London, United Kingdom, 2nd November 2015 – The latest technology advances for the clinical management of Parkinson’s disease are explored in cutting-edge research published today by the IEEE’s Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics (J-BHI). Authored by distinguished researchers in the field, the papers of the Special Issue on “Enabling Technologies for Parkinson’s Disease Management” are available to download now from the IEEE Xplore® Digital Library via
http://jbhi.embs.org/Parkinson’s disease is the most common neurological movement disorder, with a prevalence of up to 2% in the elderly. The new research published in this Special issue represents the edge between the current technical abilities of engineering solutions and clinical applications for the management of Parkinson’s disease, spanning wearable technologies and the Internet of Things, body sensor networks and smart home techniques.
Clinical assessments throughout the course of Parkinson’s disease consume substantial resources and repeated assessments are generally impractical. Most techniques only provide a snap-shot of the patients’ daily life impairments rather than the progression of the disease and efficacy of treatment. From a clinical perspective, sensor-based movement diagnostics offers significant benefits. Sensor-based diagnostics can be conducted remotely in free-living environments, thus improving assessment quality and allowing continuous quantitative assessment. The ability to continuously analyse motor movements during everyday living creates the potential for unobtrusive assessment and monitoring under real-life conditions. This objective information on quality of life and daily functioning could complement the diagnostic workup to greatly enhance disease management and address individual patients’ needs – while ultimately reducing healthcare costs.
Professor Guang-Zhong Yang PhD, FREng, Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE J-BHI comments: “The ability of engineering solutions to deliver early assessment, real-time monitoring, and better rehabilitation of Parkinson’s disease is a key emerging trend for the future successful management of this widespread condition. This special issue, which gathers together the pre-eminent researchers in the field, introduces a number of important new ideas and technologies, including the application of body sensor networks to aid diagnosis, monitoring and treatment for a wide variety of chronic neurologic and musculoskeletal disorders.”
The articles included in this Special Issue are:
Body Sensor Network-based Kinematic Characterization and Comparative Outlook of UPDRS Scoring in Leg Agility, Sit-to-Stand, and Gait Tasks in Parkinson's Disease
Authors: Parisi, Federico; Ferrari, Gianluigi; Giuberti, Matteo; Contin, Laura; Cimolin, Veronica; Azzaro, Corrado; Albani, Giovanni; Mauro, Alessandro
Classification of Parkinson’s Disease Gait Using Spatial-Temporal Gait Features Authors: Wahid, Ferdous; Begg, Rezaul; Hass, Chris; Halgamuge, Saman; Ackland, David
Contribution of a Trunk Accelerometer System to the Characterization of Gait in Patients with Mild to Moderate Parkinson’s disease.
Authors: Demonceau, Marie; Donneau, Anne-Françoise; Croisier, Jean-Louis; Skawiniak, Eva; Boutaayamou, Mohamed; Maquet, Didier; Garraux, Gaëtan
A System for Real-Time Feedback to Improve Gait and Posture in Parkinsons Disease
Authors: Jellish, Jeremy; Abbas, James; Ingalls, Todd; Mahant, Padma; Samanta, Johan; Ospina, Maria; Krishnamurthi, Narayanan
Characterization Methods for the Detection of Multiple Voice Disorders: Neurological, Functional, and Organic Diseases
Authors: Orozco-Arroyave, Juan; Belalcázar-Bolaños, Elkyn; Arias-Londoño, Julián; Vargas-Bonilla, Jesús; Skodda, Sabine; Rusz, Jan; Hönig, Florian; Daqrouq, Khaled; Nöth, Elmar
Validity and responsiveness of at-home touch-screen assessments in advanced Parkinson’s disease
Authors: Memedi, Mevludin; Nyholm, Dag; Johansson, Anders; Pålhagen, Sven; Willows, Thomas; Widner, Håkan; Linder, Jan; Westin, Jerker
A Smartphone-based Tool for Assessing Parkinsonian Hand Tremor
Authors: Kostikis, Nikolaos; Hristu-Varsakelis, Dimitrios; Arnaoutoglou, Marianthi; Kotsavasiloglou, Christos
Prediction of Freezing of Gait in Parkinson's from Physiological Wearables: An Exploratory Study
Authors: Mazilu, Sinziana; Calatroni, Alberto; Gazit, Eran; Mirelman, Anat; Hausdorff, Jeffrey; Troester, Gerhard
Dual Motor-Cognitive Virtual Reality Training Impacts Dual-Task Performance in Freezing of Gait
Authors: Killane, Isabelle; Fearon, Conor; Newman, Louise; McDonnell, Conor; Waechter, Saskia; Sons, Kristian; Lynch, Timothy; Reilly, Richard
What Engineering Technology Could Do for Quality of Life in Parkinsons Disease: a Review of Current Needs and Opportunities
Authors: Stamford, Jon; Schmidt, Peter; Friedl, Karl
An Emerging Era in the Management of Parkinsons disease: Wearable Technologies and the Internet of Things
Authors: Pasluosta, Cristian; Gassner, Heiko; Winkler, Juergen; Klucken, Jochen; Eskofier, Bjoern
Analyzing Activity Behavior and Movement in a Naturalistic Environment using Smart Home Techniques
Authors: Cook, Diane; Dawadi, Prafulla; Schmitter-Edgecombe, Maureen
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Notes to editors:
About the IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics:
IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics (J-BHI) publishes original papers describing recent advances in the field of biomedical and health informatics where information and communication technologies intersect with health, healthcare, life sciences and biomedicine. Papers must contain original content in theoretical analysis, methods, technical development, and/or novel clinical applications of information systems.
The J-BHI is one of the leading journals in computer science and information systems with a strong interdisciplinary focus and biomedical and health application emphasis. Topics covered by J-BHI include, but are not limited to: acquisition, transmission, storage, retrieval, management, processing and analysis of biomedical and health information; applications of information and communication technologies to the practice of healthcare, personal well-being, preventive care and early diagnosis of diseases, and discovery of new therapies and patient specific treatment protocols; and integration of electronic medical and health records, methods of longitudinal data analysis, data mining and knowledge discovery tools.
The IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society:
IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS) is the world’s largest and oldest biomedical engineering organization. It has over 9,800 members and 1,900 student members worldwide. The Society benefits both humanity and its members by:
Advancing medicine and biology through the application of engineering sciences and technology
Promoting the profession of biomedical engineering, fostering professional development and recognizing excellence
Presenting conferences that bring together scientists, engineers and physicians from multiple disciplines to disseminate knowledge and solve complex problems
Establishing technical standards
Providing global leadership for the profession
EMBS members are focused on the development and application of engineering concepts and methods to provide new solutions to biological, medical and healthcare problems. The Society identifies and recognizes the accomplishments and technological excellence of its members. It helps to demonstrate to the world and educate the public about the importance of biomedical engineering while creating interest in the profession as a career.
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