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These Catalan-French meetings for research groups, companies
and technology and healthcare centres now reach the fourth edition
and are consolidated as a meeting place between technological offer
and demand. This year, the central theme revolves around innovation
in health and well-being and special importance will be given to
the cross-border relationship and to the Pyrenees-Mediterranean
Euro region (Midi-Pyrénées, Languedoc-Roussillon,
Catalonia and the Balearic Islands). This is an initiative driven
and organised by the Science and Technology Park of the University
of Gerona and the Fundació TicSalut, along with the Centre
e-Santé Toulouse (France), the Pyrenees-Mediterranean Euro
region and UBIFrance.
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Biocat, the institution that coordinates and promotes
biotechnology, biomedicine and innovative medical technologies in
the BioRegion of Catalonia has started up Moebio and the pioneering
training programme “Design Health Barcelona”, inspired
on the renowned Biodesign Fellowship of Stanford University in the
United States. The idea behind this disruptive initiative is that
the life sciences, business and technology are on a crossroads
which allows entrepreneuring to be accelerated in the health
sector. The aim is to accompany talented multidisciplinary teams in
a process of identifying new opportunities and the development of
innovative technologies to respond to the great challenges of the
sector in the world.
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For 18 months the GSMA analysed the candidatures of 30 cities,
including Milan, Munich and Paris, to be the mobile world capital.
Finally, in the summer of 2011, it was announced that Barcelona
would be the first Mobile World Capital for the coming seven years
(2012-2018). Its Website gives all of the news on the project of
Barcelona as the world centre of knowledge on mobility and on the
Competence Centres, including the mHealth Hub. Furthermore,
Barcelona will be the centre for the most important
telecommunications event, the GSMA Mobile World Congress, which,
with more than 1,500 exhibitors, will be held between 25 and 28
February.
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The professionals of Sexual and Reproductive Health Attention
of the Catalan Health Institute are coordinating this new website
that includes information and interactive areas for youngsters of
between 14 and 24 years of age to consult questions concerning
their sexuality. The new development of this health tool on the net
is that it has a chat to allow young people to talk in real-time
(from Monday to Saturday) with those responsible for the service if
they have not found certain information or need any personalised
clarification. The project is part of the Strategic Plan of Service
Ordinance of the Department of Health’s Sexual and
Reproductive Health Attention.
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The Catalan Health Department provides the centres of the
public health network with this restricted access download manager,
from which they can access the ”health videocapsules". These
audio-visual contents on seasonal campaigns, corporate information
and health advice have been designed to be broadcast in the
facilities of the health units in Catalonia and mainly in
receptions and waiting rooms. New resources will periodically be
added to the manager, although they can also be consulted openly on
the Health YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/salutgeneralitat),
a platform that shows other videos in addition to this
material.
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European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing
In 2050, there will be double the number of European citizens over
the age of 65, and three times as many people over the age of 80 as
now. In this context, the European Commission has developed the
European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing, which
is intended to turn this social challenge into an opportunity. In
fact the association’s aim is that the EU should become the
world leader in innovation in this area. For the moment, six groups
are working on the Strategic Implementation Plan alongside
universities, research groups, authorities, health providers and
non-governmental organisations. The public call to take part is
open until 15 February.
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Every year 7.5 million image diagnosis tests are carried out
in the public health system in Catalonia, almost one for every
inhabitant. The ‘Canal Salut’, the Internet portal
based on the scientific evidence backed by the Department of Health
of the Government of Catalonia, provides health care professionals
with data, information and other resources on this branch of
medicine which doctors and health care staff have to deal with
every day. Furthermore, reflections can be found from radiologists
and technicians on the long-term perspectives in their speciality
and the future of molecular imaging.
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This mobile application created by a team in Barcelona has
just been a winner at the World Summit Awards 2012 in the category
of mEnvironment & Health. This is a competition that rewards
the 40 most outstanding mobile services in all areas each year in a
world that already has more than six thousand million mobile
connections. The app enables self-management of type 1 diabetes
mellitus by the patient and efficient coordination between the
patient and doctor thanks to statistics, evolutionary analyses,
alert management and a messaging system. The awards are an
initiative of the United Nations World Summit on the Information
Society (WSIS).
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Lowe syndrome, also known as the oculo-cerebro-renal (OCRL)
syndrome because it affects the eyes, the brain and the kidneys, is
a minority illness caused by a defective gene in the X chromosome.
Now the ASLE is starting a research project to draw up a European
register of cases with the collaboration of the Hospital Sant Joan
de Déu in Barcelona (CIBERER – Centro de
Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Raras) and
the PSINET Group of the Catalonia Open University. The first
scientific and family meeting will be taking place on 1 December at
the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu. You can join the Twitter
conversation with the hashtag #LoweResearchProject.
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What is defined as the “corporate university of the
health sector” was created jointly between the Social and
Health Consortium of Catalonia and the Catalan Union of Hospitals
in 2005. Since then, the UCF has organised and supported the
performance of technical meetings, workshops, seminars and other
group events. In fact, it wants to become the pedagogical and
technological partner in training health, social health care and
social institutions. In the last academic year, more than 1,500
people took part in the activities of the UCF, with a firm
preference for on-line teaching to be able to satisfy the health
care professionals’ needs for ongoing training.
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The city of Boston on 23 and 24 October will be hosting the
EU-US eHealth Marketplace, an event intended to promote the
co-operation of the eHealth networks between the United States and
the European Union. The Fundació TicSalut is expected to take
an active part in these networking meetings in which
administrations, institutions and governmental agencies will
establish associations and plan collaborative research. The EU-US
eHealth Marketplace is a good opportunity to learn about innovation
and good practices in eHealth in the world health systems. The
ECHAlliance, the European Commission and the NIMAC (Northern
Ireland Massachusetts Connection) are organising the event.
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From 14 to 17 November, a new edition of the MEDICA Fair will
be held in Düsseldorf (Germany). This is the main fair of the
medical sector in Europe. ACC1Ó and the Fundació TicSalut
invite you to take part in the Brokerage Event. This B2B event
focuses on the sectors of equipment, furniture and medical textile,
as well as ICT. With more than 180 participants from 25 countries,
the meeting is able to drive your project: it will allow you to
find partners for R&D programmes and to explore new business
opportunities with companies, technology and research centres and
universities.
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“We are not only connected to others via Facebook or
Internet, in fact we are literally joined by our neurons”.
Vilayanur Ramachandran, neuroscientist and director of the
University of California Center for Brain and Cognition, explains
the functions of the “mirror neurons”, which have
allowed us to learn complex social behaviours. This video, taking
advantage of the fact that 2012 is the Year of Neuroscience
(http://añodelaneurociencia.senc.es), is one of the more than
900 free access talks available on the website of the TED
(www.ted.com), a non profit-making organisation working to spread
worthwhile ideas around the world.
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Catalonia has research teams highly prepared to face new
challenges in new lines of oncology research. In order to give a
drive to personalised cancer treatments, this year La Marató
de TV3 will be devoted to raising awareness and social mobilisation
to the benefit of research into oncology precision therapies and
prevention on the coming Sunday 16 December. Canal Salut, the
Catalan government portal based on scientific evidence and backed
by the Health Department, hosts the Canal Càncer
(http://www20.gencat.cat/portal/site/cancer), a web space aimed at
citizens and professionals with full information on prevention,
treatment, personal attention and research.
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Is it possible to use a smartphone or tablet to improve
learning, communication and entertainment amongst people with
autistic spectrum disorders (ASD)? Francesc Sistach and Susana
Vila, the parents of an autistic girl, discovered in 2010 that it
was possible. When they bought an iPad, they started to look for
apps to be able to communicate with their daughter and decided to
share the list of applications in a blog in Spanish and English to
help parents and professionals. Today the blog contains 500 apps
for iOS (Apple) and 127 apps for Android. iAutism needs financial
donations in order to keep the project alive with suitable web
hosting.
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The 1st European university campus and the 7th world campus,
the Pyrenees-Mediterranean Eurocampus, has adapted its Web portal
to the needs of the community of students, researchers and teachers
of the four territories of the Euroregion. In fact Catalonia, the
Balearic Islands, Midi-Pyrénées and Languedoc-Roussillon
have cooperated in the areas of higher education, research and
innovation since 2004, when the Eurocampus was created, in order to
develop a pole of mobility around it. The website shows the
university networks and institutions involved and offers
information on grants and projects also in the area of medicine,
nursing, engineering and technology.
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This is the leading portal for everyone interested in mHealth.
With the drive of the GSMA, an association representing some 800
mobile telephony operators in 219 countries and over 200 companies
of the mobile health ecosystem, the website deals with all current
matters of mHealth in videos, summaries of academic articles and
studies, news, interviews and webinars. You can also find all of
the information on the 2nd Mobile Health Summit, which took place
in Cape Town (South Africa) between 29 May and 1 June. The models
of business, regulation and privacy, in addition to innovation in
mHealth, were the subjects most widely discussed.
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On the occasion of the 3rd R&D+i Meeting in ICT and
Health, held in Gerona on 7 and 8 June, this month we present the
Gerona project under development. The Corporación
Fisiogestión has created the ICF rehabilitation interactive
platform, which enables healthcare professionals to create content
and treatments for neurological, traumatological and respiratory
pathologies, amongst other illnesses. Patients can access the
system from any place and at any time of day simply with a computer
with ADSL connection. In fact, a virtual tutor directly controls
the output of the patient, who becomes an expert in their own
self-care process.
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Chronic illnesses and dependence not only have a direct impact
on patients’ health and quality of life and on those of their
families, but also on the health-care system. In this sense,
society needs new management policies and professionals trained to
deal with chronic illness. The Higher School of Health Sciences of
the TecnoCampus Mataró-Maresme, a centre ascribed to the UPF,
is therefore giving the new University masters degree in Chronicity
and Dependence along with the UAB. The Fundació TicSalut, the
Consorcio Sanitario del Maresme and the Hospital Clínic in
Barcelona are taking part in this project.
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Italy, Holland and Poland, along with Catalonia, are working
on the CLEAR (Clinical Leading Environment for the Assessment and
validation of Rehabilitation protocols in homecare) project. This
is a step forward in establishing a telerehabilitation service so
that the doctors can design, develop and implement clinical
protocols to assist patients in comfortable surroundings, such as
their home. The Fundació TicSalut, the Fundación
Instituto Catalán del Envejecimiento and the Fundación
Privada Instituto de Neurorrehabilitación Guttmann are the
Catalan institutions working on the CLEAR project, which is
intended to contribute to and, at the same time, to standardise
eHealth services in the European Union.
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One of the Fundació TicSalut’s areas of action is
to take part in European projects to promote the implementation of
new health technologies. Home Sweet Home is particularly noteworthy
as an initiative financed by the European Commission intended to
help the elderly to organise their daily activities and to
administer the household with domestic robotics, videoconferencing
and an alarm system in an economically sustainable manner. This
allows carers to remotely assess the capacity of the elderly to
remain independent. Along with Belgium, Italy, Ireland and Germany,
Catalonia contributes to Home Sweet Home with the clinical
collaboration of Badalona Assistance Services.
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In which weeks of the season was influenza most widespread in
Catalonia? Which age group was most virulently affected by
enteritis in early 2012? You can find the answers at DiagnostiCat,
a Web tool from the Catalan Health Institute (ICS) with data and
graphs updated each week that the epidemic lasts. The Web portal
includes information concerning the records gathered by the
Clinical Primary Attention Station (eCAP), the computerised medical
record used in the ICS primary healthcare centres. Amongst other
things, it is possible to consult all of the visits and diagnostic
rates of illnesses classified in the CIM10 by healthcare
region.
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The professionals of the La Riera Primary Healthcare centre in
Mataró and the Geriatric Unit of the Hospital Germans Trias i
Pujol have planned a research to assess the utility of a game
console, in this case the Nintendo Wii, in improving balance among
the elderly. In the hypothesis of this project, which was awarded
the 12,000 Euros of the 13th call for help of the IDIAP Jordi Gol,
it is said that the console can help the elderly lose their fear of
falling. The first conclusions point to the therapeutic use of the
Wii at home giving comfort in use and saving healthcare
expenditure.
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The meeting point for all healthcare decision-makers. This is
the first edition of the MIHealthForum, which will be held at the
Barcelona Congress Palace on the coming 24 and 25 May. This
pioneering forum provides four areas in which Catalan and
international professionals, researchers and entrepreneurs will
share points of view: clinical knowledge and innovation management,
ICTs for transforming the health system, innovation in managing
healthcare organisations and the sustainability of the healthcare
system. The forum has already started on Twitter with the hashtag
#MIHealthForum.
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The Control of Smoker Patients (Control de Pacients Fumadors /
CP-F) is a computer application that helps people to give up
smoking. Developed by the Hesoft Group, which received one of the
Bancaja Awards for Young Entrepreneurs 2010, the software allows
the doctor to view the patient’s medical record and see
graphs showing the evolution of their psychological state.
Furthermore, the CP-F develops warnings and personalised
suggestions about treatments, drugs and diets that are sent to
patients by SMS. The aim is therefore to minimise the chance of
relapse in the processes of giving up smoking. The program has been
working in the Hospital Santa Maria in Lerida for ten months and
currently boasts 230 patients treated and over 90% satisfied.
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One click, a printer connected to the computer and a decision:
these are the only requirements for getting an organ donor card
from the Health Department and the Catalan Transplant Organisation.
Through its Virtual Process Office, the Government of Catalonia
provides those who wish with a PDF document that has to be filled
in and in which the bearer states their wish for any part of their
body that is suitable for transplants after their death to be used
to help other people. The donor card does not commit the applicant
and the holder can get rid of it at any time.
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At the beginning of 2012, the Twitter social network already
has 100 million active users creating discussion and sharing
knowledge in 140 characters. Health professionals are not ignorant
of this and exchange ideas there thanks to the hashtags with which
Twitter identifies the key words that become links in its search
engine. The Healthcare Hashtag Project is a social initiative that
gathers the hashtags most widely used in the healthcare
twittersphere, and enables users to watch conversations on
questions of interest to them. Furthermore, you will also find the
hashtags of the latest medical conferences such as #ideagoras or
#doctors20, in order to be able to follow their repercussions
around the world in real-time.
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Most video games are designed to entertain and even to help in
learning. But what about to give therapy? The Playmancer project
financed by the European Commission, the CIBER of the Instituto
Carlos III and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation
appeared in 2007 in order to create a serious videogame as a
therapeutic tool for patients with mental illnesses such as the
pathological gambling and food disorders. Playmancer manages to
transport players to a three-dimensional world and suggests
challenges based on their medical record. The project received the
European Prize for the Best Serious Game in the category of Health
at the Fun&Serious Game Festival in Bilbao, and the Prize for
one of the Best Health Ideas 2011 from the Diario Médico
journal.
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Although giving birth is one of the most positive experiences
in a woman's life, not all mothers experience it in the same way.
Postnatal depression is something widespread around the world, and
this link is a collection of the 50 best international digital
newspapers to help them get over it. In the list presented by the
Web www.spinabifidainfo.com, you will find everything from blocks
with communities and discussion forums, points of view from expert
doctors, to first person accounts of the ups and downs caused by
postnatal depression, and also hope for those who suffer from it.
9th National Meeting of radiology management and quality
(Barcelona) This year, the National meeting of the SEGECA will be
held in Barcelona on 10 and 11 November in the El Casal del Metge
building. The meeting will bring together professionals from
different areas related to image diagnosis and healthcare
management, and will be supported by Dr. Guanyabens, the General
ICT Coordinator of the Ministry of Health of the Government of
Catalonia. This year's programme includes talks and discussions on
professional development, ethics and communication, measures
related to the crisis, organizational challenges and the future of
the radiological speciality.
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The meeting of the International network of WHO-FIC centres
will be held from 29 October to 4 November 2011. This year the
motto of the meeting is "Health information is vital", because the
intention is to highlight the importance of good information in
service efficiency and the global need to have valid, reliable
data. It will be a good opportunity for the different groups to
discuss and share the best initiatives. Furthermore, this year it
will receive contributions from the Fundació TicSalut and
AIAQS, with three posters. Journal of Participatory Medicine The
UOC’s PSINET research group recommends this open digital
journal promoted by the Society for Participative Medicine. In
addition to stressing the main innovations, the publication
includes opinions, accounts from patients, notes on innovation and
a multimedia observatory with some podcasts.
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