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In this paper, we present our efforts towards more personalized diabetes treatment using the mobile application. The application helps to overcome the problem of missing and inaccurate data on blood glucose level, therapy, physical activity and other parameters, and allows development of the algorithms based on daily data of diabetic patients. For the purpose of our research, we developed two devices: myGluco - a small, portable device to be included into the glucose measurement kit patients carry with them on daily basis intended to transfer the saved blood glucose data from the glucose meter to the diabetic patients monitoring platform, and myWrist – the second small, portable device to track patients’ physical activity level and to serve in guiding the patients in performing strength exercises and to enable recording of their performance during exercising.

In order to achieve better self-control of their diabetes and to decrease long-term risks of complications, diabetic patients monitor several different parameters on a day-to-day basis. These parameters, such as blood glucose level, insulin intake, weight, diet, exercise and physical activity, blood pressure, can be easily acquired using IT technologies without oppressing the patient with handwritten diaries. At the same time, healthcare professionals are provided with the data on time and can intervene without delay, if necessary. The system collects data on blood glucose level using special device for communication between glucose meter and either a smartphone or a PC. A person’s weight is acquired using a modified body scale which, while weighing, at the same time scans patient’s feet and stores images for further processing and comparison with the images from pressure measurement platform. Patients enter their own diet and therapy using a smartphone app. Information on exercise and physical activity is provided using WBAN (Wireless Body Area Network) system with complementing software, both developed at our University. The system supports patients while performing previously determined exercise plan without the immediate presence of trainer, and also acquires data on regular daily activity (walking, running, sitting, …). The parts of the system providing some of the parameters are either developed in our previous studies or commercial, and they are integrated into our e- system. After collecting, the data is stored in a database for further use by diabetic patients themselves or by their healthcare providers.

In patients undergoing Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) surgery postoperative atrial fibrillation (AF) occurs with prevalence of up to 40%. The highest incidence is between the second and third day after the operation. Following cardiac surgery AF causes various complications, hemodynamic instability, and can cause heart attack, cerebral and other thromboemolisms. AF increases morbidity, duration and expense of medical treatment. This study aims to identify patients at high risk of postoperative AF. An early prediction of AF would provide a timely prophylactic treatment and would reduce incidence of arrhythmia. Patients at low risk of postoperative AF could be excluded from the side effects of anti- arrhythmic drugs. The investigation included 50 patients in whom lead II electrocardiograms were continuously recorded for 48 hours following CABG. Univariate statistical analysis was used in the search of signal features that might predict AF. The most promising identified features were: P wave duration, RR interval duration and PQ segment level. On the basis of these a nonlinear multivariate prediction model was made deploying a Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier. The prediction accuracy was found uprising over the time. At 48 hours following CABG ; the measured best average sensitivity was 95.9% and specificity 93.4%. The positive and negative predictive accuracy were 88.9% and 98.8%, respectively and the overall accuracy was 94.6%. In regard to the prediction accuracy, the risk assessment and prediction of postoperative AF are optimal to be done in the period between 24 and 48 hours following CABG.

Human motion tracking has an important role in a wide variety of applications, including physical exercise. Exercise tracking systems based on the combined use of inertial and magnetic sensors (also called IMU systems) have witnessed a fast increase in popularity in recent years due to their high accuracy and portability. Nonetheless, a complete solution that would guide a user in correctly performing a movement and provide a real-time evaluation of the performed movement is still not available. This paper presents an IMU based system for human motion tracking and its application in real-time evaluation of repetitive physical exercise. The user is provided with a visual demonstration of the correct exercise execution and his own movements. An algorithm is used to compare the movements, thus enabling quantitative and qualitative exercise assessment. However, only simple exercises (that include one limb motion) have been tested with this system, and evaluation of more complex movements shall be explored in the future.

Human balance control system allows people to independently perform acts of daily living and to avoid falls that can cause injuries and hospitalization. Aging or various pathologies may cause disorders in the balance system and result in wide variety of problems and generally decreased quality of life. Researchers and health professionals therefore strive to develop effective methods and instruments for prompt diagnosis and rehabilitation of balance disorders. A common approach used to detect balance problems in scientific studies and clinical applications is to analyze various parameters of postural stability gathered during quiet stance. This paper presents an experimental setting for postural stability evaluation composed of two independent systems. A commercial force platform (Ecowalk) and a sensor node with multiple inertial and magnetic sensors are combined to simultaneously measure trunk orientation and center-of-pressure (COP) during quiet stance. A preliminary study with 8 healthy subjects was conducted in order to test the system functionality. Trunk orientation and COP were measured in four different conditions for every subject as they tried to maintain steady upright position. The area of trunk sway trajectory and COP variability were calculated from orientation and force platform measurements. The goal of this study was to explore whether use of the created experimental setting can provide a measure of two different biomechanical properties related to the balance control system during quiet stance trials. The initial results are promising as they have shown consistency in both variables during trials in different conditions, but further measurements with more subjects are needed for stronger conclusions.

The Finnish Society for Medical Physics and Medical Engineering is an interdisciplinary, non-profit, and professional society for physicists, engineers, and physicians. The Society was established in 1968, and the number of members at 2008 was about 140. The members of the Society are from educational and research institutes as well as from health care companies and hospitals. The purpose of the Society is to arouse and maintain interest towards medical physics, medical engineering, and biophysics in Finland. The Society also aims to strengthen the development of research, education, and industry in these disciplines.

Deutsche Wissenschaftler, die im Bereich Biomedizinische Technik, BioEngineering, Klinische Medizintechnik oder medizinische Informations- und Kommunikationstechnik arbeiten, sind in der DGBMT organisiert.

As early as 1965, a group of medical engineers, headed by Prof. G. Francini, met to formally organise the Italian Electronic Group applied to Medicine and Biology in affiliation with the International Federation of Medical and Biological Engineering (IFMBE).

We salute the IFMBE on reaching its 50th year of service. It is for us also a reason to celebrate because 2008 marked the 30th anniversary of BESSA’s establishment.

The practice of medicine and surgery by pre-Columbian civilizations in Mexico has been extensively documented.

The Estonian Society for Biomedical Engineering and Medical Physics (ESBMEMP) was established in 1994, as a joint society. In small countries, such as Estonia, it is probably unreasonable to differ between educational specialists and professionals in Medical Physics (MP) and Biomedical Engineering (BME), because the possibilities of employment within so narrow a field of qualification are quite limited. Today, the total number of members is 60.

German scientists in the field of biomedical engineering, bioengineering, clinical engineering, and medical ICT are organized in the DGBMT. The Society now has about 2,000 members including physicians, engineers, natural scientists, and companies. The Society serves as an inter- and multidisciplinary platform that brings together people from basic research, R&D, industry, and medical applications.

Biomedical Engineering (BME) practice in Nigeria can be said to have started in the 1970s, during which collaborative efforts were made by engineers, medical doctors, pharmacists, physicists, technicians, and other scientists. However, its development has been slow with most of the developmental efforts in the area of training - short courses, continuing education, or professional development.

The XVI Argentine Congress of Bioengineering and the V Conference of Clinical Engineering (SABI2007) were held in San Juan from 26 to 28 September 2007, organized by the Regional Cuyo Argentina Sociedad de Bioingenieria and the School of Engineering at the Universidad Nacional de San Juan.

The Croatian Medical and Biological Engineering Society (CROMBES) has more than a 100 members - scientists and experts involved in different scientific fields of biomedical engineering. CROMBES has been, and we hope will continue to be, the platform for interdisciplinary cooperation in biomedical engineering in Croatia and internationally.

When asked back in 1997 whether I would accept a nomination for the Administrative Council elections, I was torn between being proud to be found worthy to serve the Federation in such important office and the apprehension to deprive my Institute of time and efforts without being able to really move a lot in the world of medical and biological engineering. When I finally agreed to accept the nomination, I did not intend to get involved in the administration of the Federation for more than one term.

The Cyprus Association of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, CAMPBE for short, was created in 1988.

The ICMCC Foundation (www.icmcc.org) focuses on the social, societal, and ethical implications of computing and networking (compunetics) in medicine and care.

The Society of Biomedical Engineering and Medical Physics of Serbia (BIMEF) was founded in late 1980s as a voluntary scientific - professional national organization consisting of qualified biomedical engineers and medical physicists with university degrees and working in alliance with medical staff in hospitals, universities, or research institutes.

We present a computationally-efficient three dimensional bidomain model of torso-embedded whole-heart electrical activity, with spontaneous initiation of activation in the sinoatrial node, incorporating a specialized conduction system with heterogeneous action potential morphologies throughout the heart. The simplified geometry incorporates the whole- heart as a volume source, with heart cavities, lungs and torso as passive volume conductors. We placed four surface electrodes at the limbs of the torso: V_R (right arm), V_L (left arm), V_F (left leg) and V_GND (right leg or ground) and six electrodes on the chest (V_1, V_2, V_3, V_4, V_5, V_6) to simulate the Einthoven, Goldberger- augmented and precordial leads of a standard 12- lead system. By placing an additional seven electrodes at the appropriate torso positions, we were also able to calculate the vectorcardiogram of the Frank lead system. The model was able to simulate realistic electrocardiogram (ECG) morphologies for the 12 standard leads, orthogonal X, Y and Z leads, as well as the vectorcardiogram under normal and pathological heart states. Thus simplified and easy replicable 3D cardiac bidomain model offers a compromise between computational load and model complexity and can be used as an investigative tool to adjust cell, tissue and whole-heart properties, such as setting ischemic lesions or regions of myocardial infarction, to readily investigate their effects on whole ECG morphology.

Pacing Lead as a High Frequency Cardiomechanic Sensor. The purpose of this study was to investigate the possibility of detecting and quantifying ventricular contraction in sheep utilizing the cardiomechanic sensor based upon the high frequency (HF) parameters measurements on bipolar cardiac pacing leads. Measurement of the HF reflection coefficient yields the lead-bending signal (LBS) caused by myocardial contraction. The correlation between the lead-bending acceleration (LBA) expressed as the rate of rise of LBS and LV dP/dt should reveal that LBS may be utilized as a cardiomechanic sensor in implantable cardiac electrotherapy devices.We implanted 3 different pacing leads and tested the measurement system in 9 sheep (42 ± 6 kg) at baseline and during acute hemodynamic intervention with dobutamine infusion and tachycardia induced by VVI pacing at 200 bpm. A stable, consistent, and reproducible LBS was obtained in all sheep during the implantation procedure and 4 months after the implantation during different experimental conditions that included hemodynamic interventions. The dependence between LBAmax and LV dP/dtmax was found to be statistically significant and with high Pearson's correlation coefficient (r = 0.855, P0.001). We could also observe the hemodynamic deterioration caused by fast ventricular pacing with the decrease of LV dp/dt and LBA compared with sinus rhythm.This study confirms the feasibility and efficacy of the hemodynamic sensor based upon HF lead parameters. Moreover, it was demonstrated that LBAmax is highly correlated to the ventricular contractility and, therefore, can be efficiently used as a hemodynamic and cardiomechanic sensor. (J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol, Vol. 24, pp. 338-346, March 2013).

Physical activity is an important factor of an individual’s health, and often a part of rehabilitation for patients suffering from post-trauma or some chronic diseases. The objective of this paper is to present the use of Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) for measuring mobility and physical activity during assisted exercising as well as the algorithms for quantification of measurement results. Wireless sensor network is composed of sensor nods located on examinees’ body. With the help of networked sensors, it is possible to detect other physiological parameters of examinees at the same time, such as heart rate, breathing rate, temperature and body posture. Monitoring of physical activity has been realized with a three-axis accelerometer, while the data acquired from sensor node is sent to the central wearable node. Algorithms for the classification of mobility (different type of physical activity) during standard daily activities and for differentiation of exercises during workout has been developed and validated on a number of volunteers. In this paper we report on the second, used for assisted exercising. The algorithm is based on the first-neighbour method in n-dimensional space of signal features. Algorithm shows good features for physically different exercises. Our experience also indicates that the monitoring of physical activity and vital parameters at the same time is adequate for application in the rehabilitation of diabetic patients.

Patient care and management can be significantly improved by introduction of remote home care and monitoring. Patients with diabetes are obliged to collect and monitor data such as blood glucose level, insulin doses applied, weight, daily exercise and activity and/or blood pressure. This paper describes complete system for remote home care and monitoring of patients, the Personalized Intelligent Mobile Health System (PIMHS) for Diabetic Patients. The system is based on a custom made wireless network and includes three types of devices. Mobile unit is the main device for monitoring basic physiological functions, data storage and management. This device is lightweight and is worn on patient’s belt. It monitors physiological functions such as ECG, heart rate, temperature, breathing rate and physical activity. Peripheral devices from different manufacturers (e.g. glucometer, blood pressure management) or custom made sensors can be connected to this network via interconnection devices, and data can be sent to mobile unit. While out of wireless network range, mobile unit stores the measured data in a card memory of up to 4GB capacity. When it is in the range of wireless network, data is automatically transferred to the web database over the access point connected to the internet. Web database is user interface for data management, available to patient and medical personnel. Graphical representation and analysis of data can be performed according to personal needs and wishes of the user.

In patients undergoing Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) surgery post- operative atrial fibrillation (AF) occurs with a prevalence of up to 40%. The highest incidence is seen between the second and third day after the operation. Following cardiac surgery AF may cause various complications such a hemodynamic instability, heart attack and cerebral or other thromboembolisms. AF increases morbidity, duration and expense of medical treatments. This study aims at identifying patients at high risk of post- operative AF. An early prediction of AF would provide a timely prophylactic treatment and would reduce the incidence of arrhythmia. Patients at low risk of post-operative AF could be excluded on the basis of the contraindications of anti- arrhythmic drugs. The study included 50 patients in whom lead II electrocardiograms were continuously recorded for 48 hours following CABG. Univariate statistical analysis was used in the search for signal features that could predict AF. The most promising ones identified were: P wave duration, RR interval duration and PQ segment level. On the basis of these, a non-linear multivariate prediction model was made by deploying a classification tree. The prediction accuracy was found to increase over the time. At 48 hours following CABG, the measured best smoothed sensitivity was 84.8% and specificity 85.4%. The positive and negative predictive values were 72.7% and 92.8%, respectively and the overall accuracy was 85.3%. In regard to the prediction accuracy, the risk assessment and prediction of post- operative AF is optimal in the period between 24 and 48 hours following CABG.

The aim of this study is to compare different methods for the classification type problems specifically in predicting Atrial Fibrillation (AF) after Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG). The prediction/classification model tends to predict a categorical dependent variable (which determines the belonging of patient to a group of patients that have or to a group of patients that have not developed AF), by one or more continuous and/or categorical predictor variables derived from the patients' history, electrocardiograms and in particular from the P wave. We have obtained the parameters from continuously recorded ECG after the surgery.

The aim of the study was to develop methodology for long- term study of ECG parameters, in particular the P wave parameters. In this study we address continuous monitoring of different P wave parameters in the group of patients after Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) in order to examine potential predictors of atrial fibrillation. Lead II of the standard surface ECG was recorded in the period of typically 48 hours in patients after CABG. Dyadic wavelet transform analysis with first derivation of Gaussian smoothing function as a mother wavelet, was used for a QRS and a P wave detection, characterization and delineation. During the recording, for every patient, in every hour, vector of 108 P wave components was calculated, allowing continuous and deeper insight into atrial activity.

The aim of this study was to investigate the acceptability and usability of information technology as one mean of psycho-social rehabilitation of paraplegic and quadriplegic patients with spinal cord injury. From a group of 66 selected individuals, 17 (25.7%) have chosen a course in informatics as a priority of their interests. Out of 16 offered activities within the project, courses in informatics were rated on the sixth position, i.e. rated in the more popular part of the possible activities. 11 individuals out of 14 who entered the course (78.6%), successfully finished it and rated the course with very high notes (4.5 on scale 1-5). The informatics course presented the possibilities of teleconferencing and discussed the possibilities information and communication technology applications in the frame of a telerehabilitation project.

Biofeedback training is often used in rehabilitation of anal sphincter muscles and is a prefered method in pediatrics. It usually comprises the measurement of the myoelectric activity and/or the pressure with an intra-anal manometer. In this paper, a biofeedback system enabling audio- and visual monitoring of both, myoelectric signals and intra-anal pressure is presented. The system was developed for pediatric feedback training, even for infants younger than five years. The pressure is measured with thin piezoelectric sensors positioned in-between EMG electrodes on an anal probe. The main advantages of this design is that it enables non-invasive measurement of myoelectric signals and that abdominal pressure is not affecting the results of pressure measurement during contraction of anal sphincters. High sensitivity can be achieved even at the beginning of the training when the produced force is very small in contrast to the myoelectric signal which decreases during training.