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Liu Z, Cascioli V, McCarthy PW. Healthcare Monitoring Using Low-Cost Sensors to Supplement and Replace Human Sensation: Does It Have Potential to Increase Independent Living and Prevent Disease? SENSORS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2023; 23:s23042139. [PMID: 36850736 PMCID: PMC9963454 DOI: 10.3390/s23042139] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2023] [Revised: 01/31/2023] [Accepted: 02/09/2023] [Indexed: 05/17/2023]
Abstract
Continuous monitoring of health status has the potential to enhance the quality of life and life expectancy of people suffering from chronic illness and of the elderly. However, such systems can only come into widespread use if the cost of manufacturing is low. Advancements in material science and engineering technology have led to a significant decrease in the expense of developing healthcare monitoring devices. This review aims to investigate the progress of the use of low-cost sensors in healthcare monitoring and discusses the challenges faced when accomplishing continuous and real-time monitoring tasks. The major findings include (1) only a small number of publications (N = 50) have addressed the issue of healthcare monitoring applications using low-cost sensors over the past two decades; (2) the top three algorithms used to process sensor data include SA (Statistical Analysis, 30%), SVM (Support Vector Machine, 18%), and KNN (K-Nearest Neighbour, 12%); and (3) wireless communication techniques (Zigbee, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and RF) serve as the major data transmission tools (77%) followed by cable connection (13%) and SD card data storage (10%). Due to the small fraction (N = 50) of low-cost sensor-based studies among thousands of published articles about healthcare monitoring, this review not only summarises the progress of related research but calls for researchers to devote more effort to the consideration of cost reduction as well as the size of these components.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhuofu Liu
- The Higher Educational Key Laboratory for Measuring and Control Technology and Instrumentations of Heilongjiang Province, Harbin University of Science and Technology, Harbin 150080, China
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +86-139-0451-2205
| | - Vincenzo Cascioli
- Murdoch University Chiropractic Clinic, Murdoch University, Murdoch 6150, Australia
| | - Peter W. McCarthy
- Faculty of Life Science and Education, University of South Wales, Treforest, Pontypridd CF37 1DL, UK
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Durban University of Technology, Durban 1334, South Africa
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Wu H, Dyson M, Nazarpour K. Internet of Things for beyond-the-laboratory prosthetics research. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. SERIES A, MATHEMATICAL, PHYSICAL, AND ENGINEERING SCIENCES 2022; 380:20210005. [PMID: 35762812 PMCID: PMC9335889 DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2021.0005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2021] [Accepted: 12/03/2021] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Research on upper-limb prostheses is typically laboratory-based. Evidence indicates that research has not yet led to prostheses that meet user needs. Inefficient communication loops between users, clinicians and manufacturers limit the amount of quantitative and qualitative data that researchers can use in refining their innovations. This paper offers a first demonstration of an alternative paradigm by which remote, beyond-the-laboratory prosthesis research according to user needs is feasible. Specifically, the proposed Internet of Things setting allows remote data collection, real-time visualization and prosthesis reprogramming through Wi-Fi and a commercial cloud portal. Via a dashboard, the user can adjust the configuration of the device and append contextual information to the prosthetic data. We evaluated this demonstrator in real-time experiments with three able-bodied participants. Results promise the potential of contextual data collection and system update through the internet, which may provide real-life data for algorithm training and reduce the complexity of send-home trials. This article is part of the theme issue 'Advanced neurotechnologies: translating innovation for health and well-being'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hancong Wu
- Edinburgh Neuroprosthetics Laboratory, School of Informatics, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9AB, UK
| | - Matthew Dyson
- Intelligent Sensing Laboratory, School of Engineering, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK
| | - Kianoush Nazarpour
- Edinburgh Neuroprosthetics Laboratory, School of Informatics, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9AB, UK
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Zhong L, He S, Lin J, Wu J, Li X, Pang Y, Li Z. Technological Requirements and Challenges in Wireless Body Area Networks for Health Monitoring: A Comprehensive Survey. SENSORS 2022; 22:s22093539. [PMID: 35591234 PMCID: PMC9105253 DOI: 10.3390/s22093539] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2022] [Revised: 04/24/2022] [Accepted: 04/28/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022]
Abstract
With the rapid growth in healthcare demand, an emergent, novel technology called wireless body area networks (WBANs) have become promising and have been widely used in the field of human health monitoring. A WBAN can collect human physical parameters through the medical sensors in or around the patient’s body to realize real-time continuous remote monitoring. Compared to other wireless transmission technologies, a WBAN has more stringent technical requirements and challenges in terms of power efficiency, security and privacy, quality of service and other specifications. In this paper, we review the recent WBAN medical applications, existing requirements and challenges and their solutions. We conducted a comprehensive investigation of WBANs, from the sensor technology for the collection to the wireless transmission technology for the transmission process, such as frequency bands, channel models, medium access control (MAC) and networking protocols. Then we reviewed its unique safety and energy consumption issues. In particular, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC)-based WBAN scheme is presented to improve its security and privacy and achieve ultra-low energy consumption.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lisha Zhong
- School of Communication and Information Engineering, Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Chongqing 400065, China
- School of Medical Information and Engineering, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou 646000, China
| | - Shuling He
- School of Communication and Information Engineering, Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Chongqing 400065, China
| | - Jinzhao Lin
- School of Communication and Information Engineering, Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Chongqing 400065, China
| | - Jia Wu
- School of Communication and Information Engineering, Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Chongqing 400065, China
- School of Medical Information and Engineering, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou 646000, China
| | - Xi Li
- School of Communication and Information Engineering, Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Chongqing 400065, China
| | - Yu Pang
- School of Communication and Information Engineering, Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Chongqing 400065, China
| | - Zhangyong Li
- School of Bioinformatics, Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Chongqing 400065, China
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Balasubramanian V, Vivekanandhan S, Mahadevan V. Pandemic tele-smart: a contactless tele-health system for efficient monitoring of remotely located COVID-19 quarantine wards in India using near-field communication and natural language processing system. Med Biol Eng Comput 2021; 60:61-79. [PMID: 34705163 PMCID: PMC8548353 DOI: 10.1007/s11517-021-02456-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2020] [Accepted: 10/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Efficient remote monitoring of the patient infected with coronavirus without spread to healthcare workers is the need of the hour. An effectual and faster communication system must be established wherein the healthcare workers at the remote quarantine ward can communicate with healthcare professionals present in specialty hospitals. Incidentally, there is a need to establish a contactless smart cloud-based connection between a specialty hospital and quarantine wards during pandemic situation. This paper proposes an initial contactless web-based tele-health clinical decision support system that integrates near-field communication (NFC) tags and a smart cloud-based structuring tool that enables the quick diagnosis of patients with COVID-19 symptoms and monitors the remotely located quarantine wards during the recent pandemic. The proposed framework consists of three-stages: (i) contactless health parameter extraction from the patient using an NFC tag; (ii) converting medical report into digital text using optical character recognition algorithm and extracting values of relevant medical-parameters using natural language processing; and (iii) smart visualization of key medical parameters. The accuracy of the proposed system from NFC reader until analysis using a novel structuring algorithm deployed in the cloud is more than 94%. Several capabilities of the proposed web-based system were compared with similar systems and tested in an authentic mock clinical setup, and the physicians found that the system is reliable and user friendly.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vishal Balasubramanian
- Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering, Rajalakshmi Engineering College, Chennai, 602105, India
| | - Sapthagirivasan Vivekanandhan
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Rajalakshmi Engineering College, Chennai, 602105, India. .,Medical Devices and Healthcare Technologies Department, Engineering R&D Division, IT Service Company, Bengaluru, 560066, India.
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Nicolò A, Massaroni C, Schena E, Sacchetti M. The Importance of Respiratory Rate Monitoring: From Healthcare to Sport and Exercise. SENSORS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2020; 20:E6396. [PMID: 33182463 PMCID: PMC7665156 DOI: 10.3390/s20216396] [Citation(s) in RCA: 91] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2020] [Revised: 11/05/2020] [Accepted: 11/08/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Respiratory rate is a fundamental vital sign that is sensitive to different pathological conditions (e.g., adverse cardiac events, pneumonia, and clinical deterioration) and stressors, including emotional stress, cognitive load, heat, cold, physical effort, and exercise-induced fatigue. The sensitivity of respiratory rate to these conditions is superior compared to that of most of the other vital signs, and the abundance of suitable technological solutions measuring respiratory rate has important implications for healthcare, occupational settings, and sport. However, respiratory rate is still too often not routinely monitored in these fields of use. This review presents a multidisciplinary approach to respiratory monitoring, with the aim to improve the development and efficacy of respiratory monitoring services. We have identified thirteen monitoring goals where the use of the respiratory rate is invaluable, and for each of them we have described suitable sensors and techniques to monitor respiratory rate in specific measurement scenarios. We have also provided a physiological rationale corroborating the importance of respiratory rate monitoring and an original multidisciplinary framework for the development of respiratory monitoring services. This review is expected to advance the field of respiratory monitoring and favor synergies between different disciplines to accomplish this goal.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Nicolò
- Department of Movement, Human and Health Sciences, University of Rome “Foro Italico”, 00135 Rome, Italy;
| | - Carlo Massaroni
- Unit of Measurements and Biomedical Instrumentation, Department of Engineering, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Via Alvaro del Portillo, 21, 00128 Rome, Italy; (C.M.); (E.S.)
| | - Emiliano Schena
- Unit of Measurements and Biomedical Instrumentation, Department of Engineering, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Via Alvaro del Portillo, 21, 00128 Rome, Italy; (C.M.); (E.S.)
| | - Massimo Sacchetti
- Department of Movement, Human and Health Sciences, University of Rome “Foro Italico”, 00135 Rome, Italy;
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Coulby G, Clear A, Jones O, Young F, Stuart S, Godfrey A. Towards remote healthcare monitoring using accessible IoT technology: state-of-the-art, insights and experimental design. Biomed Eng Online 2020; 19:80. [PMID: 33126878 PMCID: PMC7602322 DOI: 10.1186/s12938-020-00825-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2020] [Accepted: 10/21/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Healthcare studies are moving toward individualised measurement. There is need to move beyond supervised assessments in the laboratory/clinic. Longitudinal free-living assessment can provide a wealth of information on patient pathology and habitual behaviour, but cost and complexity of equipment have typically been a barrier. Lack of supervised conditions within free-living assessment means there is need to augment these studies with environmental analysis to provide context to individual measurements. This paper reviews low-cost and accessible Internet of Things (IoT) technologies with the aim of informing biomedical engineers of possibilities, workflows and limitations they present. In doing so, we evidence their use within healthcare research through literature and experimentation. As hardware becomes more affordable and feature rich, the cost of data magnifies. This can be limiting for biomedical engineers exploring low-cost solutions as data costs can make IoT approaches unscalable. IoT technologies can be exploited by biomedical engineers, but more research is needed before these technologies can become commonplace for clinicians and healthcare practitioners. It is hoped that the insights provided by this paper will better equip biomedical engineers to lead and monitor multi-disciplinary research investigations.
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Affiliation(s)
- G. Coulby
- Department of Computer and Information Sciences, Faculty of Engineering and Environment, Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 8ST UK
| | - A. Clear
- Department of Computer and Information Sciences, Faculty of Engineering and Environment, Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 8ST UK
| | - O. Jones
- Director of Research, Ryder Architecture, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 3NN UK
| | - F. Young
- Department of Computer and Information Sciences, Faculty of Engineering and Environment, Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 8ST UK
| | - S. Stuart
- Department of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 8ST UK
| | - A. Godfrey
- Department of Computer and Information Sciences, Faculty of Engineering and Environment, Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 8ST UK
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Ajibade A, Younas H, Pullan M, Harky A. Telemedicine in cardiovascular surgery during COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review and our experience. J Card Surg 2020; 35:2773-2784. [PMID: 32881081 PMCID: PMC7460963 DOI: 10.1111/jocs.14933] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Objective The SAR‐COV‐2 pandemic has had an unprecedented effect on the UK's healthcare systems. To reduce spread of the virus, elective treatments and surgeries have been postponed or canceled. There has been a rise in the use of telemedicine (TM) as an alternative way to carry outpatient consultations. This systematic review aims to evaluate the extent to which TM may be able to support cardiac and vascular surgery patients in the COVID‐19 era. Methods We looked into how TM can support the management of patients via triaging, preoperative, and postoperative care. Evaluations targeted the clinical effectiveness of common TM methods and the feasibility of applying those methods in the UK during this pandemic. Results Several studies have published their evidence on the benefit of TM and its benefit during COVID‐19, the data related to cardiovascular surgery and how this will impact future practice of this speciality is emerging and yet larger studies with appropriate timing of outcomes to be published. Conclusion Overall, the use of virtual consultations and remote monitoring is feasible and best placed to support these patients via triaging and postoperative monitoring. However, TM can be limited by the need of sophisticated technological requirement and patients’ educational and know‐how computer literacy level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ayomikun Ajibade
- Birmingham Medical School, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| | - Hiba Younas
- St George's Medical School, University of London, London, UK
| | - Mark Pullan
- Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, Liverpool, UK
| | - Amer Harky
- Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, Liverpool, UK.,Department of Integrative Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
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Liao LD, Wang Y, Tsao YC, Wang IJ, Jhang DF, Chuang CC, Chen SF. Design and Implementation of a Multifunction Wearable Device to Monitor Sleep Physiological Signals. MICROMACHINES 2020; 11:mi11070672. [PMID: 32664268 PMCID: PMC7407184 DOI: 10.3390/mi11070672] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2020] [Revised: 07/07/2020] [Accepted: 07/07/2020] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
Abstract
We present a wearable device built on an Adafruit Circuit Playground Express (CPE) board and integrated with a photoplethysmographic (PPG) optical sensor for heart rate monitoring and multiple embedded sensors for medical applications-in particular, sleep physiological signal monitoring. Our device is portable and lightweight. Due to the microcontroller unit (MCU)-based architecture of the proposed device, it is scalable and flexible. Thus, with the addition of different plug-and-play sensors, it can be used in many applications in different fields. The innovation introduced in this study is that with additional sensors, we can determine whether there are intermediary variables that can be modified to improve our sleep monitoring algorithm. Additionally, although the proposed device has a relatively low cost, it achieves substantially improved performance compared to the commercially available Philips ActiWatch2 wearable device, which has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). To assess the reliability of our device, we compared physiological sleep signals recorded simultaneously from volunteers using both our device and ActiWatch2. Motion and light detection data from our device were shown to be correlated to data simultaneously collected using the ActiWatch2, with correlation coefficients of 0.78 and 0.89, respectively. For 7 days of continuous data collection, there was only one instance of a false positive, in which our device detected a sleep interval, while the ActiWatch2 did not. The most important aspect of our research is the use of an open architecture. At the hardware level, general purpose input/output (GPIO), serial peripheral interface (SPI), integrated circuit (I2C), and universal asynchronous receiver-transmitter (UART) standards were used. At the software level, an object-oriented programming methodology was used to develop the system. Because the use of plug-and-play sensors is associated with the risk of adverse outcomes, such as system instability, this study heavily relied on object-oriented programming. Object-oriented programming improves system stability when hardware components are replaced or upgraded, allowing us to change the original system components at a low cost. Therefore, our device is easily scalable and has low commercialization costs. The proposed wearable device can facilitate the long-term tracking of physiological signals in sleep monitoring and related research. The open architecture of our device facilitates collaboration and allows other researchers to adapt our device for use in their own research, which is the main characteristic and contribution of this study.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lun-De Liao
- Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Nanomedicine, National Health Research Institutes, Zhunan 35053, Taiwan; (Y.W.); (Y.-C.T.); (D.-F.J.); (C.-C.C.); (S.-F.C.)
- Correspondence:
| | - Yuhling Wang
- Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Nanomedicine, National Health Research Institutes, Zhunan 35053, Taiwan; (Y.W.); (Y.-C.T.); (D.-F.J.); (C.-C.C.); (S.-F.C.)
| | - Yung-Chung Tsao
- Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Nanomedicine, National Health Research Institutes, Zhunan 35053, Taiwan; (Y.W.); (Y.-C.T.); (D.-F.J.); (C.-C.C.); (S.-F.C.)
| | - I-Jan Wang
- Department of Industrial Engineering and Enterprise Information, Tunghai University, Taichung City 407224, Taiwan;
| | - De-Fu Jhang
- Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Nanomedicine, National Health Research Institutes, Zhunan 35053, Taiwan; (Y.W.); (Y.-C.T.); (D.-F.J.); (C.-C.C.); (S.-F.C.)
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering, Chung Yuan Christian University, Taoyuan City 32023, Taiwan
| | - Chiung-Cheng Chuang
- Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Nanomedicine, National Health Research Institutes, Zhunan 35053, Taiwan; (Y.W.); (Y.-C.T.); (D.-F.J.); (C.-C.C.); (S.-F.C.)
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering, Chung Yuan Christian University, Taoyuan City 32023, Taiwan
| | - Sheng-Fu Chen
- Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Nanomedicine, National Health Research Institutes, Zhunan 35053, Taiwan; (Y.W.); (Y.-C.T.); (D.-F.J.); (C.-C.C.); (S.-F.C.)
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