Eight TECS expected to change health and care

January 26, 2016 | by

[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/8-technologies-8-connected-community.jpg” thumb_width=”175″ /]The King’s Fund is still bullish on the transformative capabilities of technology-enabled care services for health (even if others are not, see following article). This article (which almost passed this Editor by this month) highlights eight areas which have the greatest potential. Some are expected–but at least two are surprises. You be the judge!

  1. Smartphones: apps, as hubs/hub replacements, and research transmitters (voluntary but also involuntary?)
  2. At-home and portable diagnostics; smart assistive technology
  3. Smart or implantable drug delivery
  4. Digital therapeutics/interventions; cognitive behavioral therapy; lifestyle interventions
  5. Genome sequencing
  6. Machine learning (computers changing based on new data, spotting pattern) in big datasets (Surprise #1)
  7. Blockchain, the tech behind bitcoin; decentralised databases, secured using encryption, that keep an authoritative record of how data is created and changed over time, to bring together decentralized health records. (Surprise #2)
  8. The connected community; P2P support networks and research communities

The King’s Fund’s publications 1 Jan

Beyond Proteus, delaying medication release in the body–almost all the way

October 8, 2015 | by

How to deliver medication reliably, well into the colon, to treat gastrointestinal disease most effectively? Purdue University researchers have developed an electronic drug capsule that delivers medication far into the digestive system. When triggered by the magnetic switch or electronic implant, it ‘detonates’ the capsule, releasing the medication. This delivery mechanism was tested through the stomach and into 20 feet of the small intestine. The promise is that it can deliver targeted medications farther into the colon, cost-effectively, to better treat IBS, Crohn’s and bacterial infections. The Purdue team is currently partnering with a biomedical company to take this into clinical trials. This takes the idea of Proteus’ ingested sensor to track medication one step further. Smart capsule to target colon diseases (Reuters)

Dermal patch senses, releases meds as needed

April 1, 2014 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/nnano.2014.38-f1.jpg” thumb_width=”175″ /]A research team from several institutions in South Korea and University of Texas, Austin have developed a dermal patch that not only delivers medication, but in the right dose and right time based upon muscle activity and body temperature. They developed a 2-inch rectangle made of stretchable nanomaterials containing heat-activated silica nanoparticles. The patch monitors muscle activity and body temperature, then releases a controlled dose of a drug. This would make it ideal for conditions such as Parkinson’s Disease where the drug should be timed when muscle tremors begin. At this point, there is no digital health/wireless component for recording, which is also needed. But given the long lead time–it won’t be ready for sale for five years. The Verge. Nature Nanotechnology (abstract only)