ENGINEERING AND ANALYTICAL METHODS FOR PRECISION MEDICINE

ThesisAim of this thesis is to exploit modern technologies and statistical methods to support precision medicine in both the gathering and analysis of data. Real-time measurements of clinical parameters and identification of molecular signatures are thought to be crucial to tailor medications on the individual needs and likeliness of response. This thesis explores both aspects. The first part of the thesis studies the issues related to the safe real-time collection of parameters in connection to ultrasound communications of intra-body sensor networks. A testbed has been developed and a complete characterisation of a high water concentration channel — comparable to human body — is provided. The second part focuses on the analysis of transcriptomic data to predict successful treatments in non-communicable diseases. To reach this aim we will present a novel pathway-based tool together with the results from two clinical trials

Front-Line Physicians' Satisfaction with Information Systems in Hospitals

Day-to-day operations management in hospital units is difficult due to continuously varying situations, several actors involved and a vast number of information systems in use. The aim of this study was to describe front-line physicians' satisfaction with existing information systems needed to support the day-to-day operations management in hospitals. A cross-sectional survey was used and data chosen with stratified random sampling were collected in nine hospitals. Data were analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistical methods. The response rate was 65 % (n = 111). The physicians reported that information systems support their decision making to some extent, but they do not improve access to information nor are they tailored for physicians. The respondents also reported that they need to use several information systems to support decision making and that they would prefer one information system to access important information. Improved information access would better support physicians' decision making and has the potential to improve the quality of decisions and speed up the decision making process.Peer reviewe

Participative Urban Health and Healthy Aging in the Age of AI

This open access book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 18th International Conference on String Processing and Information Retrieval, ICOST 2022, held in Paris, France, in June 2022. The 15 full papers and 10 short papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 33 submissions. They cover topics such as design, development, deployment, and evaluation of AI for health, smart urban environments, assistive technologies, chronic disease management, and coaching and health telematics systems

Design revolutions: IASDR 2019 Conference Proceedings. Volume 4: Learning, Technology, Thinking

In September 2019 Manchester School of Art at Manchester Metropolitan University was honoured to host the bi-annual conference of the International Association of Societies of Design Research (IASDR) under the unifying theme of DESIGN REVOLUTIONS. This was the first time the conference had been held in the UK. Through key research themes across nine conference tracks – Change, Learning, Living, Making, People, Technology, Thinking, Value and Voices – the conference opened up compelling, meaningful and radical dialogue of the role of design in addressing societal and organisational challenges. This Volume 4 includes papers from Learning, Technology and Thinking tracks of the conference

Informatics for Health 2017 : advancing both science and practice

Conference report, The Informatics for Health congress, 24-26 April 2017, in Manchester, UK.Introduction : The Informatics for Health congress, 24-26 April 2017, in Manchester, UK, brought together the Medical Informatics Europe (MIE) conference and the Farr Institute International Conference. This special issue of the Journal of Innovation in Health Informatics contains 113 presentation abstracts and 149 poster abstracts from the congress. Discussion : The twin programmes of “Big Data” and “Digital Health” are not always joined up by coherent policy and investment priorities. Substantial global investment in health IT and data science has led to sound progress but highly variable outcomes. Society needs an approach that brings together the science and the practice of health informatics. The goal is multi-level Learning Health Systems that consume and intelligently act upon both patient data and organizational intervention outcomes. Conclusions : Informatics for Health demonstrated the art of the possible, seen in the breadth and depth of our contributions. We call upon policy makers, research funders and programme leaders to learn from this joined-up approach.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Technology and Service Assessment Tools in Healthcare

The role of clinical engineers is rapidly changing and the economic constraints have pulled them towards new responsibilities to manage. Particularly, the assessment of health technologies has covered one of the most important areas among clinical engineers\u2019 duties. Different techniques and methodologies for technology assessment and improvement are available in the literature and they are currently in use within hospitals and healthcare facilities. However, scientific research and practical needs seem to be misaligned, causing misuse of scientific results due to the lack of tools easy-to-use from practical perspective. This thesis aims at integrating methodologies, even derived from different sectors, for providing standardized and versatile tools that overcome the current issues, providing healthcare facility with a path to follow for choosing the best methodology to be used in diverse situations. Different case studies are presented, in order to cover the wide range of possibilities within health technology assessment (HTA). Particularly, technology assessment was performed on medical devices using both Hospital-Based HTA for an existing technology and horizon scanning for designing an innovative solution. Then the assessment was extended to hospital services, with particular attention to clinical engineering services, using Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis. Process improvement methodologies were also considered and applied to sterilization service that was also studied and assessed integrating the classical HTA approach with Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis. These studies allowed to identify a path useful from practical perspective and based on scientific approach aimed at helping healthcare professionals and clinical engineers to choose the best methodology in accordance to specific constraints and needs of particular situations