MINEOLA, N.Y., June 16, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Torbay Holdings, Inc. (OTCBB:TRBY) announced that the company's wholly owned sales and marketing subsidiary, Designer Appliances, Inc., will shortly, following completion of certain strategic activities, launch a new software product called Brakemoor(TM), which will bring product integration and focus to a broader computer market opportunity that the company believes exists in the potential new market of Anti.Fatigue Systems(TM).
The company considers that the end of the RSI (repetitive strain or stress injury) era is fast approaching. It has represented a period of assumption that repetition alone was the main antagonist in impairment problems, which launched a plethora of "ergonomic" labeled products. Some 5 to 10 years after the "ergonomic keyboard's" appearance, injury or impairment is still prevalent and is stated by some as the biggest cause of lost time in the office environment. Last week's announcement that just changing from a grip requiring industry standard mouse to the company's "Grip-less" mouse improved the symptoms of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome clearly indicates the overstated attention that may have been paid to the role of the keyboard in the development of RSI's. Though we believe that once injury, due to Static Posture created by gripping computer mice, becomes established, their use can contribute towards a worsening of the condition. But as the study has shown so far, once a Static Posture is removed, CTS symptom improvement was seen without alteration to the keyboard or typing activity.
Research carried out at the National Institute of Occupational Health, Copenhagen, Denmark, investigated muscle metabolism by inserting catheters directly into muscle. From samples collected they were able to directly measure the chemical consequences of muscle activity and detected that anaerobic (low oxygen conditions) occurred locally within active muscle cells that were not detectable systemically (in the blood stream). Unlike indirect physic based measurements, the use of infrared light to measure oxygen through the skin, for example, which some reports, both before and after this research, conclude that low tissue oxygen does not underlie muscle fatigue, this study collected "at the scene" physical evidence, so could chemically and directly measure the process of metabolism in active muscle cells. Measurements were taken in the trapezius muscle of the shoulder, which is large enough to (more) comfortably receive a catheter. The study led to a biochemically observed conclusion that localized anaerobic conditions occur in active muscle cells under low force (exertion). This is the same conclusion that this company empirically derived several years ago. Solutions that seek to circumvent the problems that we perceive the anaerobic issue creates are the basis upon which our products are designed and developed and the reason why we changed the name of our mouse product to AirO2bic (pronounced aerobic) mouse last year.
To quote from the abstract (link below) conclusion of the report: "The microdialysis technique was effective in revealing muscle metabolic events that were not found systemically. Furthermore, the trapezius muscles showed an anaerobic metabolism during low force contraction, which could indicate inhomogonous muscle activation."
The effective conclusion, that active muscle cells can become disconnected from the rest of the system under low force exertion, so fatigue, may become significant to the design of many product that currently require small, yet constant, muscle tension.
In designing an Anti.Fatigue system we have recognized the fact that there are two forms of biochemical fatigue, which for simplicity will be called "ache fatigue" and "pain fatigue." Ache fatigue is brought about by the consumption of resource and pain fatigue from a build up of toxins, such as lactic acid, as a result of continuing to work beyond the ache fatigue point, so under resource depletion. Brakemoor's(TM) design seeks to manage the issues that this might create by attention to ache fatigue so that pain fatigue is less likely to occur. It does so in a proprietary way that is novel as compared to currently available "break timer" programs, one of which, of our own design, is already embedded in the company's "Clickless software" products.
Detailed Brakemoor(TM) information will be released at its launch (pre-launch link below). The company has developed this product after a market evaluation and its determination that an opportunity exists, especially in the light of recent discovery. The company anticipates that recognition for expertise in fatigue management, a need that is felt will become recognized by all computer users, will represent an emergence from, and so a lesser dependence upon, the "unregulated" ergonomic product market; unregulated insofar as there are no standards by which product "ergonomic" claims need be justified.
Brakemoor(TM) is therefore hoped and intended to initiate the company's transition into a mainstream "every computer should have one" type of product area and thereby seek to support sales of existing products into that sector while including and maintaining our Accessible and Assistive Technology focus. While we maintain an involvement in the ergonomic product sector we seek to be differentiated from it. As science finally hones in on the issues of RSI and recognizes it as a consequence of fatigue we believe that anti-fatigue systems may afford us a similar business model opportunity that the antivirus software affords other companies today.
In developing our mission and purpose: Designer Appliances, Inc is leading the way in the development of tools and technologies that address the covert issues of fatigue so as to manage the impact that fatigue is now being understood to have upon computer users. Fatigue Reduction design will minimize the effort required to perform physical tasks associated with computer input producing products that are more Accessible and Assistive to persons with dexterity impairment or disability, by nature of their Universal Design. Fatigue Management design recognizes that some types of activity can only be managed and so such products will be a "firewall against fatigue(C)" that assist users in managing their own activity and so fatigue risk.
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: The statements contained in this release that are not historical, are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements, including but not limited to, certain delays and risks detailed from time to time in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Links:
Interstitial muscle lactate, pyruvate and potassium dynamics in the trapezius muscle during repetitive low-force arm movements, measured with microdialysis.
Brakemoor(TM) Preannouncement.pdf pr@trby.com www.trby.com www.aerobicmouse.com