Thursday, January 11, 2024

Smart Homes Redefined

The concept of a smart home has evolved significantly, with technologies now focusing on health monitoring. The integration of advanced sensors and devices into our living spaces promises not only convenience but also proactive health management. 

While sensors placed throughout the home can detect air and water contaminants, allergens, and pollutants, high-resolution cameras and microphones and other non-contact measurement devices could allow health monitoring and remote consultations with healthcare professionals. 

Smart mirrors in bathrooms should transcend mere reflective surfaces. Enhanced with advanced computer vision capabilities, they could assess skin conditions, identify changes in appearance, and offer personalized health and beauty recommendations. They could also analyze the eyes for early signs of various health conditions, extending far beyond mere glaucoma and cataract detection. The eyes can unveil valuable information about cholesterol levels, liver conditions, and diabetes. Eye monitoring technology is a testament to the saying, "The eye is the window to the soul," extending its truth to health monitoring.

Ambient sensors equipped with radar technology in living rooms and bedrooms can continuously monitor vital signs like pulse rates. This non-intrusive monitoring could provide a seamless health tracking experience for residents.

Recent advancements include the use of mmWave radar sensors for continuous monitoring of human activity. Recently built system, utilizing an NVIDIA Jetson Nano board for real-time processing and a Texas Instruments Millimeter-Wave Radar Sensor, offers a non-intrusive and privacy-respecting way to monitor activities like sitting, walking, standing, and even detecting falls. This radar technology poses a challenge due to the high-dimensional point cloud data it generates. The PointNet neural network is developed to process this data efficiently, preserving spatial relationships and offering accurate activity classification. 

The traditional method of measuring SpO2 involves contact sensors, which can be inconvenient for prolonged use. New techniques for contactless SpO2 measurement using different light wavelengths in video images are being developed. This approach promises a more comfortable and accessible way to monitor oxygen saturation levels, especially crucial in the wake of health crises like COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of non-intrusive health monitoring, especially for elderly individuals. The development of a Multi-scaled Long Short Term Memory (Ms-LSTM) model, as part of a smart toilet system, represents a significant step in this direction. This model enables effective home-based health diagnostics through urine analysis, leveraging the IoT-Fog-Cloud paradigm. It's a particularly vital tool for early detection of potential viral infections, including COVID-19, in the elderly. The Ms-LSTM model integrates a four-layered architecture including data acquisition, fog layer (processing and analyzing the data locally) , cloud (for deeper analysis) and interface layer. The proposed system offers a non-invasive, efficient method for early disease detection and preventive health. 

The integration of health monitoring technologies into smart homes is transforming how we approach personal health. From environmental sensors to advanced radar and neural networks, these innovations promise a future where health management is seamlessly woven into our daily lives. As technology continues to advance, we can expect even more sophisticated health monitoring solutions to emerge, making proactive health care a tangible reality in the comfort of our homes.  


REFERENCES

Alhazmi AK, Alanazi MA, Alshehry AH, Alshahry SM, Jaszek J, Djukic C, Brown A, Jackson K, Chodavarapu VP. Intelligent Millimeter-Wave System for Human Activity Monitoring for Telemedicine. Sensors (Basel). 2024 Jan 2;24(1):268. doi: 10.3390/s24010268. PMID: 38203130.

Sasaki S, Sugita N, Terai T, Yoshizawa M. Non-Contact Measurement of Blood Oxygen Saturation Using Facial Video Without Reference Values. IEEE J Transl Eng Health Med. 2023 Sep 25;12:76-83. doi: 10.1109/JTEHM.2023.3318643. PMID: 38088997; PMCID: PMC10712673.

Kumar D, Sood SK, Rawat KS. Empowering elderly care with intelligent IoT-Driven smart toilets for home-based infectious health monitoring. Artif Intell Med. 2023 Oct;144:102666. doi: 10.1016/j.artmed.2023.102666. Epub 2023 Sep 20. PMID: 37783534.

Fatima H, Imran MA, Taha A, Mohjazi L. Internet of Mirrors for Connected Healthcare and Beauty: A Prospective Vision. arXiv preprint arXiv:2311.14734. 2023 Nov 21.

Friday, September 15, 2023

The Inverse Vaccine's Crusade Against Multiple Sclerosis and Other Autoimmune Diseases

In the human body, there are many diverse communities working together to protect and nourish their beloved realm. The humblest among them are the Peasant Microbes from our microbiome, the first line of defense, always ready to shield their territory from the nefarious invaders keen on causing havoc.

And then there is the skin - the high stone walls of the castle, which act as a barrier to prevent the invaders from entering. These walls are fortified with various defensive structures like water barriers and parapets, representing the different layers of the immune system that use various methods to deter the assault of pathogens. 

Then, we have the Jedi Masters of the immune system, the T cells. These are seasoned warriors, adept in distinguishing friend from foe. They patrol our body, teaching the younger warriors the art of recognizing and defeating the intruders. They hold the precious memories of past battles, ensuring that future attacks can be fended off swiftly and efficiently.

However, there came a time when these warriors could no longer tell friend from foe, leading them to attack the very thing they were sworn to protect - the Myelin, a protective sheath that covered the nerves of the kingdom, the pathways that communicated messages throughout the land. This tragedy unfolded as a vicious disease, making the residents suffer from weakness, numbness, and the loss of vital functionalities.

In the midst of this crisis, the magical "Inverse Vaccine" was proposed, which promised to restore peace and harmony in the land.

This Inverse Vaccine was a gentle teacher invoking mechanisms of immune tolerance. Through the utilization of a special sugar called N-acetylgalactosamine or pGal, it marked molecules with "do not attack" flags, mimicking the peaceful liver’s natural process of marking aged cells as friends, not foes. These molecules were sent to the great Liver School, where the T cell warriors were educated to differentiate between the true invaders and the kingdom's loyal citizens.

The T cells, now wise and compassionate, ceased their attack on the loyal myelin. This allowed the nerves to flourish once again, reviving the kingdom to its original glory, where each component worked in unison, guarding their territory while nurturing their community, promising a future of health and prosperity.

REFERENCE

Tremain, A.C., Wallace, R.P., Lorentz, K.M. et al. Synthetically glycosylated antigens for the antigen-specific suppression of established immune responses. Nat. Biomed. Eng 7, 1142–1155 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-023-01086-2

Monday, July 24, 2023

The Past, Present, and Future of AI-Powered Medicine

In this era of rapidly advancing technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is spearheading transformative changes, particularly within the healthcare sector. A prime example is ChatGPT, a game-changer that is fast becoming an influential player in the biomedical field. Its potential to catalyze innovation and revolutionize medical research is profound. 

A MedrXiv paper posted today is a systematic review of AI in biomedical literature. The scope of this review is broad, encompassing preprints, peer-reviewed articles, case reports, patents, clinical trials, and even FDA approvals. The paper talks about impact of AI, including ChatGPT, across all medical specialties and subsets of publications, finding overrepresented domains within each subset, highlighting potential research gaps, biases, or areas of excessive focus. 

The pace at which the biomedical literature is growing is staggering, with two new papers being added every minute, around the clock. The MedrXiv paper also brings to light the limitations of current medical publishing models. 

The human author collaborated with ChatGPT, Bing, Claude, and Bard, and used SciSpace Copilot to review hundreds of systematic reviews and thousands of unique records across various databases. It aimed to comprehensively map out past achievements, current developments, and potential future directions in AI-based medical research. The paper represents the latest brainchild of an open science collaboration project, which welcomes participation from others at https://osf.io/87u6q/

The study reveals that as ChatGPT matures, it's finding applications across diverse medical specialties demanding cross-disciplinary collaboration. A fascinating trend shows a transition from theoretical to clinical applications in the AI literature, mirroring developments within the ChatGPT space.

Despite challenges such as ensuring the quality of training data and managing ethical concerns, ChatGPT is fostering the adoption of AI tools within medical areas that have been historically underrepresented in AI application.

If you have an interest in the future of medicine and the role AI technologies like ChatGPT play in shaping it, check out this project. It offers a compelling glimpse into what the future of healthcare might look like. 


REFERENCES

Gabashvili I.S. Artificial Intelligence in Biomedicine: Systematic Review. medRxiv 2023.07.23.23292672; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.07.23.23292672

Gabashvili I.S. The impact and applications of ChatGPT: a systematic review of literature reviews. arXiv:2305.18086 [cs.CY] https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2305.18086

Gabashvili IS. ChatGPT in Dermatology: A Comprehensive Systematic Review JMIR Preprints. 02/06/2023:48979. medRxiv 2023.06.11.23291252; https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.06.11.23291252

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