Wearable devices are increasingly bought to track and measure health and sports performance: from the number of steps walked each day to a person's metabolic efficiency, from the quality of brain function to the quantity of oxygen inhaled while asleep. But the truth is we know very little about how well these sensors and machines work - let alone whether they deliver useful information, according to a new review published in Frontiers in Physiology.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration permitted marketing of the first mobile medical application (app) that can be used as a method of contraception to prevent pregnancy. The app, called Natural Cycles, contains an algorithm that calculates the days of the month a woman is likely to be fertile based on daily body temperature readings and menstrual cycle information, a method of contraception called fertility awareness.

Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a global leader in health technology, and Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) NHS Foundation Trust, announced plans to create a digital pathology network to help drive faster and more efficient diagnoses for patients. OUH will deploy the Philips IntelliSite Pathology Solution at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, which will serve as a

Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust has selected Allscripts Sunrise as its electronic health record, in a move that further solidifies the company's position in the South East of England. The trust, which runs two major hospitals and regional Cancer Center, already uses the Allscripts patient administration system, following a go-live in October last year.

Grants4Impact (G4I), a new energizer program launched by Bayer Cares Foundation, is providing targeted support to social impact pioneers and start-ups in the fields of healthcare and nutrition. The aim of the program is to give selected change-makers around the world new opportunities to grow and transform great ideas into powerful impact solutions that help to improve the lives of millions.

Nothing is as constant as change - and the healthcare arena is currently changing more rapidly than any other industry. Advances in technology, shifts in demographics, and the constant competitive necessity to upgrade workforce skills - the current speed of change means that employees need to be trained continuously.

Start Alliance Berlin: Digital Health is a two-week program taking place in November 2018 which is intended to help startups from BEIJING, DUBAI, NEW YORK, LONDON, PARIS, SHANGHAI, TEL AVIV, VIENNA and WARSAW to expand their business to Germany via BERLIN. In this edition the program will focus on Digital Health and related topics.