The boffins at Fujitsu have have been scratching their heads trying to think of a better purpose for those front facing cameras on our smartphones, tablets and laptops. What they have come up with is a new imaging system which can calculate your pulse and help monitor health.

The system measures the amount of green light, which is absorbed by haemoglobin, reflected from your face to work out your blood-flow and calculate your pulse. The software can work using existing hardware and only requires users to hold still for 5 seconds to make it’s calculations.

Fujitsu aims to have the system adopted by device makers and also hopes it can be implemented to TV’s, mirrors and other household devices. What do you think of the idea, intrigued or not?

[ Source ]

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The virus has not yet been named, but it has been identified as a coronavirus, which is the same class of virus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Like SARS, the new virus causes a severe case of pneumonia. While the virus is related to the coronaviruses found in bats, scientists don’t believe the virus is making the jump from bats to people directly. Also, unlike SARS, they don’t believe that it can be transmitted from person-to-person through the air, instead needing more direct contact.

Studies are currently being conducted involving mice, ferrets and rhesus macaques, all of which are commonly used as stand-ins for people when it comes to infectious disease studies. The results have been limited at best, as while the virus infected the monkeys’ lungs, it didn’t appear to damage other body tissues.

I’ll be the first to say that I am adamantly against fearmongering. Yes, it is sad that seven people have died from this unknown virus, but that’s still a relatively small number and we shouldn’t be so quick as to call this the next SARS-like epidemic. At the same time, catching it early and better understanding the virus is clearly in our best interest. Further study is naturally warranted.

[Source]

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In the hospital setting, medical professionals use something called “therapeutic hypothermia” with such patients, working to reduce their body temperature with chilled water blankets or cold drip catheters. Outside the hospital, though, what can you do to keep the patient as cool as possible in the instance of a cardiac arrest?

Developed by Hohenstein Institute in Germany, the prototype has water-filled cooling pads. These pads are then connected by a hose to a vacuum-pressurized metal container with zeolites, special silicate minerals that can rapidly extract heat from water. When activated, the water circulates through the zeolite chamber and gets to a near-freezing temperature very quickly. The vest is put on the patient and, hopefully, you’re able to get the core temperature down to 32-34C (89.3-93.2F).

The research team sees these vests being deployed in public buildings where anyone can access them in the case of an emergency. They’re currently looking for an industrial partner to further develop and hopefully launch the product.

[Source]

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NASA is mostly interested in exploring things beyond this planet, but many of its innovations have found their way into our everyday lives. The latest development is a special chip that houses 32 nanosensor bars, reacting to a myriad of stimuli from the environment. It could diagnose cancer and measure blood sugar levels in diabetics with nothing more than a breath.

The implementation being demonstrated by Jing Li of NASA Ames has it as a cell phone case, looking very much like it would latch onto an iPhone. It could just as easily be adapted for other devices, of course. In a nutshell, there are 32 nanosensor bars on a chip about the size of a postage stamp. Each of these bars is composed of different nanostructure material, reacting to different chemicals in different ways and providing real-time monitoring.

Going back to the previous examples, there is a correlation between lung cancer and nitrous oxide. If the nanosensor bars detect elevated levels of nitrous oxide in a person’s breath, they could detect the cancer way ahead of time. Similarly, the level of acetone in a diabetic’s breath is correlated with their blood sugar level. No more need for those nasty finger pricks?

Naturally, NASA is exploring all sorts of other options too, including military applications. It was used on the International Space Station to monitor air quality and check for formaldehyde. The DoD is funding an application where soldiers could be outfitted with real-time detection of chemical threats. From a big brother perspective, the Department of Homeland Security could take a “big picture” look from the cell phones of citizens to assess the chemical threats in an area following some sort of disastrous event. The possibilities are endless.

And it looks close to production ready too. Who said science couldn’t be fun?

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In the latest survey conducted in Taiwan, results show that approximately two-thirds of the nation’s sixth graders and more than a fifth of the first graders are myopic. In the study commissioned by the National Taiwan University Hospital and Department of Health Bureau of Health Promotion, around 65 percent of Taiwan’s grade six students have myopia, with 3.4 percent of serious cases. 21.5% of first grade students, on the other hand, are near-sighted. Parents of the children are beginning to get worried because of this increasing myopia cases.

The culprit is the prolonged gazing at things like the smartphone or tablet displays up close. This strains and damages the eyes, according to Fu Chou-ching, an ophthalmologist and ORBIS Taiwan volunteer.

Fu explained that even young children aged two to three have been learning how to use cell phones and computers, and this situation increases the chances of impairing the child’s vision at an earlier stage.

He also stated that the early onset of the eyesight impair could lead to serious nearsightedness once the child reached the adolescence stage. This, in turn, can cause macular hemorrhage and retinopathy when the child becomes an adult.

Fu recommends early treatment for children’s weak eyesight in order to prevent the worse condition.

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Some gadgets just make you wonder why the company even bothered in the first place and I think I’d have to place the Jawbone Up — no relation to the old guy with the balloons — in that category. It’s sort of like those rubber wristbands that all the cool kids wear, but it serves more of a healthy purpose.

You see, the Up is designed to track what your body is doing through the day. You’re supposed to wear it while you work, while you eat, while you sleep, and while you work out. Just keep it on you all day and the embedded accelerometer tracks your movements and sleeping habits. I’m not sure how it really does the latter, but there you go.

There is an accompanying app, which will likely show up on iOS and Android at the very least. That way you can chart your habits and see whether you’re getting enough exercise or sleep, and adjust your life accordingly. Whether or not this works depends on how well the software works, as well as how hard you work to correct the shortcomings in your lifestyle. Oddly, the Up doesn’t use Bluetooth, unlike the countlessly wonderful Jawbone headsets out there. Instead, it plugs into the headphone jack on your phone.

I guess I should applaud Jawbone for broadening its horizons, but this probably wasn’t the best way to do it.

The post Jawbone Up Bracelet Tracks Sleep and Exercise, Doesn’t Do Much Else appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Science is amazing, it’s always interesting to see the latest advances in the medical field that can benefit our way of life. One such innovation is a special all-in-one catheter used to treat arrhythmia.

Normally, a procedure to treat an irregular heartbeat involves two catheters. One is insert to map the heart tissue, determining the cells that are causing the arrythmia. A second, thinner tube is then inserted and directed toward the aberrant cells, killing them through ablation.

The new single catheter, though, does both jobs. It makes use of stretchable electronics and it fills up, not unlike a balloon, until it reaches the inner walls of the blood vessels. When it makes contact, its sensors read a series of data to determine the irregularly-beating cells. The electrodes next to those sites then blast the cells and ablate them.

“It’s all in one, so it maps and zaps,” said project leader John A. Rogers. The fewer steps involved, the better. They’ve still got some challenges ahead, but the “stretchable” combo-catheter was demonstrated successfully on live animal models.

[GizMag via Nature]

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Steve Jobs blasted out an e-mail message to all Apple employees (plus the usual press release channels) saying that he is taking “a medical leave of absence so I can focus on my health.” This leave has been granted by the Apple board of directors.

Does this mean that he won’t be a part of the iPhone 5 announcement? Does this mean that he won’t be around for the unveiling of the iPad 2? No, not necessarily. He says that he will “continue as CEO and be involved in major strategic decisions for company.” He’ll just do it from home.

In terms of the day-to-day stuff in Cupertino, the turtleneck-wearing fearless leader is passing the reigns over to Tim Cook. He’s confident that Cook and the his team will “do a terrific job executing the exciting plans we have in place for 2011.”

You know, like the second Death Star. I mean, iPad 2. Here’s to a speedy recovery, Steve.

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iHealth is bringing iOS devices to the healthcare industry with its new blood pressure monitoring system.

The system works by docking your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch on iHealth’s portable dock, which is attached to a monitoring cuff. Using the accompanying app, you can organize your current and past test results into charts or graphs and share that information with others – including your doctor.

A recent iHealth press release explains that monitoring your own blood pressure at home can be more accurate and reliable than doing so during doctor visits due to “white coat syndrome.” Basically, up to 20 per cent of patients get nervous during check-ups, causing blood pressure to spike.

Yi Liu, CEO of iHealth Lab Inc., wrote in the release that “by identifying how your daily life affects your vitals like blood pressure and heart rate, we believe our product can enable more people to be more proactive about their personal healthcare.

What’s more, a recent report from Kaiser Permanente found that patients using home monitoring were 50 per cent more likely to have their blood pressure under control.

“Doing home monitoring of blood pressure is something I encourage with all my patients, whether they have a history of hypertension or not,” writes Dr. Andrew Brandeis, a practicing physician at Care Practice in San Francisco. “Regularly monitoring blood pressure in a relaxed, consistent setting, gives users the most reliable information on the status of their health, and encourages them to make lifestyle changes in real time.”

While the app is a free download from the App Store, the cuff and dock cost $99.95 at Apple retail stores, as well as online at Apple.com and iHealth99.com.

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Simulated radiation concept - Photo: CNet

As controversial as it may be, Cellphone radiation and its effects on the human body, more specifically the brain, have been disputed over the decades.  No consensus has been made, and simply because there’s too many players and a lot of damn money on the line.  But by being your own judge, going by what you “feel” is right, like if you get a headache, or nervous sensations, or even rashes when using radio frequency devices, than you probably shouldn’t be using them.  On the other hand, it may do nothing to you at all other than make your life easier.  Regardless of your experiences with the use of such devices, here is a list of 20 phones currently available on the market, which CNET editors have scoured through pages of FCC filings to combine for the public.  Maybe one day when you unwrap your newest smartphone a sticker will be on the screen saying “SAR VALUE OF 1.5”  to let customers know that particular devices “specific absorption rate” level, until then, it’s gotta be done the dirty way.

SAR levels vary between devices and frequency bands, regulations are set by the jurisdiction and cellphones must remain within their acceptable levels in order to be sold in that market.  In the USA and Canada the SAR maximum is 1.6 watts per kilogram, in Europe it’s 2.0 watts per kilogram.  This measurement is conducted when the highest SAR level is recorded next to the ear.  We’ve combined the data in a chart showing you the top 20 cellphones with the highest SAR level and another with the 20 lowest SAR levels. The interesting part is that Motorola is still on the top of the list, even four years later.

Top 20 Cellphones (Highest SAR = BAD) - Chart: Mobile Magazine

Top 20 Cellphones (Lowest SAR = GOOD) - Chart: Mobile Magazine

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