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We present a novel method for the identification of the dynamics of physiological cardiac cell models. The main aim of the technique is to improve the computational efficiency of large-scale simulations of the electrical activity of the heart. The method identifies the dynamical attractor of a detailed physiological model using statistical learning techniques. In particular, a radial basis function...
Various research fields, such as brain computer interface, requires online acquisition and analysis of biological data to validate assumptions or to help obtaining insights into the physiological processes of the human body. In this paper we introduce the LivBioSig toolbox for online bio-signals processing and experimentation. This open source and modularized MATLAB toolbox allows performing various...
Biochemical samples are complex mixtures containing 1000's of components which often must be fractionated prior to analysis. Conventional fraction collectors, which can only accommodate 10's of fractions, are not well suited for high throughput analysis. This paper describes microfractionation in droplets (μFD), a scalable microfluidic technique for generating thousands of fractions. A drop generator,...
High frequency deep brain stimulation (DBS) of certain basal ganglia nuclei (e.g. subthalamic nucleus, STN) has emerged as a powerful neuromodulatory approach in the treatment of late stage Parkinson's disease patients. However, the underlying mechanisms of action are not fully understood. We have therefore established an implantable DBS device for small laboratory animals (e.g. rats) that allows...
Neurofeedback therapies are an emerging technique used to treat neuropsychological disorders and to enhance cognitive performance. The feedback stimuli presented during the therapy are a key factor, serving as guidance throughout the entire learning process of the brain rhythms. Online decoding of these stimuli could be of great value to measure the compliance and adherence of the subject to the training...
Providing appropriate cardio-pulmonary reanimation after cardio-pulmonary arrest is paramount for survival. An effective and low-cost approach to learn and practice the cardio-pulmonary reanimation is through a computerized life-size patient simulator. The present work describes the development of a patient simulator for the Centre of Education and Certification of Medical Aptitudes (CECAM) from the...
A system was developed for home-based stroke motor rehabilitation of the ankle. A study was conducted to test the hypothesis that moving while concentrating will lead to greater recovery than movement alone. Sixteen post-stroke subjects participated, one half in a tracking training group and the other have in a move group. The tracking training group tracked a target waveform by moving their ankle...
The aim of this paper is to describe and present the results of the automatic detection and assessment of bradykinesia in motor disease patients using wireless, wearable accelerometers. The current work is related to a module of the PERFORM system, a FP7 project from the European Commission, that aims at providing an innovative and reliable tool, able to evaluate, monitor and manage patients suffering...
The wide scale deployment of wireless body area networks (WBANs) hinges on designing energy efficient communication protocols to support the reliable communication as well as to prolong the network lifetime. Cooperative communications, a relatively new idea in wireless communications, offers the benefits of multi-antenna systems, thereby improving the link reliability and boosting energy efficiency...
Chronic cardiovascular diseases directly account for millions of deaths, billions of Euros and a big number of disabilities affecting the world's population. Even though primary and secondary prevention factors are well known, the awareness and the concern of citizens and patients is not big enough to cause a significant change in lifestyle that modifies the increasing trends. Patients and families,...
People with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorders) have difficulty in managing interpersonal relationships and common life social situations. A modular platform for Human Robot Interaction and Human Machine Interaction studies has been developed to manage and analyze therapeutic sessions in which subjects are driven by a psychologist through simulated social scenarios. This innovative therapeutic approach...
To help separate out the contributions of the somatosensory and vestibular systems to postural and sway control, short (1, 4 and 16mm) anterior translations of lengths less than the normal sway path length were made of a platform upon which blindfolded young adult test subjects (n=12) stood or sat. Acceleration detection thresholds from these short moves were compared in standing vs seated conditions...
This article presents a new simulation tool for designing and testing blood glucose control algorithms in patients with type 1 diabetes. The control algorithms can be designed and implemented either with textual or graphical programming languages or by importing them from several frameworks. Realistic scenarios and protocols can be customized and built through graphical user interfaces, where several...
Individualizing a neurorehabilitation training protocol requires understanding the performance of subjects with various capabilities under different task settings. We use multivariate regression to evaluate the performance of subjects with stroke-induced hemiparesis in trajectory tracking tasks using a force-reflecting joystick. A nonlinear effect was consistently shown in both dimensions of force...
The carotid sinus baroreflex is one of the most important negative feedback systems to stabilize arterial pressure. Although static characteristics of the carotid sinus baroreflex can be assessed by using a stepwise input protocol under baroreflex open-loop conditions, the step duration has been determined empirically. In the present study, we examined the effects of different time windows (5–10,...
Currently invasive BRS estimates are obtained with drug-induced data assuming a sigmoidal SBP-RR relationship, while spontaneous BRS estimates are obtained with non-sigmoidal estimators. In particular, the events (sequences) technique provides a spontaneous BRS estimate based on baroreflex events, BEs (baroreflex sequences, BSs). In this work, BRS estimates are compared considering that can be obtained...
The gait movement seems simple at first glance, but in reality it is a very complex neural and biomechanical process. In particular, if a person is affected by a disease or an injury, the gait may be modified. To help detecting such change, we propose a new method based on multiple depth cameras. The aim of this paper is to show the possibility to reconstruct the body 3D volume in real time during...
An amalgamated concept of Internet of m-health Things (m-IoT) has been introduced recently and defined as a new concept that matches the functionalities of m-health and IoT for a new and innovative future (4G health) applications. It is well know that diabetes is a major chronic disease problem worldwide with major economic and social impact. To-date there have not been any studies that address the...
This study reports the effects of age and gender on the surface electromyogram while performing isometric contraction. Experiments were conducted with two age groups — Young (Age: 20–29) and Old (Age: 60–69) where they performed sustained isometric contractions at various force levels (50%, 75%, 100% of maximum voluntary contraction). Traditional features such as root mean square (RMS) and median...
This study analyzes motor adaptation during a redundant tasks with the wrist. The goal is threefold: (i) understanding if motor adaptation also occurs when CNS is involved in the solution of the redundancy problem; (ii) addressing whether motor strategies used to solve redundancy (i.e Donders' law) are disrupted or not during adaptation; (iii) verifying if motor strategies remain the same during adaptation...
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