Cartoon character Dick Tracy’s wrist watch communicator was forward of its time
This isn’t an funding recommendation column, and I do not want for readers to hurry out and purchase shares based mostly on info that I write, however currently I do discover myself typically discussing the most recent wearable tech system.
Now we have progressed extremely with quite a lot of wearable tech and this explicit trade has annual development expectations of greater than 15 per cent for the subsequent decade.
As many in our society turn into extra sedentary, we appear extra obsessive about monitoring how unhealthy now we have turn into.
The gold customary in monitoring our well being is our blood. Greater than 3 billion blood checks are run within the US alone annually.
There’s a cause that the now failed firm Theranos Inc., shot to a valuation of over $US10 billion on the promise of fast blood testing completed with a drop of blood.
If a tiny quantity of blood could possibly be used for near-constant monitoring, the potential for higher well being monitoring was enormous.
To not point out the income stream for any firm that might ship the Holy Grail in blood testing.
As we now know, it turned out that the dream of easy and fast blood testing with a drop of blood was simply that – a dream.
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We proceed on with our extra conventional strategies of blood testing for an enormous vary of potential well being situations from diabetes to levels of cholesterol, to the opportunity of prostate most cancers; checks for the performance of our thyroid, liver and kidneys; together with markers to find out if we could have skilled a minor coronary heart assault.
Blood checks will not be that handy although and it’s arduous to ship fixed monitoring.
Properly, say “hey” to interstitial fluid.
Interstitial fluid is a transparent fluid that surrounds the cells, tissues and organs within the physique, present within the areas between tissues.
It’s a part of the extracellular fluid that bathes and nourishes the cells, supplying them with vitamins and eradicating waste merchandise.
Interstitial fluid comprises most of the identical chemical substances as blood, in the identical proportions.
If we used interstitial fluid for testing, we have already got among the info we require from a long time of testing of blood samples.
However why hassle? If blood is already so good, why not simply additional develop blood testing?
The extra we are able to monitor our well being and the extra accessible that knowledge is, the higher probability now we have of constructing enhancements within the outcomes.
Interstitial fluid gives the promise of fixed monitoring, as researchers work to develop microneedle patches.
When you do not like the concept of 1 needle then microneedles seems like even much less enjoyable. Nevertheless, the patches being developed have tiny needles of lower than a millimetre in size, which trigger about the identical quantity of ache as ripping off a Band-Help. As soon as utilized, a affected person has steady entry to well being monitoring.
Patches being developed will connect with different units you carry in your physique, and ultimately connect with your cellular through Bluetooth.