Mobile app can help manage uncontrolled asthma

A mobile app can help manage uncontrolled asthma by measuring lung function and giving feedback in the form of automated and doctor-prescribed treatment recommendation, say researchers.
People suffering from uncontrolled asthma frequently experience breathing difficulties or asthma attacks and inadequate management and or correct use of medicine are common causes of this situation.

A study by researchers found that a treatment adjustment algorithm based on lung function and symptoms in a mobile phone can be an efficient tool in managing uncontrolled asthma.

For fuss-free measuring of lung function, the phone connects to a wireless spirometer and the app can register respiratory symptoms and provide visual feedback on treatment, said researchers, in a paper recently published.

The system called ' AsthmaTuner" analyses lung function and symptoms in accordance with asthma-care guidelines, said the research leader.

The users also receive a picture of the inhaler that is to be used and instructions on whether the medication is to be maintained, increased or decreased, he added.

AsthmaTuner enables the measuring of lung function via a wireless spirometer connected to a mobile-phone app.

The study comprised 77 uncontrolled asthma sufferers aged 6 onwards. Around half of these were children and adolescents.

We could see that asthma symptoms improved more with the digital tool than they did with traditional care. Adult patients who used the tool at least once a week also more often remembered to take their medicines, he said.

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: A mobile app can help manage uncontrolled asthma by measur ..

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A mobile app can help manage uncontrolled asthma by measurin ..

Read more at:
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Stretchable Electronics Used in Soft Wireless, Wearable Health Monitor

The soft and conformable monitor can display electrocardiogram (ECG), respiratory rate, heart rate, and motion activity data as much as 15 m to a portable recording device such as a tablet computer or smartphone. The electronics are mounted on a stretchable substrate and linked to gold, skin-like electrodes via printed connectors that can stretch with the medical film in which they are fixed.

“This health monitor has a key advantage for young children who are always moving, since the soft conformal device can accommodate that activity with a gentle integration onto the skin,” said  an assistant professor. “This is designed to meet the electronic health monitoring needs of people whose sensitive skin may be harmed by conventional monitors.”
  
The monitor has been tested on animal models as well as humans.

Since the device conforms to the skin, it avoids signal problems that can be generated by the motion of the standard metal-gel electrodes across the skin. The device can even acquire accurate signals from a person who is running, walking, or climbing stairs.

“When you put a conventional electrode on the chest, movement from sitting up or walking creates motion artifacts that are challenging to separate from the signals you want to measure,” he said. “Because our device is soft and conformal, it moves with the skin and provides information that cannot be seen with the motion artifacts of conventional sensors.”

On-going evaluation with a wireless health monitor could enhance the assessment of children and help clinicians identify trends sooner, potentially enabling intervention before a condition spreads, said  a pediatric cardiologist.

The generation of continuous data from the respiratory and cardiovascular systems could allow for the application of advanced diagnostics to detect changes in clinical status, response to therapies and implementation of early intervention. A device to literally follow every breath a child takes could allow for early recognition and intervention prior to a more severe presentation of a disease.

A Pediatric Cardiologist

When used in the home, a wearable monitor might sense variations that might not otherwise be obvious, he said. When the wireless device is used in clinical surroundings, children would not feel “tethered” to equipment. “I see this device as a significant change in pediatric health care” the Dr. added.

The monitor uses three gold electrodes fixed in the film that also comprises the electronic processing equipment. The total health monitor measures just three inches in diameter. Soon a more advanced version will measure just half that size. The wireless monitor is currently driven by a small rechargeable battery, but upcoming versions may substitute the battery with an external radio-frequency charging system.

The researchers  are concentrating on pediatric applications due to the need for ambulatory monitoring in children. However, they think that the health monitor could also be used for other patient groups, such as older adults who may also have sensitive skin. For adults, there would be extra benefits.

The monitor could be worn for multiple days, perhaps for as long as two weeks. The membrane is waterproof, so an adult could take a shower while wearing it. After use, the electronic components can be recycled.

An Assistant Professor.

Two versions of the monitor have been built. One is based on medical tape and engineered for short-term application in a hospital or other care facility, while the other uses a soft elastomer medical film permitted for use in wound care. The latter can stay on the skin for a longer period.

“The devices are completely dry and do not require a gel to pick up signals from the skin,” the Prof. explained. “There is nothing between the skin and the ultrathin sensor, so it is comfortable to wear.”
Since the monitor can be worn for extended periods of time, it can offer a long-term record of ECG data useful to understanding potential heart complications.

“We use deep learning to monitor the signals while comparing them to data from a larger group of patients,” the Prof. said. “If an abnormality is detected, it can be reported wirelessly through a smartphone or other connected device.”

The monitor’s circuitry is manufactured using thin-film, mesh-like patterns of copper that can flex with the soft substrate. The only part not flexible is the chips, but they are placed on the strain-isolated soft substrate rather than a traditional plastic circuit board.

Going forward, the researcher plans to decrease the size of the device and incorporate features to measure other health-connected factors such as blood oxygen, temperature, and blood pressure. A major breakthrough would be a clinical trial to assess performance against standard health monitors.
For the researcher, who is an expert in nano- and micro-engineering, the probability of seeing the device in clinical trials—and eventually used in children’s hospitals—is a strong incentive.

It will be a dream come true for me to see something we have developed be helpful to someone who is suffering. We all want to see developments in science and engineering translated into improved patient care.

 An Assistant Professor

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New 'brain pacemaker' may help treat epilepsy, Parkinson's

Scientists have developed a wireless device that can stimulate the brain with electric current, potentially delivering fine-tuned treatments to patients with diseases like epilepsy and Parkinson's. The neurostimulator, named the WAND, works like a "pacemaker for the brain," monitoring the brain's electrical activity and delivering electrical stimulation if it detects something amiss, said researchers.

These devices can be extremely effective at preventing debilitating tremors or seizures in patients with a variety of neurological conditions, according to the study.

However, the electrical signatures that precede a seizure or tremor can be extremely subtle, and the frequency and strength of electrical stimulation required to prevent them is equally touchy. It can take years of small adjustments by doctors before the devices provide optimal treatment.

WAND, which stands for wireless artifact-free neuromodulation device, is both wireless and autonomous, meaning that once it learns to recognise the signs of tremor or seizure, it can adjust the stimulation parameters on its own to prevent the unwanted movements.

Since it is closed-loop -- meaning it can stimulate and record simultaneously -- the device can adjust these parameters in real-time.

"The process of finding the right therapy for a patient is extremely costly and can take years," saida researcher.

"Significant reduction in both cost and duration can potentially lead to greatly improved outcomes and accessibility," the researcher said.

"We want to enable the device to figure out what is the best way to stimulate for a given patient to give the best outcomes. And you can only do that by listening and recording the neural signatures," he said.

WAND can record electrical activity over 128 channels, or from 128 points in the brain, compared to eight channels in other closed-loop systems. To demonstrate the device, the team used WAND to recognise and delay specific arm movements in rhesus macaques.

Simultaneously stimulating and recording electrical signals in the brain is much like trying to see small ripples in a pond while also splashing your feet -- the electrical signals from the brain are overwhelmed by the large pulses of electricity delivered by the stimulation.

Currently, deep brain stimulators either stop recording while delivering the electrical stimulation, or record at a different part of the brain from where the stimulation is applied --essentially measuring the small ripples at a different point in the pond from the splashing.

In order to deliver closed-loop stimulation-based therapies, which is a big goal for people treating Parkinson's and epilepsy and a variety of neurological disorders, it is very important to both perform neural recordings and stimulation simultaneously, which currently no single commercial device does, researchers said.

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Stroke recovery treatment: new technology found

A new stretchable electronics has been found for stroke recovery treatment which has proven to be a game changer. A groundbreaking new wearable designed to be worn on the throat could have been developed in the field of stroke rehabilitation. The new technology’s sensor is the latest in Prof’s growing portfolio of stretchable electronics that are precise enough for use in advanced medical care and portable enough to be worn outside the hospital, even during extreme exercise.

Rogers’ sensors stick directly to the skin, moving with the body and providing detailed health metrics including heart function, muscle activity, and quality of sleep. “Stretchable electronics allow us to see what is going on inside patients’ bodies at a level traditional wearable simply cannot achieve”, the Prof. said. “The key is to make them as integrated as possible with the human body.”

The Prof’s new bandage-like throat sensor measured patients’ swallowing ability and patterns of speech.

The sensors aid in the diagnosis and treatment of aphasia, a communication disorder associated with stroke.

The tools that speech-language pathologists have traditionally used to monitor patients’ speech function – such as microphones – cannot distinguish between patients’ voices and ambient noise.

“Our sensors solve that problem by measuring vibrations of the vocal chords”, the Prof. said. “But they only work when worn directly on the throat, which is a very sensitive area of the skin. We developed novel materials for this sensor that bend and stretch with the body, minimizing discomfort to patients”.

A research hospital collaborated with scientists for the research, used the throat sensor in conjunction with electronic biosensors – also developed in the lab – on the legs, arms and chest to monitor stroke patients' recovery progress.

The intermodal system of sensors streamed data wirelessly to clinicians’ phones and computers, providing a quantitative, full-body picture of patients’ advanced physical, and physiological responses in real time.

“One of the biggest problems we face with stroke patients is that their gains tend to drop off when they leave the hospital”, said  a research scientist. “With the home monitoring enabled by these sensors, we can intervene at the right time, which could lead to better, faster recoveries for patients”.
Because the sensors are wireless, they eliminated barriers posed by traditional health monitoring devices in clinical settings.

Data from the sensors would be presented in a dashboard that is easy for both clinicians and patients to understand. It would send alerts when patients are under-performing on a certain metric and would allow them to set and track progress toward their goals.

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New Pacemaker Doesn’t Need Batteries

A new wireless pacemaker can be implanted directly into a patient’s heart without needing batteries.

Researchers  introduced the new product that harvests energy wirelessly from radio frequency radiation transmitted by an external battery pack.

Current pacemakers use electrical signals to prompt the heart to keep a steady beat. However, they are generally implanted away from the heart where surgeons can periodically replace their on-board batteries with minor surgery.

This often can lead to complications related to the leads—wires that transmit electrical signals to the heart—including bleeding and infection.  


Some other pacemakers do not include leads and mitigate some of the complications. However, their form factors limit them to a single heart chamber and they are unable to provide dual chamber or biventricular pacing.

The new pacemaker does not require batteries or leads and wirelessly powered microchips can be implanted directly to pace multiple points inside or outside the heart.

“This technology brings into sharp focus the remarkable possibility of achieving the 'Triple Crown' of treatment of both the most common and most lethal cardiac arrhythmias: external powering, wireless pacing and—far and away most importantly—cardiac defibrillation that is not only painless but is actually imperceptible to the patient,” Dr.  said in a statement.

The pacemaker includes a chip at the system’s heart that is less than 4 millimeters wide and incorporates the receiving antenna, an AC-to-DC rectifier, a power management unit and a pacing activation signal. The chip is joined on the circuit board by a capacitor and switch.

The frequency of the pacing signals produced by the pacemaker can be adjusted by increasing or decreasing power transmitted to the receiving antenna, which stores it until it reaches a predetermined threshold and is released as an electrical charge to the heart.

The pacemaker was tested in a pig and analysis showed that it could tune the animal’s heart rate from 100 to 172 beats per minute.

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Capsule-size pacemaker may hit markets by June

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 Slightly bigger than a matchstick, lighter than a two-rupee coin and wireless. Patients may get this pacemaker by the middle of this year. It will have the same efficiency as that of a conventional device, but is priced substantially higher than the existing ones.
But the world's smallest pacemaker will use an improved technology that will benefit cardiac patients in the long run and is bound to edge out the existing pacemakers that have a clumsy wiring, feel experts.
Recommended for people whose hearts are beating too slowly or irregularly , a pacemaker stimulates the heart muscle with precisely-timed discharges of electricity that cause the heart to beat in a manner similar to the natural heart rhythm.
The Micra Transcatheter Pacing System (TPS) -which could hit the market in June -is a miniaturized, self-contained device that is one-tenth the size of conventional pacemakers, yet delivers the most advanced pacing technology available to patients. "Besides being small, the implant has no wires and is one-tenth the size of a conventional pacemaker. The wires or `leads' in existing devices often turn cumbersome since they can't be taken out with the pacemaker and forms a clump near the heart. But with TPS, successive implants will become easier," said Atul Mathur, director of interventional Cardiology , Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, New Delhi.

The new device will be the size of a vitamin capsule and can be implanted through a minimally invasive procedure. It will be delivered straight to the heart through a catheter via the femoral vein. This cuts out the need for incision and the pocket near the heart where a conventional pacemaker is lodged.
"Since there is no incision, the chances of complications arising from it are also eliminated. More importantly , patients can undergo full-body MRI scans with the implant, which are not permitted in case of the conventional devices," Mathur said.
But the cost may be a deterring factor. While existing pacemakers cost up to Rs 1.5 lakh, the TPS could be priced at Rs 2.5 lakh. But the price could come down over the next two years, felt experts.
"The size is an advantage, apart from the fact that since the technology will be advanced, it will pack in more features. In terms of efficiency, the existing pacemakers are good enough. But with time, smaller implants should have all the features of a multi-chambered pacemaker," said Debashish Saha, consult at AMRI Hospital, Salt Lake.