Brian Dolan, mobihealthnews.com
Body area networks to fight obesity: Thanks to a $1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, University of Southern California researchers have developed a wireless body area network they plan to leverage to help overweight and obese teenagers adhere to their daily fitness regimens. The USC team’s BAN consists of an accelerometer, heartrate monitor, GPS device and a sensor that measures electrical conductivity of the skin. The data is routed wirelessly to a Nokia phone, which can then transmit it to a secure server for later viewing. USC calls the project the KNOWME Networks study, as the goal is to train the sensors so well that they know what the wearer is doing. More
Partners Healthcare spins out start-up: Boston-based Partners Healthcare system announced plans to spin-off a start-up that “gives patients the tools to be their own doctor,” beginning with a wireless blood pressure cuff for at-home and on-the-go monitoring. The start-up is tentatively called “Connected Health” for now. The initial product just finished a pilot with EMC. The cuff allows users to upload blood pressure information to an online portal that their doctor can access; the portal also provides users with coaching messages like “get more exercise” or “good job.” More
BlackBerry acquisition to secure mobile medical records: BlackBerry maker Research In Motion CEO Mike Lazaridis told attendees at a recent telecom event that one reason it bought mobile phone security vendor Certicom was to protect medical data hosted on tomorrow’s mobile phones. “One of the reasons that we acquired Certicom, who we’ve been working with for over 15 years, is to embed that kind of security in our devices to make sure that things like wireless banking become a reality, and to make sure that we have the rights to these security models that you feel comfortable keeping medical information on them, or your license on these devices, your passport on these devices, or your credit card on these devices, or your bank access on these devices,” Lazaridis told attendees at the Canadian Telecom Summit. More
Apple’s FDA policy reasonable? Medical device connectivity and workflow automation consultant Tim Gee, a.k.a. the Connectologist, started a helpful discussion on LinkedIn about Apple’s recently disclosed developer agreement and its moves to avoid FDA regulation. As we reported recently, the agreement puts the onus on medical app developers to clear apps with the FDA if necessary and to not involve Apple in any way. More
Brian Dolan is editor of mobihealthnews, the emerging wireless health industry’s daily monitor.