Data Leak at CES
Withings is moving urinalysis from the lab to the home to provide insights for better health.
Urinalysis is a common laboratory test that checks a sample of urine for various markers, including glucose, protein, and white blood cells. It is used to diagnose and monitor various medical conditions, including kidney and urinary tract infections, diabetes, and kidney disease.
One of the main benefits of urinalysis is that it is non-invasive and can provide a wealth of information about a person's overall health. For example, the presence of glucose in the urine may indicate diabetes, while the presence of white blood cells may indicate an infection.
Urinalysis is also an important tool in monitoring the effectiveness of treatment for various medical conditions. For example, if a person is receiving treatment for a kidney infection, regular urinalysis can help track the progress of the treatment and ensure that it is effective.
Considering that there are more than 3,000 metabolites present in urine, these examples are just the tip of the iceberg. A tremendous amount of health information can be gleaned from the results of a urinalysis. Much of this potential has not been realized yet, however, because most people typically only have one such test done per year, if even that.
A urinalysis requires processing in a laboratory, so that is not exactly something that can be done every day for a typical person. Consumer electronics manufacturer Withings has made an announcement at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show that may completely change what a urinalysis looks like. They have created a 3.5 inch disc-shaped device called U-Scan that sits within a standard toilet bowl to monitor and detect a large variety of biomarkers found in urine.
Exactly what the system can detect depends on how it is configured — it makes use of a cartridge-based system that can give the U-Scan different sets of capabilities to suit the needs of a particular user. For example, the Cycle Sync cartridge is designed to monitor women’s monthly hormonal fluctuations. Based on the results of the analysis, U-Scan can offer recommended actions to take based on cycle phases for an optimized menstrual cycle.
Another cartridge, called Nutri Balance, evaluates the impact nutrition and water intake have on our overall health. It is especially useful for helping one to eat better, and will provide advice, like recipes or exercise activities to try, depending on what a user's goals are.
Withings has also developed a U-Scan For Professionals cartridge that can capture a wide range of markers and provide the data to healthcare professionals. By providing frequent updates under normal conditions, the data is much richer and more useful in guiding patient treatment plans. Withings also sees applications for this cartridge in medical research and clinical trials.
You may by now be getting concerned about how you are going to plug the U-Scan in every night to charge. No worries there, however, the battery is designed to last for three months, which is also how long a cartridge is designed to last, so presumably, you would simply throw away the old unit and replace it quarterly. Answers to questions like this should be forthcoming with the launch planned for the second half of this year.