Wearable Medical Technology Market Poised to Expand at a Robust Pace by 2025 by Nitin

The trend that is emerging in the Wearable Medical Technology Market is miniaturization. Miniaturization of wearable medical technology is expected to boost the prospects of growth of the wearable medical technology market over the forecast timeframe. There has been a growing emphasis on the invention and development of energy-efficient, more credible and smaller devices as opposed to the earlier generations of medical wearable devices. For example, a sensor that resembles the size of a grain of salt is now embedded onto the latest ingestible tablets.

In a bid to monitor medicine intake and physiological conditions, this sensor comes with a wearable transmitter. This has been developed recently. Furthermore, this emerging trend of miniaturization of wearable health gadgets is expected to generate a positive and effective impact on the Internet of Things (IoT) market which is fast developing. The development in the Internet of Things (IoT) technology is estimated to equip future systems of healthcare to make use of medical wearable technology to provide various connections and develop many standard solutions that would facilitate in the treatment of diverse health conditions.

The wearable medical technology market is expected to be driven by the rising geriatric population which contributes largely towards the growth of this market. Apart from that, the market growth of wearable medical technology is primarily fuelled by advancements in the medical devices technology and growing awareness about physical fitness. Furthermore, introduction of an increasing number of healthcare apps that are Smartphone-based are also expected to stimulate the wearable medical technology market. These apps are also compatible with the medical wearable technology. These days, healthcare providers are also increasingly opting for wireless connectivity which in turn is expected to fuel market growth.

Over the past decade, the world has been witnessing a great deal of progress in the field of wearable medical technology that has led clinicians to work more efficiently by enabling them extending patient care even outside the hospital environment. The global wearable medical technology market encompasses continuous glucose monitoring devices, wearable drug delivery devices, wearable patches, sleep monitors, smart watch and smart clothing. These technologies play a critical role in managing and monitoring a variety of chronic diseases ranging from diabetes to cardiovascular diseases. A continuous glucose monitoring device provides a greater view of glucose trends in the body by alerting wearers if their glucose levels are rising or falling too quickly.

The world is witnessing a rapid growth in global wearable medical technology market primarily because of technological innovation, increasing health consciousness and globally rising aging population. Rising aging population is expected to increase the demand for continuous glucose monitor and other wearable technologies that will help clinicians by enabling them up to date information about elderly people health conditions. Wearable medical technology products are expected to reduce the overall healthcare cost in future by providing effective disease monitoring and management. Geographically, North America dominates the global wearable medical technology market as majority of the market players are present here, thus many technological advancements are first introduced in this region. In emerging markets of Asia-Pacific and Latin America, the market is expected to grow due to increase in healthcare awareness, continuously improving economy leading to increased affordability and relatively less competition compared to developed regions

Some of the key players in this market are Medtronic, Inc., Abbott, AiQ Smart Clothing Inc., Zoll Medical corp., Polar Electro Inc., Philips Healthcare, Diacel Corp., BASF SE, Cambrex Corp. and Solvias AG.

Source: https://opinioninvestor.com/wearable-medical-technology-market-poised-to-expand-at-a-robust-pace-by-2025/339952/

Is Technology the Future of Healthcare Sector? by Dr. Prathima Reddy

In prehistoric and ancient times magic and religion played a large role in the origin and the cure of disease. Diseases were thought to be of supernatural origins such as a spell cast by an enemy, possession by a demon or a god who had been offended. The methods to treat such diseases varied. They included potions, counterspells, incantations, suction and trephining. So “doctors” then were either witch doctors or sorcerers.

Medicine and healthcare have come a long way since the ancient times. Some of the greatest discoveries in medicine have happened in the last one hundred years. The practice of medicine has become evidence-based as opposed to individual based. There are guidelines and protocols for almost every disease and problem in medicine. Medical or health technology has progressed rapidly thus enabling doctors to widen the boundaries of the scope and practice of medicine.

So what is Health Technology?

WHO defines health technology as the application of organised knowledge and skills in the form of devices, medicines, vaccines, procedures and systems developed to solve a health problem and improve quality of lives. It also recognises that “health technologies equips health-care providers with tools that are indispensable for effective and efficient prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation and attainment of internationally agreed health-related development goals, including those contained in the Millennium Declaration”.

So what are the examples of Health Technology as applied to day to day medicine?

This could for example range from something as simple as a medical examination to preventive immunisation, contraceptives, imaging procedures such as ultrasonography, MRI, angiogram, angioplasty and laparoscopic surgery, to more complex procedures such as joint replacement, organ transplantation, life-sustaining technologies for critically or terminally ill patients and more recently, genetic testing, genetic therapy, and stem cell research.

The other devices that have changed the way medicine is practised include electronic health records as opposed to paper records, use of smartphones, tablets and applications, telemonitoring and video conferencing, GPS trackers for disabled and sufferers of Alzheimer's.

India is a country of diversities - diverse geographies and terrains and populations, stark socio-economic divides and crippling inequality in access to health care.

Under these circumstances what are the health technologies that could be useful for the vast majority of Indians that cannot afford healthcare nor access them?

Telemedicine is one such modality that can connect patients, clinics and hospitals in remote areas (who may not have access to specialist care) to centres of excellence. For example, X-rays, ECGs, ultrasound images, pathology slides etc can be transmitted to these centres, which can then give an opinion. Video conferencing is another important way in which patients and doctors can engage live with a specialist centre to seek live diagnoses and advice. There are examples of doctors in remote areas being guided successfully through surgeries since the time taken to transfer the patient to a specialist centre would have further worsened the condition of the patient.

On another dimension, telecommunication has helped set up digital libraries that provide easy online access to medical journals and books thus putting medical knowledge just a “click” away. This is in direct contrast to a non-digital era when print was the only method of accessing data and knowledge.

The advantage of telemedicine, especially for a country like India where health care in some areas is either non-existent or accessed with difficulty, is enormous. It has the potential to improve health outcomes by an early diagnosis, allow access to specialist care, reduce the manpower needed to run healthcare (it well known that the doctor-patient ratio in India is less than 1 per thousand population) and reduce the cost of hospital stays by monitoring patients at home. The disadvantages include cost and availability. Smaller hospitals and clinics may not be able to afford this facility. It takes away the personal touch from the consultation which a lot of patients find vital to their healing process. Telemedicine cannot diagnose all conditions via video conferencing and may require a face to face consultation.

These are exciting times in the field of medicine with an abundance of technology and innovative procedures available to doctors and hospitals. And because of the several choices available in the market, an easy mistake to make is to invest in costly technology without adequate forethought on its usefulness in the long term. In order to prevent this the WHO mandates that there should be rigorous policies in place. This is known as health technology assessment (HTA).

Health technology has in many ways revolutionised the way in which medicine is practised. It has made accessible what was once inaccessible to large sections of the world. However like all other fields in technology also, the pros and cons should be carefully considered before embracing it wholeheartedly. It should also be remembered that the art of medicine lies in treating the patient as a whole. Ancient physicians exemplified this by treating both the body and the soul. And despite all the advances in medicine, it must never be forgotten that medicine is both a science and an art. A science which brings the very latest to mankind and an art that still considers the patient as a body and a soul.

Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/311798

NDR Medical Technology offers smart robotic guiding system for surgeons, raises funding from SGInnovate by Anisa Menur A. Maulani

Singapore-based medtech startup NDR Medical Technology has raised an undisclosed seed funding round from SGInnovate, making it the first early stage medtech startup to receive a direct investment from the institution.

Combining artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and computer vision for surgical procedures, NDR has developed a proprietary smart robotic guiding system for surgeries known as Automated Needle Targeting (ANT).

The system helps surgeons visualise the 3D location of the target lesion in the patient’s body by using AI and image processing. Combined with the surgeons’ skills and dexterity, the technology helps them achieve greater accuracy for needle alignment and positioning to target lesions.

It claimed to have an accuracy of up to ±1mm, with an AI-based algorithms that enable the system to use training data to continually improve accuracy. It will also complement existing imaging modalities such as C-Arm fluoroscopy, CT scan, and ultrasound.

The system has the potential to drastically reduce surgery risks and shortens learning curves for surgeons to perform advanced minimally invasive surgeries, compared to invasive surgeries using conventional procedural methods.

Also Read: One year on, SGInnovate reveals roadmap for 2018

Patients can also experience faster recovery times and lower risks of side effects.

“Doctors have told us this system can raise the efficacy of surgical procedures to improve the clinical outcomes and lives of patients,” said SGInnovate Founding CEO Steve Leonard in a press statement.

“In addition, the underlying technology NDR has built can be applied in other industries,” he added.

NDR is currently undergoing preparatory work for pilot clinical trial, with commercial application expected to launch in the first quarter of 2020.

The startup is also working on the deployment of ANT for CT scans and ultrasound imaging. It plans to expand the use of ANT into other medical applications such as orthopaedics and anaesthesia “in the near future.”

Source: https://e27.co/ndr-medical-technology-raises-funding-from-sginnovate-20180410/

Lawsuit: Apple under fire over its smartwatch's heart sensor — 6 things to know by Julie Spitzer

In a lawsuit filed April 6, health technology startup Omni MedSci alleges Apple infringed on four of its patents to develop the Apple Watch's heart rate sensor, appleinsider reports.

Here are six things to know.

1. The lawsuit was brought by Omni founder Mohammed N. Islam, ScD, and was filed in the Eastern Texas District Court, a jurisdiction known for siding with patent holders, according to appleinsider.

2. The patents in question use an LED light source on a wearable device to take blood measurements. Omni was granted two of the patents in 2017, and the other two in 2018.

3. The lawsuit claims Dr. Islam met with Michael O'Reilly, MD, a medical technology expert on Apple's Health Special Projects team, and two other team members to discuss those patents — which were still considered applications at the time — in June 2014. The Apple Watch was introduced about three months later. However, the lawsuit also notes that Dr. Islam modified the original patents to include more extensive use of "wearable devices" and "LED light sources" about two weeks after the initial meeting with Apple.

4. Dr. Islam claims he met with that team at Apple several other times between 2014 and 2016, but after showing the patents to Apple, the company stopped communications, and any potential partnership talks between the two froze.

5. Dr. Islam alleges Apple took his startup's patent ideas and received approval for two of its own patents that infringed on Omni's, one of which considered the use of light sources to monitor blood glucose levels.

6. Dr. Islam, who is seeking damages and an injunction against the sales of the Apple Watch, previously sued Huawei, Nokia and Verizon for patent infringement.

Source: https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/healthcare-information-technology/lawsuit-apple-under-fire-over-its-smartwatch-s-heart-sensor-6-things-to-know.html

Cryptocurrency tech could disrupt medicine, housing, ID security by Cronkite News

The technology behind bitcoin and other cryptocurrency could change lifestyles and livelihoods, leading to cheaper, more efficient ways to ship packages, buy homes, access medical records and even build a secure vault of personal information.

The little-understood and often misunderstood system of virtual money, known as cryptocurrency, is based on something called blockchain, a vast network of databases that, eventually, anyone can learn to build.

Understanding how blockchain works is difficult: Compare it with explaining in numbing detail how an automobile engine starts. We’ll get to a simpler version, but, for now, consider blockchain in terms of lifestyle: Fueling an upending of the internet, where commerce and communication now powered by a few tech giants expands into the hands of the people.

It’s like the automobile – after it was invented, millions learned to drive.

“Blockchain is something you could use anywhere in a business,” cryptocurrency expert Alexander Chopan said.

Exploring a future without bankers, lawyers or real-estate agents

Blockchain’s potential impact on the internet fascinates Arizona State University’s Dragan Boscovic, who predicts blockchain will wind its way into industries, government and technology.

A blockchain key or login – a unique piece of unalterable code that an individual controls – could become an identity verification tool, the mechanism for someone to access their own Facebook account, Social Security number, voter registration card, birth certificate, bank account, car title, copyright to an intellectual property or any other data – inaccessible by others on a decentralized blockchain.

Researchers and other experts also say blockchain could change businesses and consumers in other ways:

● Cryptocurrency gets around banks and other financial institutions by sending nearly untraceable and hack-proof transactions.

● Smart contracts could change the legal industry, removing the need for a third party and witness because a blockchain network can record and validate signatures.

● Online retail involves shipping products through a complex series of approvals to get a product from business to buyer. Blockchain could cut down those steps.

● Keeping health records private involves various regulations and protocols, which blockchain can speed up and keep more securely. It can also trace prescription drugs reliably and connect patients with health care providers whom they pay based on performance.

● Real-estate agents use complicated networks of listings to find a home for their clients. A consolidated, verifiable listing service on a blockchain network could speed up that process, or perhaps eliminate the need for an agent.

● Intellectual property, involving the rights to such creative content as videos, music and articles, can be stored on the blockchain, verifying ownership.

Exploring blockchain 2.0

Boscovic, technical director at ASU’s Center for Assured and Scalable Data Engineering, known as Cascade, and other researchers are using a $350,000 grant from the cryptocurrency company Dash to figure out how blockchain can become safer and use electricity and computing power more efficiently, because blockchain eats a lot of energy.
“Blockchain 2.0,” an upgraded version of the technology that can move faster and distribute computing power more efficiently, is a common goal for advocates of the system, Boscovic said.

His team, along with other experts and researchers, are confident such innovations will open blockchain to mainstream, everyday tech users, just as the internet evolved from a haven for coding experts into a key component of daily life.

“This is still the early days for blockchain,” Boscovic said.

It’s so new that understanding how blockchain works is difficult for many to conceive.

Chopan, head of strategy for Dash, said blockchain decentralizes data storage, dispersing it to multiple places.

Think of a blockchain as an online spreadsheet or ledger, like Google Docs, that instantly tallies and keeps track of every transmission of data on the network, such as payment transactions. The blockchain keeps your own encrypted history of every transaction, Boscovic said.

Chopan said anyone can set up a blockchain with the technology’s code and encryption. Users who create their own blockchain can transmit any kind of data on a network not controlled by a corporation or other entity. Only people the owner provides with identifier keys are allowed in.

Chopan said such features are why blockchain has become attractive for logistics and data transmission: It’s secure and can be distributed among many, meaning it doesn’t reside with any one organization, such as Facebook, Amazon or Wells Fargo.

Exploring ways to ensure safety, legality of blockchain

But concerns over blockchain’s purported security are on the rise, Chopan said. Blockchain algorithms are based on a consensus of 51 percent of computers in the system, which means data ownership and transmission still could be altered.

The majority of blockchain computing power is based in China, Russia and Eastern Europe, said Darryn Jones, vice president of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council. That introduces a fear of international espionage on a technology that runs on the approval of the majority.

Plus, the development of advanced computing algorithms could render encryption easy to break, Chopan said. He also said user error, such as storing information about the blockchain elsewhere or giving access to a bad actor, will always be a concern.

And cryptocurrency value is volatile, anonymous and untraceable, so it can be used to buy illegal drugs and weapons and facilitate child pornography.

Exploring blockchain now in medical, ridesharing industries

Some businesses have started forays into blockchain.

Illinois has initiated a blockchain pilot program that stores birth certificates.

And companies that trace prescription drugs or connect patients with health care providers are among those using blockchain to speed up the medical process.

Abee, a ride-share service similar to Uber and Lyft that’s based in Phoenix and San Francisco, operates with smart contracts through blockchain. The goal is for the company to take no more than 5 percent of drivers’ cuts, said Gilbert Brown, chief executive and founder. Blockchain’s autonomous, instant processing of payments reduces the company’s business costs.

“We don’t do anything with credit cards,” Brown said. “We want (payment) to be instant.”

Abee provides resources for riders to find out how they can obtain Dash, the service’s cryptocurrency payment option. Otherwise, they can pay with physical cash.

Abee also uses smart contracts for incentives, automatically distributing discount “tokens” or other promotions to riders and drivers who meet certain conditions, such as becoming a productive “super driver.”

Source: https://azbigmedia.com/cryptocurrency-tech-could-disrupt-medicine-housing-id-security/

Wearable Medical Technology Market : Global Industry Volume and Region Analysis 2017 – 2025 by Nitin

The trend that is emerging in the market for wearable medical technology is miniaturization. Miniaturization of wearable medical technology is expected to boost the prospects of growth of the market for wearable medical technology over the forecast timeframe. There has been a growing emphasis on the invention and development of energy-efficient, more credible and smaller devices as opposed to the earlier generations of medical wearable devices. For example, a sensor that resembles the size of a grain of salt is now embedded onto the latest ingestible tablets. In a bid to monitor medicine intake and physiological conditions, this sensor comes with a wearable transmitter. This has been developed recently. Furthermore, this emerging trend of miniaturization of wearable health gadgets is expected to generate a positive and effective impact on the Internet of Things (IoT) market which is fast developing. The development in the Internet of Things (IoT) technology is estimated to equip future systems of healthcare to make use of medical wearable technology to provide various connections and develop many standard solutions that would facilitate in the treatment of diverse health conditions.

The market is expected to be driven by the rising geriatric population which contributes largely towards the growth of this market. Apart from that, the market growth of wearable medical technology is primarily fuelled by advancements in the medical devices technology and growing awareness about physical fitness. Furthermore, introduction of an increasing number of healthcare apps that are Smartphone-based are also expected to stimulate the market. These apps are also compatible with the medical wearable technology. These days, healthcare providers are also increasingly opting for wireless connectivity which in turn is expected to fuel market growth.

Over the past decade, the world has been witnessing a great deal of progress in the field of wearable medical technology that has led clinicians to work more efficiently by enabling them extending patient care even outside the hospital environment. The global market for wearable medical technology encompasses continuous glucose monitoring devices, wearable drug delivery devices, wearable patches, sleep monitors, smart watch and smart clothing. These technologies play a critical role in managing and monitoring a variety of chronic diseases ranging from diabetes to cardiovascular diseases. A continuous glucose monitoring device provides a greater view of glucose trends in the body by alerting wearers if their glucose levels are rising or falling too quickly.

The world is witnessing a rapid growth in global wearable medical technology market primarily because of technological innovation, increasing health consciousness and globally rising aging population. Rising aging population is expected to increase the demand for continuous glucose monitor and other wearable technologies that will help clinicians by enabling them up to date information about elderly people health conditions. Wearable medical technology products are expected to reduce the overall healthcare cost in future by providing effective disease monitoring and management. Geographically, North America dominates the global wearable medical technology market as majority of the market players are present here, thus many technological advancements are first introduced in this region. In emerging markets of Asia-Pacific and Latin America, the market is expected to grow due to increase in healthcare awareness, continuously improving economy leading to increased affordability and relatively less competition compared to developed regions

Some of the key players in this market are Medtronic, Inc., Abbott, AiQ Smart Clothing Inc., Zoll Medical corp., Polar Electro Inc., Philips Healthcare, Diacel Corp., BASF SE, Cambrex Corp. and Solvias AG.

Source: https://theanalystfinancial.com/111268/wearable-medical-technology-market-global-industry-volume-and-region-analysis-2017-2025/

Scientists Debate the Value of Wearable Medical Technology by Maggie McCracken

Imagine a world where people with diabetes or dementia were alerted to health imbalances before getting sick. Some doctors believe this world is within reach — and making it possible is wearable medical technology. No, we’re not talking about pacemakers… We’re talking about, essentially, better and more complex variations of your FitBit.

With technology infiltrating our lives in more and more ways, scientists can see pros and cons to extended utilization of wearable medical technologies. Here’s what you need to know about how these technologies work, what some of their benefits may be, how widespread their use already is, and what problems could plague them moving forward.

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EXAMPLES OF WEARABLE MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY
Like I said, the most common example of wearable medical technology is probably the FitBit. The Apple Watch and other similar devices essentially do the same thing; they can track health signals (from activity levels to heart rate) and use that information to create data about your personal health. Some consumers simply enjoy using these devices to improve healthy lifestyle factors or to learn more about their own well-being, but there are bigger implications for health care as a whole.

Take, for example, Sleep Number’s “smart bed” technology. According to NPR, this kind of technology uses mattress sensitivity to monitor your sleep, basing its data off of factors like your heart rate and how frequently you toss and turn throughout the night. Some doctors believe that this kind of technology could help diagnose sleep disorders, such as sleep apnea.

PROS AND CONS
While we still have a long way to go before that’s possible, it’s not out of the realm of thinking that sometime in the near future, wearable medical technology could help diagnose disease and monitor the ongoing health patterns of at-risk populations.

However, with these strides in progress have come some concerns. Many scientists wonder at the reliability of technology for diagnosing disease. If these kinds of technologies were to be incorporated into medical care on a large scale, health professionals would have to be very certain of their efficacy.

Another major con is the potential for data abuse. Could having your vital signs, sleeping patterns, activity levels and diet recorded on technology eventually constitute risk factors that correlate with pre-existing conditions? Could this data make it more difficult for some consumers to get health coverage? The answer remains unclear, and is certainly new territory for medical ethicists.

Whether we like it or not, technology continues to disrupt our traditional means of doing things. But whether or not wearable medical technology will ultimately be a suitable means to diagnose and treat medical conditions remains to be seen.

Source: https://www.care2.com/greenliving/scientists-debate-the-value-of-wearable-medical-technology.html

Tech behind cryptocurrency craze could disrupt medicine, housing and ID security by Tristan Ettleman

The technology behind bitcoin and other cryptocurrency could change lifestyles and livelihoods, leading to cheaper, more efficient ways to ship packages, buy homes, access medical records and even build a secure vault of personal information.

The little-understood and often misunderstood system of virtual money, known as cryptocurrency, is based on something called blockchain, a vast network of databases that, eventually, anyone can learn to build.

Researchers are exploring how to make blockchain, the technology underpinnings for cryptocurrency, more secure and less energy hungry. (Photo by Jenna Miller/ Cronkite News)

Understanding how blockchain works is difficult: Compare it with explaining in numbing detail how an automobile engine starts. We’ll get to a simpler version, but, for now, consider blockchain in terms of lifestyle: Fueling an upending of the internet, where commerce and communication now powered by a few tech giants expands into the hands of the people.

It’s like the automobile – after it was invented, millions learned to drive.

“Blockchain is something you could use anywhere in a business,” cryptocurrency expert Alexander Chopan said.

Exploring a future without bankers, lawyers or real-estate agents

Blockchain’s potential impact on the internet fascinates Arizona State University’s Dragan Boscovic, who predicts blockchain will wind its way into industries, government and technology.

A blockchain key or login – a unique piece of unalterable code that an individual controls – could become an identity verification tool, the mechanism for someone to access their own Facebook account, Social Security number, voter registration card, birth certificate, bank account, car title, copyright to an intellectual property or any other data – inaccessible by others on a decentralized blockchain.

Researchers and other experts also say blockchain could change businesses and consumers in other ways:

● Cryptocurrency gets around banks and other financial institutions by sending nearly untraceable and hack-proof transactions.

● Smart contracts could change the legal industry, removing the need for a third party and witness because a blockchain network can record and validate signatures.

● Online retail involves shipping products through a complex series of approvals to get a product from business to buyer. Blockchain could cut down those steps.

● Keeping health records private involves various regulations and protocols, which blockchain can speed up and keep more securely. It can also trace prescription drugs reliably and connect patients with health care providers whom they pay based on performance.

● Real-estate agents use complicated networks of listings to find a home for their clients. A consolidated, verifiable listing service on a blockchain network could speed up that process, or perhaps eliminate the need for an agent.

● Intellectual property, involving the rights to such creative content as videos, music and articles, can be stored on the blockchain, verifying ownership.

Exploring blockchain 2.0

Boscovic, technical director at ASU’s Center for Assured and Scalable Data Engineering, known as Cascade, and other researchers are using a $350,000 grant from the cryptocurrency company Dash to figure out how blockchain can become safer and use electricity and computing power more efficiently, because blockchain eats a lot of energy.
“Blockchain 2.0,” an upgraded version of the technology that can move faster and distribute computing power more efficiently, is a common goal for advocates of the system, Boscovic said.

His team, along with other experts and researchers, are confident such innovations will open blockchain to mainstream, everyday tech users, just as the internet evolved from a haven for coding experts into a key component of daily life.

Dragan Boscovic, a research professor at Arizona State University, said Phoenix has emerged as a leader in blockchain research. (Photo by Jenna Miller/ Cronkite News)

“This is still the early days for blockchain,” Boscovic said.

It’s so new that understanding how blockchain works is difficult for many to conceive.

Chopan, head of strategy for Dash, said blockchain decentralizes data storage, dispersing it to multiple places.

Think of a blockchain as an online spreadsheet or ledger, like Google Docs, that instantly tallies and keeps track of every transmission of data on the network, such as payment transactions. The blockchain keeps your own encrypted history of every transaction, Boscovic said.

Chopan said anyone can set up a blockchain with the technology’s code and encryption. Users who create their own blockchain can transmit any kind of data on a network not controlled by a corporation or other entity. Only people the owner provides with identifier keys are allowed in.

Chopan said such features are why blockchain has become attractive for logistics and data transmission: It’s secure and can be distributed among many, meaning it doesn’t reside with any one organization, such as Facebook, Amazon or Wells Fargo.

Exploring ways to ensure safety, legality of blockchain

But concerns over blockchain’s purported security are on the rise, Chopan said. Blockchain algorithms are based on a consensus of 51 percent of computers in the system, which means data ownership and transmission still could be altered.

The majority of blockchain computing power is based in China, Russia and Eastern Europe, said Darryn Jones, vice president of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council. That introduces a fear of international espionage on a technology that runs on the approval of the majority.

Plus, the development of advanced computing algorithms could render encryption easy to break, Chopan said. He also said user error, such as storing information about the blockchain elsewhere or giving access to a bad actor, will always be a concern.

And cryptocurrency value is volatile, anonymous and untraceable, so it can be used to buy illegal drugs and weapons and facilitate child pornography.

Exploring blockchain now in medical, ridesharing industries

Some businesses have started forays into blockchain.

And companies that trace prescription drugs or connect patients with health care providers are among those using blockchain to speed up the medical process.

Abee, a ride-share service similar to Uber and Lyft that’s based in Phoenix and San Francisco, operates with smart contracts through blockchain. The goal is for the company to take no more than 5 percent of drivers’ cuts, said Gilbert Brown, chief executive and founder. Blockchain’s autonomous, instant processing of payments reduces the company’s business costs.

“We don’t do anything with credit cards,” Brown said. “We want (payment) to be instant.”

Abee provides resources for riders to find out how they can obtain Dash, the service’s cryptocurrency payment option. Otherwise, they can pay with physical cash.

Abee also uses smart contracts for incentives, automatically distributing discount “tokens” or other promotions to riders and drivers who meet certain conditions, such as becoming a productive “super driver.”

Source: https://cronkitenews.azpbs.org/2018/04/02/tech-behind-cryptocurrency-craze-may-disrupt-medicine-housing-and-id-security/

Creative Medical Technology Holdings, Inc. Fighting ED with Stem Cells by Michael Luke

Creative Medical Technology Holdings, Inc. (OTCMKTS:CELZ) is a commercial stage biotechnology company, and certainly represents the first time we’ve taken a look at a company on a mission to combat erectile dysfunction. It’s a rather serious problem of varying severity that affects tens of millions of men. CELZ does it with its flagship patented process, CaverStem™.

CaverStem™ involves extraction of a small amount of bone marrow from the patient, separating stem cells from the bone marrow using an FDA cleared device, followed by re-administration of the stem cells into the corpus cavernosa of the patient’s penis. Two clinical studies have been conducted utilizing patient’s own bone marrow stem cells administered into the penis, which demonstrated safety and signals of efficacy.

Creative Medical Technology Holdings, Inc. (OTCMKTS:CELZ) will actually be exhibiting its patented CaverStemTM stem cell procedure for erectile dysfunction at the annual American Urological Association (AUA) conference on May 18-21, 2018 in San Francisco.

According to the AUA “Last year’s meeting welcomed more than 16,000 attendees from more than 100 countries around the world, underscoring the meeting’s value to the global urologic community. This year’s meeting will feature more innovative programming and educational offerings than ever before, giving physicians unparalleled access to groundbreaking research, the latest clinical guidelines and the most advanced technologies in urology.” (aua.org)

“Our cutting edge technology in autologous stem cell treatment for erectile dysfunction is anticipated to be received by the urologic community with great enthusiasm as our CaverStem TM procedure represents an all-natural alternative for those patients resistant to the use of PDE5 inhibitors such as Viagra and Cialis,” said Thomas Ichim PhD, Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Creative Medical Technology Holdings, Inc.

According to multiple publications, approximately 30% of the 30,000,000 men suffering from erectile dysfunction are resistant to such PDE5 inhibitors.

“Since beginning commercialization of our patented and tested CaverStemTM procedure in November 2017, we have received positive responses from the urology community in the limited cities marketed. We anticipate the introduction of our technology to the attendees of the largest annual urology conference, to promote nationwide interest in CaverStemTM,” said Timothy Warbington, CEO of Creative Medical Technology Holdings, Inc. (Source: PR Newswire)

CELZ is also using stem cells to fight other disorders as well, having recently announced the formation of CerebroStem LLC, a majority owned subsidiary focused on developing stem cell therapies for brain injuries and neurodegenerative diseases. The Company’s initial focus will be treating radiation induced brain damage, a major cause of cognitive dysfunction in patients with brain cancer who have received radiation therapy.

“The AmnioStem™ amniotic stem cell product offers a potent platform for developing second generation stem cell therapies useful for neurodegenerative and other neurological diseases,” said Santosh Kesari, MD, Ph.D, FANA, FAAN, Chair and Professor, Department of Translational Neurosciences and Neurotherapeutics, John Wayne Cancer Institute, as well as Director of Neuro-Oncology, Providence Saint John’s Health Center, who leads the Pacific Neuroscience Research Center at Pacific Neuroscience Institute. “I am enthusiastic to combine new treatments and procedures developed by AmnioStem™ universal donor cell therapy, which I believe will allow for rapid clinical entry.”

Dr. Kesari will serve as the Chief Medical Advisor for CerebroStem LLC.  In addition to treating radiation induced brain damage, CerebroStem LLC plans to pursue other areas of brain degeneration including stroke, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson’s Disease.  (Source: PR Newswire)

Source: http://streetregister.com/2018/03/28/creative-medical-technology-holdings-inc-otcmktscelz-fighting-ed-with-stem-cells/

Peeling Back The Layers Of 'Girl With A Pearl Earring' With Medical Technology by David Alm

From now through March 11th, a team of 14 researchers, scholars and art conservationists will peel back every layer of one of the Northern Europe's most famous paintings, Johannes Vermeer's "Girl With a Pearl Earring," without so much as grazing the canvas with a Q-tip.

Staging the study, aptly named "Girl in the Spotlight," as a kind of performance piece at the museum where the painting is permanently housed, the Mauritshuis Royal Picture Gallery in the Hague, the team will work in full public view 24 hours a day, allowing visitors to see precisely how they can use new technologies to inspect materials dating back more than 350 years. 

"Girl With a Pearl Earring" was last restored in 1994, but scholars have continued to wonder about the precise pigments, oils, canvas and other materials Vermeer used to create it. Using technologies that didn't exist 24 years ago, the Mauritshuis team will not only be able to see how Vermeer built up his paint, but also, hopes the project's leader, Abbie Vandivere, identify the exact provenance of its components.

Mauritshuis director Emilie Gordenker writes in a blog post that "we don't know if he did much underpainting," and that he could have gotten his materials "from across the world or more locally." She hopes this project, which she likens to "serious medical research," will unlock some of those mysteries. 

Her analogy isn't overstatement: The study's team is borrowing heavily from medical science to complete their task, including such technologies and procedures as fiber optic reflectance spectroscopy, macro X-ray powder diffraction and optical coherence tomography. Not exactly things they teach in art history departments. 

While all this will answer many questions about Vermeer's most famous painting, the qualities that make it such a celebrated work of art will remain enigmas for the time being: the Girl's inscrutable expression and her real-life identity. According to an interview Gordenker gave to the New York Times, she wouldn't want it any other way. "One of the things that makes this painting so spectacularly appealing is that we don’t know," Gordenker told the Times.

Nor does Gordenker expect "Girl in the Spotlight" to match the biggest revelation of 1994's restoration. The team behind that project discovered that a second highlight on the girl's earring, no doubt the subject of countless undergraduate art history papers, was in fact just a fleck of paint that had chipped off, flipped over and been reattached to the titular earring. 

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidalm/2018/02/28/peeling-back-the-layers-of-girl-with-a-pearl-earring-with-medical-technology/#31a416d67fc4

The medical technology industry is set to be worth over $460bn by 2020 by MedTree

Forget the sensationalised ‘will robots takeover’ question, as technology is revolutionising the medical industry. Far from the world of I, Robot, technological advances and developments are helping to save lives. As the population increases, the number of health issues, subsequently rises.

More companies are turning to technology to increase the speed in assessing patients, providing more time to care for patients suffering terminal and chronic illnesses. In 2018, we are witnessing a sharp rise in medical technology - an industry estimated to be worth $467bn in 2020. The rise in AR and virtual reality apps have only served the change in the market, with many realising the revolutionary potential of technology. As our healthcare professionals become overburdened with complicated procedures and more patients, technology is beginning to save and improve lives.

Medtree, worldwide suppliers of medical equipment and first aid kits, are sharing their guide to the tech trends in healthcare.

Drones

Launched initially as a ‘game’, drones are being used to deliver medical supplies in countries with poor access to hospitals. Zipline are the pioneers of the world’s first national drone delivery network, aiding those with lack of roads and medicine. The network has already made over 1,000 drops of blood in life-or-death situations. The product was created for service in Rwanda, but they are now expanding to Tanzania, serving more than 1,000 clinics with the drones. Prior to this advancement, many health workers in poorer countries would have to dedicate a full day to moving and receiving medical supplies. However, one drone managed to complete a trip in just 10 minutes, which would have, originally, seen the nurse cycle in 10km of harsh and hostile conditions.

Augmented Reality (AR)

AR is expected to have 1bn users in 2020, and the market is rapidly growing. Medical surgery is just one of the sectors pushing for development with augmented reality, enabling healthcare professionals to gain a better understanding of the finer details of surgical procedures. Touch Surgery is just one of the companies tapping into the popularity, launching Go Surgery. This product provides step-by-step guides to performing procedures, as if in real time, without actually working on a patient. The surgical procedure is holographically projected onto a screen. Similarly, the Microsoft HoloLens AR glasses have been used to aid reconstructive surgery on patients with leg trauma, for example. The possibilities for practising the procedures have never been this ‘real’.

Virtual Reality Games

Moving on from AR, virtual reality games are dominating the industry. Pokémon Go demonstrated the power of VR in getting people to exercise while immersing themselves in another world - providing ideas for pain relief. AppliedVR, partnering with Cedars-Sini Medical Centre, produced Pain RelieVR - the first of its kind. Developed by medical professions and psychologists, the products attempt to take patients out of the hospital and to a virtual world, removing the need for certain opioids - which can, in some cases, lead to addiction. Their first product, Guided Relaxation, projects a peaceful scene for patients, teaching them to relax and learn mindfulness, improving how they deal with certain situations.

Clinical Skills App

Designed by the team at Medtree with the help of other healthcare professionals, the Clinical Skills App is designed to improve the skillset of clinicians. There is a lack of tech support for clinicians and monitoring their improvements, but the app allows them to document the likes of airway interventions, wound management and drug administration. Individual features can be customised and will provide guides on subjects relating to your skills, eventually helping you to develop in the medical industry and build on opportunities.

Skin Cancer Online ‘Test’

In the UK, there are around 15,400 new cases of skin cancer recorded each year. However, Australia and New Zealand residents have been identified as most at risk of the disease. To combat the risk, the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute has released an online ‘test’, designed to assess your risk of developing the disease in the next three and a half years, between the ages of 40 and 70. The highly accurate test, released in March 2018, was produced after following 45,000 skin cancer patients over a period of eight years.

The test follows on from the success of MelaFind, launched in 2011. This is a non-invasive device using light and non-infrared waves to analyse skin lesions, up to 2.5mm below the skin surface. This has proven to be the largest positive technological development of its kind and has produced more specific results than that of dermatologists, at a rate of 10.8% compared to 5.6% respectively.

Tech Partnerships

Backing Calico - a company ‘focused on health, wellbeing and, in particular, the challenges of ageing and associated diseases’, Google is turning their efforts to hold off the ageing process. In 2015, the two companies became subsidiaries of Alphabet Inc, and have already developed P7C3. This experimental drug compound could be potentially used for Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. However, not all experiments and procedures have been released by Calico.

3D Printing

The 3D printing market is experiencing immense growth, set to rise further by a massive 17.5% between 2017 and 2025. A key driver behind the growth is the healthcare industry, with 3D printing already used for instrumentation, implants and external prostheses. However, tissues engineering is still relatively undiscovered, but certain startups are hoping to change and improve the procedures. For example, NIN Ventures are a startup looking to build on the advances of tissue engineering, recently taking on Dr Sunil Patel - a multi-organ transplant surgeon, to spearhead the team. Organovo has also already begun printing human tissues to replicate the function on native tissues to aid with research in the field.

Healthcare Robots

Recent reports by P&S Market Research suggest the global personal robot market will reach $34.1bn in 2022. Pillo Health and Orbita are two companies that have identified this trend, merging together to create an in-home healthcare robot. Before you imagine scenes from I, Robot, the healthcare robot will not replace human interaction. However, it will combine AI and voice technology to remind you to take your tablets, for example. The companies are hoping to release the robot late 2018, with the hope of producing the robot commercially.

The above products are just some examples of how medical technology is changing healthcare. If there’s one thing we can guarantee, it’s that tech is saving lives.

Source: http://www.healthcareglobal.com/technology/medical-technology-industry-set-be-worth-over-460bn-2020

Advancing Erie’s medical technology By Jim Martin

Ken Louie, a professor of economics and director of the Economic Research Institute of Erie, counts himself as an optimist, even in the face of sobering news about the decline of traditional manufacturing in Erie County.

It’s a perspective built on more than a cheerful disposition.

Louie said he believes there’s a bright future for smaller, advanced industries that leverage technology, invest heavily in research and development, and employ trained workers in the fields of science, engineering, technology and math.

From an economist’s perspective, a community can never have too many of these advanced technology jobs, which pay an average of $80,000, about double the national average.

Transducers are assembled at Cybersonics in Harborcreek Township. The transducers are a part for the ultrasonic lithotripsy machines that the company manufactures. [JACK HANRAHAN/ERIE TIMES-NEWS]

Charlie Baker, left, chief engineer, and Nathan McCutcheon, right, product manager at Cybersonics, demonstrate an ultrasonic lithotripsy machine they manufacture at their Harborcreek Township business. [JACK HANRAHAN/ERIE TIMES-NEWS]

Chris Pierce, a technician at Cybersonics in Harborcreek Township, assembles a transducer for an ultrasonic lithotripsy machine. [JACK HANRAHAN/ERIE TIMES-NEWS]

Transducers are assembled at Cybersonics in Harborcreek Township. The transducers are a part for the ultrasonic lithotripsy machines that the company manufactures. [JACK HANRAHAN/ERIE TIMES-NEWS]

Charlie Baker, left, chief engineer, and Nathan McCutcheon, right, product manager at Cybersonics, demonstrate an ultrasonic lithotripsy machine they manufacture at their Harborcreek Township business. [JACK HANRAHAN/ERIE TIMES-NEWS]

Chris Pierce, a technician at Cybersonics in Harborcreek Township, assembles a transducer for an ultrasonic lithotripsy machine. [JACK HANRAHAN/ERIE TIMES-NEWS]

Transducers are assembled at Cybersonics in Harborcreek Township. The transducers are a part for the ultrasonic lithotripsy machines that the company manufactures. [JACK HANRAHAN/ERIE TIMES-NEWS]

Next

“Over time, we are making advances in this area,” Louie said, explaining that the number of these mostly small, high-tech companies continues to grow in Erie.

Few of them are household names, but some — like Cybersonics, which is located in Knowledge Park on the campus of Penn State Behrend — are key players in their industries.

Cybersonics, which employs 30 people and has annual sales of about $10 million, builds medical devices that use ultrasonic or high-frequency sound waves.

Transducers are assembled Jan 25 at Cybersonics in Harborcreek Township. The transducers are a part for the ultrasonic lithotripsy machines that the company manufactures. [JACK HANRAHAN/ERIE TIMES-NEWS]

Jordan Groves, a technician at Cybersonics in Harborcreek Township, brazes a probe assembly for an ultrasonic lithotripsy machine on Jan. 25. [JACK HANRAHAN/ERIE TIMES-NEWS]

On Jan. 25 Charlie Baker, left, chief engineer and Nathan McCutcheon, right, product manager at Cybersonics, demonstrate an ultrasonic lithotripsy machine they manufacture at their Harborcreek Township business. [JACK HANRAHAN/ERIE TIMES-NEWS]

Chris Pierce, a technician at Cybersonics in Harborcreek Township, assembles a transducer for an ultrasonic lithotripsy machine on Jan. 25. [JACK HANRAHAN/ERIE TIMES-NEWS]

Transducers are assembled Jan 25 at Cybersonics in Harborcreek Township. The transducers are a part for the ultrasonic lithotripsy machines that the company manufactures. [JACK HANRAHAN/ERIE TIMES-NEWS]

Jordan Groves, a technician at Cybersonics in Harborcreek Township, brazes a probe assembly for an ultrasonic lithotripsy machine on Jan. 25. [JACK HANRAHAN/ERIE TIMES-NEWS]

On Jan. 25 Charlie Baker, left, chief engineer and Nathan McCutcheon, right, product manager at Cybersonics, demonstrate an ultrasonic lithotripsy machine they manufacture at their Harborcreek Township business. [JACK HANRAHAN/ERIE TIMES-NEWS]

Chris Pierce, a technician at Cybersonics in Harborcreek Township, assembles a transducer for an ultrasonic lithotripsy machine on Jan. 25. [JACK HANRAHAN/ERIE TIMES-NEWS]

Transducers are assembled Jan 25 at Cybersonics in Harborcreek Township. The transducers are a part for the ultrasonic lithotripsy machines that the company manufactures. [JACK HANRAHAN/ERIE TIMES-NEWS]

Its most popular device, derived from a rock drill that Cybersonics developed for NASA, is a lithotripsy system used for breaking up large kidney stones.

While other companies make similar products, Cybersonics, which exports much of what it builds, “has become the market leader,” said Geoffrey Bond, president and part-owner of the company.

Here’s one way to measure the volume of the machines it builds: Charlie Baker, the company’s chief engineer, said the company sells a set of stainless steel probes each time a procedure is performed using one of its machines. Typically, he said, that’s about 30,000 sets of probes a year.

That’s a lot of probes, and it is a reflection of Erie’s slow evolution toward it being a technology center.

Statistics show Erie’s progress in that regard.

Louie said a 2015 Brookings Institute study found that 12,000 Erie County workers could be classified as working in advanced technology. Although they represent just 9 percent of the total workforce, they account for about $2 billion or 15 percent of Erie’s gross domestic product.

Bond said Erie presents certain challenges for a high-tech company with international customers. Bringing those customers into town or visiting them often involves a two-hour drive to a larger airport.

“For a medical device company, there are benefits to being in an area like Minnesota or San Jose or Austin, Texas. Boston would be another one,” he said. “You get that sort of critical mass. There is a lot of knowledge that gets transferred, along with a beer after work. We miss that type of support.”

But Erie does have its advantages, including a low cost of living, Bond said.

The Knowledge Park location means access to hiking trails, the college library, gymnasium and, most importantly, students and faculty.

“We have had their students working for us as interns, which gives them some good experience, and we have hired some of them after they have graduated. I think it has benefited both of us,” Bond said.

Louie said statistics from one particular sector, computer and electronics manufacturing, show Erie is growing at an impressive rate. Between 2001 and 2015, Erie’s output in that sector increased by more than 300 percent, compared to a 235 percent increase nationally and 177 percent for Pennsylvania.

Erie might never replace thousands of lost jobs at GE Transportation, Steris Corp. or International Paper Co.

But the latest numbers, Louie said, suggest Erie has the ability to adapt that’s equally as strong as our industrial past.

“I’m optimistic,” Louie said.

Source: http://www.goerie.com/news/20180218/advancing-eries-medical-technology

Using the latest in health technology, Orlando Foot & Ankle Clinic keeps Central Florida putting its best foot forward

A few years ago, Hollywood's most famous coastal phobia became reality for a junior Olympic athlete in Cocoa Beach when she was bitten by a shark. The bite damaged her Achilles tendon (the body's largest and strongest tendon, connecting the calf muscle to the heel bone and playing a crucial role in basic movements like walking, running, and jumping), putting her career in jeopardy. Luckily the doctors at Orlando Foot & Ankle Clinic, one of Central Florida's oldest and largest podiatry clinics, were able to repair the tendon with cutting-edge technology that's put the clinic on the map. "I used a placental stem cell graft on top of the Achilles for better healing and decreasing scar tissue," says Dr. Amber Shane, one of Orlando Foot and Ankle Clinic's premier surgeons. "It's been two and a half years now and she's been back to full competition for a while."

If you're going to become a shark's snack, Florida is the place to do it: Orlando's reputation as a medical hub with cutting-edge research facilities and advanced treatment technology is well-deserved. The city is the top U.S. destination for medical conferences, bringing brilliant doctors and researchers from across the country to Central Florida with new ideas to share. And large investments in the medical technology sector over the past two decades have built new medical schools, research facilities, and an entire medical city in Lake Nona. In 2016, the Lake Nona Medical City guaranteed that the hits will keep on coming by investing in a space called GuideWell Innovation CoRE, designed specifically to help health startups thrive.

This commitment to funding medical research and investing in hospitals, health startups, and new medical buildings gives Central Florida an edge in the health tech game. Floridians are lucky to have advanced medical care at facilities like Orlando Foot & Ankle right in their own backyard. "There are a very limited number of physicians doing [total ankle joint replacement] across the country. We are the predominant group [in Central Florida] that do these on a regular basis," states fellow Orlando Foot & Ankle surgeon Dr. Chris Reeves.

You don't have to be an Olympic athlete or someone in need of a total ankle replacement to benefit from the high-tech offerings at Orlando Foot & Ankle Clinic. "We see a lot of weekend athlete injuries," Dr. Reeves emphasizes. Even treatments for common problems, like hammer toes or foot fungus, have made great strides: clinic patients with these issues benefit from new internal implants and laser therapy, respectively.

Keeping in step with the medical technology evolving around them, the doctors at Orlando Foot & Ankle Clinic are committed to learning new techniques and giving Central Florida patients the best possible foot and ankle care. "Medicine is not stagnant," states Shane. "It's ever-evolving and changing, and you can't just go to the office every day and do the same thing."

Reeves and Shane are also faculty members of Florida Hospital's residency program, and they say that working with up-and-coming doctors keeps them on their toes. "When you're working with younger doctors you're keeping up with the literature and the research. You're teaching them things and they're teaching you things, so that's how we stay innovative," says Dr. Shane.

What's next on the horizon for a clinic that's committed to helping you put your best foot forward in a city that's a veritable health tech mecca? "Our practice in general has worked on being involved in research and medical studies," says Shane. Post-surgical pain control is another area where Orlando Foot & Ankle strives to shine. "We have access to topical pain medicine and things like that instead of more pills, which is one of the biggest new things on the horizon in medicine," adds Shane.

With current investments in health tech bearing fruit and more industry on the way, Orlando is making its mark on medical research and new treatments. Orlando Foot & Ankle Clinic is no exception: with 17 locations and 16 clinic doctors using state-of-the-art technology, they're the podiatry experts in your neighborhood that will keep you up and running.

Source: https://www.orlandoweekly.com/orlando/using-the-latest-in-health-technology-orlando-foot-and-ankle-clinic-keeps-central-florida-putting-its-best-foot-forward/Content?oid=10778897

Alexa, give me a diagnosis: New Illinois med school built for health-tech future by Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz

Technology has revolutionized most corners of our lives, from how we shop to how we connect with friends.

Now a new medical school is poised to train the next generation of doctors to bring the revolution to health care.

The Carle Illinois College of Medicine in Urbana-Champaign, which will welcome its first class of students in July, bills itself as the first medical doctorate program in the nation designed from inception to integrate engineering with medicine. Its hope is to graduate physician innovators who challenge the status quo and find solutions that reduce costs while improving access to and quality of care.

“This group will be the bridge between the people who understand the technology and the people who deliver the health care,” said Dr. King Li, dean of the new medical school. “There are very few people who can cross between these two groups.”

The four-year medical school is a partnership between the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Carle Health System, which runs a 393-bed regional hospital in Urbana. The hospital has pledged $100 million over 10 years to get the new school off the ground, and the school has raised another $20 million from philanthropic sources, Li said.

The school has received 1,000 applications for the 32 slots in the first class, he said. All students in the first class will get four years of free tuition.

To make way for the new program, the University of Illinois College of Medicine, one of the largest public medical schools in the country with four campuses across the state, is phasing out its Urbana campus, whose last students will graduate in 2022, Li said. The new school is remodeling the existing university medical building to be its main site but it also will have facilities in Carle Foundation Hospital.

The new Carle Illinois College of Medicine will use facilities at Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana. (University of Illinois)

While other medical schools have engineering or innovation tracks, or offer dual-degree programs, Li said Carle is the first to make technology and engineering principles the foundation of four-year medical education. Each course will be designed by a scientist, a clinical scientist and an engineer.

“This is probably the most exciting opportunity in medical education in the world,” said Li, a radiologist whose resume includes a tenured professorship at Stanford University School of Medicine and five years at the National Institutes of Health. Li, who holds 13 patents, left his position at Wake Forest University, where he was senior associate dean for clinical and translational research and deputy director of its comprehensive cancer center, to take the dean position at Carle in October 2016.

Carle has received preliminary accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, which accredits programs that lead to M.D. degrees, and expects to receive approval soon from the Higher Learning Commission, Li said.

The new school aims to recruit students with quantitative backgrounds, such as in math, computer programming, coding and data sciences. It also requires candidates possess “the four Cs:” compassion, competence, curiosity and creativity. The latter two qualities are not typically de rigueur in traditional medical schools, where students are taught to follow a standard of practice, Li said.

The school’s structure and its curriculum are designed to encourage out-of-the-box thinking. For example, every week students will make clinical rounds with both engineering and clinical faculty, and will be tasked with identifying processes that could use improvement. Each student will select one idea for a capstone project and develop a prototype for the innovation.

The vast majority of the faculty will be part-time instructors drawn from 10 colleges across the University of Illinois, including law and fine arts, helping to keep costs down, Li said. Humanities will cut through all of the courses, including instruction on how cultural, environmental and religious differences can affect the perception of care. One project at the medical school is exploring how art displayed in physician waiting rooms can change patients’ moods and outcomes.

The school also plans to deploy technology to deepen training. Video games will help train students to react to different clinical situations, and virtual reality simulations will allow students to practice different procedures.

The goal, Li said, is to foster creative problem-solving so that its students can “be the leaders in this revolution.”

What could the health care revolution look like? Li envisions a scenario, “not really far away,” that features delivery drones and an intelligent personal assistant like Amazon’s Alexa.

“Imagine the day you can use Alexa to do a medical interview,” he said. “Then Alexa makes a provisional diagnosis and says, ‘I need to do these kinds of diagnostics.’ Then a drone would bring diagnostic tools to you. You can put these tools on your chest, put the ultrasound on your belly. It is delivered to you. The data will be collected and that will be sent to an artificial intelligence for analysis. All that data will be presented to the health care provider, and then they communicate with you, decide on the intervention for you. And the drone will deliver the treatment to you.”

For traditionalists who value human touch, that scenario may seem undesirable. But Li said it would improve costs and access, especially for people who live far away from their doctor, and free up humans to focus on the tasks robots can’t do.

“The only thing the doctor doesn’t do is put a hand on you and listen to your heart,” Li said. “But those are old techniques.”

The stethoscope, he notes, is 200 years old.

Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-carle-illinois-college-of-medicine-revolutionizes-health-care-20180207-story.html

Limitless Socket designed to help amputees heal by Ollie Reed Jr.

Usually months elapse between below-knee amputation surgery and the time that the patient is able to be up and moving about on a prosthesis or artificial leg.

But a device designed by a team of University of New Mexico students promises to significantly reduce that time and enhance the healing process.

Called the Limitless Socket, it is intended to fit on the end of an amputated limb and be connected to a prosthesis, an artificial leg or foot.

The design won the $50,000 prize in the 2017 UNM Biodesign Program competition. The money — $25,000 from the university's School of Engineering and $25,000 funded through a pilot grant award from UNM's Clinical and Translational Science Center — will be used by the winning team to develop a prototype and test it.

"Right now, it can take three to six months for a patient to be up and using a prosthesis," said Christina Salas, the UNM assistant professor whose class in biodesign is the basis for the competition. "We are looking at getting people up on this socket in weeks."

A major factor in that diminished time is that the Limitless Socket reduces direct contact on the amputated limb.

"This crosses over the knee, transferring the load to the knee and the femur," Salas said. "That enables the patient to be up much sooner and using the prosthetic, and the sooner you are up and around, the better it is for healing and mobility."

Physicians would also be better able to monitor the wound during recovery because of the new design.

"The limb is suspended in a sort of net basket that allows for the detection of swelling and the draining of fluid," Salas said.

And, due to ratcheting components, the Limitless Socket can be easily adapted to the condition of the amputated limb, which is important, because the volume and shape of the limb changes during the healing process.

Members of the winning Limitless Socket team are Jane Nguyen and Victoria Lujan, both undergraduate students in chemical engineering; Matthew Rush, a doctoral student in nanoscience and microsystems engineering; and Evan Hagin, a master's student in mechanical engineering.

Hagin said he wanted to be part of the Limitless Socket team, because he believes it holds real promise for use in the medical field.

"Interestingly enough, I've had a lot of medical problems in my life, and I wanted (a project) I felt would really help," said Hagin, 30. "I was looking at designs that would be practical in the time available to us and which would be the most marketable."

The new socket is intended for use from immediately after surgery, until the point when the patient is fitted with a final prosthesis. Usually that is a period of about one year, but Salas said it is hoped that the Limitless Socket technology could shorten that time by three to five months.

Salas has a doctorate in biomedical engineering and a master's in mechanical engineering, both from UNM. She is on the staff of UNM's department of orthopedics and rehabilitation with joint appointments in the departments of civil engineering and mechanical engineering.

Salas has been teaching at UNM for more than three years, and, in each of those three years, her fall class in biodesign has featured a competition to develop designs that will facilitate medical practice in certain areas.

The first year it was trauma, the second year it was emergency medicine and this year the goal was to tackle deficiencies in medical technology that present barriers in physical medicine and rehabilitation.

Students in Salas' biodesign class come from different disciplines, most of them from engineering, but some also from biology and the school of medicine. They were divided into four teams of four or five students each for the 2017 competition.

"They went to physical medicine and rehabilitation clinics, some here at UNM, also UNM athletics and the Lovelace UNM Rehabilitation Hospital," Salas said. "They learn what problems exist in the field, problems they can solve to make the physicians' jobs easier or to help patients. They spend about a month on this, and then they take all the information they have learned to determine what projects are worth pursuing (for presentation) to startup companies or for licensing to established companies."

In addition to the Limitless Socket, other projects entered in the competition this year included:

- The Prime Suit: A tight-fitting suit with synthetic muscles that is worn beneath clothes and is designed to stabilize a person with balance issues.

- Mild Traumatic-Brain-Injury Patch: A wearable patch that draws small samples of fluid from the skin, enabling the rapid detection of mild traumatic brain injuries such as concussions.

- PURIST: That stands for Pressure Ulcer Relief Involving Streamline Telehealth and is the name given to a mat designed to detect the potential for pressure ulcers or bed sores in patients confined for long periods of time in beds or wheelchairs. The mat is intended to respond by moving away from a person's skin to relieve pressure.

"They were all great technologies," Salas said.

Students selected the technology that intrigued them most, and teams were formed accordingly.

Hagin said he was attracted to the process required to make the socket.

"I liked the idea of working on something that is actually physical, actually building something because that's my specialty as a mechanical engineer," he said.

Team member Rush, 30, said the Limitless Socket was not his first-choice project, but he soon became enthusiastic about it.

"Ultimately, I saw a lot of potential in it," he said. "We won because (the judges) could clearly see the application of the project."

The judges were Andrew Shreve, director of UNM's Center for Biomedical Engineering; Eric Prossnitz, professor of internal medicine and biodesign program coordinator at UNM's Health Sciences Center; Rebecca Dutton, assistant professor in UNM's department of orthopedics and rehabilitation; and John Chavez, president of the New Mexico Angels, a group focused on investing in early-stage companies in the Southwest.

Hagin said he and his team members are determined to see the testing and development of a Limitless Socket through, even if that means staying in touch by phone and email in cases where one or more of the team leaves UNM for work or study elsewhere.

"I was really happy about how everyone was very excited and really committed to working on it for the next year, committed to pushing this forward," he said.

Rush sees the project as something that fits exactly into his plans for his future. When he completes his doctorate at the end of this semester, he intends to do post-doctoral research work at Northern Arizona University, then go to medical school somewhere, hopefully in 2019.

He said he wants to help fill what he sees as a gap in communication between scientists/engineers and physicians.

"We can design anything out there," Rush said. "The hard part is determining what to design for. I am willing to become a physician to work with engineers and scientists to design things that will help the health care field. I'm hoping the Limitless Socket will become a common socket for lower-leg amputations."

Source: http://www.sacbee.com/news/article198821479.html

Junkosha launches latest in heat shrink technology at MD&M West

As part of its wider campaign to be at the forefront of precision engineered, miniaturised micro catheters and guide wires, Junkosha’s peelable heat shrink solutions enable access to parts of the vascular system with minimal impact on the patient.

Junkosha’s ultra-small PHST is the only suitable tubing for laminating jacket coating to tiny guide wires. These miniature guide wires are used by healthcare professionals when navigating to vessels. The high-shrink ratio PHST (2:1) is ideal for processes where tapered microcatheter shafts are used or where tolerance take-up is an issue.

Joe Rowan, president and CEO of USA and Europe for Junkosha, explains: “We have a deep heritage in materials science and fluoropolymers, which means our solutions are at the leading edge of what is possible. This capability has seen great uptake in the most demanding of applications where small French sizes are required. At this year’s MD&M West, we will showcase two such products that have been developed with Neurovascular and Cardiovascular catheters and guide wires in mind.

“Our aim is to answer customers’ unmet needs through technology innovation. As a part of this, we are being asked for solutions that take small to the next level. As medical professionals push the boundaries of what they require for minimally invasive procedures, we have taken the lead in designing solutions for a miniaturised medical technology future.”

Robert LaDuca, CEO of Duke Empirical, an innovative Medical Device Manufacturer adds: “As medical technology advances, device designers worldwide are being challenged to produce smaller and thinner micro catheters and guide wires which provide clinicians the ability to reach and treat previously inaccessible anatomical targets. The extension of minimally invasive treatment options for previously untreatable patient populations has created a need for new tools used in catheter manufacturing, such as the peelable heat shrink tubing products provided by Junkosha. In our experience, these new tools have been cost-effective in reducing scrap rates while increasing throughput by shortening assembly time.

“In addition, these new products by Junkosha enable the manufacture of products which previously would not have been possible due to the challenges of heat shrink removal from delicate soft polymers used in certain high-performance catheters,” continues LaDuca. “In the future, we anticipate the utilisation of miniaturised catheter solutions will be widely adopted by most medical manufacturers working on the leading edge of microcatheter technology.”

Source: https://www.medicalplasticsnews.com/news/junkosha-launches/

Medical technology could leave law behind, professor says by Mike Houlahan

Using new technology to diagnose and treat ailments is all very well, but who is responsible if something goes wrong?

In New Zealand, ACC will cover many eventualities, but with the rapid increases in computer science, the law could well lag behind medical reality, the leader of the University of Otago’s artificial intelligence project, Associate Prof Colin Gavaghan,  said.

"Direct liability for a medical provider would probably be precluded by ACC. What wouldn’t be precluded would be disciplinary action against a provider.

"There would also be the possibility of the technology going wrong, giving rise to product liability claims."

The Law Foundation-funded AI project is researching where the law is lagging behind developments in the AI field and exploring potential liability issues stemming from that.

Self-driving cars is one example the project has looked at, and medicine offered plenty of other potential legal pitfalls, Dr Gavaghan said.

"At the moment even the best AI learning system is not reliably better [than humans] but they could potentially be more accurate.

"It could be that they are more accurate across the board, but they are potentially really bad at detecting one kind of problem.

"Do the people with that problem have some recourse against the DHB if it chooses to use this technology which is better across the board but terrible for them?"

Anyone offering telemedicine services locally would fall under New Zealand medical law, as would someone operating remotely overseas via videolink — although how enforceable an overseas prosecution that would be was uncertain, Dr Gavaghan said.

"These things are coming on to the market fast and furious, but at the moment there is no pre-market checking and no follow-ups as to how they are going, and maybe there ought to be."

Privacy was another likely issue, with questions about the ownership of confidential health information delivered electronically.

"There’s a huge market in medical data ... and there are real questions about where is all this going and what kind of uses can be made of remote medical information by health insurers, employers, parole boards, who knows?"

Source: https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/health/medical-technology-could-leave-law-behind-professor-says

Medical Technology and the Progressing Industry Explored on Advancements with Ted Danson

In its upcoming season, the award-winning producers of Advancements with Ted Danson will explore advances in healthcare, medical technology, and the advancing industry. Advancements will premier 2Q 2018 on a number of networks Nationwide. Check your local listings for show times.

As technology continues to drive biomedical research and healthcare forward, the traditional line between engineering and medical science grows ever thinner.

This season, Advancements will explore technology at its core and will enlighten and educate audiences on how it continues to impact the medical sector in a number of ways. From making patient care easier, diagnostics faster, and treatment options more readily available, the show will teach viewers about the latest breakthroughs taking place across the medical sector.

"It is truly unbelievable how much medicine and healthcare has changed over the last two decades alone," said Sarah McBrayer, Creative Director for DMG Productions and the Advancements series. "We are excited to delve into this topic on our series and enlighten audiences on what the future holds."

About Advancements and DMG Productions: 
The Advancements series is an information-based educational show, targeting recent advances across a number of industries and economies. Featuring state-of-the-art solutions and important issues facing today's consumers and business professionals, Advancements focuses on cutting-edge developments, and brings this information to the public with the vision to enlighten about how technology and innovation continue to transform our world.

Backed by experts in various fields, and a team dedicated to education and advancement, DMG Productions consistently produces commercial-free, educational programming on which both viewers and networks depend.

Source:  http://www.dmgproductions.org.

Machine learning techniques generate clinical labels of medical scans by EurekAlert

Researchers used machine learning techniques, including natural language processing algorithms, to identify clinical concepts in radiologist reports for CT scans, according to a study conducted at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published today in the journal Radiology. The technology is an important first step in the development of artificial intelligence that could interpret scans and diagnose conditions.

From an ATM reading handwriting on a check to Facebook suggesting a photo tag for a friend, computer vision powered by artificial intelligence is increasingly common in daily life. Artificial intelligence could one day help radiologists interpret X-rays, computed tomography (CT) scans, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies. But for the technology to be effective in the medical arena, computer software must be "taught" the difference between a normal study and abnormal findings.

This study aimed to train this technology how to understand text reports written by radiologists. Researchers created a series of algorithms to teach the computer clusters of phrases. Examples of terminology included words like phospholipid, heartburn, and colonoscopy.

Researchers trained the computer software using 96,303 radiologist reports associated with head CT scans performed at The Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai Queens between 2010 and 2016. To characterize the "lexical complexity" of radiologist reports, researchers calculated metrics that reflected the variety of language used in these reports and compared these to other large collections of text: thousands of books, Reuters news stories, inpatient physician notes, and Amazon product reviews.

"The language used in radiology has a natural structure, which makes it amenable to machine learning," says senior author Eric Oermann, MD, Instructor in the Department of Neurosurgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. "Machine learning models built upon massive radiological text datasets can facilitate the training of future artificial intelligence-based systems for analyzing radiological images."

Deep learning describes a subcategory of machine learning that uses multiple layers of neural networks (computer systems that learn progressively) to perform inference, requiring large amounts of training data to achieve high accuracy. Techniques used in this study led to an accuracy of 91 percent, demonstrating that it is possible to automatically identify concepts in text from the complex domain of radiology.

"The ultimate goal is to create algorithms that help doctors accurately diagnose patients," says first author John Zech, a medical student at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. "Deep learning has many potential applications in radiology -- triaging to identify studies that require immediate evaluation, flagging abnormal parts of cross-sectional imaging for further review, characterizing masses concerning for malignancy -- and those applications will require many labeled training examples."

"Research like this turns big data into useful data and is the critical first step in harnessing the power of artificial intelligence to help patients," says study co-author Joshua Bederson, MD, Professor and System Chair for the Department of Neurosurgery at Mount Sinai Health System and Clinical Director of the Neurosurgery Simulation Core.

Researchers at Boston University and Verily Life Sciences collaborated on the study.

About the Mount Sinai Health System

The Mount Sinai Health System is New York City's largest integrated delivery system encompassing seven hospital campuses, a leading medical school, and a vast network of ambulatory practices throughout the greater New York region. Mount Sinai's vision is to produce the safest care, the highest quality, the highest satisfaction, the best access and the best value of any health system in the nation. The System includes approximately 7,100 primary and specialty care physicians; 10 joint-venture ambulatory surgery centers; more than 140 ambulatory practices throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and 31 affiliated community health centers. Physicians are affiliated with the renowned Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, which is ranked among the highest in the nation in National Institutes of Health funding per investigator. The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked No. 18 on U.S. News & World Report's "Honor Roll" of top U.S. hospitals; it is one of the nation's top 20 hospitals in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Diabetes/Endocrinology, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Geriatrics, Nephrology, and Neurology/Neurosurgery, and in the top 50 in four other specialties in the 2017-2018 "Best Hospitals" issue. Mount Sinai's Kravis Children's Hospital also is ranked in six out of ten pediatric specialties by U.S. News & World Report. The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked 12th nationally for Ophthalmology and 50th for Ear, Nose, and Throat, while Mount Sinai Beth Israel, Mount Sinai St. Luke's and Mount Sinai West are ranked regionally.  

Source: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-01/tmsh-mlt013118.php

Space age medical technology on show at Arab Health Conference by Nick Webster

One of those products on display was GE Healthcare’s AIR Technology that promises to reduce patient stress and offer a more conclusive body scan.

The blanket-type device has grown out of a $60 million development programme in collaboration with the American National Football League to help diagnose concussion in players.

GE's new set of coils are meant to increase patient comfort during whole body exams. Reem Mohammed / The National

Providing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) via an ultra-lightweight blanket that can be wrapped around the patient, it helps reduce stress and discomfort, particularly for those with injuries or conditions sensitive to pressure.

The AIR Technology coil is 60 per cent lighter than conventional coils, offering greater flexibility to help conform to patients’ anatomies and fit all patient ages, sizes and shapes.

The Signa Premier technology can perform a routine fast brain examination up to eight times faster than conventional scanning equipment.

“To detect an MRI, you need something to put on patients that can pick up the signal to collect images, but before, designs have always been fairly big and bulky,” said Rajesh George, a product manager at GE Healthcare.

“It used to be hard and heavy and needed pressure applied to the patient. This was very uncomfortable for them, particular for cancer patients.

“With a flexible coil like this, it is much lighter, so also much more comfortable. There is nothing else like this and it fits like a blanket.

“It also provides the best image quality. It can cover any part of the anatomy, and is very easy to operate.”

Other products on display included a supersmart toothbrush by Philips.

The Sonicare Diamond Clean smart electric brush uses sensor technology to send data to a mobile phone app, helping the user with brushing techniques.

Philips also revealed its ‘parenting platform’ to help monitor sleeping behaviours of new born babies.

The Avent Digital Parenting Platform claims to be the first medical-grade baby app of its kind, allowing parents to track feeding, sleeping and access personalised health advice from a panel of health care professionals.

Source: https://www.thenational.ae/uae/health/space-age-medical-technology-on-show-at-arab-health-conference-1.700315