Open-science nonprofit trots out promising data from study of iPhone app for Parkinson's

Open-science nonprofit Sage Bionetworks has released promising data from a study of its iPhone app for Parkinson's. The news is a feather in the organization's cap as it forges ahead with its technology and fleshes out the system to help researchers develop better insights into the disease.

More than 9,500 individuals with Parkinson's over the past 6 months logged data using Sage's mPower app, and the organization found a huge variation of symptoms among patients. Sage also saw different patterns in how patients took their medicine and their corresponding symptoms. The information could help scientists target better windows of intervention and also allow healthcare professionals to tailor treatment to patients, Sage said in a statement.

The app tracks patients' daily experiences to give scientists a better idea about their symptoms. mPower, which Sage developed with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, uses iPhone sensors to measure patients' dexterity, balance and gait, memory and vocal characteristics. The app also tracks when patients take their meds.

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NIH, DARPA-backed researchers develop wireless, dissolvable brain sensors

Scientists have developed brain implants to monitor pressure and temperature after traumatic brain injury that dissolve over a few days. The idea is that these could be implanted during surgery on TBI patients in order to conduct subsequent monitoring, but then they would not require removal.

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MIT hacking institute to vet mHealth apps, tools

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, via its nonprofit health tech start-up, will begin issuing reviews of connected medical devices, mHealth services and apps researched by Harvard University physicians and experts from MIT's Hacking Medicine Institute.
The hacking institute is willing to say certain apps "are the best," and that other ones "are unsafe at any speed," Zen Chu, an institute co-founder, tells Medical Marketing & Media (MM&M). "The Hacking Medicine Institute is a group of hackers, and we can take that risk."
The reviews, scheduled to debut early this month, will offer up information on devices, websites and apps, and will be updated throughout the year. The goal is to reduce confusion over the more than 165,000 apps currently on the market, and help consumers and providers chooses the best ones for their needs, Chu adds.

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Samsung, Medtronic partner on diabetes monitoring apps

Samsung Electronics and Medtronic are teaming up to develop mobile apps to provide insight and access on diabetes data, including glucose monitoring information, for Medtronic's MiniMed Connect. The MiniMed Connect device offers providers faster and easier access to patient insulin pump and glucose data in a mobile environment, as well as remote alerts, which Medtronic says will allow for more real-time care plan adjustment capability.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved Connect device lets diabetics view insulin pump and glucose monitor data on a smartphone, and provides remote monitoring and text messages for caregivers. Medtronic will also be working with Glooko, which has a cloud-based diabetes management platform.
The Medtronic-Glooko partnership will allow Medtronic to integrate other health and wellness data sources, such as food, medication, fitness and biometric data with its CareLink platform. This data, combined with insight via the Connect diabetes data, will help patients manage the chronic condition. 

For further information, click here.

Exciting output exploring the use of Technology to support positive mental health: Techno Therapies Animation Exciting output exploring the use of Technology to support positive mental health: Techno Therapies Animation

As part of the Economic and Social Science Research Councils (ESRC) Festival of Social Science, the Centre for Assistive Technology and Connected Healthcare (CATCH) held a free, public event called Techno Therapies. The event was an afternoon of exciting talks, demonstrations and debates showcasing current healthcare technologies that can be used to improve or help maintain people’s mental health and well-being, the importance of design in digital health. 

Following on from the event and drawing on the presentations from the day, Dr Katherine Easton has collaborated with Inkwell Creative Arts Media, a volunteer led enterprise offering media solutions and services, to produce a short animation that explores the use of technology in mental health.

Dr Easton from CATCH explains the intentions behind the film “The aim really is to make research accessible. Explain to the public what it is we (at the University) are trying to achieve with the research that we do. I would love to see more interaction between members of the public, health services, industry and academia, working together to create products and services that meet user’s needs”.

You can watch the animation by following this link or via the embedded clip below..
Special thanks to delegates of the Techno Therapies and the CATCH team.

mHealth App Catalogue

Have you ever wondered how many mHealth Apps are out there? Ever wondered how many apps there are for different clinical areas? What about how many are free and how many you have to pay for, and how much?

Well you can find all of this out (and more) by clicking on this link!

Surgeon creates app to speed post-op recovery from knee procedures

A surgeon, who is also a start-up tech entrepreneur, has created an mHealth app aimed at helping patients be more informed about elective surgery recovery issues and having a quicker post-op recovery experience.

The My Recovery app, developed by orthopaedic surgeon Thomas Harte, helps patients take a proactive role in their care when recovering from procedures and strives to answer questions and quell concerns that arise in post-op scenarios. 

The video-focused interactive software initially zeros in on knee surgery recovery. A hospital stay for a knee replacement shouldn't go beyond three days, but Harte says many patients are hospitalized for five to seven days, and a big reason is that they're not prepared to handle recovery at home. The app, he believes, can shorten the hospital time while also building a patient's confidence regarding post-op surgery activity.

For more information, please click here.

 Written by Tim Ellis