Control Your Neclace Medicine

Georgia Institute of Technology’s researchers find a solution for the one in three adults who fail to take their medicines as prescribed by their doctors, as well as for everyone else who occasionally forgets: a sensor necklace that records the exact time and date when specially-designed pills are swallowed, and reminds the user if any doses are being missed.
“Forgetfulness is a huge problem, especially among the elderly, but so is taking the medication at the wrong time, stopping too early or taking the wrong dose,” said Maysam Ghovanloo, assistant professor in the Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “Studies show that drug noncompliance costs the country billions of dollars each year as a result of re-hospitalization, complications, disease progression and even death.”

Ghovanloo and graduate student Xueliang Huo have designed a sensor necklace that records the date and time a pill is swallowed, which they hope will increase drug compliance and decrease unnecessary health care costs. The device could also be used to ensure that subjects in clinical drug trials take the study medications as directed by the research team. The details of the proof-of-concept device were published in the December 2007 issue of the IEEE Sensors Journal.
The necklace, called MagneTrace, contains an array of magnetic sensors that could be used to detect when specially-designed medication containing a tiny magnet passes through a person’s esophagus. And for persons who may not want to wear a necklace, MagneTrace sensors can be incorporated into a patch attached to the chest.
The date and time the user swallowed the pill can be recorded on a handheld wireless device, such as a smartphone, carried on the user’s body. The information can then be sent to the patient’s doctor, caregiver or family member over the internet. The device can notify both the patient and the patient’s doctor if the prescribed dosage is not taken at the proper time.
According to a 2005 Wall Street Journal Online/Harris Interactive Health Care Poll, one in three U.S. adults who had been prescribed drugs to take on a regular basis reported that they did not follow the doctor-recommended course of treatment, with two-thirds reporting that they simply forgot to take their medication

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Tuberculosis (TB) Definision and Treatment

Tuberculosis, commonly known as TB, is an regularly severe and infectious airborne disease caused by a bacterial infection. TB usually affects the lungs but it also may affect any other organ of the body. It is typically treated with a regimen of drugs taken for six months to two years depending on the type of infection.If you have been exposed, you should go to your doctor for tests. You are more likely to get TB if you have a weak immune system.

Symptoms of TB in the lungs may include
• A bad cough that lasts 3 weeks or longer
• Weight loss
• Coughing up blood or mucus
• Weakness or fatigue
• Fever and chills

Night sweats If not treated properly, TB can be deadly. You can usually cure active TB by taking several medicines for a long period of time. People with latent TB can take medicine so that they do not develop active TB.

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Allergies and Asthma Relationship

Do you have both allergies and asthma ? you may wonder what they have in familiar besides a irritating ability to make you miserable. A lot, as it turns out. The most common type of asthma in the United States is Allergy-induced asthma, 60% of people with asthma have the allergic type.
What is relation between allergies and asthma ? its simple thing, allergies can cause or encourage asthma. Many people with allergic asthma, breathing in substances such as pollen, mold, dust mites and animal dander triggers the inflammation and swelling of the airways, leading to symptoms of asthma.

The lining of the nose and the lining of the airways are related and are affected similarly by the allergic inflammatory process. Allergies are caused by the production of an antibody called IgE. The IgE antibodies cause a cascade of reactions in the body, including itchy skin or scratchy eyes or, for some, tightening of the airways. Simply put, if your immune system produces IgE antibody toward cat proteins, you’re said to be allergic to cats. Exposure to cats triggers inflammation and swelling of the lining of the nose, bronchial tubes or both.

Some studies suggest that handling of allergic rhinitis actually improves asthma. Allergen immunotherapy (desensitization allergy shots) is a type of allergy treatment that can significantly improve asthma. In addition, if you have allergic asthma, reducing your exposure to the allergic substance can reduce your asthma problems and in some cases, completely control it.

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