Tuesday, June 19, 2012

How about harnessing the power of unemployed, underemployed, retired, student - Doctors, Engineers, Scientists to crowdsource medical innovation?

"Accelerating Innovation: The Power of the Crowd - This research is based on in-depth interviews and discussions with 39 health leaders from across 15 countries and three different regions - Europe, ASPAC and the Americas. The individuals interviewed for this report are those with national and international reputations in the field of health management, health policy and eHealth across the world. Insights from these interviews were augmented with existing published literature from leading academics and practical examples of eHealth around the world.

eHealth covers an increasingly wide range of activities and approaches. It is commonly understood as encompassing electronic health records, personalized or remotely delivered healthcare (including diagnostics, monitoring, advice, appointments and prescribing), mobile health devices, virtual teamwork, and electronically enabled disease and knowledge management. We have used eHealth as a broad term to include all the information and communication technologies, tools and services for health. It includes health information networks, electronic transmission of data, health portals, telemedicine services and patient owned devices supporting self management and disease prevention.

Download Accelerating Innovation: The Power of the Crowd (.pdf, 1.458 KB).

Download from eHealthNews.eu Portal's mirror: Accelerating Innovation: The Power of the Crowd (.pdf, 1.458 KB)." - all from  http://www.ehealthserver.com/downloads/publications/1069-accelerating-innovation-the-power-of-the-crowd 

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Tom sez - How about harnessing the power of unemployed, underemployed, retired, student - Doctors, Engineers, Scientists to crowdsource medical innovation?

Comments?


Friday, April 27, 2012

Do It Yourself Veterinary and Animal Care

"A health resource for rural and urban farmers - You know Hesperian’s classic Where There Is No Doctor. But have you heard of Where There Is No Animal Doctor? This book, published by the Christian Veterinary Mission, is part of Hesperian’s Health and Empowerment Bookshelf – great health and community empowerment resources produced by other publishers and distributed by Hesperian.

Heavily illustrated, with straightforward, accurate information, Where There Is No Animal Doctor covers the health and care of poultry, rabbits, goats, sheep, pigs, horses, mules, cows and bulls. It addresses disease prevention, control and treatment, and the promotion of good animal nutrition, and contains an important chapter on the public health aspects of raising animals." - https://app.e2ma.net/app/view:CampaignPublic/id:35444.11023305907/rid:3427807e6b317a2f387bbcadc2c0c2e6

**************

Tom Sez - In addition to being an excellent resource for pet owners, zoo keepers, farmers, or anyone else who cares for animals.....this could be an idea springboard for low-cost, do it yourself, products.....hmmmm?

What do you think?

Wednesday, April 04, 2012

"Homemade tricorders and handheld health care"

"Homemade tricorders and handheld health care" - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/innovations/post/homemade-tricorders-and-handheld-health-care/2012/03/30/gIQAd9MDlS_blog.html


What's holding the public back from inventing their own Tricorder and winning a bunch of money?


Here's an Idea Trampoline on which to jump to your own design - http://tgideas.blogspot.com/2012/03/could-open-innovation-hasten-creation.html


Citizens of the world unite...Don't wait for the "professionals" to make such a potentially wonderful device. 


Maybe that's what they meant in "Live Long and Prosper." 

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Emotion Sensors for PTSD

It seems like there is interest in an Emotion Sensor that would help with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

First, let's lay down a little groundwork....
As you can see from above, this is an old topic.  Measuring emotions, feeding back messages, etc. has been known for some time.  Below is some of the latest activity relating sensing emotions for those with PTSD.
More can be found by Googling these search strings....
  • (sensor OR detector) (PTSD OR post-traumatic-stress-disorder) (phone OR telephone)
  • (stress OR emotion OR anxiety)-(sensor OR detector) (PTSD OR post-traumatic-stress-disorder)
  • (stress OR emotion OR anxiety)-(sensor OR detector) (phone OR telephone)
-->
(PTSD OR post-traumatic-stress-disorder) (biofeedback OR biofeedback)  

For Skin Conductance Sensing, try this string - (Electrodermal- activity OR EDA OR skin-conductance OR galvanic-skin-response OR GSR OR electrodermal-response OR EDR OR psychogalvanic-reflex OR PGR OR skin-conductance-response OR SCR OR sympathetic-skin-response OR SSR OR skin-conductance-level OR SCL) (PTSD OR post-traumatic-stress-disorder)
From my own experience with biofeedback, this simple low-cost option might be helpful also....Complete GSR2/Temp2X Calmlink Pro System - http://www.mindgadgets.com/product/gsr-temp2x-biofeedback-system/


This recent posting might be of interest too - "Listen-n-feel: An Emotion Sensor on the Phone Using Speech Processing and Cloud Computing" - http://research.microsoft.com/apps/video/dl.aspx?id=152567 - Again this is just a new twist on old technology, e.g. voice stress analysis - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_stress_analysis

There is now a flurry of activity around the AFFECTIVA,INC. emotion sensor - Here is one patent application that seems to apply - WO/2011/156272. Reading the first claim, it reminds me of how researchers used biofeedback to monitor people watching movies, many years ago. - http://www.soc.northwestern.edu/webster/pubs/Webster%20(2008)%20Audience%20Research.pdf - also - http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED017172&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED017172 - also - http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED326383&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED326383 ******************************************************************************************

Now you have a snapshot view of what's been done before, here's what else could be done....

  • Have a bracelet, wrist watch, or similar that the user "believes" is sensing emotions and automatically adjusts the body and mind to relax.  This is the Placebo Effect -  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placebo.  This effect works for about 35% of people all by itself.  Placebo devices are viewed by medical science as non-functional, but yet many  patients swear by them, e.g. copper bracelets.
  • The Placebo Effect might work better if the user is given hypnotic suggestions.  "It could be said that hypnotic suggestion is explicitly intended to make use of the placebo effect. For example, in 1994, Irving Kirsch characterized hypnosis as a "nondeceptive placebo," i. e., a method that openly makes use of suggestion and employs methods to amplify its effects." -  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnosis
  • The device could even work better if it were potentized, activated, or blessed.  Doctors could say words like "it works for some people, and I (emphasized) think it will work for you!".  Military, where PTSD may have formed, could endorse its use.  Clergy could bless the device.  Support group members could pass the the device around and add energy.
  • To make it work better yet, make it look like it's doing something, e.g. an led that flashes periodically, similar to the led on your car warning system letting you know you're protected.  See attached image above.
If interested in this latter approach, Harvard might help you implement such a device - http://programinplacebostudies.org/

Have fun, folks.  I am!

Disclaimer - Posting is for informational purposes and is not medical advice.




Friday, March 23, 2012

Fast low cost method for detecting cancer...patenting in question...opportunity for open innovation from their patent application?


BioTime’s Subsidiary OncoCyte Corporation Provides an Update on the Development of the Novel Pan-Cancer Diagnostic Product PanC-Dx(TM)

- An annual PanC-Dx(TM) blood test could be the future alternative to the mammogram as the frontline screening method for breast cancer - http://www.marketwatch.com/story/biotimes-subsidiary-oncocyte-corporation-provides-an-update-on-the-development-of-the-novel-pan-cancer-diagnostic-product-panc-dxtm-2012-03-22?reflink=MW_news_stmp

Also, what else could this technology be used for? What other conditions? Veterinary use? Idea Springboard for other products? How could you build on their work?

If interested, do a patent search or ask someone (not me) to do a patent search for you.  The patent application might be viewable by the public, by now.  From what you find, maybe you can design around the patent application...or find better patents...and design around their granted claims...

Some places to search are....



Good Luck!




UN World Water Day....Information and Ideas on Maximizing Water Use...


Only a few days left to get your Gift of Health matched by the Wang-MacLaren Foundation!   

March 22 is World Water Day and this year’s theme is Water and Food Security.  But access to water and food -- that’s what water and foodsecurity means -- has proven to be insufficient.  What is needed is community control over access to water and food.  This is the idea of water and food sovereignty.

The farmers of Via Campesina demanded that the World Water Forum, recently held in Marseille, France, defend the rights of small-scale farmers and ordinary people to water for drinking and farming. Their solutions to the water crisis include agrarian reform, agroecology, and food sovereignty. 

Using less water to grow crops is essential, as the message of UN World Water Day makes clear.   A cultural shift to reject corporate agriculture and return farming to its rightful place as an activity that not only provides food but stewards and protects our environment and wellbeing is necessary for health and survival. 

Hesperian’s resources offer insights and practical suggestions about how to create healthy, sustainable water and food systems.  


....learn about protecting community water and watersheds, building safe toilets, treating health problems due to unsafe water, and farming sustainably. ...
...basic information on toilet building as well as learning activities to help communities understand and prevent sanitation-related health problems....
...
  • How corrupt water policy led to bitter disputes during the settlement of the American West.
  • How to reuse household water to create lush gardens.
  • How residents jump-started municipal eco-projects in such diverse locales as Tijuana, Mexico City, Zimbabwe, and Arcata, California.
  • How a “protest village” in Thailand and a neighborhood association in Louisiana beat dam and levee expansion with grassroots organizing.
  • How to build a composting toilet and a pedal-powered washing machine.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Low-Cost Water Well that also Monitors Water Level

There seems to be interest in low-cost methods of making a dual-use water well. This well would supply drinking water and also monitor the water level below ground.

Here are some links that might be helpful to those especially in developing countries....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_well - basics laid out here...also mentions "....a well constructed for pumping groundwater can be used passively as a monitoring well and a small diameter well can be pumped, but this distinction by use is common."
http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/wwg410 - level monitoring methods...
http://ec.europa.eu/research/growth/pdf/nanotechnology02-conference/presspacklyngby-6d-microchem-revised-release_23-9-02.pdf - shows low cost water quality monitoring too
http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/pubs/600r03041/600r03041.pdf - remote monitoring and more...
http://people.hws.edu/halfman/Data/Reprints/RileyDataLogger.pdf - low cost data logging...
http://www.webs.uidaho.edu/gwemo/reports/Water%20Level%20Measurement%20Techniques.pdf - water level sensing methods...
http://www.cee.mtu.edu/sustainable_engineering/resources/technical/Human_Powered_Pumps_FINAL.pdf - human powered pump considerations vs. water level and other concerns
http://www.aqualliance.net/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/well_sounder.pdf - electric sounder and other water level considerations...
http://www.thewaterchannel.tv/index.php?option=com_hwdvideoshare&task=viewvideo&Itemid=0&video_id=511 - info. from the WaterChannel
http://books.google.com/books?id=tzr3RiW4UhgC&pg=PA249&dq=low+cost+monitoring+well+water&hl=en&sa=X&ei=soJbT-yhFIGVgwef5fihCw&ved=0CGAQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=low%20cost%20monitoring%20well%20water&f=false - book on ground water monitoring..
http://thewaterproject.org/digging-wells-in-africa-and-india-how-it-works.asp - The Water Project
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?search=Water+supply+and+sanitation&title=Special%3ASearch - Water Supply and Sanitation in various countries worldwide.

Good Luck in your Ventures! 

I hope my work helps you or others.

Wednesday, March 07, 2012

HOW AIRPORT SCANNERS COULD REVOLUTIONIZE MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY

"Aside from catching flak from privacy advocates and inconvenienced travelers, airport scanners might one day serve a higher purpose. In fact, these devices could actually save your life. - http://www.trade4all.com/view_newsletters.php?email_id=40178&thetitle=How+Airport+Scanners+Could+Revolutionize+Medical+Technology&desc=...

Article has good explanation of one of the paths to a Star Trek Tricorder - T-Rays.

Great idea above, but how about using something similar to a Vulcan Mind-Meld for medical diagnosis? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcan_(Star_Trek)#Mind_melds - mind melds explained.

I'm working on something like a mind-meld for medical diagnosis, but you can do much better.  Springboard off my work, please!  Don't let me slow you down.  Wave as you go by.



Cheers!

Disclaimer - This and all my writings are for informational use only and are not medical advice.

Tuesday, March 06, 2012

Could Open Innovation Hasten The Creation of an Actual Tricorder?

Lots of folks are working to develop a device similar to a Star Trek "Tricorder".  If interested, here's some links that might help you....

Tom sez - If this is such a hot topic, how about someone making a wiki for open innovation, i.e. crowd-sourcing?  This approach would benefit the world, and could very well speed along development.  Think of all the good information and idea-seeds Trekkies could provide,  many of which are now engineers, doctors, scientists, etc.

Have Fun!

Disclaimer - Article is for informational use only and is not medical advice.

Monday, March 05, 2012

Inventors Project Book...old but good brainstorming tool today.

If you're looking for ideas for inventions, here's a book that you might like...



http://books.google.com/books?id=K5QrAQAAMAAJ&q=inventors+project+book+lawrence&dq=inventors+project+book+lawrence&hl=en&sa=X&ei=xd1UT4adC4OYgwfTkZHCDQ&ved=0CEsQ6AEwAA - Inventors Project Book by Lawrence, Lucas George.  Use the Search Box to find topics of your interest.

About the author....willing to explore life as we know it....and don't know it....


Steam Putt-Putt or Pop-Pop Vehicle, Boat, or Who Knows What?

The movie "Ponyo" had a little putt-putt boat in it.  I thought this design might be helpful for a low-cost boat design.  Solar powered?  Applicable for big boats, ships, snowmobiles, water jets, who knows?  Power generation, green machines, why knot?

Please see below for start materials....


Have fun.  Be the first on your block to have a solar powered steam putt-putt tin-foil hat!

Sunday, March 04, 2012

Alternative to Nitrate Fertilizer

Inexpensive nitrate fertilizers have overshadowed the research in other means of stimulating plant growth.  One such alternative explored was Electroculture.  Is this a Green Opportunity today?  Worth exploring? - Others seem to have thought so....

Start Materials...

Good Luck in your efforts to make this a better Earth!

A New (Old) Form of Insect Control

Controlling insects by chemicals is widespread, yet it may be harmful to other than the insects.  In the past, it has been proposed using a Radio Frequency Catalyst for Insect Control.  Green Opportunity today?

Start Materials...

Please consider this for Open Innovation, since it could benefit so many.  Wiki?

How to Reduce Fuel Consumption When Plowing

In the 1920's, research was done on using electroendosmosis to aid plowing.  Is this an untapped opportunity to reduce fuel consumption in tractors, excavators, drillers?  Green Opportunity?   Hmmm?

Start Materials...
OK, now you have some start materials....what can you build with them?  What else can be done than that before?  Pulse voltage?  What harmless chemical can increase this effect?  

Please let others know of your results - Open Innovation. - Open Wiki?

Disclaimer - Article is for informational use only.

Bacteria Seeks Out Wounds, Promotes Rapid Tissue Growth, and Prevents Scarring - Why Not?

Your mission is to make a substance that  "When a patient was exposed to bacta, the bacterial particles within sought out wounds and promoted rapid tissue regeneration while preventing the emergence of scar tissue." - http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Bacta

If you make such a substance, you will have made a new "Miracle Drug".  Science Fiction often becomes reality by the science fiction author blurting out what they imagine.

Maybe Bacta doesn't even have to work according to Science...yet it works for patients????? - Please consider the Placebo Effect.  If it works, it works.  Let Science debate how it works.

Here is some start material, in addition to the link above:


Have Fun!....and please tell the world about your work....so others can  build on your work...open innovation....




Monday, February 27, 2012

'10-Cent Medical Checkup' Using Cell Phones...Wow!

Students Strive to Develop '10-Cent Medical Checkup' Using Cell Phones - http://www.qmed.com/mpmn/medtechpulse/students-strive-develop-10-cent-medical-checkup-using-cell-phones

Bully for you CalTech Students!  :-)))))

I'd like to see more of the same from.... students all around the world...plus retirees....plus  underemployed talented people...plus engineers or scientists between jobs....plus Engineers Without Borders....Plus Doctors Without Borders....Plus Doctors, Nurses unhappy with current health methods....OK, I'll stop now....not give up, just stop for now....

Once we're on this roll.....how about having a wiki for open innovation in designing medical devices for the other 90% of the world - http://www.qmed.com/mpmn/article/little-can-go-long-way and http://www.designother90.org/cities/home

By the way....How about hooking this gizmo to Online Symptom Checker? Please see
Do It Yourself Doctoring – Wish List - http://tgideas.blogspot.com/2008/11/do-it-yourself-doctoring-wish-list.html





Low-Cost Mobile-Phone Stethoscope

I came across this article - Mobile phones offer heart lifeline- http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/science_blog/160911.html

Reminded me right away of my Electronic Stethoscope and Analyzer for under $5.00 - http://tgideas.blogspot.com/2009/07/electronic-stethoscope-and-analyzer-for.html

***********************

Tom sez - So, what's new? Looks like the idea of a home based heart monitor is indeed possible. Where do we go from here, folks?  Yes, one path is the usual where companies make it into a money making product, but.....

Here's a few ideas of what else might be done....

Take the two starts above, learn about the concepts therein, and design a cell phone that coincidentally can accurately hear heart sounds. Make the cell phone a cell phone and do not claim it can hear heart sounds. I'm not going to say why you would want to do this....but please just think of two objects....a pretty cell phone and then think of a medical device.

Maybe think of an adapter to a regular cell phone to enhance hearing ability, which coincidentally is particularly sensitive to heart sounds.

Launch these products in countries where they really need them....third world developing rural areas....then let them trickle back to the developed countries.

Start a wiki on this topic and let it be developed open source...similar to the open eeg project.

Write articles on how this could be done, so others can build on your work. Retired engineers come to life!
Find work to build on....libraries can help....post on Facebook or LinkedIn...."anyone working on a cheap cell phone device that is good for listening to heart sounds?  Collaborate all around the world.

See if there are some good open source heart sound diagnosis tools to couple the cell phone too.  Cell phone app?

Maybe expand your thinking to more than heart sounds....bowel sounds....pediatrics....etc.

Once you get this open innovation thinking going on the Affordable Home based Stethoscope....please keep it going for other low cost health devices....make a list and check it twice....

Good Luck!

Friday, February 24, 2012

Could "Interfacing with the Doctor Within" be viewed as a Star Trek Tricorder?


See "$10million prize offered to design a Star Trek tricorder" - http://www.newelectronics.co.uk/electronics-blogs/10million-prize-offered-to-design-a-star-trek-tricorder/39536/




After you have read that, then please see - "Interfacing with the Doctor Within" - http://doctor-within.blogspot.com/

It seems like the brain knows what's going on in the body....or we would have died out long time ago due to a simple cold, flu, or minor injury. By and large, the body heals itself.  How would it do that if it didn't know what needed fixing.  Why not tap into that knowledge base?

Who sez it can't be done?  I'm working on it.  I'm sure you can do much better though.  If interested, build on my work.  Have at it...and make yourself a bundle!

Good Luck to You!

For history of Tricorder, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tricorder


Thursday, February 23, 2012

Design Notes for Low-Cost Products

Here’s an ongoing index of my DESIGN NOTES FOR LOW-COST PRODUCTS for Low-Income People throughout the world - https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0ASxQMXIbYsLcZHN3eHE0a18zNWM5Znd4YzVz



Some uses for this might be....

  • Brainstorming new products or services
  • Research for low cost solutions
  • Springboard to find more of the same
  • History lesson of old patents
  • Science Fair Projects


Good Luck!


Monday, February 20, 2012

Innovation and New Product Development in Do-It-Yourself Healthcare


Innovation and New Product Development in Do-It-Yourself Healthcare - 

Are you looking for new product or diversification ideas for your company, particularly in this economic recession? Well, there is a hidden gem out there that you might be able to cash in on – Do It Yourself Healthcare.
There is a growing trend in the world for this DIY Healthcare, partly out of need and partly because people want to be more active in their own healthcare. 

As a gauge of public interest, Google gives the following results:
Symptom Checker - 1,630,000 hits
Do It Yourself Health Doctor - 34,200,000 hits
The do-it-yourself movement is not new. Some examples of how this happened before are as follows....

http://www.brainreactions.com/innovation-and-new-product-development-in-do-it-yourself-healthcare.html



Thursday, February 16, 2012

Tom's Writings - New Blog - News of all my writing and inventing



Hello All – FYI – I now have a news hub for all my writing and "virtual inventing" – Tom's Writings | TG Ideas LLC

If you want to know of all my activities then please “Follow by E-Mail” or “Subscribe” on Tom's Writings.
I’m off to a fresh start in my blogging. Stay tuned. I’m so excited to start writing, researching, inventing again. 

Best Wishes to you in your endeavors.