Not that the whole using-cellphones-for-disease-detection is completely fresh, but the latest handset hack for medical purposes is still mighty impressive. UCLA researcher Dr. Aydogan Ozcan has essentially converted a standard cellphone into a portable blood tester of sorts, which is capable of detecting HIV, malaria and various other illnesses. Put as simply as possible, the device works by analyzing blood cells that are placed on an integrated off-the-shelf camera sensor and lit up with a filtered light source. Said light source exposes unique qualities of the cells, and from there, the doc's homegrown software interprets the data and determines what's what. So, has anyone given this guy the main line to NTT DoCoMo, or what?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Not that we haven't seen text messaging save a life before, but this situation was clearly more intense than anything we've heard of in the past. British vascular surgeon David Nott was volunteering in the Democratic Republic of the Congo when faced with a 16-year-old boy that had "his left arm ripped off." With the knowledge that it was "badly infected and gangrenous," he relied on SMS instructions from a colleague in England in order to perform a forequarter amputation. Out of respect for your stomach, we'll spare you the details (believe us, plenty are in the read link), but the end result was that the boy was able to survive thanks to the text-based how-to guide. Who says messaging has no practical purpose?

[Via textually]

According to the UK's Telegraph, mobile phones are responsible for yet another one of the great terrors of the 21st century: dermatitis. Apparently, "skin specialists" have discovered that certain metals used in cellphones are causing some users to suffer inflamed, reddened, dry, blistered, and cracked skin. Sounds awesome, right? It seems that about a third of heavy talkers are sensitive to nickel -- a substance commonly found in gadgets -- which can become irritating after repeated exposure. Says Brown University's Dr. Lionel Bercovitch, "Given the widespread use of cellphones, the presence of metal in the exterior casing of these phones and the high prevalence of nickel sensitization in the population, it is not surprising that cellphones can cause allergic contact dermatitis." There's probably little you can do to out-and-out escape the problem, so we suggest full face mask whenever a call needs to be made -- also, for dinner parties.

Considering the plethora of facilities that have opened just in the past few years to deal solely with individuals that have become undoubtedly addicted to video games, the internet and all things Hello Kitty (we jest, we jest), we're not surprised one iota to hear that uncontrollably texting / e-mailing could soon become "classified as an official brain illness." According to a writeup in the latest American Journal of Psychiatry, internet addiction is a common ailment "that should be added to psychiatry's official guidebook of mental disorders." More specifically, Dr. Jerald Block, a psychiatrist at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, even goes so far as to argue that said phenomenon (neglecting basic drives to spend more time online) be "included in the [next edition of] Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, psychiatry's official dictionary of mental illnesses." Until then, we wish you the best of luck convincing that creature living in your basement with a dedicated T1 line that he / she isn't alright.

[Via textually]

As the ongoing battle between the naysayers and the paranoid continues, Neil Bullock is making sure that those situated squarely in the latter camp have a way to "protect" their unborn child(ren). MummyWrap is a "sleeveless, loose-fitting garment for pregnant women made from a light-weight copper-based cotton fabric known as Swiss Shield," and according to its creator, it can "minimize the risk of electro-magnetic radiation (EMR)" warping your kid's brain before he or she ever sees the world. 'Course, we're not going to step in and suggest that you do / don't need this, but for those who'd rather be safe than sorry, you can order one now for $69.95. As an added bonus, it should go great with your Isabodywear underwear.

[Via Textually]

It's still largely unclear just what the heck cellphone-sized doses of radiation do to the human body -- but whatever happens, you've gotta figure those effects are multiplied many times for folks spending their days standing in front of carriers' antenna arrays. An Alaskan equipment installer working for AT&T filed a disability claim against his employer for unspecified health problems caused by ongoing exposure to RF levels above FCC recommendations; eventually, the claim ended up on the docket of the state's Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of the employee. We imagine the decision will likely get tied up in further appeals, but if the law ultimately sides with the afflicted worker, this could all spell trouble for carriers whose installers spend much of their time blasted with all manner of airwaves. In the interest of health (or not getting sued, as the case may be), are we looking at more blackouts down the road as transceivers get turned off for maintenance?

While the idea of a diabetes phone is far from new, a company dubbed HealthPia is well on its way to actually delivering such a product. Reportedly, the firm has "obtained FDA approval for its patent-pending technology that integrates a blood glucose meter with a standard-issue cellphone." Interestingly, it not only allows you to send results over the air, but specially equipped mobiles will actually be fitted with a GlucoPack that enables you to test yourself as you would with any other (more traditional) meter. During last week's AADE conference, the company supposedly announced that Verizon's LG5200 would be the first to sport such technology, and for those who think this could make their lives a whole lot easier, grab your specs and hit the read link for more.

[Thanks, Clement S.]

Hearing that a cellphone saved someone's life isn't exactly surprising these days, but it was the manner in which a bundle of handsets enabled doctors to continue on in a recent operation that differentiated this one from the rest. Reportedly, the backup generators at the Policlinico Juan D. Peron hospital in Argentina failed to activate after the power went out whilst an appendix surgery was ongoing, but rather than panicking, a family member gathered up a number of phones in order to provide enough light for the surgeons and anesthetists to keep on keepin' on. According to the hospital director, the operation went on without proper lighting for no more than 20 minutes, but thanks to the beaming LCDs, the fellow under the knife came through just fine.

[Via Switched, image courtesy of foto8]

There's a growing number of devices that not only monitor one's health, but can also transmit pertinent information back to remote caregivers, but SHL Telemedicine's latest gizmo takes things a step further by beaming your ECG results directly to your physician's mobile phone. The oddly-named CardioSen'C is a portable heart-monitoring system that gathers information from twelve electrodes strapped to one's chest and upper body, and once activated, transmits the results of the electrocardiograph instantly to a user-selected handset. Unlike similar systems already available in the US, SHL's iteration will be aimed at the Israel / European markets initially, and while we aren't exactly sure how much coinage such an advanced machine will cost to wear, you should probably make sure your insurance covers spontaneous service calls before you start lighting your doc's handset up with ECG results.

[Via Israel21c]

Sure, we've heard of cellphones causing all sorts of medical troubles when not conjuring cancer in your ear, but the latest report of everyday consumer electronics wreaking havoc on humans comes from where else but the UK. Curiously, this isn't the first time England has been the site of allergic reactions to electromagnetic fields (EMF), and Manchester's Debbie Bird has been forced to make outlandish alterations to her home (and way of life) in order to avoid intense headaches, painful skin rashes, and bizarre eyelid swelling. Among the items she can't use are microwaves, BMWs (saywha?), and cellphones, and she has also coated her walls in pricey black carbon paint, covered her windows in "protective film," and weirdest of all, sleeps under a "silver-plated mosquito net" in order to curb her reactions. Now, what type of hidden superpowers are in her arsenal to counter such strange deficiencies?

We've seen so many chapters of the "dangerous / not dangerous" chronicles with regard to cellphone radiation that we've lost count, but thanks to a Danish study recently carried out on 420,000 avid mobile users, we can finally put those worries to rest (we hope). While it's no secret that mobile phone antennas emit "electromagnetic fields that can penetrate the human brain," we've been yearning for a study such as this to quiet the tin-foil advocates (and ensure our own safety). Researchers from the Danish Institute of Cancer Epidemiology in Copenhagen looked at data on people who had been using mobile phones "from as far back as 1982" in order to draw their conclusions, and after all was said and done, they found "no evidence to suggest users had a higher risk of tumors in the brain, eye, or salivary gland, or developing leukemia." Thankfully, a similar study published earlier this year by the Institute of Cancer Research also concluded that mobile phone use "was not associated with a greater risk of brain cancer." So, there you have it folks, you can safely yap away without fear of mutating into some form of diseased being -- until the next study "proves" otherwise, of course.

[Thanks, Billfred]