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This paper investigates the possibility to effectively monitor and control the respiratory action using a very simple and non invasive technique based on a single lightweight reduced-size wireless surface electromyography (sEMG) sensor placed below the sternum. The captured sEMG signal, due to the critical sensor position, is characterized by a low energy level and it is affected by motion artifacts and cardiac noise. In this work we present a preliminary study performed on adults for assessing the correlation of the spirometry signal and the sEMG signal after the removal of the superimposed heart signal. This study and the related findings could be useful in respiratory monitoring of preterm infants.
This study describes a non-contact measuring and parameter identification procedure designed to evaluate inhomogeneous stiffness and damping characteristics of the annular ligament in the physiological amplitude and frequency range without the application of large static external forces that can cause unnatural displacements of the stapes. To verify the procedure, measurements were first conducted on a steel beam. Then, measurements on an individual human cadaveric temporal bone sample were performed. The estimated results support the inhomogeneous stiffness and damping distribution of the annular ligament and are in a good agreement with the multiphoton microscopy results which show that the posterior-inferior corner of the stapes footplate is the stiffest region of the annular ligament. This method can potentially help to establish a correlation between stiffness and damping characteristics of the annular ligament and inertia properties of the stapes and, thus, help to reduce the number of independent parameters in the model-based hearing diagnosis.
Die Erholung unseres Körpers und Gehirns von Müdigkeit ist direkt abhängig von der Qualität des Schlafes, die aus den Ergebnissen einer Schlafstudie ermittelt werden kann. Die Klassifizierung der Schlafstadien ist der erste Schritt dieser Studie und beinhaltet die Messung von Biovitaldaten und deren weitere Verarbeitung. Das non-invasive Schlafanalyse-System basiert auf einem Hardware-Sensornetz aus 24 Drucksensoren, das die Schlafphasenerkennung ermöglicht. Die Drucksensoren sind mit einem energieeffizienten Mikrocontroller über einen systemweiten Bus mit Adressarbitrierung verbunden. Ein wesentlicher Unterschied dieses Systems im Vergleich zu anderen Ansätzen ist die innovative Art, die Sensoren unter der Matratze zu platzieren. Diese Eigenschaft erleichtert die kontinuierliche Nutzung des Systems ohne fühlbaren Einfluss auf das gewohnte Bett. Das System wurde getestet, indem Experimente durchgeführt wurden, die den Schlaf verschiedener gesunder junger Personen aufzeichneten. Die ersten Ergebnisse weisen auf das Potenzial hin, nicht nur Atemfrequenz und Körperbewegung, sondern auch Herzfrequenz zu erfassen.
Size and function of bioartificial tissue models are still limited due to the lack of blood vessels and dynamic perfusion for nutrient supply. In this study, we evaluated the use of cytocompatible methacryl-modified gelatin for the fabrication of a hydrogel-based tube by dip-coating and subsequent photo-initiated cross-linking. The wall thickness of the tubes and the diameter were tuned by the degree of gelatin methacryl-modification and the number of dipping cycles. The dipping temperature of the gelatin solution was adjusted to achieve low viscous fluids of approximately 0.1 Pa s and was different for gelatin derivatives with different modification degrees. A versatile perfusion bioreactor for the supply of surrounding tissue models was developed, which can be adaped to several geometries and sizes of blood-vessel mimicking tubes. The manufactured bendable gelatin tubes were permeable for water and dissolved substances, like Nile Blue and serum albumin. As a proof of concept, human fibroblasts in a three-dimensional collagen tissue model were sucessfully supplied with nutrients via the central gelatin tube under dynamic conditions for 2 days. Moreover, the tubes could be used as scaffolds to build-up a functional and viable endothelial layer. Hence, the presented tools can contribute to solving current challenges in tissue engineering.
OR-Pad - Entwicklung eines Prototyps zur sterilen Informationsanzeige am OP-Situs : meeting abstract
(2019)
Hintergrund: Oftmals werden Informationen aus der Krankenakte oder von Bildgebungsverfahren nur auf recht weit vom Operationsgebiet entfernten Monitoren, außerhalb der ergonomischen Sichtachse des Operateurs, dargestellt. Dies führt dazu, dass relevante Informationen übersehen werden oder ihr Informationspotenzial nicht ausgeschöpft werden kann. In Papierform mitgenommene Notizen befinden sich während der OP außerhalb des sterilen Bereichs und sind dadurch für den Operateur nicht ohne Weiteres zugänglich. Auch bei intraoperativen Einträgen für die OP Dokumentation ist der Operateur auf die Mithilfe der Assistenz angewiesen. Durch die zusätzlichen Kommunikationswege entstehen dabei ein personeller und zeitlicher Mehraufwand und das Fehlerpotenzial nimmt zu. Das anwendungsorientierte Forschungsprojekt OR-Pad - Nutzung von portablen Informationsanzeigen im Operationssaal - soll dem Operateur zu einem verbesserten Informationsfluss verhelfen. Die Idee entstand aus der klinischen Routine der Anatomie und Urologie des Universitätsklinikums Tübingen und wird nun durch Fördermittel vom Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst Baden-Württemberg sowie vom Europäischen Fonds für regionale Entwicklung an der Hochschule Reutlingen zu einem High Fidelity-Prototypen weiterentwickelt.
Ziel: Ziel des OR-Pad Projekts ist es, während einer OP zum aktuellen Zeitpunkt klinisch relevante Informationen in unmittelbarer Nähe zum Operateur darzustellen. Mithilfe des Systems soll der Informationsfluss zwischen dem Eingriff sowie dessen Vor- und Nachbereitung optimiert werden. Der Operateur soll vorab relevante Informationen, wie aktuelle Röntgenbilder oder persönliche Notizen, zur intraoperativen Anzeige auswählen können, die dann am OP-Situs auf einer sterilen Informationsanzeige dargestellt werden. Durch die Positionierung soll eine ergonomische Sichtachse sowie die direkte Interaktion mit dem System ermöglicht werden. Kontextrelevante Informationen sollen basierend auf dem aktuellen OP-Verlauf durch die Entwicklung einer Situationserkennung automatisch bereitgestellt werden. Zur Optimierung des Informationsflusses gehört ebenfalls die Unterstützung der OP-Dokumentation. Für diese sollen während des Eingriffs manuell vom Operateur sowie automatisch vom System Einträge, wie Zeitpunkte oder intraoperative Aufnahmen, erstellt werden. Aus diesen soll nach dem Eingriff die OP-Dokumentation generiert und damit der Prozess qualitativer und zeiteffizienter gestaltet werden.
Methodik: Zur Erreichung des Ziels werden zunächst die klinischen Anforderungen spezifiziert und in ein Lastenheft überführt. Hierfür werden Interviews und Beobachtungen bei mehreren Interventionen durchgeführt. Nach dem User-Centered-Designprozess werden Personas und Nutzungsszenarien entworfen und mit klinischen Projektpartnern in mehreren Iterationen evaluiert. Es gilt eine Informationsarchitektur aufzubauen, die eine Einbettung klinischer Informationssysteme sowie Bild- und Gerätedaten aus dem OP-Netzwerk erlaubt. Eine Situationserkennung, basierend auf Prozessmodellen, soll zur Abschätzung des Operationsfortschritts entwickelt werden. Zur Befestigung der Informationsanzeige sollen geeignete Haltemechanismen eingesetzt werden. Das OR-Pad System soll laufend im Lehr- und Forschungs-OP der Hochschule Reutlingen getestet und im Sinne agiler Produktentwicklung mit den klinischen Projektpartnern abgestimmt werden. Der finale Funktionsprototyp soll abschließend in den Versuchs-OPs der Anatomie Tübingen getestet und evaluiert werden.
Ergebnisse: Über eine erste Datenerhebung mittels Contextual Inquiry konnten erste Anforderungen an das OR-Pad System erfasst werden, woraus ein Low-Fidelity-Prototyp resultierte. Die Evaluation über Experteninterviews führte in die zweite Iteration, in der das Konzept entsprechend der Ergebnisse angepasst wurde. Über Hospitationen am Uniklinikum Tübingen fand eine weitere Datenerhebung zur Erstellung von Szenarien für die intraoperativen Anwendungsfälle statt. Anhand der Anforderungen wurde ein Konzept für die Benutzerschnittstelle entworfen, die im weiteren Verlauf mit den klinischen Projektpartnern evaluiert wird.
Integrating tools and applications into a clinically useful system for individual continuous health data surveillance requires an architecture considering all relevant medical and technical conditions. Therefore, the requirements of an integrated system including a health app to collect and monitor sensor data to support personalized medicine are analyzed. The structure and behavior of the system are defined regarding the specific health use cases and scenarios. A vendor-independent architecture, which enables the collection of vital data from arbitrary wearables using a smartphone, is presented. The data is centrally managed and processed by attending physicians. The modular architecture allows the system to extend to new scenarios, data formats, etc. A prototypical implementation of the system shows the feasibility of the approach.
A clinically useful system for individual continuous health data monitoring needs an architecture that takes into account all relevant medical and technical conditions. The requirements for a health app to support such a system are collected, and a vendor independent architecture is designed that allows the collection of vital data from arbitrary wearables using a smartphone. A prototypical implementation for the main scenario shows the feasibility of the approach.
Background/Aim: The aim of this study was the development of a new osteoconductivity index to determine the bone healing capacities of bone substitute materials (BSM) on the basis of 3D microcomputed tomographic (μ-CT) data. Materials and Methods: Sinus biopsies were used for the comparative analysis of the integration behavior of two xenogeneic BSM (cerabone® and Bio Oss®). 3D μ-CT and data sets from histomorphometrical measurements based on 2D histological slices were used to measure the bone-material-contact and the tissue distribution within the biopsies. The tissue reactions to both BSM were microscopically analyzed. Results: The 3D and 2D results of the osteoconductivity measurements showed comparable material-bone contacts for both BSM, but the 2D data were significantly lower. The same results were found when tissue distribution was measured in both groups. The histopathological analysis showed comparative tissue reactions in both BSM. Conclusion: Osteoconductivity index is a reliable measurement parameter for determining the healing capacities of BSM. The observed differences between both measurement methods could be assigned to the resolution capacity of μ-CT data that did not allow for a precise interface distinction between both BSM and bone tissue. Histomorphometrical data based on histological slides still allow for a more exact evaluation.
Due to the rising need for palliative care in Russia, it is crucial to provide timely and high-quality solutions for patients, relatives, and caregivers. A methodology for remote monitoring of patients in need of palliative care and the requirements will be developed for a hardware-software complex for remote monitoring of patients' health at home.
In 2017, Philips' goal was to use innovation to improve the lives of three billion people a year by 2025. To achieve that, the company was shifting from selling medical products in a transactional manner to providing integrated healthcare solutions based on digital health technology. Based on our interviews with 23 executives at Philips, the case examines the two directions of the transformation required by this shift: externally, Philips worked on transforming how healthcare was conducted. Healthcare professionals would have to change the way they worked and reimbursement schemes needed to change to incentivize payers, providers, and patients in vastly different ways. Internally, Philips needed to redesign how its employees worked. The company componentized its business, introduced digital platforms, and co-created integrated solutions with the various stakeholders of the healthcare industry. In other words: Philips was transforming itself in order the reinvent healthcare in the digital age.
New approaches to respiratory assist: bioengineering an ambulatory, miniaturized bioartificial lung
(2019)
Although state-of-the-art treatments of respiratory failure clearly have made some progress in terms of survival in patients suffering from severe respiratory system disorders, such as acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), they failed to significantly improve the quality of life in patients with acute or chronic lung failure, including severe acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or ARDS as well. Limitations of standard treatment modalities, which largely rely on conventional mechanical ventilation, emphasize the urgent, unmet clinical need for developing novel(bio)artificial respiratory assist devices that provide extracorporeal gas exchange with a focus on direct extracorporeal CO2 removal from the blood. In this review, we discuss some of the novel concepts and critical prerequisites for such respiratory lung assist devices that can be used with an adequate safety profile, in the intensive care setting, as well as for long-term domiciliary therapy in patients with chronic ventilatory failure. Specifically, we describe some of the pivotal steps, such as device miniaturization, passivation of the blood-contacting surfaces by chemical surface modifications, or endothelial cell seeding, all of which are required for converting current lung assist devices into ambulatory lung assist device for long-term use in critically ill patients. Finally, we also discuss some of the risks and challenges for the long-term use of ambulatory miniaturized bioartificial lungs.
Artefaktkorrektur und verfeinerte Metriken für ein EEG-basiertes System zur Müdigkeitserkennung
(2019)
Fragestellung: Müdigkeit ist ein oft unterschätztes, aber dennoch großes Problem im Straßenverkehr. Von rund 2,5 Mio. Verkehrsunfällen 2015 in Deutschland, waren 2898 Unfälle, mit insgesamt 59 Toten (~1,7 % der Todesfälle), auf Übermüdung zurückzuführen. Schätzungen gehen von einer Dunkelziffer von bis zu 20 % aus. In einer ersten eigenen Studie wurde überprüft, ob ein mobiles EEG in einem Fahrsimulator Müdigkeitszustände zuverlässig erkennen kann. Die Erkennungsrate lag lediglich bei 61 %. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist, das verwendete Messsystem zu verbessern. Dazu wird die Genauigkeit durch eine Artefaktkorrektur und mit Hilfe von verfeinerten Qualitätsmetriken erhöht. Eine erkannte Übermüdung wird dem Fahrer dann in angemessener Weise angezeigt, so dass er entsprechend reagieren kann.
Patienten und Methoden: Die Independent Component Analysis (ICA) ist ein multivariates Verfahren, um mehrere Zufallsvariablen zu analysieren. Für die Entscheidung, ob ein Fahrer gerade müde oder wach ist, wird der erstellte Merkmalsvektor für jede Sequenz mit ICA klassifiziert. Dafür wird ein trainierter Machine-Learning-Algorithmus eingesetzt, der in der Lage ist, auch unbekannte Datensätze in Klassen einzuteilen. Um die benötigten Frequenzwerte zu erhalten, wurde für jeden EEG-Kanal eine Fourier Transformation durchgeführt. Der erstellte Merkmalsvektor wird im nächsten Schritt durch ein Künstliches Neuronales Netz klassifiziert. Für das Training werden vorab erstellte Merkmalsvektoren mit den Klassen „Wach“ und „Müde“ versehen. Diese Daten werden zufällig gemischt und im Verhältnis 2:1 in eine Trainings- und Testmenge geteilt. Das Experiment wurde mit acht Personen mit jeweils zweimal 45 min Testfahrt durchgeführt.
Ergebnisse: Der komplette Datensatz besteht aus 150.000 Signalwerten, welche zu ca. 7000 Sequenzen zusammengefasst werden. Durch die Anwendung der Qualitätsmetrik bleiben 4370 Sequenzen für das Training übrig. Bei invaliden Sequenzen aufgrund von EEG-Artefakten gibt es deutliche Unterschiede. Im „Wach“ Zustand werden dreimal so viele Sequenzen verworfen als im „Müde“ Zustand. Insgesamt werden bei wachen Probanden im Schnitt ca. 50 % der Sequenzen verworfen, bei Müden lediglich 25 %. Im Durchschnitt erreicht das System eine Erkennungsrate von 73 % für beide Zustände. Vergleicht man nun das Verhältnis von „Wach“ und „Müde“ und lässt „Leichte Müdigkeit“ außen vor, liegen die Ergebnisse bei über 90 %.
Schlussfolgerungen: Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Aufmerksamkeit während des Experiments abnimmt bzw. die Müdigkeit zunimmt. Dies verdeutlichen zum einen subjektive und objektive Beobachtungen von Müdigkeitsanzeichen. Zum anderen lassen sich messbare und klassifizierbare Unterschiede im EEG Signal nachweisen. Die als Merkmale eingesetzten Theta-Wellen zeigten eine niedrigere Amplitude gegen Ende des Experiments. Die Erweiterung der binären Klassifizierung führt zu einer weiteren Stabilisierung der Ergebnisse. Artefaktkorrektur und Qualitätsmetriken steigern die Güte der Daten weiter. Die entwickelte Anwendung zur Müdigkeitserkennung ermittelt messbare Zeichen von Müdigkeit und kann eine gute Entscheidung über die Fahrtauglichkeit treffen.
The potentials and opportunities created by digitized healthcare can be further customized through smart data processing and analysis using accurate patient information. This development and the associated new treatment concepts basing on digital smart sensors can lead to an increase in motivation by applying gamification approaches. This effect can also be used in the field of medical treatment, e.g. with the help of a digital spirometer combined with an app. In one of our exemplary applications, we show how to control an airplane within an app by breathing respectively inhaling and exhaling. Using this biofeedback within a game allows us to increase the motivation and fun for children that need to perform necessary exercises.
Mammographie-Geräte werden in der Diagnostik von Mammakarzinomen eingesetzt. Die ursprüngliche Technik wurde in den letzten Jahren von analogen Röntgenfilmen zu digital integrierten Systemen weiterentwickelt. Durch die Tomosynthese, bei der in einem Schnittbildverfahren mehrere Schichten des Organismus untersucht werden können, können auch überlagerte Strukturen sichtbar gemacht werden. Um als adäquate Grundlage zur Diagnostik von malignen Tumoren dienen zu können, müssen einige qualitative Anforderungen erfüllt werden. Bisher gibt es wenig Literatur, die Anforderungen und den Aufbau solcher Geräte systematisch beschreiben. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit werden auf Basis der Literatur und bestehender Systeme die qualitativen Anforderungen identifiziert. Der prinzipielle Aufbau solcher Systeme wird anhand der einzelnen Systembausteine in der semiformalen Notationssprache SysML gezeigt. Die grundlegende Funktionsweise eines tomosynthesefähigen Mammographie Gerätes wird in dieser Arbeit zusammenfassend und anhand der einzelnen Systembausteine beschrieben. Diese Arbeit dient der Vermittlung eines umfassenden Verständnisses für die digitale Mammographie, um als Grundlage für die Dokumentation von qualitativen Anforderungen dienen zu können.
Due to the large interindividual variances and the poor optical accessibility of the ear, the specificity of hearing diagnostics today is severely restricted to a certain clinical picture and quantitative assessment. Often only a yes or no decision is possible, which depends strongly on the subjective assessment of the ENT physician. A novel approach, in which objectively obtainable, non invasive audiometric measurements are evaluated using a numerical middle ear model, makes it possible to make the hidden middle ear properties visible and quantifiable. The central topic of this paper is a novel parameter identification algorithm that combines inverse fuzzy arithmetic with an artificial neural network in order to achieve a coherent diagnostic overall picture in the comparison of model and measurement. Its usage is shown at a pathological pattern called malleus fixation where the upper ligament of the malleus is pathologically stiffened.
In summary, we believe that current “sleep monitoring” consumer devices on the market must undergo a more robust validation process before being made available and distributed in the general public. This is especially noteworthy as there have been first reports in the literature that inaccurate feedback of such consumer devices can worry subjects and may even lead to compromised well-being of the user.
Today, virtualizing pharma R&D is increasingly related with data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI), technologies that have been developed by software companies outside the healthcare sector. The process of virtualizing pharma R&D is closely related to the technological advancements that result in the generation of large data sets ranging from genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, medical imaging, IoT wearables and large clinical trials, making it necessary for pharma companies to find new ways to store and ultimately analyze information. As a consequence, pharma companies are experimenting with AI in R&D ranging from in-silico drug design to clinical trail participants identification or dosage error reduction.
Assistive environments are entering our homes faster than ever. However, there are still various barriers to be broken. One of the crucial points is a personalization of offered services and integration of assistive technologies in common objects and therefore in a regular daily routine. Recognition of sleep patterns for the preliminary sleep study is one of the Health services that could be performed in an undisturbing way. This article proposes the hardware system for the measurement of bio-vital signals necessary for initial sleep study in a nonobtrusive way. The first results confirm the potential of measurement of breathing and movement signals with the proposed system.
The goal of the presented project is to develop the concept of home e-health centers for barrier-free and cross-border telemedicine. AAL technologies are already present on the market but there is still a gap to close until they can be used for ordinary patient needs. The general idea needs to be accompanied by new services, which should be brought together in order to provide a full coverage of service for the users. Sleep and stress were chosen as predominant influence in the population. The executed scientific study of available home devices analyzing sleep has provided the necessary to select appropriate devices. The first choice for the project implementation is the device EMFIT QS+. This equipment provides a part of a complete system that a home telemedical hospital can provide at a level of precision and communication with internal and/or external health services.
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) affect a large number of children both in the Russian Federation and in Germany. Early diagnosis is key for these children, because the sooner parents notice such disorders in a child and the rehabilitation and treatment program starts, the higher the likelihood of his social adaptation. The difficulties in raising such a child lie in the complexity of his learning outside of children's groups and the complexity of his medical care. In this regard, the development of digital applications that facilitate medical care and education of such children at home is important and relevant. The purpose of the project is to improve the availability and quality of healthcare and social adaptation at home of children with ASD through the use of digital technologies.
During two researches the influence of technologies on sleep were analyzed. The first one is about the effect of light on the circadian rhythm and as consequence on sleep quality of persons in a vegetative state. The second one, which is still running, surveys the influence of several technical tools on the sleep of elderly people living in a nursing home.
Type 1 diabetes is a chronic and a life threatening disease: an adjusted treatment and a proper management of the disease are crucial to prevent or delay the complications of diabetes. Although during the last decade the development of the artificial pancreas has presented great advances in diabetes care, the multiple daily injections therapy still represents the most widely used treatment option for type 1 diabetes. This work presents the proposal and first development stages of an application focused on guiding patients using the continuous glucose monitors and smart pens together with insulin and carbohydrates recommendations. Our proposal aims to develop a platform to integrate a series of innovative machine learning models and tools rigorously tested together with the use of the latest IoT devices to manage type 1 diabetes. The resulting system actually closes the loop, like the artificial pancreas, but in an intermittent way.
The aim of this work was to investigate the mean fill weight control of a continuous capsule-filling process, whether it is possible to derive controller settings from an appendant process model. To that end, a system composed out of fully automated capsule filler and an online gravimetric scale was used to control the filled weight. This setup allows to examine challenges associated with continuous manufacturing processes, such as variations in the amount of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) in the mixture due to fluctuations of the feeders or due to altered excipient batch qualities. Two types of controllers were investigated: a feedback control and a combination of feedback and feedforward control. Although both of those are common in the industry, determining the optimal parameter settings remains an issue. In this study, we developed a method to derive the control parameters based on process models in order to obtain optimal control for each filled product. Determined via rapid automated process development (RAPD), this method is an effective and fast way of determining control parameters. The method allowed us to optimize the weight control for three pharmaceutical excipients. By conducting experiments, we verified the feasibility of the proposed method and studied the dynamics of the controlled system. Our work provides important basic data on how capsule filler can be implemented into continuous manufacturing systems.
Workflow driven support systems in the peri-operative area have the potential to optimize clinical processes and to allow new situation-adaptive support systems. We started to develop a workflow management system supporting all involved actors in the operating theatre with the goal to synchronize the tasks of the different stakeholders by giving relevant information to the right team members. Using the OMG standards BPMN, CMMN and DMN gives us the opportunity to bring established methods from other industries into the medical field. The system shows each addressed actor their information in the right place at the right time to make sure every member can execute their task in time to ensure a smooth workflow. The system has the overall view of all tasks. Accordingly, a workflow management system including the Camunda BPM workflow engine to run the models, and a middleware to connect different systems to the workflow engine and some graphical user interfaces to show necessary information or to interact with the system are used. The complete pipeline is implemented with a RESTful web service. The system is designed to include different systems like hospital information system (HIS) via the RESTful web service very easily and without loss of data. The first prototype is implemented and will be expanded.
The metric and qualitative analysis of models of the upper and lower dental arches is an important aspect of orthodontic treatment planning. Currently available eLearning systems for dental education only allow access to digital learning materials, and do not interactively support the learning progress. Moreover, to date no study compared the efficiency of learning methods based on physical or digital study models. For this pilot study, 18 dental students were separated into two groups to investigate whether the learning success in study model analysis with an interactive elearning system is higher based on digital models or on conventional plaster models. The results show that with the digital method less time is needed per model analysis. Moreover, the digital approach leads to higher total scores than that based on plaster models. We conclude that interactive eLearning using digital dental arch models is a promising tool for dental education.
Information and communication technologies support telemedicine to lower health access barriers and to provide better health care. While the potential in Active Assisted Living (AAL) is increasing, it is difficult to evaluate its benefits for the user, and it requires coordinated actions to launch it. The European Commission’s action plan 2012–2020 provides a roadmap to patient empowerment and healthcare, to link up devices and technologies, and to invest in research towards the personalized medicine of the future. As a quickly developing area in medicine, telemonitoring is a demanding field in research and development. Telemonitoring is an essential component of personalized medicine, where health providers can obtain precise information on outcare or chronic patients to improve diagnosis and therapy and also help healthy persons with prevention support. Telemonitoring combines mobile and wearable devices with the personal AAL home environment, a private or (partly) supervised home, most often called ’smart home’. The focus of this workshop is on new hardware and software solutions specifically designed to be applicable in AAL environments to empower patients. This workshop presents system-oriented solutions covering wearable and AAL-embedded devices, computer science infrastructure both at the users’ and the medical premises, to handle the data and decision support systems to support diagnose and treatment.
This book contains the proceedings of the KES International conferences on Innovation in Medicine and Healthcare (KES-InMed-19) and Intelligent Interactive Multimedia Systems and Services (KES-IIMSS-19), held on 17–19 June 2019 and co-located in St. Julians, on the island of Malta, as part of the KES Smart Digital Futures 2019 multi theme conference.
The major areas covered by KES-InMed-19 include: Digital IT Architecture in Healthcare; Advanced ICT for Medical and Healthcare; Biomedical Engineering, Trends, Research and Technologies and Healthcare Support System. The major areas covered by KES-IIMSS-19 were: Interactive Technologies; Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics; Intelligent Services and Architectures and Applications.
This book is of use to researchers in these vibrant areas, managers, industrialists and anyone wishing to gain an overview of the latest research in these fields.