Exercise Science Links

Here are the latest links from the Curtin Exercise and Sports Science scoop.it.

  • Medical devices that become obsolete against a smartphone

    We have already looked at how a mobile phone can be used as a tool for helping and monitoring people with certain medical conditions (like for example diabetes patients or people with reduced eyesight), but more and more apps and accessories are appearing in the mHealth field, which make use of the features of smartphones in order to replace other traditional medical devices.The advantage of this type of services and tools is obvious: a considerable cost reduction for medical devices, which not only allows anybody to obtain such devices to monitor a patient at home, but it also makes it less difficult to provide them in developing countries, regions in crisis or areas, where the closest hospital may be hundreds of kilometers away.Example 1 : SpiroSmart, your Phone turned into a SpirometerA spirometry may be one of the tests most frequently done on asthma patients and others suffering from breathing problems, fundamentally measuring lung capacity and volume. Although portable spirometers do exist, wouldn’t it be great to be able to take these measures wherever you are with your mobile phone?This is exactly what a group of researchers from Washington University enables you to do with SpiroSmart, an application which – without any additional accessories – allows you to use your smartphone in place of a spirometer. It works in a very simple way: All you need to do, is blow towards the telephone allowing it to analyze the sound frequency. The application uses the user’s windpipe and voice chords to replace the tubes in traditional spirometers.Example 2: MobiUS, Pocket size Ultrasound ScannerNumerous medical examinations are based on ultrasound scans, that create two- or three-dimensional images of what is going on inside our body (like the womb of a pregnant woman, to give you a very common example). How is it possible to realize these kinds of exams without carrying a big and heavy piece of machinery? Pocket Scanners are one possible option, but they are quite pricy. MobiUS is another possibility.MobiUS, has already received approval from the american FDA to be sold on the mHEalth market. It is a accessory which you can connect to a smartphone or tablet computer and slide it over the part of the patient’s body to be analyzed. The images obtained by the ultrasound accessory appear on our smartphone screen and may be stored or shared immediately with other doctors. And the accessory works with batteries, which makes it possible to use it in areas where no electrical grid is available.

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