Hygear, a smart fitness tool maker that launched in 2020, has introduced a smart jump rope that can provide users with real time feedback. The Hyrope can pair with the company's official app to track the user's jump count, speed, pace and calorie burn as they go along. Hygear's app picks the interactive workouts they can follow based on their fitness goals and uses AI tech to adjust them based on actual performance.
While gyms have started reopening in recent months after coronavirus restrictions loosened up, some may still choose to continue exercising in their homes. A lot of people purchased expensive machines in the middle of the pandemic last year, after all, and may have gotten used to following video workouts from the growing number of digital fitness subscriptions out there. Hyrope may have a been a bit late to the game, but it could still find its audience in those who now prefer working out at home, or those who just want a handy exercise tool they can bring anywhere they go.
The company says it chose to introduce Hyrope, because "because mixing cardio with strength training is one of the best, most effective ways to burn calories for weight loss," and rope jumping is "excellent cardio activity that can be performed in limited space." Hyrope is now available for pre-sale for $39. It comes with the device itself and a year-long Hygear app membership. The jump rope is launching with a 90-day weight loss program that's accessible through the app, and the company is also rolling out 45- and 60-day cardio programs in the coming weeks.
Moderna has injected its mRNA-derived vaccine for the seasonal flu into a human volunteer for the first time as part of a Phase 1/2 clinical study, the company announced on Wednesday.
This is a very early test for the new vaccine technology, geared primarily towards building a baseline understanding of the treatment's "safety, reactogenicity and immunogenicity," according to a Moderna release. mRNA-1010, as the vaccine has been dubbed, is designed to be effective against the four most common strains of the virus including, A H1N1, H3N2, influenza B Yamagata and influenza B Victoria. According to the World Health Organization, these strains cause between 3 and 5 million severe cases of flu every year, resulting in as many as 650,000 flu-related respiratory deaths annually. In the US alone, roughly 8 percent of the population comes down with the flu every winter. The company hopes this vaccine will prove more potent than the current 40 - 60 percent efficacy rate of conventional flu vaccines.
“We are pleased to have begun this Phase 1/2 study of mRNA-1010, our first mRNA seasonal flu vaccine candidate to enter the clinic. We expect that our seasonal influenza vaccine candidates will be an important component of our future combination respiratory vaccines,” Stéphane Bancel, Moderna's CEO said. “Respiratory combination vaccines are an important pillar of our overall mRNA vaccine strategy. We believe that the advantages of mRNA vaccines include the ability to combine different antigens to protect against multiple viruses and the ability to rapidly respond to the evolution of respiratory viruses, such as influenza, SARS-CoV-2 and RSV. Our vision is to develop an mRNA combination vaccine so that people can get one shot each fall for high efficacy protection against the most problematic respiratory viruses."
This vaccine has been generated using the same genomic techniques the company utilized to develop its COVID-19 treatment in 2020. The technique works by exploiting the human body's own cells to reproduce snippets of viral DNA to instigate an immune response and prime the body against future infection. Since this method doesn't require the entire virus (either weakened or dead) but rather just a birt of its genetic code, mRNA vaccines could be applied to any number of deadly modern diseases including malaria, TB — even cancer.
Pinterest has announced a complete ban on weight-loss ads, which comes into effect today. The policy builds on previous rules that prohibited ads for weight-loss or appetite-suppressant pills and supplements, liposuction and fat-burning procedures and body shaming.
There's now a blanket ban on ads with any weight-loss language or images, and those that reference Body Mass Index (BMI) or similar indexes. Testimonials about weight loss or weight-loss products are prohibited, as are language and images that denigrate or idealize body types. Additionally, you'll no longer see ads for products that claim to enable weight loss through something that's worn or applied to the skin.
Ads related to fitness products and services, and those promoting healthy habits and lifestyles are still welcome. However, any that focus on weight loss won't be approved.
Pinterest developed the updated policy with the support of the National Eating Disorders Association. The organization said in March it had seen a 41 percent increase in helpline calls during the previous 12 months, and studies have suggested the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on many people with eating disorders. Whenever someone searches for content related to eating disorders on Pinterest, the company redirects that person to NEDA to provide them with helpful resources.
The company says its community has been embracing body neutrality, with searchers for that term, and quotes related to "healthy mindset," "stop body shaming" and "body acceptance" rising dramatically over the past year or so. Pinterest will highlight related pins from creators on the Today Tab "to showcase those reimagining the relationship with their bodies."
Pinterest says it's the first major platform to ban all weight loss ads and it urged others to do the same. Instagram and Facebook have restricted ads for diet products. Instagram also points users searching for eating disorder-related terms toward NEDA resources. Last year, TikTok prohibited ads for weight-loss supplements and those that “promote a harmful or negative body image.”
Amazon took a different approach from companies like Apple, Google and Samsung when it launched its first health-centric wearable last year. The Halo band stood out as a screenless $100 wrist-band that required a monthly subscription for the bulk of its functions, and kicked up a ton of controversy with its tone-detecting feature. The company is continuing to deviate from industry trends like squeezing more sensors or adding more workout types and is instead rolling out a smartphone camera-driven service called Movement Health, which it announced earlier this month.
Movement Health is another way Amazon is distinguishing itself from the sea of other fitness offerings. Instead of just tracking your steps, heart rate and sleep, which the Halo wearable does, the app also offers tools like body fat scanning and tone detecting. The latter feature was widely denounced at launch for listening in on all your conversations all the time. Even setting aside those concerns, Tone Detection isn’t very useful anyway — Amazon doesn’t provide enough context around each entry to help you understand why you sounded “angry” or “happy” at various points during the day.
Amazon Halo general features
But as someone who’s been trying to improve her general fitness and knows that weight is only one of many metrics towards an overall picture of your health, I’ve found the body fat scan helpful. As a recap, Amazon uses your phone’s camera to take front, back and side pictures of you, then analyzes it to deduce your body fat percentage. The company has cited study after study claiming its computer vision tool is more accurate than scales using bioimpedance, which send a mild electric current through your body. Pennington Biomedical Research Center even goes as far as to say that its tests found the Halo app “can be as accurate as the methods doctors use to measure body fat percentage.” That study, by the way, was funded by Amazon.
In my own experience with the band over the last few months, Halo's greatest draw is its app. The device itself, which doesn’t have a screen, is nondescript and underwhelming. It’s so plain that I didn’t even notice it was on a pile of laundry one day and accidentally tossed it into my washing machine. The good thing is that it survived being washed and dried. This might be the Nokia 3310 of wearables.
Just like the old-school phone, the Halo band doesn’t do much. It houses a heart rate monitor and microphones to track your heart rate and tone (if you opt in). It also has an accelerometer to help it log your steps and sleep, as well as a multi-function button. There’s nothing wrong with a simple device that just does the basics, except that it costs $100. You could get all these features for a fraction of the price from a plethora of companies without having to pay an additional monthly subscription fee.
Movement Health impressions and testing
Where Amazon does stand out is in offerings like body fat scanning and Movement Health. The latter, which rolls out today, is intended to “improve the way you move.” I don’t like the idea that there’s something inherently wrong about the way some people move, but if you’ve ever wondered whether your joints might be stiffer than most, or you’ve had issues with back or shoulder pain, Movement Health might help. According to Amazon, it’s “based on functional fitness, which is your body’s readiness to execute the everyday movements you do without thinking — bending, reaching, lifting, twisting, pulling, pushing and even just walking.”
Basically, the Halo app can guide you through a quick mobility test, and through your phone camera it’ll assess your performance. I've had it for just under two weeks. On my first attempt, I ran the test on my Pixel 4a, and per the app’s directions I turned my speaker volume up and set the phone on the ground leaning against a wall. It also suggested I wear form fitting clothes and tie my hair up. Once I framed myself within the outlined boundaries, the app showed an instructor that demonstrated each movement. I’d recommend using wireless headphones if you can for this part, as I struggled to hear the instructions over street noise in an apartment in Brooklyn.
The entire session was about 10 minutes long and Halo asked me to do sets of five movements like squats, lunges and overhead reaches — both facing the camera and to the side. Each time I successfully performed an action, it chimed and told me to repeat the action (when required). At the end, I got a report saying my performance was “great, you’re in the healthy range!” I scored 94 percent on Mobility and Stability, and 93 percent on Posture.
Results and recommended exercises
The app also displayed cards on each metric, explaining what they meant and how they related to my physiological performance. Scrolling further down, I also saw a detailed breakdown of things like “shoulder mobility,” “trunk stability,” “hip mobility,” “hip stability,” “lower mobility” and more. According to Amazon, “this assessment delivers comparable accuracy to an in-person assessment with a professional trainer.” I’ve yet to have a similar assessment with a professional trainer so I can’t vouch for that claim.
Amazon Halo app screenshots
Like the body fat scan tool and other Halo features, by the way, Amazon says “multiple layers of privacy and security are built into the service to keep data safe and in your control.” The assessment videos of you lunging and squatting are “encrypted in transit to the cloud, securely processed within seconds and then automatically deleted.” The company promises that no one ever sees them, whether or not you take Amazon at its word is your decision.
After analyzing your results, you can also check out the program of “corrective exercises” that Amazon recommends based on your performance. For me, the system suggested two sets of actions like 45 seconds of shinbox bridge extensions, 60 seconds of side lying t-spine rotation and 40 seconds of hip airplanes, for example. I’m meant to alternate these and do them at least three days a week for four weeks. Each set has a video led by physical therapist Dr. Kelly Starrett, as well as text laying out the movements. In the videos, Dr. Starrett explained not just how to perform each movement but also what areas it targets and how it helps your general mobility.
You can set up a schedule and reminders to have Amazon keep you on track via notifications on your phone. The company also recommends that you perform an assessment every two to four weeks, which will likely result in new sets of corrective exercises for you to use. Amazon says “if you’re looking for a little extra burn, you can also see an additional curated list of workout recommendations to provide a higher-intensity alternative.”
Wrap-up
As someone who hits the gym or yoga mat three to four times a week, I didn’t see the need to add these exercises to my routine. Most of the moves are similar to what I get out of my yoga sessions. But if you’re plagued by joint or back issues, these videos might be a good, gentle way to start working on your mobility in those areas. Of course, this shouldn’t and can’t replace a visit to the doctor, but they could be a helpful supplement. So far, Movement Health and the body fat scans seem to be ways Amazon is trying to use its computer vision skills to improve the Halo app, making it much more useful than the band on its own. Too bad having the device tied to your account is a requirement.
Black & Decker has launched a new health division with a lineup of personal emergency response (PERS) wearables aimed at seniors. Called goVia, it includes devices that can be worn on the wrist or around the neck that can detect falls or allow seniors to call for aid via a monthly subscription powered by Medical Guardian.
Black & Decker
The first device, called the goVia Mini ($125 on Amazon), has a battery life of five days and can be carried in bags or worn on belts or around the neck with an included lanyard. It comes with cellular coverage from Verizon's 4G LTE network along with location tracking via GPS, WiFi and triangulation. If the wearer encounters an emergency, they can press the call button and speak with an operator directly through the device. A responder can then come directly to their location.
Black & Decker
The goVia Move ($75) works in a similar way, but offers portable wearable help buttons that can be worn on the wrist. In case of emergency, you can press on either the button on the Move device itself or the portable button, though the latter has to be within 300 feet of the main unit. That will again connect you to an operator directly through the device, who can then send help to your location determined by a GPS.
The $45 goVia Home Classic device connects to a landline rather than a cellular service and includes a neck pendant or wristband (with a 600 foot range) that can be used to call for help at the press of a button. Black & Decker Health also offers the $50 goVia Home Wireless version that uses AT&T's cellular services rather than a landline. Both offer a fall detection option (for an additional monthly cost) that can automatically detect motion changes caused by a fall and impact and automatically connect to emergency operators without the need for a landline.
While the devices themselves are relatively inexpensive, they all require monthly monitoring subscriptions provided by Medical Guardian that aren't cheap. The goVia Mini's service plan costs $39.95 per month, the goMove service is $44.95 a month, Home Classic is $29.95 monthly and Home Wireless is $34.95 per month, or $44.95 per month with fall detection.
COVID vaccination efforts continue to gain momentum both in the US and around the world but that doesn’t mean we’re out of the pandemic woods just yet. Regular testing remains an important factor in helping slow the spread of the disease but has typically required a trip to your doctor or local clinic. Luckily, that’s no longer the case. In recent months, the FDA has approved a number of COVID tests which can be administered in the comfort of your own home and return results in a matter of minutes rather than days.
If you’ve taken an in-person COVID test in the last year, your nasal swab sample was likely diagnosed using a real time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (real time RT–PCR), which is among the most accurate and widely used lab-based methods for detecting viral pathogens such as Zika, Ebola and coronavirus.
The coronavirus only contains single strand RNA for genetic material which, unlike DNA, cannot be independently reproduced without the assistance of a host. As such, the virus must infect and repurpose healthy cells in order to make more of itself. RT–PCR mimics this process by first converting any coronavirus RNA present in a given sample into DNA — hence “reverse transcription” — then creating billions of copies of the genetic material and marking them with a fluorescent dye for identification.
The process is an offshoot of the more general PCR method, which is used to detect pathogens whose genetic material comes in DNA form and therefore doesn’t need amplification. This process is sensitive and highly accurate, albeit time-consuming, but does enable pathologists to detect a coronavirus infection in its early stages since only a minute amount of initial RNA is required. While the RT–PCR technique poses a low chance of outside contamination, its capability is limited in that it can only spot the coronavirus when it’s currently present in a sample. This method cannot tell if someone has been previously infected.
Some at-home tests rely on a similar process called isothermal amplification. Like PCR, isothermal amplification generates numerous copies of the coronavirus’ genetic material to aid in detection. Though IA is not as sensitive as the lab-based PCR method, it’s more accurate than other at-home tests which look for antigens — bits of coronavirus proteins that provoke the body’s immune response.
For example, an antigen-based BinaxNOW test correctly detects the virus only about 64 percent of the time in symptomatic people. That figure drops to just 35 percent in asymptomatics. Because antigen tests don’t include a reverse transcription phase, they are faster and less expensive to perform than PCR- and IA-based methods but are less accurate and return higher rates of false negatives — especially among people who have only recently been exposed.
The antigen method provides more of a general estimate as to how contagious you are, Dr. Gigi Gronvall of Johns Hopkins University told the NYT. “If you test positive on that, you really need to isolate,” she said.
So, if you are asymptomatic, a PCR or similar molecular-based test should be sufficient. If you suddenly find that you can’t smell or taste anything, pick up either a PCR or the most sensitive antigen-based test you can find. If you test positive, regardless of the type of test you use, isolate yourself immediately and call a doctor.
So far, only a handful of at-home tests have earned Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the FDA. EUAs are otherwise-unapproved treatments, tests or medical countermeasures that have been allowed to sidestep the formal (and lengthy) FDA approval process in response to life-threatening health crises like the one we are currently facing.
The Ellume COVID-19 Home Test is the first at-home test available without a prescription. It is antigen-based and takes 15 minutes to return a result. You’ll have to swab your nose then drop the sample in a desktop analyzer along with some processing liquid. Once the device does its thing, the results are transmitted via Bluetooth to your smartphone. That data is also shared through a secure, HIPAA compliant cloud connection to health authorities to aid in outbreak mapping. The test is expected to cost around $30 though the company has yet to announce where and when it might become available. The Ellume test displayed 96 percent accuracy in people ages 2 and up during its US clinical trial.
The Biden administration recently announced a $231.8 million deal with the Australian company to purchase 8.5 million units of the test. Ellume “will be delivering 100,000 tests per month from the Australian manufacturing facility until the U.S. facility is built,” a company representative told NPR. “At full capacity, the U.S facility will be able to produce up to 19 million tests per month. The 8.5 million tests for the US government is a portion of the overall manufacturing." However, not all health professionals are excited about this public-private partnership, with one going so far as to characterize the effort as “a spit in the ocean.”
The Cue OTC Test will also soon be available over the counter but unlike the Ellume, it uses a nucleic acid amplification test (similar to PCR) for improved accuracy and generates results in 20 minutes. Per a recent press release, “in prospective studies to evaluate the use of the Cue OTC Test, the results were 97.4% agreement for positive cases and 99.1% agreement for negative cases compared to the results from a highly sensitive EUA PCR laboratory-based test.” The company has not yet announced pricing or availability.
Abbott's BinaxNOW COVID-19 Ag Card Home Test isn’t just a mouthful to say, it’s a whole process. After answering a series of screening questions via the eMed digital health website, Abbot will deliver a test to your home. You’ll then be connected with a “telehealth professional” who will guide you through the sample collection process. Once you drop your sample into the analyzer, you should get your results in about 15 minutes through the Navica smartphone app. The Abbot test costs $25 and is only available with a prescription.
The Lucira COVID-19 All-In-One Test Kit costs $50 and, like the Cue, uses molecular tech. As with BinaxNOW, it requires a prescription so your doctor will have to order it on your behalf. The Lucira test is intended for use by people ages 14 and up, it returns results in 11 to 30 minutes.
If you don’t mind waiting a bit for your results, Amazon is selling Dxterity mail-in tests. Each one costs $110 and requires you post it to the company’s LA-area lab for diagnosis. On the plus side, this test is saliva-based so you won’t have to impale your nasal cavity with a Q-Tip to collect your sample. Results will be available within 24 - 72 hours through the company’s web portal.
Similarly, the CRL Rapid Response COVID-19 Saliva Test can be purchased from the Walgreens website for $119 and returns results in a scant 24 - 48 hours. If you test positive, the company will have a telemedicine rep reach out to discuss the diagnosis and potential next steps.
Though all of the fully at-home tests showed 90 percent-plus accuracy during their clinical trials, those figures can fluctuate when regular folks perform the tests themselves, so don’t treat a negative result as some license to get out and mingle. "When manufacturers are preparing data to submit to FDA, they are conducting studies under very specific, highly controlled conditions that optimize the performance of the test,” Kelly Wroblewski, director of infectious disease programs at the Association of Public Health Laboratories, told the AARP.
The scientific community cannot always agree on how much water a person needs in a day, and since we are not Fremen, we should give it more thought than we do. For many people, remembering to take a sip now and then is all we need and the H2gO is built to remind [Angeliki Beyko] when to reach for the water bottle. A kitchen timer would probably get the job done, but we can assure you, that is not how we do things around here.
A cast silicone droplet lights up to show how much water you have drunk and pressing the center of the device means you have taken a drink. Under the hood, you find a twelve-node NeoPixel ring, a twelve millimeter momentary switch, and an Arduino Pro Mini holding it all together. A GitHub repo is linked in the article where you can find Arduino code, the droplet model, and links to all the parts. I do not think we will need a device to remind us when to use the bathroom after all this water.
