Fourth Wave: Digital Health Update ⋅ Paul Sonnier ⋅ Feb 27, 2018 ⋅ #315

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The Fourth Wave: Digital Health Update ⋅ Paul Sonnier ⋅ Feb 27, 2018 ⋅ #315

Dear Group,

Top stories this week in my Fourth Wave: Digital Health Newsletter include genetic profiling successes and failures, even a new online dating site that claims to match people based on their genetics. And a document from 1973 hints at just how prescient Steve Jobs was — and at a very young age — in his understanding of the impact that the digital revolution would have on our world. (Subscribe)

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The Fourth Wave: Digital Health Newsletter for Feb 26

A job application filled out by Steve Jobs several years before he co-founded Apple shows that he already recognized the fundamental importance of digital technology to the world. Under ‘Special Abilities’ Jobs wrote: “Electronics tech or design engineer. Digital.” The 1973 document is expected to sell for $50,000 at auction.

Daimler—maker of Mercedes Benz automobiles— is under investiagation by U.S. and German authorities for excess diesel emissions. U.S. investigators have uncovered emails by company engineers discussing software code that helped cars pass emissions tests. For example, one feature switched off emissions cleaning after 26 km of driving and another alerted the engine’s emissions cleaning system when the car was being tested. In 2015, Volkswagen (VW) admitted to using software code that cheated regulation testing and allowed over half a million U.S. vehicles to emit nearly 40 times the legal limit of emissions.

Two notable stories on human genetic profiling came out this week. First, according to Stanford researchers, matching a person’s DNA to a diet doesn’t work. In other words, there is no scientific basis for weight loss plans claiming that they can determine from your genes whether a low-carbohydrate or low-fat diet is best for you.

Second—and on the plus side—there is growing evidence that genetically-informed predictions of one’s risk of getting diseases like diabetes, arthritis, heart disease, and depression have clinical validity. Studies have also found that 10% of a person’s IQ test scores are linked to 206 gene variants. A company by the name of Genomic Prediction plans to test human embryos for these intelligence-linked gene variants, thereby enabling parents to select ‘smart’ embryos for IVF.

GENOMICS

A new dating app named Pheramor wants you to swab your cheek to match you with a genetically compatible date. As CNBC’s Meg Tirrell tweeted: “Now there are dating apps based on DNA? One geneticist tells @statnews: “The one thing they will be successful in is matching up gullible people.” According to STAT’s Rebecca Robbins, the “new online dating app is pitching DNA analysis as a cure for catfishing, endless left swiping, and the myriad other ailments of 21st-century courtship.”

After the recent annual meeting of Advances in Genome Biology and Technology, DeciBio Consulting compiled a list of what Antonio Regalado tweeted is a “useful, if insidery, roadmap to what’s hot in genome analysis technology.” Topping the list were topics including single cell genomics, structural variation, and metagenomics. Also on the list were companies like10x Genomics, NanoString, Oxford Nanopore, Twist Bioscience, and Illumina.

PRIVACY

Apple will reportedly start placing iCloud user’s encryption keys in a “secure location” in China. As Ed Snowdentweeted, “The only compelling reason for someone to buy an iPhone over more open, less expensive competitors was @Apple’s stronger stance on users’ right to privacy and security. This story and Forbes’ Cellebrite report (” The Feds Can Now (Probably) Unlock Every iPhone Model In Existence“) threaten the core of an iPhone’s value.”

WEARABLE TECH

VSP Global has launched its ‘Level’ smart glasses, which track physical activity and allow users who reach daily step goals to donate vision care to people in need. A press release is viewable here and Engadget wrote an aritcle about it here: “Level’s activity-tracking smart glasses launch this March. Frames start at $270.”

INNOVATION

Google researchers published findings that their AI system could use retinal image scans to predict with 70% accuracy whether or not someone would have a heart attack within 5 years. Prior research has shown correlations between retinal vessels and risks of major cardiovascular episodes.

Researchers at the Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics have developed a clip-on, open source 3D-printed smartphone microscope that magnifies up to 1/200th of a millimeter and can produce a clear picture of microscopic organisms and cells from animals, plants, and blood.

HEALTH AND FITNESS

The American Cancer Society is now saying that e-cigarettes are less harmful than smoking. The key is that the devices are recommended when smokers are unable to quit using other smoking cessation methods. The Society states that: “Of course, these individuals should be regularly advised to completely quit using all tobacco products.”

Female health app Clue is now available on Fitbit’s Ionic smartwatch. The app enables women to track their period, PMS symptoms, sexual activity, energy, and fertility windows. According to cofounder Ida Tin, this “is the next step in giving users the ability to connect their workout with their cycle. Clue helps its users to understand their cycle and its impact across their lives, including fitness and health. Research has shown a connection between exercise and the cycle.”

FUNDING

Edtech company Kidaptive has raised $19.1 million for its adaptive learning platform. The company’s technology helps young children with “reading comprehension and math skills, as well as improved cognitive, emotional and social functions.” According to CEO P.J. Gunsagar: “You own the learner model, not us. This is the parents’ and the childs’ model, it stays with them to make sure we’re optimizing the experience for them the way they want.” The company expects to have 10 million learner profiles within the next 4 years.

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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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