linkstream2 microblog

https://cen.acs.org/environment/pollution/Predicting-asthma-attacks-kids/97/i32

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The Southern California team is building an informatics platform that integrates commercially available air pollution sensors as well as wearable environmental sensors developed by academic researchers. The project is part of the PRISMS initiative established in 2015 by the US National Institutes of Health. Information from the sensors, along with a person’s geolocation, physical activity, and health data, is wirelessly transmitted to the person’s smart watch and smartphone in real time. Participants use the smartphone to self-report symptoms and information related to daily activities. The informatics platform also uses the individual’s location to integrate weather, traffic, and air-quality data into the data stream.
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.@Fitbit’s 150 billion hours of heart data reveal secrets about health, by @Pogue
https://finance.Yahoo.com/news/exclusive-fitbits-150-billion-hours-heart-data-reveals-secrets-human-health-133124215.html One interesting observation: “You see heart rate go up before your family reunions, & then tend to really take a long time to come back after it.”
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“Kind of wild to see how starting to use a treadmill — the first regular cardio workouts I’ve ever really gotten — visibly lowered my entire heart-rate range.
Also, it turns out that having kidney stones is bad for you. My heart rate went through the roof both times.
I was surprised and amused, though, to see the second most stressful events on my graph: holiday get-togethers.
“You see the heart rate go up before your family reunions, and then tend to really take a long time to come back after it,” notes McLean. In other words — who knew?? — holidays with the family are not a guarantee of peace, relaxation, and joy.
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It’s a pocket-size ultrasound machine that connects to iphone. I wonder what happens with the data

https://newatlas.com/butterfly-iq-smartphone-ultrasound/51962/

#Wearables Could Soon Know You’re Sick Before You Do
https://www.wired.com/2017/01/wearables-know-youre-sick/ Early indications of inflammation from @SnyderShot’s Fitbit

Track…everyday exposure to #chemicals
http://CEN.acs.org/articles/94/i16/simple-way-track-everyday-exposure.html Cumulative totals for pesticides, allergens, fragrances &c via Si-wristbands

The Life & Death of an $AMZN Warehouse Temp
http://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/life-and-death-amazon-temp/ Monitoring every move for max efficiency. Assembly Line of the future?

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“In the years since Amazon became the symbol of the online retail economy, horror stories have periodically emerged about the conditions at its warehouses—workers faced with near-impossible targets, people dropping on the job from heat or extreme fatigue. This isn’t one of those stories. Jobs at Amazon are physically demanding and the expectations can be high, but the company’s fulfillment centers are not sweatshops. In late September, I visited the Chester warehouse for an hour-long guided tour. Employees were working at a speed that seemed brisk yet reasonable. There were no idle moments, but no signs of exhaustion, either.

At the same time, we are living in an era of maximum productivity. It has never been easier for employers to track the performance of workers and discard those who don’t meet their needs. This applies to employees at every level, from warehouse grunts to white-collar workers like those at Amazon headquarters who were recently the subject of a much-discussed New York Times piece about the company’s brutally competitive corporate culture. The difference is that people like Jeff don’t have the option of moving to Google, Microsoft or a tech startup eager to poach managers and engineers with Amazon on their resume.

When it comes to low-wage positions, companies like Amazon are now able to precisely calibrate the size of its workforce to meet consumer demand, week by week or even day by day. Amazon, for instance, says it has 90,000 full-time U.S. employees at its fulfillment and sorting centers—but it plans to bring on an estimated 100,000 seasonal workers to help handle this year’s peak. Many of these seasonal hires come through Integrity Staffing Solutions, a Delaware-based temp firm. The company’s website recently listed 22 corporate offices throughout the country, 15 of which were recruiting offices for Amazon fulfillment centers, including the one in Chester.”
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Mysteries of Sleep Lie Unsolved
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/26/technology/personaltech/despite-the-promise-of-technology-the-mysteries-of-sleep-lie-unsolved.html The Sense readily tracks #sleep w/o much effort but does it help one sleep better?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016XBL2RE/

#Biometric Tattoos, From #Wearables To Digital Health https://wtvox.com/cyborgs-and-implantables/biometric-tattoos/ Devices connected by conductive paint, acting as body sensors

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“But now, the “digital tattoo” is another expertise they have. These “biometric tattoos” are in fact conductive paint and components. Together, they assemble into simple devices able to collect data from your body.”
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Do Data From #Wearables Belong In The Medical Record? by @dshaywitz
http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidshaywitz/2014/09/07/do-data-from-wearables-belong-in-the-medical-record/ The dichotomy: High-quality morsels v messy gobs

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I suspect that the routine use of wearable data by the medical establishment will closely parallel that of genomic data: everyone will agree that it’s interesting, and represents an area that should be followed closely, but relatively few pioneers will actually jump in, and really start collecting data and figuring out how all this works; the return on investment will be hard to define, the
uncertainty viewed as too high.

It wouldn’t surprise me if many of the same innovators that are early adopters of genomics (e.g. pursue whole genome sequencing on an ambitious scale) will be also be the earliest adopters of data from wearables, with the idea that the combination of rich genotype plus rich phenotype is likely to be an important source of insight (again, keep in mind that I work at a genomic data company). Within pharma, I’d suspect many of the largest companies (playing not to lose) will pursue lightly-resourced exploratory projects in this area, while companies I’ve called mid-size disruptors are more likely to take a real run at this, as part of a more confident and aggressive strategy of playing to win.

I’m obviously a passionate and long-time believer in the value of collecting and colliding large volumes of data, but I also recognize that this remains largely an unproven proposition, and I can understand why anxious administrators, prudent physicians, cautious corporations, and sensible investigators might prefer to place their bets elsewhere at the moment, deciding it’s still too early to jump in.
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