A quick identification model for assessing human anxiety and thermal comfort based on physiological signals in a hot and humid working environment

We propose a simple and quick method for quantifying workers' anxiety and thermal comfort levels using physiological signals. Nine subjects enrolled in a series of controlled laboratory experiments involving varying temperature, relative humidity, and labor intensities. A total of 40 experiments were conducted, and 1592 groups of anxiety data and 1624 groups of thermal comfort data were obtained, respectively. During 2-h-working trials, Electroencephalogram (EEG), photoplethysmography (PPG), and pupil diameter of each subject were collected synchronously, and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and thermal comfort vote (TCV) were completed in stages. Random Forest was adopted to screen out the appropriate sensitivity feature indicators of anxiety levels and thermal comfort levels from the 70 features of the 10 EEG channels. Finally, Random Forest, Gradient Boosting Decision Tree, K-nearest Neighbor Algorithm, and Support Vector Machine were used to determine relevant physiological data combinations and modeling algorithms. The Precision of the anxiety level and thermal comfort level quick identification model based on Random Forest Algorithm can reach 81.04% and 84.79%, respectively. This suggests that the proposed quick identification method for assessing workers' anxiety and thermal comfort levels holds promise. Physiological data need to be obtained by monitoring only PPG, pupil diameter, and 5 EEG channels. By processing these data, the workers' anxiety and thermal comfort level could be judged realistically to ensure their safety. It is suggested that PPG, pupil diameter, and EEG should be considered all together in the future study of anxiety and thermal comfort.     

RFID Positioning and Physiological Signals for Remote Medical Care

The safety of patients and the quality of medical care provided to them are vital for their wellbeing. This study establishes a set of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification)-based systems of patient care based on physiological signals in the pursuit of a remote medical care system. The RFID-based positioning system allows medical staff to continuously observe the patient's health and location. The staff can thus respond to medical emergencies in time and appropriately care for the patient. When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, the proposed system was used to provide timely information on the location and body temperature of patients who had been screened for the disease. The results of experiments and comparative analyses show that the proposed system is superior to competing systems in use. The use of remote monitoring technology makes user interface easier to provide high-quality medical services to remote areas with sparse populations, and enables better care of the elderly and patients with mobility issues. It can be found from the experiments of this research that the accuracy of the position sensor and the ability of package delivery are the best among the other related studies. The presentation of the graphical interface is also the most cordial among human-computer interaction and the operation is simple and clear.     

轻音乐对驾驶疲劳的双向影响

目的本实验探索驾驶负荷累积与轻音乐对驾驶疲劳的影响。方法采用2(驾驶负荷累积)×2(音乐条件)×3(模拟驾驶阶段)混合设计,对32名驾驶员被试进行模拟驾驶实验,采集驾驶员驾驶速度和他们的垂直搜索广度与瞳孔直径。结果第45-60 min时,对于无驾驶负荷累积的被试,轻音乐组车速显著快于无音乐组,轻音乐组垂直搜索广度显著大于无音乐组;对于有驾驶负荷累积的被试,轻音乐组的瞳孔直径小于无音乐组(边缘显著),轻音乐组的车速慢于无音乐组。结论轻音乐对无累积疲劳的驾驶员具有唤醒作用,加快他们的车速,扩大垂直搜索广度,对驾驶绩效具有积极的影响;轻音乐对有累积疲劳的驾驶员会产生催眠作用,缩小瞳孔直径,车速减慢,对驾驶绩效具有消极的影响。     

中国健康服务业发展战略研究

为落实健康中国发展战略,推进中国健康服务业的发展,中国工程院于2015年启动"中国健康服务业发展战略研究"重大咨询项目。课题自启动以来,组织了28位院士和150余位专家,对京上广深等一至三线共12个城市进行了广泛的社会调查。本文在大量社会调查的基础上,从健康服务业的概念、内涵、发展特点入手,深入分析了国内健康服务业的发展现状;以全方位、全覆盖、全过程建立健康服务保障体系为目标,对健康服务业的定位、发展思路,城乡理想模式等进行了深入探讨;并针对健康管理体系建设、养生养老、医养结合、健康保险、社会办医、金融保障等重点问题,提出了为顺应中国健康服务业发展战略顺畅实施的保障措施和相关建议。     

卫生经济学应用于慢性病防控决策的战略研究

为提高当前慢性病防控体系的效率,更好地遏制慢性病的流行,保护公众健康,2015年中国工程院设立了"卫生经济学应用于慢性病防控决策的战略研究"重大咨询项目。课题组调研发现,作为一种重要的卫生决策工具,卫生经济学在慢性病防控决策过程中尚处于初级应用阶段。对卫生经济学的重要性认识不足,对卫生经济学的方法的掌握和应用能力有限,制约了其在慢性病防控决策中的应用,因此建议建立多元主体参与的卫生经济学研究力量,加强卫生经济学应用于慢性病防控决策的大数据积累及应用研究,提出将卫生经济学应用于我国慢性病防控决策的战略框架。     

Financial assessment of health and safety programmes in the workplace

In evaluating health and safety improvements for performance improvement, it is necessary to account for both the contributions of a healthy workforce and the resources required supporting it.

The Economic Assessment of the Work Environment (EAWE) is a financial framework that helps management forecast the financial benefits of health and safety implementations. The five-step process comprises (1) a health assessment to identify critical elements in the work environment, (2) an action plan to address gaps, (3) performance targets based on internal goals and external benchmarks, (4) transformation of the expected improvements in health and safety into expected performance outcomes, and (5) implementation in stages, starting from individual jobs to entire organisation.

EAWE offers a dynamic framework for corporate decision-makers when evaluating health and safety programmes. Further research should explore the bounds of EAWE across different types of organisations and the evolution of performance over time.     

Can twice weekly hemodialysis expand patient access under resource constraints?

The convention of prescribing hemodialysis on a thrice weekly schedule began empirically when it seemed that this frequency was convenient and likely to treat symptoms for a majority of patients. Later, when urea was identified as the main target and marker of clearance, studies supported the prevailing notion that thrice weekly dialysis provided appropriate clearance of urea. Today, national guidelines on hemodialysis from most countries recommend patients receive at least thrice weekly therapy. However, resource constraints in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMIC) have resulted in a substantial proportion of patients using less frequent hemodialysis in these settings. Observational studies of patients on twice weekly dialysis show that twice weekly therapy has noninferior survival rates compared with thrice weekly therapy. In fact, models of urea clearance also show that twice weekly therapy can meet urea clearance “targets” if patients have significant residual function or if they follow a protein‐restricted diet, as may be common in LMIC. Greater reliance on twice weekly therapy, at least at the start of hemodialysis, therefore has potential to reduce health care costs and increase access to renal replacement therapy in low‐resource settings; however, randomized control trials are needed to better understand long‐term outcomes of twice versus thrice weekly therapy.     

A simulation study on the US rehabilitation service process for patients with modest-to-severe traumatic brain injury

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a devastating injury with severe consequences. In this paper, we conduct a simulation study on the commonly implemented care delivery process for TBI rehabilitation in the US, which covers three care categories: inpatient acute, outpatient sub-acute and general residential care. Our investigation is focused on assessing how coverage duration of publicly funded rehabilitation impacts two key system outcomes: sub-acute rehabilitation readmission and total rehabilitation spending. We develop prediction models on the above two outcomes for patients of different conditions. We introduce the notions of forceful transition and medical necessity adjustment, and embed the notions in a state-transition simulation model. Our simulation results suggest that to minimise the care spending, the duration of publicly insured outpatient sub-acute rehab be set smaller than what is currently implemented but not to the point where coverage should be completely removed. Our sensitivity analysis justifies the robustness of our results under variations on model parameters.     

Health information technologies for patients with diabetes

Patients with chronic illnesses, such as diabetes, need daily care and follow-up beyond occasional visits to healthcare providers. Research has shown that overcoming a multifaceted illness, such as diabetes, requires patients to be engaged in the monitoring and management of their own health. Health information technology (HIT) has been shown to empower chronically-ill patients to take charge of their healthcare, and alleviate their daily frustrations while they strive to lead a normal life. In this paper, we surveyed 31 patients with diabetes to identify the major frustrations they experience daily, examine the role of HIT in their current treatment, and identify gaps in their current care and education that, if addressed, could improve their quality of life. Themes identified in our survey results include a lack of interaction with healthcare providers, difficulties in scheduling appointments, a lack of timely communication with healthcare providers, and challenges in managing the complex care of diabetes. The contributions of this paper include a detailed set of recommendations on how HIT can be utilized to help chronically-ill patients live a better life despite their illnesses, with a particular emphasis on diabetes care and management.