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Digital pregnancy tests have an internal paper test

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Re: Digital pregnancy tests have an internal paper test

#21

Post by refurb »

blendergeek wrote: post #4
askvictor wrote: post #3

While the waste is lamentable, perhaps it's also worth considering this as a UI/UX problem. How many people mis-read the paper test vs how much extra error % does the circuitry introduce?

Would it be possible to make a paper one have words (such as pregnant/not pregnant) instead of one/two lines?

Not for this test. It's a lateral flow assay [1]. The urine is absorbed by the strip and then moves along with capillary action. If there is hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) in the urine, then the it binds to linked-antibodies (often linked to gold atoms) and drags them along, then those antibodies bind to the actual assay and a control assay (antibodies to the antibodies).

I supposed you could make the line words, but they'd be pretty small.

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateral_flow_test

Re: Digital pregnancy tests have an internal paper test

#22

Post by 0latency »

Pregnancy/Motherhood groups are swarmed with the same "can you read this, I think I see a faint line" + photo question every single day because of the cheap tests. The strip results are NOT easy to interpret, because you may still see a faint line on the paper when not pregnant, and it's kind of an important emotional question as some couples have been trying to get pregnant for years. Your OB does you a mercy if they tell you "just buy the digital one".

Re: Digital pregnancy tests have an internal paper test

#24

Post by 082349872349872 »

bpiche wrote: post #14
082349872349872 wrote: post #10

My 3rd world country has pregnancy tests[1] available in almost all vending machines, but unfortunately they're the paper kind. Obviously we managed to get them evenly distributed, but utterly failed to provide the future. [1] For the convenience of both those hoping for positive results and those hoping for negative. I'm guessing there are more of the latter than the former, because they're invariably located in the…

The street finds its own use for things eh

TIL Tally Isham doesn't have an insta but image search does turn up some of her titles.

Thoughts from a not-as-fictional Rikki: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24349454

Re: Digital pregnancy tests have an internal paper test

#28

Post by leokennis »

watwut wrote: post #16
mrtksn wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The advantage is the UX. On a regular stripe test you are responsible to conduct the experiment and interpret the outcome which can be intimidating. "Is there a line? I think I see a line? But it's fainter from the last time? What does it mean?" This is replaced by an algorithm that's written by people who know what are they doing to save you from analysing a chemical reaction and have a straight answer. edit: Just G…

This is first time I hear about pregnancy test being "intimidating". The only pregnancy test intimidating reference I knew about so far was "omg, shit I am pregnant shit".

Well...if you’re 20, not at all ready to become a parent, you made a mistake and now you see a faint line-ish line is it really a line is it not just the lighting huh? Yeah then I can imagine being intimidated.

Re: Digital pregnancy tests have an internal paper test

#30

Post by tobyhinloopen »

what did the guy expect to find inside? I didn’t expect otherwise. It’s just that an excited or horrified human is really bad at reading faint lines.

The rule is (afaik) if you see the second line AT ALL, even if reaaally faint, it’s time to get some bed rest because you’ll need it in a few months

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