Research Publications Archives - Healthentia

Advanced Data Processing of Pancreatic Cancer Data Integrating Ontologies and Machine Learning Techniques to Create Holistic Health Records

System — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 14:01:15 +0000

CATEGORY: Ontologies and Machine Learning Techniques

SOURCE: MDPI Open Access Journals, Sensors, March 2024, 24(6), 1739; https://doi.org/10.3390/s24061739

Advanced Data Processing of Pancreatic Cancer Data Integrating Ontologies and Machine Learning Techniques to Create Holistic Health Records

George Manias¹, Ainhoa Azqueta-Alzúaz², Athanasios Dalianis³, Jacob Griffiths⁴, Maritini Kalogerini ³, Konstantina Kostopoulou⁵, Eleftheria Kouremenou¹, Pavlos Kranas⁶, Sofoklis Kyriazakos⁵, Danae Lekka⁵, Fabio Melillo⁷, Marta Patiño-Martinez², Oscar Garcia Perales⁴, Aristodemos Pnevmatikakis⁵, Salvador Garcia Torrens⁸, Usman Wajid⁴ and Dimosthenis Kyriazis¹

¹Department of Digital Systems, University of Piraeus, 18534 Piraeus, Greece

²Facultad de Informática, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain

³Athens Technology Center S.A., 15233 Athens, Greece

⁴Information Catalyst, S.L., 46800 Xàtiva, Spain

⁵Innovation Sprint, 1200 Brussels, Belgium

⁶LeanXscale, 28223 Madrid, Spain

⁷Engineering Ingegneria Informatica SpA, 00144 Rome, Italy

⁸Hospital de Denia Marina Salud S.A., 03700 Alicante, Spain

^*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Abstract

The modern healthcare landscape is overwhelmed by data derived from heterogeneous IoT data sources and Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems. Based on the advancements in data science and Machine Learning (ML), an improved ability to integrate and process the so-called primary and secondary data fosters the provision of real-time and personalized decisions. In that direction, an innovative mechanism for processing and integrating health-related data is introduced in this article. It describes the details of the mechanism and its internal subcomponents and workflows, together with the results from its utilization, validation, and evaluation in a real-world scenario. It also highlights the potential derived from the integration of primary and secondary data into Holistic Health Records (HHRs) and from the utilization of advanced ML-based and Semantic Web techniques to improve the quality, reliability, and interoperability of the examined data. The viability of this approach is evaluated through heterogeneous healthcare datasets pertaining to personalized risk identification and monitoring related to pancreatic cancer. The key outcomes and innovations of this mechanism are the introduction of the HHRs, which facilitate the capturing of all health determinants in a harmonized way, and a holistic data ingestion mechanism for advanced data processing and analysis.

Keywords: machine learning; ontologies; semantic web; holistic health records; data science; primary and secondary data; pancreatic cancer; wearables

More Publications

The post Advanced Data Processing of Pancreatic Cancer Data Integrating Ontologies and Machine Learning Techniques to Create Holistic Health Records appeared first on Healthentia.

HIV Patients’ Tracer for Clinical Assistance and Research during the COVID-19 Epidemic (INTERFACE): A Paradigm for Chronic Conditions

System — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 13:55:30 +0000

CATEGORY: Advances in AI for Health and Medical Applications

SOURCE: MDPI Open Access Journals, Information, February 2022, 13(2), 76; https://doi.org/10.3390/info13020076

HIV Patients’ Tracer for Clinical Assistance and Research during the COVID-19 Epidemic (INTERFACE): A Paradigm for Chronic Conditions

Antonella Cingolani^1,2 , Konstantina Kostopoulou³, Alice Luraschi^1,4, Aristodemos Pnevmatikakis³, Silvia Lamonica¹, Sofoklis Kyriazakos^3,5, Chiara Lacomini^1,4, Francesco Vladimiro Segala², Giulia Micheli², Cristina Seguiti², Stathis Kanavos³, Alfredo Cesario^1,3, Enrica Tamburrini ^1,3, Stefano Pararnello², Vincenzo Valentini ^1,2,4 and Roberto Cauda ^1,4

¹Fondazione Policlinico A. Gemelli IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy

²Infectious Diseases Department, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Rome, Italy

³Innovation Sprint, 1200 Brussels, Belgium

⁴Gemelli Generator, Fondazione Policlinico A. Gemelli IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy

⁵BTECH, Department of Business Development and Technology, Aarhus University, 7400 Herning, Denmark

^*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Abstract

The health emergency linked to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has highlighted problems in the health management of chronic patients due to their risk of infection, suggesting the need of new methods to monitor patients. People living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) represent a paradigm of chronic patients where an e-health-based remote monitoring could have a significant impact in maintaining an adequate standard of care. The key objective of the study is to provide both an efficient operating model to “follow” the patient, capture the evolution of their disease, and establish proximity and relief through a remote collaborative model. These dimensions are collected through a dedicated mobile application that triggers questionnaires on the basis of decision-making algorithms, tagging patients and sending alerts to staff in order to tailor interventions. All outcomes and alerts are monitored and processed through an innovative e-Clinical platform. The processing of the collected data aims into learning and evaluating predictive models for the possible upcoming alerts on the basis of past data, using machine learning algorithms. The models will be clinically validated as the study collects more data, and, if successful, the resulting multidimensional vector of past attributes will act as a digital composite biomarker capable of predicting HIV-related alerts. Design: All PLWH > 18 sears old and stable disease followed at the outpatient services of a university hospital (n = 1500) will be enrolled in the interventional study. The study is ongoing, and patients are currently being recruited. Preliminary results are yielding monthly data to facilitate learning of predictive models for the alerts of interest. Such models are learnt for one or two months of history of the questionnaire data. In this manuscript, the protocol—including the rationale, detailed technical aspects underlying the study, and some preliminary results—are described. Conclusions: The management of HIV-infected patients in the pandemic era represents a challenge for future patient management beyond the pandemic period. The application of artificial intelligence and machine learning systems as described in this study could enable remote patient management that takes into account the real needs of the patient and the monitoring of the most relevant aspects of PLWH management today.

Keywords: HIV; COVID-19; e-Clinical assistance; outcome prediction

More Publications

The post HIV Patients’ Tracer for Clinical Assistance and Research during the COVID-19 Epidemic (INTERFACE): A Paradigm for Chronic Conditions appeared first on Healthentia.

Risk Assessment for Personalized Health Insurance Products

System — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 12:18:08 +0000

CATEGORY: Healthcare insurance, Explainable AI, Personalized healthcare, Real-world data, IoT, Big data

SOURCE: Big Data and Artificial Intelligence in Digital Finance. Springer, Cham. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-94590-9_16

Risk Assessment for Personalized Health Insurance Products

Kyriazakos S., Pnevmatikakis A., Perikleous A., Kanavos S. (2022)

Abstract

The way people lead their lives is considered an important factor in health. In this chapter, we describe a system to provide risk assessment based on behavior for the health insurance sector. The system processes real-world data (RWD) of individuals from their daily life that enumerate different aspects of behavior collection. The data have been captured using the Healthentia platform and a simulator that augments the actual dataset with synthetic data. Classifiers are built to predict variations of peoples’ well-being short-term outlook. Risk assessment services are provided to health insurance professionals by processing the classifier predictions in the long term while explaining the classifiers themselves provide insights on the coaching of the users of the service.

Keywords: Healthcare insurance, Explainable AI, Personalized healthcare, Real-world data, IoT, Big data

More Publications

The post Risk Assessment for Personalized Health Insurance Products appeared first on Healthentia.

The Role of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence in Clinical Research and Digital Therapeutics

System — Mon, 28 Aug 2023 13:06:29 +0000

CATEGORY: Artificial Intelligence, Big data, Clinical research, Real-World Data, Digital therapeutics SOURCE: Personalized Medicine Meets Artificial Intelligence. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-32614-1_6

The Role of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence in Clinical Research and Digital Therapeutics

Kyriazakos S., Pnevmatikakis A., op den Akker H., Kostopoulou K. (2023), In: Cesario, A., D’Oria, M., Auffray, C., Scambia, G. (eds) Abstract Healthcare is among the pioneering industries in the velocity of generation of big data, from the time that Electronic Health Records, Internet-of-Things, and electronic medical devices have been introduced. Researchers around the world are curating large volumes of data and applying Artificial Intelligent (AI) algorithms that give meaning to medical conditions, as well as prediction of clinical outcomes. The clinical research domain, which has been a laggard in digital transformation, is running today at high speed, utilizing electronic solutions that enable capturing of Real-World Data (RWD) in decentralized virtual clinical studies that aim to shorten the life cycle of drug development and the associated costs. At the same time, the domain of Digital Therapeutics (DTx) has been recently established, with various electronic solutions that process RWD to provide digital interventions that improve health-related endpoints. In this chapter, we will review how clinical research and DTx domains have been accelerated by the existence of Big data and AI algorithms and we will describe smart services that are expected to further boost the healthcare industry. Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Big data, Clinical research, Real-World Data, Digital therapeutics

More Publications

The post The Role of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence in Clinical Research and Digital Therapeutics appeared first on Healthentia.

Acceptance and Potential Impact of the eWALL Platform for Health Monitoring and Promotion in Persons with a Chronic Disease or Age-Related Impairment

System — Wed, 29 Mar 2023 13:22:48 +0000

CATEGORY: eHealth, Health monitoring, telemonitoring, COPD Remote patient monitoring

SOURCE: Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(21), 7893; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17217893

Acceptance and Potential Impact of the eWALL Platform for Health Monitoring and Promotion in Persons with a Chronic Disease or Age-Related Impairment

Francesco Infarinato, Stephanie Jansen-Kosterink, Paola Romano, Lex van Velsen, Harm op den Akker, Federica Rizza, Marco Ottaviani, Sofoklis Kyriazakos, Beatrix Wais-Zechmann, Markus Garschall, Stefano Bonassi, and Hermie J. Hermens

Abstract

Pervasive health technologies can increase the effectiveness of personal health monitoring and training, but more user studies are necessary to understand the interest for these technologies, and how they should be designed and implemented. In the present study, we evaluated eWALL, a user-centered pervasive health technology consisting of a platform that monitors users' physical and cognitive behavior, providing feedback and motivation via an easy-to-use, touch-based user interface. The eWALL was placed for one month in the home of 48 subjects with a chronic condition (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease-COPD or mild cognitive impairment-MCI) or with an age-related impairment. User acceptance, platform use, and potential clinical effects were evaluated using surveys, data logs, and clinical scales. Although some features of the platform need to be improved before reaching technical maturity and making a difference in patients' lives, the real-life evaluation of eWALL has shown how some features may influence patients' intention to use this promising technology. Furthermore, this study made it clear how the free use of different health apps is modulated by the real needs of the patient and by their usefulness in the context of the patient's clinical status.

The post Acceptance and Potential Impact of the eWALL Platform for Health Monitoring and Promotion in Persons with a Chronic Disease or Age-Related Impairment appeared first on Healthentia.

Council of Coaches – A Novel Holistic Behavior Change Coaching Approach

System — Wed, 29 Mar 2023 13:18:06 +0000

CATEGORY: Agent-based Interfaces; Autonomy and Active Ageing; Intelligent Companions; Multi-modal Interaction ; Personalized Interfaces; Speech and Tactile Interfaces; Systems to Encourage Healthy Lifestyles

SOURCE: In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health - ICT4AWE, ISBN 978-989-758-299-8; ISSN 2184-4984, SciTePress, pages 219-226. DOI: 10.5220/0006787702190226

Council of Coaches - A Novel Holistic Behavior Change Coaching Approach

Harm op den Akker, Rieks op den Akker, Tessa Beinema, Oresti Banos, Dirk Heylen, Björn Bedsted, Alison Pease, Catherine Pelachaud, Vicente Traver Salcedo, Sofoklis Kyriazakos,and Hermie Hermens

Abstract

A modern way of life needs a modern way of coaching. Despite the proliferation of ICT solutions for personalized health care, there is still no easy way to provide older adults with integrated coaching services. In this paper we introduce the concept of Council of Coaches - a radically new virtual coaching concept based on multiple autonomous, embodied virtual coaches, which form together a personal council that fulfills the needs of older adults in an integrated way. In this concept, coaching takes the form of an open dialog in which clients co-construct together with a selected number of coaches their own plans to go for a healthier lifestyle. Virtual coaches are presented to users by means of embodied conversational social characters. We discuss technical and social challenges on the path towards realizing the Council of Coaches concept, a radically new view of health coaching that involves the state of the art in human-computer interaction, natural dialogue, and argumentation technology.

The post Council of Coaches – A Novel Holistic Behavior Change Coaching Approach appeared first on Healthentia.

eWALL: An Open-Source Cloud-Based eHealth Platform for Creating Home Caring Environments for Older Adults Living with Chronic Diseases or Frailty

System — Wed, 29 Mar 2023 13:13:33 +0000

CATEGORY: eHealth, eCare, Personal Health Systems, COPD, MCI, Frailty Assistant, Remote patient monitoring
SOURCE: Wireless Pers Commun 97, 1835-1875 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11277-017-4656-7

eWALL: An Open-Source Cloud-Based eHealth Platform for Creating Home Caring Environments for Older Adults Living with Chronic Diseases or Frailty

Sofoklis Kyriazakos, Ramjee Prasad, Albena Mihovska, Aristodemos Pnevmatikakis, Harm op den Akker, Hermie Hermens, Paolo Barone, Alessandro Mamelli, Samuele de Domenico, Matthias Pocs, Andrej Grguric, Miran Mosmondor, Dina Simunic, Antun Kerner, Nikola Zaric, Milica Pejanović-Djurišić, Vladimir Poulkov, Krasimir Tochev, Beatrix Zechmann, Markus Garschall, Angeliki Angeletou, Stefano Bonassi, Francesco Infarinato, Octavian Fratou, Alexandru Vulpe, Carmen Voicu, Liljana Gavrilovska & Vladimir Atanasovski

Abstract

Independent living of older adults is one of the main challenges linked to the ageing population. Especially those living with diseases like COPD, MCI or frailty, need more support in everyday life and this is by itself a big societal challenge with impact in multiple sectors. In this paper we present eWALL, an innovative open-source eHealth platform that aims to address these challenges by means of an advanced cloud-based infrastructure. eWALL is designed in an innovative manner and achieved technical breakthroughs in eHealth platforms, while prioritizing user and market needs that are often abandoned and are the major reason for technically sound solutions that fail. We consider this as an opportunity and we aim to change the eHealth systems' experience for older adults and break the barriers for the penetration of ICT solutions.

The post eWALL: An Open-Source Cloud-Based eHealth Platform for Creating Home Caring Environments for Older Adults Living with Chronic Diseases or Frailty appeared first on Healthentia.

Rehabilitation, the Great Absentee of Virtual Coaching in Medical Care: Scoping Review

System — Wed, 29 Mar 2023 13:10:13 +0000

CATEGORY: virtual coaching, rehabilitation, clinical medicine, review, embodied conversational agent, physical activity, health behavior
SOURCE: Journal of Medical Internet Research, 01.10.2019, doi:10.2196/12805

Rehabilitation, the Great Absentee of Virtual Coaching in Medical Care: Scoping Review

Peppino Tropea, Hannes Schlieter, Irma Sterpi, Elda Judica, Kai Gand, Massimo Caprino, Inigo Gabilondo, Juan Carlos Gomez-Esteban, Stefan Busnatu, Crina Sinescu, Sofoklis Kyriazakos, Sadia Anwar, Massimo Corbo

Abstract

In the last few years, several studies have focused on describing and understanding how virtual coaches (ie, coaching program or smart device aiming to provide coaching support through a variety of application contexts) could be key drivers for health promotion in home care settings. As there has been enormous technological progress in the field of artificial intelligence and data processing in the past decade, the use of virtual coaches gains an augmented attention in the considerations of medical innovations. This scoping review aimed at providing an overview of the applications of a virtual coach in the clinical field. In particular, the review focused on the papers that provide tangible information for coaching activities with an active implication for engaging and guiding patients who have an ongoing plan of care.

The post Rehabilitation, the Great Absentee of Virtual Coaching in Medical Care: Scoping Review appeared first on Healthentia.

FORECAST – A cloud-based personalized intelligent virtual coaching platform for the well-being of cancer patients

System — Wed, 29 Mar 2023 13:05:59 +0000

CATEGORY: Cancer coaching, Personalized medicine, Cloud eHealth platforms
SOURCE: Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, FEB. 22, 20(5), 3937; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20053937;

FORECAST – A cloud-based personalized intelligent virtual coaching platform for the well-being of cancer patients

Sofoklis Kyriazakos, Vincenzo Valentini, Alfredo Cesario, Robert Zachariae

Abstract

Well-being of cancer patients and survivors is a challenge worldwide, considering the often chronic nature of the disease. Today, a large number of initiatives, products and services are available that aim to provide strategies to face the challenge of well-being in cancer patients; nevertheless the proposed solutions are often non-sustainable, costly, unavailable to those in need, and less well-received by patients. These challenges were considered in designing FORECAST, a cloud-based personalized intelligent virtual coaching platform for improving the well-being of cancer patients. Personalized coaching for cancer patients focuses on physical, mental, and emotional concerns, which FORECAST is able to identify. Cancer patients can benefit from coaching that addresses their emotional problems, helps them focus on their goals, and supports them in coping with their disease-related stressors. Personalized coaching in FORECAST offers support, encouragement, motivation, confidence, and hope and is a valuable tool for the wellbeing of a patient.

The post FORECAST – A cloud-based personalized intelligent virtual coaching platform for the well-being of cancer patients appeared first on Healthentia.

A Novel Virtual Coaching System Based on Personalized Clinical Pathways for Rehabilitation of Older Adults—Requirements and Implementation Plan of the vCare Project

System — Wed, 29 Mar 2023 12:21:54 +0000

CATEGORY: virtual coaching, personalized medicine, clinical pathways (CPs), home rehabilitation, digital health (eHealth), embodied conversational agents
SOURCE: Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), Front. Digit. Health 2:546562. doi: 10.3389/fdgth.2020.546562

A Novel Virtual Coaching System Based on Personalized Clinical Pathways for Rehabilitation of Older Adults—Requirements and Implementation Plan of the vCare Project

Sofoklis Kyriazakos, Hannes Schlieter, Kai Gand, Massimo Caprino, Massimo Corbo, Peppino Tropea, Elda Judica, Irma Sterpi, Stefan Busnatu, Patrick Philipp, Jordi Rovira, Alvaro Martínez, Marc Lange, Inigo Gabilondo, Rocio Del Pino, Juan Carlos Gomez-Esteban, Lucia Pannese, Morten Bøttcher, and Vibeke Lynggaard

Abstract

Home-based rehabilitation after an acute episode or following an exacerbation of a chronic disease is often problematic with a clear lack of continuity of care between hospital and home care. Secondary prevention is an essential element of long-term rehabilitation where strategies oriented toward risk reduction, treatment adherence, and optimization of quality of life need to be applied. Frail and sometimes isolated, the patient fails to adhere to the proposed post-discharge clinical pathway due to lack of appropriate clinical, emotional, and informational support. Providing a suitable rehabilitation after an acute episode or a chronic disease is a major issue, as it helps people to live independently and enhance their quality of life. However, as the rehabilitation period usually lasts some months, the continuity of care is often interrupted in the transition from hospital to home. Virtual coaches could help these patients to engage in a personalized rehabilitation program that complies with age-related conditions. These coaches could be a key technology for empowering patients toward increasing their adherence to the care plan and to improve their secondary prevention measures. In this paper, we are presenting a novel virtual coaching system that will address these challenges by combining recent technological advances with clinical pathways, based on joint research and validation activities from researchers from the medical and information and communication technology (ICT) domains.

The post A Novel Virtual Coaching System Based on Personalized Clinical Pathways for Rehabilitation of Older Adults—Requirements and Implementation Plan of the vCare Project appeared first on Healthentia.