'Blackberry thumb’ is new health hazard

The UK's Telegraph has a post on how the widespread use of hand-held devices at work has spawned a new condition - the  ''BlackBerry thumb'!

Tennis elbow, writer’s block and even athlete’s foot are problems than can cause considerable discomfort and more than a little embarrassment...

..."BlackBerry thumb" is the name given to a repetitive strain injury caused by overusing mobile phones to send emails and texts. The condition is so common that one law firm believes employers can expect a series of lawsuits from staff claiming compensation. Karen Jackson, a co-founder of the solicitors Roberts Jackson, of Wilmslow, Cheshire, said: “If no one knows about the risks involved, they won’t sue, but more and more people are becoming aware of health hazards in the workplace. 

'''BlackBerry thumb’ is the overuse of a mobile phone for work purposes and we envisage potential work in this area as more people are using their handsets when they’re on the move, which is leading to repetitive strain injury.

Read original post - ''Blackberry thumb’ is new health hazard'

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The mobile phone app that 'spots cancer'

The  UK's Daily Mail has a post about a new  mobile phone app that spots cancer and which is more accurate than the techniques routinely used in hospitals:

The smartphone-based system is up to 100 per cent accurate at telling the difference between benign tumours and their malignant counterparts. It also takes just an hour to make the diagnosis, meaning patients don’t have to spend days or weeks anxiously waiting for test results...

...In future, the smartphone system could be adapted to spot brain, skin and ovarian cancers quickly and accurately.The tiny amount of tissue needed - one thousandth of a millilitre - would also spare patients the pain and risk of having repeatedly having pieces of their growth cut away for testing. And with the most expensive piece of equipment costing just £60 or so, the system would be cheap to run.

Read more at - 'The mobile phone app that 'spots cancer''

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San Francisco passes cell phone radiation law

Now here's good news for people worried about mobile phone radiation and its potential harmful affects - San Francisco has become the first city in the US to require mobile phone retailers to post radiation levels next to the handsets they sell. Yet will it really change the industry, or just appease in the short-term?

The board of supervisors, or council, voted 10-1 to approve the measure."This is about helping people make informed choices," said the law's chief sponsor, Supervisor Sophie Maxwell.The mobile phone industry has pointed to studies that it says show mobile phone radiation was not harmful to people. 

It has fought similar legislation in California and Maine, and defeated the bills in both states.The Federal Communications Commission has adopted limits that set out safe exposure to these kinds of emissions.

The measurement defines the amount of radio waves that people can safely absorb into their bodies when talking on a mobile phone.

Some researchers have claimed such emissions can be linked to cancer and brain tumours but there remains little scientific consensus on the matter."This is not about discouraging people from using their cell phones," said Tony Winnicker, spokesman for San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who has said he will sign the legislation into law.

Read original post - 'San Francisco passes cell phone radiation law'

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Radiation risks cited in full-body airport scans

More controversy surrounding the use of full-body airport security scanners. This recent post explains how

Full-body airport security scanners manufactured by Rapiscan Inc. expose the skin to high radiation levels that may lead to cancer and other health problems, according to researchers from the University of California, San Francisco. Particularly at risk, the researchers said, are travelers who are pregnant, elderly or have weakened immune systems. The machines emit X-ray energy levels that would be safe if they were distributed throughout the body, but a majority of that energy is delivered to the skin and underlying tissue at levels that "may be dangerously high," the researchers wrote last month to the White House Office of Science and Technology. Officials with the Department of Homeland Security defended the use of Rapiscan's backscatter machines. The amount of energy emitted from the machines is equal to two minutes in flight at cruising altitude, said Dr. Alex Garza, chief medical officer for the Department of Homeland Security.

Read original post - 'Radiation risks cited in full-body airport scans'

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'Internet addiction' linked to depression

The BBC reports on how there is a strong link between heavy internet use and depression, according to UK psychologists:

The study, reported in the journal Psychopathology, found 1.2% of people surveyed were "internet addicts", and many of these were depressed. 

The Leeds University team stressed they could not say one necessarily caused the other, and that most internet users did not suffer mental health problems.The conclusions were based on 1,319 responses to an on-line questionnaire.Recruitment was via links on social networking sites. People were asked how much they used the internet and for what purposes.They were also asked a series of questions to assess whether they suffered from depression.

The respondents were aged 16 to 51, with an average age of 21.

The authors found that a small number of users had developed a compulsive internet habit, replacing real life social interaction with online chat rooms and social networking sites.

Read more - ''Internet addiction' linked to depression'

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Can Cell Phones Help Fight Alzheimer's?

Well here's a new one - a rather positive spin on the potential effects of mobile (cell) phone use...mmm.. of course, the jury is still out:

Cell phone exposure may be helpful in the fight against Alzheimer's disease, a new study shows.

The study, involving mice, provides evidence that long-term exposure to electromagnetic waves associated with cell phone use may protect against, and even reverse, Alzheimer's disease. The study is published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.

"It surprised us to find that cell phone exposure, begun in early adulthood, protects the memory of mice otherwise destined to develop Alzheimer's symptoms," study researcher Gary Arendash, PhD, of the University of South Florida, says in a news release. "It was even more astonishing that the electromagnetic waves generated by cell phones actually reversed memory impairment in old Alzheimer's mice." The researchers say they found that exposing old mice with Alzheimer's disease to electromagnetic waves generated by cell phones reduced brain deposits of beta-amyloid. Brain plaques formed by the abnormal accumulation of beta-amyloid are hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease, which is why most treatments try to target the protein.

Read more - 'Can Cell Phones Help Fight Alzheimer's?'

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GPS phones could spy on swine flu sufferers

Now here is a worrying development.... as health authorities in Japan think they might have the answer to tracking and blocking the spread of swine flu - keep an eye on the population through mobile phones!

The idea is to track every individual on their phone's global positioning system (GPS).

Then people can be warned if they have crossed paths with anyone diagnosed with a highly contagious illness.

Radio Australia's Connect Asia program reports the scheme is part of an initiative to promote new uses of internet and mobile technology.

It is funded by the Government and will be carried out by Softbank, a big internet and mobile phone provider.

Trials are due to start in a Japanese school in the next few months, but some people are concerned the technology will not be able to keep up with the mass of data to be collected.

Read original article - 'GPS phones could spy on swine flu sufferers'

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'Skin-tenna' wireless signals creep over human skin

NewScientistTech has a post on a wireless antenna that channels signals along human skin and could broadcast signals over your body to connect up medical implants or portable gadgets:

The new power-efficient approach could make more of established medical devices like pacemakers or help future implants distributed around the body work together.



(QUB/W Scanlon)

Developed at Queen's University in Belfast, the new design's ability to produce signals that travel along the skin makes it more efficient than existing battery-hungry technologies such as Bluetooth.

Read more at - ''Skin-tenna' wireless signals creep over human skin'
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Mobile phones 'more dangerous than smoking'

The UK's Independent newspaper has this worrying new article about a new report just out on the daangers of prolonged mobile phone use:

Mobile phones could kill far more people than smoking or asbestos, a study by an award-winning cancer expert has concluded. He says people should avoid using them wherever possible and that governments and the mobile phone industry must take "immediate steps" to reduce exposure to their radiation.

The study, by Dr Vini Khurana, is the most devastating indictment yet published of the health risks. It draws on growing evidence – exclusively reported in the IoS in October – that using handsets for 10 years or more can double the risk of brain cancer. Cancers take at least a decade to develop, invalidating official safety assurances based on earlier studies which included few, if any, people who had used the phones for that long.

Earlier this year, the French government warned against the use of mobile phones, especially by children. Germany also advises its people to minimise handset use, and the European Environment Agency has called for exposures to be reduced.

Read in full - 'Mobile phones 'more dangerous than smoking''

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Map Pinpoints Disease Hotspots

BBCNews reports on how a detailed map highlighting the world's hotspots for emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) has been released:

Map of world's Emerging Infectious Diseases hotspots

It uses data spanning 65 years and shows the majority of these new diseases come from wildlife.

Scientists say conservation efforts that reduce conflicts between humans and animals could play a key role in limiting future outbreaks.

Writing in Nature, they said their map revealed that global anti-EID resources had been poorly allocated in the past.

Read article - 'Map Pinpoints Disease Hotspots'

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Virtual world could aid diagnosis of schizophrenia

NewScientisttech reports in 'Virtual world could aid diagnosis of schizophrenia' that at the Medicine Meets Virtual Reality conference in Long Beach, California, next week

computer scientist Daphna Weinshall of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel will describe a VR experiment in which volunteers wearing a head-mounted display navigated through simulated streets, shopping malls and a market. They were asked to flag up "incoherencies" such as objects that were the wrong colour or in the wrong position - a street sign at ground level, for instance - or making the wrong noise.

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The Medical Panopticon

Jamais Cascio in Open the Future writes on web-enabled personal medical information technologies which 'have been a standard item in the futurist's scrapbook for a few years now':

So it comes as little surprise to see this post in Medgadget, describing the HealthPoint Home Telemetry system. The only thing it's missing are smart implants doing direct somatic monitoring:

The recommended starter kit for the IL service includes the Home HealthPoint, three motion detectors, and an emergency pendant. The motion detectors are strategically placed around the home during the professional installation in the bedroom, at the entrance to the primary bathroom, and in the main trafficked area such as a foyer or living room. Additional sensor devices such as additional motion detectors, access contacts on the refrigerator or doors, a smart pillbox, or IP cameras can be utilized to supplement the monitoring data sets being produced within the home. Safety, comfort, and energy saving devices for the senior can be added such as a networked thermostat, safety lighting in or outside the home, appliance and lighting control accessories, gas leak detectors, air quality & fire detectors, or an IP-based intercom system.

Read in full - 'The Medical Panopticon'
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E-patients' going online

This article 'Doctors more accepting of e-patients' going online' points towards a study released this month by the Pew Internet & American Life Project which confirmed what most doctors already know: The number of e-patients is growing:

About 51 percent of those living with a disability or chronic disease go online, compared with 74 percent of the rest of the population, according to the study. But once those with illnesses get online, they become some of the most avid Internet users.

Three-fourths of e-patients say information they found on the Web affected decisions about their treatment, according to the study. Nearly 69 percent said something they found on the Internet led them to ask their doctors new questions or get a second opinion.

The health-care industry, which once discouraged people from doing Internet research, is beginning to take notice of the e- patients' rise, said Susannah Fox, associate director of the Pew project, a Washington-based nonprofit group.

Via Roland’s Sunday Smart Trends #187

Wi-fi health study

It appears that the UK government is taking another look at the effect that wireless networks have on health:

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) has announced it will carry out "systematic" research into how wireless networks are being used.

The research will aim to establish average exposure to the low level radiation emitted by wi-fi access points and wireless links on computers. The HPA said it expected the results of the research to be "reassuring".

The BBC reports in 'Wi-fi health study gets go ahead'

Also, The Guardian reports in 'Wireless computer network risks to be investigated' that 'the investigation will then shift to homes, offices and schools. Officials are particularly keen to measure exposure levels in classrooms, where tens of computers may be hooked up to a wireless network at the same time.'

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More global epidemics

Since this is a blog about 'mobilities' then it also should cover what is perhaps the most efficient mobility-vehicle on the planet - viruses!

The Guardian has recently reported how the WHO predicts more global epidemics:

A new killer disease on a par with HIV/Aids or ebola is likely to emerge in the next few years and threaten the lives of millions of people worldwide, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said today. Potentially deadly new diseases are being identified at an "unprecedented rate", with global epidemics spreading more rapidly than ever, the United Nations agency warned in its annual world health report.

At least one new disease has been identified every year since the 1970s. Today, there are 39 that were unknown just over a generation ago.

Read in full - 'WHO predicts more global epidemics'

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Mapping the spread of disease

The Engineer Online notes that IBM has created software technology that can map the spread of disease across the world:

The software, known as Spatiotemporal Epidemiological Modeler (STEM), was created to help scientists and public health officials understand the spread of disease and design more efficient contingency plans in a health crisis. It is available from the Eclipse Foundation through the Eclipse Open Healthcare Framework Project (OHF).

After three years of research, STEM was created to quickly produce epidemiological models for how an infectious disease, such as avian flu, is likely to geographically spread over time.

It would create graphs to show the spread based on factors that include population, geographic and macro-economic data, airport locations, roadmaps, travel patterns and migratory routes around the world.

Read full story in 'IBM maps diseases'

Peer-2-Peer for Disaster Relief

This looks like a well-needed venture into distributed disaster relief: iCare - P2P Giving for Disaster Relief




According to Smartmobs: 'The iCare project emerged from ideas shared by two Berkeley College students, while watching he devastation of Hurricane Katrina unfold:

After hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast, Berkeley Engineering graduate students Ephrat Bitton and Anand Kulkarni watched with the rest of the world as logistical snafus, bureaucratic red tape and communication breakdowns prevented charitable aid from quickly reaching the storm’s victims. There was a disconnect between those who had something to offer and those who needed it. Since then, the two students have spent their free time developing a Web application to help ensure that such a disconnect would never happen again. Their system automatically pairs donors with those in need, creating a "marketplace of charity" while putting a human face on the process of giving.

[...] After a disaster, victims can log onto the website and report their specific needs, and those requests will be connected to donors—companies or individuals—who are offering that particular kind of aid. The researchers also hope that this demand-response approach will reduce the wasteful excess of some goods and the shortage of others.'

Smart clothes to monitor health

BBC News discusess in 'Smart clothes to monitor health' how European scientists are developing clothing which they say will be able to monitor your health:

The "intelligent textiles" contain embedded sensors designed to monitor body fluids such as blood and sweat. The aim is to use the clothes to check on groups such as recovering hospital patients, people with chronic illnesses and injured athletes.

The Biotex programme, funded in part by the European Union, involves researchers from eight institutions.A prototype multi-sensor test patch is already near completion. The next step will be to try out the experimental fabric on volunteers. Project co-ordinator Jean Luprano, from the Swiss technology company CSEM, told The Engineer magazine: "Sensors have been built and have been tested in the lab.

"We have started their integration into textile patches. "We will soon have a multi-sensor patch which will allow us to sense several elements in parallel."

From the battlefield to the civil playing field...

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Early Warning System to Prevent Pandemics

The Lifeboat Foundation have an interesting and informative post on tracking the progression of pathogens. In 'Researchers Endorse Global Early Warning System to Prevent Pandemics' the author Brian Wang says that

Five evolutionary stages of pathogen progression from animals to human transmission have been identified. A proposed monitoring system of viral chatter has been proposed to provide warning of new diseases before they spread to humans.

A good read...

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Telemedicine initiative for sub-Saharan Africa

Pilot projects have been proposed for Telemedicine initiative for sub-Saharan Africa:

Satellite solutions delivering information and communication technologies can help improve health in sub-Saharan Africa; this was the main conclusion of a dedicated telemedicine task force which met recently in Botswana. To make these solutions a reality, some short-term, concrete actions have been suggested in a pilot projects proposal.

Three activities are proposed: one focussing on the health workforce (scaling-up numbers, improving performance, increasing quality); a second on clinical services (increasing health service coverage, reaching isolated areas) and a third aimed at strengthening the intelligence gathering capacity of health systems and their ability to use information for decision making.

FUll story here