Detection of Oenological Polyphenols via QCM-D Measurements

Polyphenols are a family of compounds present in grapes, musts, and wines. Their dosage is associated with the grape ripening, correct must fermentation, and final wine properties. Owing to their anti-inflammatory properties, they are also relevant for health applications. To date, such compounds are detected mainly via standard chemical analysis, which is costly for constant monitoring and requires a specialized laboratory. Cheap and portable sensors would be desirable to reduce costs and speed up measurements. This paper illustrates the development of strategies for sensor surface chemical functionalization for polyphenol detection. We perform measurements by using a commercial quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring apparatus. Chemical functionalizations are based on proteins (bovine serum albumin and gelatin type A) or customized peptides derived from istatine-5 and murine salivary protein-5. Commercial oenological additives containing pure gallic tannins or proanthocyanidins, dissolved in water or commercial wine, are used for the analysis. Results indicate that selected functionalizations enable the detection of the two different tannin families, suggesting a relationship between the recorded signal and concentration. Gelatin A also demonstrates the ability to discriminate gallic tannins from proanthocyanidins. Outcomes are promising and pave the way for the exploitation of such devices for precision oenology.

Factors affecting physicians using mobile health applications: an empirical study

Background Mobile health applications (mHealth apps) have created innovative service channels for patients with chronic diseases. These innovative service channels require physicians to actively use mHealth apps. However, few studies investigate physicians’ participation in mHealth apps. Objective This study aims to empirically explore factors affecting physicians’ usage behaviors of mHealth apps. Based on the extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2) and mHealth apps features, we propose a research model including altruism, cognitive trust, and online ratings. Methods We collected data from physicians who have used mHealth apps and conducted a factor analysis to verify the convergence and discriminative effects. We used a hierarchical regression method to test the path coefficients and statistical significance of our research model. In addition, we adopted bootstrapping approach and further analyzed the mediating effects of behavioral intention between all antecedent variables and physicians’ usage behavior. Finally, we conducted three robustness analyses to test the validity of results and tested the constructs to verify the common method bias. Results Our results support the effects of performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and altruism on the behavioral intentions of physicians using mHealth apps. Moreover, facilitating conditions and habits positively affect physicians using mHealth apps through the mediating effort of behavioral intention. Physicians’ cognitive trust and online rating have significant effects on their usage behaviors through the mediating efforts of behavioral intention. Conclusions This study contributes to the existing literature on UTAUT2 extension of physicians’ acceptance of mHealth apps by adding altruism, cognitive trust, and online ratings. The results of this study provide a novel perspective in understanding the factors affecting physicians’ usage behaviors on mHealth apps in China and provide such apps’ managers with an insight into the promotion of physicians’ active acceptance and usage behaviors.

Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality as Promoters of Better Health Literacy

The present study aims to give insights on how to support patient literacy using AR/VR online solutions and effective communication. The future of healthcare is previewed to be human-centric and use a personalised approach to patient treatment. The study confirms AR/VR patient usage is an emerging topic, when compared with other AR/VR health applications. The analysed solutions which had online information were overall mature and accomplished communication to public. The AR/VR solutions intrinsically help in having a clearer communication; they support assertiveness and positivity and can be a literacy promoter. It is recommended to increase AR/VR patient usage and communication, to promote public/patient knowledge and adoption, with advantages to the patient literacy and healthcare system. The solution usage is relevant to educate public/patients and empower self-care. With correct adoption and scale, it can be an enabler to help reduce pressure in healthcare systems.

Approaching Empowerment Holistically: are Physicians Willing And Able?

Patient empowerment is evident nowadays through the increased role undertaken by patients in the evaluation of healthcare, shaping health policy and involvement in clinical research. But are physicians willing and able to empower their patients? The biopsychosocial model offers a holistic approach to care by including the subjective experience of illness into clinical processes. Within this context, effective communication is key as it can contribute towards better clinical outcomes for patients as well as protect physicians from burnout due to emotional exhaustion. Hematological malignancies are the focus of this contribution as their nature and management pose serious challenges for patients to understand and physicians to explain. Physicians can play a pivotal role in encouraging patients' empowerment by educating them about their illness, supporting them in self-management and involving them in their care. Communication skills training, availability of consultation tools and e-health applications can support physicians in their new role.

A Comprehensive Approach for IoT Based Smart Home Applications Using 5G

5G is the status of technology, which has the ability to create new interfaces for the daily used devices and networking components. 5G plays a major role in connecting larger number of users to provide smarter and faster communications. The design of this model is mainly designed to achieve performance with reduced bandwidth and better coverage, reliability, and latency. Mainly, the perception behind the wireless technology and 5G is to reduce the load and to steady the technical solutions to facilitate applications for better mobile communication and utilized with latest applications in the business environment. Therefore , IoT (Internet of Things) & 5G plays a vital role in mobile applications & network for eg.,smart watches, health applications, smart cards, smart cities.MMW( Millimeter wave) frequency spectrum is used to achieve transmission of large amount of data.

Evaluation of Smartphone’s Embedded Sensors Through Applications: A Case Study of Gyroscope and Accelerometer

Smartphones are used for many daily activities like tele-communication, gaming, web browsing, fitness and health monitoring and traditional office working. Smartphones are equipped with built-in sensors to be able to perform these activities. It is well known that the sensors affect the resolution of the smartphone applications which is very vital in life critical applications (LCA). In this paper, two main sensors, the gyroscope and accelerometer have been studied. All commercial smartphones contain these two sensors and support functions related to them. These two sensors have direct link with the physical measurements which feed the fitness and health applications. A fitness application has been selected and ran under Android and iOS operating systems in two different popular smartphones: Samsung Note5 and iPhone7s smartphones. Statistical methodology has been applied to analysis the data and evaluate the performance of the sensors. The results show that commercial smartphones are not reliable devices for motion-related measurements and they can only be used for general purpose monitoring but not in life critical applications.

Digital Health Applications in the Context of Dementia: A Questionnaire Study to develop an Assessment Tool about the Likelihood of Use among Physicians (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Age-related diseases such as dementia are playing an increasingly important role with regard to global population development. Thus, prevention, diagnostics and interventions require more accessibility, which can be realized through digital health applications. With the "app on prescription" Germany made history by being the first country worldwide to offer physicians the possibility to prescribe and reimburse digital health applications starting by the end of the year 2020. OBJECTIVE Considering the lack of knowledge about correlations with the likelihood of use among physicians, the aim of this study is to address the question of what makes the use of an digital health application by physicians more likely. METHODS We developed and validated a novel measurement tool - the Digital-Health-Compliance-Questionnaire (DHCQ) - to assess the role of four proposed factors on the likelihood of using a health application. Therefore, a survey was conducted online that evaluated the likelihood of using a digital application for screening of Alzheimers’ dementia called DemPredict. Within this survey, five latent dimensions (acceptance, attitude towards technology, technology experience, payment for time of use and effort of collection), the dependent variable "likelihood of use" and answers to exploratory questions were recorded and tested within directed correlations. The study was completed by 331 physicians from Germany, of whom a total of 301 physicians fulfilled the study criteria (e.g., being in regular contact to dementia patients). This data was analysed using a range of statistical methods to validate the DHCQs’ dimensions. RESULTS The DHCQ revealed good test theoretical measures: it showed excellent fit indices (TLI = .98, CFI = .982, SRMR = .073, RMSEA = .037), good internal consistency (Cronbachs-alpha = .83) and showed signs of moderate to large correlations between the DHCQ-dimensions and the dependent variable. The correlations between {“acceptance”|“attitude towards technology”| “technology experience”|“payment for time of use”} and "likelihood of use" ranged from r = 0.29 to r = 0.79 as well as between “effort of collection” and "likelihood of use" at r = -0.80. In addition, we found high levels of skepticism regarding data protection and the age of the subjects was found to be negatively related to their technical experience as well as their attitude towards technology. CONCLUSIONS In the context of the results, increased communication between the medical and technology sectors and significantly more awareness rising are recommended in order to make the use of digital health applications more attractive for physicians because it can be adjusted to their everyday needs. Further research could explore the connection between areas such as adherence on patient side and its impact on the likelihood of use by the physician.