Cardio-respiratory monitoring in archery using a smart textile based on flexible fiber bragg grating sensors

In precision sports, the control of breathing and heart rate is crucial to help the body to remain stable in the shooting position. To improve stability, archers try to adopt similar breathing patterns and to have a low heartbeat during each shot. We proposed an easy-to-use and unobtrusive smart textile (ST) which is able to detect chest wall excursions due to breathing and heart beating. The sensing part is based on two FBGs housed into a soft polymer matrix to optimize the adherence to the chest wall and the system robustness. The ST was assessed on volunteers to figure out its performance in the estimation of respiratory frequency (fR) and heart rate (HR). Then, the system was tested on two archers during four shooting sessions. This is the first study to monitor cardio-respiratory activity on archers during shooting. The good performance of the ST is supported by the low mean absolute percentage error for fR and HR estimation (≤1.97% and ≤5.74%, respectively), calculated with respect to reference signals (flow sensor for fR, photopletismography sensor for HR). Moreover, results showed the capability of the ST to estimate fR and HR during different phases of shooting action. The promising results motivate future investigations to speculate about the influence of fR and HR on archers’ performance

Towards a novel framework of barriers and drivers for digital transformation in industrial supply chains

© 2019 PICMET. Businesses across all sectors are facing the complexity of an increasingly digital economy. Digital transformation offers vast opportunities to businesses and entire supply chains. While many investments are targeted at the organization level, the supply chain perspective can lead to even greater impacts on business performance. However, as supply chains involve interconnections between multiple actors, comprehensive digitalization initiatives at this level are very complex. Several strategic factors affect decision-making around digital investments. For this reason, a framework that categorizes all these factors is needed in order to help managers build digitalization strategies for their supply chains. In this paper, based on a review of existing literature, we give indications for a framework encompassing barriers to and drivers for digital transformation in the context of industrial supply chains. Our framework preliminarily allocates these factors by using two dimensions. The first one classifies them using several categories: financial, knowledge and skills, regulatory, technological, market, organizational, and cultural. The second dimension classifies determinants at the level on which actions can be made, i.e. market, supply chain, or organization. The framework can support organizations to exploit the opportunities provided by digitalization of supply chains and will help managers understand the complexity involved

Psychopathological profile in COVID-19 patients including healthcare workers: the implications

OBJECTIVE: The effects of COVID-19 seem to extend beyond the physical pain and is showing psychiatric implications as well. Moreover, psychopathological implications seem to last also after patients' discharge. Our goal is to investigate the psychological impact and psychopathological outcome of patients affected by COVID-19.PATIENTS AND METHODS: We have engaged 34 patients with COVID-19 conditions [eight of them were healthcare workers patients (HCW)] hospitalized at "Policlinico Gemelli Foundation" of Rome, Italy. All patients were evaluated through the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) and the Symptom Checklist 90-R (SCL-90-R) first, during their hospitalization (baseline), and then, after 4 months from hospital discharge (follow-up), through phone interviews.RESULTS: At baseline, 82% of patients revealed from mild to severe psychological impact of COVID-19, according to the IES-R. At follow-up, the mean IES-R total score was significantly decreased (p<0.001) even if almost half (46.6%) of our cohort still showed it. HCW patients showed a significantly higher score than other patients at IES-R scale, both at baseline (p=0.005) and at follow-up (p<0.001). Moreover, at 4 months from discharge, they showed a significantly higher percentage of moderate and severe distress (p=0.015). In addition to this. at follow-up, our cohort of patients showed an increase of anxiety symptoms, even if not significant compared to baseline (46.7% vs. 35.3% respectively; p=1.000). and HCW patients suffered more sleep disorders (p=0.019) and anxiety symptoms (p=0.019) compared to other patients.CONCLUSIONS: We indicate the importance of assessing psychopathology of COVID-19 survivors, monitoring their changes over time, and providing psychological support to improve their psychological well-being

Fiber bragg gratings for medical applications and future challenges: A review

In the last decades, fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) have become increasingly attractive to medical applications due to their unique properties such as small size, biocompatibility, immunity to electromagnetic interferences, high sensitivity and multiplexing capability. FBGs have been employed in the development of surgical tools, assistive devices, wearables, and biosensors, showing great potentialities for medical uses. This paper reviews the FBG-based measuring systems, their principle of work, and their applications in medicine and healthcare. Particular attention is given to sensing solutions for biomechanics, minimally invasive surgery, physiological monitoring, and medical biosensing. Strengths, weaknesses, open challenges, and future trends are also discussed to highlight how FBGs can meet the demands of next-generation medical devices and healthcare system

A multi-parametric wearable system to monitor neck movements and respiratory frequency of computer workers

Musculoskeletal disorders are the most common form of occupational ill-health. Neck pain is one of the most prevalent musculoskeletal disorders experienced by computer workers. Wrong postural habits and non-compliance of the workstation to ergonomics guidelines are the leading causes of neck pain. These factors may also alter respiratory functions. Health and safety interventions can reduce neck pain and, more generally, the symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders and reduce the consequent economic burden. In this work, a multi-parametric wearable system based on two fiber Bragg grating sensors is proposed for monitoring neck movements and breathing activity of computer workers. The sensing elements were positioned on the neck, in the frontal and sagittal planes, to monitor: (i) flexion-extension and axial rotation repetitions, and (ii) respiratory frequency. In this pilot study, five volunteers were enrolled and performed five repetitions of both flexion-extension and axial rotation, and ten breaths of both quite breathing and tachypnea. Results showed the good performances of the proposed system in monitoring the aforementioned parameters when compared to optical reference systems. The wearable system is able to well-match the trend in time of the neck movements (both flexion-extension and axial rotation) and to estimate mean and breath-by-breath respiratory frequency values with percentage errors ≤6.09% and ≤1.90%, during quiet breathing and tachypnea, respectively

Living with chronic spontaneous urticaria in italy. a narrative medicine project to improve the pathway of patient care

Chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) is perceived as a difficult to manage disease with negative impact on quality of life. The aim of this study was to highlight how to improve the care of people with CSU, using the methodology of narrative medicine. From June 2014 to March 2015, CSU-diagnosed patients and their physicians were asked to record their experiences of the condition in writing. Fourteen healthcare teams participated: 41% considered CSU as a challenge to overcome, while 22% experienced CSU as a big commitment. The number of professional involved was evaluated as insufficient in 11 hospitals. Seventy-five percent of the 190 Italian patients had visited 3 or more physicians before receiving a final diagnosis, with a perceived waste of time and resources. The therapeutic pathways were described as unsatisfactory in 83% of cases. As a result, anger and frustration were life-dominant emotions in 92% of patients. The critical points of the care pathway are related to organizational issues and lack of awareness

Optoelectronic plethysmography in clinical practice and research: a review

Background: Optoelectronic plethysmography (OEP) is a non-invasive motion capture method to measure chest wall movements and estimate lung volumes. Objectives: To provide an overview of the clinical findings and research applications of OEP in the assessment of breathing mechanics across populations of healthy and diseased individuals. Methods: A bibliographic research was performed with the terms “opto-electronic plethysmography,” “optoelectronic plethysmography,” and “optoelectronic plethysmograph” in 50 digital library and bibliographic search databases resulting in the selection of 170 studies. Results: OEP has been extensively employed in studies looking at chest wall kinematics and volume changes in chest wall compartments in healthy subjects in relation to age, gender, weight, posture, and different physiological conditions. In infants, OEP has been demonstrated to be a tool to assess disease severity and the response to pharmacological interventions. In chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients, OEP has been used to test if patients can dynamically hyperinflate or deflate their lungs during exercise. In neuromuscular patients, respiratory muscle strength and chest kinematics have been analyzed. A widespread application of OEP is in tailoring post-operative pulmonary rehabilitation as well as in monitoring volume increases and muscle contributions during exercise. Conclusions: OEP is an accurate and validated method of measuring lung volumes and chest wall movements. OEP is an appropriate alternative method to monitor and analyze respiratory patterns in children, adults, and patients with respiratory diseases. OEP may be used in the future to contribute to improvements in the therapeutic strategies for respiratory conditions

Analisi dello stato dell'arte sui decision support system (DSS)

Il presente contributo si focalizza sul primo filone di ricerca, ovvero sui DSS nell’ambito delle scienze sociali, in particolare di quelle economiche. Sotto l’aspetto definitorio, la letteratura più recente qualifica i DSS come i “sistemi interattivi che aiutano specialisti e direzione a prendere una decisione in situazioni di incertezza”; ovvero un “sistema di trattamento automatico delle informazioni, rivolto a migliorare i processi decisionali non completamente strutturati”. Da un punto di vista strutturale e del funzionamento, i DSS necessitano di tre componenti essenziali tra di loro interagenti: a) una piattaforma tecnologica, composta da un sistema per l’elaborazione elettronica dei dati e da un’opportuna interfaccia utente-sistema; b) un database, comprensivo dei meccanismi necessari alla sua gestione; c) un modello di analisi di base, corredato di un sistema informatico per la sua gestione. Sotto un profilo teorico, invece, i DSS possono essere considerati come il risultato di tre ambiti scientifici di ricerca, tra loro distinti ma complementari: a) la teoria, organizzativa e non, delle decisioni; b) la ricerca operativa, intesa in senso ampio; c) la tecnologia per la gestione delle informazioni