What Happens When You Don't Sleep. Atherosclerosis, Prostate Health, Hormones, Diabetes, And More Health Concerns. Investment in Digital Health Triples Over Past Year. It's not just mobile health (mHealth) that is growing fast. The overall digital health sector - which includes mHealth, B2B apps and consumer services such as ZocDoc - is also rapidly expanding. That's if venture capital funding is anything to go by. A report by financial services company Burrill & Company states that private financings in digital health more than tripled in the first half of 2012. This follows a June report from nonprofit foundation Rock Health that showed "skyrocketing" VC funding in the sector. According to Burrill & Company, digital health investments "grew to $499 million in 46 transactions during the first half of the year, compared to just $156 million in 19 transactions for the same period in 2011.
" The 2012 figure was boosted by four significant funding deals. Rock Health included more companies in its digital health index, leading to a larger figure of $675 million in digital health funding over the first half of 2012. Physician ToolsSensorsHome HealthData. Smart Glasses Read Emotions, Detect Trauma. PSFK has partnered with Boehringer Ingelheim to bring you a snapshot of Ten Innovative Ideas each week that are reshaping the health care industry.
Continue reading below for the most exciting ideas from the past seven days. App Promotes Healthy Living By Offering Rewards To Those Who Walk Or Cycle Around London The new mobile app re:route uses a reward system to encourage consumers in London to walk or cycle during the Olympic games. Created by New York-based Recyclebank and Transport for London, the app aims to alleviate the predicted influx of volume on the city’s public transportation system. Consumers using the iOS app enter their journey and are shown different travel options—including walking and cycling, with their own bike or Barclays Cycle Hire, and public transport—and can collect points for every journey they make on foot or by bicycle, upon arriving at their destination. Snips. The myth of the eight-hour sleep. Image copyright Other We often worry about lying awake in the middle of the night - but it could be good for you.
A growing body of evidence from both science and history suggests that the eight-hour sleep may be unnatural. In the early 1990s, psychiatrist Thomas Wehr conducted an experiment in which a group of people were plunged into darkness for 14 hours every day for a month. It took some time for their sleep to regulate but by the fourth week the subjects had settled into a very distinct sleeping pattern. Though sleep scientists were impressed by the study, among the general public the idea that we must sleep for eight consecutive hours persists. In 2001, historian Roger Ekirch of Virginia Tech published a seminal paper, drawn from 16 years of research, revealing a wealth of historical evidence that humans used to sleep in two distinct chunks.
Image copyright bbc "It's not just the number of references - it is the way they refer to it, as if it was common knowledge," Ekirch says. Building the health information infrastructure for the modern epatient. To learn more about what levers the government is pulling to catalyze innovation in the healthcare system, I turned to Dr. Farzad Mostashari (@Farzad_ONC). As the National Coordinator for Health IT, Mostashari is one of the most important public officials entrusted with improving the nation’s healthcare system through smarter use of technology.
Mostashari, a public-health informatics specialist, was named ONC chief in April 2011, replacing Dr. David Blumenthal. Mostashari’s full biography, available at HHS.gov, notes that he “was one of the lead investigators in the outbreaks of West Nile Virus and anthrax in New York City, and was among the first developers of real-time electronic disease surveillance systems nationwide.” I talked to Mostashari on the same day that he published a look back over 2011, which he hailed as a year of momentous progress in health information technology. Our interview follows. What excites you about your work? Farzad Mostashari: Well, it’s a really fun job. Beating Food Addiction & Sugar Addiction: Ideas from Dr. Hyman. WE ARE ALL PROGRAMMED TO LIKE SUGAR. New research shows some are genetically much more prone to sugar and food addiction than others. I have observed this in my patients, but now it is becoming clear why some have more trouble kicking the sugar habit than others.
As I reviewed in my previous article on food addiction, the science demonstrating that people can be biologically addicted to sugar in the same way we can be addicted to heroin, cocaine or nicotine is clear. Bingeing and addictive behaviors are eerily similar in alcoholics and sugar addicts. In fact, most recovering alcoholics often switch to another easily available drug: Sugar. It seems that we all vary a bit in our capacity for pleasure. Some us need a lot more stimulation to feel pleasure driving us to a range of addictive pleasures that stimulate our reward center in the brain – drug and alcohol addictions, compulsive gambling, sex addiction and, of course, sugar, food addiction, and compulsive eating. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Study of the Day: Blood Tests Can Accurately Diagnose Depression - Hans Villarica - Health. New research shows that blood screenings can accurately spot multiple telltale biomarkers in patients with classic symptoms of depression.
PROBLEM: Depression has traditionally been diagnosed with a questionnaire that assesses patients' reported symptoms. This process varies greatly, however, since it relies heavily on the clinician's experience and resources. METHODOLOGY: To test if an objective biological test could improve diagnosis accuracy, scientists recruited 36 adults with major depression and 43 healthy participants for a blood screening. They measured the levels of nine biomarkers associated with depressive symptoms, such as inflammation, the development and maintenance of neurons, and the interaction between brain structures involved with stress response and other key functions. RESULTS: The blood test indicated the presence of depression in 33 of the 36 patients and registered false positives for eight of the 43 participants in the control group.
Image: Themalni/Shutterstock. Facts about soda | 9 Disturbing Side Effects of Soda. Abolish the Food Industry - Raj Patel - Health. If public health is a legitimate reason to curb corporations' advertising to kids, why limit bans to cigarettes, booze, and toys in happy meals, and not include, say, all unhealthy food? In the fall of 2008, San Francisco polished its progressive credentials by banning something. From October 1, 2008, the sale of cigarettes was prohibited in certain places.
You could still buy them in convenience stores, of course, and bodegas, gas stations, and even the occasional bar. But the city thought that perhaps it was a bad idea to allow them to be sold in pharmacies. Pharmacy and tobacco executives were apoplectic. The cigarette industry survives, as does its advertising. Alcohol is similarly circumscribed, again with an eye to public health and, again, with a particular concern for young people. A paper in the latest issue of Nature by Robert Lustig, Laura Schmidt, and Claire Brindis fuels the debate, pointing to the long-term similarities of sugar and alcohol consumption.
Medicine Begins to Catch Up With Star Trek - Tech Europe. By Nick Clayton From the early days of the science-fiction television series Star Trek the “tricorder” was a vital prop used to scan, analyze and record data. It came in various guises, including a medical version, but it was a dramatic prop, not a real device. Last week New Electronics reported on the continuing interest in the concept of real-life tricorder. The X Prize Foundation, along with Qualcomm, is offering a $10million prize to the person who can build such a device. It didn’t take long for a potential prizewinner to come along as researchers described a new method of creating Terahertz, or T-rays, which are currently used by full body security scanners.
According to the scientists, the new T-rays are stronger, more efficient and could be used to make better medical scanning gadgets, as well as potentially paving the way for innovations similar to the Tricorder. Meanwhile, another group of scientists say smartphones could be used to test for diseases including cancer. How to: Take Control of Your Health in 2012. Dionysian indulgences between Thanksgiving and New Year’s are part of la joie de vivre, but they can take a real, long-term toll on our health. Which is why, like every year, we vow to be healthier in the New Year. We promise to be better to ourselves, manage stress more efficiently, eat healthier foods and hit the gym more often. This Christmas, my 61-year old father gave us quite the scare. After complaining of terrible stomach aches, we drove him to the ER. 12 hours later, he was in surgery to have his gallbladder removed. We spent Christmas Eve in the hospital; and while my mother prayed, I thought about how I could help and inspire myself and the ones I love to have a healthier 2012.
Maintaining a productive health and fitness regimen is hard. Recently, I stumbled upon Greatist, which is an educated, upbeat and go-to source for all things fitness, health and happiness. “I love everything about fitness; I weight train, I run and I practice yoga once a week. ZocDoc RunKeeper Fitocracy. A Smartphone-Enabled Device that Detects Cancer in Under an Hour. The microNMR-smartphone system - a tool for rapid and accurate cancer screening If you’re a smartphone naysayer, here’s some news that might make you drink the Kool-Aid along with nearly half of Americans: of the 652 app applications submitted just to Apple every day, an increasing number of healthcare-related apps are starting to trickle in that could actually help save lives. An exciting example comes from the scientists at the Center for Systems Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital that have knocked it out of the park by integrating a microNMR device that accurately detects cancer cells to a smartphone.
Though just a prototype, this device enables a clinician to extract small amounts of cells from a mass inside of a patient, analyze the sample on the spot, acquire the results in an hour, and pass the results to other clinicians and into medical records rapidly. How much does the device cost to make? $200. Seriously, smartphones just got their own Samuel L. Tawkon Debuts Free Cellular Radiation App for Android [Disrupt Startup Alley] Health Archives. Mobile Application to Diagnose Disease by Hearing you Cough. Turn Your Head...Towards Your Mobile Phone The American and Australian scientists at STAR have received a $100,000 grant from the Gates Foundation to develop the cough-analyzing software for developing countries where access to health care is more limited than in first world nations.
Despite the poor economic conditions of these under-developed countries, there are a plethora of mobile phones which are being used for everything from early warning systems to mobile payments to health alerts. An mobile app that diagnoses disease would fit right in. The way the diagnostic software works is by comparing the sounds of the mobile user's cough to a database of coughs associated with all the different types of respiratory diseases. At the moment, the software exists as a computer application but the scientists plan to have it re-written, when complete, as an application for mobile phones. I Will Honor The Embargo. Our constant rants on the PR Industry do not go unnoticed. In return our tips box is filled with humorous anecdotes, articles and now, a video. Here are two we’ve received in the last week. Which we’re posting in honor of Yahoo breaking its own embargo, and the AP sending the launch of CODE advisors completely sideways by breaking an embargo by nearly 24 hours.
Outcast PR was on both stories. First, the job description. Even a decade ago everyone thought PR was just about the worst job around. PR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE FOR A DOT-COM STARTUP—Here’s the perfect job for people who want the worst of all worlds. Second, this video (in fact created by TechCrunch Europe Contributing Editor Steve O’Hear) which recreates a conversation between a PR professional and a blogger or journalists. Transcript: PR Pro: Hi I’m just checking you got the email I sent. Blogger: When did you send it? PR Pro: Five minutes ago. Blogger: Oh. PR Pro: Shall I send it again? Blogger: No. Blogger: I get a lot of email. Main Page - Design For Mobile: resources for designing and building mobile apps and sites. SmartViper - domain worth analyzer, historical statistics. Knowledge Is Power. Health 2.0. The Health 2.0 Blog: Personal Genome Management--the next big thing? by Matthew Holt. Elevating Community Health with Innovation and Engagement The Health 2.0 movement strives to inspire innovative action in digital health, aiming to improve health at the individual, community, population, and global level.
Our work as a company will continue to contribute to the growing determination and dialog on April 3rd at Health 2.0’s second annual Healthy Communities Data Summit on the UCLA campus. In working with the Calfornia Health Care Foundation, California Wellness Foundation, and the Lucille Packard Foundation, Health 2.0 expects a perserverant group of speakers, demoers, and leaders to identify the community health needs in California, and to jumpstart the ways in which we can all work to fix them. The second annual Healthy Communities Data Summit inspired productive conversation and data discussion, demonstrating new data sets and resources focused on understanding underserved populations, childrens health networks, and larger patient population profiles.
News & Updates. The Health 2.0 Blog: Health 2.0 Community Present and Vocal as Markle Foundation Policy Meeting Discusses "Consumer Access Practices for Networked Health Information" by David Kibbe. The Genetic Genealogist | Adding DNA to the Genealogist's Toolbox. Connecting for Health - Personal Health Technology Initiative.
The Health 2.0 Blog. How Location Services Could Impact Health Care. Imagine a hospital that could respond to medical emergencies armed with real-time information about exactly where all its doctors were located. Inside the hospital, which cardio specialist is closest to the 4th floor? Outside the hospital - if an on-call physician is racing to get to a patient's side, how far away are they and when can they be expected to arrive? From emergency to non-emergency to everyday preventative health care, location tracking technologies could make a big impact on our health and well-being in the future. While two million consumers use Foursquare today to find the best nearby coffee shops and bars, what if in the future they used it to locate the best pediatricians, emergency clinics, or even restaurants that catered to their unique health needs?
Some intersection between location and health care has already begun, but what we've seen so far is likely only the beginning. For the Patient These kinds of strategies may be less far-fetched than they seem. How Data Will Impact the Future of Healthcare (Infographic) IBM staff storyteller Chris Luongo has created a great infographic explaining the different ways that healthcare could become data driven in the future. The IBM Smarter Planet blog calls it Smarter Healthcare.
We've embedded the infographic below in Microsoft's new web page viewer Zoom.it. Photo by Jeffrey Gluck The data mining part of this story is one of the most interesting to me. As one online resource has explained: Medical (or clinical) databases have accumulated large amounts of data on patients and their medical conditions. Where there is data, there is opportunity for analysis and building added value.
See also: How Location Services Could Impact Healthcare. Mobile Health: Will Network Applications Help Us Get Healthy? - ReadWriteCloud.