A multidisciplinary reference framework to support implementation and assessment of diabetes care in community settings: study design

Diabetes is a disease presenting multifaceted challenges. A holistic approach is needed to properly address it. The Chronic Care Model, worldwide reference for managing chronic disease in community settings, support implementation at micro-meso--macro level. We present a multi-disciplinary framework that support the uptake of the Chronic Care Model. This framework was tested to support the implementation of a research project focused on Diabetes Management through personal health systems

Heart Failure Monitoring System Based on Wearable and Information Technologies

In Europe, Cardiovascular Diseases (CVD) are the leading source of death, causing 45% of all deceases. Besides, Heart Failure, the paradigm of CVD, mainly affects people older than 65. In the current aging society, the European MyHeart Project was created, whose mission is to empower citizens to fight CVD by leading a preventive lifestyle and being able to be diagnosed at an early stage. This paper presents the development of a Heart Failure Management System, based on daily monitoring of Vital Body Signals, with wearable and mobile technologies, for the continuous assessment of this chronic disease. The System makes use of the latest technologies for monitoring heart condition, both with wearable garments (e.g. for measuring ECG and Respiration); and portable devices (such as Weight Scale and Blood Pressure Cuff) both with Bluetooth capabilitie

An iPhone-based application for promoting type 2 diabetic patients self- management towards healthy lifestyle habits

— In 2000, according to the World Health Organization, at least 171 million people, 2.8% of the population worldwide, suffered from diabetes. The Centres for Disease Control has defined it as an epidemic disease. Its incidence is increasing rapidly, and it is estimated that by 2030 this number will almost double. Diabetes mellitus occurs throughout the world, but is more common (especially type 2) in the more developed countries. Diabetes is a chronic condition that occurs when pancreas does not assure enough insulin secretion or when the body does not consume the insulin produced. Insulin is a hormone that regulates blood sugar. The effect of uncontrolled diabetes is the hyperglycaemia (blood sugar), which eventually seriously damage many organs and systems, especially the nerves and blood vessels. Diabetes type 2 (most common type of diabetes) is highly correlated with elderly people, obesity or overweight. Promoting a healthy lifestyle helps patients to improve their quality of life and in many cases to avoid complications related to the disease. This paper is intended to describe an iPhone-based application for self-management of type 2 diabetic patients, which allow them improving their lifestyle through healthy diet, physical activity and educatio

A telehealth system for Parkinson's disease remote monitoring. The PERFORM approach

This paper summarizes the experience and the lessons learned from the European project PERFORM (A sophisticated multi-parametric system FOR the continuous effective assessment and monitoring of motor status in Parkinson s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases). PERFORM is aimed to provide a telehealth system for the remote monitoring of Parkinson s disease patients (PD) at their homes. This paper explains the global experience with PERFORM. It summarizes the technical performance of the system and the feedback received from the patients in terms of usability and wearability

Design and development of augmentative and alternative digital home control interface

This paper describes a Digital Home Interface capable of adapting layouts, styles and contents to device capability, user preferences and appliances’ features; designed with a combination of web technologies, standard languages for abstract interface definition and AAC systems. The Home Automation architecture is characterized by devices’ independence, combining eXtensible Markup Language and Cascading Style Sheet, web technologies standard languages for abstract interface definition and two basic Augmentative and Alternative Communication systems with a Java based platform. This paper includes the result of a preliminary experiment, conducted with 4 users with cerebral palsy that are daily users of Augmentative and Alternative Communication systems in October 2011Peer Reviewe

Clinical validation of a wearable system for emotional recognition based on biosignals.

The AUBADE system can be trained to classify a subject’s feelings into six different emotional classes, derived from three of the basic emotions (happiness, disgust and fear). The performance of different classifiers was examined. Biosignals were recorded from 24 healthy subjects who viewed pictures designed to invoke different emotional responses. A psychologist evaluated the emotional status of the subjects by looking at their faces. During the training stage, information from 15 subjects was used to teach the system how to discriminate the emotional status of the subject based on the biosignals provided as input. A subset of the data was used for comparing the performance of four different classifiers. They were evaluated using three different metrics: sensitivity, positive predictive accuracy and accuracy. Using the SVM classifier, the AUBADE system provided sensitivities in the range 63–81%. The positive predictive accuracy was in the range 71–95%. The accuracy was in the range 63–83%, depending on the emotional class considered. The work paves the way for remote telemonitoring of patients suffering from neurological diseases

User centered design to incorporate predictive models for type 2 Diabetes screening and management into professional decision support tools: preliminary results

Type 2 Diabetes screening and risk stratification tools could benefit from the incorporation of predictive systems based on computer modelling. The adoption of User Centered Design techniques is fundamental in order to integrate these systems in an effective and successful way. The work presented in this paper describe the methodologies used in the context of a multidisciplinary research project and provides an overview of the preliminary results. Keywords? User Centered Design, Predictive Modelling and Data Mining, Diabetes Screening and Risk Stratification, Decision Support Tools

Feasibility of a wireless health monitoring system for prevention and health assessment of elderly people

The work presented in this paper comprises the methodology and results of a pilot study on the feasibility of a wireless health monitoring system designed under main EU challenges for the promotion of healthy and active ageing. The system is focused on health assessment, prevention and lifestyle promotion of elderly people. Over a hundred participants including elderly users and caregivers tested the system in four pilot sites across Europe. Tests covered several scenarios in senior centers and real home environments, including performance and usability assessment. Results indicated strong satisfactoriness on usability, usefulness and user friendliness, and the acceptable level of reliability obtained supports future investigation on the same direction for further improvement and transfer of conclusions to the real world in the healthcare delivery

Characterizing the hydrogeochemistry of two low-temperature thermal systems in Central Mexico

Two low-temperature geothermal systems located at the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt with presence of fluoride and arsenic were studied with the aim to determine hydrogeochemical indicators of the toxic elements' presence, and to propose adequate geothermometers. The hydrogeological and geochemical study was carried out in Ixtapan de la Sal and Tonatico (IxS-T) and Santa Cruz de Juventino Rosas (JR), both located at the limits of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (TMVB). In these regions, low-temperature geothermal activity is present (T = 32–47 °C), and various fault and fracture systems have been identified. Several faults are active, enabling the upward flow of deep geothermal water. The geothermal waters of IxS-T manifest in the form of springs and have high Na+ and Cl− concentrations, whereas those of JR are captured in wells and mainly present high Na+ and HCO3 – concentrations. The hydrochemistry of water samples was analyzed to determine the dominant hydrogeochemical processes in both regions. These data were also useful for understanding the natural origin of the high levels of arsenic and fluoride reported in the water, which are likely due to mineral dissolution processes. The concentrations of these elements surpassed the permissible limits according to Mexican law (Astot = 0.025 mg/L; F− = 1.5 mg/L) and represent a toxicity risk for the local populations. The groundwater at JR supplies all needs of the local population, while the water at IxS-T is mainly used for recreational and health spa purposes. Increasing trends of As and F− in the sedimentary aquifer of IxS-T are related with the increase in TDS, Cl−, HCO3 – and SiO2, while silicate alteration releasing Na and HCO3 – are related with As and F− presence in the volcanic aquifer of JR. Reservoir temperature was adequately estimated with K2 /Mg and Na-K-Ca (Mg corrected) geothermometers at IxS-T, and with chalcedony and quartz geothermometers at JRUAEM 3716/201

HeartCycle: User interaction and patient education

Cardiovascular Diseases are the most prevalent and serious chronic conditions existing nowadays. They are the primary cause of death in the world and generate enormous expenditures to the health systems. Tele-monitoring and personal health systems have proven to be good options for tackling this situation; however they are still lacking many functionalities. It is necessary to find solutions that allow health professionals to follow up patients more closely and efficiently, while reducing the non-adherence of patients to the treatment regime. HeartCycle research project (partially funded by the European Commission) has developed a personal health system for cardiovascular diseases management with the aim to address this problem. This paper describes the Patient Loop of this solution, including the different components, the adopted user interaction, and the implemented patients education and coaching strategy