Myovolt is launching a new platform technologyBack Coach™ for the treatment and tracking of lower back pain. The digital platform centers around Myovolt’s evidence-based wearable vibration technology for personalised Musculoskeletal(MSK) rehabilitation and therapy.

The digital platform uses a combination of app-delivered clinical exercises and Myovolt physical treatment whilst also tracking and reducing lower back pain - the Worlds number 1 disability. Using a mix of data from health wearables, reported pain scoring, and intelligent physical treatment, the platform will track and adjust to deliver pain management long term. This technology makes remote drug-free MSK treatment accessible to anyone and is the world's first in the growing area of remote digital health.

About Myovolt

Myovolt technology is research-backed FDA-registered MSK treatment backed by global patents, multiple published clinical studies, and a strong clinical advisory team. Designed to deliver remote treatment anytime, anywhere, Myovolt is founded by experts who have scaled and delivered wearable technology to BMW, NASA, Adidas, Apple, and many other global brands.

Find out more about Myovolt here: www.myovolt.com

Fujitsu and Salesforce Japan Co., Ltd. announced the start of a collaboration to create new digital solutions for the healthcare sector in the Japanese market.

The two companies will promote this initiative by leveraging Fujitsu's expertise in the trusted handling of medical and pharmaceutical data and computing technologies and Salesforce Japan's track record and expertise as an industry leader in customer relationship management (CRM), Fujitsu said in a press release.

As the first step of their collaboration, Fujitsu and Salesforce Japan will work together to develop digital solutions for insurance companies in Japan. The two companies will cooperate with insurance companies and medical institutions to support the development of insurance products that optimize the risk assessment of diseases by individuals based on data such as the possibility of diseases predicted by AI from medical and health data. The two parties aim for the commercialization of the new solutions in Japan in fiscal 2023.

Through the new solutions, Fujitsu and Salesforce Japan will support the establishment of new product models for insurance companies and promote the broad use of personalized insurance products. The two companies thereby aim to contribute to the resolution of societal and economic issues including health concerns related to a variety of diseases associated with the extending life expectancy of individuals, the increase in treatment costs due to advanced medical care, and the cost of living in the retirement period.

Background

As society confronts the challenges presented by declining birth rates, aging populations, new threats to public health, and changing lifestyles, insurance companies are working to provide personalized insurance products that are more closely tailored to each applicant’s unique needs. To contribute to this effort, Fujitsu and Salesforce Japan, which started comprehensive cooperation on a global level in 2010, decided to further strengthen their relationship and expand their business through collaborative efforts to create solutions in the healthcare field.

Read more: Johnson & Johnson Partners With Microsoft For Digital Surgery Solutions

Through the development of AI solutions that can predict individual disease risks, the two companies aim to support the development of optimized insurance products based on medical and health data provided by insurers and healthcare providers and to optimize business processes across the entire insurance business. In this way, Fujitsu and Salesforce Japan will support insurance companies in offering prospective policyholders optimal insurance products and creating a new insurance model based on personal data that also covers prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis in a detailed and comprehensive manner.

Roles and responsibilities within the collaboration

Fujitsu:

• Development of a system in cooperation with medical institutions that enables the trusted use of medical data from electronic medical records based on the consent of patients
• Development of personalized healthcare services based on Fujitsu’s own analysis to detect signs of a specific disease by utilizing “Fujitsu Computing as a Service (CaaS),” a service portfolio that makes it easy for users to take advantage of advanced computing and software technologies such as AI

Salesforce Japan:

• Comprehensive integration and analysis of a wide range of patient medical data to visualize the patient journey
• Application of products to realize personalized medical experiences and patient-centered digital transformation (DX) (including “Health Cloud,” a healthcare industry-specific CRM system that serves as the axis of patient-centric DX; “MuleSoft,” to integrate external data and “Tableau,” to analyze patient data)

Future plans

Fujitsu and Salesforce Japan will jointly develop digital solutions for insurance companies in Japan and aim for commercialization in fiscal 2023. Moving forward, the two companies will continue to pursue various initiatives to contribute to further innovations in the healthcare sector. Fujitsu will work with insurance companies, medical institutions, pharmaceutical companies, and medical device manufacturers to build a digital health ecosystem in which a wide range of data can be effectively linked and used with the latest digital technology in order to realize personalized healthcare throughout the entire life cycle. This initiative represents part of Fujitsu’s ongoing efforts to contribute to the creation of a healthy society as part of its vision for “Healthy Living” under its global business brand Fujitsu Uvance to create a sustainable world.

Salesforce aims to realize “Connected Healthcare,” which provides innovative and optimal healthcare to patients on an ongoing basis by connecting various healthcare stakeholders with patients through its “Health Cloud.”

Yoshinami Takahashi, (Corporate Executive Officer, EVP) Fujitsu Limited, comments: “We are excited to start the collaboration with Salesforce Japan in the healthcare field. By leveraging our respective strengths, I am confident that we can develop and provide innovative solutions to a wide range of challenges and tasks in this field."

The vision of “Healthy Living,” one of the key focus areas under our global business brand Fujitsu Uvance is to create a world that enriches the life experience of everyone and continues to expand their potential. In order to realize this vision, it is essential to solve cross-cutting issues among consumers, insurance companies, medical institutions, pharmaceutical companies, and other players. Fujitsu will create a digital health ecosystem to effectively link the data held by these players at the initiative of individuals to create new value and ultimately solve various issues.

Through this collaboration, we ultimately aim to deliver new solutions under our portfolio of “Healthy Living” offerings, contributing not only to the transformation of healthcare in Japan but throughout the whole world.”

Hidenori Tamura (Managing ExecutiveOfficer), Salesforce Japan Co., Ltd., Enterprise Finance & Region DX SalesHeadquarters comments: "There is a gap between the healthcare services demanded by consumers and the services actually provided. Salesforce research shows that more than 80% of consumers are interested in personalized health services, while only about 30% of companies actually provide them. To meet the needs of consumers, it is essential for various players in the industry to connect and collaborate with patients to create solutions. We have positioned our “Health Cloud” as a solution where patients and healthcare players can connect and where healthcare players can create new solutions and values together. Through our solutions centering on the“Health Cloud,” we will promote patient-centered DX in Japan. As a major step towards achieving this goal, we will work with Fujitsu to provide innovative healthcare services and experiences that are optimal for each patient."

Furthermore, Amit Khanna SVP & GM, Health Care and LifeSciences, Salesforce, Inc. comments: “Care is not just about one moment in time - care is longitudinal. In order to transition to more preventative, holistic care, the healthcare industry needs to embrace more connected, collaborative solutions and start integrating data from across different healthcare platforms to get a full picture of the patient. With this integrated end-to-end view, the healthcare industry can start working towards delivering personalized, tailored care to every patient.”

About Fujitsu

Fujitsu’s purpose is to make the world more sustainable by building trust in society through innovation. Their range of services and solutions draw on five key technologies: Computing, Networks, AI, Data & Security, and Converging Technologies, which we bring together to deliver sustainability transformation.

About Salesforce

Salesforce is a global leader in customer relationship management (CRM), helping companies of all sizes and verticals digitally transform and reach their customers at 360 degrees.

Last summer, Northwestern University researchers introduced the first-ever transient pacemaker — a fully implantable, wireless device that harmlessly dissolves in the body after it’s no longer needed. Now, they unveil a new, smart version that is integrated into a coordinated network of soft, flexible, wireless, wearable sensors and control units placed around the upper body.

The study will be published Friday (May 27) in the journal Science. Reportedly, the work was led by Northwestern’s John A. Rogers, Igor R. Efimov, and Rishi Arora.

The sensors communicate with each other to continuously monitor the body’s various physiological functions, including body temperature, oxygen levels, respiration, muscle tone, physical activity, and the heart’s electrical activity. The system then uses algorithms to analyze this combined activity in order to autonomously detect abnormal cardiac rhythms and decide when to pace the heart and at what rate. All this information is streamed to a smartphone or tablet, so physicians can remotely monitor their patients.

Read more: Signow EZYPRO® ECG Recorder for 14 days of cardiac monitoring

The new transient pacemaker and sensor/control network can be used in patients who need temporary pacing after cardiac surgery or are waiting for a permanent pacemaker. The pacemaker wirelessly harvests energy from a node within the network — a small wireless device that softly adheres to the patient’s chest. This technology eliminates the need for external hardware, including wires (or leads).

To enable the system to communicate with the patient, the researchers incorporated a small, wearable haptic-feedback device that can be worn anywhere on the body. When the sensors detect an issue (such as low battery power, incorrect device placement, or pacemaker malfunction), the haptic device vibrates in specific patterns that alert wearers and inform them of the problem.

Insights from the experts

“This marks the first time we have paired soft, wearable electronics with transient electronic platforms,” Rogers said. “This approach could change the way patients receive care by providing multimodal, closed-loop control over essential physiological processes — through a wireless network of sensors and stimulators that operates in a manner inspired by the complex, biological feedback loops that control behaviors in living organisms.

“For temporary cardiac pacing, the system untethers patients from monitoring and stimulation apparatuses that keep them confined to a hospital setting. Instead, patients could recover in the comfort of their own homes while maintaining the peace of mind that comes with being remotely monitored by their physicians. This also would reduce the cost of health care and free up hospital beds for other patients.”

“In current settings, temporary pacemakers require a wire that is connected to an external generator that stimulates the heart,” Efimov said. “When the heart regains its ability to stimulate itself appropriately, the wire has to be pulled out. As you might imagine, this is a pretty dramatic procedure to pull out a wire connected to the heart. We decided to approach this problem from a different angle. We created a pacemaker that simply dissolves and does not need to be removed. This avoids the dangerous step of pulling out the wire.”

“Current pacemakers are quite intelligent and respond well to the changing needs of the patients,” Arora said. “But the wearable modules do everything traditional pacemakers do and more. A patient basically wears a little patch on their chest and gets real-time feedback to control the pacemaker. Not only is the pacemaker itself bioresorbable, but it is also controlled by a soft, wearable patch that allows the pacemaker to respond to the usual activities of life without needing implantable sensors.”

Rogers is the Louis Simpson and Kimberly Querrey Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Neurological Surgery at Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and the director of the Querrey Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics(QSIB). Efimov is a professor of biomedical engineering at McCormick and a professor of medicine (cardiology) at Feinberg. Arora is a professor of medicine at Feinberg and co-director of the Center for Arrhythmia Research.

Connecting the ‘body-area network’

A bioelectronics pioneer, Rogers, and his lab have been developing soft, flexible, wireless wearable devices and bioresorbable electronic technologies for nearly two decades. In the new study, Rogers and his collaborators combined and coordinated their bioresorbable, leadless pacemaker with four different skin-interfaced devices to work together. The skin-mounted devices are soft, flexible, and can be gently peeled off after use, eliminating the need for surgical removal. The pacemaker naturally dissolves in the body after a period of need.

The“body-area network” includes:

• A battery-free transient, bioresorbable pacemaker to temporarily pace the heart;
• A cardiac module that sits on the chest to provide power to and control stimulation parameters for the implanted pacemaker as well as sense electrical activity and sounds of the heart;
• A hemodynamics module that sits on the forehead to sense pulse oximetry, tissue oxygenation, and vascular tone;
• A respiratory module that sits at the base of the throat to monitor coughing and respiratory activity; and
• A multi-haptic-feedback module that vibrates and pulses in a variety of patterns to communicate with the patient.

“We wanted to demonstrate that it’s possible to deploy multiple different types of devices, each performing essential functions in a wirelessly coordinated manner across the body,” Rogers said. “Some are sensing. Some are delivering power. Some are stimulating. Some are providing control signals. But they all work together, trading information, making decisions based on algorithms, and reacting to changing conditions. The vision of multiple bioelectronic devices all talking to one another and performing different functions at different relevant anatomical locations is a frontier area that we will continue to pursue going into the future.”

New advances, on-demand pacing

Since Northwestern’s transient pacemaker was first introduced a year ago, the researchers have made multiple improvements to advance the technology. While the previous device was flexible, the new device is flexible and stretchy, enabling it to better accommodate the changing nature of a beating heart. Another new benefit: As the transient pacemaker slowly and harmlessly dissolves, it now releases an anti-inflammatory drug to prevent foreign-body reactions.

Perhaps the most impactful advance is the device’s ability to provide pacing on-demand, based on when the patient needs it. Synced with the pacemaker, the chest-mounted cardiac module records an electrocardiogram in real-time to monitor heart activity. In the study, researchers compared this wireless technology to gold-standard electrocardiograms and found it was as accurate and precise as clinical-grade systems. “The cardiac module literally tells the pacemaker to apply a stimulus to the heart, ”Efimov explained. “If normal activity is regained, then it stops pacing. This is important because if you stimulate the heart when it’s unnecessary, then you risk inducing arrhythmia.”

“The pacing system is completely autonomous,” said Yeon Sik Choi, a postdoctoral fellow in Rogers’ lab and co-first author of the paper. “It can automatically detect disease and apply the treatment. It’s easy and self-contained with minimal external needs.”

Health care is gentle enough for newborns

Rogers, Efimov, Arora, and their teams believe their system would be most beneficial for the most vulnerable patients. Every year, approximately 40,000 babies are born with a hole in the wall that separates their heart’s upper chambers. About 10,000 of these cases are life-threatening, requiring immediate surgery. After surgery, 100% of babies receive a temporary pacemaker.

“The good news is this is a temporary condition,” Efimov said. “After about five to seven days, the heart regains its ability to stimulate itself and no longer needs a pacemaker. The procedure to remove the pacemaker has improved greatly over the years, so the rate of complications is low. But we could free these babies from the wires connecting to an external generator and free them from needing a second procedure.”

The human body needs sleep as much as it needs food and water. Yet many people fail to get enough, causing both mind and body to suffer. People who struggle for shut-eye could benefit from monitoring their sleep, but they have limited options for doing so. In a new study in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, one team describes a potential solution: a self-powering smart pillow that tracks the position of the head.

Studies have linked chronic lack of sleep to physical ailments, such as diabetes and heart disease, as well as mental health issues. Those interested in getting a better handle on what's happening to them at night have two primary options. They can take a sleep test conducted in a medical facility or use an app through a smartphone or smartwatch - a much more convenient but less accurate choice. Recognizing the need, many groups have begun developing new sleep monitoring systems using triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs). These self-powering systems have taken the form of eye masks, belts, patches, and even bed sheets. Ding Li, Zhong LinWang, and their colleagues wanted to adapt this approach to create a less restrictive, more comfortable version that focuses on the movement of the head during sleep.

To construct this new smart pillow, the researchers formulated a flexible, porous polymer triboelectric layer. Movement between the head and this layer changes the electric field around nearby electrodes, generating a current. They strung together several of these self-powering sensors to create a flexible and breathable TENG (FB-TENG) array that can be placed atop an ordinary pillow. This system could generate a voltage that is corresponded to the amount of applied pressure, and it could track the movement of a finger tracing out letters. The FB-TENG also could capture the pressure distribution of a fake human head as it shifted position. This smart pillow could have uses beyond tracking sleep, the researchers say. For example, the system could monitor patients with diseases that affect the movement of the head, such as the degenerative neck disorder cervical spondylosis. What's more, the smart pillow could be adapted to offer an early warning system for those at risk of falling out of bed, they say.

The authors acknowledge funding from the National Key Research & Development Project from the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

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Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, using a new antireflection coating, have successfully increased the efficiency of the best four-junction solar cell to date from 46.1 to 47.6 percent at a concentration of 665 suns. This is a global milestone, as there is currently no solar cell with a higher efficiency worldwide. The results are presented today at the 2nd International tandem PV Workshop, taking place in Freiburg, Germany.

For the last two years, Fraunhofer ISE has been working on an ambitious project called "50 Percent." The aim of the project, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action BMWK, is to develop a solar cell with 50 percent efficiency for the first time. To achieve this, each individual layer of the complex multi-junction solar cell undergoes further optimization. Improvements in the process technology are incorporated for metal contacts and antireflection layers. Now, the project team has achieved the first breakthrough: Their latest solar cell under concentrated sunlight achieves an efficiency of 47.6 percent, reports Fraunhofer.

"We are thrilled with this result, which was achieved only one year after the opening of our new Center for High-Efficiency Solar Cells," says Dr. Frank Dimroth, department head of III-V Photovoltaics and Concentrator Technology at Fraunhofer ISE. "In our research, we aim to make concentrating photovoltaics even more efficient and competitive, as we believe that this is the most sustainable form of renewable electricity generation."

The layer structure of the new solar cell was developed back in 2016 together with the French company Soitec Inc., which designs and manufactures innovative semiconductor materials. The upper tandem solar cell is made of gallium indium phosphide (GaInP) and aluminum gallium arsenide(AlGaAs), which was bonded by Soitec onto a lower tandem solar cell made of gallium indium arsenide phosphide (GaInAsP) and gallium indium arsenide(GaInAs).

Read more: Korean Scientists Develop Stretchable and Printable Free-Form Lithium-Ion Batteries

Now an improved contact layer and a 4-layer antireflection coating were applied to the tandem cell structure in Fraunhofer ISE’s Center for High-Efficiency Solar Cells. These measures reduce the resistance losses and the reflection on the front side of the cell, which is spectrally sensitive within a broad range of 300 and 1780 nanometers. Conventional solar cells made of silicon absorb sunlight only up to a wavelength of 1200 nanometers and thus do not require such a broadband antireflection coating.

Multi-junction solar cells made of III-V compound semiconductors have always been among the most efficient solar cells in the world. They reach their highest potential when the incoming sunlight is concentrated by lenses onto miniature solar cell devices of just a few square millimeters in size. "Possible applications of such highly efficient tandem solar cells include concentrator photovoltaic systems, which contribute to efficient power generation in sun-rich countries,” says Prof. Dr. Stefan Glunz, division director of Photovoltaics Research at Fraunhofer ISE. "With tandem photovoltaics, it is possible to leave the limitations of single-junction solar cells behind and ultimately achieve a reduction in solar power costs."

Rune Labs, a precision neurology company, announced its StrivePD software ecosystem for Parkinson's disease and has been granted 510(k) clearance by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to collect patient symptom data through measurements made by Apple Watch. By combining powerful wearable technology and self-reported symptom information with brain imaging, electrophysiology, genetic, and other clinical data, StrivePD enables a data-driven approach to care management and clinical trial design for Parkinson's.

With this clearance, the Rune Labs'StrivePD app enables precision clinical care and trial participation for tens of thousands of Parkinson's patients who already use these devices in their daily lives. For patients who also use Medtronic's Percept™ PC Deep Brain Stimulation device, this clearance for the StrivePD app will enhance clinicians' ability to make brain-sensing data from these devices useful, as part of Rune Labs' and Medtronic's existing partnership. This clearance also sets the stage for leveraging StrivePD to reach a significant number of potential prodromal Parkinson's patients, the company said in a press release.

Additionally, StrivePD on Apple Watch makes it easy for people with Parkinson's to track and log their symptoms, enabling patients to have more control over their care.

"Being able to show my neurologist how my motor symptoms were fluctuating, thanks to StrivePD, was the impetus for me to get surgery for a deep brain stimulation device," said Aura Oslapas, who drew from her first-hand experience with Parkinson's to create the StrivePD mobile app. Since Rune Labs' acquisition of the StrivePD ecosystem in 2019, Oslapas has worked with the company to evolve the StrivePD user experience, and also recently joined its Patient Advisory Board.

Read more: StudyFinds VR Therapeutic Reduces Pain Intensity

"When people with Parkinson's are prescribed new medications, adjusting how much to take and when to take it until they find something that works can be a lengthy process. StrivePD helps people to track their symptoms and improvements, accelerating the time to an optimal medication schedule – and with today's clearance, more people will have access to this life-changing technology," Oslapas said. "StrivePD on Apple Watch is the long-awaited union of quantitative and qualitative data that encourages better care and communication between patients and clinicians, while also empowering people with Parkinson's who are striving to live better every day."

"As we have seen in oncology, the introduction of large quantities of real-world data has the power to transform drug development and fundamentally change disease prognosis. This clearance is a major step towards building a similar paradigm in neurology," said Brian Pepin, CEO, and Founder of Rune Labs. "With all of the data we will collect and the patients we will reach through this clearance, we will make sure the right participants enroll in trials and help our pharma and Medtech partners run more efficient trials with higher quality outcomes data, thereby enabling more therapies to come to market quickly to help those suffering from Parkinson's."

Until now, clinicians and researchers have made decisions surrounding patient care based on limited information and data. Rune Labs is bringing together novel multimodal data that will radically transform what it means to be a patient with Parkinson's. Having visibility into this data will accelerate drug development, using higher resolution metrics to inform trial design, endpoint selection, and patient stratification, as well as whether a treatment effect is detected.

The StrivePD ecosystem draws data directly from Apple's Movement Disorder API, which provides a power-efficient approach to measuring and recording tremors and dyskinetic symptoms common in patients with Parkinson's disease. Rune Labs values users' personal information and privacy and takes appropriate steps to protect against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, misuse, or destruction. Users' personal information and privacy is protected and governed by Rune Labs' Information Security Management System.

AboutRune Labs

Rune Labs is a software and data analytics company for precision neurology, supporting care delivery and therapy development. StrivePD is the company's care delivery ecosystem for Parkinson's disease, enabling patients and clinicians to better manage Parkinson's by providing access to curated dashboards summarizing a range of patient data sources, and by connecting patients to clinical trials. For therapeutics development, biopharma and medical device companies leverage Rune's technology, a network of engaged clinicians and patients, and large longitudinal real-world datasets to expedite development programs. The company has received financial backing from leading investors such as Eclipse Ventures, DigiTx, TruVenturo, and MomentVentures.

Scientists at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have developed a stretchable and waterproof fabric that turns energy generated from body movements into electrical energy. It is made with stretchable spandex as a base layer and integrated with a rubber-like material to keep it strong, flexible, and waterproof.

In a proof-of-concept experiment reported in the scientific journal AdvancedMaterials in April, the NTU Singapore team showed that tapping on a 3cm by4cm piece of the new fabric generated enough electrical energy to light up 100LEDs.

Washing, folding, and crumpling the fabric did not cause any performance degradation, and it could maintain stable electrical output for up to five months, demonstrating its potential for use as a smart textile and wearable power source.

Materials scientist and NTU Associate Provost (Graduate Education) Professor Lee Pooi See, who led the study, said: "There have been many attempts to develop fabric or garments that can harvest energy from movement, but a big challenge has been to develop something that does not degrade in function after being washed, and at the same time retains excellent electrical output. In our study, we demonstrated that our prototype continues to function well after washing and crumpling. We think it could be woven into t-shirts or integrated into soles of shoes to collect energy from the body's smallest movements, piping electricity to mobile devices."

Harvesting an alternative source of energy

The electricity-generating fabric developed by the NTU team is an energy harvesting device that turns vibrations produced from the smallest body movements in everyday life into electricity.

The prototype fabric produces electricity in two ways: when it is pressed or squashed (piezoelectricity), and when it comes into contact or is in friction with other materials, such as skin or rubber gloves (triboelectric effect).

To fabricate the prototype, the scientists first made a stretchable electrode by screen-printing an 'ink' comprising silver and styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene (SEBS), a rubber-like material found in teethers and handlebar grips to make it more stretchable and waterproof.

This stretchable electrode is then attached to a piece of nanofiber fabric that is made up of two main components: poly(vinylidene fluoride)-co-hexafluoropropylene (PVDF-HPF), a polymer that produces an electrical charge when compressed, bent, or stretched; and lead-free perovskites, a promising material in the field of solar cells and LEDs.

NTU PhD student Jiang Feng, who is part of the research team, explained: "Embedding perovskites in PVDF-HPF increases the prototype's electrical output. In our study, we opted for lead-free perovskites as a more environmentally friendly option. While perovskites are brittle by nature, integrating them into PVDF-HPF gives the perovskites exceptional mechanical durability and flexibility. The PVDF-HPF also acts as an extra layer of protection to the perovskites, adding to its mechanical property and stability."

The result is a prototype fabric that generates 2.34 watts per square meter of electricity - enough to power small electronic devices, such as LEDs and commercial capacitors.

Proof of concept

To demonstrate how their prototype fabric could work, the NTU scientists showed how a hand tapping on a 3cm by 4cm piece of the fabric continuously could light up 100 LEDs, or charge various capacitors, which are devices that store electrical energy and are found in devices like mobile phones.

The fabric showed good durability and stability - its electrical properties did not deteriorate following washing, folding, and crumpling. It also continued to produce a continuous stable electrical output for up to five months.

The scientists showed that their fabric could harness energy from a range of human movements by attaching it to the arm, leg, hand, and elbow, as well as to the insoles of shoes, and did so without impacting the movements.

Prof Lee said: "Despite improved battery capacity and reduced power demand, power sources for wearable devices still require frequent battery replacements. Our results show that our energy harvesting prototype fabric can harness vibration energy from a human to potentially extend the lifetime of a battery or even to build self-powered systems. To our knowledge, this is the first hybrid perovskite-based energy device that is stable, stretchable, breathable, waterproof, and at the same time capable of delivering outstanding electrical output performance."

This fabric-based energy-harvesting prototype builds on the NTU team's body of work that looks at how the energy generated in the environment could be scavenged. For instance, the team recently developed a type of film that could potentially be mounted on roofs or walls to harness the energy produced from wind or raindrops falling onto the film.

The team is now looking at how the same fabric could be adapted to harvest different forms of energy.

Take a look at this impressive video from the NTU Singaporean Scientists: https://www.youtube.com/embed/8lv_qw54vBo

A Virtual Reality (VR) therapeutic program reduces pain intensity up to six months later, compared with a sham app, according to a study published in JMIR.

The study was sponsored by AppliedVR and used its RelieVRx system, formerly known as EaseVRx, to assess its long-term effectiveness for people with chronic lower-back pain (CLBP). It followed up on earlier research that analyzed the immersive eight-week program, compared with a 2D sham experience immediately after treatment, reports MobiHealthNews.

Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is the most common persistent pain condition worldwide, and multiple barriers impede patient access to timely and effective care. Innovations in digital therapeutics, such as immersive virtual reality, offer the promise of home-based care, broad availability of treatment, and the potential to address the needs of underserved populations with CLBP.

Immersive VR is an evidence-based analgesic for acute low back pain, procedural low back pain, and CLBP. Many VR treatments for CLBP involve rehabilitation exercise and require therapist guidance. However, recent chronic pain research has investigated fully self-administered VR programs that require no clinician contact or guided movement exercises. Such programs closely mirror the content delivered in pain self-management or evidence-based psychological treatments for chronic pain.

Related Researchers Develop Wearable Device That Lets You Feel Cold, Heat and Pain in VR

E-surveys were deployed at pretreatment, end-of-treatment, and posttreatment months 1, 2, 3, and 6. Self-reported data for 188 participants were analyzed in a mixed-model framework using a marginal model to allow for correlated responses across the repeated measures. Primary outcomes were pain intensity and pain-related interference with activity, mood, stress, and sleep at 6 months posttreatment. Secondary outcomes were Patient-Reported Outcome Measurement Information System (PROMIS) sleep disturbance and physical function.

The researchers found that the mean percentage change of pain intensity six months after the treatment was -31.3% in the VR group, compared with -15.9% in the sham group. More than half the VR group met the threshold for moderate clinical meaningfulness, while 25% of the sham group met that level.

Meanwhile, 38% of the RelieVRx cohort achieved substantial clinical meaningfulness, while only 13.2% of the sham group did.

The study also found the VR intervention improved pain-related interference with activity, stress and sleep. Though differences between the two groups for physical function and sleep disturbance were statistically significant, they weren't clinically meaningful.

"Combined, the results support the 6-month analgesic efficacy of a fully automated, 8-week, home-based VR program for CLBP," the study's authors wrote.

"Recent meta-analyses of VR noted a lack of high-quality efficacy studies for chronic pain, except for those involving physical rehabilitation programs. To our knowledge, our investigations on the extended efficacy of VR are the first involving home-based pain management without physical rehabilitation."

Within the European Research Call "Flexible and Wearable Electronics" (H2020ICT-02 RIA) the goal of this project is to develop novel, unprecedented garments for haptic stimulation comprising flexible and wearable textile actuators and sensors, including control electronics, as a new type of textile-based large-area electronics. These wearables are based on a new kind of textile muscles in which yarns are coated with electromechanical active polymers and contract when a low voltage is applied.

Textile muscles offer a completely novel and very different quality of haptic sensation, accessing also receptors of the tactile sensory system that do not react to vibration, but to soft pressure or stroke. Furthermore, being textile materials, they offer a new way of designing and fabricating wearable haptics and can be seamlessly integrated into fabrics and garments. For this novel form of textile muscles, we foresee a huge range of possible applications in haptics: for ergonomics, movement coaching in sports, or wellness, for enhancement of virtual or augmented reality applications in gaming or for training purposes, for inclusion of visually handicapped people by providing them information about their environment, for stress reduction or social communication, adaptive furniture, automotive industry and many more.

Especially the COVID-19 Pandemic has shown the huge potential for certain applications in caring e.g. for elderly people. Together with an expert online support of caregivers, social communication could be simulated by giving a caring touch sensation of the smart textile to the forearm of elderly people.

About WEAFING

The goal of the WEAFING project is to develop novel, unprecedented garments for haptic stimulation comprising flexible and wearable textile actuators and sensors, including control electronics, as a new type of textile-based large-area electronics. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program. Find out more about the WEAFING partner team here.

Google ended its I/O presentation with a big surprise. The company showed off its AR glasses that has the ability to translate languages right in front of your eyes.

The glasses use augmented reality and artificial intelligence (and possibly embedded cameras and microphones) to see someone speaking to you, hear what they're saying, translate it and display the translation live on the embedded, translucent screens built into the eyeglass frames, reports TechRadar.

"Language is so fundamental to communicating with each other," explained Google CEO Sundar Pichai, but he noted that trying to follow someone who is speaking another language "can be a real challenge."

Google didn’t share any details about when they might be available and only demonstrated them in a recorded video that didn’t actually show the display or how you would interact with them. But what was shown in the video painted a very cool picture of a potential AR future.

In one demo, a Google product manager tells someone wearing the glasses, “You should be seeing what I’m saying, just transcribed for you in real time — kind of like subtitles for the world.” Later, the video shows what you might see if you’re wearing the glasses: with the speaker in front of you, the translated language appears in real time in your line of sight.

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One of the most interesting parts of its new glasses initiative is a focus on practical utility. The ability to understand and be understood is actually useful. These glasses aren't focusing on floating dinosaurs or magic experiences; they're trying to assist. Meta's recent smart glasses ambitions also aim at providing utility, but Google's experience and tools seem well suited for the challenge.

It’s unclear if Google’s glasses will ever hit the market, but the prototype provides a sense of where Google thinks augmented reality can be helpful.

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. announced another milestone in making extended reality (XR), the next computing platform with the Wireless AR Smart Viewer Reference Design, powered by the Snapdragon® XR2 Platform. The cord-free reference design helps OEMs and ODMs more seamlessly and cost-efficiently prototypes and bring to market lightweight, premium AR glasses to enable immersive experiences that unlock the metaverse.

Related Apple Could Soon Launch AR/VR Headset with 8K Display

Greater Performance, Sleeker Device: The purpose-built, premium Snapdragon XR2 Platform now packs powerful performance into a slim, smaller AR glass form factor. The AR reference design hardware, developed by Goertek, has a 40% thinner profile and a more ergonomically balanced weight distribution for increased comfort. SeeYA provides the dual micro-OLED binocular display enabling 1920 x 1080 per eye and frame rates up to 90Hz and ano-motion-blur feature to deliver a seamless AR experience. Dual monochrome cameras and one RGB camera on the smart viewer enable six-degrees of freedom (6DoF) head tracking and hand tracking with gesture recognition to achieve AR precision, Qualcomm said in a press release.

Wireless Without Compromise: Taking a system-level approach, the reference design enables a wireless split processing architecture to distribute computing workloads between the smartphone and the AR glass. To achieve truly immersive AR experiences, the device obtains < 3ms latency between the smartphone and AR glass. With the FastConnect 6900 solution, the reference design offers uncompromising Wi-Fi 6 / 6E and Bluetooth® connectivity, allowing users to receive the fastest commercially available speeds and increased range. Paired with the new FastConnect XR Software Suite system integrators and application developers obtain with optimized features that:

- Allow better control and preferential channel access for XR traffic to improve M2R2P (motionto-render-to-photon) latency, reduce jitter, and avoid unwanted interference.

- Include purpose-built power modes for low power operation, without impacting latency performance for longer, sustained XR experiences. Through the pairing of premium technology and form factor innovation, Qualcomm Technologies will continue to enable the diverse consumer and enterprise needs to help scale AR to the masses. The Wireless AR Smart Viewer reference design is available for select partners, with wider availability expected in the coming months.

Apple previewed its upcoming mixed-reality headset to the company’s board last week, indicating that the development of the device has reached an advanced stage - according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The filings were made in December 2021 and reference the "design and development of computer hardware, software, peripherals, and computer and video games" – and there's also a specific mention of "wearable computer hardware" - reports TechRadar.

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo's prediction is corroborated by earlier reports that Apple's headset might be coming in 2022, with smart glasses around 2025 and maybe AR contact lenses after that.

The Apple headset will reportedly use ultra-high-resolution 8K displays. Such a pixel-dense screen would produce an ultra-sharp image without any "screen door effect," the term used for early VR headsets' tendency to display visible pixels.

Apple could mix AR and VR with two headsets in the near future, leading the way with some sort of high-end AR/VR headset more like an advanced Quest 2, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman also suggests a focus on gaming, media and communication. In terms of communication, Gurman believes FaceTime using the rumored headset could rely on Memojis and SharePlay, meaning instead of seeing the person you're talking to, you would see a 3D version of their personalized Memoji avatar.

Read more UK Virtual Reality Startup Moonhub Launches VR Dementia Training Suite

The headset features advanced processors on par with those in Apple’s latest Macs as well as ultra-high-resolution screens. Though the first model will offer both VR and AR, the company is also working on stand-alone AR glasses, codenamed N421, for release later this decade. Unlike VR, augmented reality overlays digital information and images on top of the real world.

The current device, codenamed N301, has been in development since around 2015. Mike Rockwell, a company vice president, has spearheaded the project, which is also overseen by Dan Riccio, Apple’s former head of hardware engineering.

Apple’s AR/VR development team is reportedly comprised of over 2,000 employees, all dedicated to working the emerging technologies into upcoming products. This is backed up by specific AR/VR-inspired Apple hires over recent years and the company has also acquired a handful of companies that specialize in either AR/VR tech, or content tailored to those platforms.

Image credit: Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST)

A Korean research team has developed a soft, mechanically deformable, and stretchable lithium battery, which can be used in the development of wearable devices, and examined the battery's feasibility by printing them on clothing surfaces. The research team, led by Dr. Jeong Gon Son from the Soft Hybrid Materials Research Center at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), announced that they had developed a lithium battery wherein all of the materials, including the anode, cathode, current collector, electrolytes, and encapsulant, are stretchable and printable. The lithium battery developed by the team possesses high capacity and free-form characteristics suitable for mechanical deformation.

Readmore Soft Semiconductors that Stretch Like Human Skin Can Detect Ultra-low Light Levels

Owing to the rapidly increasing demand for high-performance wearable devices such as smart bands, implantable electronic devices such as pace-makers, and soft wearable devices for use in the realistic metaverse, the development of a battery that is soft and stretchable like the human skin and organs has been attracting interest.

The hard inorganic electrode of a conventional battery comprises the majority of the battery's volume, making it difficult to stretch. Other components, such as the separator and the current collector for drawing and transferring charges, must also be stretchable, and the liquid electrolyte leakage issue must also be resolved.

To enhance stretchability, the research team avoided using materials as had been done in other studies, which were unnecessary for energy storage, such as rubber. Then, a new soft and stretchable organic gel material was developed and applied based on the existing binder material. This material firmly holds the active electrode materials in place and facilitates the transfer of ions. In addition, a conductive ink was fabricated using a material with excellent stretchability and gas barrier properties to serve as as a current collector material that transfers electrons and an encapsulant, which can function stably even at a high voltage and in various deformed states without swelling due to electrolyte absorption.

The battery developed by the team is also able to incorporate existing lithium-ion battery materials, as they exhibit excellent energy storage density (~2.8 mWh/cm²) of a level similar to that of commercially available hard lithium-ion batteries at a driving voltage of 3.3 V or higher. All of the constituent components of the teams' stretchable lithium-ion battery possess the mechanical stability to maintain their performance even after repeated pulling of the battery 1,000 or more times, a high stretchability of 50% or above, and long-term stability in air.

Moreover, the research team directly printed the electrode and current collector materials which they had developed on either side of an arm warmer made of spandex and applied a stretchable encapsulant to the material, demonstrating the ability to print a stretchable high-voltage organic battery directly on clothing. Using the resulting battery, the research team was able to continuously power a smart watch even when it wasbeing put on, taken off, or stretched.

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Dr. Son at KIST stated that his team has developed a stretchable lithium-ion battery technology, which provides both, structural freedom as a result of the battery's free-form configuration allowing for it to be printed on materials such as fabrics, and material freedom due to being able to use existing lithium-ion battery materials, in addition to stretch stability, which allows for high energy density and mechanical deformation. He also stated that the stretchable energy storage system developed by his team is expected to be applicable to the development of various wearable or body-attachable devices.

The research results were published in ACS Nano.

Google has finally revealed its smartwatch. Named the Pixel Watch, the company has confirmed that it will be coming this 'fall' - likely meaning between September and November.

The Google Pixel Watch combines its own Wear operating system with Fitbit health tracking.

Although the tech giant has supported smartwatches through its wearable operating system and completed its acquisition of Fitbit for $2.1bn (£1.7bn) last year, this is Google's first branded smartwatch.

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The watch can be paired with Android devices only and is 4G-compatible, which means it can function on its own without being near a phone - but to do this it requires its own data plan. Both the phone and watch would also need to be on the same network, according to Google.

There's not much need for design leaks because Google itself has shown us what the Pixel Watch looks like, as you can see in the image.

“This includes a circular screen, a - presumably rotatable - crown, and a build made of recycled stainless steel. The company also promises customizable bands that will seamlessly attach", reports TechRadar.

As such, the Pixel Watch looks set to be a rather clean and minimalist smartwatch, somewhat in keeping with the design of other Pixel devices. Interchangeable bands, meanwhile, would offer wearers a bit of customization.

According to a leak by 9to5Google, the Pixel Watch could have 32 GB of internal storage. For a smartwatch, that’s a lot. The only reason we can think of having that much storage would be for downloading music files.

Pricing for the Pixel Watch is a mystery. Still, we can speculate a bit. Because Google owns Fitbit, it will probably avoid placing the Pixel Watch in the same price category as Fitbit products. That means it could cost more than the $200 Fitbit Sense.”

CamDiab and Ypsomed announced that they are partnering to develop and commercialize an integrated automated insulin delivery (AID) system to help lessen the burden of round-the-clock diabetes management for people with diabetes. The initial focus of the partnership will be in European countries.

Related Abbott Announces New Biosensors Based on Diabetes Monitoring Tech at the CES

The new integrated AID system is being designed to connect Abbott’s FreeStyle Libre 3 sensor, the world’s smallest and most accurate continuous glucose monitoring sensor with readings every minute, to CamDiab’s CamAPS FX mobile app, which connects with Ypsomed’s mylife YpsoPump – creating a smart, automated process to deliver insulin based on real-time glucose data. The connected, smart wearable solution is designed to continuously monitor a person’s glucose levels and automatically adjust and deliver the right amount of insulin at the right time, removing the guesswork of insulin dosing, Abbott said in a press release.

“Our goal is to make diabetes care as easy as possible, which is why Abbott continues to expand its team of insulin delivery partners, digital coaching and technology leaders,” said Jared Watkin, senior vice president of Abbott’s diabetes care business. “We want to deliver new advanced solutions that simplify and make it possible for people to spend less time thinking about diabetes and more time living.”

“Poor glucose control leads to an increased risk of diabetes complications such as blindness, and heart and kidney disease. We want to help people with diabetes better manage their glucose through advanced technology. Our CamAPS FX, already approved in Europe, is a highly adaptive algorithm that when integrated with Abbott’s sensor is being designed to communicate with Ypsomed’s insulin pump to provide the optimal insulin dose, lifting the burden of managing a condition that is relentlessly unpredictable day and night,” said Roman Hovorka, director of CamDiab Ltd.

“We are convinced that major challenges of society can only be addressed through partnerships. We are therefore proud to expand our partners and connectivity to offer more freedom of choice in managing diabetes. When combined our mylife YpsoPump with the FreeStyle Libre 3 system and CamAPS FX advanced adaptive hybrid closed-loop app, we will be able to deliver an additional compact and lightweight AID system that is discreet and simple to use,” said Simon Michel, chief executive officer of Ypsomed.

The companies intend to complete development by end of 2022 with commercial availability expected thereafter.

About Abbott

Abbott is a global healthcare leader that helps people live more fully at all stages of life. Our portfolio of life-changing technologies spans the spectrum of healthcare, with leading businesses and products in diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and branded generic medicines. Our 113,000 colleagues serve people in more than 160 countries.

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About CamDiab

CamDiab Ltd is a digital health and personalized medicine company focused on the design, development, and commercialization of its world leading, interoperable CamAPS FX closed loop app. The CamAPS FX is designed to use adaptive, self-learning control algorithm, linked to a compatible continuous glucose monitoring device and a compatible insulin pump, to autonomously compute and direct insulin delivery to maintain tight glycemic control.

About Ypsomed

Ypsomed is the leading developer and manufacturer of injection and infusion systems for self-medication and a renowned diabetes specialist with over 35 years’ experience. As a leader in innovation and technology, it is a preferred partner of pharmaceutical and biotech companies for pens, autoinjectors, pump systems and software solutions for administering liquid medications.

Can you imagine being able to feel the cold of Siberia, or the heat of the desert in virtual reality? Well, it seems that soon it will be possible. The technology is already here, according to reports from TechSpot is likely to be one of the most immersive that we have known so far.

Created by researchers at the Human Computer Integration Lab at the University of Chicago, chemical haptics uses autonomous wearable devices to simulate sensations in virtual reality. Wearable devices combine silicone patches and micropumps to deliver five different chemicals to a person’s skin surface.

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The chemicals can produce 5 different sensations: menthol creates a cooling effect, ideal for going out on a cold winter day in a virtual reality game; capsaicin, often present in spicy foods, reproduces the sensation of heat; sanshool can give a tingling sensation to an area; and lidocaine, a local anesthetic, can make your skin numb. A video shows how sanshool can simulate the shorting sensation of a futuristic surveillance device on the forearm.

While lidocaine sounds slightly concerning, it’s not quite as worrying as the last chemical: cinnamaldehyde. This will create a stinging sensation on the skin, possibly used as negative feedback when a player fails to achieve a task, or when they receive an in-game burn. It is worth remembering that all these chemicals are safe, apparently, so you’re unlikely to suffer injuries or have your skin melt off in some kind of Squid Game-like scenario. The devices certainly provide a wider range of simulations than current haptic feedback kits like the one below.

Related UK Virtual Reality Startup Moonhub Launches VR Dementia Training Suite

The chemical haptics device can be worn anywhere there is direct contact with the skin, such as on the cheeks for simulating hot/cold environments. You probably shouldn’t, however, stick them to your junk, but you can guarantee plenty of people will.

Fancurve, a blockchain-enabled digital fashion company, today announced the launch of its groundbreaking platform focused on building communities around virtual sports apparel and lifestyle collectibles. By engaging its audience through digitally wearable jerseys and interactive extensions, Fancurve aims to shape the future of digital sports fashion, connecting fans with the biggest athletes, clubs, designers, and culture-defining brands.

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Fancurve is an original, user-friendly platform with bespoke virtual apparel drops designed by highly skilled – digital fashion designers. As the locker room for the modern sports collector, Fancurve is a space to express fandom and gear up for the next adventure. Through its community-driven ethos, Fancurve serves as an approachable Web3 launchpad for other fashion and lifestyle brands as they enter the growing metaverse.

Founded by Chris Chaney (C4+, OpTic Gaming/Houston Outlaws, Limitless Studios) and Andrew Nestor (Dugout, Bologna FC, MP & Silva), Fancurve has formed a team of talented employees with extensive experience across Web3, fashion, esports, and traditional football, having worked with major industry leaders within these spaces. Its diverse global team is nearly as international as football itself, with employees based in the United States, Germany, France, Denmark, United Kingdom, Portugal, Spain, Serbia, Nigeria and Pakistan, says a press release.

“At Fancurve, we’re focused on updating the meaning of sports fandom – for today’s digital world and redefining what it will become in the future,” said Chris Chaney, Fancurve Founder and CEO. “Our priority is to build a trustworthy and engaging platform for our users as they explore the growing Web3 ecosystem. In doing so, we’re striving to be nothing less than the largest and most innovative digital wearables platform for sports fans across the globe.”

At launch, Fancurve has raised a $6.25M seed round from a diverse cross section of investors across the sports, technology and Web3 landscape. Led by Greenfield One, other key partners (among 42 total investors) include Shima Capital, 6th Man Ventures, OneFootball, Reverb Ventures and Valhalla Capital, with angel investment from MP & Silva co-founder Carlo Pozzali, Sorare growth lead Brian O’Hagan and OneFootball CEO Lucas Von Cranach. Star footballers André Schürrle and Mario Götze also participated in the seed round. Together, their collective investment will support Fancurve’s growth and future offerings.

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“The Fancurve team excited us with their ambition and expertise across Web3, sports and fashion,” said Jascha Samadi, Co-founder and Partner at Greenfield One. “We’re proud to work with them as they champion and introduce innovative sports fashion ideas into the metaverse.”

In May, Fancurve will unveil its suite of initial drops, headlined by a flagship partnership with a top La Liga football club. For the latest news and developments, join the Fancurve Discord and follow along on Twitter, Instagram and Discord.

About Fancurve

Fancurve is a digital sports fashion platform that empowers fans to express their passions, personalities and connection through premium digital sports wearables. We develop unique collaborations that bring together global communities through their shared passion for football (soccer), culture and fashion.

By connecting fans with the world’s leading athletes, clubs, culture-defining brands and designers, Fancurve is building a community that will shape the future of sports fashion.  Fancurve will also serve as a Web3 launchpad for fashion and lifestyle brands and products to enter the metaverse.

There are myriad ways in which people can experience physical wounds – from minor scrapes and abrasions to the effects of surgery, critical injuries, burns and other major traumas. The healing process for these wounds can also vary among individuals and may be adversely affected by underlying health conditions such as vascular insufficiencies, diabetes, obesity and advanced age. In severe cases, abnormal wound healing processes can result in chronic wounds, a condition which can dramatically affect mobility, quality of life and healthcare costs.

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The normal wound healing process involves a complex series of four overlapping but distinct steps. During the initial steps, platelets from the blood control bleeding by signaling the formation of a protein matrix plug; they also generate molecules that will constrict blood vessels and mobilize other types of cells to the site. These additional cells kill pathogens in the wound area and trigger wound healing and blood vessel formation. In later steps, the protein matrix, blood vessel growth and connections are even further developed, and skin and other surface cells begin to migrate to the site. Together, the skin and protein matrix form granulation tissue to repair and close the wound. In the final step, blood vessel formation tapers and the granulation tissue continue to develop until it eventually becomes a scar, reports Terasaki Institute.

Existing therapies for healing wounds include dressings, negative pressure bandages, growth factor-based and anti-inflammatory drugs, debridement, and ultrasound treatments. But even under the best conditions, the average time for complete wound closure is 12 weeks using these methods.

A more recent therapy that is being explored is electrical field (EF) stimulation; this method accelerates wound healing with limited side effects. Administering EF stimulation at the wound site activates the migration of skin and other granulation cells to the site, induces blood vessel formation and controls excessive inflammation. As a result, wearable EF stimulation devices have been devised which have shown improvements in wound healing times. However, the bulkiness and inflexibility of their conventional electrodes result in conformational incompatibility with the wound, which increases the potential for inflammation and prolonged healing. The fabrication of these electrodes also requires dedicated technologies.

A collaborative team from the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation has developed a ‘smart’ flexible electric patch (ePatch) which fully addresses the challenges posed by existing EF stimulation devices and offers many uniquely advantageous features.

The team first chose silver nanowires as electrodes, which not only provide antibacterial properties but also deliver high conductivity under strain. They next chose to embed the electrodes in alginate, a gelatinous substance which maintains good moisture levels and biocompatibility and is presently used in absorbent surgical dressings.

By a chemical modification of the alginate and the addition of calcium, they were able to produce a material that would increase electrode stability and function. By further adjustment of the silver nanowire/modified alginate ratio, they were able to obtain a flexible, precisely printable gel, or bio-ink, which would produce a patch with customizable conformity to various wound shapes and sizes. In addition, the calcium which was added to the mix induced cell proliferation and migration to the wound site, which in turn would promote blood vessel formation.

To fabricate the e-Patch, a template was layered onto a silicone sheet and the bio-ink was deposited onto the template. Upon solidification of the bio-ink, the template was removed.

“By careful selection of the materials and optimization of our gel formulation, we were able to develop a multifunctional, easy to make, and cost-effective e-Patch which will greatly facilitate and accelerate wound healing,” said TIBI researcher Han-Jun Kim, Ph.D., DVM.

The beneficial qualities of the e-Patch which the TIBI team developed was validated by several sets of experiments. Mechanical tests demonstrated that the e-Patch exhibited improved electrode stability and conductivity, and strain tests results showed good tolerance, on a level needed for normal skin deformation.

Tests conducted on cells cultured on the e-Patch showed that e-Patches pulsed with EF stimulation exhibited significantly faster cellular proliferation, migration, aggregation and alignment, as well as an increased secretion of growth factors – all factors which contribute to faster wound healing.

Animal model studies on rats with open wounds were conducted and the results showed that significantly accelerated wound healing results were obtained with the e-Patch. Not only did the EF stimulated e-Patch exhibit more rapid progression of the wound-healing steps, but there was also a more directional healing process, resulting in minimal scarring, deposition of normal skin layers and hair growth following wound closure.

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Other experiments confirmed the antibacterial properties of the silver nanowire electrodes used in the e-Patches and this property was shown to be independent of the amount of EF stimulation applied.

Still other experiments tested cellular adherence to the silicone component of the e-Patch, and it was found that the silicone provided an effective, non-stick surface for cells. This feature helps to ensure that there is less skin damage and excessive scarring.

“Our ePatch offers an unprecedented combination of optimum features for accelerated wound healing,” said TIBI Director and CEO Ali Khademhosseini, Ph.D. “It is one of the many fine examples of the work that we do in our personalized biomaterials platform.”

E Ink, a global leader in digital paper technology, today announced the launch of E Ink Spectra 3100 Plus five-color ePaper. Spectra 3100 Plus adds bright orange to the existing four colors (black, white, red, and yellow) of the previous generation. The combination of five vivid and saturated colors creates a more eye-catching display, which will help retailers improve their marketing and advertising performance. E Ink Spectra 3100 Plus offers a variety of display sizes, including 1.64-inch, 2.36-inch, 3-inch, 4.37-inch, 7.3-inch, and 8.14-inch, allowing retailers to choose a suitable size of five-color ePaper for different application scenarios.

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Based on the E Ink Spectra 3100 four-color ePaper platform (black, white, red, and yellow), E Ink Spectra 3100 Plus adopts a new waveform to display the fifth color, orange. In addition to offering a wide range of solid and saturated colors, E Ink Spectra 3100 Plus can create a partial image flashing effect, E Ink Sparkle, when E Ink Spectra 3100 Plus is equipped with the relevant All-in-One Driver IC. E Ink Sparkle can enhance the effect of advertising messages through this motion, and help retailers achieve better results for their product promotions.

“Since its launch in 2013, the E Ink Spectra series ePaper has been well received by the retail industry. We have gradually designed and developed the series from three-color and four-color to our latest release of E Ink Spectra 3100 Plus, five-color ePaper, which shows our strong R&D capabilities in color ePaper technology. We have continued to improve our R&D based on the feedback from ecosystem partners and end customers, so we can develop color ePaper technology that meets business needs and is closer to user values. The E Ink Spectra series allows ePaper signage and Electronic Shelf Labels in the retail market to be eye-catching as well as energy-saving and eco-friendly,” said Johnson Lee, CEO of E Ink Holdings, reports BusinessWire.

Digital transformation has driven retailers to accelerate the adoption of Electronic Shelf Labels (ESLs). Over the past seven years, 600 million ESLs of around three inches in size have been installed worldwide. If we assume that the price and information changes four times a day, single-use paper price tags would create 32,000 times CO2 versus ESLs. Electronic Shelf Labels can not only reduce the consumption of environmental resources but can also help significantly reduce CO2 emissions versus traditional signage, contributing to more environmental sustainability.

Related Toppan Printing’s Electronic Paper Display Is Powered by Energy Harvesting Technology

About E Ink Holdings

E Ink Holdings Inc. (8069.TWO), based on technology from MIT’s Media Lab, has transformed and defined the eReader market, enabling a new multi-billion dollar market in less than 10 years. E Ink’s low power products are ideal for IoT applications ranging from retail, home, hospital, transportation and more, enabling customers to put displays in locations previously impossible. The Company’s corporate philosophy aims to deliver revolutionary products, user experiences and environmental benefits through advanced technology development. This vision has led to its continuous investments in the field of ePaper displays as well as expanding the use of its technologies into a number of other markets and applications including smart packaging and fashion. Its Electrophoretic Display products make it the worldwide leader for ePaper. Its Fringe Field Switching (FFS) technologies are a standard for high-end LCD displays and have been licensed to all major liquid crystal display makers in the world. Listed in Taiwan’s Taipei Exchange (TPEx) and the Luxembourg market, E Ink Holdings is now the world’s largest supplier of ePaper displays.

UK-based Virtual Reality (VR) startup Moonhub has launched an immersive VR platform used to train social and health care workers in caring for dementia patients.

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Called Elara, the platform deploys a 360-degree, video-shot VR world to help professionals conduct enhanced patient care.

Elara brings a new approach to traditional classroom and eLearning methods; empowering healthcare professionals to enhance patient care through a patented highly-immersive, low-risk VR training program, reports BBH.

“Dementia affects everyone differently and can be a very-distressing experience” said Claire Surr, Professor of Dementia Studies and director of the Centre for Dementia Research at Leeds Beckett University, who co-curated Elara’s new training program.

“Staff must have an understanding of how people with dementia might see the world, and the impacts of what other people say and do, as well as the physical environment on the person’s wellbeing and behavior.

“The VR training I have helped curate places staff in realistic care scenarios to help them develop the skills and knowledge to prevent or reduce distress.

“Research indicates experiential dementia training like this can help increase their empathy and understanding, potentially improving the quality of care staff deliver, and we hope VR will offer an exciting avenue for providing experiential learning opportunities.”

Moonhub’s researchers found that VR technology helps workers retain knowledge 75% more than online and class-based learners.

The training course guides workers on how to better communicate or recognize distress. It also uses role play to train, such as helping dementia patents prepare for the day.

Dami Hastrup, founder and chief executive of MOONHUB, said: “The pandemic has shone a spotlight on health and social care, highlighting its strength and resilience during the most troubling of times.

“We immediately recognized the importance of social care and the need for investment and development in the future and when we first started building the program, we wanted to ensure we had the right resources and expertise to offer a state-of-the-art experience to those training in the healthcare sector.

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“We believe dementia education and training for the health and social care professionals is vital and we’re incredibly excited to be the first to offer an immersive and accessible solution to upskill learners with the appropriate person-centered care through the power of VR”.

The technology is remotely deployable, and does not require physical spaces to execute. Therefore, learners can train anytime, anywhere.