Gabriela Dudnik

Preventing obesity and eating disorders through behavioural modifications: The SPLENDID vision

Recent intensive research in the fields of obesity and eating disorders has proved most traditional interventions inadequate: The obesity-targeting interventions have either failed or are strongly social context dependent, while the interventions for eating disorders have poor results and high levels of relapse. On the contrary, recent randomized control trials have illustrated that supervised training of patients to eat and move in a non-pathological way is effective in the prevention of both obesity and eating disorders. Applying the same kind of methodologies to the general population in real life conditions for prevention purposes comes as the logical next step. SPLENDID is a recently initiated EU-funded collaborative project that intends to develop a personalised guidance system for helping and training children and young adults to improve their eating and activity behaviour. By combining expertise in behavioural patterns with current advancements in intelligent systems and sensor technologies, SPLENDID is going to detect subjects at risk for developing obesity or eating disorders and offer them enhanced monitoring and guidance to prevent further disease progression. Both behavioural data collection and system evaluation are going to be performed via pilot studies supported by expert health professionals.

SWAN-iCare: A smart wearable and autonomous negative pressure device for wound monitoring and therapy

The EU FP7 SWAN-iCare project aims at developing an integrated autonomous device for the monitoring and the personalized management of chronic wounds, mainly diabetic foot ulcers and venous leg ulcers. Most foot and leg ulcers are caused by diabetes and vascular problems respectively but a remarkable number of them are also due to the co-morbidity influence of many other diseases (e.g. kidney disease, congestive heart failure, high blood pressure, inflammatory bowel disease). More than 10 million people in Europe suffer from chronic wounds, a number which is expected to grow due to the aging of the population. The core of the project is the fabrication of a conceptually new wearable negative pressure device equipped with Information and Communication Technologies. Such device will allow users to: (a) accurately monitor many wound parameters via non-invasive integrated micro-sensors, (b) early identify infections and (c) remotely provide an innovative personalized two-line therapy via non-invasive micro-actuators to supplement the negative pressure wound therapy. This paper describes the main components of the SWAN-iCare system and its potential impact in the area of wound management.

Smart garments for emergency operators: Results of laboratory and field tests

The first generation of ProeTEX prototypes has been completed at the end of August 2007. In the following period two main activities have involved the project partners. On one hand new technologies (in terms of sensors and devices) to be integrated in the next releases of prototypes have been developed; on the other hand intensive test sessions on the first prototype (both in laboratory conditions and simulating real operative scenarios) have been carried out. This paper is mainly focused on this second facet. Great efforts have been dedicated to the trials for different reasons: firstly to investigate the appropriateness and efficiency of the system in normal and harsh conditions; secondly to obtain useful indications regarding usability and efficacy by the endusers involved in the project. The results of the trials have been used to define the specifications of the second generation of prototypes, that will be released within the end of 2008.

SWAN-iCare project: Towards smart wearable and autonomous negative pressure device for wound monitoring and therapy

This paper describes the SWAN-iCare system and its potential impact in the area of wound management. The SWAN-iCare project aims at developing an integrated autonomous device for the monitoring and the personalized management of chronic wounds, mainly diabetic foot ulcers and venous leg ulcers. Most foot and leg ulcers are caused by diabetes and vascular problems respectively but a remarkable number of them are also due to the co-morbidity influence of many other diseases (e.g. kidney disease, congestive heart failure, high blood pressure, inflammatory bowel disease). More than 10 million people in Europe suffer from chronic wounds, a number which is expected to grow due to the aging of the population. The core of the project is the fabrication of a conceptually new wearable negative pressure device equipped with Information and Communication Technologies. Such device will allow users to: (a) accurately monitor many wound parameters via non-invasive integrated micro-sensors, (b) early identify infections and (c) remotely provide an innovative personalized two-line therapy via non-invasive micro-actuators to supplement the negative pressure wound therapy.