healthcare technology

Silicone wristbands are just as good as traditional testing methods at detecting chemicals in the air that can be harmful during pregnancy.

Inexpensive, convenient silicone wristbands can measure exposure to a class of chemicals that can be harmful during pregnancy, researchers report.

The researchers found that the wristbands, when used as passive samplers, have the ability to bind smaller molecular weight semi-volatile polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in a similar pattern as active sampling. PAHs are a class of chemicals that occur naturally in coal, crude oil, and gasoline and are produced when coal, oil, gas, wood, garbage, and tobacco are burned.

The use of wristbands is appealing because it is inexpensive and easy to wear,”

access the study at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41370-021-00348-y

read the original unedited article at https://www.futurity.org/silicone-wristbands-polycyclic-aromatic-hydrocarbons-chemicals-pregnancy-2602202/

This week, the academic community provided a rather impressive example of the promise of neural implants. Using an implant, a paralyzed individual managed to type out roughly 90 characters per minute simply by imagining that he was writing those characters out by hand

Dreaming is doing

Previous attempts at providing typing capabilities to paralyzed people via implants have involved giving subjects a virtual keyboard and letting them maneuver a cursor with their mind. The process is effective but slow, and it requires the user's full attention, as the subject has to track the progress of the cursor and determine when to perform the equivalent of a key press. It also requires the user to spend the time to learn how to control the system.

But there are other possible routes to getting characters out of the brain and onto the page. Somewhere in our writing thought process, we form the intention of using a specific character, and using an implant to track this intention could potentially work. Unfortunately, the process is not especially well understood.

Downstream of that intention, a decision is transmitted to the motor cortex, where it's translated into actions. Again, there's an intent stage, where the motor cortex determines it will form the letter (by typing or writing, for example), which is then translated into the specific muscle motions required to perform the action. These processes are much better understood, and they're what the research team targeted for their new work.

Disclaimer: Not even a prototype

As the researchers themselves put it, this "is not yet a complete, clinically viable system." To begin with, it has only been used in a single individual, so we have no idea how well it might work for others. The simplified alphabet used here doesn't contain any digits, capital letters, or most forms of punctuation. And the behavior of the implants changes over time, perhaps because of minor shifts relative to the neurons they read or the build-up of scar tissue, so the system had to be recalibrated regularly—at least once per week to maintain a tolerable error rate

read the research at http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03506-2

related code : https://github.com/fwillett/handwritingBCI

read the article in its complete and unedited form at https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/05/neural-implant-lets-paralyzed-person-type-by-imagining-writing/

Identifying new COVID-19 cases is challenging. Not every suspected case undergoes testing, because testing kits and other equipment are limited in many parts of the world. Yet populations increasingly use the internet to manage both home and work life during the pandemic, giving researchers mediated connections to millions of people sheltering in place.

Objective: The goal of this study was to assess the feasibility of using an online news platform to recruit volunteers willing to report COVID-19–like symptoms and behaviors.

Methods: An online epidemiologic survey captured COVID-19–related symptoms and behaviors from individuals recruited through banner ads offered through Microsoft News. Respondents indicated whether they were experiencing symptoms, whether they received COVID-19 testing, and whether they traveled outside of their local area.

Results: A total of 87,322 respondents completed the survey across a 3-week span at the end of April 2020, with 54.3% of the responses from the United States and 32.0% from Japan. Of the total respondents, 19,631 (22.3%) reported at least one symptom associated with COVID-19. Nearly two-fifths of these respondents (39.1%) reported more than one COVID-19–like symptom. Individuals who reported being tested for COVID-19 were significantly more likely to report symptoms (47.7% vs 21.5%; P<.001). Symptom reporting rates positively correlated with per capita COVID-19 testing rates (R2=0.26; P<.001). Respondents were geographically diverse, with all states and most ZIP Codes represented. More than half of the respondents from both countries were older than 50 years of age.

Conclusions: News platforms can be used to quickly recruit study participants, enabling collection of infectious disease symptoms at scale and with populations that are older than those found through social media platforms. Such platforms could enable epidemiologists and researchers to quickly assess trends in emerging infections potentially before at-risk populations present to clinics and hospitals for testing and/or treatment.

source: Credit to Regenstrief Institute

read the entire study here : https://www.jmir.org/2021/5/e24742

Studies show that Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) delivered digitally through mobile phone apps is effective in treating insomnia.

Like a real therapist, the apps that use Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) also provide practical tools to help the user worry less about their sleep and over time, be less anxious and more confident about their ability get a good night's rest. It's very similar to what physicians do face-to-face with patients,

And a recent study of Sleepio by Ong and the team that developed the product found that participants who used the product reported an improvement in insomnia symptoms and overall wellbeing.

However, these apps don't work for everyone.

The recent study hints at why. Less than 50 percent [of people who were assigned to use the app in a randomized controlled trial] are able to make it through the entire course of CBT delivered through digital platforms, For some people it may be hard to make it through all the sessions of CBT.

This is true of most health and wellness apps.

In other studies it has been found that of the 10,000 mental health apps out there, very few are actually being used.

We dont really understand how people are using technology towards their health and recovery,

But in some ways, he says, people with insomnia may be ahead of scientists in figuring out what works well for them.

read the original unedited piece at https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/10/08/654883409/some-apps-may-help-curb-insomnia-others-just-put-you-to-sleep

Information technology has allowed much of our economy to automate processes. We have seen transformations of the airline, banking, brokerage, entertainment, lodging, music, printing, publishing, shipping and taxi industries through the availability of massive volumes of real-time price and service data. Across America, consumer-facing retail service continues to shift to a virtual environment.

Healthcare is the exception. Many health information technology (health IT) products initially focused on billing.

The misalignment between billing support and the sense that these tools do not materially automate clinician work to build in efficiencies or improve workflows adds to an overall frustration with the increasing amount of time providers spend at their screens.

Automation is hard because it tends to require interfaces of various types – both to other machines (Internet of Things) and to humans.

Often automation proposals involve solutions that focus on highly structured data. But, someone or something has to put energy (physician salary, for example) into organizing much of this information, assuming it is even knowable.

The underlying disease or patient behavior (e.g., smoking) is also often not knowable. And, automation relying on machine to machine interfaces regularly runs into a lack of application programming interfaces (APIs) supporting complex clinical data flows.

I posted this week old piece now and now when it was published as #NHITWeek is this week. A lot of posts this week deal with possibilities and problems with healthcare focussed automation. 

The original unedited piece can be read at https://www.himss.org/news/healthcare-automation-transforming-medicine

Digital health is rapidly changing our lives. Almost every day, new developments using data, artificial intelligence and smartphones to improve health, on individual and population levels, are entering the market. In 2015, there were more than 40,000 healthcare apps on Apple's U.S. App Store alone. And the number has kept growing.

But in the process of delivering the next revolutionary technology, health-tech innovators have often neglected to include usability in their apps so that they may also benefit people with disabilities, research suggests 


“People with disabilities have a particularly hard time, as they are often overlooked in the design of new technology, both regarding tools and content,” noted a report titled, “Health Inequalities in eHealth Context,” by the European Commission.

“Due to their impairment, the notion of them being proficient (information and communications technology) users is often sidelined.”

So, what does this issue look like in the real world?

In August, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the marketing of the first mobile health (mHealth) app for contraception: Natural Cycles. The app allows women to avoid pregnancy by monitoring their resting body temperature — known as the basal body temperature — and recording their data so that an algorithm can determine their daily fertility.

With “perfect use,” the app’s creators say the failure rate is 1.8 percent, which means that 1.8 in 100 women annually will become pregnant despite using the technology.

But although the app meets the FDA’s guidelines governing mHealth apps, Natural Cycles poses problems for some nontraditional eHealth users, including women who have disabilities or irregular periods.

read the whole story at https://www.hcanews.com/news/natural-cycles-is-the-first-fdaapproved-contraception-app-but-its-not-for-all-women

People don’t crave the latest fitness wearable. Their overwhelming preference is for simple applications that provide and organize information

Startups in the insurance industry are investing feverishly to roll out products and services that will appeal to consumers. Taking a cue from the technology and communications industries, many are pursuing disruptive technologies that promise to revolutionize the healthcare experience — whether digestive sensors or systems that allow doctors to examine and treat patients via video.

But here’s the thing: Consumers aren’t ready for a revolution. They have far simpler demands and desires, such as an easier way to schedule doctor visits or the ability to get follow-up notifications on a mobile phone.

As a result, insurers that want to make the most of their investments in new technologies should focus their resources on developing simple digital products and services that align with their identities, strategic goals, and existing capabilities.

The idea that customers prefer simplicity may not come as a shock to those outside the healthcare industry. But it’s likely a revelation to those in the business, especially the insurers who have been investing heavily in telemedicine and other advanced features.

The survey revealed further insights into consumers’ preference for simplicity and a streamlined experience.

Some 97 percent of respondents said they would be willing to share personal health data and nonsensitive information if it would enhance their care, and only 3 percent ranked data privacy as the most important feature of a health plan.

About half of consumers want to involve both providers and insurers in their healthcare, and consumers are becoming increasingly comfortable with receiving wellness advice from health plans. That makes sense given the growth of so-called consumer-directed health plans, which put more responsibility for healthcare decisions and costs on consumers.

more at http://www.strategy-business.com/article/What-Consumers-Most-Want-from-Health-Insurers-Technology

A new diagnostic technique that has the potential to identify opioid-addicted patients at risk for relapse could lead to better treatment and outcomes.

Using an algorithm that looks for patterns in brain structure and functional connectivity, researchers were able to distinguish prescription opioid users from healthy participants. If treatment is successful, their brains will resemble the brain of someone not addicted to opioids.

“People can say one thing, but brain patterns do not lie,” says lead researcher Suchismita Ray, an associate professor in the health informatics department at Rutgers School of Health Professions.

“The brain patterns that the algorithm identified from brain volume and functional connectivity biomarkers from prescription opioid users hold great promise to improve over current diagnosis.”

In the study in NeuroImage: Clinical, Ray and her colleagues used MRIs to look at the brain structure and function in people diagnosed with prescription opioid use disorder who were seeking treatment compared to individuals with no history of using opioids.

The scans looked at the brain network believed to be responsible for drug cravings and compulsive drug use. At the completion of treatment, if this brain network remains unchanged, the patient needs more treatment.

read the study at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2021.102663

read the article at https://www.futurity.org/opioid-addiction-relapse-algorithm-2586182-2/

Researchers have figured out a way to use images from a smartphone to identify potentially harmful bacteria on the skin and in the mouth.

A new method that uses smartphone-derived images can identify potentially harmful bacteria on the skin and in the mouth, research shows.

The approach can visually identify microbes on skin contributing to acne and slow wound healing, as well as bacteria in the oral cavity that can cause gingivitis and dental plaques.

Researchers combined a smartphone-case modification with image-processing methods to illuminate bacteria on images taken by a conventional smartphone camera. This approach yielded a relatively low-cost and quick method that could be used at home.

The team augmented a smartphone camera’s capabilities by attaching a small 3D-printed ring containing 10 LED black lights around a smartphone case’s camera opening. The researchers used the LED-augmented smartphone to take images of the oral cavity and skin on the face of two research subjects.

The LED lights ‘excite’ a class of bacteria-derived molecules called porphyrins, causing them to emit a red fluorescent signal that the smartphone camera can then pick up

Other components in the image—such as proteins or oily molecules our bodies produce, as well as skin, teeth, and gums—won’t glow red under LED. They’ll fluoresce in other colors.

The LED illumination gave the team enough visual information to computationally “convert” the RGB colors from the smartphone-derived images into other wavelengths in the visual spectrum. This generates a “pseudo-multispectral” image consisting of 15 different sections of the visual spectrum—rather than the three in the original RGB image.

Obtaining this visual information up front would have required expensive and cumbersome lights, rather than using the relatively inexpensive LED black lights

With their greater degree of visual discrimination, the pseudo-multispectral images clearly resolved porphyrin clusters on the skin and within the oral cavity. In addition, though they tailored this method to show porphyrin, researchers could modify the image-analysis pipeline to detect other bacterial signatures that also fluoresce under LED.

read the study at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.optlaseng.2021.106546

read the original unedited article at https://www.futurity.org/smartphone-images-skin-mouth-bacteria-2581642/

• The world's largest technology companies have all hired well-known cardiologists.
• Heart disease and high blood pressure affect a large number of people, are well-understood, and there's evidence that consumer products can help.

Big Silicon Valley companies have often competed for talent with specialized skills, like expertise in artificial intelligence or trendy new programming languages.

Now they're competing for heart doctors.

Apple, Alphabet, and Amazon have all hired well-known cardiologists.

This might just be a coincidence. Cardiologists tend to be well educated and hard working, and big tech companies have a track record of recruiting such people.