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Smartphone soon to track sleep disorders

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New York: Researchers are working on a smartphone-based technology which can help track sleep disorders, like sleep apnea, much easier than visiting a doctor.

Using earbuds, equipped with an in-line microphone and an Apple iPhone, researchers from Florida State University and New Jersey-based Stevens Institute of Technology analysed participants’ breathing habits during a six-month study.

When compared to a chest-worn respiration monitor, the smartphone-based device monitored participants’ breathing to within half a breath per minute, the MIT Technology Review, a magazine published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, reported.

The team tested the sensitivity of the microphone on the earbuds for recording breathing rate and also modified the earbuds to act as additional microphones.

While the breathing rate was measured most accurately when the earphone was worn or kept next to a participant’s pillow and multiple microphones were used, the study also showed it worked well with just the unmodified earphones on a bedside table.

According to Yingying Chen, an associate professor at Stevens Institute of Technology, the team plans to release a smartphone app to study sleep disorders next year.

“Using the app would be an accurate and significantly cheaper method to track quality of sleep and could help identify sleep apnea and other potential health problems,” the study’s authors noted.

A paper on the technology is scheduled to be presented at the IEEE Infocom conference in April, 2015.

Corona

Covid toll in Karnataka is a worrying sign for state government

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Even though Karnataka recorded the lowest number of Covid deaths in April since the virus struck first in 2020, the state is recording a rise in the positivity rate (1.50 per cent). Five people died from the Covid infections in April as per the statistics released by the state health department. In March, the positivity rate stood around 0.53 per cent. In the first week of April it came down to 0.38 per cent, second week registered 0.56 per cent, third week it rose to 0.79 per cent and by end of April the Covid positivity rate touched 1.19 per cent.

on an average 500 persons used to succumb everyday in the peak of Covid infection, as per the data. Health experts said that the mutated Coronavirus is losing its fierce characteristics as vaccination, better treatment facilities and awareness among the people have contributed to the lesser number of Covid deaths.

During the 4th and 6th of April two deaths were reported in Bengaluru, one in Gadag district on April 8, two deaths were reported from Belagavi and Vijayapura on April 30. The first Covid case was reported in the state in March 2020 and three Covid deaths were recorded in the month. In the following month 21 people became victims to the deadly virus, and May 2020 recorded 22 deaths. The death toll recorded everyday after May crossed three digits. However, the third wave, which started in January 2

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