Energy-Aware System-Level Design of Cyber-Physical Systems

Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs) are heterogeneous systems in which one or several computational cores interact with the physical environment. This interaction is typically performed through electromechanical elements such as sensors and actuators. Many CPSs operate as part of a network and some of them present a constrained energy budget (for example, they are battery powered). Examples of energy constrained CPSs could be a mobile robot, the nodes that compose a Body Area Network or a pacemaker. The heterogeneity present in the composition of CPSs together with the constrained energy availability makes these systems challenging to design. A way to tackle both complexity and costs is the application of abstract modelling and simulation. This thesis proposed the application of modelling at the system level, taking energy consumption in the different kinds of subsystems into consideration. By adopting this cross disciplinary approach to energy consumption it is possible to decrease it effectively. The results of this thesis are a number of modelling guidelines and tool improvements to support this kind of holistic analysis, covering energy consumption in electromechanical, computation and communication subsystems. From a methodological point of view these have been framed within a V-lifecycle. Finally, this approach has been demonstrated on two case studies from the medical domain enabling the exploration of alternative systems architectures and producing energy consumption estimates to conduct trade-off analysis

Wound Care

Wounds and the many associated problems have challenged health care providers for centuries and today, despite the wealth of knowledge available, neither the incidence nor prevalence of wounds is reducing. Furthermore, in view of our changing demographic profile and the projected increase in the older population it is likely that wound management will become an ever increasing burden to the individual, health care services and society as a whole. The annual incidence of wounds in the EU-27 is approximately 4 million, and between 25% and 50% of acute hospital beds are occupied by patients with a wound, with up to 60% of these representing non-healing wounds (infected surgical wounds, pressure ulcers, leg/foot ulcers) The increasing prevalence and incidence of non-wounds healing is closely linked with quality of care and, as such, these rising figures reduce society’s confidence in the health service’s ability to deliver care that is timely, appropriate and effective. Thus, for those involved in this specialist area of clinical practice, the fundamental goal is to improve clinical outcomes, reduce the burden of wounds and improve health related quality of life. In this Special Issue “Wound Care” in Healthcare, we invited submission of manuscripts exploring contemporary issues in wound care. By devoting a special issue to wound care, we endeavoured to provide readers with a comprehensive reference source, outlining key areas of interest in this important aspect of clinical practice. The response to the call for manuscripts was fantastic and, as a result, we were able to include both original qualitative and quantitative research papers in addition to review papers, thereby providing readers with a wealth of valuable information pertinent to wound care

Leg Ulcer Outcomes

Background Venous disease is the most common cause of leg ulceration. Treatment of superficial venous reflux has been shown to reduce the rate of ulcer recurrence but the effect of early endovenous ablation of superficial venous reflux on ulcer healing remains unclear. It is generally accepted that there is considerable global variation in the management of leg ulcers. Objectives To determine: the clinical and cost-effectiveness of early endovenous treatment of superficialvenous reflux in addition to standard care compared to standard care alone in patients with venous ulceration; the current standards of global management of venous leg management and the impact on these following the results of the randomised controlled trial. Methods i. The Early Venous Reflux Ablation Trial (EVRA) multi-centre randomised clinical trial of 450 participants compared early versus deferred intervention at 12 months and at 3.5 years. ii. Health professionals treating patients with leg ulcers globally were surveyed before and after the publication of the RCT results to gain insight on the management of venous leg ulceration, and subsequent impact on practice. Results i. EVRA: i. time to ulcer healing was shorter in the early group at 12 months; no clear difference in time to first ulcer recurrence at 3.5 years; early intervention at 3 years is 91% likely to be cost-effective at £20,000/QALY. ii. Surveys: ⁃ Pre/post-EVRA UK primary care: 90/643 responses received; Pre/post-EVRA global clinicians: 799/644 responses were received. Conclusions The EVRA RCT showed that early intervention reduces the time to healing of venous leg ulcers, does not affect the time to recurrent ulceration but is highly likely to be cost-effective and therefore is beneficial for both patients and healthcare providers. The surveys demonstrated that the management of venous ulceration is disparate globally. It is likely that the EVRA RCT results influenced the timing of intervention worldwide.Open Acces

A Complete Guide to Maggot Therapy

Since the revival of maggot therapy in Western wound care approximately thirty years ago, there has been no comprehensive synthesis of what is known about its clinical practice, supply chain management, and social dimensions. This edited volume fills the information vacuum and, importantly, makes the current state of knowledge freely accessible. It is the first to provide sound, evidence-based information and guidance covering the entire supply chain from production to treatment. The chapters are arranged in five parts presenting the latest on clinical practice, the principles of therapeutic action, medicinal maggot production, distribution logistics, and the ethical dimensions of maggot therapy. The contributors have paid particular attention to the challenges encountered in compromised, low-resource healthcare settings such as disasters, conflict, and poverty. There are still many barriers to the widespread uptake of maggot therapy in healthcare settings. This book will be essential reading for a global audience of doctors, nurses, allied healthcare providers, students, and entrepreneurs with an interest in maggot-assisted wound care. It will be the go-to reference for those who plan, regulate, and coordinate healthcare, and want to establish a maggot therapy program, particularly in low- and middle-income and other compromised healthcare settings where maggot therapy can provide much-needed, affordable, and efficacious wound care

A Complete Guide to Maggot Therapy

Since the revival of maggot therapy in Western wound care approximately thirty years ago, there has been no comprehensive synthesis of what is known about its clinical practice, supply chain management, and social dimensions. This edited volume fills the information vacuum and, importantly, makes the current state of knowledge freely accessible. It is the first to provide sound, evidence-based information and guidance covering the entire supply chain from production to treatment. The chapters are arranged in five parts presenting the latest on clinical practice, the principles of therapeutic action, medicinal maggot production, distribution logistics, and the ethical dimensions of maggot therapy. The contributors have paid particular attention to the challenges encountered in compromised, low-resource healthcare settings such as disasters, conflict, and poverty. There are still many barriers to the widespread uptake of maggot therapy in healthcare settings. This book will be essential reading for a global audience of doctors, nurses, allied healthcare providers, students, and entrepreneurs with an interest in maggot-assisted wound care. It will be the go-to reference for those who plan, regulate, and coordinate healthcare, and want to establish a maggot therapy program, particularly in low- and middle-income and other compromised healthcare settings where maggot therapy can provide much-needed, affordable, and efficacious wound care

William Osler: Original Papers 1907-1919

Part 1: 1907-1908 The Royal Medical Society of Edinburg, 1907 On the Library of a Medical School, 1907 On Telangiectasis Circumscripta Universalis, 1907 A Clinical Lecture on Abdominal Tumours Associated with Disease of the Testicle, 1907 A Clinical Lecture on Erythraemia, 1908 Vienna after Thirty-Four Years, 1908 Endocardites Infectieuses Chroniques, 1908 Part 2: 1909 Chronic Infectious Endocarditis, 1909 What the Public Can Do in the Fight Against Tuberculosis, 1909 Annual Oration on the Occasion of the Opening of the New Building of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of the State of Maryland, May 13, 1909 The Medical Library in Post-Graduate Work, 1909 The Treatment of Disease, 1909 Part 3: 1910-1911 The Pupil Symptoms in Thoracic Aneurysm, 1910 The Lumleian Lectures on Angina Pectoris, 1910 Certain Vasomotor, Sensory, and Muscular Phenomena Associated with Cervical Rib, 1910 An Address on the Hospital Unit in University Work, 1911 Sulle Telangiectasie Emorragiche Ereditarie, 1911 Transient Attacks of Aphasia and Paralyses in States of High Blood Pressure and Arterio-Sclerosis, 1911 The Pathological Institute of a General Hospital, 1911 Part 4: 1912-1914 An Address on High Blood Pressure: its Associations, Advantages, and Disadvantages, 1912 Specialism in the General Hospital, 1913 Syphilis of the Liver with the Picture of Banti’s Disease, 1913 An Introductory Address on Examinations, Examiners, and Examinees, 1913 The Medical Clinic: a retrospect and a Forecast, 1914 Part 5: 1915-1919 Remarks on the Diagnosis of Polycystic Kidney, 1915 The War and Typhoid Fever, 1914/15 The Cerebro-Spinal Fever in Camps and Barracks, 1915 Remarks on Arterio-Venous Aneurysm, 1915 Nerve & “Nerves”, 1915 Intensive Work in Science at the Public Schools in Relation to the Curriculum, 1916 Creators, Transmuters, and Transmitters, 1916 Annual Oration on the Campaign Against Syphilis, 1917 The First Printed Documents relating to Modern Surgical Anaesthesia, 1918 Observations on the Severe Anaemias of Pregnancy and the Post-Partum State, 1919 Typhoid Spine, 1919https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/osler/1002/thumbnail.jp

Medical-Data-Models.org:A collection of freely available forms (September 2016)

MDM-Portal (Medical Data-Models) is a meta-data repository for creating, analysing, sharing and reusing medical forms, developed by the Institute of Medical Informatics, University of Muenster in Germany. Electronic forms for documentation of patient data are an integral part within the workflow of physicians. A huge amount of data is collected either through routine documentation forms (EHRs) for electronic health records or as case report forms (CRFs) for clinical trials. This raises major scientific challenges for health care, since different health information systems are not necessarily compatible with each other and thus information exchange of structured data is hampered. Software vendors provide a variety of individual documentation forms according to their standard contracts, which function as isolated applications. Furthermore, free availability of those forms is rarely the case. Currently less than 5 % of medical forms are freely accessible. Based on this lack of transparency harmonization of data models in health care is extremely cumbersome, thus work and know-how of completed clinical trials and routine documentation in hospitals are hard to be re-used. The MDM-Portal serves as an infrastructure for academic (non-commercial) medical research to contribute a solution to this problem. It already contains more than 4,000 system-independent forms (CDISC ODM Format, www.cdisc.org, Operational Data Model) with more than 380,000 dataelements. This enables researchers to view, discuss, download and export forms in most common technical formats such as PDF, CSV, Excel, SQL, SPSS, R, etc. A growing user community will lead to a growing database of medical forms. In this matter, we would like to encourage all medical researchers to register and add forms and discuss existing forms