Framework to Evaluate Emerging Systems Designed to Health Field

In recent years, several information and communication technology systems have emerged as tools to improve sleep quality. Research reveals that poor sleep quality may produce irritability and deficits in performance, concentration, and learning ability in the short term, and is associated with chronic disease in the long term. ICT proposals range from the old Polysomnography (PSG) to innovative systems, such as wearable devices, smartphone applications, and suites of sensors embedded in the users’ environment. Since these technological developments concern a health issue, they have raised important questions regarding their reliability and the level of rigor of the evaluations to which they are submitted. We found that some of the emerging systems that we studied, do not meet the requirements that health science demands to be accepted as clinical tools. The rationale behind this apparent weakness is explained with arguments from the field of evaluations for health interventions and evaluation of technological developments. We propose a framework to evaluate this kind of systems through appropriate scientific methods that provide valuable information to the research. These methods must be performed while designs mature and the feasibility of rigorous evaluations became appropriate

Emergence and Global Spread of a Dengue Serotype 3, Subtype III Virus

Over the past two decades, dengue virus serotype 3 (DENV-3) has caused unexpected epidemics of dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) in Sri Lanka, East Africa, and Latin America. We used a phylogenetic approach to evaluate the roles of virus evolution and transport in the emergence of these outbreaks. Isolates from these geographically distant epidemics are closely related and belong to DENV-3, subtype III, which originated in the Indian subcontinent. The emergence of DHF in Sri Lanka in 1989 correlated with the appearance there of a new DENV-3, subtype III variant. This variant likely spread from the Indian subcontinent into Africa in the 1980s and from Africa into Latin America in the mid-1990s. DENV-3, subtype III isolates from mild and severe disease outbreaks formed genetically distinct groups, which suggests a role for viral genetics in DHF

Sleep is required to consolidate odor memory and remodel olfactory synapses

Animals with complex nervous systems demand sleep for memory consolidation and synaptic remodeling. Here, we show that, although the Caenorhabditis elegans nervous system has a limited number of neurons, sleep is necessary for both processes. In addition, it is unclear if, in any system, sleep collaborates with experience to alter synapses between specific neurons and whether this ultimately affects behavior. C. elegans neurons have defined connections and well-described contributions to behavior. We show that spaced odor-training and post-training sleep induce long-term memory. Memory consolidation, but not acquisition, requires a pair of interneurons, the AIYs, which play a role in odor-seeking behavior. In worms that consolidate memory, both sleep and odor conditioning are required to diminish inhibitory synaptic connections between the AWC chemosensory neurons and the AIYs. Thus, we demonstrate in a living organism that sleep is required for events immediately after training that drive memory consolidation and alter synaptic structures

mHealth Platform and Architectures to Provide Nutritional Guidance to Children

Obesity and eating disorders in children are major problems worldwide. To promote their future well-being, it is important to educate children and teenagers about healthy lifestyle choices. Mobile technology offers many opportunities for helping to prevent health problems; however, the sole use of stand-alone applications is insufficient to improve childrenâ??s health awareness because children require proper orientation from adults. In this paper, we present a mobile platform intended to provide nutrition guidance to children and architectures for implementing this platform in an elementary school environment. These architectures provide data capturing and user interfaces that are especially suited for children, and they permit adults to send and receive notifications and messages to improve results

Isosorbide dinitrate spray as therapeutic strategy for treatment of chronic venous ulcers

Venous ulcers are the most common form of leg ulcers, which induce lesion because of the loss of substances deposited on the damaged skin. Isosorbide dinitrate is a vasodilator with effects on both arteries and veins and induces opening of vascular layers. The objective is to study the effects of isosorbide dinitrate-spray in patients with chronic venous ulcers. Forty-five patients of both sexes with chronic venous ulcers were randomized to receive isosorbide dinitrate or placebo sprays daily for 3 months. The ulcers were measured and clinical characteristics were taken every 15 days during the treatment. Patients treated with isosorbide dinitrate showed an improvement of the ulcerated area (71.29%) compared with patients treated with placebo (54.35%). The histopathological study indicated an increment in the number of hypertrophic and hyperplasic capillaries. Macroscopically, the isosorbide dinitrate-treatment showed the best results, but it was only during the first 6 weeks of treatment. Patients with chronic venous ulcer receiving isosorbide dinitrate spray showed improvement. � 2008 Sage Publications

Monitoring Atrial Fibrillation using PPG Signals and a Smartphone

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a  common type of cardiac arrhythmia. AF is associated with increased rates of death and hospitalizations. It is also related to a degraded quality of life and reduced exercise capacity. Ageing increases the risk of developing AF, as well as hypertension and obesity. Continuous ECG monitoring is required in patients with previously diagnosed AF. Studies have also demonstrated that daily ECG monitoring increases the successful detection of silent AF among older adults. In this sense facilitating AF monitoring using portable devices such as Smartphones will increase patients life quality and could help to an early diagnosis. With this in mind in this work we present a proposal to detect AF using pulsatile photoplethysmogram (PPG) signal from a fingertip using the built-in camera lens in a smartphone. We developed an algorithm intended to sense paroxysmal AF considering resource utilization capabilities in order to be used in mobile devices with constrained

Monitoring Atrial Fibrillation using PPG Signals and a Smartphone

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a  common type of cardiac arrhythmia. AF is associated with increased rates of death and hospitalizations. It is also related to a degraded quality of life and reduced exercise capacity. Ageing increases the risk of developing AF, as well as hypertension and obesity. Continuous ECG monitoring is required in patients with previously diagnosed AF. Studies have also demonstrated that daily ECG monitoring increases the successful detection of silent AF among older adults. In this sense facilitating AF monitoring using portable devices such as Smartphones will increase patients life quality and could help to an early diagnosis. With this in mind in this work we present a proposal to detect AF using pulsatile photoplethysmogram (PPG) signal from a fingertip using the built-in camera lens in a smartphone. We developed an algorithm intended to sense paroxysmal AF considering resource utilization capabilities in order to be used in mobile devices with constrained