VIVID: Independent Living of Aging Adults Suffered a Stroke.

Based on the recent statistics published by the Stroke Association (UK), first-time incidence of stroke occurs almost 17 million times a year worldwide (one every two seconds), making Stroke as the second cause of death in the world. By the age of 75, 1 in 5 women and 1 in 6 men will have a stroke, which is one of the largest causes of disability, as half of all stroke survivors have a disability, making those persons dependent on others (1 in 5 are cared for by family and/or friends). People living longer is a cause for celebration, but older people are more vulnerable to mental health, cognition and physical problems, especially if they have already experienced a stroke (minor or mild).

Utilizing Key Item Method to Manage Musculoskeletal Disorders in a Hospital Workplace.

Management of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) is a necessity for the modern work environment. In hospitals, these disorders have a particularly high frequency among health care workers whose work entails lifting and transporting patients as well as washing, dressing and feeding them. This paper, presents an electronic application which is based on the method of basic items (KIM - Key Item Method) in order to reduce incidents of MSDs resulting from manual transport of loads in healthcare facilities.

The "Prisoner's Dilemma" in the Tumor Biology Context: The Warburg Effect, Proliferation Dynamics and Equilibria.

There are numerous theories concerning carcinogenesis. Starting from the Warburg effect, which was one of the first theories concerning the mitochondrial dysfunction in tumor cells. Further on, the "two-hit" theory, where tumors were considered to be the outcome of genetic aberrations or mutations and more specifically of a certain number of "hits" each one resulting in a mutation.

Evaluation for the Necessity of Medical Imaging Tests Prescription in Neurology.

The evaluation and control algorithms for the necessity of medical prescription testing, comprises useful tool for health professionals. It is beyond doubt that a connection between illness, symptoms, medical tests and prescriptions is essential and thus algorithms facilitating such approaches should be available to health professionals. Such informatics tools require the implementation of smart, interactive tools and not just linear, information storing websites.

Time‑dependent and independent effects of thyroid hormone administration following myocardial infarction in rats.

Cardiac function is reduced following myocardial infarction (MI) due to myocardial injury and alterations in the viable non‑ischemic myocardium, a process known as cardiac remodeling. The current treatments available for patients with acute MI (AMI) reduce infarct size, preserve left ventricular (LV) function and improve survival; however, these treatments do not prevent remodeling, which can lead to heart failure. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of thyroid hormone (TH) treatment following MI in an in vivo rat model.

An Internet of Things platform architecture for supporting ambient assisted living environments.

Internet of Things (IoT) is the logical further development of today's Internet, enabling a huge amount of devices to communicate, compute, sense and act. IoT sensors placed in Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) environments, enable the context awareness and allow the support of the elderly in their daily routines, ultimately allowing an independent and safe lifestyle. The vast amount of data that are generated and exchanged between the IoT nodes require innovative context modeling approaches that go beyond currently used models.

Effect of modeling parameters on the frequency response of the middle ear by means of finite element analysis.

A 3D finite element model of the human middle ear was developed for the investigation of the modeling parameters' effect on the frequency response. In this study, we incorporated realistic reconstructed geometries from microCT imaging data. The geometric representation of the stapedial annular ligament provided additional damping and the Rayleigh parameter β was adjusted to lower values in comparison to previous computational studies.

Smart adaptable system for older adults' Daily Life Activities Management - The ABLE platform.

In this paper we propose a system (ABLE) that will act as the main platform for a number of low-cost, mature technologies that will be integrated in order to create a dynamically adaptive Daily Life Activities Management environment in order to facilitate the everyday life of senior (but not exclusively) citizens at home. While the main target group of ABLE's users is the ageing population its use can be extended to all people that are vulnerable or atypical in body, intellect or emotions and are categorized by society as disabled. The classes of assistive products that are well defined in the international standard, ISO9999 such as assistive products for personal medical treatment, personal care and protection, communication, information and reaction and for personal mobility, will be easily incorporated in our proposed platform.

Occlusal caries detection using random walker algorithm: a graph approach.

The aim of this work is to present a modification of the Random Walker algorithm for the segmentation of occlusal caries from photographic color images. The modification improves the detection and time execution performance of the classical Random Walker algorithm and also deals with the limitations and difficulties that the specific type of images impose to the algorithm. The proposed modification consists of eight steps: 1) definition of the seed points, 2) conversion of the image to gray scale, 3) application of watershed transformation, 4) computation of the centroid of each region, 5) construction of the graph, 6) application of the Random Walker algorithm, 7) smoothing and extraction of the perimeter of the regions of interest and 8) overlay of the results.

Reconstruction of cochlea based on micro-CT and histological images of the human inner ear.

The study of the normal function and pathology of the inner ear has unique difficulties as it is inaccessible during life and, so, conventional techniques of pathologic studies such as biopsy and surgical excision are not feasible, without further impairing function. Mathematical modelling is therefore particularly attractive as a tool in researching the cochlea and its pathology. The first step towards efficient mathematical modelling is the reconstruction of an accurate three dimensional (3D) model of the cochlea that will be presented in this paper.

Novel mobile-health technologies.

Mobile Health is fast becoming one of the fastest growing sectors of health as health tries to shift to patient-centric solutions. Putting the patients in the centre of care also forces them to take control of their wellbeing, health management and/or disease management. This is especially relevant when the management is constant as it is the case with chronic diseases.

E-Health towards ecumenical framework for personalized medicine via Decision Support System.

The purpose of the present manuscript is to present the advances performed in medicine using a Personalized Decision Support System (PDSS). The models used in Decision Support Systems (DSS) are examined in combination with Genome Information and Biomarkers to produce personalized result for each individual. The concept of personalize medicine is described in depth and application of PDSS for Cardiovascular Diseases (CVD) and Type-1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) are analyzed.

Mobile phone technologies and advanced data analysis towards the enhancement of diabetes self-management.

Advances in the area of mobile and wireless communication for healthcare (m-Health) along with the improvements in information science allow the design and development of new patient-centric models for the provision of personalised healthcare services, increase of patient independence and improvement of patient's self-control and self-management capabilities. This paper comprises a brief overview of the m-Health applications towards the self-management of individuals with diabetes mellitus and the enhancement of their quality of life. Furthermore, the design and development of a mobile phone application for Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) self-management is presented.

SMARTDIAB: a communication and information technology approach for the intelligent monitoring, management and follow-up of type 1 diabetes patients.

SMARTDIAB is a platform designed to support the monitoring, management, and treatment of patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), by combining state-of-the-art approaches in the fields of database (DB) technologies, communications, simulation algorithms, and data mining. SMARTDIAB consists mainly of two units: 1) the patient unit (PU); and 2) the patient management unit (PMU), which communicate with each other for data exchange. The PMU can be accessed by the PU through the internet using devices, such as PCs/laptops with direct internet access or mobile phones via a Wi-Fi/General Packet Radio Service access network.

Neural network based glucose - insulin metabolism models for children with Type 1 diabetes.

In this paper two models for the simulation of glucose-insulin metabolism of children with Type 1 diabetes are presented. The models are based on the combined use of Compartmental Models (CMs) and artificial Neural Networks (NNs). Data from children with Type 1 diabetes, stored in a database, have been used as input to the models.

Diterpenes from the brown algae Dictyota dichotoma and Dictyota linearis.

Nineteen secondary metabolites of the brown alga Dictyota dichotoma (Huds.) Lam. and fifteen metabolites of the brown alga D.

Chemical composition and biological activity of Nepeta parnassica oils and isolated nepetalactones.

Essential oils of Nepeta parnassica, collected at different developmental stages, were analyzed by means of GC/MS. From the fifty-five identified constituents in samples A and B, representing 94.8% and 98.

New brominated labdane diterpenes from the red alga Laurencia obtusa.

Two labdane type brominated diterpenes (1 and 2) containing unprecedented eight- and seven-membered ether rings have been isolated from the organic extract of the red alga Laurencia obtusa, collected from Mitikas Bay in the Ionean Sea, Greece. The structures of the new natural products, as well as their relative stereochemistry, were established by means of spectral data analysis, including 2D NMR experiments.

Novel cytotoxic brominated diterpenes from the red alga Laurencia obtusa.

Five new brominated diterpenes, along with two known, have been isolated from the organic extract of the red alga Laurencia obtusa, collected from the coastal rocks of Preveza in the Ionean Sea, Greece. The novel metabolites prevezols B-E possess two new carbon skeletons, to the best of our knowledge, unprecedented in the literature. The structures and the relative stereochemistry of the new natural products were established by means of spectral data analyses.

Brasilane-type sesquiterpenoids from Laurencia obtusa.

[structure: see text] Three novel halogenated rearranged sesquiterpenes (1-3) have been isolated along with brasilenol (4) and epibrasilenol (5) from the organic extract of the red alga Laurencia obtusa, collected at Symi island in the Aegean Sea, Greece. The new metabolites possess the unusual skeleton of brasilane and contain the unprecedented 1,6-epoxy moiety. The structures of the new natural products, as well as their relative stereochemistry, were established by means of spectral data analyses, including two-dimensional NMR experiments along with molecular calculations.

C(15) Acetogenins from the red alga Laurencia obtusa.

Four C(15) acetogenins, 13-epilaurencienyne (3Z) (1), 13-epipinnatifidenyne (3E) (2), (3E, 6S(*), 7R(*), 9S(*), 10S(*), 12R(*))-9-chloro-13-bromo-6:12-epoxy-7, 10-diacetoxypentadec-3-en-1-yne (3), (3Z, 6S(*), 7R(*), 9S(*), 10S(*), 12R(*))-9-chloro-13-bromo-6:12-epoxy-7, 10-diacetoxypentadec-3-en-1-yne (4), along with the known 13-epilaurencienyne (3E) (5), have been isolated from the organic extract of the red alga Laurencia obtusa, collected in the Aegean Sea, Greece. The structures of the new natural products, as well as their relative stereochemistry, were established by means of spectral data analysis, including 2D NMR spectroscopic experiments. Some of the new metabolites exhibited significant insecticidal activity.