Two such apps to cross our desk lately were 1) CureHunter, which claims to be able to find cures for diseases using semantic technologies; and 2) Go3R, an app that claims to provide information transparency "for the prevention of animal testing".

CureHunter - Can it Really Cure Diseases?

CureHunter is an example of the new semantically-charged health search engines popping up. As the name suggests, it is a web service that aims to find cures for diseases. Judge Schonfeld is the CEO and Chief Scientist of CureHunter and he described it to us in an email as a "Medical Data Mining engine system that uses an intelligent semantic processor linked to a network graph theory module to read the scientific literature (entire NLM archive 1949-2008 >) and compute new cures for human diseases completely autonomously." That's a mouthful, but I've highlighted the key points: it uses semantic processing, network graphs and most interestingly claims to "compute new cures" automatically.

The following graphic (excerpted) illustrates CureHunter's approach. Essentially it tries to analyse health research data and compute cures:

Click here for full image, with extra detail

CureHunter is pretty complex, but I did some tests for diabetes type 1 to see if I could find a "cure". The results were overwhelming, in an 'info overload' kind of way:

It outlined some interesting "cures", but much of the information was not something patients would understand. It seems like a great resource for doctors and physicians though. So to answer the question in the subheader, can CureHunter really cure diseases? Probably only if you're a doctor or physician who knows how to interpret the wealth of data that CureHunter serves up.

Go3R - Prevents or Amplifies Animal Testing?

The idea of having a health database that includes animal testing results isn't something most people would find very appealing. However Go3R, developed in four months by a company from Germany called Transinsight, claims to be a "knowledge-based search engine for alternative methods to animal experiments." (emphasis ours) The site aims to enable scientists to "take advantage of the benefits of semantic searches for the area of alternative methods in accordance with the 3Rs principle [Replacement, Reduction and Refinement]." Transinsight is already known in the web 2.0 world for GoPubMed, a health search engine that AltSearchEngines has covered before.

You could view Go3R in two ways. The first is the version Transinsight pushes in its press release: that this app makes it easier to find alternatives to animal testing. However the second point of view is that this is a big database that includes animal experiment results, and so it might be seen to amplify the practice of animal testing. For example I searched for "diabetes" and the number 2 result was a test on rats:

Whether you see this as further exploitation of animal testing, or (as Transinsight says) an app that will "lead to a significant reduction of animal experiments", it is an interesting use of semantic technologies(!).

Conclusion

Health search engines are nothing new - indeed both Google and Microsoft have made important announcements in this domain over the past year. In October 2007 Microsoft unveiled HealthVault, a consumer health and search site. In February this year Google announced a pilot program of their health records application called Google Health. A week later, Microsoft acquired Medstory - a vertical search engine for health information. There is also a lot of interest among startups - see our report from the Health 2.0 Conference in March and another report from a healthcare panel at SXSW later that month. Also our network blog AltSearchEngines continuously covers health search engines.

But I'm liking this latest trend for semantically-powered health search engines. If ever there was a compelling need for Semantic Apps to help users make sense of and organize data, it's in health. CureHunter and Go3R are two apps to look out for.

One of the most popular sessions was 'Transforming Hospital Systems: The Digital Future of Healthcare'.

The speakers were Michael Kennedy, an Info systems guy at Microsoft specializing in hospital and insurance systems, and Gregg Lucksinger, Chief Medical Officer of Red River Family Practice and Central Texas Clinical Research. Dr. Lucksinger opened with a case study of how Electronic Medical Records have helped his practice. Helped save time, save money, reduce mistakes, etc. It's not too hard of a case to make in theory. Your bank uses electronic records to streamline your banking, why should your doctors have to mail each other libraries of paper files? Of course the devil is in the details, particularly those involving implementation.

SXSW health care session

Michael Kennedy noted that Microsoft is getting into health care big time. According to Kennedy, Microsoft's health care staff now tops 600 full time employees. Much of the work focuses on tying electronic medical records to hospital systems. Not surprisingly, most of the growth is in foreign markets where things don't need to be "retro-fitted" to engage "legacy systems", but can be dropped in from scratch.

Microsoft's Healthvault

All of this is old hat in healthcare circles and received limited yawns and polite nods of ascent in the session. Things got interesting when Kennedy described Microsoft's Personal Health Record product, Healthvault.

Basic primer: Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) are for doctors and hospitals, insurance companies and employers. They contain things like codes for drugs, tests and procedures - i.e. data. Personal Health Records, on the other hand, are accessible to individual patients. They are a higher level description that people can understand themselves and share with others - i.e. information rather than data. Microsoft's Healthvault places them squarely in the consumer market. It's the plumbing that ties together devices and services meant for individuals. Add to that Google Health, another recent Big Internet Co entry into the same space, and it's easy to see why the session was standing room only and the line for Q&A stretched almost out the door.

Kennedy noted that things were still early, still in roll out mode for both Microsoft and Google, but he mentioned enough current consumer devices and applications to create buzz.

Health 2.0 Devices and Apps

First up, watches from Polar that monitor your heart rate and write the information to your Personal Health Record:

Imagine sharing trends from your workout sessions with your doctor health coach or personal trainer. Same thing with a scale from A&D Medical:

A pedometer from OMRON:

The more traditional medical devices, like blood pressure monitors from OMRON:

A wrist-worn blood pressure unit from Microlife, and a blood glucose meter from Johnson & Johnson's LifeScan:

Okay, so the above are some cool devices. Is anyone making slick apps to sit on top of those devices? Check out the American Heart Association's Blood Pressure Management Center, which gives a slick visualization and makes it easy to see your blood pressure trends over time:

Maybe you're an athlete. How about software from Peaksware? Training Peaks is for the workout junky, while Fitness Peaks is more for the person interested in being generally fit.

Trends

So what does all of this mean? Firstly, these devices and apps help people become experts in their health and well-being. Individuals gather their data - blood pressure, glucose, heart rate, weight, workout session and nutritional information, etc - then use the apps to learn about themselves over time.

Second, portability. Tracking your weight, blood pressure and workout info over time isn't new. The problem was that every product lived in its own silo. The offerings from Microsoft and Google break down these walled gardens, creating rich data assets for personal lifelong care, from their interaction with a given product.

Perhaps more importantly, granting people a 360 degree view of themselves - how does taking a walk affect your own blood pressure and glucose?

Finally, personal responsibility. Health care is about behavior change - about people taking control of their own health and well-being. Right now everybody has your data but you. Your doctor, your employer and your insurance company have the information and the tools. But that data is lost every time you move, switch doctors, switch jobs or insurance companies. Ironically, the person who has the greatest chance of impacting your health behaviors (you), has virtually no access to information and tools to do so. But the above apps are changing that, creating access and portability that give you the power to take control of your own health and well-being.

Written by Joshua Rosenthal, Ph.D., founder of www.Sprigley.com