
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 6 (UPI) -- U.S. and Brazilian researchers have developed an inexpensive system to provide advanced medical services to remote areas using ordinary cell-phone cameras.
The system collects and transmits medical data to experts located off site for analysis and diagnosis. It can also be used in battlefields, disaster zones, and other dangerous locations.
"The cellular communications industry is, and will continue to become, a global resource that can be leveraged for detecting disease," said Professor George Whitesides of Harvard University, the study's leader.
In the study, Whitesides collaborated with Brazilian researchers to design a system using cell phone cameras and paper test-strips to collect and characterize artificial urine samples. The scientists took pictures of the color-changing test-strips and transmitted them to an off-site expert.
From the test-strip photographs, the expert accurately measured glucose and protein levels that are commonly used to diagnose kidney diseases. Researchers said that similar analyses of teardrops and saliva could also be conducted.
In addition to diagnosing human diseases, the researchers said the system can also be used to detect diseases in plants and livestock, and to test the quality of water and food.
The study is to appear in the journal Analytical Chemistry.
|
|
|
| Additional Science News Stories | |
WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 (UPI) --
The late Steve Jobs, co-founder of the U.S. computer giant Apple, had faults in his personal life but was a business visionary, associates told the FBI.
|
NEW YORK, Feb. 9 (UPI) --
Macaulay Culkin is in "perfectly good health," his publicist said after the former child star was photographed looking gaunt and disheveled in New York.
|
GREENBELT, Md., Feb. 9 (UPI) --
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has captured the first color image from orbit of the three-petal lander of NASA's 2004 Rover Spirit mission, scientists say.
|
UPI Almanac for Friday, Feb. 10, 2012.
|
| Stories | Photos | People | Comments |
View Caption