Developing a System for Processing Health Data of Children Using Digitalized Toys: Ethical and Privacy Concerns for the Internet of Things Paradigm

EDUCERE (Ubiquitous Detection Ecosystem to Care and Early Stimulation for Children with Developmental Disorders) is a government funded research and development project. EDUCERE objectives are to investigate, develop, and evaluate innovative solutions for society to detect changes in psychomotor development through the natural interaction of children with toys and everyday objects, and perform stimulation and early attention activities in real environments such as home and school. In the EDUCERE project, an ethical impact assessment is carried out linked to a minors' data protection rights. Using a specific methodology, the project has achieved some promising results. These include use of a prototype of smart toys to detect development difficulties in children. In addition, privacy protection measures which take into account the security concerns of health data, have been proposed and applied. This latter security framework could be useful in other Internet of Things related projects. It consists of legal and technical measures. Special attention has been placed in the transformation of bulk data such as acceleration and jitter of toys into health data when patterns of atypical development are found. The article describes the different security profiles in which users are classified.

Effect of Major Improvement in Glycemic Control on Results of Cardiovascular Function Tests in Patients with Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the effect of major improvement in glycemic control on cardiovascular function tests in patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM).

METHODS

Eight men with chronic, poorly controlled IDDM (serum fructosamine >300 mmol/L and mean fasting blood glucose >200 mg/dL), who were 24 +/- 6 years of age and had a mean duration of diabetes of 8 +/- 1 years, were studied. No patient had microalbuminuria, was taking medication other than insulin, or had evidence of heart disease. Patients underwent baseline continuous ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, echocardiographic studies, and cardiovascular autonomic function tests, which were repeated after 4 weeks of an intensified insulin treatment program (IITP), during which they reached and maintained blood glucose concentrations and serum fructosamine levels in near-normal, nondiabetic ranges.

RESULTS

Substantial changes in glycemic control had no significant influence on results of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, cardiovascular autonomic function tests, and echocardiographic studies.

CONCLUSION

Major improvement in glycemic control during a 1-month period in patients with IDDM had no significant influence on cardiovascular function tests. We cannot exclude the possibility that, after a longer duration of an IITP or in patients with clinically evident heart disease or evidence of major complications of diabetes, different responses might be observed.

[Usefulness of the ASA scale and thoracic radiography as indicators of perioperative cardiovascular risk]

This paper evaluates the usefulness of ASA physical status classification and the multifactorial index of cardiac risk in the preoperative assessment, without considering arterial blood gases. With the results of this study we propose to add the ASA physical status classification, the radiologic diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and the multifactorial index of cardiac risk. This strategy increases the diagnostic certainty of Goldman's index of cardiac risk, is practical, not expensive and favors a better establishment of the risk of perioperative cardiovascular morbidity.