SAN FRANCISCO — This year's edition of the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS; Washington) scientific sessions led with the opening plenary talk full of forward-looking speculations, including from a speaker who painted a picture of the future of medicine in which data would flow unimpeded from the patient to the cloud and back to the patient. Indeed, each of the speakers at the opening plenary spoke of the many ways that big data would one day transform medicine, but what was missing was a discussion of the analytical tools that will be necessary to convert the deluge of data into something more meaningful than a ceaseless barrage of bits and bytes.

CHICAGO — Pill cameras used for diagnostic purposes are not new to the U.S. market and there are several companies that make various versions of these pill-sized cameras. But a new company in Israel, Vibrant (Petach Tikva, Israel) has put an interesting spin on the pill-like devices with a vibrating capsule designed to treat, not diagnose, specific types of constipation.