The Journal of mHealth Vol 1 Issue 3 (June 2014) | Page 33

Conference News
Previous healthcare revolutions have
not proved to be quite as revolutionary as initially hoped. Although decoding the genome was a ground-breaking
achievement, rather than providing a
clear blueprint of our genetic selves, it
revealed how much we did not know
about the interaction of genes in determining human traits and the existence of
epigenetics, the interaction of genes with
their environment. Similarly, whether
the potential treasure trove of data that
accompanies the smartphone revolution will enhance our capacity to predict
health status remains to be seen.
We already have, however, rich sources
of data available to us. One source is
claims submitted from the providers to
insurers to cover medical costs. This data
provides information on the frequency
of individual visits to the doctor, the
conditions the individual suffers from,
the geographic placement of claimants,
the prescriptions or treatments undertaken by the doctors, and the effectiveness of these treatments as registered by
the need of the individual to return to
the doctor subsequently. On the whole,
insurance claims have produced some
remarkable insights:
»» Behavioural models: Health records
provided a surprisingly accurate prediction as to those individuals who
might be more susceptible to being
victims of domestic violence.
»» Epidemiological models: Insurance
claims have proved a good proxy in
the identification of disease clusters
and outbreaks.

»» Predictive drug affects: The safety of
drugs is generally measured in comparison to a reference drug. Using
network models, adverse drug effects
can be detected and even predicted
years in advance.
There are other rich sources of existing public data. One of these is search
engine query data. One study suggests
an inverse relationship between the availability of abortion services in a particular US state, and Google searches for
abortion services. This may suggest that
demand for abortion is relatively constant across different states, it is the supply side that accounts for different abortion search rates.

The wireless future of
medicine: How the digital
revolution will create better
healthcare
(Adrian Ionescu,
Professor of
Nanoelectronics,
Ecole Polytechnique
Federale de
Lausanne (EPFL),
and Chair,
Guardian Angels
Initiative)

Mobile health is not just an interface
between individual and device. It will
soon become part of a much more
expansive and wider Internet-of-Things
(IoT). This Internet-of-Things will not
only capture health data; it will capture
pollutant data; will monitor the way we
drive and we live; will measure stress
levels, with the final goal of proposing
personalised safe and secure services for

a better quality of life. Eventually it will
allow the creation of smart cities and
of a smarter society. The foundation
of the IoT will be trillions of tiny wireless devices. Not only will it allow for
smart care, it will allow for smart energy
use and smart interaction. It will form
part of our strategy to tackle problems
caused by population ageing; the spread
of chronic disease; and the associated
healthcare costs.
Creating an Internet-of-Things represents a major logistical challenge. Smartphone handsets will eventually come
to be seen as cumbersome relics. The
IoT relies on multi-parameter sensing
technology being tiny and power free.
Guardian Angels are future zero-power
smart autonomous systems with sensing, computation, communication, and
energy harvesting features. Over three
years the Guardian Angels research partnership aims to reduce current energy
device consumption by a factor of 100;
over a ten year period, the partnership
wants to reduce device energy consumption by a factor of a thousand.
This can be done through combinations
of advances in biochemical technology; through the application of stacked
nanowire sensors; through the use of
emerging 1D and 2D nanomaterials;
through nanoelectronics and nanomechanics; enabling single molecule-sensing and novel functions in forgettable
devices. These sensors will be able to
function by use and storage of energy
from adjacent energy sources, e.g. solar,
thermal or vibration. All these technologies must be able to broadcast signals to
some form of receptor and ultimately
processor. n

Health Datapalooza Review
Health Datapalooza is a national conference focused on liberating health data, and bringing together the companies, startups, academics, government agencies, and individuals with the
newest and most innovative and effective uses of health data to
improve patient outcomes.

vices; Francis Collins, MD, PhD, Director, National Institutes
of Health; and, Adriana Lukas, Founder & Organiser, London
Quantified Self. Conference attendees also heard about the
launch of OpenFDA, a new initiative from the FDA’s Office of
Informatics and Technology Innovation (OITI).

This year’s event, held in Washington DC, had over 2000 attendees, over three days of keynotes, sessions, and events.

There were a wealth of digital solu tions and health applications
on show with live demonstrations from ActualMeds Corp, Purple Binder, and Maxwell Health. Developers were also invited
to participate in the Code-a-Palooza challenge, which was won
by Lyfechannel. n

Among the keynote addresses were speeches from: Kathleen
Sebelius, Secretary, Department of Health and Human Ser-

The Journal of mHealth

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