During their work with patients, doctors will frequently contact colleagues with questions, to trade horror stories, or converse about treatment methods. There isn’t really a technological solution to streamline this daily back and forth, but that’s what SharePractice aims to bring.
Founders Dr. Andrew Brandeis and Benoit Carrier built an easy to use the mobile app to serve as a sort of… → Read More
When Google Health first went live in 2008, the service held a lot of promise for people looking for a reliable and convenient way of centralizing their health records, and then matching them up with other resources like drug information and doctor databases. But when, in 2011, Google decided to shutter the service after it didn’t pick up enough traction, that left a lot of people with a… → Read More
WebMD, arguably still the go-to source for medical information on the Internet, today announced that it would be implementing strong expenditure control measures after revealing disappointing Q3 results at the beginning of November. The cuts include 250 positions, representing around 14 percent of WebMD’s total workforce, as part of operating expenditure cuts totalling $45 million. → Read More
An app that tells you if your mole looks funny? That’s stupid, right? But for folks who are walking around with little mole-shaped time bombs on their skin, understanding the difference between skin features and cancer is a pretty big deal.
Doctor Mole allows you to scan moles (using an AR system that’s reminiscent of Star Wars) and assess the Asymmetry, Border, Color, Diameter and Evolution… → Read More
A new product dubbed the Glove Tricorder by Med Sensation aims to make it easier for doctors – and patients – to diagnose breast cancer as well as problems like enlarged kidneys and other sub-dermal issues. The gloves currently contain a number of sensors including pressure feedback loops and accelerometers. Eventually the company plans to add ultrasound pads to the tips of the glove, allowing… → Read More
The Crowd is on the loose. Thanks to the JOBS Act, mainstream attention came to crowdfunding this year, and platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo have been benefitting in kind. (Exhaustive post on the subject here.) The Crowd has pledged $275 million to some 63,000 Kickstarter projects to date, for example, and companies of all breeds are now using these platforms as launchpads and for a little… → Read More
As a culture, we are getting ever-more accustomed to using social networks as our primary hubs for all information, and that trend is leading to the rise of yet more services constructed like social networks to improve accessibility: one of the latest in that line is DoctorsElite, a new site aimed at linking up patients, general physicians and specialists through a social network framework to make… → Read More
Simplee, a Mint-like platform for tracking healthcare expenses and then paying them online, is today announcing the close of its $6 million Series A round of funding. The round was led by The Social+Capital Partnership (aka “s23p”), and includes current investors, Greylock Partners Israel. As a part of the investment, s23p’s General Partner Ted Maidenberg and Greylock’s Tilli Kalisky joined… → Read More
Docphin, a medical news and research service which we once described as a “Bloomberg for doctors,” has been growing quickly since its beta launch in November. Since then, the startup was selected to participate in Rock Health’s incubator and announced its forthcoming iPhone app. This month, the company also hit a major milestone: its nationwide expansion to 10 more academic medical centers… → Read More
Currently, the federal government is poised to level the playing field for healthtech startups. An unprecedented wave of innovative healthtech startups has been developing over the last few years. You can see them at conferences such as Health 2.0, TechCrunch Disrupt, TEDMED and demo day events that Blueprint Health, Healthbox, Rock Health and StartUp Health host. Nonetheless, the health sector… → Read More
There is much anxiety in Japan related to accommodating their aging population. Their elderly and infirm number in the millions and that figure is growing out of proportion to the rest of the country. Caring for them is naturally on everyone’s minds — including those of roboticists. And research organization RIKEN is updating its medical assistance bot in order to help caretakers with the task… → Read More
Less than a month ago, we posted that microscopic camera from Awaiba and Fraunhofer, which qualified as the smallest video camera in the world at just one cubic millimeter. Well, easy come, easy go! This new one from Medigus is ever so slightly smaller, at .99mm in diameter. It’s slightly lower-resolution (around 212×212) but when you’re putting cameras into blood vessels and… → Read More
It’s rare to see medical implants that are so important yet so wildly frightening. What you see here is a new implant designed for anterior lumbar fusion, a process designed to reduce lower back pain due to disk degeneration. → Read More
Once again I am pleasantly surprised with the truly useful and helpful applications being thought up for the Kinect. Just last week we saw a hack providing a rudimentary artificial vision system for the blind — clumsy and rough, but the idea that it’s possible from off-the-shelf components and open-source software is mind-blowing.
Now we see an incredibly practical medical application… → Read More
This microscopic camera is the work of the Fraunhofer Institute and image sensor company Awaiba. It’s essentially a tiny 1mm square substrate with a layer of image sensors and then a lens layer on top of that — giving this camera a total size of 1x1x1mm. Yeah, it’s pretty much the smallest camera ever. → Read More
It appears that folks with catastrophic spinal cord injuries might be able to move their limbs again thanks to a new system that “trains” the nerves to move using a “pocket-sized electric stimulator.”
The stimulator is connected to the affected limbs and fired in order to jolt the muscles into action. After eight weeks, patients given the stimulation tended to have more motor control and a… → Read More
Here’s a comforting video of the DaVinci surgical robot goofing around. It’s just a bunch of outtakes taken during a commercial staring the robot, but does anyone else think dressing up the robot with latex hands and head is a bit weird?
Video after the break. → Read More
The dual-screen Android device NEC showed off at CES wasn’t exactly a crowd-pleaser. Without the latest version of Android, and sporting a rather low five hours of battery life, there wasn’t much to get excited about. But I like the idea of two discrete screens a la the Entourage Edge and the ill-fated Courier. NEC decided it’s an interesting form factor for medical software, of all things. → Read More
While my own doctor, Shaky McSliceyhands MD, doesn’t appear in their rankings, Avvo.com has added medical rankings to their already popular lawyer ranking service.
The rankings, based on user reviews and ratings, are completely ad independent and, while I don’t like trusting the general public to rank the men and women who will either get me out of that murder rap or will take a scalpel to my… → Read More
This is pretty amazing. The device you see there is a home genome sequencer. Like, for sequencing your genome. And it’s about the size of a big microwave.
What exactly will you do with it? You will sequence your genome. At home. → Read More
We’ve seen a fair amount of in-eye machinery. From the Retinal Implant Program and Second Sight to the Eyeborg and that lady who just wants a webcam eye, there’s quite a lot going on in the field.
This particular technology is actually much simpler than those electronic solutions, because it addresses a simpler problem. Degeneration of the retina around the macula can make central vision blurry… → Read More
Cat with prosthetic legs! This poor fellow (Oscar) was in an accident with a combine, losing his legs. An ambitious veterinarian took him to a neuro-orthopedic surgeon, who crafted little peg-legs for Oscar and embedded them directly into the bone. The skin and bone, led by injected cells, have grown right over the cat side of the pegs, sealing against infection, and Oscar can now walk almost… → Read More
Childhood diabetes sucks, there’s no way around it. Testing is annoying and uncomfortable for adults, much lets kids, and the testing technology isn’t exactly what you’d call fun or interesting. Bayer is trying to make it better though, by creating a fun way to test blood glucose levels using a Nintendo DS. → Read More
Researchers at UCLA are working on a new device intended to help patients who have lost their sense of balance. The device will help the patient to recover and learn how to move normally again. → Read More
A report released in the Journal of Experimental Biology today talked about how scientists have discovered a way to use chitosan to repair nerve damage. Keep in mind that chitosan is a material made from the shells of shrimp, and is not that far from the shells of insects. → Read More
Barco, makers of high-end medical displays, just launched the CliniScape and ProScribe tablets. The screens are 10.4-inches and 12-inches respectively and are ruggedized and drop resistant. They are also, presumably, blood-proof. The devices run an Intel Core Solo and Windows XP. → Read More
You probably haven’t heard about the Da Vinci surgical robot, but it’s been out for a little while. I had the chance to see it last year (and even try it out a little bit) and it’s an amazing piece of machinery. It’s also extremely expensive and in high demand, so it’s difficult for doctors to find time to train in it’s use. → Read More
I can’t believe how great this idea sounds. Instead of using the old-school (as in patented in 1887) drill technology to remove cavities, researchers are developing a method of using something called cold plasma to destroy the bacteria. I love the idea because I absolutely hate the sound of that damnable drill. → Read More
Short Version: A $40 digital ID card that fits in your wallet and holds all of your emergency medical information on a 1GB flip-out USB stick. → Read More
Everyone is familiar with the traditional EKG – you lie in the hospital bed, the leads connected to your body, and recording your heart rate and other vital statistics. But what if it was all wireless? What if you didn’t need to be in the hospital stuck in bed to be monitored? → Read More
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