Ultimately, this study could open the door for regulatory agencies to consider including patient-centric endpoints in the drug approval process—which could potentially speed the regulatory approval process.

Related Large U.S. Study Suggests Apple Watch Can Detect Irregular Heartbeat

In the United States, 6.5 million people are afflicted by heart failure, and globally, this number is 26 million. FDA recognizes in its recent draft guidance, Treatment for Heart Failure: Endpoints for Drug Development Guidance for Industry, that an effect on symptoms or physical function, without a favorable effect on survival or risk of hospitalization, can be a basis for approving drugs to treat heart failure.

How BiovitalsHFTM Will Be Used in This Study

Starting in August 2019, Biofourmis and Yale-Mayo CERSI will conduct a multicenter study on recently discharged patients with heart failure. The patients will be screened and then monitored at home for 60 days.

To monitor the patients, researchers will use Biofourmis’ BiovitalsHFTM – a sensor-agnostic mobile health platform compatible with leading clinically validated, FDA cleared, and medical CE-marked wearable biosensors. The platform captures raw biosensor data and uses advanced machine learning to derive dozens of physiology biomarkers and is able to detect heart failure decompensation using multi-variate physiology analytics, weeks in advance.

In this study, BiovitalsHFTM will be used to capture multiple physiology biomarkers and physical activity continuously in real-world settings, using two wearable biosensors: a medical-grade device called Everion® and the consumer wearable smartwatch Apple Watch Series 4. Apart from using the BiovitalsHFTM patient-facing companion app for syncing physiology data from sensors, it will be used to capture electronic patient-reported outcomes (ePROs) such as medication adherence, symptoms, the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ) responses, and the guided mobile-based 2-minute-step-test.

Related Big Data Can Help Predict Personal Health Risks, Stanford Study Shows

“Biofourmis is a leader in the emerging field of digital therapeutics, and we are thrilled to be partnering with them on this important study,” said Nilay Shah, PhD, Principal Investigator at the Yale University-Mayo Clinic CERSI. “This study will not only advance science, but will also provide insights to the FDA on how these measures can be used as alternative trial endpoints.”

A clinical study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Neurolief’s Relivion™ showed the wearable migraine treating headband provides significant pain reduction.

“The results of this study are promising for those seeking a non-invasive, drug-free therapy for migraine, with treated subjects receiving significant pain reduction,” said Stewart J. Tepper MD, professor of Neurology at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, who will present the results at AHS. “The Relivion is a comfortable, non-invasive wearable therapy that can be self-administered. More importantly, it comes without side effects or contra-indications associated with medication, targets the major neural pathways responsible for migraine pain, and can learn to deliver personalized treatment to individuals to better treat acute migraine attacks.”

Related 4 Wearables to Fight Migraine

The prospective, randomized, double-blind, parallel-group, sham controlled clinical investigation was used to secure CE Mark for the device. It evaluated the clinical performance and safety of self-administered treatment for migraine using combined occipital and trigeminal neuromodulation (Neurolief Relivion).

The Study

A total of 55 migraine sufferers were recruited for the study. They were divided into two groups: One group received neuromodulation by way of electrical stimulation and a control group received sham neuromodulation. The sham group received electrical stimulation that feels similar to the actual treatment but is inadequate to produce a clinically meaningful effect, reports Business Wire.

Results

Two hours after initiation of treatment, 76% of the participants in the neuromodulation group experienced headache relief compared to only 31% in the control group. Additionally, 43% of treated subjects who experienced a severe or moderate level of pain before treatment reported being pain-free two hours after initiation of treatment, compared to less than 11% of subjects in the control group. No subjects reported any serious adverse events during the study.

Related Wearable Tech Can Safely Detect Atrial Fibrillation, Says Apple Heart Study

“We are encouraged that the results of this study suggest that the Relivion, and particularly its digital therapeutics ecosystem that adapts and personalizes treatment for each patient, will soon become a disruptive neurological therapy,” said Shmuel Shany, co-founder and CEO, Neurolief. “We know that migraine sufferers are looking for a smart, non-invasive, drug-free way to better treat their migraine attacks, so they can get back to their lives and be productive more quickly.”

This clinical data will be unveiled at the American Headache Society (AHS) 2019 Annual Meeting in Philadelphia this week.

About Relivion

Relivion is comprised of a comfortable and adjustable electronic headset that provides precise modulated pulses simultaneously to six branches of the occipital and trigeminal nerves via several adaptive output channels around the patient’s head. The occipital and trigeminal nerves then conduct the stimulation directly to the brainstem (Trigemino-Cervical Complex –TCC). Prior and existing non-invasive neuromodulation devices for treatment of migraine stimulate only the trigeminal nerve, treating only part of the brain that triggers migraine. In contrast, the Relivion also modulates the occipital nerves, where the majority of migraines originate. In addition, the sophisticated cloud-enabled system connects to a proprietary mobile phone app that learns over time and in the future will deliver optimized personalized treatment for each patient.

Researchers in Singapore have devised a completely new way for wearable devices to interconnect. Scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) incorporated conductive textiles into clothing to dynamically connect several wearable devices at once. This ‘wireless body sensor network’ allows devices to transmit data with 1,000 times stronger signal than conventional technologies, meaning the battery life of all devices is dramatically improved. This technology has potential applications in health monitoring, medical interventions and human–machine interfaces.

This breakthrough research was published in the journal Nature Electronics.

Related Pireta Aims to Make Smart Clothes Truly Wearable

Most of the currently available wearable devices such as smartwatches use Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to connect to smartphones. However, these waves radiate outwards in all directions, losing most of the energy to the surrounding area. This method of connectivity drastically reduces the efficiency of the wearable technology as most of its battery life is consumed in attempting the connection, reports NUS.

So, Assistant Professor John Ho and his team from the Institute for Health Innovation & Technology (NUS iHealthtech) and NUS Engineering wanted to confine the signals between the sensors closer to the body to improve efficiency.

They enhanced regular clothing with conductive textiles known as metamaterials. Rather than sending waves into surrounding space, these metamaterials are able to create surface waves which can glide wirelessly around the body on the clothes. This means that the energy of the signal between devices is held close to the body rather than spread in all directions. Hence, the wearable electronics use much less power than normal, and the devices can detect much weaker signals.

“This innovation allows for the perfect transmission of data between devices at power levels that are 1,000 times reduced. Or, alternatively, these metamaterial textiles could boost the received signal by 1,000 times which could give you dramatically higher data rates for the same power,” Asst Prof Ho stated. In fact, the signal between devices is so strong that it is possible to wirelessly transmit power from a smartphone to the device itself — opening the door for battery-free wearable devices.

What’s more important is this signal boost does not require any changes to either the smartphone or the Bluetooth device – the metamaterial works with any existing wireless device in the designed frequency band.

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This method also provides more privacy than conventional methods. Currently, radio-waves transmit signals several meters outwards from the person wearing the device, meaning that personal and sensitive information could be vulnerable to potential eavesdroppers. By confining the wireless communication signal to within 10 centimeters of the body, Asst Prof Ho and his team have created a network which is more secure.

The team is talking to potential partners to commercialize this technology.

“We envision that endowing athletic wear, medical clothing and other apparel with such advanced electromagnetic capabilities can enhance our ability to perceive and interact with the world around us,” Asst Prof Ho said.

Neurolief, a Netanya, Israel based startup that develops digital therapeutics brain neuromodulation technology, received CE mark for its Relivion™ non-invasive, adaptive digital treatment for migraine. The company can now sell and distribute the Relivion device as an over-the-counter therapy within the European Union.

Related Theranica’s Nerivio Migra Wearable Gets FDA De Novo for Migraine Treatment

The Relivion is the first non-invasive, adaptive multi-channel brain neuromodulation technology that offers a highly effective therapy, without any side effect related to medications. Previously, this form of therapy was only possible with implanted devices, reports Business Wire.

The Relivion system is simple and safe for patients to self-administer at home at a fraction of the cost of surgical implants.

The system is comprised of an adjustable headset that provides precise modulated pulses simultaneously to six branches of the occipital and trigeminal nerves via several adaptive output channels around the patient’s head. The sophisticated cloud-enabled device connects to a proprietary mobile phone app and learns over time to deliver personalized treatment for each patient.

“I believe that the Relivion device from Neurolief has great potential to improve acute migraine therapy,” said Alan Rapoport, M.D., clinical professor of neurology at The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA (Los Angeles), past president of the International Headache Society (IHS), and the founder and director-emeritus of The New England Center for Headache, in Stamford, Conn. “Not only is it designed to stimulate both the trigeminal and occipital nerves simultaneously to help alleviate migraine without having to worry about side effects from medications, but it does so via a comfortable headset that is different from anything available today. These attributes combine to offer a therapy that migraine sufferers can feel good about using – and in turn receive consistent treatment to help them live a more disability-free, productive, fulfilling life.”

Related 4 Wearables to Fight Migraine

Amit Dar, Neurolief’s co-founder and chief technology officer, added:

“Future generations of Neurolief’s innovative technology will include embedded AI and machine learning algorithms, which will provide powerful capabilities to analyze the data collected from each user and from multiple users along with accurate migraine prediction. This will integrate in a seamless fashion to enable updates of the closed-loop personalized brain neuromodulation treatment that improves over time, providing a tailored, precise treatment for each patient. Furthermore, Neurolief is advancing toward implementation of its groundbreaking technology for additional neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders with great unmet need such as major depression.”

Drinking red wine is not only good for heart, it may help build next generation wearables that monitor your heart.

A team of scientists from the University of Manchester are using tannic acid from red wine, coffee or black tea to develop more flexible and durable wearable devices. Their research was published in the journal Small.

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By improving the durability of flexible sensors, the team has already developed wearables such as capacitive breath sensors and artificial hands for extreme conditions.

The addition of tannins improved mechanical properties of materials such as cotton to develop wearable sensors for rehabilitation monitoring, drastically increasing the devices lifespan, reports Phys.org.

Dr. Xuqing Liu who led the research team said: “We are using this method to develop new flexible, breathable, wearable devices. The main research objective of our group is to develop comfortable wearable devices for flexible human-machine interface.”

“Traditional conductive material suffers from weak bonding to the fibers which can result in low conductivity. When red wine, or coffee, or black tea, is sprinkled on dress, it will be difficult to get rid of these stains. The main reason is that they all contain tannic acid, which can firmly adsorb the material on the surface of the fiber. This good adhesion is exactly what we need for durable wearable, conductive devices.”

Repeated bending and folding can interrupt the conductivity of wearable devices due to tiny micro cracks.

This new research showed that without the layer of tannic acid, the conductivity is several hundred times, or even thousands of times, less than traditional conductive material samples as the conductive coating becomes easily detached from the textile surface through repeated bending and flexing.

Related Researchers Create 3-D Printed Glucose Biosensor for Wearable Monitors

The researchers used commercially available tannins, and also tried immersing the fabric directly in red wine, black tea and black coffee solutions where they saw the same results.

This new technology can reduce the price of wearables and also improve their comfortability and robustness.

Developers can utilize this improved conductivity to use more comfortable fabrics, such as cotton, to replace nylon, which is stiff and uncomfortable. This technology can also be used to make flexible printed circuit boards by printing circuits directly on to the surface of clothing.

Caretaker Medical, a Charlottesville, Virginia based wireless medical device company that develops innovative, wireless patient monitoring solutions, announced the addition of wireless ETCO2 (End-Tidal Carbon Dioxide) monitoring to its Caretaker® Finger-Cuff Patient Monitoring Platform that continuously and non-invasively monitors blood pressure and vital signs. The new feature has been integrated using the CMI Health PC900B handheld capnograph and oximeter.

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Using the combined Caretaker & ETCO2 solution, clinicians can monitor critical elements of patients’ respiratory status not previously possible in a wireless handheld device with remote data display and reporting. The solution displays the capnograph waveform and numeric ETCO2, FiCO2 (fractional inspired carbon dioxide), respiratory rate, and pulse oximetry on the remote Caretaker tablet App, the company said in a press release.

ETCO2 monitoring offers a breath-to-breath picture and continuous recording of ventilatory effort, endotracheal tube placement and respiratory status. The sidestream nasal cannula fits comfortably on the patient and samples expired carbon dioxide during exhalation, continuously streaming data from the PC900B to the Caretaker display platform.

ETCO2 monitoring is important for monitoring the respiratory status of patients during sedation procedures, including surgery, dental sedation, ambulatory and outpatient procedures, and emergency care.

“In surgical procedures requiring sedation or general anesthesia, it is critical to continuously monitor the patient’s respiratory status. Monitoring End-tidal carbon dioxide provides that ability. I am pleased to see Caretaker has added EtCO2 to their platform of available sensors,” said Dr. Gary H. Chan, DDS, FADSA, Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon and Dental Anesthesiologist.

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Jeff Pompeo, Caretaker Medical’s President & CEO said:

“We continue our commitment to expanding the Caretaker wireless patient monitoring platform with additional parameters. By adding CMI Health’s ETCO2 to our existing CNIBP and Vital Signs parameters, we answered the call of clinicians who asked for wire-free monitoring of this critical respiratory parameter during sedation procedures.”

Doki Technologies, a Hong Kong-based technology company that develops innovative IoT devices for children, rolled out DokiPal, a 4G LTE enabled smartwatch for kids, with features like an AI voice assistant, video calling and location tracking.

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The watch, which retails for $179, is water resistant and includes a fitness tracking leaderboard. The watch is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 2100 chipset. Key features include video calling, location‐tracking, SOS, fitness tracking leaderboard, and an integrated AI voice assistant. This is the latest in a collection of kids’ smartwatches developed by Doki Technologies, and will serve as the essential wearable device for kids ages 5 and up.

The watch’s battery lasts up to 48 hours under normal usage, and has a standby time of 72 hours, according to Doki Technologies, reports CNet.

DokiPal’s activity tracker records steps, calories and distance. The built-in Doki App allows kids to compete with friends and earn badges, and the user’s steps are compared with those of kids from around the world in the leaderboard.

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A nano SIM card with cellular data service is required to activate dokiPal.

Parents can download the all‐new companion Doki App with a revamped user interface and updated features, available for both iOS and Android phones. The app allows parents to communicate with, track, and monitor settings of their child’s dokiPal with ease, such as presetting the watch’s contact list.

dokiPal comes in two vibrant colors: Wave Blue and Plush Pink. The watch screen is made with gorilla glass, ensuring durability even with the most active of kids. dokiPal features a 1.4‐inch TFT color display with touch‐panel.

Here are all the features:

• 4G LTE connectivity
• IP68 water‐resistance
• AI Voice Assistant (powered by Kidsense)
• Optimized location tracking
• Fitness tracking leaderboard
• Smart scheduler
• Photo editor

A good lighting is critical to the safety and efficiency of a surgery, specifically in lateral, minimally invasive and deep cavity cases.

Researchers from Texas A&M University have developed a new wireless device that allows for direct illumination during surgeries. This device can improve surgical illumination, make many existing procedures easier to perform, and potentially reduce complication rates.

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Sung Il Park, assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, helped develop the device, which consists of a light within a surgical patty. Patty is a pad used during operations to protect tissues and manage fluid. The patty design allows for illumination in the exact spot where the surgeon is working, reports Texas A&M Today.

Park’s invention combats the absence efficacy of most surgical lighting devices that can’t provide high-light intensity in a specific area, leaving surgical procedures vulnerable to low-light conditions and creating the potential for complications. Not only does the new device illuminate the surgical field, it also absorbs biofluids or blood in a surgical spot.

“The lighted surgical patty is a multilayer patty, wherein one of the layers includes a lighting apparatus,” Park said. “Two outer layers of the lighted surgical patty include nonabsorptive fibers woven near their borders to form a uniform surface that sandwiches together a center lighted layer. The center lighted layer has an LED light encapsulated in a biocompatible layer. The center lighted layer may also contain a number of LED lights arranged in various formations so as to provide a unique lighted environment for various surgical settings.”

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For this project, Park is working closely with Clinton Morgan, neurosurgery resident. He said the device could eliminate the need for extra surgical patties and lighting devices, and could ultimately reduce surgery time and costs.

“We filed an international patent in 2017,” Park said. “Kogent Inc., one of the biggest surgical tool companies, agreed on the license and is looking into a path to commercialization. Hopefully, we can see the light apparatus being used for surgeries by next year.”

We all face hardships at one time or another. But for people with disabilities, barriers can be more frequent and have greater impact. Aside from a physical environment that is not accessible, disabled people experience a lack of relevant assistive technology such as assistive, adaptive, and rehabilitative devices. A University of Sydney researcher is now developing wearable technology that people with disabilities can use to control devices, receive information and even register sensation.

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Anusha Withana from the University’s School of Computer Science, along with colleagues, is developing a super-thin, hyper-flexible sticky tape that can have electronic circuits printed onto it. Once applied, people could use it to control devices, receive information and importantly, register sensations through mobile phone-like vibrations. This could have benefits in robotics, education, game-playing and for people with disabilities, reports The University of Sydney.

Withana’s device, dubbed Tacttoo, is a printable electronic fake tattoo that can be personalized to specific needs. The Tacttoo is screen-printed with a circuit made from polymer-based conductive inks which can stretch and move with the skin, while all connections between the skin and the electronics are printed in skin-safe silver ink.

The sticky tape is only half the thickness of a human hair, making it the thinnest wearable tactile device to date. They are very cheap too. If mass-produced, it would cost less than 1 cent each.

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“We want people to be able to wear it today and remove it tomorrow – and we want people to be able to create it themselves,” Withana says. “A broader user goal is to allow people with vision impairment to explore graphical information and more fully comprehend objects in museums and parks. This is something we’re looking at with a team from Monash University.”

The most innovative wearables event will be back on July 9-10 in beautiful San Francisco at SEMICON West to celebrate the 34th edition of the WT | Wearable Technologies Conference Series. Topics include data analytics in professional sports, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation with wearables, the future of digital health, medication and adherence, smart patches, workflow optimization and workforce safety and much more – featuring international leaders and experts of the wearables industry´s biggest names including Abbott, Autodesk, Datwyler, Kopin, Maxim Integrated, Multek, NFLPA, Omron, SharkDreams, Qualcomm, and many more.

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart have created a tiny robot that mimics the jellyfish, plopping up and down within a liquid medium. This research holds great potential when investigating the impact of environmental changes in the ocean’s ecosystem. Another aim is for Jellyfishbot to be applied in the treatment of cancer.

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“The idea behind this project was twofold,” says one of the researchers Dr. Metin Sitti, Director at the MPI-IS and head of the Physical Intelligence Department.

“We learn and take inspiration from a range of biological systems to create tiny bio-inspired robots. We use them to study and better understand biological systems. But more importantly, such newly created robots could perhaps one day solve the critical scientific and technological challenges we face in healthcare and environment, helping to improve the welfare of our society.”

The scientists named their invention “Jellyfishbot”. The untethered robot features an umbrella-shaped bell and trailing tentacles, just like its natural model, reports Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems.

As Jellyfish are one of the most common species in the ocean ecosystem, and are a key component in the food chain, their population greatly depends on their survival during their early life-cycle. Therefore, the scientists decided to investigate the ephyra jellyfish – the juvenile of this species – and studied its swimming, predation, and bio-mixing behavior.

They discovered that the jellyfish uses a paddling motion to propel itself forward. When swimming, it actively creates a fluidic flow around its soft body. It does so to catch prey by pulling and trapping small organisms under its umbrella while moving about.

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These jellyfishbots could also be used to deliver drugs inside human body. “A possible application scenario is to control the robot to swim inside the bladder under the guidance of ultrasound imaging, and to patch to a target, such as cancerous tissue, to release the cancer drug for a long time in controlled dose,” says Xiaoguang Dong, a Ph.D. student in the Physical Intelligence Department. “This could have a huge impact for patients. It could reduce the discomforts brought by conventional treatment procedures and increase the treatment efficiency.”

EVER Pharma, an Austria-based pharmaceutical company focused on the research, development, and commercialization of products in the areas of neurology, critical care, anesthesia and oncology, launched D-mine® Pump for people with Parkinson’s disease. The D-mine Pump, which recently received European CE approval, is specifically designed to provide precise continuous subcutaneous drug delivery for Parkinson´s patients in a compact, simple to use and patient friendly package.

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“CE approval of the D-mine Pump and the launch, is an important milestone for our product portfolio in Parkinson´s disease. EVER Pharma is now able to deliver an enhanced and comprehensive package of care with its Parkinson´s disease medication Apomorphine and its own Medical Devices,” explains Dominic Benning, Head of Dopaminergic Therapy at EVER Pharma GmbH.

Primary symptoms of Parkinson’s disease are shaking, tremor, slowed movement and rigid muscles. Hence, these patients often have great difficulty controlling anything that requires delicate handling. The D-mine Pump has only a few, easily pushed buttons, and an easy to read display, reports MedGadget.

While developing the D-mine Pump, EVER Pharma’s primary goals were ease of handling, safety and intuitive use. Leveraging special micro-rotary pump technology, minimal buttons and a bespoke menu screen interface, the device is conveniently compact and easy to use. It also features automatic drug filling, multiple languages, data storage, and does not require complex flow rate calculations.

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“With the development of the EVER Pharma D-mine Pump for Parkinson’s therapy, we have realized a very ambitious project with challenging requirements. This considerable investment in this product is a clear statement of the spirit of EVER Pharma to put focus on patients’ needs and support with customized solutions. EVER Pharma delivers a complete package with its Parkinson´s disease portfolio, from medication to means of administration with innovative Medical Devices,” explains Georges Kahwati, General Manager at EVER Pharma GmbH.

WT | Wearable Technologies Conference in San Francisco on July 9-10

The most innovative wearables event will be back on July 9-10 in beautiful San Francisco at SEMICON West to celebrate the 34th edition of the WT | Wearable Technologies Conference Series. Topics include data analytics in professional sports, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation with wearables, the future of digital health, medication and adherence, smart patches, workflow optimization and workforce safety and much more – featuring international leaders and experts of the wearables industry´s biggest names including Abbott, Autodesk, Datwyler, Kopin, Maxim Integrated, Multek, NFLPA, Omron, SharkDreams, Qualcomm, and many more. Register now to be part of #WTUS19