… At the Mayo Clinic, Paul Friedman and his colleagues were busy studying details of a part of an ECG known as the T wave and how it correlated with blood levels of potassium. In medicine, we’ve known for decades that tall T waves could signify high potassium levels and that a potassium level over 5.0 mEq/L is dangerous. People with kidney disease are at risk for developing these levels of potassium. The higher the blood level over 5, the greater the risk of sudden death due to heart arrhythmias, especially for patients with advanced kidney disease or those who undergo hemodialysis. Friedman’s findings were based on correlating the ECG and potassium levels in just twelve patients before, during, and after dialysis. They published their findings in an obscure heart electrophysiology journal in 2015; the paper’s subtitle was “Proof of Concept for a Novel ‘Blood-Less’ Blood Test.” They reported that with potassium level changes even in the normal range (3.5–5.0), differences as low as 0.2 mEq/L could be machine detected by the ECG, but not by a human-eye review of the tracing.
Friedman and his team were keen to pursue this idea with the new way of obtaining ECGs, via smartphones or smartwatches, and incorporate AI tools.
A recent study published in PLOS Medicine confirmed that a fitness tracker can help keep you accountable for years to come regarding maintaining activity levels.
Researchers found that after using a fitness tracker for 12 weeks, participants were more likely to increase their levels of physical activity years later.
Those who tracked their activity were also 44 percent less likely to have a bone fracture and 66 percent less likely to have a heart attack or stroke.
… The one big difference between the Series 3 and the Series 4 is the chip inside. The Series 4 steps it up a notch with a 64-bit dual core processor, which is 2 x faster than the Series 3’s dual-core processor. … All in all, the Series 4 is a huge jump from the Series 3, but, crucially, you won’t be disappointed by the performance of the Apple Watch Series 3.
… AirPods and competing wireless earbuds started as a way for consumers to play music and receive calls without cords and having to mess with their phones. Now the devices are adding voice-based personal assistants, health-tracking features and more.
Market research firm IDC projects that smart earwear shipments will increase from 72 million units this year to 105.3 million units in 2023. That equates to a compound annual growth rate of 10%. The category is projected to have faster growth than either smartwatches and fitness bands. Last year, smart earwear shipments totaled 45 million units worldwide.
South Florida Sun Sentinel, Cindy Krischer Goodman from
From a small light-up pad that makes your bruise fade faster to a strip of gel that minimizes scars, new innovations to improve your health needs are on their way.
Inventors, manufacturers and health professionals from around the world descended on Miami Beach last week to make deals and show off the newest and coolest products that tackle everything from diabetes to incontinence to fall prevention and mouth care. The Florida International Medical Expo (FIME) is the largest its kind in the Americas with 1,200 exhibitors from more than 40 countries displaying their healthcare innovations. Some of the products are in early stages, are unproven or still lack approval to be sold in the United States.
La Trobe Sport and Exercise Medicine Research Centre from
… There are currently five high quality research studies, which demonstrate that traditional shoe prescription does not prevent running related injuries in groups of novice runners, female runners or in military training populations. However a recent study has challenged these findings. In a group of recreational runners who were prescribed either a motion control or neutral shoe and followed for six months, a motion control shoe provided some protection against injury in runners with a pronated foot type.
With such conflicting findings, further high quality research is required to determine the most effective shoe prescription system. In the meantime runners should understand that while other shoe prescription paradigms e.g. minimalist or maximalist shoes, are often suggested, there is no conclusive evidence that any shoe, regardless of type, is effective at reducing risk of sustaining a running related injury. Of greater importance is the implementation of appropriate training strategies, which have been demonstrated to reduce the incidence of injuries in runners (see below).
Saucony-sponsored Ward doesn’t want to be at a racing disadvantage against the Nike Vaporfly 4%, so he’s fighting back with laboratory testing and statistical analysis.
For whatever reason, I find openwater swim safety devices to be interesting. So, if you’re not an openwater swimmer, then returning tomorrow is your best bet. Or, go check out this past post from 9 years ago when I accidentally swam into a policed compound in a foreign country. But, for those who do like getting wet – then read on!
… “TripleCell will deliver the industry’s pinnacle expression of data to design with seamless transitions between variable properties underfoot”, says Katherine Petrecca, New Balance General Manager, Innovation Design Studio. “This new, cutting edge, digitally manufactured technology is now scaling exclusively within New Balance factories in the U.S. further establishing us as a leader in 3D printing and domestic manufacturing. Formlabs has been an integral partner to bring this to life. We’re really going to be able to disrupt the industry not only in performance, but also in athlete customization and speed to market“
“3D printing is changing how companies approach manufacturing, with this announcement New Balance is pioneering localized manufacturing,” said Dávid Lakatos, Chief Product Officer of Formlabs. “By eliminating the dependence on molds and direct printing for both prototyping and production, their team shifts from months to hours in the development and production cycles. We’re moving towards a world where design cycles are closing in on the whim of the consumer and it’s exciting to be on the frontlines of this with New Balance.”
… Health and fitness are amongst the most successful application areas for wearable technology. Research by Gartner states that worldwide shipments of wearable devices will reach 225 million in 2019, an increase of 25.8 per cent from 2018. However, despite an increase in sales, the technological advancements of wearable healthcare devices have decelerated.
Take fitness tracking as an example. While there have been a huge number of products released, such as smart watches, activity bands and clip-on trackers, there has been little development in technology beyond style, design and aesthetics.
Smarter wearable devices, such as those that can be weaved into clothing, implanted in shoes or concealed on the wearers skin, are only now being developed into marketable products.
A team of scientists are seeking to kick-start a wearable technology revolution by creating flexible fibres and adding acids from red wine.
Extracting tannic acid from red wine, coffee or black tea, led a team of scientists from The University of Manchester to develop much more durable and flexible wearable devices. The addition of tannins improved mechanical properties of materials such as cotton to develop wearable sensors for rehabilitation monitoring, drastically increasing the devices lifespan.
The team have developed wearable devices such as capacitive breath sensors and artificial hands for extreme conditions by improving the durability of flexible sensors. Previously, wearable technology has been subject to fail after repeated bending and folding which can interrupt the conductivity of such devices due to tiny micro cracks. Improving this could open the door to more long-lasting integrated technology.
Cycling to work gives you many bragging rights: You got your workout in, you reduced your carbon footprint, and now it’s pretty much confirmed that ride commuting to work makes you healthier than your car-commuting officemates.
According to a two-part meta-analysis published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine any kind of riding—whether you do it as a workout or simply to get to work—can give you a health boost.
Gatorade Sports Science Institute, José González-Alonso from
When people undertake prolonged exercise, they experience significant body fluid losses through thermoregulatory sweating and become progressively dehydrated. If dehydration is not attenuated via fluid replacement during exercise, physiological function and endurance capacity may be drastically impaired (Cheuvront & Kenefick, 2014; González-Alonso et al., 2008; Sawka et al., 2011). The extent to which global physiological function and athletic performance are impaired will depend upon the interplay among the level of dehydration, the intensity of exercise, the external environmental conditions and the athlete’s training and heat-acclimation status. Conceivably, the severely dehydrated, heat unacclimated and unfit endurance athlete, who is training or competing in a hot and humid environment, will experience the most deleterious physiological and performance effects. The mildly dehydrated, highly fit endurance athlete training and competing in a cold environment will be at the opposite end of the spectrum. Although this hypothesis has support in the literature (e.g., Corbett et al. 2018) and is discussed and substantiated below in respect to the influence of physiological demand, it is acknowledged that further research is warranted to establish how hydration level, physical fitness, heat acclimation and environmental conditions interact to differentially affect physiological function and endurance athletic performance.
… Michael Ormsbee, a professor of nutrition, food and exercise sciences at Florida State University, has been researching eating before bed for nearly a decade — and he’s certain that there still isn’t enough evidence to prove that late-night snacking causes weight gain.
There is “this dichotomy between what [everyone’s been saying] and what I saw athletes doing: eating late at night and still having abs,” says Ormsbee. “It really depends what you’re eating, and how much.”
His research has found that a small amount of protein — he used around 200 calories-worth of cottage cheese in one study — 30 minutes before bed will have no effect on a person’s metabolism.
Researchers are eager to tap into the steadily expanding pool of health information collected from users by products like Fitbit, Clue, and the Apple Watch. But while these datasets could be a scientific treasure trove for scientists, they also pose logistical and ethical challenges that need to be addressed.
“There are huge opportunities. I think that’s the attraction,” says Ida Sim, director of digital health for the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Sim explains that part of the appeal for scientists is that the apps and tech are designed to appeal to the general public. A commerheractive interface is primed for long-term use by far more people than can usually be included in a research study, and people actually use them. “As opposed to a clunky research wristband, which is ugly, and people won’t wear it,” she says.
Seven in ten Americans live within a two-hour drive of a National Forest. And yet, most Americans are not aware of this incredible resource. That’s why today, the National Forest Foundation (NFF) is announcing this week as the first annual “National Forest Week,” with the goal of spreading awareness about this uniquely American resource. The NFF is hosting celebration events all week across the country.
Walk around any American city and it’s easy to see: Not all neighborhoods are created equal. Some have vibrant, inviting playgrounds, lush green parks and trails, bustling business districts and plenty of welcoming public spaces to host a farmer’s market, fair or community gathering. Others don’t.
What accounts for this disparity? The answers to this question reach back across generations of public policy ranging from the unintentionally flawed to the outright biased. Although the causes of inequity are vast and systemic, the effects are specific, measurable, mappable, and—in many cities—literally concrete.
A newly developed material that is so perfectly transparent you can barely see it could unlock many new uses for solar heat. It generates much higher temperatures than conventional solar collectors do — enough to be used for home heating or for industrial processes that require heat of more than 200 degrees Celsius (392 degrees Fahrenheit).
The key to the process is a new kind of aerogel, a lightweight material that consists mostly of air, with a structure made of silica (which is also used to make glass). The material lets sunlight pass through easily but blocks solar heat from escaping.
