A Review of Telemedicine in China

Telemedicine changes conventional medical practice and enables patients to access medical service via telecommunication. Telemedicine thus establishes a new kind of relationship between smaller hospitals and larger ones, and between patients and hospitals generally. Patients and subordinate hospitals may benefit from the resources of large hospitals, via teleconsultation, telediagnosis and telemonitoring. This is particularly beneficial for patients living in rural areas, where the health-care system is less well developed than in cities

Proposal of an ISO/IEEE11073 platform for healthcare telemonitoring: plug-and-play solution with new use cases

Proceeding of: 29th Annual International Conference of IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, (EMBS 2007), Lyon, France, 23-26th august 2007.Remote patient monitoring in e-Health is everyday closer to be a mature technology / service. However, there is still a lack of development in areas such as standardization of the sensor’s communication interface, integration into Electronic Healthcare Record systems or incorporation in ambient-intelligent scenarios. This work identifies a set of use cases involved in the personal monitoring scenario and highlights the related features and functionalities, as well as the integration and implementation difficulties found when these are to be implemented in a system based on the ISO/IEEE11073 (X73) standard. It is part of a cooperative research effort devoted to the development of an end-to-end standards-based telemonitoring solution. Standardization committees are working towards adapting the X73 standard to this emerging personal health devices market and use case identification is essential to direct these revisions.This research work has been partially supported by projects TSI2005-07068-C02-01 and TSI2004-04940-C02-01 from Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (Spanish Government), and a personal grant to both M.Galarraga and M. Martinez-Espronceda from Navarre Regional Governmen

Scenario-Based Traffic Modeling for Data Emanating from Medical Instruments in Clinical Environment

In this paper, the application of individual scenario-based traffic models in identifying the traffic carrying needs of networks in patient monitoring environments is presented. Since the total number of traffic sources is small for a central limit theorem-like approximation, a simple traffic matrix for each scenario can be used to identify the capacity needed for carrying data. The data traffic is classified into three categories; constant bit rate (CBR), On-Off, and Impulsive. In digital communications, the Impulsive traffic is considered a limiting case of the On-Off traffic. Lack of standard mechanisms for digitization of the patient monitoring data offers a unique challenge for traffic modeling. Sample traffic characteristics in a certain scenario are used to demonstrate that the network does not have to be designed for a very high bit rate even if some sources occasionally generate high data rates. This is due to the fact that a source generating high data rate could do so only for a small fraction of time, which results in smoothing out the data over longer periods of time. 1

Lab-in-a-Smartphone: Spectroscopic-Based Sensing Utilizing Linear Variable Filters for Point-of-Care Applications

A compact analysis platform for detecting liquid phase absorption and emission spectra using a set of optical linear variable filters atop a CMOS image sensor is presented. This combination has achieved detection of fluorescence down to 0.28 nM for quantum dot emitters and 32 ng/mL for a near-infrared dye. Compared to commercially available spectrometers, the benchtop demonstration shows comparable or even better performance with potentially better portability and reduction in cost for point-of-care applications. Based on the benchtop demonstration, a design suitably sized for use with a smartphone platform is conceptualized and fabricated.National Science Foundation 1447893; U of I SRI program; Mayo-illinois AllianceOpe

Examining the PoC System Implementation and Adoption: A FVM Perspective

HIS implementation is complex and involves people issues as well as technological issues. The effect of sociotechnical issues such as macro level or external factors including political, social, economic, environmental infrastructure and technology, laws and regulations; meso level or organizational factors such as leadership, management style, policies, structure; and micro level or tactical factors such as information sharing, training and learning, technical staff or user behaviour, have been less widely studied. Yet, it is precisely these issues that separately or in combination derail numerous HIS implementations. To examine this dilemma, we proffer a unique application of the fit viability model (FVM) to facilitate a better understanding of key issues pertaining the implementation and adoption of a Point of Care (PoC) System at one of the not for profit private hospitals in Australia. This will help the decision makers in hospital to understand how the new system fits within the different departments and also is it a viable option to install such a new system. This study focuses on just two departments of the hospital; namely, food services and environment services. An exploratory single case qualitative study methodology is adopted. From such an analysis, it is possible to identify optimal aspects with the PoC solution and opportunities to add value

New media and the challenges of Boko Haram terrorism: proposing the adoption of human-wearable digital technology

The Boko Haram terrorism, which began in 2009 has had a devastating impact on the society. So far, it has triggered one of the worst humanitarian crises in history and has been responsible for over 30 thousand deaths with over two million others displaced, mostly in the North-east of the country with sizeable spillovers into the neighboring countries of Chad, Niger and Cameroon. Boko Haram’s primary goal was to create an Islamic caliphate in the region, and like other terrorist networks, uses the unconventional, hit-and-run guerrilla war tactics. This has rendered the insurgency to be a hard nut to crack, a phenomenon that is cited as one of the main reasons the group is able to continually carry out successful attacks despite being declared “technically defeated”. Hence, this need to seek for alternative, ‘unconventional’ media as a tool for counterterrorism. The media, both new and traditional have been shown to play a critical role toward the de-Bokoharamization campaign of the Nigerian Federal Government in collaboration with its Western partners. However, due to the guerrilla tactics nature of the insurgency, human-wearable digital microchip technology such as radio frequency identification and wireless body area network systems have been suggested as capable of yielding desirable outcomes. Following a critical review of literature and taking from Laswell’s communication model, this review article offers a digital communication counterterrorism model to complement the state’s efforts toward the anti-terrorism campaign

Design and Implementation of Wireless Point-Of-Care Health Monitoring Systems: Diagnosis For Sleep Disorders and Cardiovascular Diseases

Chronic sleep disorders are present in 40 million people in the United States. More than 25 million people remain undiagnosed and untreated, which accounts for over $22 billion in unnecessary healthcare costs. In addition, another major chronic disease is the heart diseases which cause 23.8% of the deaths in the United States. Thus, there is a need for a low cost, reliable, and ubiquitous patient monitoring system. A remote point-of-care system can satisfy this need by providing real time monitoring of the patient\u27s health condition at remote places. However, the currently available POC systems have some drawbacks; the fixed number of physiological channels and lack of real time monitoring. In this dissertation, several remote POC systems are reported to diagnose sleep disorders and cardiovascular diseases to overcome the drawbacks of the current systems. First, two types of remote POC systems were developed for sleep disorders. One was designed with ZigBee and Wi-Fi network, which provides increase/decrease the number of physiological channels flexibly by using ZigBee star network. It also supports the remote real-time monitoring by extending WPAN to WLAN with combination of two wireless communication topologies, ZigBee and Wi-Fi. The other system was designed with GSM/WCDMA network, which removes the restriction of testing places and provides remote real-time monitoring in the true sense of the word. Second, a fully wearable textile integrated real-time ECG acquisition system for football players was developed to prevent sudden cardiac death. To reduce power consumption, adaptive RF output power control was implemented based on RSSI and the power consumption was reduced up to 20%. Third, as an application of measuring physiological signals, a wireless brain machine interface by using the extracted features of EOG and EEG was implemented to control the movement of a robot. The acceleration/deceleration of the robot is controlled based on the attention level from EEG. The left/right motion of eyeballs of EOG is used to control the direction of the robot. The accuracy rate was about 95%. These kinds of health monitoring systems can reduce the exponentially increasing healthcare costs and cater the most important healthcare needs of the society

Wearable technology and health care analytics

Ο ψηφιακός κόσμος έχει μπει για τα καλά στη ζωή των ανθρώπων τα τελευταία χρόνια. Οι άνθρωποι πλέον δεν μπορούν να φανταστούν τη ζωή τους χωρίς τους μικρούς υπολογιστές τσέπης (smart phones, tablets, κ.α.). Αυτή η τεράστια ανάπτυξη της τεχνολογίας έχει οδηγήσει σε μία επανάσταση που ονομάζεται Wearable Technology («φορετή τεχνολογία). Αυτή η τεχνολογία αφορά οποιοδήποτε τεχνολογικό προϊόν το οποίο μπορεί να φορεθεί από τους καταναλωτές – χρήστες. Αν και βρίσκεται ακόμα σε πρώιμο στάδιο είναι πολλά υποσχόμενη και θα δώσει λύσεις σε πολλά προβλήματα που αφορούν τον κλάδο της υγείας. Σε συνεργασία με το διαδίκτυο και με τη χρήση των κατάλληλων αισθητήρων αυτές οι συσκευές μπορούν να συλλέγουν δεδομένα και μέσω την ανάλυσης μπορούν να δώσουν πολλές απαντήσεις σε ιατρούς και ασθενείς. Μέσα από αυτή την εργασία γίνεται μία παρουσίαση για το τι είναι η Wearable Technology και πως μπορεί να αξιοποιηθεί στον κλάδο της υγείας. Γίνεται ανάλυση στα δυνατά και αδύναμα σημεία, στις ευκαιρείς και απειλές που παρουσιάζονται με τη χρήση της Wearable Technology στον κλάδο της υγείας (SWOT Analysis). Επίσης γίνεται ανάλυση στο μάκρο – περιβάλλον της Wearable Technology στον κλάδο της υγείας, που αφορά το πολιτικό, οικονομικό, κοινωνικό και τεχνολογικό περιβάλλον (PEST Analysis). Στη συνέχεια γίνεται μία έρευνα όσον αφορά τη συγκεκριμένη τεχνολογία στον κλάδο της υγείας στην Ελλάδα, με τη δημιουργία ερωτηματολογίων τα οποία απαντήθηκαν από ιατρούς διαφόρων ειδικοτήτων. Σκοπός της έρευνας είναι να μας βοηθήσει να κατανοήσουμε τις απόψεις των Ελλήνων ιατρών για τη Wearable Technology και αν είναι ανεπτυγμένη στην χώρα μας. Τέλος παρουσιάζονται τα αποτελέσματα της συγκεκριμένης έρευνας, καθώς και προτάσεις για την περαιτέρω ανάπτυξη της Wearable Technology στον κλάδο της υγείας.The digital world has entered people's lives for good in the recent years. People nowadays cannot imagine their lives without small pocket computers (smart phones, tablets, etc.). This enormous development of technology has led to a revolution called Wearable Technology. This technology involves any technological product which can be worn by consumers – users. Although it is still at an early stage, it is promising and it will provide solutions to many problems related to the health sector. In cooperation with the Internet and with the use of appropriate sensors, these devices are able to collect data and through the analysis they can give many answers to doctors and patients. Through this dissertation, a presentation of what is the Wearable Technology and how it can be applied to the healthcare industry is taken place. An analysis of the strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats are presented by the use of Wearable Technology in the healthcare industry (SWOT Analysis). Also, an analysis on macro-environment of Wearable Technology in the health sector is presented, involving the political, economic, social and technological environment (PEST Analysis). Following this, a research regarding this technology in the health sector in Greece is carried out, with the creation of questionnaires answered by doctors of various specialties. The purpose of the survey is to help us to understand the views of the Greek physicians for Wearable Technology and if it is developed in our country. Finally, the results of that research are presented, as well as proposals for further development of Wearable Technology in the health sector

NONUNIFORMLY SAMPLED DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING FOR LOW-POWER BIOMEDICAL APPLICATIONS.

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH