Physiological Archives - InnoHEALTH magazine

Keys to Immortality – Telomerase, Stem Cells & Gene Therapy

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Wed, 30 Oct 2019 11:27:11 +0000

Man is mortal! But his desire to be immortal is eternal.

There are many new possibilities that can make a human being nearly immortal, if not completely. Sounds impossible? Well, over the past few decades, medical science has made such progress that we at least discuss these possibilities. We already have immortals on Earth. Yes! But they are unicellular organisms. They don’t die of aging. These organisms divide into two, to keep their generations going. And they can do this limitless time. On the other hand, we grow up and every single second of our life we are marching towards death. We age and we die. Human is multicellular organism. In a nutshell, we can say – we age because our cells age. Normal human somatic cells do not have limitless replicative potential. Every normal human somatic cell divides 50-70 times (Hayflick limit or Hayflick phenomenon). Thus, when this limit is achieved, signs of aging and various diseases come into play. While the average life span of a normal human being is 80 years, some of the species can even live up to 200 years or more. Yes, a tortoise named Adwaita (species: Aldabra Giant Tortoise) lived more than 250 years. Don’t be surprised. I have seen this one alive. So, there must be something in our gene that basically controls the number of cell divisions we shall have and ultimately controls our life span. After years of research, scientists got the answer.

Also Read: Top 9 latest healthcare innovations
Telomeres

A telomere is a region of repetitive nucleotide sequences at each end of a chromosome, which protects the end of the chromosome from deterioration or from fusion with neighboring chromosomes. With each cell division, the telomere gets shortened because of normal DNA replication mechanism and after a certain number of divisions, a time comes when it is completely lost. That is the limit. Because if the cell divides again, it cannot preserve its genetic information completely and thus it is better not to divide than giving birth to faulty systems. Human germ cells are an exception in this case.

Also Read: Chewing Tobacco – Storehouse of Toxic Chemicals

These cells contain an enzyme named ‘Telomerase’. Simply saying, this enzyme helps to expand the Telomere sequence and hence human germ cells achieve limitless replicative potential. Many scientists are working on this principle of the human germ cells. Their goal is to somehow introduce this property of germ cells into the somatic cells and achieve limitless replicative potential within physiological limits. Signs of aging and age-related degenerative diseases, as well as some chronic diseases, will be easier to handle then. But it’s not going to be so easy. This phrase ‘within physiological limit’ is very important. Because we already know some abnormal somatic cells which switch on the ‘telomerase’ gene and achieve this potential. Cancer cells! Yes, one of the deadly properties of cancer cells is they replicate infinite times and die only when the individual dies! Some of the cancer cells do activate telomerase enzyme to achieve that. It is the hardest hurdle they are facing in telomerase therapy.

Also Read: IIT Kharagpur Develops Diagnostic Tools for Lung Diseases

If scientists can overcome this hurdle, it will open new doors in medical science. If doctors can control this telomerase activity, they will be able to regenerate damaged tissue or even the entire organ from a single cell and thus one can be nearly immortal. Imagine a patient with liver cirrhosis who will not undergo a liver transplant. Instead, under the controlled intervention of gene therapy, his liver will regrow! And no chance of graft rejection. Myocardial infraction, stroke, and many more complicated conditions will be easily cured. But this therapy needs a fair bit of research and a number of advancements to be used as a trial even. But for the time being, we have another technique that has gained a good response over the past few years.

Also Read: Apple Watch Can Soon Prevent Skin Diseases
Stem Cell Therapy

The entire human body is made up of trillions of different types of cells. But interestingly they all came from a single cell. Embryonic Stem Cells (Pluripotent) are those cells that give rise to any kind of cell the human body possesses. It has been scientifically proven that if we amputate the finger of a growing embryo at the initial few weeks, it regenerates scarlessly. It means at that stage of life cells are capable of regeneration. Per recent advancements, the scientists are using this property and trying to regenerate a whole organ with these pluripotent stem cells. Again, let’s give the example of the same liver cirrhosis patient. If scientists achieve success in this therapy, doctors will be introducing the stem cells into the liver and it will regenerate and achieve its functionality again. This therapy has been tested in leukemia patients successfully. That gives us a ray of hope that in near future this technique might be used as a treatment of many diseases that seem to be incurable now.

Also Read: Can Millets Be the Answer to India’s Nutritional Problems?

Another possibility can be Gene Therapy. As we grow old, our cells divide a number of times and in the course may get mutated. Mutations in genes can give rise to a number of deadly diseases like malignancies. Mutation can be a point mutation or a whole segment of the gene can be affected. These days scientists are able to replace the faulty portion of the gene with the normal one and that opens a whole lot of possibilities to treat genetic diseases. In case of congenital genetic abnormalities,they are basically combining two abovementioned therapies for the mankind.

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Stem Cell Therapy + Gene Therapy

As an example, in case of sickle cell disease – scientists isolate the pluripotent haematopoiesis stem cells and correct the genetic abnormality. Upon introduction to the body, these stem cells produce normal blood cells.

All the techniques mentioned above are going to be the future of the medical science. These can definitely increase the life span as well as the quality of life. But these all techniques are at the initial stages and need to go through a number of trials to be accepted as TREATMENT. The way medical science is advancing, we can certainly expect it sooner.

About the author

Mahan Shome is a young medico studying medicine abroad. In his leisure time, Mahan likes to read innovative scientific health articles. His dream is to be part of healthcare research that brings about advancement in medicine. He hails from Howrah, West Bengal.

The post Keys to Immortality – Telomerase, Stem Cells & Gene Therapy appeared first on InnoHEALTH magazine.

Integrating Technologies to Better Healthcare

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Wed, 17 Apr 2019 09:57:49 +0000

Age and disease demographics are changing rapidly across the globe. The number of people above 65 years is expected to double and constitute nearly 17% of the world population by 2050. The chronic disease incidence rate is expected to rise to 57% by 2020. These figures highlight the need to enhance the quality and efficiency of care with quick response time to health-related emergencies.

Ideas that cut across medicine, biological and engineering sciences, material design, and system innovations are converging to address these challenges. The shift is going to be from legacy products like pacemaker and imaging systems to wearables for general fitness tracking and gait monitoring. Taking a step further, researchers are now developing and testing more focused miniaturized bioelectronic devices for recording and analyzing health data for detecting determinants of health and for medical interventions.

In diagnostics, non-invasive bioelectronic skin sensors that measure analytes in biofluids like saliva, tears, and sweat are showing promising results in assessing stress levels and detecting conditions like diabetes and cystic fibrosis. Researchers from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi have developed a biosensor for detecting glucose in saliva samples for diabetes detection. The results can directly be viewed on the user’s smartphone. Many such studies are now underway in India.

Also Read: Healthy Lives: Everyone, Everywhere

Conductive gels and patch sensors resembling fashion accessories are also being developed to record cardiac, brain and muscle activity which could complement the traditional blood analysis and clinical examinations. Mechano-acoustic skin sensors that measure speech patterns and internal body sounds, like swallowing, are being explored to quantitatively measure the impact of rehabilitation in patients, such as those recovering from a stroke.

In treatment, miniscule implants placed inside the body can cross the blood-brain barrier and deliver the drug directly at the target site, even in hard-to-reach internal organs. Such devices have shown promising results in laboratory settings in reducing side effects and toxicity while increasing overall drug efficacy. This could also ensure patient compliance, a step further to the recently approved digital pill, especially in patients on long care and those with compromised cognition.

Certain implants can also electrically stimulate cardiac or brain tissues to treat conditions like irregular heartbeat, certain motor disorders, and cognitive impairments. Other implants like artificial retina and cochlear implants, restore functionalities of damaged tissues. These interventions, being referred to as ‘Bioceuticals’, could restructure conventional therapeutic options for more efficient outcomes.

In India, a lot of work has now started in this sphere. Results from a few studies have started trickling in, with most of them in development or early stages of testing. Research findings in the journal Scientific Reports by researchers from IIT Kharagpur earlier this year reported bio impedimetric analysis of cancer cells that efficiently distinguishes their aggressiveness by measuring electric field impedance in laboratory conditions. In another study published in the journal Sensors earlier this year, researchers at IIT Delhi developed a novel low-cost prosthesis based on sensors to enable normal gait kinematics, i.e. motion analysis, for lower limb amputees.

IIT Kharagpur is setting up a Bioelectronics Innovation Laboratory that aims to develop battery-free implantable miniaturized engineering systems for treatment of brain, nerve, muscle or spinal cord disorders by restoring missing neural functions. The proposed coin-sized implant will be powered wirelessly and will combine brain activity testing like electrical simulation, bio-potential recording and neuro-chemical sensing for use in rehabilitation and prosthesis.

Also Read: India’s First Smartphone Insertable Cardiac Monitor

Round-the-clock data collected from bioelectronic devices could replace the present time-point investigations and lead to better management of the health condition of patients. In addition, data from multiple people can help develop artificial intelligence algorithms and predictive tools. Such tools have already started showing analytic performance similar, and sometimes better than manual inspection by a specialist physician. In countries like India, that suffer from a shortage of qualified doctors in remote areas, such devices have immense potential. However, data standardization, data security, and privacy protection must be addressed and regulated before rolling out such interventions.

In the next few years, health monitoring, neural prosthetics, and biochemical prosthetics are expected to drive major developments in this space. Although the monitoring devices have already started testing the market in niche patient segments, it may take the implants another 5-10 years to reach health centers as they make their way through developmental and regulatory checkpoints.

The post Integrating Technologies to Better Healthcare appeared first on InnoHEALTH magazine.

Advantages & Disadvantages : Real Time Health Monitoring Devices

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Tue, 27 Nov 2018 10:25:59 +0000

Real-time health monitoring devices provide real-time analysis of the patient’s health parameters. Patients are sharing their healthcare information in real time with their caregivers through these devices for flexible health monitoring and management. Internet of medical things is vastly improving the healthcare condition of patients.

“Reacts’ secure, versatile and interactive collaboration platform deployed on technology solutions like Philips Lumify can change education and patient care models and enable a positive disruptive change to healthcare,” Dr. Yanick Beaulieu, CEO and Founder of IIT, said in a statement. “For years, clinicians in the field have been trying to piece together systems that offer real-time, interactive teleultrasound capabilities. Now, it has truly arrived.”

Tracking patient monitoring and drug management has become possible because of the usage of the above Internet of Things (IoT) medical devices in the healthcare sector. Increasing aging population, surging healthcare expenses and an increase in the occurrence of chronic diseases is driving healthcare stakeholders to follow remote health management and patient monitoring seriously.

The global market for Real-Time Health Monitoring Devices is expected to reach USD 67,982.2 mil by 2022.

Segments: Global Real Time Health Monitoring Devices Market has been segmented on the basis of the type which comprises of wearable devices, home health medical devices. On the basis of the end user, the market is segmented into hospitals, clinics, ambulatory centers, and home care settings.

Incorporating Real-Time Health Monitoring Devices in chronic disease management can significantly improve an individual’s quality of life. It allows patients to maintain independence, prevent complications and minimize personal costs. RPM facilitates these goals by delivering care right to the home. In addition, patients and their family members feel comfortable knowing that they are being monitored and will be supported if a problem arises. This is particularly important when patients are managing complex self-care processes such as home hemodialysis. Key features of Real-Time Health Monitoring Devices, like remote monitoring and trend analysis of physiological parameters, enable early detection of deterioration; thereby, reducing the number of emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and duration of hospital stays. The need for wireless mobility in healthcare facilitates the adoption of RPM both in the community and institutional settings. The time saved as a result of RPM implementation increases efficiency and allows healthcare providers to allocate more time to remotely educate and communicate with patients.

Technological components of Real-Time Health Monitoring Devices

The diverse applications of RPM lead to numerous variations of RPM technology architecture. However, most RPM technologies follow a general architecture that consists of four components.
Sensors on a device that is enabled by wireless communications to measure physiological parameters.
Local data storage at patients’ site that interfaces between sensors and other centralized data repository and/or healthcare providers.
Centralized repositories to store data sent from sensors, local data storage, diagnostic applications, and/or healthcare providers.
Diagnostic application software that develops treatment recommendations and intervention alerts based on the analysis of collected data.
Depending on the disease and the parameters that are monitored, different combinations of sensors, storage and applications may be deployed.

Application of Real Time Health Monitoring Devices Physiological data such as blood pressure and subjective patient data are collected by sensors on peripheral devices. Examples of peripheral devices are blood pressure cuff, pulse oximeter, and glucometer. The data are transmitted to healthcare providers or third parties via wireless telecommunication devices. The data are evaluated for potential problems by a healthcare professional or via a clinical decision support algorithm, and patient, caregivers and health providers are immediately alerted if a problem is detected. As a result, timely intervention ensures positive patient outcomes. The newer applications also provide education, test, and medication Advantages and Disadvantages of Real-Time Health Monitoring Devices reminder alerts, and a means of communication between the patient and the provider. The following section illustrates examples of RPM applications, but RPM is not limited to those disease states.

Real-Time Health Monitoring Devices – Limitations and Overcome Real-Time Health Monitoring Devices are highly dependent on the individual’s motivation to manage their health. Without the patient’s willingness to be an active participant in their care, Real-Time Health Monitoring Devices implementation will likely fail. Cost is also a barrier to its widespread use. There is a lack of reimbursement guidelines for RPM services, which may deter its incorporation into clinical practice. The shift of accountability associated with RPM brings up liability issues. There are no clear guidelines with respect to whether clinicians have to intervene every time they receive an alert regardless of the urgency. The continuous flow of patient data requires a dedicated team of healthcare providers to handle the information, which may, in fact, increase the workload. Although technology is introduced with the intent to increase efficiency, it can become a barrier to some healthcare providers that are not technological.

There are common obstacles that health informatics technologies encounter that applies to Real-Time Health Monitoring Devices. Depending on the comorbidities monitored, Real-Time Health Monitoring Devices involves a diverse selection of devices in its implementation. Standardization is required for data exchange and interoperability among multiple components. Furthermore, Real-Time Health Monitoring Devices deployment is highly dependent on an extensive wireless telecommunications infrastructure, which may not be available or feasible in rural areas.

Note – this article has been contributed by -Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.

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Digital Information Security in Healthcare Act on Cards

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 05:25:53 +0000

Cognizant of fact that the data breach incidents have deluged various sectors, including highly personal and sensitive data on individual’s health profile, the Union government is all set to create a new narrative in the health sector by unveiling its plan for digital health security act.

The draft act has been placed in open for stakeholders’ take on that. The proposed legislation is harsh on prowling data poachers with stringent punishment that entails five years imprisonment and a fine of Rs. five lakhs.

The purpose of the Act is to provide for electronic health data privacy, confidentiality, security and standardization and provide for the establishment of National Digital Health Authority and health information exchanges and such other matters.

Digital Information Security in Healthcare Act will be an Act to provide for establishment of National and State eHealth Authorities and Health Information Exchanges; to standardize and regulate the processes related to collection, storing, transmission and use of digital health data; and to ensure reliability, data privacy, confidentiality and security of digital health data and such other matters related and incidental thereto. This Act may be called Digital Information Security in Healthcare Act (DISHA) and it extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Act shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification, appoint; and different dates may be appointed for different States and for different provisions of this Act.

The draft Digital Information in Healthcare Security Act (DISHA) makes it clear that any health data including physiological, physical & medical records, sexual orientation, history and biometric information are the property of the person who it pertains to.

The Act also talks about a health information exchange, a National eHealth Authority and a State Electronic Health Authority. These three authorities shall be duty-bound to protect the privacy, security, and confidentiality of the owner’s digital health data.

It says the owners have the right to privacy, security, and confidentiality of their digital health data. The owners have the right to give or refuse consent for generation and collection of such data. Under the proposed Act, the National eHealth Authority of India (NeHA) will be established by the union government. It will have a full-time Chairperson; a member secretary; equivalent to the rank of Joint Secretary to the Government of India. Four full-time members will be appointed by the union government. And these will be from health informatics, public health, law and public policy.

Four ex-officio members, not less than the rank of Joint Secretary will also be there.

The NeHA or its representative shall have the right to inspect all such records or access the premises, including virtual premises of the health information exchange or exchanges at any time.

The draft specifically says the rights of the owner of digital health data: an owner shall have the right to privacy, confidentiality, and security of their digital health data, which may be collected, stored and transmitted in such form and manner as may be prescribed under this Act. An owner shall have the right to give or refuse consent for the generation and collection of digital health data by clinical establishments and entities, subject to the exceptions provided in Section 29 of the Act.

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Digital health data, whether identifiable or anonymized, shall not be accessed, used or disclosed to any person for a commercial purpose and in no circumstances be accessed, used or disclosed to insurance companies, employers, human resource consultants and pharmaceutical companies, or any other entity as may be specified by the central government.

The draft says that the insurance companies shall not insist on accessing the digital health data of persons who seek to purchase health insurance policies or during the processing of an insurance claim.

The Act is clear on the ownership of digital health data. The digital health data generated, collected, stored or transmitted shall be owned by the individual whose health data has been digitized. A clinical establishment or Health Information Exchange shall hold such digital healthcare data referred to in sub-section (1) in trust for the owner.

A health information exchange shall maintain a register in such form and manner as may be prescribed by the central government, containing all details of the transmission of the digital health data between a clinical establishment and health information exchange, and between health information exchanges inter se.

In cases, where access to digital health data is necessary for investigation into cognizable offenses, or for the administration of justice, such access may be granted to an investigating authority only with the order of the competent court.

All clinical establishments and health information exchanges shall maintain a register in a digital form to record the purposes and usage of digital health data accessed within the meaning of this section, in such form and manner, as may be specified by the NeHA.

A clinical establishment, health information exchange, State Electronic Health Authority and NeHA, shall be duty bound to protect the privacy, confidentiality, and security of the digital health data of the owner.

Any other entity, which has generated and collected digital health data, shall be duty bound to protect the privacy, confidentiality, and security of the digital health data of the owner.

The Central Adjudicatory Authority shall sit at New Delhi and the State Adjudicating Authorities shall ordinarily sit at the State Capitals.

The Adjudicating Authority shall not be bound by the procedure laid down by the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908) but shall be guided by the principles of natural justice and, subject to the other provisions of this Act, the Adjudicating Authority shall have powers to regulate its own procedure.

The Central Adjudicating Authority and State Adjudicatory Authorities shall, for the purposes of this Act, have the same powers as are vested Volume 3 | Issue 3 | July-September 2018 65 in a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908) while trying a complaint in respect of the following matters, namely:

(a) Discovery and inspection
(b) Enforcing the attendance of any person, including any officer of a Clinical establishment or a health information exchange and examining him on oath
(c) Compelling the production of records
(d) Receiving evidence on affidavits
(e) Issuing commissions for examination of witnesses and documents
(f) Any other matter which may be prescribed by the Central Government

All persons so summoned shall be bound to attend in person or through authorized agents, as the Adjudicating Authority may direct, and shall be bound to state the truth upon any subject respecting which they are examined or make statements and produce such documents as may be required.

Every proceeding under this section shall be deemed to be a judicial proceeding within the meaning of Section 193 and Section 228 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860).

No civil court shall have jurisdiction to entertain any suit or proceeding in respect of any matter which the Central Adjudicatory Authority or the State Adjudicatory Authority is empowered by or under this Act to determine and no injunction shall be granted by any court or other authority in respect of any action taken or to be taken in pursuance of any power conferred by or under this Act.

Any person aggrieved by any decision or order of the Central Adjudicatory Authority may file an appeal to the High Court within sixty days from the date of communication of the decision or order of the Adjudicatory Authority to him on any question of law or fact arising out of such order.

Provided that the High Court may if it is satisfied that the appellant was prevented by sufficient cause from filing the appeal within the said period, allow it to be filed within a further period not exceeding sixty days.

“Any person who commits a serious breach of healthcare data shall be punished with imprisonment, which shall extend from three years and up to five years; or fine, which shall not be less than Rs 5 lakhs. Provided that, any fine imposed as part of sub-section (2) may be provided to the individual whose data is breached, by the court, as it deems fit as compensation,” the draft says.

It has proposed to set up a nodal body in the form of “National Digital Health Authority” through an Act of Parliament as a statutory body for promotion/adoption of eHealth standards, to enforce privacy & security measures for electronic health data, and to regulate storage & exchange of electronic health records. The terms “dishonesty” and “fraudulently” shall have the same meaning as assigned to them under the Indian Penal Code, 1860. Any person who commits a serious breach of healthcare data shall be punished with imprisonment, which shall extend from three years and up to five years; or fine, which shall not be less than Rs. 5 lakhs. Provided that, any fine imposed as part of sub-section (2) may be provided to the individual whose data is breached, by the Court, as it deems fit as compensation.

Compensation for serious breach of digital health information (1) a person or an entity committing a serious breach of digital health information shall be liable to pay damages by way of compensation to the owner of the digital health data in relation to which the breach took place. (2) Where any compensation has been awarded under sub-section (2) of section 37, it shall be taken into account when determining the claim made by the person affected. The penalty for failure to furnish information, return or failure to observe rules and directions, etc.

Like if any person required under this Act or any rules made thereunder, fails to furnish any information or document or books or returns or reports etc., within the time specified, to NeHA, or the State Electronic Health Authority, as the case may be, shall be liable to a penalty of minimum Rs. 1 lakh and Rs. 10,000 for each day during which such failure continues subject to a maximum of one crore rupees.

Obtaining the digital health information of another person: Whoever, fraudulently or dishonestly, obtains the digital health information of another person, which he is not entitled to obtain under the Act from a person or entity storing such information shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall extend up to one year or fine, which shall be not less than Rs. 1 lakh; or both.

Data theft: Whoever intentionally and without authorization acquires or accesses any digital health data shall be punished with imprisonment for a term, which shall extend from three years up to five years or fine, which shall be not less than Rs. 5 lakhs; or both.

No court shall take cognizance of any offense punishable under this Act or any rules or regulations made thereunder, save on complaint made by the central government, State Government, the NeHA, State Electronic Health Authority, or a person affected. No court inferior to that of a Court of Sessions shall try any offense punishable under sections 38, 41 and 42 of this Act.

The draft says where a person committing a contravention of any of the provisions of this Act or of any rule, direction or order made thereunder is a company, every person who, at the time when the contravention was committed, was in charge of and was responsible to the company, for the conduct of the business of the company, as well as the company shall be deemed to be guilty of the contravention, and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly. Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall render any such person liable to punishment if he proves that the contravention took place without his knowledge or that he exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of such contravention.

Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where a contravention of any of the provisions of this Act or of any rule, direction or order made thereunder has been committed by a company and it is proved that the contravention has taken place with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to any neglect on the part of any director, manager, secretary or other officers of the company, such director, manager, secretary or other officers of the company shall also be deemed to be guilty of the contravention and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

Note: There are many other rules and provisions in the draft and details have been posted by the Health Ministry in public domain for reactions. This article has touched a few points to highlight basic features.

The post Digital Information Security in Healthcare Act on Cards appeared first on InnoHEALTH magazine.

HEALTHCARE: INTERNET OF THINGS PLATFORM

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Wed, 26 Jul 2017 07:40:11 +0000

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HEALTHCARE: Internet of Things Platform
Dr. Avantika Batish is working as Director Strategy and Healthcare at International Health Emergency Learning and Preparedness. Also, guest faculty for MBA (HR) and MBA Healthcare Management at various B-Schools and is a soft skills trainer.

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Loughborough University London has been awarded research funding from the UK-India Education Research Initiative (UKIERI) to build a secure Internet of Things (IoT) platform for use in healthcare. IoT platforms connect devices, allowing them to collect and use data. This three-year UKIERI award, led by Dr Yogachandran Rahulamathavan of the University’s Institute for Digital Technologies (IDT), will enable IoT platforms to be created that interact with people who need round-the-clock assistance, using sensors to measure movement, location and body functions such as breathing, heart rate and blood pressure.

An initial pilot testing phase will see patients in care homes from the states of West Bengal and Odisha in India recruited in order to study chronic diseases, with IoT services tailored to respond to the socio-cultural differences across regions.

The framework will be extended to analyse real-time physiological data from patients equipped with wireless devices whilst travelling in ambulances, before focusing on the development of a secure infrastructure for data collection and an interface which empowers users and protects the privacy of participants. The project is a collaboration between the Institute of Digital Technologies and IIT Kharagpur, supported by City University of London, eSmart Saving Ltd UK and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

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