Experts Eye mHealth Applications Market to Market Healthcare Services

June 05, 2012Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, which helps its clients face growth related challenges and opportunities, is now focusing its energies on the mobile health (mHealth) market. With the smartphone and the mobile operating software dominating the technology world, coupled with the unprecedented popularity of mobile apps, the last few years have resulted in the unparalleled growth in the mHeatlh market.However, while no one is denying the success of the mobile health (mHealth) market, industry experts are quick to point out its stagnancy, especially in terms of the saturation of mobile applications (apps). These mobile apps cover a wide gamut of segments, ranging from smoking cessation tools, regional allergy alerts and instant heart rate readings and so on.Thus, Frost & Sullivan senior industry analyst, Zachary Bujnoch's moderation of the panel, "What's Next for mHealth?" at the 9th Annual Healthcare Unbound Conference & Exhibition on July 19 to 20, will tackle this issue at the Hotel Kabuki in San Francisco, California. His proposal is based on the insight gained from past Frost & Sullivan's research; Analysis of the U.S. Broadband mHealth Applications Market."Today, we are seeing the tip of the iceberg in the U.S. mHealth market's potential," said Bujnoch."mHealth will continue on a steep growth curve as increasingly sophisticated mobile technologies and relationship-management tools disrupt the market."The focus will be on wireless technology and how crucial and relevant it is in today’s time. Health devices now come embedded with wireless technology and work in conjunction with apps like chronic care management, fitness tracking, medication compliance and diagnostic monitoring.The "What's Next for mHealth?" panel will also highlight the advantages of wireless technology and how consumers have benefitted from it, in regard to wireless health. The panel will also discuss the advantages of wireless technology and highlight the fact that wireless networks, ranging from body area to wide area networks are all pervasive. This alone makes it the ideal platform to market healthcare products and services and hence the tens of thousands annual mHealth app purchases are no coincidence."mHealth is an important theme at our Healthcare Unbound Conference, which also covers innovative applications of remote monitoring, home telehealth, eHealth, social media and gaming," said The Center for Business Innovation managing director, Satish Kavirajan."These approaches help to manage diseases, promote wellness and facilitate accountable care."

立院三讀 理賠診斷書應寫中文

 【2012/06/06 聯合報】醫院診斷書上記載的病名，常與病人投保病名不符，以致保險公司拒絕賠償，糾紛不斷。立法院昨天三讀通過醫療法第七十六條條文修正案，明定申請理賠之診斷書應以中文記載，所記病名若與保險契約病名不一致時，則另行加註。過去曾發生投保癌症險的病患因肺癌致心肺衰竭死亡，但診斷書只記載「心肺衰竭」，未記載肺癌，導致病人家屬持「心肺衰竭」診斷書向保險公司申請理賠卻遭保險公司拒絕。國民黨立委蔡錦隆等人為減少醫院、病患、保險公司三方對立及紛爭，因而提出修法。壽險業者指出，現行實務上，保險公司在審核理賠案時，除了醫生診斷書外，還會調閱病歷，或是請保戶提供相關檢驗報告；也就是說，不會只以診斷書做為唯一依據。至於修法後，能否有效降低保險理賠糾紛？壽險業者表示，恐怕得再觀察。因為醫院醫師有時候會應病人或家屬要求，將保單條款內容照抄上去，結果發生診斷書記載和病歷資料不符的現象，因此保險公司不會就此決定理賠。

Great potential...olfactory stem cells !!!!

The potential impact of olfactory stem cells as therapy reported    June 5, 2012 in Medical research  A study characterizing the multipotency and transplantation value of olfactory stem cells, as well as the ease in obtaining them, has been published in a recent issue of Cell Transplantation (20:11/12), now freely available on-line."There is worldwide enthusiasm for cell transplantation therapy to repair failing organs," said study lead author Dr. Andrew Wetzig of the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. "The olfactory mucosa of a patient's nose can provide cells that are potentially significant candidates for human tissue repair."According to the study authors, olfactory neural stem cells can be derived from a patient's own cells, they are readily available by a minimally invasive biopsy technique, and they can be expanded in vitro. The cells are plentiful because the olfactory epithelium undergoes neurogenesis and continual replacement of sensory neurons throughout adult life."Using the rat as our animal model source, we examined the basic aspects of olfactory neural stem cell biology and its potential for self-renewal and phenotypic expression in various circumstances," said Dr. Wetzig. "Previously, we found that they have performed well in pre-clinical models of disease and transplantation and seem to emulate a wound healing process where the cells acquire the appropriate phenotype in an apparently orderly fashion over time."The researchers concluded that the olfactory neurospheres contain stem cells whose capacity for differentiation is triggered by signals from the immediate environmental niche."Stem cell numbers were shown to be enriched by our culture methods," explained Dr. Wetzig. "We also demonstrated that when adult olfactory stem cells are transplanted into an environmental niche different from that of their origin, they demonstrate multipotency by acquiring the phenotype of the resident cells.""This study highlights another potential source of stem cells that has shown some degree of promise in a number of studies" said Dr. John Sladek, professor of neurology and pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. "Their relatively easy accessibility and multipotent properties are important factors that could rank these cells competitively with other stem cells thus giving them a potential impact as an excellent source for cell therapy".More information: Wetzig, A.; Mackay-Sim, A,; Murrell, W. Characterization of olfactory stem cells. Cell Transplant. 20 (11/12):1673-1691; 2011.

監察院水果泡雙氧水??

監院切片水果不變色… 泡雙氧水 【2012/06/06 聯合報】監察院昨天開全院談話會，監委程仁宏日前意外發現，監院提供的切片水果，擺了兩天竟不變色，送實驗室檢驗，驗出有過氧化氫殘留，也就是俗稱的雙氧水，昨天公布送檢結果，與會監委很驚訝，不排除調查切片水果衛生問題。程仁宏「熱心主動」送檢，得到重大發現，有人私下封程仁宏是「監院版」的「雞婆送檢員」。程仁宏表示，日前秘書處提供裝有西瓜、蘋果、芭樂的切片水果，他放了兩天竟然都不會變色，一時起疑，送兩盒到實驗室檢驗，驗出有過氧化氫殘留。消基會董事長出身的程仁宏剛上任，就曾主動送驗兩次，都無過氧化氫殘留，第三次驗出殘留。有監委認為，每種食物都有風險，如果遇到風險就不吃，是鴕鳥心態，吃水果是小事，不必太認真。一名監委說，監委討論吃不吃水果，傳出去會被笑，「最好不要見報」。

吊大筒 ! 解疲勞?!

獨家／退燒、醒酒、解疲有效？　吊大筒還不如一碗稀飯  陳鈞凱 2012年6月5日 11:35 迷信「吊大筒」可解疲勞、補充營養，不只台灣人買單，連中國大陸都有考生集體打點滴補習。記者陳鈞凱／台北報導台灣人就醫有不少奇怪的堅持，尤其，迷信「吊大筒」的速效，相信挨一針才好的快，造就不少人疲勞、發燒、不舒服時，都會主動要求打點滴，認為有助於補充體力、退燒，甚至還可以醒酒，但醫師戳破迷思，認為除非必要，多數人其實並不需要打點滴，否則可能花錢又傷身，且一般點滴營養價值還不如一碗稀飯。台灣人有多愛打點滴，連健保局都看不下去，特別在健保局自己出版的「全民健康保險雙月刊」中，刊登專文破解迷思，指出多數人「打點滴」觀念是錯的！一般人口中的「吊大筒」，正式名稱應該叫做「大量點滴注射」，是指經由靜脈注射瓶裝的生理食鹽水、林格兒氏液、Rock液、果糖液或血液代用劑、葡萄糖液等液體，一瓶容量大多為500CC。感覺疲勞時，打點滴可以補充體力或營養？是最常見的迷思之一，但健保局進一步分析，大部分點滴液的成分，不外是生理食鹽水、葡萄糖液、果糖液等，頂多再加些維他命，營養價值比一瓶運動飲料還低。以濃度5%的葡萄糖液為例，換算下來，一瓶500CC的點滴液，只含有25公克的葡萄糖，其營養價值還不如一碗稀飯；台北書田診所家醫科主任醫師何一成表示，打點滴以後會覺得比較有精神，主要是因為躺在床上休息的緣故，並非點滴的功效。何一成說，打點滴可以退燒、醒酒？也是一般人常見的迷思，事實上，打點滴並不能改善上述現象，也沒有任何特別的效果，打點滴頂多幫助補充流失的水份，暫時性地使人覺得比較舒服、比較有精神，因而誤認為打點滴對自己的症狀緩解大有助益。 想藉打點滴來解酒、提神，何一成指出，酒精大部分必須經過肝臟代謝才能排出體外，打點滴增加水分，雖可能加速酒精排泄，但效果不是很大，他舉例來說，如果一瓶啤酒要等上90分鐘才會退酒，打了點滴，不過僅僅提早10分鐘而已。哪些人需要打點滴，健保局指出，除非暫時無法進食或不宜進食、必須經由點滴注射抗生素、化學治療等藥物，或治療脫水狀態、電解質不平衡或極度低血糖、昏迷與休克等急救時，否則一般人不應該打點滴。健保局也提出警告，不需要的時候打點滴，不但無效還會延誤病情，更造成金錢跟醫療資源的浪費，增加腎臟排尿的負擔，部分病患如心肌炎、心肌梗塞等，打點滴還可能造成心臟衰竭惡化的危險。