It seems so natural that we don’t even think about it.  365 days in the year (leap year makes it 366).  30 days in September, April, June and November; all the rest have 31 except for February (28/29).  New Year’s is observed on January 1^st.  There are four seasons of the year with approximately three months each.

However, this apparent simplicity is deceiving.  The calendar is actually complex.

Our present calendar was first promulgated by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582.  It replaced the Julian calendar developed by Julius Caesar in 43 BCE.  The Julian calendar is a solar calendar with a year of 365 days except for leap year of 366 every four years.  This calendar corresponds to the solar year of 365.25 days.  This calculation is not 100% accurate and is off by approximately 11 minutes.  The error compounds over time, so by the time of Pope Gregory the calendar was out of synch by about 10 days.

Pope Gregory helped develop a calendar that standardized the start of the year to January 1 and added leap years only in a year divisible by four except when it is divisible by 100 (except when divisible by 400!).  Pope Gregory also accelerated the days of October by 10 days to correct the Julian calendar.

Since the Pope headed the Catholic Church, Protestant countries were reluctant to institute the calendrical change.  England voted to adopt the change only in 1750, with acceleration of days being instituted in 1752.  So in the American colonies in 1752, September 2 was followed by September 14. For many subsequent years, dates were shown both in the new Gregorian and old Julian calendars.  What a confusing time!

There are three cycles that are independent of the Gregorian calendar:

• Days of the week
• Months of the year
• Seasons of the year

Days of the week: Seven days in a week is Biblically ordained and stretches back to antiquity in many cultures.  The French Republican calendar, instituted after the French revolution, had ten days in a week but it failed to achieve wide acceptance.

Months of the year: Months do not have the same number of days and contain lengths not divisible by seven.   Thus they will migrate in terms of which days of the week they occur.  There are 12 months in a year with names based on the Roman and Julian calendars.  The first six months of the year (January through June) are based on Roman gods.  July and August are named after Julius and Augustus Caesar; and their importance is noted by the calendar’s assigning them 31 days.  The last four months of the year (September through December) are named after their place in the old Roman calendar – months seven through ten.

Seasons of the year: The seasons of the year reflect start dates of the equinoxes–Vernal of March 20^th, 2018 and Autumnal September 22, 2018; days in which daytime and nighttime hours are equal.  The shortest daylight day of the year—Winter solstice on December 21, 2018 and the longest –the Summer solstice at June 21, 2018 are not assigned special dates in the Gregorian calendar and occur mid-month.

Internationally, the Gregorian remains the most widely used civil calendar in the world.  Other calendars are primarily used to determine the dates of religious events and holidays.

The Islamic calendar is based on the lunar year and has either 354 or 355 years.  Because of the discrepancy in length versus the solar year, Islamic holidays such as Ramadan will shift in terms of the season in which they occur.

The Jewish calendar is a solar-adjusted lunar calendar.  There are generally 12 months a year.  A leap month (Adar II) is added in seven of every 19 years to help align the lunar with solar years so that Passover occurs in the springtime and the holiday of Tabernacles in the fall.  Additionally there are two months that contain either 29 or 30 days to help adjust the length of the year.

Hindu calendars are also lunisolar in nature as is the Buddhist calendar.  Other calendars have been based on the reigns of kings or emperors.

Before there was the holiday of Presidents’ Day and Presidents’ Day sales, there was George Washington’s birthday. But who was George Washington and what really happened during the American Revolution and afterwards? In this article we take a small step in separating myth from reality. It is in the form of a true (T) or false (F) test. Good luck and no cheating.

There Were 12 Original Colonies

True. At the time of the American Revolution, Delaware was still officially part of Pennsylvania. However, by the time of the ratification of the Constitution in 1787, Delaware was an independent colony. In fact, it was the first colony to ratify the Constitution.

George Washington Had Wooden False Teeth

This is one of the most enduring myths about George Washington, but it is False. George Washington lost his first tooth at age 22, had dentures constructed of cow and horse teeth, ivory, lead-tin, copper and silver alloys No wonder they were ill-fitting and uncomfortable!

George Washington Stood While Crossing the Delaware

Probably false, but if you need to mark yourself correct in choosing “True,” go do so.

You probably are aware of the Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze painting depicting Washington and the Continental army on their way to fight the famous battle of Trenton on Christmas Eve, 1776.

The painting has several inaccuracies: the American flag shown is wrong, the sky is unnaturally bright; the boat is of the wrong model and looks too small to convey all of its occupants and stay afloat. And as any good seaman knows, standing in a boat is not recommended.

George Washington Was an Excellent General who won More Battles than he Lost

False. George Washington was rarely victorious in battle. His greatest strengths were in keeping the Continental army functioning and living to fight another day. Early in the war he nearly had his army surrounded and destroyed by the British in the battles of Brooklyn and New York, but he escaped. (A remnant of the Continental army was surrounded and surrendered at Fort Washington in November, 1776).

Washington’s greatest victory at Yorktown was due to the participation of the French, headed by Admiral de Grasse, whose fleet cut off the escape of the British general Cornwallis.

There Were 12 Original Amendments to the Constitution

True. The first 10 amendments to the Constitution (the “Bill of Rights”) were accompanied by two other amendments that were not ratified in 1789. The first non-adopted amendment set a limit on the size of the population in each congressional district. If adopted, we would have a Congress of 6,000 or so representatives.

The second amendment that was not adopted at that time prevented Congress from giving itself a pay raise. Although not originally adopted, in 1992 it became the 27th amendment to the Constitution.

On His Famous Ride, Paul Revere Shouted “the British are Coming”

False. Paul Revere rode on April 18th, 1775 to alert the American militias at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts that the British army were on their way. Most people at that time considered themselves British, so shouting “the British are coming” was patently absurd. He probably would have shouted that the regulars are coming.

In any event, Paul Revere never made it to Lexington to alert the militias. He was stopped on the way by the British; Samuel Prescott and William Dawes were the ones who alerted the militias.

America’s Revolution was a True Revolution

True. Although debated by historians, the American Revolution was a true revolution. A revolution causes a dramatic change, while a rebellion is the action or process of resisting authority. The Revolution ended up eliminating the monarchy, a radical idea at that time. After 1776, traditional elites (merchants, planters, lawyers) were challenged by artisans, small farmers, and other workers. Inherited political office and the rule of aristocracy were abolished.

The Liberty Bell in Philadelphia Rang Out American Independence on July 4th, 1776

False, sorry to say. It is more likely that the Liberty Bell sounded on July 8th, when the Declaration of Independence was read publically. Also, the bell was not called the Liberty Bell until the 1830’s when abolitionists adopted it as a symbol of the anti-slavery abolitionist movement.

The American Revolution was Supported by a Minority of the Population

True. John Adams said that one third of the population supported the revolution, one third opposed it and one third had no opinion. One third in support was an exaggeration at best. For many, taxes were inevitable in any case and it did not matter to whom the taxes were paid. In fact, some farmers equipped their homes with two flags—the British and the American.

Americans Won the War by Using Guerilla Tactics

Mostly False. Although the Americans did employ guerilla tactics, they were not the norm and certainly not in decisive battles. The war was won when the Americans learned to use European tactics, learned to pick its battles and got major assistance from the French. The British also wearied of the war which was a tremendous drain on their treasury.

If you have any suggestions for topics you’d like covered, please email them to info@whitcupassociates.com.

Since Frederick the Great of Prussia (1712-1786), if not earlier, domestic dogs have been called “man’s best friend.”  Their ability to provide their family members with unconditional love, loyalty and companionship is exemplary.

Now other benefits have been attributed to dog ownership.  In a Canadian study, babies with furry pets (especially dogs) were found to be more apt to have beneficial gut bacteria; bacteria that have been associated with reduction of allergies and obesity.  These bacteria are found in furry animals!

So have your baby snuggle with your dog.  We also await development by the pharmaceutical industry of a “dog in a pill” similar to the concept of probiotics.

Recent experimental work at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center demonstrated that utilization of virtual reality (VR) can reduce chronic pain by almost 25%.

Dr. Brennan M. Spiegel has treated 300 patients with virtual reality with surprisingly good results.  Although more research is needed, the analgesic VR treatment appears to have no side or addictive effects.  Those willing to try the treatment do skew younger.

So think of Iceland or swimming in the Caribbean using your VR glasses to relieve your pain!

Researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Worcester, MA) have turned spinach into working heart muscle.  Plants (including spinach) have a network of capillaries capable of delivering blood via their vascular system.

Researchers stripped spinach leaves of their plant cells (in a process called decellularization) using a detergent, leaving behind the vasculature.  Injecting a blood-like substance, they were able to culture beating heart cells.  The cells seem to have grown to a sufficient size to be able to treat injuries.

So, we now have justification to ignoring Popeye and not eating your spinach.  There is another important reason to disregard Popeye.  It seems that although spinach does contain iron, the amount that it contains was vastly over-stated.  In 1870 the German chemist Erich von Wolf measured the amount of iron in spinach.  But instead of recording 3.5 milligrams per 100 gram serving, he misplaced the decimal point and notated 35 milligrams!

Popeye the Sailor was created by Elzie Crisler Segar. The character first appeared in the King Features comic strip “Thimble Theatre” in 1929.  It latched-on to the exaggerated amount of iron in spinach and depicted Popeye as an ardent consumer of spinach.

Previous issues of What’s Trending have focused on new wearable healthcare devices (www.whitcupassociates.com/articles).  Continuing our coverage, we note several new wearable devices for pregnant and post-pregnant moms and babies (see The Medical Futurist^SM newsletter, May 2017).

Reliefband^® for morning sickness.

Nausea and vomiting can be among the first signs of pregnancy.  Beginning in the sixth week, nausea and vomiting affect more than 50% of pregnant women.

Reliefband^® is an FDA-cleared device (similar to a wristwatch but worn upside down) that uses neuromodulation to treat morning sickness.  According to the developer, the device delivers gentle pulses to the median nerve at the P6 pressure point on the underside of the wrist.  It works by modulating the neural pathways between the brain and the vagus nerve.  It retails for about $100.

Bloomlife contraction monitoring.

Bloomlife consists of a small device and a patch that adheres to the baby bump.  It measures contractions by reading the electrical activity of uterine muscles.  Information is sent to your smartphone.  Clinically validated, Bloomlife can distinguish between “false alarms” (such as Braxton Hicks) and real contractions. Rental pricing is $49 for an initial set-up plus $24 per week.

Nuvo Ritmo Prenatal Pregnancy Sound System

The benefits of prenatal music have been widely debated.  Claimed benefits include better fetal brain development, prenatal learning, reducing stress levels during pregnancy, improving a baby’s sleeping habits after birth and providing a bonding opportunity in utero.

The Nuvo Ritmo prenatal system consists of a belt that securely positions speakers at strategic locations to ensure that the baby receives a high quality 360 degree audio experience.  The controller delivers music to the baby in the womb at a continuous safe and stable decibel level.  It is compatible with music devices that feature a standard 35mm audio headphone jack.  An extension belt for added comfort for the mom during pregnancy is included in the kit.

Sound Beginnings offers a comparable product.

If you have any suggestions for topics you’d like covered, please email them to info@whitcupassociates.com.

Pharmapacks has come out with the first, and only, FDA-approved device for treatment of cold sores. Sold under the name of “Virulite^©,” the device, based on LED light technology, is used three times a day to treat (“zap”) cold sores. It can even be used after the sore has appeared. At approximately $90 retail, the “zap” may be costly to some, inhibiting use for a malady which typically lasts only a short period of time (8-12 days).

Supermarket tomatoes sure look good. But they have lost much of their true taste, as farmers and breeders focus on shelf-life, firmness and resistance to disease.

Using 398 tomato varieties, a global team of scientists (from U.S., China, Spain and Israel) have identified the genetic code linked to enhanced taste of tomatoes. Analysis covered sugar content, weight, size, color and volatile components responsible for tomato aroma, among other factors. Researchers were able to identify the alleles in the tomato genome that promote tastier genomes. Using classical genetics (not gene modification), the “good” alleles were used to replace “bad” alleles which had been damaged over the centuries.

And voila! A tastier tomato may hopefully reach your palates soon.

There are over 30,000 proprietary drugs in the U.S., and coming up with a unique name that passes FDA scrutiny is no easy task. The manufacturer wants to communicate a “marketing message” that suggests product benefits/features.

Using a creative brief, a team of copywriters, linguists, verbal-identity specialists and others come up with candidate names. These names are tested in qualitative (focus group) and often quantitative research to arrive at final candidates.

The FDA Division of Medication Error Prevention and Analysis will conduct the (initial) review the potential name(s). The FDA received over 126,000 reports of medication error from 2000 to 2009, so there is great concern relating to selecting a name.

There are a variety of reasons why a name may be rejected by the FDA, including:

• Overtly fanciful name that may imply unique effectiveness or composition.
• Overstatement of product efficacy and/or minimization of risks.
• Misleading implications of a name in terms of dosage or administration.
• Spelling or pronunciation of a name that, when spoken, may lead to confusion with other similar-sounding or similarly-spelled medications.
• Orthographic appearance of the name when written; leading to potential confusion with other medications (for example, an “a” may look like a “c”).

See: www.fda.gov/downloads/drugs/drugsafety/medicationerrors/ucm080867.pdf

So, choose your names carefully and speed up your approval process!

A technology developed at Ben-Gurion University in Israel for smart devices can assess sleep disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) at home without the need to be hooked up to a host of machines.

The system could be installed on a smart device that uses ambient microphones. It works by analyzing patient speech and breathing sounds. Using the technology, it is possible to estimate the number of apnea and hypoapnea events per hour in sleep; even for awake subjects.

According to the American Sleep Apnea Association, 22 million people in the U.S. have sleep disorders, with 80% of these cases having OSA.

Medical applications for smartphones are proliferating at a fast rate, including:

• Heart rate monitor that produces medical quality EKG’s.
• Thermometer
• Clinical quality stethoscope that captures heartbeat and breathing patterns.
• Mini-microscope that can test sperm’s motility.
• Blood pressure monitor.
• Otoscope (ear checker).
• Blood sugar monitor.
• Air spirometer to assess lung function.
• Smart-phone controlled arm patch that uses electric shocks to treat migraines.
• Device that alerts caregivers when a diaper is full.

Aren’t these better than Candy Crush^©?!

If you have any suggestions for topics you’d like covered, please email them to info@whitcupassociates.com.

Oral medicines are almost by nature bitter-tasting. Product taste is an important issue for oral medications, particularly those indicated for children.

Help is now on the way. PepsiCo will be working with the TB alliance to make TB drugs more palatable. TB is one of the 10 deadliest diseases, with almost two million people dying of the disease each year.

Dr. Richard Chaisson, professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University, has pointed out that “getting kids through treatment for TB is a nightmare.” The tuberculosis medications tend to be in pill form and too large for children to swallow. Parents are advised to crush the pills and mix them with food. However, this does not remove their bitter and otherwise objectionable taste, and thus inhibits compliance. Hopefully, PepsiCo will find solutions to the taste issue.

We at What’s Trending hope that cooperation between the food and pharmaceutical industries spreads to other children’s medications.

Since the 1980’s, Betty Hart and Ted Risley (University of Kansas) have focused on the number of words spoken to children. Their research has shown that the number of words spoken to babies does matter, citing “with few exceptions, the more parents talked to their children, the faster the children’s vocabularies were growing and the higher the children’s IQ test scores at age three and later.”

This is the premise of the Providence Talks municipal project, which is an intervention program that attempts to increase the number of words that young children hear so that when children enter kindergarten they are ready to succeed.

How can parents be sure that they are talking enough to young children? A new technological solution now exists to monitor this. The Starling, a wearable word counter from VersaMe, clips to a child’s shirt, jacket or pants and counts the number of words  it detects (it does not record the actual words). It also provides tips and activities to achieve a higher number of words received by the child.

But what should these words be? David Stillwell, at the University of Cambridge, found that people who curse are more sincere and less likely to lie. These seem to be admirable traits.

Should we communicate these traits to our babies and young children via cursing? Probably not. Luckily, the Starling will not record the exact curses!

Young parents, especially first time parents, are anxious about being able to read their baby’s crying and moods. Technology has come to the rescue.

The Sproutling is a wearable anklet device that monitors baby temperature, movements, heart-rate and other parameters, in addition to ambient noise. It attempts to predict when a baby will wake up and when a baby is upset. It does not provide readings on the parameters, but rather develops alerts for the parents as needed.

At just under $300, it is not inexpensive. But who can measure the value of reassurance given to parents?

As an alternative, parents could consider the Infant Cries Translator. Based on the analysis of a database of 200,000 cries, the app developers claim at least 84% accuracy in helping parents identify why babies cry. The app is heuristic and allows parents to correct the app in identifying the sounds emitted by babies and determining the reasons why these sounds are made. Ongoing results of the app can be transferred to a parent’s smartphone.

What’s Trending has previously highlighted upcoming trends in medical applications of 3D printing (Summer 2016 issue). 3D printing is the process in which objects are made by depositing or fusing materials (plastic, metal, liquids, etc.) in layers to produce a 3D object (it is also called additive manufacturing). The printer follows directions from a CAD file to build the object. The process enables customization for individual patients.

3D printing is rapidly advancing. Organovo has developed a 3D bio-printed liver tissue, now in pre-clinicals, that could be submitted to the FDA by 2019. While 3D-printed items have been used in hospitals to simulate bones or other body parts, it is still potentially a long way from seeing organs repaired and regenerated. CEO Keith Murphy claimed last year that Organovo would probably be printing partial livers for human implantation within four to six years.

If you have any suggestions for topics you’d like covered, please email them to info@whitcupassociates.com.

Are we heading to a cashless society? Yes, and it may be sooner than you think.

• Most of us walk around with less than $20 in cash, according to a 2014 Bankrate.com study.
• According to a Gartner, Inc. study, by 2018, 50% of consumers in “mature” markets (U.S., Canada, Japan, parts of the EU) will use smartphones or wearables for mobile payments.
• 34% of those 18-29 years of age are currently using mobile payments.
• A MasterCard study of 33 economies found that the U.S. is now at a tipping point; with impending development toward a cashless society being almost inevitable.
• According to the Federal Reserve System, cash now comprises only 14% of all transactions as measured by value of payments.

Existing forms of mobile money include mobile wallets (such as Apple Pay), person-to-person payments (such as Chase Quick Pay), branded payment apps (such as Starbucks, Uber) and electronic toll tags (such as EZPass).  As these and other mobile payment methods proliferate, pressure is put on society to go cashless.

If we want to see the future of a cashless society, we need only to study Sweden, where cash accounts for only 2% of the value of all payments.  As reported by The Guardian, 900 of Sweden’s 1,600 banks no longer carry cash or take cash deposits and many no longer have cash ATM’s. Swish, an app developed by the major banks in Sweden, now processes 9 million payments a month.  Swish can even process payments between individuals.

Many retail establishments are “cash-free zones.”  Some churches report that cash donations now only comprise a small percentage of their intake.

Cash may not go away completely in the U.S, but it will surely help tax revenue if we head in that direction.  The $100 bill is by far the predominant currency in terms of value.  Much of the cash in $100 bills goes into the underground economy and into the coffers of organized crime.  How many of us carry $100 bills around in our pockets?  Notably, India has recently eliminated its two largest currency bills, representing 80% of Indian cash, in order to fight corruption and the underground economy.

Furthermore, in the U.S., the older generations may not be sociologically prone to the use of cash alternatives.  In Sweden, a protest movement has arisen to counter the cashless trend.

Cashless alternatives offer convenience and security advantages.  Additionally, cashless alternatives offer non-banking avenues of payment to the 34 million poor who tend not to have bank accounts.  Nevertheless, there are serious privacy concerns about the personal information that a cashless society will generate, as detailed records will be created of where and when we purchase, what we purchase and amounts paid.

Are you prepared for the cashless society and your non-cash payment of your $3 tube of toothpaste?

(See the November 2016 issue of Consumer Reports for an excellent review of going cashless: “Cashing Out” by Jeff Blyskal.)

Have you ever wondered what those strange number codes on supermarket produce stand for?

The International Federation for Product Standards is a voluntary organization that, among other activities, creates price lookup codes (PLUs) for use by cashiers in transacting sales.  There have been 1,400 codes assigned since 1990.

The PLU codes indicate the type of produce and also include valuable information about the nature of the produce.

• A four-digit code indicates that the produce was conventionally grown (e.g., 4011=bananas conventionally grown).
• Genetically modified produce will add a leading fifth digit (e.g., 84011 for bananas genetically modified).
• Organically grown produce will start with a “9”.

So, enjoy eating your produce, but avoid eating the labels!

Activity trackers have been touted as an excellent system for monitoring important aspects of your health and vitality.  Some have even suggested that these devices should be involved in medical treatment; directly communicating with one’s physician.

However, recent studies have called into question the accuracy of these devices.

• The University of Queensland (Australia) tested activity trackers from Apple, Fitbit, Samsung and Mio Alpha. The results found that none of these devices had a relative accuracy advantage and underestimated electrocardiographic measurements between 9% and 43%.  These inaccuracies have serious implications for those using such trackers to lose weight or maintain and improve fitness.
• Other studies (CNET for example) reportedly have shown inaccuracies in measuring heart-rate. This is because it is difficult to obtain heart-rate metrics from the wrist versus medical-grade devices which are typically worn around the chest.

TZOA has come out with a wearable device similar in size to an activity tracker that uses internal sensors to measure air quality, temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, ambient light and UV exposure in real time when paired with a smartphone app.

According to the manufacturer, the device will also give you “actionable” advice based on its readings.

Go venture outdoors with confidence wearing your air mask if needed!

For information about consumer wearable medical devices, please read previous issues of What’s Trending.

If you have any suggestions for topics you’d like covered, please email them to info@whitcupassociates.com

As everyone presumably knows from their high school chemistry class, common salt is a compound consisting of sodium and chloride. Humans have been processing salt for thousands of years. Salt became an important commodity for trade and was transported in caravans across the Sahara and across the Mediterranean Sea by boat.

Our word “salary” is derived from the Latin salarium, originally denoting a Roman soldier’s allowance to buy salt.

Salt is typically obtained through mining or evaporation of sea water. Only an estimated 6% of salt is utilized for food. Most is utilized in manufacturing and other industrial processes.

Salt is required to maintain human life, as it is involved in many physiological processes. There is no consensus as to how much salt per day is required to maintain human life; 500mg is an often quoted figure.

Unfortunately, ingesting large amounts of salt can lead to coronary issues, stroke, and other health problems. Many of our processed foods contain high amounts of salt. The World Health Organization recommends no more than 2,000mg of sodium per day. According to studies, 90% of U.S. adults exceed 2,300mg of salt per day. The average intake is much higher at 3,600mg per day.

The FDA has never moved to limit the salt content of foods. Voluntary FDA guidelines for sodium reduction in various foods are in the works. Some companies have already voluntarily begun the process of sodium reduction. For example, Walmart has reduced the percentage of salt in its house brands by 16% since 2011.

Stay tuned for further developments.

Since its founding, the 140 character limit has been the defining characteristic of Twitter®. Twitter® has over 320 million active users; an attractive target for marketers. According to reports, Twitter® is developing a 10,000 character version that should soon be ready. The 10,000 character limit would enable advertisers and others to provide more detail about their products and services; attracting greater web traffic.

For the pharmaceutical industry, the larger limit might enable companies to advertise on Twitter®. The 140 character limit now precludes the utilization of Twitter® for pharmaceutical advertising since the limited length does not allow for the FDA-required communication of medication side effects.

So Twitter® lovers, is a birdsong in your future?

A recent article in the GreenBook® blog by Patrick Comer has claimed that mobile interviewing will overtake traditional interviewing in 2016. While “What’s Trending” does not fully subscribe to this prediction, it is incontrovertible that the rapid growth of the mobile interviewing platform has changed the way we conduct interviews.

According to data based on the Fulcrum Exchange® (an online sample marketplace), 13% of online survey sessions in 2015 were from mobile devices, a 700% increase since the beginning of 2014.

The explosion in the use of smartphones has fueled this growth. According to Pew Research, as of 2014, 90% of American adults had a cell phone and 64% had a smartphone, with assuredly higher penetration rates for these devices in 2015.

The mobile platform has several advantages, including arguably higher completion rates and immediacy of response. However, it does matter how we conduct interviews.

Most online (pc-based) interviews are 15-25 minutes in length; a length that is purported to be too long for mobile interviews.

Screen size and usability factors for mobile devices impact how we use graphic elements. Moreover, several standard online question formats, including answer grids, are not readily compatible with mobile.

Designs that require long iterations of question components or elements probably do not work well with mobile devices. Choice-based questions (e.g., conjoint, discrete choice, MaxDiff) may require numerous iterations, incorporating several elements simultaneously.

In the near future, survey platforms and survey designers will need to address these limitations.

Consumer wearable medical devices are changing the clinical practice of medicine, with new applications being introduced at a fast rate.

Consider diabetic neuropathy (loss of feeling), the leading cause of amputation in the U.S., which costs the U.S. economy $10 billion annually. Researchers at the Hebrew University and the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem have come out with a “smart sock” that enables diabetics to “feel” pain, a crucial sensation for avoiding injury to the body.

Belts are not just for holding up your pants. For those not willing to wear a smart wristwatch device, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in January 2016, several smart belts were introduced. These devices monitor heart rate, breathing and calories burned, and transmit the data to your phone.

In development is a wearable bracelet that delivers a steady dose of caffeine for up to four hours so you can get your morning fix. The technology is similar to that of a nicotine patch.

One U.S. College has mandated that all students wear Fitbits® as evidence of exercise patterns. Moreover, the students will receive grades based on their fitness. We are waiting for the day in which students can minor in Fitbitology!

For additional information, please read the summer and winter issues of What’s Trending which reported on the exciting and rapidly expanding world of wearable consumer medical devices.

http://www.whitcupassociates.com/articles/

If you have any suggestions for topics you’d like covered, please email them to info@whitcupassociates.com.

As everyone knows, snow is precipitation in the form of flakes of crystalline water ice that falls from the clouds. It is granular material and comes in a variety of sizes and shapes. Snow is the substrate that enables many winter sports celebrated by the Winter Olympics. It also allows us to have fun building snowmen, tossing snowballs and sledding.

But snow also has a serious side, obstructing life, and causing death, injuries and property damage.

The highest average yearly snow accumulation in the U.S. –almost 54 feet—occurs on Mount Rainier, Washington.

There are 67 US cities/towns with populations of 50,000 or more that have at least 50 inches of snow per year. Of the top 25 of these cities, eleven are in New York State, headed by Syracuse.

Why does New York State merit these records? Explaining the high accumulations is the snow lake effect. Lake effect snow happens during cooler atmospheric conditions when a cold air mass moves across warmer lake water. The most affected areas include Central and Eastern New York State which are impacted by Lake Ontario. The snow lake effect causes the southern and eastern shores of the lake to have high yearly accumulations. There is also a Lake Erie snow lake effect, and in other geographic areas as well.

For many localities, there is substantial variation in yearly snowfall.

For example, New York City averages about 25 inches of snow a year. The heaviest snow months by far are January and February, trailed by December and March. However, snow has occurred from October 15th through April 25th.

Although the average is 25 yearly inches, there is great variability of annual accumulations, ranging from only 3 inches in the 1972-1973 snow seasons to about 76 inches in 1995-1996.

Not all heavy accumulations of snow are blizzards. According to the National Weather Service, a blizzard as a storm that involves a large amount of snow or blowing snow, with winds in excess of 35 miles an hour and reduced visibility of less than ¼ miles for at least 3 hours

So, stay out of the cold and be careful when snow shoveling even if it’s not technically a blizzard!

Falling response rates for telephone surveys and abandonment of landlines by consumers are complicating life for survey researchers.

An oft-quoted 2012 study by PEW Research Center, response rates to telephone surveys fell to an alarming 9% in 2012 (with response rate defined as the percentage of households sampled that yielded a completed interview.) In 2006, the response rate was a more robust 21%.

While there are many factors contributing to this decline, the increasing use by consumers of cell phones as replacement for household landlines has undoubtedly contributed to this response decline. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 47% of the households contacted had only cell phones (and no landlines).

These cell-phone-only households are more difficult and costly to contact. The Federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act forbids calling cell phones using any automated calling system—so cell numbers to be called must be entered manually.

Furthermore, although area codes are part of a cell phone number, the owner of the cell phone could be using it in any US time zone or even in China!

Thus, the middle-of-the-night wakeup call may be yours.

For many companies, big data and big analytics were promised to yield deep consumer insights to drive profitability.

In reality, it has yielded high and potentially unseen long-term costs.

A recent report by Veritas, of the business data collected by companies, only 14% can be deemed to be business critical. 32% is redundant, obsolete or trivial data. The remaining data are “lurking far beneath the line of sight” and unclassified. The unneeded data will be costing EMEA companies $891 billion in storage costs by 2020.

Are these data costs worthwhile? Maybe there will be a counter-revolution in commercial data collection to “little data but better analytics!”

Wearable medical devices increasingly make news. In December, and the American Epilepsy Society’s annual meeting, the use of wearable medical devices for the continuous monitoring of epileptic patients was discussed. These devices include an EEG patch, brain sentinel GTC seizure detection unit, and other available wrist-worn already available commercial devices. It is hoped that these devices will not only monitor patients but moreover predict when seizures might occur.

Wearable medical devices face a somewhat rocky road ahead. The accuracy of such devices will need to be established. Although not intended as medical devices, the Fitbit Charge HR and the Fit Surge are defendants in a current lawsuit alleging inaccurate readings that might endanger patient health. Stay tuned to future editions of the Whitcup Associates What’s Trending newsletter for further developments.

For additional information, please read the summer issue of What’s Trending which reported on the exciting and rapidly expanding world of wearable consumer medical devices (“The Future of Consumer Medical Devices is Now!”).

http://www.whitcupassociates.com/articles/

If you have any suggestions for topics you’d like covered, please email them to info@whitcupassociates.com.

In the summer issue of “What’s Trending” we reported on the exciting and rapidly expanding world of wearable consumer medical devices (“The Future of Consumer Medical Devices is Now!”).

Bloomberg News has recently reported that wearables (Fitbits and other devices strapped to participants wrists, chests and skin) are being used in nearly 300 clinical trials to “amass precise information and gather round-the-clock data” to better understand the efficacy of tested medications.

Will the iWatch enable us to live longer and happier lives? Wait for future installments of What’s Trending to keep you informed.

Water occupies a substantial portion of our planet. However, 97% of this water is salt water. Of the fresh water, two-thirds is contained in ice sheets. The remainder is surface water (rivers, lakes, etc.) and ground water in underground aquifers. In drought-stricken areas such as California, under-ground aquifers are being depleted at a rapid rate. These aquifers will not have their water replenished for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

Water is never gained nor lost; it only changes location. 70% of fresh water is utilized for agricultural purposes. It is also estimated that across the U.S., 20% of available drinking water is lost through pipe leakage (see an example of this below).

Water that we actually drink accounts for less than one one-hundredth of the water we utilize. However, we are treating all available water sources as if they are destined to be drinking water. For example, New York City has 14 water treatment plants. These restore water to drinking-level quality before waste water is released; an energy intensive and expensive process.

In the U.S., we only recover 7% of the water we use. By contrast, Israel recovers 80%, and soon to be nearly 100%, of water used by households.

Professor Kartik Chandran at Columbia University envisions a time in which we will have two sets of pipes (in and out) in our homes; one for grey water (water from sinks, tubs and washing machines) and the other for black water (from toilets). Upon exiting a home, each of these types will be treated differently (and not automatically converted into drinking water) for re-use.

Remember, your next flush might soon be a re-usable resource!

(There is an excellent article about water in the Fall Issue of Columbia Magazine “Saving Water Won’t Save Us: Liquid Assets” by Paul Hond.)

According to the Pharmaceutical Development Group, based on Consumer Health Products Association data, the U.S. market for OTC’s more than doubled from 2007 to 2013; growing to $33 billion. According to forecasters, this market is expected to grow 5% per year. Global sales of OTC’s are expected to rise similarly as well.

Converting former Rx medications (“switches”) represents a viable engine to help spur this growth. The FDA has established an initiative, “NSURE”, to expand and accelerate switches.

Until now, the majority of switches are for episodic conditions with the warning not to use the product for more than 14 days without consulting with a physician. However, the FDA may be open to considering OTC switches in categories which are more chronic. Conditions such as migraines, high cholesterol (statins), BPH (benign prostatic hyperplasia), erectile dysfunction (ED) and sleep aids have been cited as possible areas for switches.

There already have been actual use trials in some of these chronic disease areas. Several have failed due to lack of consumer understanding of the continued need to take medication to treat the condition.

The genetic testing company, 23andMe, after receiving FDA clearance, will once again be marketing 35 genetic saliva-based tests that tell users whether or not they carry genetic mutations that potentially could lead to disease in their offspring (i.e., carrier status). The 35 genetic tests include Bloom Syndrome, Sickle Cell Anemia, Cystic Fibrosis, and Hereditary Hearing Loss.

The FDA has yet to approve marketing by 23andMe of tests that predict the potential for disease that would be ordered by consumers.

If you have any suggestions for topics you’d like covered, please email them to info@whitcupassociates.com.