Advanced observation and telemetry heart system utilizing wearable ECG device and a Cloud platform

Short lived chest pain episodes of post PCI patients represent the most common clinical scenario treated in the Accidents and Emergency Room. Continuous ECG monitoring could substantially diminish such hospital admissions and related ambulance calls. Delivering community based, easy-To-handle, easy to wear, real time electrocardiography systems is still a quest, despite the existence of electronic electrocardiography systems for several decades. The PATRIOT system serves this challenge via a 12-channel, easy to wear, easy to carry, mobile linked, miniaturized automatic ECG device and a Cloud platform. The system may deliver high quality electrocardiograms of a patient to medical personnel either on the spot or remotely both in a synchronous or asynchronous mode, enhancing autonomy, mobility, quality of life and safety of recently treated coronary artery disease patients

Digital twins from smart manufacturing to smart cities: a survey

Digital twins are quickly becoming a popular tool in several domains, taking advantage of recent advancements in the Internet of Things, Machine Learning and Big Data, while being used by both the industry sector and the research community. In this paper, we review the current research landscape as regards digital twins in the field of smart cities, while also attempting to draw parallels with the application of digital twins in Industry 4.0. Although digital twins have received considerable attention in the Industrial Internet of Things domain, their utilization in smart cities has not been as popular thus far. We discuss here the open challenges in the field and argue that digital twins in smart cities should be treated differently and be considered as cyber-physical "systems of systems", due to the vastly different system size, complexity and requirements, when compared to other recent applications of digital twins. We also argue that researchers should utilize established tools and methods of the smart city community, such as co-creation, to better handle the specificities of this domain in practice.This work was supported in part by the Project ‘‘I3T—Innovative Application of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) in Smart Environments’’ (MIS 5002434) implemented under the ‘‘Action for the Strategic Development on the Research and Technological Sector,’’ funded by the Operational Programme ‘‘Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation’’ (NSRF 2014–2020), and in part by Greece and the European Union (European Regional Development Fund)

On the human taste perception: Molecular-level understanding empowered by computational methods

Background: The perception of taste is a prime example of complex signal transduction at the subcellular level, involving an intricate network of molecular machinery, which can be investigated to great extent by the tools provided by Computational Molecular Modelling. The present review summarises the current knowledge on the molecular mechanisms at the root of taste transduction, in particular involving taste receptors, highly specialised proteins driving the activation/deactivation of specific cell signalling pathways and ultimately leading to the perception of the five principal tastes: sweet, umami, bitter, salty and sour. The former three are detected by similar G protein-coupled receptors, while the latter two are transduced by ion channels. Scope and approach: The main objective of the present review is to provide a general overview of the molecular structures investigated to date of all taste receptors and the techniques employed for their molecular modelling. In addition, we provide an analysis of the various ligands known to date for the above-listed receptors, including how they are activated in the presence of their target molecule. Key findings and conclusions: In the last years, numerous advances have been made in molecular research and computational investigation of ligand-receptor interaction related to taste receptors. This work aims to outline the progress in scientific knowledge about taste perception and understand the molecular mechanisms involved in the transfer of taste information

Attitudes of Rhode Island primary care physicians toward the use of genetic testing for breast cancer

Physicians currently consider genetic testing for breast cancer, especially the BRCA1 and BRCA2 tests, as problematic, because their predictive value, efficacy, and benefit to patients benefit vary greatly. Individual physicians are pressured by mounting patients demanding access to genetic testing. On the one hand, many patients believe that they have the right to know their future medical condition and that their physician is obligated to respond to this right. On the other hand, a number of physicians hesitate to offer genetic testing to patients because of ethical questions concerning the efficacy of the genetic testing, the psychological and social impact of such testing on the patients or their families, and the desire to honor a patient\u27s rights to make his/her own decisions. Additionally, legal issues surround the patient\u27s perception of the physician\u27s obligation to offer genetic testing. If a physician knows that a patient has a family history of breast cancer but does not offer the genetic test, and if the patient or a family member develops the disease, the doctor could be sued for wrongful practices. In brief, fear of possible legal suits and/or fear of patient reprisal can complicate the ethical questions that physicians must consider together to order BRCA1 and BRCA2 genetic testing for the prediction of breast cancer. This study examined the attitudes of Rhode Island primary care physicians about ordering genetic testing for breast cancer. It also compared these attitudes with the gender and the length of medical experience of these primary care physicians. The research studied four attitude clusters: the use of genetic testing; confidentiality and a third party\u27s right to know an individual\u27s genetic information; the physician\u27s feeling of competency in understanding the technological, ethical, legal, and social implications of genetic testing for breast cancer; and finally, the attitude of physicians concerning responsibility to provide genetic counseling. The results indicated that significant differences exist among physicians. Quite different attitudes were found regarding genetic testing and responsibility to counsel patients on the social, legal, and ethical ramifications of genetic testing for breast cancer. On the other hand, this study discovered no significant differences between physicians\u27 gender or length of experience regarding patient confidentiality or adequacy of genetic technology. As a result, these findings suggest a need to do further research on the differences found in this study. The question is, “Do these results reflect the attitudes of all primary care physicians or only the 162 doctors surveyed in Rhode Island?