In preparation for the heat at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, Canadian athletes will test out a new technology at the NACAC track and field championships that is intended to measure the body's core temperature during activity and at rest. Founded in 2011, Caen, France-based BodyCap is a company that specializes in the development of miniature electronic sensors and monitors for continuous measurement of patients’ physiological variables. In 2015, BodyCap came out with e-Celsius, a miniaturized electronic pill that communicates wirelessly an accurate measurement of core temperature. After being swallowed, it moves down the GI tract, where every 30 seconds, the device wirelessly transmits data to an “e-Viewer” that displays the readings and records the temperature during the pill’s journey. The e-viewer can be programmed to issue alerts if the temperature moves outside of a set range. The pill, when provided, is in standby mode. An activation box enables wake-up and association with the monitor for data collection in real time mode or by recovery from the internal memory of e-Celsius with no loss of data, according to the e-Celsius website. A single monitor can be associated simultaneously with up to three pills, enabling extended uses. Thanks to a dedicated interface the user can download data into a PC/MAC for storage.
Preparing for the heat at the Olympics is part and parcel of the training for the athletic events in Tokyo and a handful of Canadian athletes will be testing out the e-Celsius technology at the NACAC track and field championships Aug. 10-12 in Toronto.
"That pill is going to change the way that we understand how the body responds to heat because we just get so much information that wasn't possible before," says Evan Dunfee, a race walker. Dunfee, who was fourth at the 2016 Rio Olympics, will be among those athletes testing the e-pills.
A report from www.digitaljournal.com
