From Wearable Sensors to Smart Implants – Towards Pervasive and Personalised Healthcare

<p>Objective: This article discusses the evolution of pervasive healthcare from its inception for activity recognition using wearable sensors to the future of sensing implant deployment and data processing. Methods: We provide an overview of some of the past milestones and recent developments, categorised into different generations of pervasive sensing applications for health monitoring. This is followed by a review on recent technological advances that have allowed unobtrusive continuous sensing combined with diverse technologies to reshape the clinical workflow for both acute and chronic disease management. We discuss the opportunities of pervasive health monitoring through data linkages with other health informatics systems including the mining of health records, clinical trial databases, multi-omics data integration and social media. Conclusion: Technical advances have supported the evolution of the pervasive health paradigm towards preventative, predictive, personalised and participatory medicine. Significance: The sensing technologies discussed in this paper and their future evolution will play a key role in realising the goal of sustainable healthcare systems.</p> <p> </p

Technology 2002: the Third National Technology Transfer Conference and Exposition, Volume 1

The proceedings from the conference are presented. The topics covered include the following: computer technology, advanced manufacturing, materials science, biotechnology, and electronics

The design and evaluation of discrete wearable medical devices for vital signs monitoring

The observation, recording and appraisal of an individual’s vital signs, namely temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate and blood oxygen saturation (SpO2), are key components in the assessment of their health and wellbeing. Measurements provide valuable diagnostic data, facilitating clinical diagnosis, management and monitoring. Respiratory rate sensing is perhaps the most under-utilised of all the vital signs, being routinely assessed by observation or estimated algorithmically from respiratory-induced beat-to-beat variation in heart rate. Moreover there is an unmet need for wearable devices that can measure all or most of the vital signs. This project therefore aims to a) develop a device that can measure respiratory rate and b) develop a wearable device that can measure all or most of the vital signs. An accelerometer-based clavicular respiratory motion sensor was developed and compared with a similar thoracic motion sensor and reference using exhalatory flow. Pilot study results established that the clavicle sensor accurately tracked the reference in monitoring respiratory rate and outperformed the thoracic device. An Ear-worn Patient Monitoring System (EPMS) was also developed, providing a discrete telemonitoring device capable of rapidly measuring tympanic temperature, heart rate, SpO2 and activity level. The results of a comparative pilot study against reference instruments revealed that heart rate matched the reference for accuracy, while temperature under read (< 1°C) and SpO2 was inconsistent with poor correlation. In conclusion, both of the prototype devices require further development. The respiratory sensor would benefit from product engineering and larger scale testing to fully exploit the technology, but could find use in both hospital and community-based The design and evaluation of discrete wearable medical devices for vital signs monitoring DG Pitts ii Cranfield University monitoring. The EPMS has potential for clinical and community use, having demonstrated its capability of rapidly capturing and wirelessly transmitting vital signs readings. Further development is nevertheless required to improve the thermometer probe and resolve outstanding issues with SpO2 readings

Technology applications

A summary of NASA Technology Utilization programs for the period of 1 December 1971 through 31 May 1972 is presented. An abbreviated description of the overall Technology Utilization Applications Program is provided as a background for the specific applications examples. Subjects discussed are in the broad headings of: (1) cancer, (2) cardiovascular disease, (2) medical instrumentation, (4) urinary system disorders, (5) rehabilitation medicine, (6) air and water pollution, (7) housing and urban construction, (8) fire safety, (9) law enforcement and criminalistics, (10) transportation, and (11) mine safety

Biomedical Engineering

Biomedical engineering is currently relatively wide scientific area which has been constantly bringing innovations with an objective to support and improve all areas of medicine such as therapy, diagnostics and rehabilitation. It holds a strong position also in natural and biological sciences. In the terms of application, biomedical engineering is present at almost all technical universities where some of them are targeted for the research and development in this area. The presented book brings chosen outputs and results of research and development tasks, often supported by important world or European framework programs or grant agencies. The knowledge and findings from the area of biomaterials, bioelectronics, bioinformatics, biomedical devices and tools or computer support in the processes of diagnostics and therapy are defined in a way that they bring both basic information to a reader and also specific outputs with a possible further use in research and development

Otimização do modo de registo de dados durante a técnica de Perfusão Isolada dos Membros

Cancer is a disease in which the cells of our organism, due to mutations in their DNA, divide without control and acquire malignant properties and, during this process of uncontrolled division, invade other tissues and don’t die. Cancer cells have the ability to spread through the body using the circulatory and lymphatic systems, giving rise to metastases. With regard to cutaneous neoplasms, the therapy chosen for surgically dispersed and unresectable metastases involved amputation of the sick limb, however, many complications and short time intervals between treatment and the appearance of new lesions were associated. In 1957, an innovative technique emerges and proves to be extremely effective and avoids limb amputation: Isolated Limb Perfusion performed with Melphalan and TNF-α. The main objective of this procedure is to isolate the limb affected by the disease from the systemic circulation so that it is possible to administer very high doses of chemotherapy without any collateral damage. In this sense, it is necessary to have a control of blood leaks from the limb to the systemic circulation, in order to ensure that no other organ or tissue is compromised. The Portuguese Institute of Oncology (IPO) of Porto is one of the worldwide institutions that practice this type of surgical interventions, reporting an annual increase in the number of occurrences year after year. Consequently, this progressive increase and coupled with the fact that this leak control is impractical and time-consuming, led this institution to join Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto (ISEP) to develop an application that, in combination with an extracorporeal counter equipment called Neoprobe Gamma Detector System is able to record the values obtained automatically and allow monitoring possible leaks

The development of an electrochemical sensor for detecting and measuring circulating tumour DNA in human fluids

The high rates of mortality amongst cancer patients highlights the need for advances in rapid detection and enhanced point of care (PoC) testing. A simple approach tailored towards PoC cancer detection and monitoring using label-free electrochemical biosensors is presented. Screen-Printed Carbon electrodes (SPCEs) have been extensively employed as an economical transducer substrate for electrochemical biosensing applications due to their simplicity, affordability and versatility. In this work, a simple, low-cost DNA biosensor is presented which after initial work with Tp53 was developed specifically to detect mutations in a key oncogene (KRAS). Sensor arrays of SPCEs and carbon-nanotube (CNT) modified SPCEs were used to perform multiplexed measurements of DNA hybridisation. Various amplification techniques for enriching the pool of mutated DNA strands were explored and optimised. Amine-modified ssDNA probes were immobilized by modifying SPCEs and CNT-SPCEs with diazonium and EDC/NHS groups. The sensor performance was characterized using cyclic voltammetry, differential pulse voltammetry, square wave voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy all to different extents. The detection principle was evaluated by showing effective on-chip DNA hybridization techniques, discrimination using negative controls, and performing multiple repetitions to ascertain reliability of the system. The developed sensor displayed some sensitivity and selectivity to Tp53, KRAS pG12D, and KRAS pG13D DNA, all of which are important mutations in cancer progression. For the amplified samples, 0.027 ng/µl amplicons were detectable while for the non-amplified samples, 0.85 ng/µl cfDNA concentration was detectable using the assay developed. The importance of these findings lies in the design of future electrochemical assays that are capable of discriminating between circulating tumour DNA in the blood prior to and post cancer therapy. The real-world application of this concept provides not only early diagnostic capability but an avenue for treatment decisions to be guided in such a way that health care providers can initiate, choose, avoid, alter or cease selected therapies when caring for patients that have shown symptoms for cancer or who are at risk of having recurrent cancers.The high rates of mortality amongst cancer patients highlights the need for advances in rapid detection and enhanced point of care (PoC) testing. A simple approach tailored towards PoC cancer detection and monitoring using label-free electrochemical biosensors is presented. Screen-Printed Carbon electrodes (SPCEs) have been extensively employed as an economical transducer substrate for electrochemical biosensing applications due to their simplicity, affordability and versatility. In this work, a simple, low-cost DNA biosensor is presented which after initial work with Tp53 was developed specifically to detect mutations in a key oncogene (KRAS). Sensor arrays of SPCEs and carbon-nanotube (CNT) modified SPCEs were used to perform multiplexed measurements of DNA hybridisation. Various amplification techniques for enriching the pool of mutated DNA strands were explored and optimised. Amine-modified ssDNA probes were immobilized by modifying SPCEs and CNT-SPCEs with diazonium and EDC/NHS groups. The sensor performance was characterized using cyclic voltammetry, differential pulse voltammetry, square wave voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy all to different extents. The detection principle was evaluated by showing effective on-chip DNA hybridization techniques, discrimination using negative controls, and performing multiple repetitions to ascertain reliability of the system. The developed sensor displayed some sensitivity and selectivity to Tp53, KRAS pG12D, and KRAS pG13D DNA, all of which are important mutations in cancer progression. For the amplified samples, 0.027 ng/µl amplicons were detectable while for the non-amplified samples, 0.85 ng/µl cfDNA concentration was detectable using the assay developed. The importance of these findings lies in the design of future electrochemical assays that are capable of discriminating between circulating tumour DNA in the blood prior to and post cancer therapy. The real-world application of this concept provides not only early diagnostic capability but an avenue for treatment decisions to be guided in such a way that health care providers can initiate, choose, avoid, alter or cease selected therapies when caring for patients that have shown symptoms for cancer or who are at risk of having recurrent cancers

Development of an enhanced transfer data channel for a hybrid SoC FPGA used in a DAQ system aimed at improving hadrontherapy protocols

In questa tesi è presentato il lavoro svolto su un sistema di acquisizione utilizzato in un esperimento di fisica nucleare facente parte del progetto FOOT, volto ad ottenere ulteriori informazioni sulla frammentazione nucleare per migliorare i protocolli medici di adroterapia e le metodologie di radioprotezione spaziale. Il sistema si basa su una scheda Terasic DE10-Nano che monta un SoC FPGA Cyclone V. L'obiettivo principale del lavoro è stato aumentare il throughput del trasferimento dei dati acquisiti dai sensori verso la memoria principale: a tal fine è stata utilizzata direttamente la memoria RAM del processore integrato come buffer circolare temporaneo. È stata inoltre implementata l'interfaccia (realizzata dall'Università di Perugia) per la sensoristica e un controller per l'ADC della scheda. Il lavoro ha compreso sia lo sviluppo del firmware, quindi VHDL e Platform Designer, sia del software, con la scrittura di funzioni in C++ per l'interfacciamento all'hardware. È stata inoltre necessaria una modifica al Device Tree del kernel del sistema operativo Linux presente sul SoC. Il sistema è stato simulato e testato in laboratorio con esito positivo. La scheda DE10-Nano vanta un banda di trasmissione massima teorica di 60 MB/s, che però scende a circa 10 MB/s quando la scheda è installata nel sistema completo di acquisizione, limitazione dovuta a fattori esterni alla scheda, come lo stato della rete del laboratorio e l'overhead degli altri componenti. Questi risultati sono eccellenti e, inoltre, il massimo throughput di 60 MB/s supporterà future ottimizzazioni del sistema senza creare colli di bottiglia per gli altri dispositivi. Operazioni di ottimizzazione sull'infrastruttura sono tutt'ora in corso, quindi ci si aspetta un ulteriore incremento della performance in un vicino futuro

Development and Implementation of an Ultrasonic Method to Characterize Acoustic and Mechanical Fingernail Properties

The human fingernail is a vital organ used by humans on a daily basis and can provide an immense supply of information based on the biological feedback of the body. By studying the quantitative mechanical and acoustic properties of fingernails, a better understanding of the scarcely-investigated field of ungual research can be explored. Investigating fingernail properties with the use of pulse-echo ultrasound is the aim of this thesis. This thesis involves the application of a developed portable ultrasonic device in a hospital-based data collection and the advancement of ultrasonic methodology to include the calculation of acoustic impedance, density and elasticity. The results of the thesis show that the reflectance method can be utilized to determine fingernail properties with a maximum 17% deviation from literature. Repeatability of measurements fell within a 95% confidence interval. Thus, the ultrasonic reflectance method was validated and may have potential clinical and cosmetic applications