Bridging the Gap for AI in Healthcare
MONTREAL, Jan. 10, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OMsignal (OM), the biosensing smartwear platform is announcing the addition of healthcare and wellness capabilities with the launch of a new range of lifestyle bras and shirts to its platform. With its mission to help people achieve active, fit and healthy lives, OM is now collecting medical-grade biometrics from everyday life use, bridging the last mile to unlock artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare. As a first step, OM has conducted an eye-opening MyHeart study using data from its biosensing bra further accelerating the research on women's heart disease.
Up until now, the lack of contextualized, accurate, relevant and regular biometrics has been one of the key challenges in being able to leverage AI in healthcare. Based on the learnings and industry interest of the OMbra, OMsignal has been working with different partners in the healthcare and wellness categories to provide its biosensing smartwear platform across a range of everyday activities aiding in the detection of cardiac and pulmonary conditions.
THE OM BIOSENSING SMARTWEAR PLATFORM
The lack of relevant data is especially acute for cardiac and pulmonary conditions which are the world's leading causes of death. The majority of biometric data currently available is captured in medical records and these are often incomplete, inconsistent and not contextualized in time which as a result provides very little data and insight.
"There are no affordable devices that capture medical-grade bio-signals over long periods of time. The few devices that can capture the required data are too expensive, bulky and uncomfortable to be worn for more than a few days (if at all) by patients in real life situations," said Frederic Chanay, CEO and co-founder, OMsignal. "We capture medical-grade data for ECG, breathing and physical activity using comfortable, affordable, easy-to-use biosensing apparel that fits everyday wear."
OM's biosensing smartwear platform allows for long-term data capture on a scale previously not possible. OM biometric apparel picks up on the body's signals using near invisible ECG (electrocardiogram), breathing and physical activity sensors. The data is then transmitted live to a smartphone via bluetooth and then to the Cloud where it can be further analyzed. With this rich data, OM is developing an AI monitoring system based on groundbreaking AI algorithms and techniques enabling invaluable insights. For example, the company can already detect a wide array of cardiac and pulmonary symptoms such as arrhythmias, sleep apnea, coughing and bradycardia. With this level of data and insight, these types of conditions, as well as the impact of treatments and medications, can be more closely monitored.
MEDICAL-GRADE SIGNAL QUALITY FROM EVERYDAY APPAREL
A clinical study currently underway with the Quebec Heart and Lung Institute further validates OM's medical grade electrocardiogram (ECG) signal. In this study, the OMsignal Biosensing Smartwear Platform was compared to a standard 3-lead Holter where head-to-head signal quality was assessed. Initial findings of the study point to OM's technology providing high-signal quality for adequate rhythm analysis which represents a novel technology for long-term non-invasive ECG monitoring.
MYHEART STUDY FINDINGS + WOMEN'S HEART DISEASE RESEARCH
To illustrate the potential of the OM biosensing smartwear platform, the company studied a group of 30 women from ages 35 to 67 over a period of six weeks to aid in the detection of early warning signs of heart disease. Participants were asked to wear the OM biosensing bra during their daily activities at work, at the gym or at home. During the study, OM recorded over 4,000 hours of medical-grade biometric signals, 20,000,000 heartbeats and 7,000,000 breaths.
Using deep learning techniques, OM's AI monitoring system is capable of identifying the unique ECG signature of each participant. Every heartbeat, even an irregular one has a unique signature and a particular pattern. Being able to identify changes in one's ECG signature would allow the detection of early warning signs of heart disease and diagnose intermittent arrhythmia, including Atrial Fibrillation (AFib) which is generally imperceptible by the sufferer. Early detection of arrhythmia will help ensure safe management of the condition in an effort to avoid further complications and risk of stroke. For more information on MyHeart, please download the OM whitepaper at www.omsignal.com
About OMsignal
OM is a biosensing smartwear platform providing insights and biometric data for partners in the healthcare, wellness and sports markets. Creator of the OMbra and a wearable context-aware AI biometric monitoring system, OM is providing breakthrough technology and smartwear apparel capable of monitoring heart disease, pulmonary conditions and the impact of stress. Based in Montreal, OM is backed by leading venture capital funds from the U.S., Canada, and Asia. OM is comprised of a multidisciplinary and diverse team of smart textile engineers and designers, software and hardware engineers and machine learning scientists. For more information visit: http://www.omsignal.com
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