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Smartphone Attachment Can Test For HIV In 15 Minutes
stephendavion writes A team of researchers from Columbia University have developed a device that can be plugged into a smartphone and used to quickly test for HIV and syphilis. The mobile device tests for three infectious disease markers in just 15 minutes by using a finger-prick of blood, and draws all the power it needs from the smartphone, Science Daily reports. The accessory costs an estimated $34 to make and is capable of replicating tests done in a laboratory using equipment that costs many thousands of dollars.
with every subscription to Tinder.
Pricking yourself with something that an infected person used is a sure-fire way to get an infection.
Says an evil pharma CEO....
I am very small, utmostly microscopic.
Imagine if you can prick the finger of a hooker in a Pattaya bar while you're drinking, "just as a joke!", and figure out whether you need to strap on a condom or not. Wonderful invention for all the people who need immediate HIV tests for their partners! Yay for sex tourism!
Until it goes wrong and doesn't work. This type of thing is a litigation nightmare. Looks like vaporware to me, and the actual legitimate applications seem few.
Who are they selling too? I'm not into the club scene but I can't really see many people looking for a one night stand using this. I can see doctors using this but at even 250 resale value they won't sell enough units to just doctors to make them capitalist idols.
Here is a link to the original article cited by the Times that contains more detail.
'The tyrant will always find pretext for his tyranny.' - Aesop's Fables
And, if you hook the same chemical reactions and transducer technology to a smartphone you can reproduce the same information generated from those chemical reactions and transducers hooked to ... wait for it... a computer.
I'm really not seeing the point here. HIV antibody and syphilis ELISA testing have been point-of-care for some time. You open up the foil packet, drop some serum in the little well, wait five minutes and your answer shows up without any further processing, electricity or fuss. The big problem with these type of tests, as far as undeveloped countries go, is that their design and manufacture require sophisticated first world systems. Nigeria has to buy them from Europe. It isn't like you can use the same smartphone dongle over and over again for very little cost.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Too bad HIV has a window period of three weeks to three months.
to Mr. Spock's tricorder in everyone's pocket.
Is the tool able to determine by itself locally the outcome of the data, or does it send the data for analysis remotely? If it's the latter, there's a big privacy concern here.
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
Ok, tell the truth now: From just reading the headline, how many of you had interesting/disturbing/funny/twisted mental images of how one would test HIV with a smart phone?
His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
The bill for this will be
$50 per use
$10 for data
$20 for phone use
$50 for the tech (on it's own bill)
$50 for reading the test (on it's own bill)
+ doctor fees.
This is perfect for iPhone users!
It's using the smartphone to display the results so they don't have to include a screen on the device, and it's using the power from the phone instead of having its own batteries. It's not exactly the smartphone doing any of the testing. It's just another case of normal computing done on a smaller computer somehow being news. They could easily add a screen and a battery but that would raise the cost of the device and not force users to have much more expensive smartphones. Sometimes it's far better to have a standalone device.
http://www.artronlab.com/produ...
These kinds of strips are far cheaper, easy to use, don't require power, don't require a smartphone, etc.
More and more Craigslist purchases are occurring in police station lobbies to ensure the safety of both parties. This tech should be available as well for CL hookups (protected from tampering by either - any? - of the prospective partners, of course). I can't think a better way of striking a blow against STD transmission rates.
Of course, it will never happen as this puritanical country (US) still can't come to terms with adult, consensual, out of wedlock casual sex., so STD away, as it's God's Punishment (TM) for daring to enjoy the pleasure he 'created'.
Simple.
IF PENISES_IN_ASS .GT. ZERO THEN (AIDS)
Or test for anal diameter.
"Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING."
Well if you have a better way to post COBOL or FORTRAN I'd like to see it.
This simply adds the stigma of owning a Smart Phone
What's the false positive and false negative rates of this cheap test, vs the normal one? While it's probably better to have a mediocre test rather than none at all, there are times when that's not true... high false positive rates for rare conditions can waste resources on healthy individuals. High false negative rates for common conditions can give patients a false sense of safety.
The specificity of the test matters a lot before you can judge its utility.
"I will trust Google to 'do no evil' until the founders no longer run it." Hello Alphabet.
For the Tinder user on the Go...
- Holy crap, I've got MOD points! Who thought that was a good idea.
TFA does not say anything about the interesting part, the sensor: how does it works, and how many time can it be reused?
The app requires access to:
-your identity
-your contact list
-your call history
-full internet access
By using this app, you agree to our privacy policy.