[Tele]Health Update

[Edward Cherlin]

On Jan 1, 2008 9:36 AM, Ian Daniher <it.daniher at gmail.com> wrote:
> There has, in the past few months, been a surge of interest in health and
> telehealth applications for the XO.

Glad to hear it. I have been talking up the idea for several years but
evidently not to the right people. %-[

There is a telemedicine kit from India for about $200, and there are
other possibilities. I have been encouraged by developments in blood
chemistry measurements that do not require a needle stick. The first
such product is likely to be a diabetic blood sugar meter, but the
process applies to any small molecule with a distinctive spectrum.

I also have friends in the medical software business. There is a Free
Software implementation of the M language and the entire US Veterans
Administration/DoD hospital software system for medical records,
administration, pharmacy, and much more.

> My own efforts have been focused on telehealth hardware and software
> intended for use in scenarios where medical facilities are available but man
> hours to manually screen individuals is not. This is a scenario faced in
> many large third-world cities in addition to refuge camps.
> Codyl and Dirakx have been assisting; Codyl handling the micro-controller
> part, Dirakx working with a Columbian team to develop an EKG.
>
> I have designed a Pulse Oximeter based heavily on a communications
> photodiode instrumentation amplifier. I have started prototyping over
> Christmas break.
>
> I am working with Dirakx and Dr. Dhurjaty to design and prototype an EKG
> unit providing valuable diagnostic information about Arrythmia.
>
> Both of these devices will also provide valuable pedagogical resources.
>
>
> I have designed a server-client infrastructure of the following form for the
> THPM activity(telehealth parameterized activity):
> A GTK+/PyGTK based gui feeds information into a program which creates an XML
> document via PXTL XML templating.
> This XML file is uploaded to a server running an httpd and ftpd using the
> ftplib python module, along with images in a .jpg format and waveforms in a
> .wav format.
> The program creates a folder on the server of the following form
> /www
> /username
> /time
> /health.xml
> /image_of_affected_bodypart1.jpg
> /image_of_affected_bodypart2.jpg
> /pulseox.wav
> /stethescope_and_audio.wav
> /ekg.wav
> /health.css
>
> From this structure, a doctor can access a webpage from the url format:
> http://server/username/time/health.xml
> The XML file will be rendered by a CSS file in the root web directory.
>
>
> The THM(TeleHealth Module) activity will use code similar to the measure
> code to record and then display waveforms inputted via a USB Analog to
> Digital Converter.
>
>
> In addition to all this, there has been a movement to convert the .pdf
> Hesperian foundation work Where There is No Doctor into [x]html. Pascals has
> been heading up this work.
>
>
> Anyone interested in contributing, feel free to contact me via any of the
> below means.
> Many thanks,
>
> --
> Ian Daniher
> it.daniher at gmail.com
> Skype : it.daniher
> irc.freenode.com: DyDisMe
> _______________________________________________
> Devel mailing list
> Devel at lists.laptop.org
> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel

-- 
Edward Cherlin
Earth Treasury: End Poverty at a Profit
http://www.EarthTreasury.org/
"The best way to predict the future is to invent it."--Alan Kay