Fourth Wave: Digital Health Update ⋅ Paul Sonnier ⋅ Feb 19, 2018 ⋅ #314

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The Fourth Wave: Digital Health Update ⋅ Paul Sonnier ⋅ Feb 19, 2018 ⋅ #314

Dear Group,

My latest “The Fourth Wave: Digital Health Newsletter” features interesting news including:
– Research on links between autism and fetal ultrasounds
– 12 million consumers have gotten genetic ancestry tests
– Wearable biometric display shows your heart rate
– Satellite Internet from Elon Musk’s SpaceX and FCC regulation
– Google creatively enables more accurate positioning when calling 911
– Criticism mounts as Facebook moves forward with messenger app for kids
– Autonomous drone locks-in on people
– National Geographic interviews Jeremy Bailenson, author of a new book on Virtual Reality
– M&A by Roche and Fitbit
– FDA clears Glooko’s system for people with type 2 diabetes
– Guiness World Record for whole-genome sequencing
– CRISPR gene editing for animal-to-human organ transplants
– Gene editing successfully battles HIV
– An unexpected twist on a new DNA emoji

Read all of the above and more, here: The Fourth Wave: Digital Health Newsletter for Feb 18
Subscribe for free, here.

My book, “The Fourth Wave: Digital Health” is available in digital and paperback at Amazon.com, here. You can also learn more about the book, here.

Follow me on Twitter @Paul_Sonnier for all the news I share each day.

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The Fourth Wave: Digital Health Newsletter for Feb 18

While a new study published in JAMA found no association between the number or duration of prenatal ultrasounds and a later diagnosis of autism in children, there is a purported statistical association between deep ultrasound wave penetration during the first and second trimesters and autism. However, this does not mean there is an actual causal link. As Perry Wilson, MD, an assistant professor at the Yale University School of Medicine points out: “Many outlets are reporting that a study links prenatal ultrasound with autism spectrum disorder—in fact the study shows just the opposite.” In his blog post and Medpage Today video, Perry adds that: “The rate of autism spectrum disorder has risen dramatically over the past several decades. Now, much of that rise has been attributed to an increased recognition and diagnosis of the syndrome, but most experts believe some environmental factor is contributing. While we don’t have a great idea of what that factor is, we’re getting more confident in what it isn’t. First, it isn’t vaccines, either the content or the schedule. Even the study authors don’t conclude what media is saying but suggest that “this correlation deserves further study.””

In genomics news, it’s estimated that over 12 million people have taken consumer genetic genealogy / ancestry tests since they first became available from companies like Ancestry.com, 23andMe, FamilyTreeDNA, and MyHeritage. In 2017 alone, the total was higher than all previous years combined. As Antonio Regalado reports at MIT Tech Review, the boom may be a result of DTC advertising, including the more than $100 million Ancestry.com spent on TV and other ads in 2016. Not to be left out, 23andMe has spent more than $20 million on advertising its tests to consumers. While both 23andMe and Ancestry.com allow their consumer customers to download their own data, unlike new startup Nebula Genomics (see last week’s newsletter), neither company cuts their consumer customers in on the profits they receive when selling their digital health data to pharma and biotech clients. According to Antonio: “The sheer number of people who have the data could spur growth in websites that offer to reanalyze it. Companies including Habit and Promethease will take the files and provide a breakdown of people’s diet or health risks, frequently with little oversight from regulators.”

HEALTHCARE

Babylon Health’s London GP clinic has taken on 14,000 new patients in three months, far exceeding the typical number of patients an NHS clinic sees. According to an article in The Economist, this is “upsetting some doctors.” As I tweeted, Babylon’s services is an example of how digital health can bring down healthcare costs while producing better outcomes, but while disrupting the status quo. This is understandably disconcerting from an employee perspective, doctors in this case, as there can be an impact on thier salaries and job satisfaction. Of course this is nothing new to employees in other sectors, like manufacturing, who have seen their wages and work environment negatively impacted by policy, tech, and outsourcing for several decades.

WEARABLE TECH

Researchers at the University of Tokyo have developed an ultrathin, highly elastic skin display that can show your heartbeaton your hand, for example. The system can also pair with a smartphone and transmit information including an electrocardiogram to the cloud. Professor Takao Someya staes that: “The current aging society requires user-friendly wearable sensors for monitoring patient vitals in order to reduce the burden on patients and family members providing nursing care. Our system could serve as one of the long-awaited solutions to fulfill this need, which will ultimately lead to improving the quality of life for many.” Co-developer Dai Nippon Printing expects to commercialize the system within 3 years.

LIVING AND SOCIETY

The FCC is expected to approve Elon Musk / SpaceX’s satellite-based Internet service plan. After a recent delay, the company is launching two satellites onWednesday. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai says that this type of Internet service can “help reach Americans who live in rural or hard-to-serve places where fiber optic cables and cell towers do not reach.”

In spite of criticism, Facebook is forging ahead with its meesenging app for kidsunder 13 years of age. Critics argue that it gets kids hooked on social media, with adverse effects. Consumer privacy advocate Joel Winson points out that Facebook will collect data on parents and children, including their friend lists and even the content of their messages.

Skydio’s $2,500 R1 autonomous, self-flying drone can lock-in on people and follow them while shooting video. According to Lucas Matney at Techcrunch, who had it follow him while running in San Francisco’s Jefferson Square Park: “The drone is alarmingly impressive but there’s something a little unsettling about having an autonomous drone track you down on its own while it avoids tree branches to keep you in its gaze.”

National Geographic’s Simon Worrall interviewed Jeremy Bailenson, author of a new book, “Experience on Demand: What Virtual Reality Is, How It Works, and What It Can Do.” Jeremy indicates that VR is coming of age, and discusses applications including conservation, treatment of PTSD, helping football players learn plays, helping people recover from PTSD, and helping “everyone get a grip on climate change.”

Google has developed a new method that helps 911 call centers locate people in need of help. In testing, the system which retrieves data from the phones themselves versus the wireless service providers, was found to be 80% more accurate than calls alone. The method can narrow a callers location down to 121 feet compared to 522 feet using cellular only.

M&A

Swiss pharma company Roche is buying Flatiron Health for $1.9 billion. Flatiron Health is known for applying big data approaches to speed up or even create virtual clinical trials. Roche already owned 12% of the company.

Fitbit has acquired Twine Health, a digital health platform that gathers data on users and provides coaching services to help them comprehensively manage their health.

REGULATORY CLEARANCES

The FDA has cleared Glooko’s Mobile Insulin Dosing System (MIDS), which is used for the titration of long-acting insulin for people with type 2 diabetes. The company states that MIDS is the first insulin titration application accessible through a unified diabetes management platform, which provides a complete program for diabetes management.

GENOMICS

A team at San Diego’s Rady Children’s Institute for Genomic Medicine has achieved a new Guinness World Record for whole-genome sequencing. Working with engineers from San Diego-based Illumina, the Institute performed the sequencing in 19.5 hours using Illumina’s NovaSeq 6000 sequencing machine.

CRISPR gene editing may be used to breed pigs that are free of certain viruses which would normally prevent the animal’s organs from being transplanted into humans. In the United States, 8,000 people die each year while waiting for organ transplants.

A man was ‘cured’ of HIV through gene editing after more than a decade in which AIDS drugs could not fully control his infection. Now, thanks to gene editing, his body controls the AIDS disease by itself. Researchers are trying to perfect the technique that made this possible.

After Antonio Regalado tweeted about a new DNA emoji that will be introduced having it’s direction going the wrong way, Gizmodo wrote an article about it ( using his tweet in it). I’ve previously had my own logo called out for having the DNA double helix twisting the wrong way, but apparently it’s correct now…

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Copyright © 2018 Paul Sonnier, Story of Digital Health

Paul Sonnier
Author ⋅ Speaker ⋅ Technologist ⋅ Social Entrepreneur
Book: The Fourth Wave: Digital Health
Founder, Digital Health group on LinkedIn
Creator, Story of Digital Health
Twitter: @Paul_Sonnier
San Diego, CA, USA

 

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