Acute cardio-respiratory effects of SO2 and NO2 exposure in southern Israel
Impact of NO2 and SO2 on morbidity and mortality has been widely reported. Population-based studies of air pollution have shown an association with cardiac and respiratory mortality. NO2, SO2(and O3, PM2.5) have been shown to be associated with increased hospital admissions. The study objectives are to quantify short-term effects of NO2 and SO2 on cardiovascular and respiratory emergency department patient load in southern Israel. To adjust for effects of other pollutants (NO2, SO2, PM2.5) and for additional potential confounding variables, and to examine effects of lag period. The study was conducted on MHS healthcare services in Ashkelon area. Ashkelon located on the southern Mediterranean
coast of Israel. Air pollution is assessed using data from a network of 9 ambient outdoor air monitoring stations. Health outcomes are assessed using computerized ED records obtained from Barzilai Medical Center – sole Ashkelon hospital and ED patient count data, summed by 12-hour periods and 12-hour lag counts. Health outcomes also include physician visits among MHS members in the Ashkelon are.
EUROREACH
EuroREACH is an EU-funded project whose purpose is to improve access to assess the availability of health care It is a coordinated action project that aims to overcome the comparmentalisation of data collection and analysis in a patient-oriented, disease based perspective. The final product of EuroREACH is intended to be a handbook describing the availability of national and international health information systems, and describing best practices for creating, managing and providing access to such data, gathered from individual countries and from European initiatives.
Maccabi is participating in EuroREACH as part of a consortium of organizations participating in the EuroREACH project. Dr. Nurit Friedman, the Director of Maccabi's Department of Evaluation and Research, is the Maccabi representative to EuroREACH, and the coordinator of the project's Work Package 3. The other members of the consortium are: European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research, Austria (co-ordinator); International Network for Studies in Technology, Environment, Alternatives and Development, Luxembourg; Institute for Research and Information in Health Economics, France; London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom; Imperial College of Science, United Kingdom; National Institute for Health and Welfare, Finland; Technical University Berlin, Germany; University of Tartu, Estonia.
KSERA-Knowledgeable Service Robots for Aging
Maccabi is a partner in a multinational consortium including universities, research centers and industry who are developing an advanced technology-based system for the care of patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). This disease, expected to soon be the fourth cause of morbidity and mortality in Europe and the rest of the world, can benefit from a multilayered care system which will increase patients' quality of life and decrease morbidity.
Intelligent home environments are one of the key facets to counterbalance the reduced number of caretakers and increase the Quality of Life of the elderly.
In the KSERA project the aim is to seamlessly integrate smart home technology with socially assistive robots.This will be accomplished through assistive technology for monitoring patients' physical conditions and environmental quality, to warn, advise and support them in hazardous situations enabling improved self‐management and decreased hospitalization.
Among the innovative research question addressed in this project is how to obtain a successful, effective interaction between the human and the mobile robot to guarantee acceptance and adoption of service robotics technology and offer added value of the ubiquitous monitoring services.
Maccabi brings to this consortium the following strengths:
- - Clinical Expertise
- - Extensive data base and other clinical experience
- - IT and Communications Interface with the proposed system
- - Data collection and patient interviews
- - Clinical Testing Site
- - Ethic Committee involvement
- - Development of chronic disease management system connected to Electronic Health Records
The Maccabi team includes top physician specialists, nurses, researchers and management and IT experts to ensure the project's success.
The first prototype will be tested in Austria and at Maccabi this fall, with the expected final testing in real user environments planned for 2012.
Diabetes, Inflammation and Cognitive Decline
Maccabi is participating as a sub awardee under an NIH grant to Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York to study the relationship between diabetes, inflammation and cognitive decline in the elderly population. Maccabi has recruited 1000 cognitively intact Maccabi patients as subjects, and is monitoring their cognitive status periodically over a 5 year period. Dr. Anthony Heymann is the principal investigator under this sub award.
Multi-site Study of Diabetes Incidence, Prevalence, Treatment Patterns and Outcomes
The SUPREME-DM (SUrveillance, PRevention, and Effectiveness of ManagEment in Diabetes Mellitus) Project is a three-year study funded by the US Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (AHRQ). Maccabi is participating as one of 12 sites (the other are all large US integrated healthcare delivery systems) as a sub awardee under the AHRQ grant received by Kaiser Northern California. The purpose of SUPREME-DM is to build a standardized electronic registry (also known as a datalink) across the twelve participating health systems in order to study the incidence and prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus and compare treatments and outcomes. Drs. Anthony Heymann and Barbara Silverman are the co-PIs on this study.
USEFIL
USEFIL is a new FP7 project that is scheduled to begin on November 1, 2011. The USEFIL project’s main objectives are:
| 1. |
To support independent living of the elderly citizens as long as possible in their home |
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- By designing, developing and deploying a widely adopted system. |
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- Adoption main determinants are: ease of use and usefulness |
| 2. |
Ease of use : |
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- develop a simplified approach using easy-to-use unobtrusive low cost ICT solutions. |
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- provide services more adaptable to individual needs and preferences (personalization) |
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- promote practical systems and services whose installation will not require retrofitting of
the residence of the elderly people , no new skills. |
| 3. |
Usefulness (for end users and main stakeholders): |
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- support the elderly in maintaining their social activities |
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- provide a new health care paradigm redefining the way of treating elderly people and
managing health care services |
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- promote cost and time effective health care solutions for end users and carers |
The Partners in the USEFIL consortium are:
- Coordinator -National Center of Scientific Research “Demokritus”– Greece
- VTT Technical Research Center -Finland
- Universität Bremen - Germany
- University of Warwick -UK
- Aristotle University of Thessaloniki - Greece
- Fraunhofer Institute for telecommunications, Heinrich-Herz-Institut - Germany
- Philips Consumer Lifestyle -Netherlands
- Maccabi Healthcare Services - Israel
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