Withings, a French company focused on using new smartphone technologies, announced 510(k) clearance for its blood pressure monitor for the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.
The monitor, which the company unveiled in January, measures and records blood pressure readings for professional, home or mobile use.
The system was submitted for Food & Drug Administration 510(k) review in mid-May and is available for sale in the U.S. just one month later.
The device is a "plug-and-play solution for blood pressure measurement and tracking," according to the release.
The cuff wraps around a user’s arm and plugs into an iPad, iPhone or iPod touch where it instantly opens the Withings app to begin measurement. Once the reading is complete the full results are saved on the device and can be accessed from the device or from the user’s personal Withings web page.
The results can also be emailed to a personal care physician or automatically shared to personal health record sites like Google Health and Microsoft HealthVault.
- Johns Hopkins device harvests 50% more umbilical cord stem cells than existing methods
Graduate students at Johns Hopkins University have won a provisional patent for a device that collects stem cells from a newborn’s umbilical cord and placenta, valuable resources for helping patient’s with leukemia, lymphoma and other blood disorders that can be treated with the cells.The prototype of the device, which uses gravity and a chemical solution to extract stem cells,is still in a testing phase, but early studies using discarded cords and placental tissue at Johns Hopkins hospital found that the device collected 50 percent more stem cells that the traditional system, which relies primarily on gravity.
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iCard puts a heart monitor in your pocket
AliveCor is getting a lot of ink for their powerful heart monitor technology that attaches to the back of an iPhone.
The company is small – small enough that they have a few YouTube videos but no apparent press releases – but videos of their iCard electrocardiograph in action are making their way around the web and getting a lot of attention.
The device is about the size of a business card and attaches to the back of an iPhone or iPad with velcro. Once attached it automatically synchronizes with a companion app on the iPhone/iPad to display ECG measurements.
The device is undergoing clinical evaluation at the University of Oklahoma, according to the video.
- LA Children’s Hospital docs pioneer remote-controlled robotic medicine for babies
Remote-controlled robotic medicine may be just as good as onsite care for infants, according to researchers at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. The study compared 304 patient encounters on 46 premature and full-term newborns using simultaneous onsite and off-site physicians. The off-site physicians used a wireless, mobile, robotic telecommunications system with real-time audio and video communication equipped with a camera, microphone, display and stethoscope with a motorized platform.
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