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McLaren Applied Technologies In Healthcare When McLaren Applied Technologies was created almost three decade ago, people looking in understood we could use racing as a sandpit to develop technology for motorsports and the automotive industry. From there, it wasn’t much of a leap to see how we could take that into other forms of transport, and today, we have both an Automotive and Public Transport business. With healthcare it was different: our ability to tackle critical challenges in health was not immediately obvious to the outside world. That said, true innovation isn’t derived from being predictable. It comes from pushing boundaries, working with partners who share your ambition and finding the diamonds in the rough to achieve those incremental gains. And with something as important as our health, continuous improvement really is performance critical. Now, let’s put it in context. Motorsport is the interaction between man and machine. If you go into a hospital, you see a similar thing. Modern healthcare is driven by optimising interactions between a biological system, or patient, and often a sensor technology reliant upon sensors. The main difference between a hospital and a racetrack? Instead of drivers and engineers, we have patients and doctors. For me, the similarities between these two worlds make them a good fit – and that’s exactly why I’m confident in our abilities to deliver real improvements in health. Yes, there are many areas of medicine that are highly optimised. In those, there’s not a lot more we can do to engineer better health outcomes. But there are key areas, which promise a significant delta between what we’re doing today where we believe we could be doing more to make that difference in patient outcome. Providing even a very small amount of extra insight where patient behaviours play a very significant role can lead to radically better results. And we’ve already started. Initially we began with elite athletes in partnership with UK Sport – but this type of technology quickly found its way into healthcare applications. NHS Next we went directly into our own health system, the NHS. Here we started by developing a simple technology designed to provide objective information to support weight loss in obesity, with an eye on ultimately preventing the onset of type 2 diabetes. The solution: a system which provided data to show how much energy was being expended by patients prescribed an exercise routine by their clinicians. It was simple, but effective: by wearing the technology, we created a feedback loop. Patients were able to see how much work they were doing and were far more successful at losing weight. So with only a small amount of the right insight we could drive the correct behaviours, in an incredibly powerful way. This shows the power of data to drive change. It can be incredibly effective when used to inform patient behaviour. The main advantage? It is accessible, can have a real effect on outcomes, and does not risk the negative side effects of more aggressive therapies. So what next for Applied Technologies in health? I believe there are five therapeutic areas where we can do what we’re here to do, have impact and improve lives. 1) Diabetes 2) Respiratory Medicine 3) Cardiology 4) Mental Health 5) Bone and Joint Health And we’ve already started on the latter, supporting orthopaedic surgeons achieve better outcomes. How? Consider a joint replacement procedure and the resulting movement of the joint. When it comes to bone and joint health, clinicians don’t use good, objective functional data, but instead, rely heavily upon X-rays. That’s a structural dataset. To really make a difference, make a change, you need the full picture: functional datasets of the way in which people move. You can then analyse the loading patterns around about the joint in order to inform the best type of reconstruction with all the data available, and drive an improvement in patient-outcomes from surgery. But this is only the first leg of our journey. Applied Technologies is growing fast in health, from the UK to Singapore. And our mission in health is only growing. As a team, we will create intelligent products and processes to improve health outcomes, reduce health inequality, at a cost that we can afford. It’s all about improving lives. Source : https://www.mclaren.com/appliedtechnologies/news/how-mclaren-use-formula-1-technology-improve-healthcare/

It's the humanity. It's the technology. It's the vast complexities of our evolving world that both humanity and technology just can't seem to find a middle ground. I've found that many of life's discussions--from the dining room to the emergency room--often move to a polarized perspective where human-centricity and technological advances clash in a tumultuous battle where only one perspective can survive. It seems that technology and humanity are in battle with each other. And this can certainly be revealed in the emotionally-driven decisions in clinical care that attempt to balance quality of life versus issues like survival. We can even see this in the emergence of the robotic burger flipper that contrasts automation with human employment. Time for a new Q Maybe technology needs to be more empathetic. But perhaps and in curious way, it might just be humanity that needs to become more empathetic to technology. I don't think there's a mushy middle here--a bland compromise that obscures and doesn't resolve. So, I'm fine with defining our humanity by IQ. And I think that EQ is great too. But maybe it's time for a new Q. And this time, technology is demanding a seat at the table. My argument is that there's a new perspective that's driven by the amazing advances in technology that range from neural implants to artificial intelligence. And as much as it makes people nervous, I contend that humanity itself is changing and morphing into a techno-powered transhuman reality. And yes, I did say transhuman. After you have completely integrated your smartphone into your lifestyle, received that pacemaker, the new hip, LASIK vision improvement, and a few other technological implants, you might consider yourself a bit changed. And your relationship with technology (and your new self) is going to change too. So, how do you put it all into perspective? Is the emerging 'you' composed of just flesh and blood? Or has silicon replaced carbon as part of your techno-physiology? How can we consider things like IQ and EQ in the context of the techno-evolved human? If fact, it's been argued that we may already need to expand IQ into a broader perspective, that can include BQ (body quotient) and MQ (moral quotient) to better capture today's reality. I'm suggesting that we include a new framework beyond IQ and EQ. As our exponential world unfolds before us, intrinsic intelligence and empathy will help us ride the technological wave to an exciting new world. But, our ability to assimilate these changes into our lives and our bodies may be just as important. TQ : Technology Quotient Introducing TQ. A technology quotient representing a person's ability to adapt to and integrate technology as compared to the statistical norm or average for their age, taken as 100. Any Mom or Dad can understand the value of IQ and EQ in projecting the potential for a child's success. And while the perfect combination of IQ and EQ may be in question, book smarts and street smarts are always high on the wish list. But what about technology? The ability for the toddler and the teacher to understand, embrace and assimilate technology will be a defining aspect of their lives as we speed into the future. And in many instances, this techno-ability will drive achievement and success. In the final analysis, we are increasingly defined by technology and our active participation in everything from smartphones to Facebook. It might just be time for the basic human needs of food, water and shelter to incorporate technology too. And when that happens, it just might be a good idea to measure it. Technological innovations are arriving faster and faster--becoming less an option and more an imperative. As this reality unfolds upon us, the value of TQ may emerge as a core determinate of success in this crazy place we call the future. Source : https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-digital-self/201703/technologys-battle-iq-eq-or-something-very-different

Introduction to Mindstrong Health Founded by three of the world’s leading authorities in neuroscience, medicine and computer science, Mindstrong Health is redefining behavioral healthcare by redefining how care providers will diagnose and manage brain disorders. Mindstrong’s technology will – for the first time - give patients and providers a seamless and instantaneous method to objectively and continuously measure mood, cognition, and behavior in the home and work environment, delivering insights not possible with traditional clinical, neuropsychological, and imaging techniques. Mindstrong builds on one of the founder’s digital biomarker platform developed over years of extensive R&D. Mindstrong has developed and patented a biomarker panel that measures brain function from interaction patterns captured passively and continuously from human-computer interfaces found in ubiquitous mobile technology. The Smartphone Mindstrong’s science begins with the smartphone. With over three billion smartphones globally and more than 75% of American adults owning a smartphone (92% between ages 18 – 29), this powerful mobile computer has become ubiquitous. Digital Phenotyping collects data from the smartphone to provide measures of emotion, cognition, and behavior. In three rigorous clinical studies with over 200 person-years of data, Mindstrong has used powerful machine learning analytics to show that specific digital features correlate with cognitive function, clinical symptoms, and measures of brain activity. Digital Phenotyping Digital phenotyping uses three kinds of signals from a smartphone. Sensors measure activity, location, and social meta-data (e.g. number of messages out vs messages in). Human-computer interactions capture keyboard performance including typing and clicking. Voice and speech data analyzed with natural language processing can yield insights into emotion and cognitive coherence. Together these signals contribute to the picture of mood, cognition, and behavior we call the digital phenotype. To identify the digital phenotyping features that could be clinically useful, research volunteers completed extensive neuropsychological testing, clinical assessments of mood and cognition, and, in some cases, neuroimaging with fMRI. The results revealed a set of digital biomarkers from human-computer interaction (keyboard performance) that correlate highly with select cognitive measures and brain connectivity. While single markers correlated highly with cognitive and neural features, combining markers yielded even higher correlations. In one study with 100 patients with depression, combining biomarkers yielded high correlations with the PHQ-9, a gold standard measure of depression. Mindstrong biomarker platform was used by the National Institutes of Health grant UH2HL132368 “Engaging self-regulation targets to understand the mechanisms of behavior change and improve mood and weight outcomes” Improving Clinical Outcomes These initial studies demonstrate the feasibility of using digital phenotyping to collect data over a full year in research volunteers. Will this approach improve outcomes in clinical practice? Our current studies address this question for people with serious mental illness. Mindstrong’s scientific challenge is to go beyond predicting current measures to develop novel objective measures that can predict relevant outcomes and yield precise diagnostic information – the scientific basis of predictive medicine and precision medicine. Mindstrong Health is participating in several trials selected to test the value of digital phenotyping in clinical populations. 1) Clinical Trial for Depression - Stanford University (funded by NIH) 2) Clinical Trial for PTSD - University of North Carolina (funded by NIH) 3) Clinical Trial for Serious Mental Illness - Humana Health The Future At any given moment, roughly one in seven of the world’s 7.5 Billion people is struggling with mental illness. "All modern medicine is based on objective measurement, yet tracking mental health has been limited to subjective reports in a clinical environment," said Dr. Paul Dagum, founder and CEO of Mindstrong Health. "To improve outcomes for people with mental disorders, we need the kind of objective measures we have for other chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease. Mindstrong's technology delivers continuous, objective measures of behavior and cognition at a level of resolution and insight that has never been possible." In June 2017 Mindstrong announced a $14 Million round of Series-A funding. Led by Foresite Capital and ARCH Venture Partners, the round included participation from Optum Ventures, Berggruen Holdings and the One Mind Brain Health Impact Fund. The investment will be used to build Mindstrong's elite technology and clinical operations team to support large-scale research and development. "What excites me about Mindstrong is the transformation of an individual's patterns of typing or scrolling on a smartphone into precise measures of cognitive function," said Dr. Tom Insel, co-founder and President of Mindstrong Health. "This new, powerful approach to assessment serves as the foundation for developing better interventions to improve mental health care. Mental disorders are global health problems. With smartphones we have a potential global solution." Source : https://mindstronghealth.com/science/

Inaugural GDHP Summit - February 2018 Health leaders from thirteen countries, Hong Kong SAR, and the World Health Organization (WHO) have joined together to create a Global Digital Health Partnership (GDHP) that will support best use of digital technology in modern healthcare. The GDHP is an international collaboration between governments, public agencies, and multinational organisations responsible for policy, funding, and delivery of health services to their citizens. The Hon. Greg Hunt MP, Australian Minister for Health, and the Hon. Shri Jagat Prakash Nadda, Minister for Health and Family Welfare, welcomed senior digital health officials from Austria, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong SAR, India, Indonesia, Italy, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the WHO to the inaugural GDHP Summit in Canberra, Australia’s capital city. During the two day summit, participants shared knowledge and experiences about interoperability, cyber security, ways to improve engagement with consumers and clinicians, and the value of strong evidence and evaluation. Participants agreed that the partnership is an opportunity for deep, transformational engagement by governments, digital health agencies, and the WHO to learn, share policy and other evidence that supports them to deliver better digital health services. Now that the GDHP has been established, the participating countries are engaging in an international dialogue to learn and share lessons on effective policy design and practical delivery implementation of digital health services. Over the coming year, the GDHP will collaborate on the following topics: 1. connected and interoperable health care 2. cyber security 3. policies that support digital health outcomes 4. clinician and consumer engagement 5. evidence and evaluation of digital health Secretariat Australia is hosting the secretariat for the GDHP for the next 12 months to support this vital exchange of ideas and experiences. About the Global Digital Health Partnership The Global Digital Health Partnership is an international collaboration between governments, government agencies, and multinational organisations responsible for policy, funding, and delivery of health services to their citizens. Following a number of bilateral and multilateral discussions, interest in the partnership has grown strongly. Senior digital health officials from Austria, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong SAR, India, Indonesia, Italy, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the WHO attended the inaugural Global Digital Health Partnership Summit in Canberra, Australia. The participating countries are now engaging in an international dialogue to learn and share lessons on effective policy design and practical delivery implementation of digital health services. For further information on the Global Digital Health Partnership, email GDHP@digitalhealth.gov.au Source : https://www.digitalhealth.gov.au/news-and-events/news/media-release-new-global-digital-health-partnership/Agency%20GDHP%20Summit%20Media%20Release%20-%20February%202018%20-%20FINAL.pdf

Chatbot adoption in healthcare Improved chatbot adoption in healthcare can be achieved by adding a set of key features that promote engagement and usability. In general, long-term adoption of consumer healthcare technologies has been limited. On the one hand, a large portion of the population believes that they are healthy and that they don’t need any help or guidance regarding their wellbeing. This behavior is especially prevalent among the younger population. On the other hand, consumer healthcare related technologies tend to be adopted mostly by healthier, wealthier and technology enthusiast subsegments of the population — i.e., segments that tend to benefit little from using them. In this way, once the newness and coolness factors have worn off, the ability of healthcare devices and apps to capture users’ attention and motivate them rapidly decays over time, leading to high dropout rates (e.g., 42% of users stop using their fitness trackers within six months). To address this high churn, consumer healthcare developers and vendors have been experimenting with different sets of new features in their products. Furthermore, the more segment-specific these features are, the more effective they tend to be in becoming part of the users’ routine. For example: - younger generations tend to value more intense interactions that involve 1) a technological component 2) a high level of social connectivity 3) gamification 4) a competitive component 5) unpredictable rewards - older generations tend to value interactions that: 1) are about improving quality of life 2) are personal 3) and that involve their family, friends or caregivers Healthcare chatbot technology has been following a similar pattern of adoption to other consumer healthcare technologies. Being on an early stage of the adoption curve, its early adopters tend to be young, curious and impatient, and the technology itself still requires significant improvement — current chatbot-human interactions are not the same as human-human (and they may never be), often leading to user frustration. In this way, to keep healthcare chatbot early adopters engaged, to guide them through their experience, and to minimize their frustration, segment-specific features, and aids (as listed above) are essential. That’s why the menu and quick replies of Florence are different for every user, and we ask a few setup questions at the beginning (see image below). For example, it doesn’t make sense to show a healthy person the medication reminder. After that Florence learns more about the user based on his input. We are currently working on more segment-specific content. Source : https://blog.florence.chat/how-to-improve-the-adoption-of-chatbots-in-healthcare-1a728100cb73 https://florence.chat/

AI health services to the citizens of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Babylon, the innovative British healthcare technology company, announced an agreement between themselves and THIQAH to provide AI health services to the citizens of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in association with the KSA Ministry of Health. The signing of the partnership, which took place on the Healthcare UK stand at Arab Health, marks the start of the introduction of AI health services to the region on this scale. The agreement will mean that babylon will make its digital health AI functionality available within KSA, including the advanced symptom checker and other unique digital health tools. These will be integrated into the current Saudi healthcare system to provide cost-effective, accurate, on-demand health information and will help the population better triage, monitor and manage their health. Healthcare UK and the Saudi Ministry of Health Ayman Abdullah Alfallaj, CEO, THIQAH, said: “After extensive global research into AI health services, we were in no doubt that babylon has developed the most sophisticated health artificial intelligence and has invested an enormous amount of effort in making their technology world leading. Because of this we knew that babylon were the right partners to bring AI health services to Saudi and we are delighted to be working with them. We thank the team at Healthcare UK as well as the Saudi Ministry of Health and the British Embassy team in Riyadh, for their respective roles in bringing the partnership together so successfully”. Dr Ali Parsa, Founder & CEO, babylon: “babylon’s purpose is to put healthcare into the hands of everyone on earth and we are delighted to be working with THIQAH and the KSA Ministry of Health to extend our AI technology and health services to the people of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, who are leading the way in making innovative healthcare services available and accessible for everyone”. Shadi Abu-Hayyeh, Assistant Director, Healthcare UK, Department for International Trade: “Healthcare UK is delighted to have played a role in this very exciting contract win, working jointly with the British Embassy team in Riyadh to help facilitate the agreement between babylon and the Saudi Ministry of Health. It’s a great example of what Healthcare UK was set up to do, connecting UK healthcare suppliers with significant commercial opportunities around the world”. — SG Source : http://saudigazette.com.sa/article/527866/BUSINESS/babylon-and-THIQAH-in-deal-to-provide-first-AI-health-services-to-Saudis

Intro to Woebot Woebot is an automated conversational agent (chatbot) who helps you monitor mood and learn about yourself. Drawing from a therapeutic framework known as Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Woebot asks people how they’re feeling and what is going on in their lives in the format of brief daily conversations. Woebot also talks to you about mental health and wellness and sends you videos and other useful tools depending on your mood and needs at that moment. You can think of Woebot as a choose-your-own-adventure self-help book that is capable of storing all of your entries, and gets more specific to your needs over time. AI, Machine Learning and Mental Health Woebot is using AI and NLP to build a chatbot that will help the millions of people who struggle with their mental health. Mental health is in crisis: Depression is the leading global cause of disability, and on US university campuses, about 50% of students report anxiety or depression so severe that they can’t function. In addition to the human anguish, it also imposes a huge economic burden: Heart disease costs the US healthcare system $147B annually; mental health costs even more, over $200B. Building a chatbot for mental health represents a grand challenge for AI and NLP, and will help millions. Science and Technology Woebot is built using a combination of natural language processing, therapeutic expertise, excellent writing, and sense of humor to create the experience of a therapeutic conversation for all of the people that talk to him. In a recent study conducted at Stanford University, using Woebot led to significant reductions in anxiety and depression among people aged 18-28 years old, compared to an information-only control group. 85% of participants used Woebot on a daily or almost daily basis. You can read the entire peer-reviewed study here - https://mental.jmir.org/2017/2/e19/ Features and Benefits Meet your own personal, charming Woebot. Chat, learn, and reflect. No couches, no meds, no childhood stuff. Just clinically tested techniques + the occasional dorky joke. Drawing from principles of Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Woebot helps you learn about yourself. Woebot asks how you’re feeling and what is going on in your life and sends you tools depending on your mood and needs at that moment. You can think of Woebot as a choose-your-own-adventure mental health manual that gets more specific to your needs over time. Woebot can: - Track your emotions through friendly conversation - Guide you through science-based techniques for a range of problems - Help with mood management; relationship problems; grief; habits and addictions - Personalize your conversations the more you chat - Teach mindfulness Cross Platform Woebot is available on Facebook Messenger and iPhones and iPads. We know that lots of people also use Android phones, and an Android version of Woebot is in the works. Leave your email here so we can contact you when Woebot is available on the Google Play store. Our mission is to make the best psychological tools radically accessible to those who need them. As such we are lucky enough to not have to charge users for Woebot’s services at this time. However, this may change at some point as we move towards establishing a sustainable business. When using Facebook Messenger to chat with Woebot to deliver those therapeutic conversations, nothing is posted to your Facebook profile or newsfeed. If you “Like” our Facebook Page, your friends can see that. iPhone App https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/woebot/id1305375832?mt=8 Source : https://woebot.io/

KardiaMobile This week we are providing 350 mobile ECG devices to settings across south London to help detect the most common cardiac arrhythmia called atrial fibrillation or AF. These devices are going into a variety of settings including GP surgeries, community pharmacies, podiatry services, optometry, acute mental health units and care homes with the aim of finding many more people who are unaware that they have this condition. AF contributes to one in five strokes and is associated with a 20% increased likelihood of mortality, so those identified as having AF are given appropriate treatment to significantly reduce their risk of having a stroke. We’ve been seeking to raise the profile of AF across the country and were delighted that London Mayor Sadiq Khan joined our campaign addressing Londoners in this short film made for Global AF Awareness Week. My organisation, Health Innovation Network, is the Academic Health Science Network, or AHSN, for south London and we exist to speed up the best innovations across this geography. However, it is not just south Londoners who will benefit, every part of the country will as all 15 AHSNs, covering the full population of England, are busy distributing them to member organisations starting this week. Some people with AF experience no symptoms, or intermittent symptoms, that come from time-to-time and may not be present when people undertake cardiac examinations such as a 12-lead ECG. By being able to check much more readily and frequently, we increase the likelihood of picking up the presence of these intermittent symptoms. Dr David Albert This clinical challenge was tackled by an innovative clinician who saw opportunities to improve care. Dr David Albert a highly entrepreneurial cardiologist who graduated from Harvard and Duke, devised a device that can take a clinical grade ECG in 30 seconds on your smartphone, now known as Kardia, and its uptake across the NHS is led by Francis White, working for the company David founded, AliveCor. David is a serial inventor and has a mission of “saving lives one invention at a time …36 patents and counting”. What is fascinating is that he had the idea for this device back in the mid-90s and patented it then, but the rate limiting step was that smartphones were not yet ready to support these devices for another 15 years. David was also turned away by all the major manufacturers and venture capitalists when he built the first Kardia, so set up his own company. The interest began in 2011 when he posted a short YouTube clip of Kardia on LinkedIn that went viral and he had investors and distributors queuing up to be involved. Famously, Dr Eric Topol, another cardiologist and author of one of my all-time favourite books on how digital is transforming healthcare – The Patient Will See You Now – used a Kardia device he had in his pocket to assess a passenger who became unwell while in a plane over the US. Assisted by the Kardia device, Eric diagnosed a heart attack, the plane had an emergency landing and the passenger, who was complex as had cardiac history making it difficult to clearly diagnose, was stented and survived. 15 Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs) and NHS England The NHS Innovation Accelerator is a programme supported by all 15 Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs) and NHS England. It accelerates uptake of high impact innovations and provides real time practical insights on spread to inform national strategy, Francis is an NIA fellow, being supported by the NHS to spread and scale this innovation and the case study for Kardia features in the AHSNs Atlas of Solutions. In April 2017 NHS England agreed a new funding mechanism for innovations and supported AF detection devices as a priority. Prior to this, there was no clear way for the NHS to purchase devices such as Kardia. Interested GPs would find a way to fund them through their CCG, however they are neither part of hospital care, nor a piece of IT infrastructure, nor a drug. Francis likens Kardia as “more akin to a stethoscope”. The great news is that through AHSNs being able to access the product, for their populations, without charge under the new funding mechanism we will see many more new devices for picking up AF in use across the NHS. Francis believes that this mechanism is the “seed of a brilliant idea” in terms of supporting the spread of proven innovations “if we are to live the dream of the NHS becoming the place for speedy healthcare innovation adoption”. He is indebted to the AHSN Network and NIA for the support he has received. “Without the support of the AHSNs doing that last mile, telling the story and helping get our message out there is no way we would have reached what is now 2.7m recordings in Britain. Being on the NIA programme has also given us real legitimacy, for example being invited to present to the RCGPs’ cardiovascular GP specialists group. As a small innovator access to these key clinicians would have been out of reach”. Mobile ECG and blood pressure products Kardia is one example of a range of mobile ECG and blood pressure products in this arena including the following, which are now being used across the country to detect AF sooner: Watch BP Home A by Microlife – a blood pressure machine with an integrated AF detection device RhythmPad by Cardiocity – standalone single lead ECG device MyDiagnostick by MyDiagnostick Medical BV – a stick-like device which records a single lead ECG over one minute and will indicate if normal / not ImPulse by Plessey - a handheld standalone single lead ECG device which transmit the ECG to a smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth. These are going into a wide range of settings over the next few weeks with the aim of picking up undiagnosed atrial fibrillation - so people can receive treatment that will prevent many strokes. As the NHS approaches its 70th birthday this year, this is also a great reminder of the way that healthcare is continually evolving and innovating. Taking advantage of digital health solutions will be even more important for the next 70 years. Today’s new devices are just one example of the way that low-cost tech has the potential to make a huge difference to peoples’ health. The work on AF underway across the country, led by the AHSN Network is anticipated to prevent 3,650 strokes a year blighting lives. It is terrific that these fantastic inventions that improve safety and help people self-manage, devised by clinicians and innovators are being embraced by the NHS. And we are delighted that the AHSN network has the privilege of helping get thousands more people tested and diagnosed. Tara Donnelly is CEO of the Health Innovation Network, the AHSN for south London, and founder member of DigitalHealth.London. www.healthinnovationnetwork.com www.digitalhealth.london @tara_donnelly1 Photo by Emile Holba www.emileholba.co.uk Emile Holba is a portrait and documentary photographer working worldwide with a range of clients from non-profit organisations to commercial enterprise. emile@emileholba.co.uk +44 7780 621405

The age of finger-pricking will soon be over with the announcement of a non-invasive method for measuring the body’s blood glucose levels from German medical technology company, DiaMonTech. DiaMonTech has created technology for a medical device which directly measures the presence of glucose molecules in the blood through an invisible infrared laser, giving a reading of a user’s blood glucose level within 15 seconds. All users need to do is place their finger on a sensor on the device and their blood glucose levels will be displayed in real-time. With 400 million people suffering from diabetes worldwide, this new device will liberate many from the antiquated means of pricking their fingers and the potential health risks it carries. DiaMonTech’s technology enables unlimited measurements and consistent, constant reporting on the presence of glucose in the blood, giving greater control over managing your diabetes. The breakthrough patented technology was developed by DiaMonTech’s Head of R&D, Professor Werner Mäntele, Director of the Biophysics Institute at Goethe University in Frankfurt. With over 30 years of experience in spectroscopy, Professor Mäntele’s leading work on molecule detection enabled the team to create an advanced laser, capable of measuring blood glucose with pinpoint accuracy. “Developing a non-invasive device for the management of diabetes has been our top priority since day one,” says DiaMonTech’s CEO, Thorsten Lubinski. “With so many other devices that require a break to the skin, and with millions worldwide suffering from this disease, we made it our mission to help make the day-to-day monitoring of diabetes more manageable and less intrusive.” “Unlike previous diabetic monitoring methods, which have focused on one particular layer of the skin to measure blood glucose, DiaMonTech’s approach means blood glucose is measured with ‘depth-profiling’,” says Professor Mäntele. “This method allows us to measure one’s skin at a multitude of different depths and is fine-tuned to measure glucose molecules rather than a high-level overview.” A series of devices are planned with a larger desktop unit, ‘DMT Base’, scheduled for release in 2018, a pocket-sized device ‘DMT Pocket’ scheduled for 2019 and a smart-wristband, ‘DMT Band’, which will continuously monitor blood glucose, scheduled for 2021. Each device will be compatible with Android and iOS mobile devices, allowing you to check your information in real-time. Source : http://www.healthmatters.org.uk/public-health/diamontech-announces-breakthrough-technology-non-invasive-method-measuring-blood-glucose/

Introduction to Microsoft HoloLens Microsoft HoloLens is the first self-contained, holographic computer, enabling you to engage with your digital content and interact with holograms in the world around you. To put it in simple terms, it projects images over your vision so they appear as holograms, providing you with more information about the world around you or changing the way you perceive a space. Unlike virtual reality, which takes over your entire vision and hearing to transport you to another environment, augmented reality complements the world around you. Features of HoloLens Holograms are responsive to you and the world around you. Microsoft HoloLens enables you to interact with content and information in the most natural ways possible. 1) Gaze Built-in sensors let you use your gaze to move the cursor so you can select holograms. Turn your head and the cursor will follow. 2) Gesture Use simple gestures to open apps, select and size items, and drag and drop holograms in your world. 3) Voice Use voice commands to navigate, select, open, command, and control your apps. Speak directly to Cortana, who can help you complete tasks. HoloLens In Healthcare - Real World Example 1 - Stryker Stryker, a leading global medical technology company, has set out to improve the process for designing operating rooms for hospitals and surgery centres. Stryker is using HoloLens to build the operating room of the future. Stryker Communications designs state-of-the-art, customized operating rooms using its ByDesign 3D design software. Microsoft HoloLens extends the capabilities of the ByDesign software, bringing their extensive portfolio of digital 3D assets to life and allowing stakeholders to collaborate in ways they couldn’t before. Recognizing that the current model of operating room design needs to be evolved from 2D to 3D, and knowing that the needs of these specialties can be quite divergent, Stryker has found a way to design a shared operating room that can accommodate all surgical disciplines in a far more efficient manner. HoloLens In Healthcare - Real World Example 2 - Case Western Reserve University, the Cleveland Clinic Case Western Reserve and Cleveland Clinic are partnering with Microsoft on HoloLens as part of its collaboration on its Health Education Campus, a state-of-the-art project that will include the schools of nursing, dental medicine, and medicine, including Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, a track within Case Western Reserve’s medical school. One of the project’s primary goals is to pioneer new ways of preparing 21st century health care leaders. Technology is a key element of those efforts, as is an emphasis on inter-professional education. As Cleveland Clinic President and CEO Toby Cosgrove often observes, “health care is a team sport.” The educational opportunities the HoloLens offers extend well beyond health care. Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Marc Buchner and a few of his students have worked with the device to model molecules or develop gaming applications. HoloLens In Healthcare - Real World Example 3 - University College London University College London is exploring how Microsoft HoloLens can transform medical imaging, like CT scans, into 3D models. Surgeons use these three-dimensional anatomical holograms to plan for complicated surgeries and to help patients get a clearer picture and better understanding of their own bodies. The plan is to use the technology to help surgeons understand the specific anatomy and condition of a patient. When wearing the HoloLens, surgeons will be able to see an image of the patient’s organs. The short term hope is this will help with pre-surgical planning. The longer term vision is to super-impose the hologram on the patient during an operation, and for the image to change in real time to reflect what the surgeons are doing. The technology is being created as a collaboration between the trust, University College London Computer Science, and NHS Code4Health, under the platform for enhanced analytics and computational healthcare (PEACH). Where does HoloLens fit into the Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality ecosystem? Conclusion - Hope for Surgery HoloLens effectively gives doctors 'X-ray vision' to allow them to peer inside patients during surgery. For example surgeons can use the 3D interactive system to get a perspective of the inside of the patient, which accurately guides the surgeon in ways that weren't previously possible. Any new technology which break barriers and offers its users new functionality previously not possible is hope. In this case more hope for patients to survive complicated surgery and more hope for surgeons to perform effectively with better outcomes. Source : https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/hololens

Pfizer The year 2018, barely under way, has already dealt a series of disheartening blows to the quest for an Alzheimer’s cure. Within the first three weeks, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. abandoned the costly and frustrating field of dementia drug development, and two promising treatments stumbled in patient trials. Alzheimer’s support groups are putting on a brave face, but the collective disappointment is palpable as the global cost of caring for some 50 million dementia sufferers is set to reach $1 trillion this year. “It’s very fair to say that progress is slow,” David Reynolds, chief scientific officer at the charity Alzheimer’s Research UK. “Companies have put a lot of time, effort and money in over the last 25 years, and there haven’t been any new medicines launched in this area for 16 years now.” Long Term Experts say it takes 12 to 15 years, on average, and more than $2 billion to develop a single drug. According to the Alzforum website, which gathers data on candidate drugs, fewer than 300 have made it to phase two trials of drug efficiency. Only five have ever been approved to treat symptoms such as memory loss associated with Alzheimer’s, first identified more than 100 years ago. With a clinical trial failure rate of over 99 percent, there is still no licensed drug that slows the condition’s progression, or cures it. Today, about 100 candidate dementia drugs are enrolled in trials, compared to over 1,000 for cancer, according to Reynolds. One reason is that “pharmaceutical companies ultimately are companies. They are beholden to their investors,” he said. “A return on investment is really: How much time and money do you put into getting a new medicine versus how much money can you make once you’ve actually got it? In this area, success has been very difficult to come by.” The stakes are high According to the World Health Organization (WHO), some 10 million people per year are diagnosed with dementia, with Alzheimer’s disease accounting for about two-thirds of cases. By 2030, the number of sufferers is projected to reach 82 million globally, and by 2050 some 152 million. The medical, patient-care and economic costs are enormous. A heavy burden falls on family members, the majority of care providers worldwide. Many have to give up their jobs. Alzheimer’s affects mainly older people — about 1 in 4 over 85 years old is a sufferer. And numbers have soared as life spans have lengthened thanks to medical advances in other fields. With cardiovascular disease and cancer the biggest killers in the 1960s and ’70s, that is where most of the research money went. “In dementia, that investment wasn’t there. So the amount of knowledge … about the disease is at a much, much earlier stage, and arguably the brain is a much more complicated organ” than the heart, said Reynolds. To this day, scientists don’t know exactly what causes Alzheimer’s, leaving drug developers stumped. On Jan. 6, Pfizer announced an end to its “discovery and early development efforts” for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s dementia drugs. H. Lundbeck AS Two days later, Danish company H. Lundbeck AS reported its idalopirdine compound did not “decrease cognitive loss” in patients, and on Jan. 12, biotech firm Axovant Sciences Ltd. announced the end of the road for its offering, intepirdine. Experts say every failure of a drug reveals something new about Alzheimer’s disease, which is thought to be associated with a buildup of protein plaques and tangles in the brain. One important recent realization was that an effective treatment may have to begin long before symptoms appear as protein buildup likely starts decades before disease sets in. This, in itself, presents a research challenge. When they are in middle age and symptom-free, “How do you find these patients?” asked French neurology professor Bruno Dubois. “How long do you treat them?” Drugs in development today are targeting several tracks. Some use antibodies to mop up proteins in circulation, or enzymes to inhibit their production. Another experimental approach is vaccination: training the body to produce its own antibodies to attack disease-causing proteins. “We are not moving backward,” insisted Reynolds. Yet he was “by no means certain” that a goal set by the Group of Eight in 2013 to develop a cure or treatment for dementia by 2025 can be met. “Even knowing the obstacles, we have never been as optimistic as we are today,” added James Hendrix, a director at the U.S.-based Alzheimer’s Association, one of several nonprofit research funders. “We will not slow down in our fight against this terrible disease,” he vowed. “We are steadfastly committed to both advocating for further increased federal funding for Alzheimer’s and dementia research, and increasing our own level of research funding to get us to where we ultimately need to be — a world without Alzheimer’s disease.” Source : https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/01/25/world/science-health-world/rocky-start-alzheimers-drug-research-2018/#.Wmzs8SOcYkg

1) The LOHAS bed Sweet, sweet sunshine was the inspiration behind this innovative, hybrid hospital bed/wheelchair design by Lirong Yang. Just a bit of sun can go a long way to make paralyzed individuals feel unconfined to their beds. The problem is that it currently takes 3 nurses to transition the patient from bed to wheelchair. The LOHAS bed, however, only requires one. Utilizing a unique folding design, the assistant or nurse can safely and easily transition the patient without any real lifting. The bed can be folded and transformed into a wheelchair in a matter of minutes without disturbing the individual. The result is more privacy, more independence, and more sunshine to enjoy! Designer: Lirong Yang 2) Dosnoventa bicycle Unimpressed by the sterile vibe of existing wheelchair models, designers Hoyoung Youn, Sungyub Lee, and Jiyoon Han looked to Barcelona’s Dosnoventa bicycle brand as inspiration for their Infinito mobility concept. The design first tackles the stigma wheelchair users face with an entirely new aesthetic and form. With a sporty silhouette and large go-anywhere wheels, the new look is more rover-like than wheelchair. Fun, vibrant color details mimic that of Dosnoventa fixie collection. The new design also enhances mobility thanks to its scissor-inspired structure. It sports an innovative adjustable seat-height feature for better ergonomics. It also has two distinct riding positions: one that is ideal for cruising and manoeuvering and the other for putting the user at eye level with standing individuals. This in combination with a safety features like 6-point buckling and a gyroscopic stabilizer give users the confidence and independence they so desire. Designers: Hoyoung Youn, Sungyub Lee & Jiyoon Han 3) OH hearing aid This thoughtful design by Julia Marina Cunha forces us to examine our attitudes about hearing disabilities. For years, hearing aid designs have gotten “better” by blending in with the human body. However, this masking of the device also perpetuates the concept that hearing loss or disability is something to be ashamed of. Designed with this in mind, OH is at once a hearing aid and a fashion accessory. It allows the user to customize the product by changing the external ring’s range of textures and colors. It can also be used as an earring or attached hearing pin. However it’s worn or in whatever style, it’s aim is to diminish the stigma associated with assistive technology and enhance the user’s self confidence. Designer: Julia Marina Cunha 4) DolPhin Smart Mini Infrared Thermometer Thermometers have taken a giant leap in design with the popularity of Withings Thermo last year. Ever since then, thermometers have come leaps and bounds in their abilities, aesthetics and especially sizes – however none of them have been as compact as the DolPhin Smart Mini Infrared Thermometer. This smart thermometer is the embodiment of portability and compact design being just 5cm long and weighing a total of only 13g. The thermometer simply plugs into one’s smartphone audio jack (sorry everyone who owns the new wave of jack-less smartphones). Thankfully, due to the noninvasive, non-contact nature of this thermometer, it can be used again and again while staying safe and sanitized. With the thermometer comes a helpful app to read and store the temperatures being taken. Not only this, the accompany app has useful searching capabilities for nearby facilities such as; neighboring hospital, internal treatment, university hospital, otolaryngology, health center, pharmacy or the emergency room. This little guy is perfect for a vast range of applications and taking up only 5cm in your pocket; it’s safe to say it’s an easy decision bringing this with you in your travel/medical kit everywhere and anywhere because you never know when you just might need it. Designer: DolPhin 5) Clevu wearable tech As someone who’s been a lifelong sufferer of deteriorating vision, I can testify that no mix of glasses and corrective lenses is enough to get it right all the time. Simply put, there will always be instances where your vision could be better throughout the day. Designed with this in mind, Clevu (a clever combination of the words clear and view) is a wearable system that can not only work as traditional reading glasses but is capable of enhancing a variety of other sight situations. Enjoying the outdoors? There’s a setting for that. Watching TV? There’s a setting for that too. Using a digital lens overlay system with parts integrated into the compact frame, users can toggle between preset and customized settings to enhance contrast and even make the most minute adjustments in focus. Ideal for aging individuals with varying degenerative eye problems, Clevu not only adapts to the user’s unique needs but simultaneously inspires their sense of independence. Designer: Hyosub An 6) Cloudandco Smart Cane Design for so many people is such a visual medium, one must ask oneself… If you remove sight from the design experience, does it still remain a good product? I find designing for the visually impaired quite an interesting domain, because they experience products in a way we don’t, or more importantly, cant. Try doing whatever it is you’re doing right now (eating a meal, perhaps) with your eyes closed. It’s a completely different experience that most people may not be comfortable with. The Cloudandco Smart Cane by Brandon and Max takes on the challenge of designing a product with an experience that is far from visual. The ergonomic smart cane comes as just a joystick handle with an automatic telescoping stick that shoots out when switched on. However, the walking stick doesn’t stop there. It connects to an app on the smartphone, actually guiding the user to destinations they set. The Smart Cane can give off vibration and audio feedback, guiding its user to their destination. Users can toggle through destinations using a button on the top. There’s even a braille panel on the back that can communicate with the user. The Smart Cane takes its non-visual experience further by allowing the users to charge it wirelessly. Instead of having them fiddle with ports and cables, the Smart Cane can just be placed on its charging pad and it automatically gets charged for when it’s required next! Designers: Brandon Cooke & Max Dahl 7) Handihaler Why do medical products look the way they do? That’s a question I’ve asked so many times on this website, it’s beginning to become my catchphrase. Look at the GIF above. The first couple of products you see look instinctively medical. Why so? My theory is that because in an attempt to not overpower the function, less attention was paid on form. This makes medical products look functionally reliable. In short, the more functional it looks, the more functional it must be. However, designers are working to change that now. Medical products should be functional without looking ugly under the ruse of functionality. You can have a medical product that looks incredibly stylish and yet does a remarkable job of saving lives. So look at the GIF above. Look at it some more. The inhalers transform from functional to fabulous, breaking all norms of medical product design, a trend we’re beginning to see a lot these days. Simple and desirable, these black and white inhalers don’t just break the stigma of carrying an inhaler, they also look striking enough that you’d instantly spot it on the shelves (helping the brand reach customers). They embody a characteristic not often used with medical products. Iconic. The black and white body helps create a contrast while cutting the visual bulk of the product. The white part of the product lies on top and doesn’t interact with the user’s hands much, while the bottom is mainly used for gripping, and comes molded in a matte black rubbery material for easy and comfortable gripping. The three inhalers, although different in design, look like a part of the same visual family, and do a remarkable job of making medical products desirable and instantly iconic. Designers: Craig McGarrell, Dawn Tang and Agata Guz (Team Consulting) 8) Epipi Time is of the essence when it comes to treating anaphylaxis, so it only makes sense that the standard EpiPen would be as simple to use as, say, a fire extinguisher. Only… they’re not! All that archaic imagery and fine print only make things more complicated. This new design, called Epipi, really makes things as simple as unscrew, press, and go! The rigid casing protects the device even when its being juggled around in a purse or backpack. In the event that it must be used, its color combination and construction intuitively tell the user what to do. Just twist to arm it, hold against the skin, and press the button to release. A clear window into the medication reservoir will indicate that the contents have been emptied which enhances the confidence of the user that they performed the function correctly. Designer: Harry Moorman 9) The Hue inhaler Style that saves lives seems so apt a title for this post too (it was used for a post done earlier this week). I feel it’s important that medical products that are more commercial than industrial should be given style makeovers, so they don’t become isolating elements, but rather elements that boost the confidence and healing capabilities of the people using them. We’ve seen wonderful work done in the prosthetic department as well as for casts that heal fractured bones. The Hue Inhaler is a step in that direction, bringing incredible CMF detailing to the otherwise mundane asthma inhaler. The Hue is completely 3D printed (note the transition from mottled color to transparent) and comes with a dazzling set of color combinations that are bound to break the monotony of medical product design. There’s even a woven paracord for easy access, or clipping/strapping to your bag/pants. With roughly 300 million people in this world suffering from asthma and almost 250,000 deaths per year, the Hue Inhaler’s crusade to destroy stigma around inhalers may just save more than a fair share of lives. Designer: Tim Zarki 10) One Drop Diabetes system Oftentimes, in the process of designing a product that saves lives, we forget one rather crucial part of the healing process. The product must make users feel better, not just through function, but also emotionally, and psychologically. While most medical devices aim to perform functionally, only some try to look fashionable, less intimidating, or break stigmas through good design. A collaboration between Pensa and Jeff Dachis (the former co-founder of Razorfish), One Drop is a completely exhaustive diabetes fighting system that could easily be a part of any diabetic’s EDC kit. Designed with a homogeneous language that binds the three products together into a beautifully chrome kit that anyone would be proud to carry, the One Drop brilliantly bridges the wide chasm between medicine and fashion, empowering people and motivating them into keeping their health in check! Designers: Pensa & Jeff Dachis Source : https://www.yankodesign.com/2017/12/28/2017s-top-medical-designs-the-future-of-healthcare/