243 results match your criteria: "ETH Centre[Affiliation]"

Blood-brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction is suggested to be a potential mediator between vascular risk factors and cognitive impairment, leading to vascular cognitive impairment. To investigate the relationships between age, sex, and vascular risk factors and BBB water permeability as well as their relationship with cognition. To measure BBB permeability, a novel arterial spin labelling MRI technique (ME-ASL) was applied to derive the time of exchange (Tex), arterial time transit (ATT), and cerebral blood flow (CBF).

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Article Synopsis
  • Soft robotics is being explored for rehabilitation, offering potential benefits for individuals recovering upper limb motor function after injuries, with an emphasis on increased safety and comfort compared to traditional rigid robotics.
  • The article reviews clinical evidence from 37 studies on 13 different soft upper limb devices used in both clinical and home environments, assessing their effectiveness and user experience.
  • It aims to guide future developments in soft robotic rehabilitation by providing recommendations for design and application, highlighting the importance of understanding user needs and clinical outcomes.
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Objective: To pilot a digital health technologies ecosystem known as project SingaporeWALK (earables and pps for ommunity iving and nowledge) that build capacity in older adults, senior center managers, health coaches, and caregivers in using health technologies (eg, wearables, apps, exergames) collaboratively in a gamified way for active aging.

Materials And Methods: The SingaporeWALK ecosystem was set up through 3 initiatives: (1) co-developing technologies with stakeholders; (2) raising digital literacy and capacity building; and (3) cultivating community and intergenerational bonding for active aging through gamified technology use.

Results: Significant improvements in older adults' self-reported physical and mental health post-intervention were observed.

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Wearable non-invasive neuroprosthesis for targeted sensory restoration in neuropathy.

Nat Commun

December 2024

Neuroengineering Laboratory, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.

Peripheral neuropathy (PN), the most common complication of diabetes, leads to sensory loss and associated health issues as pain and increased fall risk. However, present treatments do not counteract sensory loss, but only partially manage its consequences. Electrical neural stimulation holds promise to restore sensations, but its efficacy and benefits in PN damaged nerves are yet unknown.

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Comprehensive industry-relevant black soldier fly bioconversion characterisation by a novel chamber system.

Waste Manag

December 2024

ETH Zurich, Laboratory of Sustainable Food Processing, Schmelzbergstrasse 9 8092, Zurich, Switzerland; Singapore-ETH Centre,1 Create Way 138602, Singapore.

Black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) efficiently convert biowaste into valuable animal feed. Sustainable and reliable bioconversion is desirable to achieve optimal economic and environmental outcomes. Thus, science and industry require an accessible research platform to study complex bioconversion processes under conditions mirroring industrial-scale settings.

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Encouraging arm use in stroke survivors: the impact of smart reminders during a home-based intervention.

J Neuroeng Rehabil

December 2024

Rehabilitation Engineering Laboratory, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.

Background: Upper limb impairment post-stroke often leads to a predominant use of the less affected arm and consequent learned disuse of the affected side, hindering upper limb outcome. Wearable sensors such as accelerometers, combined with smart reminders (i.e.

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Discriminatory Accuracy of Fracture Risk Assessment Tool in Asian Populations: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

J Bone Metab

November 2024

Future Health Technologies, Singapore-ETH Centre, Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE), Singapore, Singapore.

Background: This review explores the discriminative ability of fracture risk assessment tool (FRAX) in major osteoporotic fracture (MOF) and hip fracture (HF) risk prediction and the densitometric diagnosis of osteoporosis in Asian populations.

Methods: We systematically searched the EMBASE, Cochrane, and PubMed databases from the earliest indexing date to January 2024. Studies were included if FRAX was used to identify future osteoporotic fractures or a densitometric diagnosis of osteoporosis in an Asian population and reported the area under the curve (AUC) values.

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Background: Falls and fall-related injuries among older adults in Singapore are a serious health problem that require early intervention. In previous research, exercise interventions have been effective in improving functional outcomes and reducing falls for a broad group of older adults. However, results from multi-domain, multi-component falls prevention programs for high fall risk older adults in the community remain equivocal.

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In the face of global rising temperatures and excessive urban heat, developing effective heat mitigation strategies has become increasingly urgent. Street shade, a typical cooling shelter for urban dwellers, has been primarily investigated for outdoor thermal comfort but not extensively under extreme heat conditions. This study explores the cooling efficacy of diverse street shade types in mitigating urban heat, thereby facilitating cities and their residents' adaptation to climatic shifts.

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"Men Need Role Models": Exploring the Facilitators and Barriers for Yoga Participation Among Men.

Am J Mens Health

November 2024

Physically Active Lifestyles Research Group, Centre for Health Research, University of Southern Queensland, Springfield Central, Queensland, Australia.

Yoga is a holistic form of physical activity taken up for various reasons, including physical and mental health, and sometimes spirituality. Despite the growing popularity of yoga as a form of health-enhancing physical activity, data show the uptake among men to be consistently low compared to women. To gain an understanding of barriers and facilitators for yoga uptake and adherence among men, four focus group discussions (three male groups, one female group) and three individual interviews were undertaken.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Adaptive pacing (AP) helps individuals with chronic health issues, like myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome and potentially long COVID, manage their energy and balance rest to avoid worsening symptoms.
  • - A study explored patient experiences using the "PaceMe" app, which involved narrative interviews to gather insights on its benefits over 3-6 months.
  • - Four main themes emerged from the study: effective management of post-exertional malaise (PEM), support from the app, validation of experiences, and a sense of control for users, showcasing the app's importance in long COVID rehabilitation.
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Background: The success of using bone mineral density and/or FRAX to predict femoral osteoporotic fracture risk is modest since they do not account for mechanical determinants that affect bone fracture risk. Computed Tomography (CT)-based geometric, densitometric, and finite element-derived biomarkers have been developed and used as parameters for assessing fracture risk. However, to quantify these biomarkers, segmentation of CT data is needed.

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Introduction: Murine models are used to test the effect of anti-osteoporosis treatments as they replicate some of the bone phenotypes observed in osteoporotic (OP) patients. The effect of disease and treatment is typically described as changes in bone geometry and microstructure over time. Conventional assessment of geometric changes relies on morphometric scalar parameters.

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Background: Digital innovations can reduce the global burden of depression by facilitating timely and scalable interventions. In recent years, the number of commercial Digital Health Interventions for Depression (DHIDs) has been on the rise. However, there is limited knowledge on their content and underpinning scientific evidence.

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Background: Unstable gait leading to falls negatively impacts the quality of life in many people with Parkinson's disease (PD). Systematic review evidence provides moderate to strong evidence of efficacy for a wide range of physiotherapy-based interventions to reduce gait impairment. However, outcomes have often focused on gait assessments conducted in controlled laboratory or clinical environments.

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At higher levels of driving automation, drivers can nap during parts of the trip but must take over control in others. Awakening from a nap is marked by sleep inertia which is tackled by the NASA nap paradigm in aviation: Strategic on-flight naps are restricted to 40 min to avoid deep sleep and therefore sleep inertia. For future automated driving, there are currently no such strategies for addressing sleep inertia.

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Background: It is estimated that 1 in 4 stroke survivors will experience a second stroke. Educating patients about risk factors for stroke and a generally healthier lifestyle may help prevent recurrent strokes, which are a burden on society and the healthcare system. The goals of this paper were to investigate the estimated level of knowledge of stroke patients regarding their disease, the methods of information commonly used in clinical practice, the topics that should be included in an educational program aimed at improving health knowledge among stroke survivors, and how such a program could be delivered with the help of technology-based education (i.

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Background: Spaced digital education applies digital tools to deliver educational content via multiple, repeated learning sessions separated by prespecified time intervals. Spaced digital education appears to promote acquisition and long-term retention of knowledge, skills, and change in clinical behavior.

Objective: The aim of this review was to assess the effectiveness of spaced digital education in improving pre- and postregistration health care professionals' knowledge, skills, attitudes, satisfaction, and change in clinical behavior.

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Finger-specific effects of age on tapping speed and motor fatigability.

Front Hum Neurosci

September 2024

Neural Control of Movement Lab, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.

Introduction: Increased motor fatigability is a symptom of many neuromuscular and neurodegenerative disorders. However, it is difficult to pinpoint pathological motor fatigability, since the phenomena has not yet been fully characterized in the healthy population. In this study, we investigate how motor fatigability differs across age.

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ExTraCT - Explainable trajectory corrections for language-based human-robot interaction using textual feature descriptions.

Front Robot AI

September 2024

Rehabilitation Research Institute of Singapore (RRIS), Joint Research Institute by Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A∗STAR) and National Healthcare Group (NHG), Singapore, Singapore.

Introduction: In human-robot interaction (HRI), understanding human intent is crucial for robots to perform tasks that align with user preferences. Traditional methods that aim to modify robot trajectories based on language corrections often require extensive training to generalize across diverse objects, initial trajectories, and scenarios. This work presents ExTraCT, a modular framework designed to modify robot trajectories (and behaviour) using natural language input.

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Background: Precise and unequivocal specification of intervention content is key to facilitating the accumulation and implementation of knowledge. The Behaviour Change Technique Taxonomy v1 (BCTTv1) is the most widely used classification of behaviour change techniques (BCTs), providing a shared, standardized vocabulary to identify the active ingredients of behavioural interventions. However, the BCTTv1 is only available in English and this hampers its broad use and adoption.

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Sleeping behaviors are determined by lockdown and not work-from-home arrangements.

Sci Rep

September 2024

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore, 2 Engineering Drive 3, Singapore, 117581, Singapore.

Lockdowns and work-from-home arrangements became abrupt realities for people at an unprecedented scale during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, considering the case of Singapore, we study how peoples' sleep behaviors-which are closely linked to their mental health-varied as a result. However, different from most studies, this paper uses household electricity consumption data to estimate the sleeping behaviors of nearly 10,000 households in the city-state.

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Dynamic causal modelling highlights the importance of decreased self-inhibition of the sensorimotor cortex in motor fatigability.

Brain Struct Funct

December 2024

Neural Control of Movement Lab, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, Gloriastrasse 37/39, Zurich, 8092, Switzerland.

Motor fatigability emerges when challenging motor tasks must be maintained over an extended period of time. It is frequently observed in everyday life and affects patients as well as healthy individuals. Motor fatigability can be measured using simple tasks like finger tapping at maximum speed for 30 s.

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This study assesses the impact of single-player and multiplayer exergaming modes on improving exercise intentions, reduction of fear of falling, and emotional well-being among older adults, primarily from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds-a group often underrepresented in exergame research. We engaged 48 participants, primarily from low-SES communities in Singapore for a 4-week community-based exergaming intervention. Participants were divided into four groups as follows: (1) conventional exercise alone, (2) exergames alone, (3) exergames with a health coach, and (4) exergames with a peer.

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