Monday’s ‘in the news’ briefs

Proteus raises $120 million from “major new institutional investors based in the United States, Europe and Asia” for further development of its ‘smart pills’. Mobihealthnews. Previously in TTA here (starting in 2009!) It’s a long way from ‘tattletale pills’…..InTouch Health now has an FDA-cleared iPad app, CS for iPad, to support a digital stethoscope component on the mobile devices. The app is designed to assess heart and lung sounds in real time in acute-care settings particularly tele-ICU. MedCityNews…..In the mood to read your brainwaves? The Muse is here to help with neurofeedback. MedCityNews takes it on a test drive and if you don’t mind wiping your head down to get a good connection, it definitely points to the future of controlling computers with brain waves and in the meantime, pairing up health apps to get a correlation with those waves….And finally a ‘think piece’ in HeartSisters by Carolyn Thomas, “To just be a person, and not a patient anymore” is largely an impossible dream for those with chronic disease. It’s part of the basis behind non-compliance and other patient behavior that doctors have difficulty understanding. The experience of the patient–the frustration (the ‘perpetual battle of Stalingrad’) and the burden that person carries is the argument behind ‘Minimally Disruptive Medicine’. Must reading as those same patients will be pressed now even more to Quantify Themselves and also to keep track of every fluctuation in vital signs on their iPhone.