The mobile telemedicine company Doctor on Demand has found a promising new use for its technology platform — enabling customers to have virtual visits with a mental health professional.
The San Francisco-based startup has completely redesigned its app to reflect the expansion of its services to mental health. It also set up a whole new network of mental health professionals in all 50 states to answer customers’ calls. In total the network consists of 300 licensed therapists.
Providers must have a PhD or an MD behind their name to participate. They also have to commit to 15 hours a week to take calls on the service.
The biotech/pharma industry continues to grow with 2013 posting $4.8B+ in investment. $4.6B+ has already been deployed this year which suggests that biotech/pharma is poised to hit a 6-year high by the end of 2014. While biotech/pharma may win in absolute numbers, the digital health industry has had explosive growth since 2009, already breaking $3B this year. At the current rate of investment, digital health is on track to exceed $4B in funding, which represents a 987% increase since 2009, and a 91% increase since last year.
Canadian researchers have developed “smart textiles” able to monitor and transmit wearers’ biomedical information via wireless or cellular network by superimposing multiple layers of copper, polymers, glass, and silver.
“The fiber acts as both sensor and antenna. It is durable but malleable, and can be woven with wool or cotton, and signal quality is comparable to commercial antennas,” explained Professor Younes Messaddeq at Université Laval’s Faculty of Science and Engineering and Centre for Optics, Photonics and Lasers.
“The surface of the fiber can also be adjusted to monitor a range of information, such as glucose levels, heart rhythm, brain activity, movements, and spatial coordinates.”
Young biotech startups accepted into Y Combinator’s latest batch are going to get a leg up on research thanks to a partnership between YC and one of the batch’s older startups.
Founded three years ago, Transcriptic provides automated lab work to 60 organizations (both private and in academia). It’s raised about $6 million so far, allowing the team to grow to 18 members, including specialists in hardware and software, as well as the actual task of running tests in a lab environment.
Les essais cliniques conduits par l'Université de Padoue du projet européen de pancréas artificiel qui ont pris fin début novembre, ont donné des résultats très positifs. Ces études font partie du projet AP@home (Artificial Pancreas at home) initié en 2010 et impliquant 12 partenaires européens dans sept pays, dont le Centre Hospitalier Régional Universitaire de Montpellier.
La grippe est une maladie virale extrêmement commune. Mais du fait de la multiplicité des souches virales et de leur faculté d'adaptation, il n'existe pas encore de traitement universel et définitif. Des recherches effectuées à l'Université hébraïque de Jérusalem ouvrent la voie à des traitements plus efficaces, en explorant le mécanisme d'action de ces virus vis-à-vis du système immunitaire.
When it comes to treating large, open wounds, not much has changed in the past five thousand years. Just as the ancient Egyptians used needles and thread to patch up their wounded, doctors employ the same stitching ‘technology’ today to prevent infection and facilitate healing. Nonetheless, when a wound is too big, too complex, or when the patient is subject to a higher mortality rate, the average suture procedure just doesn’t do it.
This third edition of Health at a Glance: Europe presents the latest information on health and health systems in 35 European countries, including all European Union Member States, candidate countries (with the exception of Albania due to limited data availability) and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries. The selection of indicators is largely based on the European Core Health Indicators (ECHI) shortlist, a list of indicators that has been developed by the European Commission to guide the development and reporting of health statistics. It is complemented by additional indicators on health expenditure, quality of care and access to care, building on the OECD expertise in these areas.
L'UCL innove en créant le Louvain Bionics, un centre d'expertise, unique en Belgique et en Europe, ayant pour objectif de booster la recherche autour de la robotique médicale. Ce centre a pu voir le jour grâce à un legs de 1,86 millions d'euros de Pierre De Merre, via la Fondation Louvain de l'UCL.
