Stress monitoring using an Internet of Medical Things device in a virtual reality environment and at home

Modern lifestyles are triggering stress at a disproportionate rate for longer periods of time. Chronic or long-lasting stress can pose a risk to our health. However, despite advances in physiological recording methods, stress remains challenging to quantify and monitor accurately. We have developed and tested an Internet of Medical Things device with electrocardiogram (ECG) recording features. The IoMT records and processes ECG signal on-the-fly to calculate, in real time, heart rate, heart rate variability, energy expenditure and stress. Data can be sent to an online platform using a standard Internet of Things publish-subscribe messaging transport protocol for continuous monitoring. We monitored induced stress by recording ECG in subjects using state-of-the-art liquid metal electrodes performing a plank walking task in a virtual reality (VR) environment with high heights exposure and at-home. The results demonstrate our IoMT technology ability to provide accurate ECG metrics using novel liquid metal electrodes by detecting continuously increased stress values in a VR setting and at-home. Our work sets the stage for future research on psychological stress and emotion regulation within daily life and the physiological mechanisms through which it influences the health of both children and adults.

The study is now accepted in IEEE Internet of Things Journal, with an impact factor of  10.238 and among the top 10 journals in Telecommunications by Journal impact factor.

Safety evaluation of smart scales, smart watches, and smart rings with bioimpedance technology shows evidence of potential interference in cardiac implantable electronic devices

Using wearable smartwatches, smartrings, and smartscales could be life-threatening to patients with cardiac implantable electronic devices. In our Featured publication at Heart Rhythm journal (impact factor 6.343), we performed a safety evaluation of wearable smartwatches, smartrings, and at-home smartscales with bioimpedance sensing technology following Food and Drug Administration guidelines, in terms of their ability to interfere with the correct functioning of cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs).

These devices apply an electrical current to the body, which is imperceptible to the patient, but it has the potential to confuse CIEDs. The translation of these findings could have disastrous consequences to patients with pacemakers and implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) if these devices stopped working or delivered unnecessary electrical shocks to the heart.

Stay tuned. The media coverage from Heart Rhythm, press release from the University of Utah College of Engineering, full Article and accompanying Editorial article will be soon published.

 

Electrical impedance dermography can differentiate squamous cell carcinoma from its (benign) mimic inflamed sebhorreic keratosis

🎓 Graduation Cap Emoji There are no currently available low cost, non-invasive methods for distinguishing squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) invasion from its benign mimics inflamed seborrheic keratosis (SK). In this study, we demonstrate the potential of electrical impedance dermography to serve this role by measuring 35 patients. Using machine-learning, we were able to correctly classify SCC in situ from inflamed SK with an accuracy of 0.958, sensitivity of 94.6%, and specificity of 96.9%. This is Elaine’s first-author paper and will be soon published at the Journal of Investigative Dermatology Innovations.

Update long overdue

It’s been quite a busy time and a lot has happened since our last post. Arnau and Tara graduated with flying colors and are now continuing their careers at Harvard University and Duke University. We are very proud of them! Our lab is also expanding and we are very happy to welcome Raj, Albert, David, and Sam! Stay tuned, more exciting news coming soon.

One ring to rule them all 💍

Tara is currently working on a project sponsored by Happy Health to develop and characterize a new smart ring that measures the electrical resistance of the skin to predict mental stress!

If you are interested in biomedical devices and vital sign monitoring, this is the place to make it happen 😀