Category: Digital Health, Wearable technology and Devices
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Muscle measurement – Electromyography (EMG)
The measurement of muscle contraction is important for various disorders in the muscular and neuronal system. Muscles get the input to contract from a brain through the neuron at a specific junction. This is accomplished through a generation of an electrical pulse in millivolts (20-30mV) oscillating at a frequency of 7-20Hz. The measurement of this…
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Brain measurement – Electroencephalogram (EEG)
The understanding and measurement of the brain is accomplished by various means. EEG (Electroencephalogram), Computerized Axial tomography, Positron Emission tomography, Magnetic resonance imaging and Magnetoencephalography. EEG was among the first measurements undertaken to understand the working of the brain. It is a summation of the electrical activity of the brain. The audio analogy to understanding…
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Conversions: How to use Mil/gauge/inches as measurement units for Needles, Wires, Sheet-Metal, and Plastic Vinyl.
Conversions get very confusing easily, especially when the standards are defined differently for different items and are also different across countries. It is important to understand what do the terms mean for a medical device manufacturer. Here are the basics: The standard Standards are below and they are all linear simple formulas to correlate with…
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Medical software development – Finite state machines
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates significant portion of medically relevant devices and drugs but it is probably not as well known that they also regulate the software that is used to power many of the studies. There are significant guidelines from FDA that are used for manufacturers of software that regulate medical devices. The…
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FDA Unique device identification rule
FDA has been working to release a rule that will require that each medical device be uniquely identified by an identification number and bar code. This will enable each device to be targeted in case there are any issues at a later point. This requires that as the medical devices are made, they need to…
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Electrochemical sensors
Electrochemical assays have typically suffered from poor sensitivity compared to optical technology. In addition, they sometimes have a large background signal which makes detection of analyte difficult. However, the ability to detect the analyte in turbid or complex signal is the holy grail that is usually very difficult with optical methods. Many laboratories have struggled…
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Small convenient medical devices
The thinking is that sophisticated devices are needed for some biomarker studies and medicine. However, it is relatively simple to build some devices thought complicated with materials that are commonly available in electronic shops. For example, measurement of alcohol used to require sophisticated gas chromatography. With commonly available sensors, like a “MQ3 gas sensor” available…