Open platform to support the prevention and rehabilitation of neurodegenerative diseases.
(IPT-2011-1038-900000)
The Challenge
Recent medical advances have led to an increased survival rate of patients with neurodegenerative diseases or acquired brain injuries. This increase in survival is linked to increased effects that are manifested at different levels, significantly affecting the quality of life of patients and their families.
Neurological diseases are the leading cause of disability in people over 65 years. Respectively, acquired neurological disability after spinal cord injury or as an onset of brain damage is expected to become one of the top five health problems with greater impact in 2020.
These diseases do not have a radical cure, but medical science can now control their symptoms and prevent or delay their progression. Treatments such as neurorehabilitation can reduce the degree of impairment of brain injury patients, but they are burdensome and with limited existing resources
The Purpose
The PROCUR@ project develops a prevention, e-care and e-rehabilitation platform, focused on neurodegenerative diseases patients and their environment. Aside from integral and interdisciplinary care, PROCUR@ will promote a virtual community bringing together different health professionals, other users, home care takers, friends and relatives.
In order to encourage the users’ involvement, PROCUR@ will deploy three Social Spaces for Research and Innovation (SSRI) in the three validation scenarios:
- Parkinson’s disease SSRI, sponsored by Asociación de Parkinson de Aragón.
- Alzheimer’s disease SSRI, sponsored by Centros Novaire in Alicante.
- Cerebrovascular Accident SSRI focused on the research in educational, social and support aspects in clinical environments, which will be constructed among staff, patients and relatives from the “University Hospital Virgen del Rocío” in Seville in collaboration with “Hospital Juan Ramón Jiménez” in Huelva.
To design and develop the PROCUR@ platform, easy access and low cost technologies (internet, webcams, computers, gaming devices, etc.) will be used.
The Result
The following functionalities will be developed under the PROCUR@ “umbrella”:
- A technological platform incorporating both low-cost devices already on the market (sensors, controls, etc.) as well as new devices that might appear in the future.
- An environment where specialized providers will offer their services using the tools developed during the project’s lifetime or deploying new applications.
- A mechanism allowing health professionals prescribe exercises to their patients and, after recording how they were performed, check results in order to follow the patient’s evolution.
- Access to resources offering information about the different pathologies.
- A meeting point where patients, caregivers and families can talk to each other and find support.
PROCUR@ has received a grant from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, as a part of the Health Special Actuation in the 2008-2011 National Plan for Scientific Research, Development and Innovation and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
The PROCUR@ project is aligned with the strategic agendas of the Spanish technological platforms eVIA, es.INTERNET and INES and it has been endorsed by their respective basic seals.
PROCUR@ is developed by: Logica, AIJU, Flowlab, Solutio, Hospitales Universitarios Virgen del Rocío, Universidad de Sevilla y Universidad de Zaragoza.
Research staff at University of Seville:.
– José Luis Sevillano Ramos
– Gabriel Jiménez Moreno
– Rosa María Yáñez Gómez
– Daniel Cascado Caballero
– María José Morón Fernández
More information in:
http://innovation.logica.com.es/web/procura
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