Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, Oct 09, 2003 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- Dutch researchers claim to have come up with a "biomedical" bra and underwear that also hold life-saving promises.
The researchers say the underwear rigged to monitor heartbeat or blood pressure could dial emergency numbers at the first sign of a problem, BBC reports.
The "biomedical" underwear has been designed by electronics giant Philips, and can currently monitor the heartbeat of the wearer.
If it spots signs of heart trouble, it uses wireless technology to summon the emergency services.
The bra, belt or briefs each have electrodes built into their fabric, and use the thread in the fabric to send data to a small microprocessor.
This analyzes the signals and has been taught to discriminate between dangerous changes in heart rhythm.
However, it could be some years before the technology is in shops.
Copyright 2003 by United Press International.
