Device to help diabetics

The BBC has an article by Max Evans about new medical technology:

Scientists have created a portable blood glucose measure for diabetics which uses microwaves instead of pricking the skin (photo). Currently diabetics have to test their blood several times a day, or use inserted devices known as continuous blood glucose monitors (CGMs). But a new monitor, created by Cardiff University's School of Engineering, can be discreetly stuck onto the skin.
Professor Adrian Porch said: "It will help with the management of the condition." He added: "Conventional methods of monitoring blood glucose require the extraction of blood. Our device is non-invasive, and does not require the extraction of blood, apart from the initial calibration."
Professor Porch said the monitor, developed with Dr. Heungjae Choi, can be stuck on to the arm or side of the body using an adhesive. It also has a longer shelf-life, because it is not chemical in its action. The data it collects can then be monitored continuously on a computer or mobile app. While the idea of sticking a microwave emitter to someone's body may sound disconcerting, Porch said it s entirely safe. "It does use microwaves, but the levels are very, very low. Nowhere near the levels used in domestic cooking. Think about a mobile phone, we're about a thousand times less than that level."
Professor Stephen Luzio, of Swansea University's College of Medicine, carries out clinical research into diabetes, and has overseen trials on about fifty patients using the device, with more planned this summer. He said: "Patients are very keen on this. One of the big problems with patients measuring their glucose is they don't like pricking their finger, so there's a lot of interest." There are over three million people diagnosed with diabetes in the UK, with an estimated half million more who have the condition, but do not know it.
The ten percent who have Type 1 diabetes have to monitor their blood glucose level more regularly, up to six times a day, or twenty thousand times over a decade.
Cardiff University's diabetes monitor project started in 2008 and has since received a million pounds in funding from health improvement charity Wellcome Trust.
The team said the product is potentially five years away from reaching the market, subject to further investment.

Rico says this will be of interest to those, like Rico, who have to stick themselves every day to measure their blood glucose... (But it looks like Rico will be doing it for some years yet.)