Utah Patent of the Month – August 2022
Dehydration is the type of condition that can move from a nuisance to fatal relatively quickly. Early dehydration can cause chapped lips. A slightly dehydrated athlete will see a drop in performance. But somebody afflicted with dysentery or other similar conditions might experience fatal dehydration. Once one third of the water in our body is lost, our functions cease to work as needed and can quickly become fatal.
With this in mind, understanding a patient’s hydration level can be critical to a safe healing process. Tula Health Inc. is doing exactly that. The company is focused on developing the tools and technology to support the management and control of diabetes. Diabetic patients are particularly vulnerable to dehydration as the reduced bodily functions can quickly turn into other complications.
Their hydration monitoring technology uses sensors to determine the precise physiological condition of the patient or user. The sensor measurements can include bio-impedance, spectroscopic, or optical measurements. These sensors take multiple measurements over time in order to determine any changes in the water content and therefore determine the hydrated state. Since the system can monitor any hydration state, it can also detect other conditions such as overhydration, water poisoning, water intoxication and so on. It can also determine if a user’s water levels are changing too quickly or too slowly relative to their water intake.
This technology will support Tula Health’s existing platform. Their platform is backed by over 60 years of management expertise in noninvasive- and micro-fabrication and creates the optimal system to monitor varying disease states. Hydration monitoring will join the company’s existing patents for technology capable of monitoring blood pressure, blood oxygen, weight, body mass index, continuous glucose monitoring and more.
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