Titolo della tesi: Digital Health: Usage of Innovative Mobile Technologies for Health and Wellness
This thesis work fits within the context of health digitalization phenomena, triggered by the recent diffusion and continues development of wearables and mobile technologies, that allows to support and/or monitor everyone’s activity, at any moment wherever he is.
In the First chapter, a worldwide overview of technologies that are used in healthcare sector is being provided. Digital health (eHealth) and its related applications is being presented in healthcare sector, with special focus on mobile health applications (mHealth), on emerging technologies such as Geographic Information System (GIS) and XReality (Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality). Then, the chapter ends with a brief reflection regarding the changing in patient’s role and problems related to online data sharing, such as security and privacy.
In the Second chapter some current health issues are being presented and discussed with their current utilized solutions for rehabilitation/support of fragile or disable individuals. The faced issues are, problems inevitably associated with aging, such as cognitive decline and sensory capacity decline; problems related to individuals that are showing verbal and motor disabilities. In the end, the current discourse regarding the global situation caused by SARS- CoV-2 diffusion is being faced by illustrating solutions adopted by various Countries, with reference toward the situation and solutions in Italy.
The Third chapter describes materials and methods employed during my PhD project, for which the proposed set-up and systems functioning are described to face health issues discussed in the previous chapter. A solution is being presented for cognitive and sensory decline that exploits Augmented Reality as a support technology for individuals during their daily living activities; a Mixed Reality solution is being proposed, that exploits a gaze detection system, for subjects affected by both motor and verbal communication disabilities; lastly, the development of a Geographic Information System is being described to contribute in the management of containing of Covid-2019 diffusion in Italy from two different point of views: first, Clinical, through a daily monitoring system that allows direct communication between patients and General Practitioner; and second, environmental, through a system able to gather and manage data on a national level that are deriving from the analyses of waste water taken from different sampling sites scattered on the Italian territory.
In the Fourth chapter is described the environmental surveillance project Entitled "Environmental Surveillance of SARS-Cov-2 through urban wastewater in Italy: indications on epidemic trends and early warning (acronym: SARI)". The project, after a first pilot phase, has obtained funding to become a real environmental surveillance at national level for the
analysis of the samples taken from the Waste Treatment Plant of different Italian regions are therefore reported and discussed.
Finally, a discussion is carried out on motivations for which I believe that these proposed solutions can effectively contribute in the monitoring of citizens and in the enabling/rehabilitative practice of fragile and disable patients, by showing strength points of the proposed systems and discussing the modalities in which these new technologies should be inserted in a well-defined social, economic and legal frame.