Vital signs are improving at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — at least, techniques to measure them are, according to MIT Tech Talk.

Engineers at the school, led by mechanical engineering professor Harry Asada, built a wearable blood pressure cuff that provides 24-hour monitoring.

The idea is to allow physicians to track vital signs on a continuous basis, to improve treatment of such conditions as sleep apnea, hypertension and heart disease.

And, given the accumulation of enought data, the device might eventually allow doctors to predict when heart attacks are due, Asada told the newspaper.

A former student is trying to commercialize the device via a spin-off called CardioSign, which is working toward clinical trials. Asada told the newspaper the product, which consists of a wrist cuff and finger clip, could be on the market within five years.