Posts Tagged ‘cell phone’

A new mobile information service announced today aims to provide any mother-to-be (who has a cell phone) with free text messages that will guide her throughout pregnancy and until her child’s first birthday. The service, called Text4baby, was announced in conjunction with all major US wireless carriers and is currently operational. Women who sign up for the service by texting BABY (or BEBE for Spanish) to 511411 will receive free SMS text messages each week, timed to their due date or baby’s date of birth. The text4baby messages are not personalized, but the information in each message is relevant to the mother’s pregnancy timeline or the age of her child. The content will include a comprehensive variety of topics from the CDC and the Health Resources and Services Administration, including tips on immunizations, nutrition, prenatal care, emotional well being, drugs and alcohol, labor and delivery, breastfeeding, mental health, birth defects prevention, car seat safety, exercise and fitness, developmental milestones, family violence, and more. [via Text4baby.org]

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The current issue of the Journal of Craniofacial Surgery reports on a study of bone mineral density in men who used cell phones for extended periods of time. It was noted that men who carried their cell phones on their hips for an average of 15 hours a day had decreased bone mineral density in their hip bone on the side where they carried their phones. The study only included young males (average age 32) so the decrease in bone density wasn’t at the same level as someone with osteoporosis. But, it is an interesting finding which will no doubt continue the ongoing debate on the safety of cell phones. [via Medline Plus]

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New research by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute shows that the risks associated with texting while driving is much more dangerous than previously thought. In fact, texters have a 23-fold increase in crash rate, compared to those who do not text. This was the first study to video tape drivers inside their vehicles to document this dangerous driving distraction. “In the moments before a crash or near crash, drivers typically spent nearly five seconds looking at their devices — enough time at typical highway speeds to cover more than the length of a football field.” Americans send out hundreds of billions of text messages each year. The number of those sent out while driving is unknown. However, motor vehicle accidents due to texting is increasingly becoming a large public health concern. [ via New York Times ]

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One of the reasons why tuberculosis is such a difficult disease to eradicate is that the bacteria, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, can evade our immune systems so well that treatment for the infection often involves taking daily pills for six to nine months. Furthermore, the actual symptoms of infection tend to go away after just two months of therapy, so the incentive to carry on is negligible. This is where MIT medical engineer Jose Gomez-Marquez brilliantly devised a scheme to get people interested in taking their medications. The project is called “XoutTB” and it involves stamp-sized special paper patches that reveal a code when they come into contact with urine containing traces of antituberculosis medication. When patients urinate on these test strips everyday the code they reveal can be sent via text message to phone companies who will then credit the patient-customer with free talk time minutes. A trial involving 30 tuberculosis patients proved to be a success and a larger, second trial of XoutTB will be starting soon in Pakistan.

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Did you know at any given time approximately ten percent of teenage drivers are either talking or texting on their cell phones? Studies have shown that drivers who use cell phones are four times as likely to be involved in a crash, which is why many states have already banned their use while driving. Now researchers at the University of Utah are taking the case one step further by developing a device which disables cell phone usage while the key is in the ignition. Dubbed “Key2SafeDriving” the device affixes to car keys and uses bluetooth radio waves to signal cell phones to go into “driving mode” so long as the key is in the ignition. While in driving mode, drivers cannot use their phones to talk or text, except for calling 911 or other numbers pre-approved by parents. Incoming calls and texts are automatically answered with a message saying, “I am driving now. I will call you later when I arrive at the destination safely.”

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Yes, really. Cell phones can cause rashes. According to the British Association of Dermatologists doctors have began to see what they are calling “mobile phone dermatitis” – rashes on the ears and cheeks of prolonged cell phone users caused by an allergic reaction to nickel.  Nickel is a metal commonly used in consumer products, especially jewelery and belt buckles, and is one of the most common causes of allergic contact dermatitis. The rash is purely due to the nickel coming into contact with the skin. Earlier this year a Brown University study tested 22 popular handsets from eight different manufacturers and found nickel in 10 of the devices. The British group is urging physicians to think about the possibility of mobile phone dermatitis in any patient with a ear/cheek rash that cannot otherwise be explained.

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