A NEW TELEREHABILITATION SYSTEM BASED ON INTERNET OF THINGS

Internet of Things (IoT) applied in healthcare system has huge potential to improve patients' quality of life. Representing network of devices embedded with electronics and sensors, IoT enables constant monitoring of vital body functions, tracking of physical activities of a person and aides rehab physical therapy. Such an IoT-based system would allow standalone recovery process, minimizing need of dedicated medical personnel and could be used in both hospital and home conditions. In this paper, we  present a telerehabilitation system that uses wearable muscle sensor and Microsoft Kinect to create interactive personalized physical therapy that can be carried out at home. Early experiments and results of pilot implementation validate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed IoT-enabled telerehabilitation system

Advances in electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction of water electrolysis-from metal oxides to carbon nanotubes

© 2015 The Authors. The water electrolysis for hydrogen production is constrained by the thermodynamically unfavorable oxygen evolution reaction (OER), which requires input of a large amount of energy to drive the reaction. One of the key challenges to increase the efficiency of the water electrolysis system is to develop highly effective and robust electrocatalysts for the OER. In the past 20-30 years, significant progresses have been made in the development of efficient electrocatalysts, including metal oxides, metal oxide-carbon nanotubes (CNTs) hybrid and metal-free CNTs based materials for the OER. In this critical review, the overall progress of metal oxides catalysts and the role of CNTs in the development of OER catalyst are summarized, and the latest development of new metal free CNTs-based OER catalyst is discussed

Non-invasive diagnostic tests for Helicobacter pylori infection

BACKGROUND: Helicobacter pylori (H pylori) infection has been implicated in a number of malignancies and non-malignant conditions including peptic ulcers, non-ulcer dyspepsia, recurrent peptic ulcer bleeding, unexplained iron deficiency anaemia, idiopathic thrombocytopaenia purpura, and colorectal adenomas. The confirmatory diagnosis of H pylori is by endoscopic biopsy, followed by histopathological examination using haemotoxylin and eosin (H & E) stain or special stains such as Giemsa stain and Warthin-Starry stain. Special stains are more accurate than H & E stain. There is significant uncertainty about the diagnostic accuracy of non-invasive tests for diagnosis of H pylori. OBJECTIVES: To compare the diagnostic accuracy of urea breath test, serology, and stool antigen test, used alone or in combination, for diagnosis of H pylori infection in symptomatic and asymptomatic people, so that eradication therapy for H pylori can be started. SEARCH METHODS: We searched MEDLINE, Embase, the Science Citation Index and the National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment Database on 4 March 2016. We screened references in the included studies to identify additional studies. We also conducted citation searches of relevant studies, most recently on 4 December 2016. We did not restrict studies by language or publication status, or whether data were collected prospectively or retrospectively. SELECTION CRITERIA: We included diagnostic accuracy studies that evaluated at least one of the index tests (urea breath test using isotopes such as13C or14C, serology and stool antigen test) against the reference standard (histopathological examination using H & E stain, special stains or immunohistochemical stain) in people suspected of having H pylori infection. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two review authors independently screened the references to identify relevant studies and independently extracted data. We assessed the methodological quality of studies using the QUADAS-2 tool. We performed meta-analysis by using the hierarchical summary receiver operating characteristic (HSROC) model to estimate and compare SROC curves. Where appropriate, we used bivariate or univariate logistic regression models to estimate summary sensitivities and specificities. MAIN RESULTS: We included 101 studies involving 11,003 participants, of which 5839 participants (53.1%) had H pylori infection. The prevalence of H pylori infection in the studies ranged from 15.2% to 94.7%, with a median prevalence of 53.7% (interquartile range 42.0% to 66.5%). Most of the studies (57%) included participants with dyspepsia and 53 studies excluded participants who recently had proton pump inhibitors or antibiotics.There was at least an unclear risk of bias or unclear applicability concern for each study.Of the 101 studies, 15 compared the accuracy of two index tests and two studies compared the accuracy of three index tests. Thirty-four studies (4242 participants) evaluated serology; 29 studies (2988 participants) evaluated stool antigen test; 34 studies (3139 participants) evaluated urea breath test-13C; 21 studies (1810 participants) evaluated urea breath test-14C; and two studies (127 participants) evaluated urea breath test but did not report the isotope used. The thresholds used to define test positivity and the staining techniques used for histopathological examination (reference standard) varied between studies. Due to sparse data for each threshold reported, it was not possible to identify the best threshold for each test.Using data from 99 studies in an indirect test comparison, there was statistical evidence of a difference in diagnostic accuracy between urea breath test-13C, urea breath test-14C, serology and stool antigen test (P = 0.024). The diagnostic odds ratios for urea breath test-13C, urea breath test-14C, serology, and stool antigen test were 153 (95% confidence interval (CI) 73.7 to 316), 105 (95% CI 74.0 to 150), 47.4 (95% CI 25.5 to 88.1) and 45.1 (95% CI 24.2 to 84.1). The sensitivity (95% CI) estimated at a fixed specificity of 0.90 (median from studies across the four tests), was 0.94 (95% CI 0.89 to 0.97) for urea breath test-13C, 0.92 (95% CI 0.89 to 0.94) for urea breath test-14C, 0.84 (95% CI 0.74 to 0.91) for serology, and 0.83 (95% CI 0.73 to 0.90) for stool antigen test. This implies that on average, given a specificity of 0.90 and prevalence of 53.7% (median specificity and prevalence in the studies), out of 1000 people tested for H pylori infection, there will be 46 false positives (people without H pylori infection who will be diagnosed as having H pylori infection). In this hypothetical cohort, urea breath test-13C, urea breath test-14C, serology, and stool antigen test will give 30 (95% CI 15 to 58), 42 (95% CI 30 to 58), 86 (95% CI 50 to 140), and 89 (95% CI 52 to 146) false negatives respectively (people with H pylori infection for whom the diagnosis of H pylori will be missed).Direct comparisons were based on few head-to-head studies. The ratios of diagnostic odds ratios (DORs) were 0.68 (95% CI 0.12 to 3.70; P = 0.56) for urea breath test-13C versus serology (seven studies), and 0.88 (95% CI 0.14 to 5.56; P = 0.84) for urea breath test-13C versus stool antigen test (seven studies). The 95% CIs of these estimates overlap with those of the ratios of DORs from the indirect comparison. Data were limited or unavailable for meta-analysis of other direct comparisons. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: In people without a history of gastrectomy and those who have not recently had antibiotics or proton ,pump inhibitors, urea breath tests had high diagnostic accuracy while serology and stool antigen tests were less accurate for diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection.This is based on an indirect test comparison (with potential for bias due to confounding), as evidence from direct comparisons was limited or unavailable. The thresholds used for these tests were highly variable and we were unable to identify specific thresholds that might be useful in clinical practice.We need further comparative studies of high methodological quality to obtain more reliable evidence of relative accuracy between the tests. Such studies should be conducted prospectively in a representative spectrum of participants and clearly reported to ensure low risk of bias. Most importantly, studies should prespecify and clearly report thresholds used, and should avoid inappropriate exclusions

Introducing mobile technologies in support of healthcare

The healthcare industry around the globe is in turmoil despite significant advances in medicine and medical technologies. As revealed by several reports, the problems are many and varied, and their impacts are severe. According to a recent article in Forbes magazine, 100,000 patients are killed annually in US hospitals due to medical errors, and 3% or more patients are hurt by such errors [7]. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an astonishing 24% of people surveyed said they or their family members were harmed by medical errors. While the US aviation industry reports one death per every five million passengers, the death rate in healthcare is one in 300 patients [7]. According to researchers Feng Zhu, Matt Mutka, and Lionel Ni, other problems confronting the healthcare industry include false diagnosis, poor quality of care, functional inefficiency, increasing cost of healthcare, and poor morale and public perception [12]

Wireless solutions developed for the Australian healthcare: a review

Despite the emergence of innovative wireless solutions in healthcare, the current status of Health Information Systems (HIS) is primitive and a myriad of problems have crept into the development of these systems. Gartner research shows that the status of the HIS is about 10 years behind the expectation, and other studies have identified several issues in implementing IT healthcare applications. Wireless technologies and portable computing devices could be put into greater use in healthcare to provide timely and quality care and to remedy some of the organisational problems. In this paper, we present a review of wireless solutions in Australian healthcare. Our study reveals that, in spite of the sophistication and maturity of the wireless technology, healthcare organisations in Australia are far from deploying enterprise-wide wireless solutions, and this is in part due to complexities in deploying them and associated management problems such as the lack of broader vision and drive and support for new initiatives. We also provide some key recommendations for successful wireless implementation in healthcare

Intelligent Agents on the Internet and Web

ABSTRACT INTELLIGENT AGENTS An intelligent agent (IA) is a self-contained, autonomous software module that could perform certain tasks on behalf of its users. It could also interact with other intelligent agents andor human in performing its task(s). There is now growing interest in using intelligent software agent for a variety of tasks in diverse range of applications: personal assistants, intelligent user interfaces, managing electronic mail, navigating and retrieving information from the Internet and databases, scheduling meetings and manufacturing operations, electronic business, online shopping, negotiating for resources, decision making, design and telecommunications. This paper gives a brief introduction to intelligent agents and their classification, outlines applications of intelligent agents on the Internet and Web and highlights their prospects

Accruing Business Value Through the Adoption of Semantic Web Technologies

The Internet and Web have enabled easy and nearly instantaneous dissemination and exchange of different types of information almost free of cost. Most information currently on the Web is document (page) based and presented in textual natural language, because it is primarily meant for use by humans. It\u27s hard for computers to understand and make use of this information content, as it may lack structure, precise meaning, or context, or because a given word or phrase could refer to more than one thing

Succeeding as an IT professional

Welcome to IT Professional’s “Sweet 16.” Indeed, in the last 15 years, IT Pro has presented 90 issues packed with useful information on various topics of interest, tracing the evolution of IT and its effect on our work and lives. IT Pro has also addressed the challenges and risks of IT over the years, and as the new editor in chief, I’m looking forward to continuing to serve you, bringing you IT Pro content that’s informative and valuable

The rise of emerging markets : opportunities and challenges for IT

Emerging markets – nations in the process of rapid growth and industrialization, including China, India, Brazil, Russia (the BRIC countries), South Africa, South Korea, the Philippines, and Mexico - have been attracting much attention in recent years, and for good reason. They represent two-thirds of the world’s population, generate over 20 percent of the world’s gross domestic product, and are restructuring themselves to foster further growth and socioeconomic development.. Furthermore, they’re increasingly using IT in areas such as education; healthcare; business, economic and human development; and government. New opportunities thus exist for the IT industry and emerging markets to embrace each other