NETRA (Near-Eye Tool for Refractive Assessment) uses a phone’s LCD display(iPhone) and intelligent software to administer a quick, effective and accurate vision test that patients can perform at home.

he NETRA test consists of a small plastic device clipped onto the phone’s screen. The patient looks into a tiny lens, presses the phone’s arrow keys to make a set of parallel green and red lines overlap, bringing view into sharp focus, and repeats this eight times for each eye as the lines appear at different angles. Software loaded onto the phone then provides the precise prescription data. It may sound laborious, but the entire process takes under two minutes.

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Asthmatics should regularly monitor their airways to determine if there’s any deterioration, but checking in to see a doctor that frequently is time consuming so designer Felix created Blue Flow. The system combines a peak flow monitor with mobile phone software. Information is wirelessly transmitted to the phone for your doctor to monitor. The information gathered can be used to determine the best course of action since the condition is finicky and changes based on a number of health and environmental variables.

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The German research organization(the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration IZM in Munich) has announced that they are working on a chip that can detect deep vein thrombosis using only a single drop of blood, as well as a compact wristband that measures temperature, skin moisture and more.

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Royal Philips Electronics has introduced Lifeline with AutoAlert, a medical alert service(based on sensors) which is able to detect falls and call for help.

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It is a rice grain-sized solar powered implantable sensor, which hides underneath the skin for about a year at a stretch and measures the blood glucose levels consistently all the while.

The sensor send data to a variety of portable electronic devices such as cellphones and PDAs, alerting the patient each time the blood sugar levels go high. Clinical trials of the device are expected to being in two years, while the sensor could go on sale by 2017.

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Volunteers carry mobile sensors and data is displayed in real time using Augmented Reality (Layar) and Google Maps. Project to be started this spring in The Netherlands.

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The iBAC  -  an alcometer (a small breathalyser unit connected to the mobile device using Bluetooth), a phone application and a web site for tracking the readings of multiple users.

It can be useful for transport or other businesses that need their employees to be alcohol-free on the job.

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The U-M system’s processor, solar cells, and battery are all contained in its tiny frame, which measures 2.5 by 3.5 by 1 millimeters. It is 1,000 times smaller than comparable commercial counterparts.

The system could enable new biomedical implants as well as home-, building- and bridge-monitoring devices. It could vastly improve the efficiency and cost of current environmental sensor networks designed to detect movement or track air and water quality.

The sensor spends most of its time in sleep mode, waking briefly every few minutes to take measurements. Its total average power consumption is less than 1 nanowatt.

The designers are working with doctors on potential medical applications. The system could enable less-invasive ways to monitor pressure changes in the eyes, brain, and in tumors in patients with glaucoma, head trauma, or cancer.

In the body, the sensor could conceivably harvest energy from movement or heat, rather than light, the engineers say.

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