The electrocardiogram on the wrist: a frightening experience to the untrained consumer: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Smartwatches offering electrocardiogram recordings advertise the benefits of supporting an active and healthy lifestyle. More often, medical professionals are faced with privately acquired electrocardiogram data of undetermined quality recorded by smartwatches. This is boasted by results and suggestions for medical benefits, based on industry-sponsored trials and potentially biased case reports. Yet potential risks and adverse effects have been widely overlooked. CASE PRESENTATION: This case report describes an emergency consultation of a 27-year-old Swiss-German man lacking known previous medical conditions who developed an episode of anxiety and panic due to pain in the left chest prompted by over-interpretation of unremarkable electrocardiogram readings of his smartwatch. Fearing acute coronary syndrome, he presented at the emergency department. His smartwatch electrocardiograms, as well as a 12-lead electrocardiogram, appeared normal. After extensive calming and reassuring, as well as symptomatic therapy with paracetamol and lorazepam, the patient was discharged with no indications for further treatment. CONCLUSIONS: This case demonstrates the potential risks of anxiety from nonprofessional electrocardiogram recordings by smartwatches. Medico-legal and practical aspects of electrocardiogram recordings by smartwatches need to be further considered. The case shows the potential side effects of pseudo-medical recommendations for the untrained consumer, and may add to the discussion on the ethics of how to evaluate smartwatch electrocardiogram data as a medical professional.

Micro-CT data of early physiological cancellous bone formation in the lumbar spine of female C57BL/6 mice.

Micro-CT provides critical data for musculoskeletal research, yielding three-dimensional datasets containing distributions of mineral density. Using high-resolution scans, we quantified changes in the fine architecture of bone in the spine of young mice. This data is made available as a reference to physiological cancellous bone growth. The scans (n = 19) depict the extensive structural changes typical for female C57BL/6 mice pups, aged 1-, 3-, 7-, 10- and 14-days post-partum, as they attain the mature geometry. We reveal the micro-morphology down to individual trabeculae in the spine that follow phases of mineral-tissue rearrangement in the growing lumbar vertebra on a micrometer length scale. Phantom data is provided to facilitate mineral density calibration. Conventional histomorphometry matched with our micro-CT data on selected samples confirms the validity and accuracy of our 3D scans. The data may thus serve as a reference for modeling normal bone growth and can be used to benchmark other experiments assessing the effects of biomaterials, tissue growth, healing, and regeneration.

Normal trabecular vertebral bone is formed via rapid transformation of mineralized spicules: A high-resolution 3D ex-vivo murine study.

At birth, mouse vertebrae have a reticular fine spongy morphology, yet in the adult animal they exhibit elaborate trabecular architectures. Here, we characterize the physiological microstructural transformations in growing young female mice of the widely used C57BL/6 strain. Extensive architectural changes lead to the establishment of mature cancellous bone in the spine. Vertebrae were mapped in 3D by high resolution microcomputed tomography (µCT), backed by conventional histology. Three different phases are observed in the natural bony biomaterial: In a prenatal templating phase, early vertebrae are composed of foamy, loosely-packed mineralized spicules. During a consolidation phase in the first 7 days after birth, bone material condenses into struts and forms primitive trabeculae accompanied by a significant (>50%) reduction in bone volume/tissue volume ratio (BV/TV). After day 7, the trabeculae expand, reorient and increase in mineral density. Swift growth ensues such that by day 14 the young lumbar spine exhibits all morphological features observed in the mature animal. The greatly varied micro-morphologies of normal trabecular bone observed in 3D within a short timespan are typical for rodent and presumably for other mammalian forming spines. This suggests that fully structured cancellous bone emerges through rapid post-natal restructuring of a foamy mineralized scaffold. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: Cancellous bone develops in stages that are not well documented. Using a mouse model, we provide an observer-independent quantification of normal bone formation in the spine. We find that within 14 days, the cancellous bone transforms in 3 phases from a scaffold of spicules into well organized, fully mineralized trabeculae in a functional spine. Detailed knowledge of the physiological restructuring of mineralized material may help to better understand bone formation and may serve as a blueprint for studies of pharmaceuticals effects, tissue healing and regeneration.