Dual rheumatoid factor and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody positivity affects the manifestations of rheumatoid arthritis.

Introduction: Rheumatoid factor (RF) and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody (ACPA) are used in the diagnosis and prognostication of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We wanted to determine the specific contributions of RF and ACPA to the biological nature of RA and whether they act synergistically.

Methods: We identified 731 patients from our prospective multi-ethnic RA cohort and categorised them into four groups: ACPA-positive, RF-positive, doubly positive and doubly negative.

Smart wearable systems: current status and future challenges.

Objective: Extensive efforts have been made in both academia and industry in the research and development of smart wearable systems (SWS) for health monitoring (HM). Primarily influenced by skyrocketing healthcare costs and supported by recent technological advances in micro- and nanotechnologies, miniaturisation of sensors, and smart fabrics, the continuous advances in SWS will progressively change the landscape of healthcare by allowing individual management and continuous monitoring of a patient's health status. Consisting of various components and devices, ranging from sensors and actuators to multimedia devices, these systems support complex healthcare applications and enable low-cost wearable, non-invasive alternatives for continuous 24-h monitoring of health, activity, mobility, and mental status, both indoors and outdoors.

Behaviour monitoring of the elderly by trajectories analysis.

This paper presents a way to keep the elderly autonomous in their daily activities. The principle is to monitor their behaviour and more specifically their trajectories of movement in the living area. Two methods have been developed and compared: supervised and unsupervised classification.

Smart homes - current features and future perspectives.

In an ageing world, maintaining good health and independence for as long as possible is essential. Instead of hospitalization or institutionalization, the elderly and disabled can be assisted in their own environment 24h a day with numerous 'smart' devices. The concept of the smart home is a promising and cost-effective way of improving home care for the elderly and the disabled in a non-obtrusive way, allowing greater independence, maintaining good health and preventing social isolation.

A review of smart homes- present state and future challenges.

In the era of information technology, the elderly and disabled can be monitored with numerous intelligent devices. Sensors can be implanted into their home for continuous mobility assistance and non-obtrusive disease prevention. Modern sensor-embedded houses, or smart houses, cannot only assist people with reduced physical functions but help resolve the social isolation they face.

Assessment of activity of elderly people using a home monitoring system.

A multisensor home monitoring system has been developed within a telecare project to help elderly people by observing mobility changes indicative of abnormal events. This paper assesses the motor activity and the relationships between activity measures using the system. The motor activity data (in bed, getting up, getting out, visiting the toilets) are analysed from a statistical perspective to assess changes in occurrence, time and duration.

Empirical analysis of transcriptional activity in the Arabidopsis genome.

Functional analysis of a genome requires accurate gene structure information and a complete gene inventory. A dual experimental strategy was used to verify and correct the initial genome sequence annotation of the reference plant Arabidopsis. Sequencing full-length cDNAs and hybridizations using RNA populations from various tissues to a set of high-density oligonucleotide arrays spanning the entire genome allowed the accurate annotation of thousands of gene structures.

Validation of a remote monitoring system for the elderly: application to mobility measurements.

The aim of this paper is to introduce a smart tool for the assessment of the mobility of patient with motor disorders and to evaluate its performance through some initial experiments. These experiments are based on a system which is composed of sensors connected to a Personal Computer (PC) using data acquisition cards and a communication network. The PC includes a data acquisition and processing software.