Enabling technologies for distributed body sensor networks

Low Power Wireless Sensor Networks, Preventative Healthcare and Pervasive Systems are set to provide long-term continuous monitoring, diagnosis and care for patients in the next few years. Distributed forms of these networks are investigated from a holistic point of view. Individual components of these systems including: sensors, software and hardware implementations are investigated and analysed. Novel sensors are developed for low power capturing of Body Sensor Network (BSN) information to enable long term use. Software frameworks are designed to enable these technologies to run on low power nodes as well as enabling them to perform evaluation of their data before transmission into the network. An architecture is designed to enable task distribution to intensive processing from low power nodes. Two forms of distributed BSNs are also developed: a horizontal network and a vertical network. It is shown that using these two types of networks enables information and task distribution allowing low power sensing nodes to evaluate information before transmission. These systems have the opportunity to revolutionalise expensive acute episodic care systems of today, but are not currently being implemented or investigated to the extent that they could. The technological barriers to entry are addressed in this thesis with the investigation and evaluation of distributed body sensor networks. It is shown that horizontal networks can distribute information efficiently, while vertical networks can distribute processing efficiently

Low-cost, Long Term Distributed Patient Research Platform

The University of Southampton's Electronic System and Devices group which specialises in low-power sensors and sensor networks, intends to develop a Long-term Patient Monitoring Research Platform to support and assist health-care providers. The Research platform, which does not intend to rely on a central server or a continuously connected Internet connection, aims to act as a low cost support tool to aid health-care providers of the future

A wireless sensor network system deployment for detecting stick slip motion in glaciers

The behaviour of glaciers is an area in which only limited research has been carried out due to the difficulties of monitoring sub-glacial movements. The authors believe that this can be addressed by the deployment of a wireless sensor network, consisting of heterogeneous sensors to instrument this activity. By deploying a sensor network measurements can be taken for a longer period than would otherwise be possible. The initial designs for this sensor network are presented along with details of some of the challenges posed by the project

A 'Human-in-the-Loop' Mobile Image Recognition Application for Rapid Scanning of Water Quality Test Results

This paper describes an interactive system for drinking water quality testing in small community supplies, particularly in the developing world. The system combines a lowcost field test (the Aquatest field kit), a mobile phone for data processing and communications, and a human operator who is able to react immediately to a test result. Once a water sample has been collected and incubated, the mobile phone camera is used to 'scan' the test and obtain the result, which is displayed to the user along with information about the health implications of the water quality. Initial prototypes, while not yet sufficiently robust for real-world use, demonstrate that the system is technically feasible. This opens up interesting possibilities for wider use of 'human-in-the-loop' sensor systems in environmental monitoring

Both male and female obese ZSF1 rats develop cardiac dysfunction in obesity-induced heart failure with preserved ejection fraction

Heart failure with a preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is associated with multiple comorbidities, such as old age, hypertension, type 2 diabetes and obesity and is more prevalent in females. Although the male obese ZSF1 rat has been proposed as a suitable model to study the development of diastolic dysfunction and early HFpEF, studies in female animals have not been performed yet. Therefore, we aimed to characterize the cardiac phenotype in female obese ZSF1 rats and their lean counterparts. Additionally, we aimed to investigate whether differences exist in disease progression in obese male and female ZSF1 rats. Therefore, male and female ZSF1 rats, lean as well as obese (N = 6-9/subgroup), were used. Every two weeks, from 12 to 26 weeks of age, systolic blood pressure and echocardiographic measurements were performed, and venous blood was sampled. Female obese ZSF1 rats, as compared to female lean ZSF1 rats, developed diastolic dysfunction with cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis in the presence of severe dyslipidemia, increased plasma growth differentiation factor 15 and mild hypertension, and preservation of systolic function. Although obese female ZSF1 rats did not develop hyperglycemia, their diastolic dysfunction was as severe as in the obese males. Taken together, the results from the present study suggest that the female obese ZSF1 rat is a relevant animal model for HFpEF with multiple comorbidities, suitable for investigating novel therapeutic interventions

Susceptibility to neurofibrillary tangles: role of the PTPRD locus and limited pleiotropy with other neuropathologies

Tauopathies, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other neurodegenerative conditions, are defined by a pathological hallmark: neurofibrillary tangles (NFT). NFT accumulation is thought to be closely linked to cognitive decline in AD. Here, we perform a genome-wide association study for NFT pathologic burden and report the association of the PTPRD locus (rs560380, p=3.8×10−8) in 909 prospective autopsies. The association is replicated in an independent dataset of 369 autopsies. The association of PTPRD with NFT is not dependent on the accumulation of amyloid pathology. In contrast, we find that the ZCWPW1 AD susceptibility variant influences NFT accumulation and that this effect is mediated by an accumulation of amyloid β plaques. We also performed complementary analyses to identify common pathways that influence multiple neuropathologies which co-exist with NFT and found suggestive evidence that certain loci may influence multiple different neuropathological traits, including tau, amyloid β plaques, vascular injury and Lewy bodies. Overall, these analyses offer an evaluation of genetic susceptibility to NFT, a common endpoint for multiple different pathologic processes

Transitions to food democracy through multilevel governance

status: publishe

Measuring Spirituality as a Universal Human Experience: A Review of Spirituality Questionnaires

Spirituality is an important theme in health research, since a spiritual orientation can help people to cope with the consequences of a serious disease. Knowledge on the role of spirituality is, however, limited, as most research is based on measures of religiosity rather than spirituality. A questionnaire that transcends specific beliefs is a prerequisite for quantifying the importance of spirituality among people who adhere to a religion or none at all. In this review, we discuss ten questionnaires that address spirituality as a universal human experience. Questionnaires are evaluated with regard to psychometric properties, item formulation and confusion with well-being and distress. Although none of the questionnaires fulfilled all the criteria, the multidimensional Spiritual Well-Being Questionnaire is promising