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To: Adivino who wrote (1200)	5/21/1999 4:35:00 AM
From: Madeleine Harrison	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1530

Hullo Adivino, Yes, have done some fishing around here as it's warmed up. No results to write home about, but am looking forward to wetting a hook in the marsh inlets of coastal SC this summer. Though you and others might like to "think forward" on the possibilities we have here: Patients, Heal Thyselves by Lindsey Arent 3:00 a.m. 20.May.99.PDT If the researchers at the Center for Future Health have their way, your yearly checkup could be a thing of the past. Doctors, engineers, and scientists at the Center for Future Health are creating gizmos to put the diagnostic power of the doctor's office in the hands of patients. The center, which is part of the University of Rochester in New York, in conjunction with the Media Lab at MIT, are designing new personal medical devices, such as melanoma monitors, smart toothbrushes, and wearable computers, that can be used to monitor health at home. The question is, do we really need any more gadgets in our lives? Researchers are hoping that once patients begin monitoring their own health, they will take control of their medical care, learn to detect illness and disease before they strike, and cut down on unnecessary trips to the doctor. "If you could do tests from a major hospital in your own bathroom, you could really genuinely know what was going on in your own body," said Alex Pentland, external director of the center and academic head of the MIT Media Lab. The 20 research projects currently in development involve the application of technologies such as DNA computing, motion recognition, and artificial intelligence software to low-cost, portable devices. The list of devices-to-come reads like a sci-fi paperback. A melanoma monitor, for example, could be used to take a picture of the body each week, then compare it to a previous picture. When a mole begins to grow, the patient receives an alert to see a doctor and a computer printout with details of the mole's size and changes. Many of the devices in development will include chips that contain biosensing capability, said Pentland. "So that when you brush, your toothbrush looks at your blood sugar, bacteria levels, and does more testing on you than you get in the doctor's office." Optimally, the brush would come with a holder that would transmit information to a central database containing the patient's medical file. "We want to give people the opportunity to maintain their own health," said Alice Pentland, the center's medical director and sister of the MIT director. She also hopes that the devices will keep patients from throwing money away. Americans spend $27 billion a year outside the traditional health-care system for things like vitamins and chiropractors, Pentland said. "I'd like to see choices for those individuals [that] really work." Diminishing their role in patients' lives doesn't sit so well with physicians. "Preserving the patient-physician relationship is the cornerstone of the practice of medicine," said Percy Wootton, the most-recent former president of the American Medical Association. "I am a firm believer that the patient does have to take some responsibility in their own life, but nothing takes the place of that patient-physician relationship." Also being proposed as home health doohickeys are memory glasses that could help a person with memory loss or dementia. The frames could automatically detect certain patterns such as relatives, street signs, and proper medicines, and offer audio instructions or prompts to the wearer. Trials are just beginning on the wearable computers, which come in the form of vests and socks. These computers contain memory chips that help people to remember to take their pills. While the center's doctors are hoping to change the face of the current medical system, they aren't looking to put doctors out of business, said Alex Pentland. "For accidents and cancers they'd still have the usual amount of business."