Kinect imaging lets surgeons keep their focus - tech - 17 May 2012 - New Scientist On Tuesday last week, a surgeon at Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospital in London began trials of a new device that uses an Xbox Kinect camera to sense body position. Just by waving his arms the surgeon can consult and sift through medical images, such as CT scans or real-time X-rays, while in the middle of an operation. Maintaining a sterile environment in the operating room is paramount, but scrubbing in and out to scroll through scan images mid-operation can be time-consuming and break a surgeon’s concentration or sense of flow. Depending on the type of surgery, a surgeon will stop and consult medical images anywhere from once an hour to every few minutes. To avoid leaving the table, many surgeons rely on assistants to manipulate the computer for them, a distracting and sometimes frustrating process.
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Kinect imaging lets surgeons keep their focus - tech - 17 May 2012 - New Scientist

On Tuesday last week, a surgeon at Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospital in London began trials of a new device that uses an Xbox Kinect camera to sense body position. Just by waving his arms the surgeon can consult and sift through medical images, such as CT scans or real-time X-rays, while in the middle of an operation.

Maintaining a sterile environment in the operating room is paramount, but scrubbing in and out to scroll through scan images mid-operation can be time-consuming and break a surgeon’s concentration or sense of flow. Depending on the type of surgery, a surgeon will stop and consult medical images anywhere from once an hour to every few minutes. To avoid leaving the table, many surgeons rely on assistants to manipulate the computer for them, a distracting and sometimes frustrating process.

Source: newscientist.com

BBC News - Third of UK babies ‘will live to 100’ In 2012 there are 826,000 babies aged under one year. Although more are boys - 423,000 compared to 403,000 girls - the survival odds are greater for females. Women have higher life expectancies than men at every age. Of those born in 2012, 135,000 men and 156,000 women are expected to still be alive by age 100. The report - What are the Chances of Surviving to Age 100? - comes as ministers have pledged to double funding for dementia research in the UK. If this holds true over time it will continue to have all sorts of implications. Everything from the economic situation for both society and individuals to different values and ways to think of life and life stages. Is e g the promise of a longer life having an effect on how we relate to our institutions and infrastructures which originally was created to create longer term stability than what any individual could oversee, but which today seems to have a shorter term perspective than what any individual can afford to have. Especially when promised to live until 100…
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BBC News - Third of UK babies ‘will live to 100’

In 2012 there are 826,000 babies aged under one year. Although more are boys - 423,000 compared to 403,000 girls - the survival odds are greater for females. Women have higher life expectancies than men at every age.

Of those born in 2012, 135,000 men and 156,000 women are expected to still be alive by age 100.

The report - What are the Chances of Surviving to Age 100? - comes as ministers have pledged to double funding for dementia research in the UK.

If this holds true over time it will continue to have all sorts of implications. Everything from the economic situation for both society and individuals to different values and ways to think of life and life stages. Is e g the promise of a longer life having an effect on how we relate to our institutions and infrastructures which originally was created to create longer term stability than what any individual could oversee, but which today seems to have a shorter term perspective than what any individual can afford to have. Especially when promised to live until 100…

Source: BBC

Health@Google: Eric Topol (by AtGoogleTalks)

Interesting and concrete examples of the opportunities of data driven and personalized health care.

Source: youtube.com

Smartphones more accurate, faster, cheaper for disease surveillance | KurzweilAI

smarterplanet:

Smartphones are showing promise in disease surveillance in the developing world.

Smartphone use was cheaper than traditional paper survey methods to gather disease information (after the initial set-up cost), researchers at the Kenya Ministry of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found in a study.

Survey data collected with smartphones also had fewer errors and were more quickly available for analyses than data collected on paper.

Source: smarterplanet

Bridging the gap between doctors and hackers to upgrade health care les perreaux, theglobeandmail.com Among some com­put­er geeks, it’s the Hack­er Way: A loose model for rapid­ly solv­ing prob­lems through intense, inex­pen­sive jam ses­sions among soft­ware pro­gram­mers and web design­ers, with lit­tle plan­ning and total free­dom.Mark… This could be an interesting of approaching the challenges of innovation in the health area. The problem with most of these approaches is that they aims at problems within the health care organizations rather than meeting the broader issues of health care in the future.
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Bridging the gap between doctors and hackers to upgrade health care
les perreaux, theglobeandmail.com

Among some com­put­er geeks, it’s the Hack­er Way: A loose model for rapid­ly solv­ing prob­lems through intense, inex­pen­sive jam ses­sions among soft­ware pro­gram­mers and web design­ers, with lit­tle plan­ning and total free­dom.

Mark…

This could be an interesting of approaching the challenges of innovation in the health area. The problem with most of these approaches is that they aims at problems within the health care organizations rather than meeting the broader issues of health care in the future.

DNA Sequencing To Go - Technology Review Oxford Nanopore says it will begin selling by the end of the year a disposable DNA sequencer about the size of a USB memory stick that can be plugged directly into a laptop or desktop computer and used to perform a single-molecule sensing experiment. The device is expected to sell for $900, according to the company. The company also unveiled a larger benchtop version of the technology. It says a configuration of 20 of the benchtop instruments could completely sequence a human genome in 15 minutes.
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DNA Sequencing To Go - Technology Review

Oxford Nanopore says it will begin selling by the end of the year a disposable DNA sequencer about the size of a USB memory stick that can be plugged directly into a laptop or desktop computer and used to perform a single-molecule sensing experiment. The device is expected to sell for $900, according to the company.

The company also unveiled a larger benchtop version of the technology. It says a configuration of 20 of the benchtop instruments could completely sequence a human genome in 15 minutes.

Source: technologyreview.com

Twenty six per cent of European doctors own an iPad - NEWS - articles - Pharmaceutical Industry - PMLiVE

Twenty six per cent of European doctors own an iPad and they spend over a quarter of their professional online time on the device, according to new research.
[…]
The analysts found that iPad owners primarily use their devices to look up information, browse articles, and watch videos and said physicians showed “significant interest in using iPads to manage and educate their patients”.

A astonishing rate of penetration for a technology this young and made for a consumer market.

83 year-old woman got 3D printed mandible The Zen Cart™ Team and others, adafruit.com The Uni­ver­si­ty of Has­selt (Bel­gium) announced today that Bel­gian and Dutch sci­en­tists have suc­cess­ful­ly replac­ing a lower jaw with a 3D print­ed model for a 83 year-old woman. Accord­ing to the researchers, It is the first custom-made… It interesting to note the unique advantages 3d print seems to have in some areas - in this case replicating something unique in short time. I would bet that it is much cheaper than alternative methods as well.
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83 year-old woman got 3D printed mandible
The Zen Cart™ Team and others, adafruit.com

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Has­selt (Bel­gium) announced today that Bel­gian and Dutch sci­en­tists have suc­cess­ful­ly replac­ing a lower jaw with a 3D print­ed model for a 83 year-old woman. Accord­ing to the researchers, It is the first custom-made…

It interesting to note the unique advantages 3d print seems to have in some areas - in this case replicating something unique in short time. I would bet that it is much cheaper than alternative methods as well.

IAF has developed Primary Care 2025: A Scenario Exploration, a set of scenarios describing the alternative futures of primary care in the U.S. in the year 2025. These scenarios consider the nation’s economic challenges, political polarization, and opportunities afforded by disruptive technological advances and new delivery systems. The report includes implications and recommendations based on the scenarios, developed at a National Workshop of leaders. The scenarios help organizations, associations, and communities to gain greater understanding of the challenges facing primary care as well as the options we may have in the years to come. (via Primary Care 2025 | Institute for Alternative Futures)
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IAF has developed Primary Care 2025: A Scenario Exploration, a set of scenarios describing the alternative futures of primary care in the U.S. in the year 2025. These scenarios consider the nation’s economic challenges, political polarization, and opportunities afforded by disruptive technological advances and new delivery systems. The report includes implications and recommendations based on the scenarios, developed at a National Workshop of leaders. The scenarios help organizations, associations, and communities to gain greater understanding of the challenges facing primary care as well as the options we may have in the years to come.

(via Primary Care 2025 | Institute for Alternative Futures)

Source: altfutures.org

emergentfutures: Ion Proton sequencer decodes DNA fast and on the cheap “Until recently, DNA decoding machines - fitting in the US$500,000 to $750,000 price range - would take weeks or even months to sequence a human genome, and the whole procedure would cost $5,000 to $10,000. The Ion Proton is priced at $149,000 and is capable of decoding a human genome in one day at a cost of $1,000. These enormous improvements could have a game-changing significance.” Full Story: Gizmag
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emergentfutures:

Ion Proton sequencer decodes DNA fast and on the cheap

“Until recently, DNA decoding machines - fitting in the US$500,000 to $750,000 price range - would take weeks or even months to sequence a human genome, and the whole procedure would cost $5,000 to $10,000. The Ion Proton is priced at $149,000 and is capable of decoding a human genome in one day at a cost of $1,000. These enormous improvements could have a game-changing significance.”

Full Story: Gizmag

Source: emergentfutures