YOERU

Just posting an article which was around in the internet for a while. One of the member is my cousin Sheila Baticulon (the team is brilliant!).

Filipino scientists develop inexpensive body monitoring device
By Helen Flores
Thursday, August 30, 2007

A group of young Filipino scientists has developed an inexpensive device that will monitor the various bodily functions of patients who have undergone surgery.

Behind the Axel activity monitor system, which has the features of an ordinary wristwatch, are Allan Estrella, Sheila Marie Baticulon and Sheryll Anne Joson of the University of the Philippines-Diliman.

The device consists of the Axel monitor worn by the patient, the Axel reader that downloads the data logged by the monitor to the computer, and the Axel viewer that allows the viewing and analysis of the data.

Estrella, who presented the device at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza recently, said the activity monitor, also known as the actigraph, is not new as it is now a widely accepted device for patient monitoring, especially in the United States.

He said they wanted to develop an affordable actigraph that would help in the rehabilitation of patients, especially those who had undergone heart surgery.

Actigraphs measure body movements and sleep behavior and pattern by assessing the acceleration of the body part where the activity monitor is worn. The activity monitor is usually composed of an accelerator, filter, memory, and timer.

Estrella said the device would cost around P8,000 once it is commercialized. It is run by three triple-A batteries.

The Department of Health said heart disease is one of the 10 leading causes of deaths among Filipinos.

Based from 2003 data, it said 67,696 per 100,000 die of heart ailments.

Estrella, meanwhile, said based on latest data from the Philippine Hearth Center more than 1,000 patients undergo open-heart surgery every year.

Estrella graduated magna cum laude with a B.S. Electronics and Communications Engineering degree.

He was one of the awardees of the 2007 Magsaysay Young Engineers/Technologists Competition Program, given by the National Academy of Science and Technology of the Department of Science and Technology.

Related links:

• Balitang Pinoy
• PhilStar
• PinoyExhange

Later this month, my friends and I are heading to Tokyo to attend the Tokyo Game Show 2007 (TGS2007). We already made reservation for our trip from Kyoto-Tokyo. Now, what’s with the subject? I am actually deciding whether to purchase PS3 in US or here in Japan. A friend of mine seems to be going for the US PS3 for the 80GB model. Upon digging more info about the US version of 80GB model, I found out that the “Emotion Engine” chip is no longer available from this version on. For those who might not be familiar with this chip, it is part of the PS2’s hardware and is the core CPU for playing PS2 game titles.

So what’s the drawback? Well according to some who are having discussions here at TG-Daily, they are currently concerned with the PS3 80GB not being backward compatible for other game titles in PS2. As the new model including the Europe versions are now using software emulation technology instead of the previous PS2 chip hardware itself. So depending of the PS2 games, there might be a chance that it might run differently (or possibly fail?). To other sites I’ve read, Sony seems to be focusing instead on newer titles, however SCEA also assures that even if the Emotion Engine chip has been removed, the software solution they have would resolve the backward compatibility.