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Updated on April 12, 2024
Smoking cessation is an important objective on the public health agenda in many countries, including Uruguay, which stands out for
its high prevalence of tobacco use and its complications. Successful cessation is multifactorial as it depends on the individual, the support received
and the information and resources available to each person
The aim of this project is the formal definition of smoking cessation strategies and methods through interactive monitoring and their inclusion in an
App. The app will allow the recording of the process, reminding of strategies, motivating the individual and providing information about the user's
declared cessation effect. The connection to the national electronic health record (HCEN) is foreseen.
The teachers of the Tobacco Unit (UT) after the course "Medical Informatics" will formally draft (flow charts and pseudocode) the methods, interactions,
messages, care logics and strategies of the national and university plans on the subject. The App for use by individuals wishing to quit smoking has a
web counterpart for health workers. The stages of the work include (i) the study of commercial Apps and Apps developed at the NIB (SIMIC, SEPEPE,
PARKIBIP, AEGO, etc.), (ii) survey and study of the formalisation of procedures drafted by the UT teachers, (iii) design of the NOFUMO system on the
patient's mobile device, question and answer system with the patient, web App for health personnel, (iv) compatibility with SALUD.uy, (v) testing of
NOFUMO, adjustments, documentation and publication.
The defence of the NOFUMO project includes the first results of its use by volunteers and patients of the UT following a protocol to be presented to
the HC Ethics Committee.
Project shared with the Clínica Médica B, Tobacco Unit, under the responsibility of Prof. Dr. Laura Llambí.
Contact: simini@fing.edu.uy or nib@fmed.edu.uy
The lift call strategy in a hospital is usually fixed and with rigid and immutable criteria throughout the day, with enormous time losses for all movements of objects, patients, health personnel and visitors. The name "SUBO-BAJO" refers to the screams emitted until recently by those who wanted to move vertically in the Hospital de Clínicas, which, with its 18 lifts on 24 floors, has always represented a challenge for human lift operators and today fails with standard lift controls. SUBO-BAJO starts with a survey of the problem, the comparison of existing models to describe and statistically simulate the vertical movement throughout the hours of the day, the days of the week and the days of the year, for each floor, care area, staff, bed, patient or other entities that wish to move. SUBO-BAJO simulates call handling strategies, obtaining cost functions that allow for optimisation. SUBO-BAJO provides a set of parameters for the behaviour of all 18 lifts throughout the year, with forecasts even for holidays and unforeseen events that are faced by staff dedicated to transport who learn to operate SUBO-BAJO and to set its parameters in unforeseen cases such as fire alarms, evacuation or works in certain areas of the Hospital.
Contact: simini@fing.edu.uy or nib@fmed.edu.uy
PARQUINE-MIMU is an Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering final year project that records the kinetics of a person's limbs continuously using four MIMUs placed in bracelets during night-time sleep. PARQUINE-MIMU records night-time movement in 3D using magneto-inertial MIMU sensors, placed in bracelets on all four limbs and wirelessly connected to a programmed application. PARQUINE-MIMU records the acceleration in space and its direction with respect to the earth's magnetic field; deducing for each limb its position and direction in space as well as its instantaneous velocity. The set of these signals obtained in continuous form (4 sets of velocity in three dimensions and 4 sets of location in 3-dimensional space) represents the evidence of the movement that characterises the person under study. The instrument called PARQUINE to which this project contributes, by analysing the set of kinetics and locations, will define periods of akinesia, hyperkinesia and elementary normal movements. The other project, PARQUINE-CLIN, analyses the kinetics of the limbs to detect and recognise stereotyped movements such as rotation on the axial axis during night-time rest, limb extension and other movements of clinical interest. Finally, a third project, PARQUINE-STAT is a master's thesis in medical sciences that will analyse case studies of healthy people and people with Parkinson's disease in order to develop reproducible methods for monitoring patients in terms of symptomatic diagnosis and targeted treatment.
Contact: simini@fing.edu.uy or nib@fmed.edu.uy
PARQUINE-CLIN is a final year project in Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering that analyses limb kinetics to detect and recognise stereotyped movements such as tremors, "rolling over in bed", limb extension and their synchronies. of limbs to detect and recognise stereotyped movements such as tremors, "rolling over in bed", limb extension and their synchronies, among other movements of clinical interest. The instrument called PARQUINE, to which this project contributes, acquires and analyses the set of kinetics and locations, to detect periods of akinesia, hyperkinesia and elementary normal movements. The other project, PARQUINE-MIMU is the one which records the kinetics of a person's limbs continuously by means of four MIMUs placed in bracelets, during night-time sleep. PARQUINE-CLIN implements a signal set classifier based on machine learning techniques that will be developed with simulated night-time motion signals simulated night-time motion signals while waiting for the real PARQUINE-MIMU signals.
Contact: simini@fing.edu.uy or nib@fmed.edu.uy
TICAPI measures skin perfusion at the bedside by standardised pressure of a glass on the tip of the index finger and estimation of the resulting colour at different times. TICAPI exerts and measures increasing pressure on the fingertip until a certain shade is achieved. It then decreases the pressure and measures the resulting "colour" as a function of time. The device transmits the result of the clinical measurement to a mobile application that generates reports in Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) format. TICAPI is a project that involves a Computer Engineering undergraduate project group and a Biomedical Electrical Engineering end-of-degree project group. The TICAPI-IM medical informatics project uses simulations of hardware inputs and outputs in order to be independent of the realisation of the circuitry and its digital circuitry and its digital interface produced by TICAPI-IB.
Contact: simini@fing.edu.uy or nib@fmed.edu.uy
As part of the collaboration with Professors Marco Knaflitz and Valentina Agostini, four thesis topics are available for adoption by Master students from both institutions, under joint tutelage. These are specific studies with elements of biomechanics, deportology, rehabilitation and cardiology, all aimed at a concrete realisation of Biomedical Engineering in the form of a device or application for clinical use.
Contact: simini@fing.edu.uy or nib@fmed.edu.uy
The cartilage covering the extremities of the knee bones deforms under load and the point of contact between the tibia and femur varies during flexion/extension. For each patient, the thickness and dynamic response to loading is assessed for diagnostic and rehabilitation monitoring purposes. A mechanical model is adopted to determine the strength parameters of the material when the patient is subjected to climbing a step with successively increased load backpacks. Using an interactive videofluoroscopy analysis programme, CINACARTI calculates the dynamic mechanical parameters of the cartilage in its different anatomical locations in a procedure that is unprecedented in the clinic. CINACARTI generates a document in "Clinical Document Architecture" (CDA) format.
Contact: simini@fing.edu.uy or nib@fmed.edu.uy
NORONCO is a game for mobile devices that forces you to use the muscles at the back of your tongue to steer the characters or tools in the game itself, using specific phonations. By strengthening these muscles, the possibility of night snoring, which is due to muscle flaccidity, is reduced. NORONCO involves the processing of mobile phone audio, the detection of phonemes and acoustic "signatures" typical of the contraction of the post-lingual muscles, the game itself with its scores and the execution of NORONCO "in pairs" and in a network, up to the generation of a report, monthly and yearly, in "Clinical Document Architecture" (CDA) format. NORONCO includes a nocturnal snoring intensity measurement module to monitor the strengthening of the post-lingual muscles. In case of success, NORONCO could be the subject of a medical recommendation in consultation.
Contact: simini@fing.edu.uy or nib@fmed.edu.uy
The doctor/patient relationship, the discussion of surgical approaches and the teaching of medicine would benefit from the availability of 3D printed models of organs or parts of organs as detected by ultrasound scanners in their various modalities and transducers. IMPOVOL reconstructs the volume based on slices. IMPOVOL generates a report documenting the procedure for obtaining the reconstructed solid in Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) format, which includes the file to be sent to a 3D printer for production in plastic material.
Contact: simini@fing.edu.uy or nib@fmed.edu.uy
IN DEFINITION - AUGUST 2022
The doctor/patient relationship is studied in terms of its perceived satisfaction by both parties, its duration, its efficiency
in terms of timely resolution (with or without complementary studies resulting from the presence or absence of biomedical equipment), and possible
errors resulting from the presence or absence of equipment.
The following equipment is considered:
Prototypes developed at the NIB, new equipment incorporated at Manizales Hospital, equipment acquired by private practices to which access is
available. Computer applications (on the web, PC or smartphones, etc.) that fulfil functions of diagnostic aid, mental orthosis, monitoring or that in
some way interpose themselves (positively or negatively) between doctor and patient. Some of these applications are NIB developments, others are in use
in Manizales.
The thesis work will include:
Contact: simini@fing.edu.uy or nib@fmed.edu.uy
Updated on April 12, 2024
Being able to reduce elevated Intra Abdominal Pressure (IAP) is a long-standing clinical aspiration, with no non-invasive answer yet on the market.
Preliminary prototypes of ABDOPRE indicate that for the first time it is possible to reduce IAP by non-surgical means. A bell is fitted over the
patient's abdomen, in which negative pressure is maintained, relieving AIP by forcing the abdomen to increase in volume. ABDOPRE Clinical is the
result of product engineering that includes the design and realisation of the intelligent device, its connection to a vacuum pump with barometers and
the exchange of data and commands with the console installed on a laptop. In turn, it implements the treatment protocols by undulating reduction of
depression over hours and days, protocols suggested by clinical researchers. ABDOPRE Clinical records time series of clinical parameters and generates
reports in Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) format. The main objective is to design, test and document a complete kit and production methodology,
ready for Technology Transfer to the Company acquiring the commercialisation rights.
Students: Mariana González y Federica Serra
Thesis
Advisor: Isabel Morales y Franco Simini
DROMBO is responsible for the drone transport of drugs and blood samples in the department of Tacuarembó. The Tacuarembó Hospital
serves rural populations in Uruguay's largest department. The company CIELUM by Dronfies (Montevideo, Uruguay and Lugo, Spain) provides the long-range
drones. The Núcleo de Ingeniería Biomédica faces the optimisation of the logistics of the use of drones for the transfer of biological samples and the
distribution of drugs to the 50 peripheral polyclinics of the Department up to 130 km away, as a health problem with conditions derived from good
practices in Clinical Engineering. DROMBÓ consists of the survey of the distribution objectives in formal language, its simulation for the adjustment
of parameters and the production of a drone management application (between one and three drones available) in response to planned transfer demands.
response to planned and unplanned movement demands with prioritisation. Performance is evaluated in parallel with the operation, generating daily,
weekly, monthly and annual logs and reports with indication of the evolution of time graph indicators of quality of service. service. Work meetings
may include some travel to the city and other locations in the department of Tacuarembó.
Students: Mariana Bartesaghi y Enrique Castro
Thesis Advisors: Prof. Sandro Moscatelli and Prof. Franco Simini
Associate collaborators Sebastian Macias
(cielum S.A)
DINABANG is a biomedical export equipment of the Uruguayan company "MOVI Technology for Life" patented by the University of the
Republic which was developed to measure speed, strength and power of lower limbs during muscle rehabilitation. DINABANG is also used during the
training of elite athletes or professional footballers. DINABANG - CDA will be an add-on to DINABANG that will automatically generate reports of
lower limb training diagnostic and follow-up sessions performed with the DINABANG instrument using international clinical documentation standards.
This add-on will compile the information generated over weeks or months for each patient and generate medical progress reports ready for integration
into the National Electronic Health Record (HCEN). Access to the HCEN is via connection primitives with the private health network, which is being
simulated in the development phase. DINABANG-CDA has a module for preparing the results and graphs obtained by DINABANG for the HCEN, in CDA format.
The integration of DINABANG-CDA to DINABANG will be implemented in the company MOVI under the agreement signed between MOVI Ltda. and the University
of the Republic. The registered intellectual property of DINABANG will include new contributions from DINABANG-CDA and its authors. The students will
have the opportunity to participate in an interdisciplinary project of the Biomedical Engineering Nucleus of the Faculties of Medicine and Engineering
where they will be able to interact with specialists in both health and informatics to extend an existing and successful commercial product, in the
domain of knowledge of medical informatics in general but of HCEN in particular - knowledge that is increasingly required by today's labour market.
Furthermore, the possible incorporation of students into the MOVI venture is not ruled out.
Students: Gonzalo Capote, Carolina Trías y Lucía
Sosa.
Thesis Advisors: Prof. Adj. Ing. Antonio López Arredondo, Prof. Adj. Dr. Darío Santos y Prof. Ing. Franco Simini.
Associated collaborators
Ing. Rodrigo Barboza (MOVI) and Ing. Jorge Domínguez (MOVI)
Updated on April 12, 2024
SISENF is an innovative information system that records nursing care at all levels, is compatible with the National Electronic
Health Record (HCEN) which is accessed through NEXO Health. SISENF has an indicator calculation module (which also has filters) so that all users
can access performance and health statistics. SISENF also has a user satisfaction module, whose data entry by mobile phone is triggered by the
nurse at the time of health care, with the patient's consent.
Graduation Project Advisor/s: Gastón Bonilla and Martín Rocanova
Thesis
Advisor: Prof. Lic. Fernando Bertolotto, Prof. Adj. Ing. Antonio López Arredondo and Prof. Ing. Franco Simini.
Associate Thesis Advisor of the
5 departments of the Facultad de Enfermería, A/P Lino Bessonart
The Personalised Perinatal Follow-up (SEPEPE) application aims to improve the quality of pregnancy monitoring through a more
personalised doctor-patient interaction. SEPEPE implements for the first time the "RecetApp" prescription app concept. A critical and comprehensive
analysis of SEPEPE indicates that its 13 pregnancy profiles cover the range of clinical cases. The aim of the research is to gain insight into the
SEPEPE clinical use tool by comparing it with published or commercially available self-help applications. Secondly, adjustments to the behaviour of
SEPEPE based on pregnancy care standards are proposed. The method used to describe the new technologies was the systematic literature review. The
suggestions emanate from the comparison of the SEPEPE specification with the standards of care for high- and low-risk pregnancy. These new
suggestions will be useful for future versions of SEPEPE. The results show that there is no application on the market that covers different
pregnancy profiles like SEPEPE since all apps focus on a single pathology. on a single pathology. It is concluded that the SEPEPEPE app should be
subjected to intensive simulations to demonstrate its usefulness in order for it to be integrated into the health system.
Students: Tatiana
Machado, Valentina Martínez and Mariela Zugarramurdi.
Thesis Advisors: Prof. Ing. Franco Simini, Dra. Lucía Belén Ribeiro, Prof. Agr. Dra.
Grazzia Rey, and Prof. Adj. Dra. Silvina Bartesaghi
IMPETOM is a novel electrical impedance measurement device with 16 skin electrodes and a programme that reconstructs images of an
axial section of the thorax in real time. The tomographic image can distinguish gases from liquids, hence its usefulness for monitoring lung oedema.
The image is the result of the iteration of solutions of the "direct problem", successively compared with the real measurements. IMPETOM-clinico
includes the elements developed since 2000 in an updated design to produce a prototype tested on volunteers and patients, amenable to Technology
Transfer. The parts of the project encompass the redesign of the circuitry (current source and voltmeters), data acquisition, graphical user interface,
tomographic image generation and its presentation at the patient's side.
Students: Martina Barreiro, Pablo Sánchez, Julián Vera and Matias
Viera.
Thesis Advisors: Prof. Dr. Javier Hurtado and Prof. Ing. Franco Simini.
Associated Advisors: Prof. Adj. Isabel Morales and Ing Antonio
Dell'Osa
Extending the concept of the Perinatal Informatics System (PIS), SEPEPE is a mobile application for pregnant women and a site for the perinatal health
team. It ensures and optimises communication between the medical team and the patient herself and her family environment. SEPEPE issues smart
reminders and alerts for patients and the healthcare team. It includes the registration of events by the pregnant woman, evaluates the relevance of
communicating them extemporaneously to the medical team, establishes a connection with an appointment management system (SAMI, SAREM or other), and
highlights the lack of attendance at scheduled appointments. In consultations, the SEPEPE web application shows what happened and allows it to be
recorded in "Clinical Document Architecture" (CDA) format. SEPEPE provides for communication with laboratory systems.
Students: Manuel
Alzugaray, Cristian Vega and Sergio Vico
Thesis Advisors: Prof. Adj. Ing. Antonio López Arredondo, Dra. Grazzia Rey and Prof. Ing. Franco Simini.
SIMIC 2.0 is a mobile and web application to ensure good follow-up for people with heart failure. Based on the experience of the
Multidisciplinary Unit of Heart Failure (UMIC) of the Hospital de Clínicas and a previous prototype from which a good detailed analysis, SIMIC 2.0
statistically captures some data on the patient's lifestyle in his or her environment, generates reminders and assesses the situation before alerting
the medical team. During the consultation the interdisciplinary team (doctor, nurse, psychologist, nutritionist) all the information that can be
transformed into the Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) format, together with the data from the electronic medical record of the follow-up of the
patient's electronic medical record of the heart failure follow-up.
Students: Guillermo Alvez, Michell Mamrut and Romina Pons
Thesis
Advisors: Prof. Dra. Gabriela Ormaechea, Prof. Agr. Dr. Pablo Alvarez-Rocha, Prof. Adj. Ing. Antonio López Arredondo, and Prof. Ing. Franco Simini
PARKIBIP is an Interdisciplinary Project of the Physiotherapy Degree, similar to a PIRIM Project (SIPOME),
carried out in cooperation between Physiotherapy students of the EUTM (Faculty of Medicine) and Computer Engineering students. It is an active device
that stimulates the patient in ambulation based on gait phase sensors. The stimulation is vibratory, acoustic or optical by means of marks projected on
the floor in front of the person. It acts on the basis of parameters that it receives wirelessly from the therapist and takes into account the gait
data, adapting itself to the circumstances not only of the individual but also of the developing gait activity. To evaluate PARKIBIP, the baseline gait
of 20 patients is recorded in the gait analysis laboratory (VICON 3D system) and their gait is recorded again with PARKIBIP active. This project is
part of one of the joint research lines of the Chair of Medical Physics and Rehabilitation and the Biomedical Engineering Nucleus. The monographs
specialising in Rehabilitation by Drs. Iliana Peña and Pedro Gallardo are the most immediate antecedents.
Engineering students: Carlos Huerta
and Samuel Sainz.
Physiotherapy students: Marzia Lira and Macarena Vergara
Thesis Advisors: Prof. Adj. Ing. Antonio López Arredondo and Prof.
Ing. Franco Simini
SIPOME is an Interdisciplinary Project of Medical Informatics Records (PIRIM) carried out in cooperation between students of the
Bachelor's Degree in Medical Records of the EUTM (Faculty of Medicine) and students of Computer Engineering who are doing their degree project. The
monograph of the Bachelor's Degree in Medical Records proposes the implementation of a data registry for the, working interdisciplinary with students
of Computer Engineering. Detecting the lack of a computer system for consultation and to improve the monitoring of patients in the Unit of Oncological
Musculoskeletal Pathologies (UPOME) of the National Institute of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, SIPOME is designed, conceived and implemented by putting
into practice the most advanced techniques of medical records and assistance. It incorporates concepts of mental orthosis of the clinician to improve
decision making, as well as allowing epidemiological and individual analysis in the evolution of care. In terms of interoperability and connectivity,
SIPOME - conforming to the SALUD.UY standard - resolves access to complementary studies (imaging, laboratory and pathological anatomy), includes access
to the standards ("best practices") of the speciality, resolves the interconnection between clinicians from different specialities, includes permissions
and user profiles, for security and confidentiality. SIPOME generates the usual indicators of the speciality, with the possibility of filters on a
combination of variables.
Engineering students: Valentina Coggan, Estefanía Della Mea and Nahuel Hourcade.
RRMM students: Alicia Gómez and
Yamila Villanueva
Thesis Advisors: Prof. Adj. Ing. Antonio López Arredondo, Lic. Saadia Zavadzky Dra. Mildred de Lima (EUTM), Dr. Nicolás Casales
(UPOME) and Prof. Ing. Franco Simini,
Heart failure (HF) is a chronic disease with high prevalence and morbidity and mortality, which represents a high cost to the health
system, mainly due to the high rate of hospitalisations and readmissions. At present, the health system does not have health personnel available for the
remote follow-up of patients with this disease. The review of articles on computer applications used in the follow-up of chronic pathologies, especially
HF, showed that there are a large number of computer systems that, in general, achieve optimisation and better results. Therefore, through the
implementation of a mobile application: Sistema Informático para el Monitoreo de IC (SIMIC) we seek to give the follow-up a Personalised Medicine
approach, at home, giving the patient an active role in their disease with a strategy that integrates the medical team, the patient and telemedicine.
In order to create a mobile application with these characteristics, it is essential to carry out a systematic review of HF clinical guidelines,
expressing the follow-up variables in terms of flow diagrams and formal logic language (production rules, events and activities).
Medical
Students (Cycle of Scientific Methodology II Group 72): Sharon Da Costa, Camilo De los Santos, Valentina Fernández, Marcelo Hernández, Lucia Ribeiro
and Isabel Ribeiro
Thesis Advisors: Dr. Pablo Alvarez-Rocha y Prof. Dra. Gabriela Ormaechea, Dra. Gabriela Silvera, Br. Hernán Castillo and Prof.
Ing. Franco Simini.
At a time when the country is universally adopting electronic medical records under the SALUD.UY programme, it is necessary to
reinforce the digital follow-up of dental care: preventive care and monitoring of citizens' oral health habits. This need is even more evident in the
teaching environment where future professionals in the Faculty of Dentistry must be trained in the new paradigms of documentation, confidentiality,
research in service and quality.
Students: Santiago Báez, Germán Larrosa, Iván L'Olivier, and Mauricio Vignale.
Thesis Advisors: Prof. Agr.
Dra. Sylvia Piovesan, Prof. Dra. Inés Salveraglio, Prof. Adj. Ana Erosa and Prof. Ing. Franco Simini
DINABANG is an instrument that quantifies the effort made by the patient by recording the speed of their movement and the force
performed in elastic band stretching manoeuvres. It presents these variables to the therapist in real time to guide the patient's effort and the
therapist's behaviour, while also emitting alarms to avoid overloading. Although the application will be for patients with ACL, the equipment could be
used to quantify and control other exercises performed with elastic band in the context of rehabilitation.
Students: Rodrigo Barboza, Jorge
Domínguez and Agustín Fernández
Thesis Advisors: MSc. Darío Santos, Ing. Francisco Veirano, Ing. Pablo Pérez and Ing. Franco Simini
The effects of ionising radiation are cumulative in the human body with differences depending on the area of the body. CUENTARADIO
includes an application for institutions performing radio-diagnostics and therapy to declare the radiation they apply to an individual. They also declare
the radiation received by their medical and auxiliary staff. CUENTARADIO also provides users with the technological means to access their current account,
detailed by body area and over time, with updated balances and alerts. With a vocation to take on the scale of the whole country, SALUD.uy's people
identification services access the EMPI (Enterprise Master Patient Index) and create reports periodically (day/week/month/year according to profiles) in
CDA format for each patient's Electronic Health Record.
Students: Sebastián Lorenzo, Federico Martínez and Pablo Minetti
Thesis Advisors: Dra.
Olga Lillo, Ing. Antonio López Arredondo and Ing. Franco Simini
CINAR-3D is a system for the analysis of the knee during flexion-extension by simultaneous filming of two cameras focused on the knee
along 2 orthogonal axes. Femur and tibia are defined by the 8 points and reference points of the "Points of the South" protocol. Instantaneous angles are
constructed to deduce their excursion in flexion-extension and rotation. CINAR-3D distinguishes the movement of healthy knees from that of knees with a
torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) or posterior cruciate ligament (PCL).
End of degree project in Biomedical Engineering UNIVALLE- Cochabamba,
Bolivia. At the Research Unit in Biomechanics of Human Locomotion and the NIB, University of the Republic - Uruguay.
Student: Maria Rene Ledezma
Thesis Advisors: Ing. Isabel Morales, M.Sc. Darío Santos and Prof. Ing Franco Simini
SERVOGLU is a clinical decision support system that consists of showing the result of the SIMULATION of the future behaviour of
physiological variables based on the patient's multidimensional state. SERVOGLU allows the selection of the model to simulate and generates a simulation
document with the possible future evolution of the patient (with confidence ranges) for the variable of interest such as glycaemia, mean arterial blood
pressure or arterial partial pressure of oxygen.
Students: Gastón Ashby and Ignacio Ferrer
Thesis Advisors: Prof. Adj. Ing. Antonio López
Arredondo and Prof. Ing. Franco Simini
DONOCARDIOFACIL was selected by the Faculty of Engineering as an EXTENSION PROJECT in the 2016 competition. DONOCARDIOFACIL is
carried out by NIB teachers in collaboration with the San José Hospital and the Hospital (Auxiliary Centre) of Pando and Engineering students who gain
university extension experience in contact with health personnel, patients and their families. DONOCARDIOFACIL brings together prototypes of Medical
Informatics systems to facilitate the registration of blood donation (HEMOLOGICA), to follow up people with heart failure to improve their quality of
life (SIMIC) and to efficiently manage hour reserves in polyclinics (SAREM and SAMI). Engineering students teach the use of medical informatics tools in
Hospitals while thoroughly testing the systems in their pre-dissemination phase. At the end of the assignment they pass an
"extension module" or "workshop module" as part of their degree.
Students: Iván Barbot, Bruno Cima, Nicolás Comerci, Sebastián Díaz and
Pía Grilli
Thesis Advisors: Dra. Mariana Sosa, Ing. Martín Arregui, Ing. Agustín Guerra, Ing. Paulo Sande and Ing. Franco Simini
Hospitals
referents: Dr. Jorge Bove, Dr. Alejandro Fischel, Dra. Ana Noble and Dr. Walter Oliveira.
AMBULANCE.UY provides doctors operating ambulances with relevant information about the patients they have to treat, quickly and
efficiently. It supports doctors by allowing them to record the clinical data of the accident in a standard format that allows the interoperability of
the computer systems of the institutions that receive the injured person. It generates statistics in real time with the data generated in the accidents,
providing information on traffic accidents in the country. It has two components: a mobile application and a web application. In ambulances, the mobile
application is used to consult patient data in health institutions and to record information about the accident. The web application manages the system
and displays statistics on traffic accidents.
Students: Sebastián Cervantes and Santiago Máximo
Thesis Advisors: Ing. Lucía Grundel, Ing.
Antonio López and Ing. Franco Simini
SIURE consists of a Web application and a mobile application for Android. It allows the creation of prescriptions in the web
application, while the mobile application facilitates patient adherence to treatment through an automatic process. SIURE generates reports with
management indicators on prescription and drug consumption.
Students: Mathias Fernández and Fernando Pedro
Thesis Advisors: Ing. Lucía Grundel
and Ing. Franco
Simini
The respiratory assistance provided to intensive care patients is adjusted by the healthcare staff to the needs of each patient,
according to their pathology and general condition. With SIMVENT, a breathing robot developed by the NIB in 2011, the aim of SIMVENT-DOCEO is to
integrate it into a system that controls it and records the behaviour of the ventilator as it is operated by trainees. SIMVENT-DOCEO is a computer
program that delivers operating parameters to the SIMVENT robot and allows the user to test mechanical ventilation strategies. By watching the
evolution of respiratory mechanics and blood gases, the simulation (in real time and in accelerated time) is useful both in the training room and in
the medical room to set behaviours for real patients. At the end of each session, SIMVENT-DOCEO generates a teaching evaluation and ventilator
certification summary, the parameters of use of which are obtained directly or by user input.
Students: Fabián Ferreira and Santiago Gómez
Thesis Advisors: Dr. Javier Hurtado, Dra. Cristina Santos and Ing. Franco Simini
CAMACUA is a system for real-time detection and alert of risk situations (patients, staff or visitors) in hospitals. It uses radio
frequency identification (RFID) sensors and tags on patient wristbands. Continuous information on relative locations reaches the risk manager who
detects and alerts on improper situations (e.g. patient admission to an unplanned room, patient in an unassigned bed). These alerts are triggered
on-site and centrally to prevent accidents or risk situations due to proximity. Project developed in collaboration with the Maciel Hospital.
Students: Ignacio Decia and Agustín Farías
Thesis Advisors: Ing. Diego Briatore, Dra, María Piñeyrúa, Dr. Álvaro Villar, Ing. Lucía Grundel and
Ing. Franco Simini.
To interactively determine the centre of rotation of the knee on images, based on a prototype already made in Matlab. Implementation
of a clinical equipment integrating an Rx device for pets. Generation of a report for the electronic medical record (CDA) and for the PACS/DICOM
environment.
Students: Williams Olivera and Marcio Rodríguez
Thesis Advisors: MSc. Darío Santos and Ing. Franco Simini
It is a web application that aims to help members of the Multidisciplinary Unit of Heart Failure (UMIC) of the Hospital de Clínicas
to monitor their patients. The aim is to provide the doctor with information in the consultation room and not have to ask the patient again, omitting
information that the patient does not know or did not bring from the attention of another specialist. From a single interface, the patient's medical
history can be managed and their history, illnesses and treatments can be detailed.
Students: Alejandro Cardone, Viterbo García y Rodrigo
González
Thesis Advisors: Dr. Pablo Alvarez-Rocha, Dra. Gabriela Ormaechea and Ing. Franco Simini
Definition, specification, design and implementation of an original system to increase the efficiency of the scheduling of health
centre hours and the empowerment of people attended at the first level of care.
Students: Valentina Da Silva and Leonardo Clavijo
Thesis
Advisors: Ing. Lucía Grundel, Lic. Saadia Zawadski and Ing. Franco Simini
Blood donation is voluntary and collection, storage and timely distribution is organised on a national scale. An information system,
HEMOLOGICA, is needed to optimise the use and availability of blood. HEMOLOGICA includes the design of a personal (paper or cloud storage) citizen card
(CDA format) and generates quality indicators.
Students: Paula Roche and Bruno Strasser
Thesis Advisors: Dr. Jorge Bove and Ing. Franco
Simini
To streamline and improve the quality of care at health centres, SAMI allows users to schedule appointments from smartphones or the
internet with consistent, fast and fluid interaction. The agenda is defined at the health centre and is dynamically updated by various actors resulting
in a reduced burden on medical records staff as part of the work of scheduling, coordinating and reminding patients of dates, times and details of the
consultation or routine is automated.
Students: Gimena Bernadet, Cristiano Coelho and Emiliano Conti
Thesis Advisors: Ing. Lucía Grundel and
Ing. Franco Simini
IMPETOM-B incorporates a standard DSP board to implement the management of the current source and data from a real voltage
measurement matrix of a chest phantom. IMPETOM-B drives the DDS which generates the current source to the electrodes and acquires data to the PC. A
test current source is developed from the output signal of the board's audio codec and the resulting voltages are measured using the codec's input
channels as well as using the demodulation capability of the DSP. The expected result of IMPETOM-B is to obtain on computer disk a data matrix according
to the IMPETOM standard, except for multiplexing.
Students: Nicolás Alfaro, Martín Arregui and Fernanda Martinucci
Thesis Advisors: Dr. Javier
Hurtado, Ing. Eduardo Santos and Ing. Franco Simini
NEFROVOL estimates kidney volume based on ultrasonographic images for the purpose of monitoring kidney volume over time. A skin
application base fixes the transducer, calibrated slices are processed in which the operator marks boundaries between kidney and surrounding tissue
until the three-dimensional reconstruction of the kidney and the generation of a follow-up report of the volumetric evolution.
Students: Esteban
Arrúa and Mauro Sitrin
Thesis Advisors: Dr. Oscar Noboa, D.I. Luciana Urruty and Ing. Franco Simini
Study of the general structure of the SIP (generality characteristic in languages, variables, indicators, reports). Study of the
optimal matching problem. Application of the SIP design criteria to the matching problem. Development of applications for updating (a) the content of
DONAMATCH variables, (b) variable-to-variable similarity relationships and (c) their linear organ-to-organ (patient-to-patient) combination.
Implementation and testing of the DONAMATCH prototype showing the matching results (according to a, b and c). Generation of matching report in CDA
format.
Student: Diego Bonilla
Thesis Advisors: Dra Inés Álvarez, Dra. Milka Bengochea and Ing. Franco Simini
MONCEL records and transmits a physiological variable such as temperature continuously to a mobile phone application (paving the
way for glycaemia). The resident application in the mobile phone alerts via SMS if the temperature goes out of a predefined range. MONCEL solves the
issue of sensor power supply and wireless communication.
Students: Ramiro Barron, Andrea Cukerman and Juan Martin Ortega
Thesis Advisors:
Ing. Juan Pablo Oliver and Ing. Franco Simini.
TERMOPLANTE is an aid system during transplantation, which takes images from thermographic (or common cameras) and presents them
interactively to the surgeon, with comparison, retrospective and archiving functionalities in DICOM format. TERMOPLANTE interprets the surgeon's
kinect signals to move and alter the image (zoom, contrast, review of past images, etc.), to generate a report in CDA format and as a learning object
(LO). The mechanical support for the operating room is designed and produced. In collaboration with the University of Porto.
Students: Marcos
Command, Ignacio Elizondo and Oscar Fabricio
Thesis Advisors: Dra. Karina Rando, D.I. Luciana Urruty and Ing. Franco Simini.
JUSEGU is an interactive educational game for learning about electrical safety in hospitals. In a hospital with 16 rooms there are
various situations with patients, medical instruments, surgeons, attendants, electrical installations, some of which have hazardous situations, which
can endanger the health or life of the staff or patients or both. It is the player's task to detect problems and solve them before they cause accidents.
Points are accumulated by avoiding deaths and injuries. At the end a "teacher" report is generated summarising the performance of the "student-player".
Part of the project is to identify electrical risk situations in a hospital environment, devise a dynamic with alternative outcomes associated with
preventive and corrective actions.
Student: Eduardo Marichal
Thesis Advisors: Ing. Franco Simini
The available information on UV irradiance in a territory is currently deduced from satellite images processed according to
reflection characteristics on the earth's surface and lacks spatial definition. In order to be able to make health recommendations on sun exposure,
a reliable, real-time UV irradiance detection and display system distributed over inhabited or transited areas is needed. GEULMAPA receives data from
another project (GEULMOVIL) whose prototype is placed on trucks and other moving mobiles. GEULMAPA comprises the receiving software and the UV map
display website, as the data arrives. The potential for further applications of GEULMAPA to other variables means that it could be proposed to
industry in the form of technology transfer.
Students: Diego Cogorno, Federico De Pro, Marcos Dutto and Fernando Suzacq.
Thesis Advisors:
Dr. Alvaro Díaz Berenguer, Ing. Gianfranco Premuda and Ing. Franco Simini
GEULMOVIL comprising a UV radiation measuring station to be mounted on locomotives and road vehicles, or possibly on fixed locations
of interest. Via remote connection GEULMOVIL delivers UV data to a server (GEULMAPA) together with the geolocation coordinates. It also includes the
storage of the received data for further processing, such as the display of UV maps over the territory.
Students: Carlos Briozzo, Freddy
Kugelmass and Eduardo Peri
Thesis Advisors: Dr. Álvaro Díaz Berenguer, Ing. Gianfranco Premuda and Ing. Franco Simini
Mechanical ventilation equipment for respiratory failure meets the specific needs of each patient. SIMVENT is a test bench to which
ventilators are connected for evaluation and comparison. SIMVENT simulates, with a piston and motors, the behaviour of a patient with respiratory
difficulties, controlled by a programme that models the pathologies according to the user's indications. It also records pressure, flow and volume
variables at all times to generate a summary report of each test.
Students: Federico Bliman, Juan Braga, Martín Cáceres y Valentina Ramírez
Thesis Advisors: Ing. Daniel Geido, Dr. Javier Hurtado, Dra. Cristina Santos and Ing. Franco Simini
CALORNAT senses three points on the body and acts on heat sources (up to 1.2 KW each) modulating their power, as well as controlling
another parameter (humidity), acting on antagonistic commands. Low cost and high reliability, CALORNAT complies with biomedical equipment safety
standards and activates an audible alarm in abnormal conditions. CALORNAT includes temperature logging for auditing and medical record purposes.
CALORNAT applications range from integration into incubators to automatic control of temperature and humidity-controlled airflows for skin treatments,
to use as a replacement for incubators in hospitals or homes.
Students: Gonzalo Finozzi, Germán Minetti and Javier Sosa
Thesis Advisors: Ing.
Franco Simini
The ocular prostheses remain fixed when the healthy eye moves, forcing the patient to wear glasses to preserve the reserve. PANTOJO
is a prototype prosthetic eye that rotates analogously to another eye moved by the experimenter. The position detection of the active moving eye is sent
by wireless means to the passive eye prosthesis containing the elements that move it. The dimensions of both PANTOJO eyes are such that they can contain
the motor and other components, without going as far as miniaturisation. The movement of the two PANTOJO eyes is similar to that of a wireless
pantograph, hence the name of the project.
Students: José Pereira, Agustín Senatore and Andrés Touya
Thesis Advisors: Dr. Javier De Lima, Dr.
Roberto Soler and Ing. Franco Simini
IMAGOJO is a system that aggregates images generated by a wide variety of ophthalmic imaging, diagnostic and treatment equipment.
IMAGOJO has the capacity to concentrate up to 100 images and 10 5-minute videos of up to 100 patients per day, using the local network. The management
of the images allows the consultation of the network data in a unified format, despite the different origins. The management allows the generation of a
unified documentation that can be printed, saved as a multi-page PDF, and text and comments can be added. IMAGOJO allows the marking of trust points and
the overlaying of images based on these points. IMAGOJO complies with the electronic health record confidentiality requirements set out in the EP Decree
of 2003. IMAGOJO will be initially tested at the Saint Bois Hospital.
Students: Álvaro Prieto and Rodrigo Vlaeminck
Thesis Advisors: Ing.
Franco Simini
TRAUMAGEN is an information system that makes available to the emergency physician all the images available in the country about
the patient in an emergency trauma situation. TRAUMAGEN includes a standardised paper-based summary medical record to prioritise data to ensure quality
emergency medical care, always available for evaluation. TRAUMAGEN operates over the Internet as a nationwide system, protected by levels of security
and confidentiality. The innovation of TRAUMAGEN is that it allows the deployment of all the images collected from the imaging (PACS) and radiological
information systems (RIS) of medical institutions using the usual standards such as DICOM.
Students: Leandro Carrasco and Pablo Pazos
Thesis
Advisors: Dr. Fernando Machado and Ing. Franco Simini
Cooperation project between the NIB and the Ophthalmology Centre of the Saint Bois Hospital.
PLANOJO is an advanced patient
workflow system based solely on logistical data, excluding medical records, with which the system must be connected in the future. PLANOJO has the
capacity to handle up to 1000 consultations per day, each divided into up to 50 steps, a booking horizon of 1 year, 100 doctors and technicians, and a
memory of 50,000 patients and 2 million consultations. PLANOJO includes the generation of service quality indicators, based on logistics. PLANOJO does
not handle clinical data, except for those essential for logistics, and is developed for ophthalmological care in consulting rooms and surgery at the
Saint Bois Hospital.
Estudiantes de la asignatura "Ingeniería de Software" del INCO: Gabriel Arrospide, Federico Bello, Florencia Bujan, Magela
Cairo, Pablo Clavijo, Saúl Fagúndez, Joaquín Fleitas, Juan Herman, Pablo Ibáñez, Miguel Machado, Claudio Perrone, Sebastian Sierra, Sebastián Vergara
and Juan Pablo Vignola.
Thesis Advisors: Ing. Mariana Grunfeld, Ing. Jorge Triñanes, Dra. Judith Uturbey and Ing. Franco Simini.
The PREMAX prototype is duplicated by streamlining the technology proposal after four years of clinical use. The new prototype for
further clinical evaluation is a step towards industrialisation through a future technology transfer process.
Student: Freddy Kugelmass
Thesis
Advisors: Ing. Daniel Geido and Ing. Franco Simini
System for Critical Care Medicine based on data and communication standards to improve the quality of care. SICTIC is a medical
records system for intensive care patients, recording clinical information on admission, evolution and discharge of patients from different terminals.
It allows the export of clinical information to be analysed with SPSS, Microsoft Excel or EPI-Info.
Student: Alfonso Odriozola
Thesis Advisors:
Ing. Rodrigo Filgueiras and Ing. Franco Simini
In some clinical situations it would be of great importance to be able to reduce the elevated intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) that
arises in conditions such as necrotising pancreatitis or intra-peritoneal haemorrhage. Preliminary studies have explored the possibility of reducing IAP
by non-surgical means. ABDOPRE is a device that fits over the skin of the abdomen, around the patient, in which a negative pressure is maintained that
relieves IAP by increasing the abdominal volume. The project involves the realisation of the rubber device, its connection to a vacuum pump with
barometers and control system. ABDOPRE must keep a record of the parameters over time to produce a summary or extensive report for the medical record.
Students: Marcelo David, Guillermo Sánchez and Cedric Zoppolo.
Thesis Advisors: Dr. Francisco Pracca and Ing. Franco Simini
The novel technique of tomographic reconstruction of chest slices from impedance measurements detected by skin electrodes starts its
foray into first clinical trials. For this purpose, the IMPETOM prototype will be extended to the acquisition of three rows of electrodes to take into
account the effects of current dispersion, optimising the quality of data acquisition and adjusting the technical and economic evaluations of the
project. With this prototype, the data capture modality known as Electrical Impedance Tomography 3d (EIT-3d) is being introduced.
Student: Walter
Quinteros
Thesis Advisors: Dr. Javier Hurtado and Ing. Franco Simini
The Anaesthesia Department of the Hospital de Clínicas has had anaesthesia records for 20 years, with limited possibilities of
obtaining indicators for care management. CALANEST is an Internet-based information system that includes:
Study, delimitation and definition,
together with the medical staff, of variables (data to be recorded from the clinical history) and management indicators (statistics deduced from the
variables). Design and implementation of an information system (database, entry, management of clinical cases and obtaining statistics, etc.).
The HL7 standard for health information is respected.
Students: Rodrigo Aratti, Gonzalo Ayala and Adriana Redin
Thesis Advisors: Dr. José
Saralegui and Ing. Franco Simini
BiliLED is a newly designed phototherapy device based on the use of monochromatic LEDs for controlled irradiation of the newborn.
Two prototypes are in use at the Pereira Rossell Hospital and the Hospital de Clínicas. View details
BiliLED-II includes the
technological solutions of BiliLED to which it adds:
Redesign of the printed circuits to condense them into a single one.
Inclusion of an
automatic control circuit of delivered light power to compensate for the drift of the components over hundreds of hours of operation.
Inclusion
of an operating hours counter in non-volatile memory for eventual interrogation for power output verification and certification purposes.
Minor
redesigns to facilitate adoption of the prototype by a manufacturing company. BiliLED and BiliLED-II are and will be protected by a University patent.
Student: Daniel Geido
Thesis Advisors: Prof. Adj. Ing. Horacio Failache and Prof. Agr. Ing. Franco Simini
For monitoring the evolution of water in the lung in patients with pulmonary oedema, X-ray films are currently used, which requires
the transfer of critically ill patients. There are currently no bedside monitoring techniques for this monitoring, as even ultrasound studies are not
applicable due to the presence of non-aqueous media. Until 2003 there were no commercial proposals for tomographic impedance tomography. Impedance
impedance tomography allows signals to be collected non-invasively, the characteristics of which vary according to tissue content; in particular,
aqueous areas are distinguished from air-occupied areas. The NIB has developed current injection and thoracic tension measurement circuitry (IMPETOM-C)
and tomographic reconstruction from surface measurements (IMPETOM-I). With the present project, the integration of both applications together with the
design of the control circuitry and the user program is undertaken. IMPETOM should be a prototype ready for clinical use.
Students: Santiago
González and Andrés Liguori
Thesis Advisors: Dr. Javier Hurtado and Prof. Agr. Ing. Franco Simini
Student: Santiago González
Thesis Advisors: Prof. Dr. Miguel Martell and Ing. Franco Simini
BiliLED comprises a monochromatic illumination system specially designed for the phototherapy treatment of neonatal jaundice. The
characteristics of the device (luminous intensity, delivered spectrum, homogeneity of irradiation and lifetime) make it a true innovation. BiliLED was
patented.
BiliLED was originally developed by Prof. Adj. Horacio Failache of the Institute of Physics of the Faculty of Engineering and
has been developed and built in collaboration with the NIB since August 2004.
The assessment of respiratory muscle function in patients is of fundamental importance for the diagnosis and follow-up of some
patients affected by neuromuscular pathology, in intensive care patients and in chronic respiratory patients. In respiratory muscle function, the
action of the diaphragm stands out, responsible for 70% of the effort. The muscular force of which the patient is capable is related to the pressure
developed during inspiration in what is called the "maximum occluded inspiration". There are two methods of measurement: by means of a tube adapted to
the mouth, sharply occluded by the technician, and with a nasal inspiration stroke ("sniff") which would better reflect the effort of the diaphragm.
The recording of occluded expiratory pressure is also of interest. The development of equipment to measure these pressures over time and their peak
value is useful clinically and for monitoring the effect of drugs. An interface for the patient to see a graphical presentation of the pressure should
be included. The study should have the possibility to be documented graphically.
Students: Nelson Churi, Yennyfer Forelius, Ing. Fiorella Haim
and Alejandro Hodos
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Hector Píriz and Prof. Agr. Ing. Franco Simini
Project of the Curricular Unit "Software Project" with CLAP PAHO/WHO
By means of a tape applied to the patient's chest, injecting currents of known intensity and detecting potential differences
between electrodes fixed on the tape, point impedances can be measured and organised in a matrix. IMPETOM-C contains the circuitry to obtain a disc
impedance matrix for subsequent tomographic processing.
Students: Adriana Ferreira, Alfredo Rodríguez
Thesis Advisors: Ing. Pablo Mazzara,
Dr. Fernando Nieto and Ing. Franco Simini.
PESOPAC (Patient Weight) is a system for measuring the evolution of a patient's body mass, consisting of weighing elements, a means
of acquiring and displaying the weight and its evolution. PESOPAC is particularly useful in conjunction with a hospital bed, for patients who are unable
to move but need to have their weight monitored, e.g. in a CTI, dialysis or burn centre.
Students: Fiorella Haim, Rogelio Hernández and Rodolfo
Suárez
Thesis Advisors: Dr. Héctor Piriz and Ing. Franco Simini
Continuous electrocardiogram (ECG) analysis is a common technique in cardiology, for which portable equipment is normally used for
acquisition and recording on magnetic tape, which is then analysed at a viewing station. This project proposes to perform the recording using solid-state
components, taking into account a design structure that allows for future miniaturisation, as well as a basis for future developments.
Students:
Javier Borca, Rodrigo Duarte and Javier Rodríguez
Thesis Advisors: Dr. Fernando Nieto and Ing. Franco Simini
Impedance measurement allows the non-invasive collection of signals that vary according to the aqueous content of the tissues;
IMPETOM-I prepares tomographic slices of the thorax from a matrix of surface impedance signals to follow the evolution of the acoustic content of the
lung.
Students: Raúl Hartman, Jorge Lobo and Mateo Ruétalo
Thesis Advisors: Dr. Walter Olivera and Ing. Franco Simini
CARDIDENT will perform online extraction and classification of QRS complexes from electrocardiographic signals, in a process that
can be divided into three stages: detection, feature extraction and classification. The first stage consists of the detection of QRS complexes using
standard real-time detection algorithms such as Pan-Tompkins. The second stage will seek to extract the main features of each QRS complex in a reduced
number of coefficients to perform classification. The feasibility of implementing the most commonly used transforms, such as the Karhunen-Loève and
Hermite transforms, will be investigated. Classification will be performed in the space of the aforementioned transforms, by implementing both supervised
and unsupervised clustering algorithms. Algorithms based on competitive neural networks will be investigated and developed, as well as combinations of
classifiers (Mixture Of Experts, MOE).
Students: Pablo Aguirre, Juan Cardelino and Nicolás Loeff
Thesis Advisors: Ing. Franco Simini
The treatment of CTI patients is greatly aided by the availability of non-invasive biological signal monitors. MONICLI is a prototype
multi-signal monitor in a Windows environment for clinical and clinical physiology research. The biological signals to be considered will be:
Surface
EMG (diaphragmatic or sternocleid)
Respiratory signal: Intra-oesophageal pressure
Respiratory signal: Flow (as difference of pressures recorded in
the pneumotachograph)
Respiratory signal: Airway pressure
Pulse oximetry.
Thoracic-abdominal movement.
Students: Rafael Alonso, Juan
Carlos Cigarán and Leonardo Díaz
Thesis Advisors: Dr. Javier Hurtado and Ing. Franco Simini
While there is a wide range of Holter recording classification aids on the market, few are efficient enough to consider incorporating
them into the recording system itself. Neural network algorithms are investigated for highly efficient "unsupervised" performance. CLASICAR is a system
that classifies QRS complexes of 24-hour ECG recording signals with an efficient algorithm with a view to incorporating it into HOLTER analysers.
Students: José Alfaro, Tabaré Forcellati and Fabián Sarutte
Thesis Advisors: Dr. Fernando Nieto, Santiago González and Ing. Franco Simini.
Students: Andrea Arcia and Marcos González
Thesis Advisor: Ing. Franco Simini
The study of heart rate variability provides indirect information on the sympathetic and parasympathetic activity of patients
observed in various specialties such as Internal Medicine, Neurology, Endocrinology and Cardiology. The availability of powerful, low-cost calculation
tools makes it possible to transfer the experience acquired in research to clinical activity. This is the motivation behind the project, which aims to
create an ESPECAR prototype (ECG acquisition and cardiac rhythm analysis system).
Students: Ricardo Clavijo, Pablo Galmarini and Martín Pomar
Thesis Advisors: Ing. Rafael Sanguineti, Ing. Martín Vallarino, Dr. Fernando Nieto, Dr. Daniel Bulla, Dr. Oscar Zuluaga and Ing. Franco Simini
CALORNAT is a prototype designed to control and maintain the temperature of a newborn baby within pre-established ranges. The
equipment allows the temperature of three children to be controlled simultaneously by means of sensors in contact with their skin and the management of
the respective heat sources (up to 1200 W each). The control strategy is of the PID type. The equipment has an audible alarm that is activated when
abnormal operating conditions are detected.
It was in use from 1997 to 1998 and is currently used in the Nursery on the 16th floor of the Hospital
de Clínicas.
Students: Rubén Ingver, Juan Reboulaz e Isaac Shlaman
Thesis Advisors: Dr. Paul Estol, Dr. Miguel Martell and Ing. Franco Simini
This equipment is designed to study the regularity-irregularity of the heartbeat and its association with pathophysiological
conditions. In the case of the foetus, VARFRE makes it possible to acquire heart rate and intrauterine pressure signals and process them digitally in
real time. The system can display the signals on screen and save them to disk, calculate variation indices and issue a printed monitoring report, among
other features. This equipment is of great help in the management of labour and in particular for the early detection of acute foetal distress.
In
use since 1997; in 1998, two additional units are being built for use at the Hospital de Clínicas and Hospital Pereira Rosell in Montevideo.
Students: Fernando Bianco, Danilo Baritussio and Jorge Porto.
Thesis Advisors: Dr. Justo Alonso, and Ing. Franco Simini
The VRI5 is a device designed to be used in the study of ventilatory mechanics in small animals. It has both inspiratory and
expiratory occlusion, with automatic synchronisation. It has two numerical indicators that allow to visualise the duration of the inspiratory and
expiratory phases as well as the occlusion times and the respiratory frequency. The equipment is connected to a personal computer through its parallel
port. It allows control of all ventilator functions from the computer.
Currently being used at the Federal Universities of Rio de Janeiro, São
Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Brasilia and Porto Alegre.
Students: Martín Vallarino and Oscar Zuluaga
Thesis Advisors: Dr. Fernando Nieto
The developed equipment allows the measurement of impedance of the human body and can be used in different environments: from the
doctor's office to the intensive care unit. The measurement method is tetrapolar and impedance modulus and phase values can be obtained by injecting
sinusoidal currents of 1 mA effective in a frequency range between 2 and 200 kHz (8 selectable frequencies). The device can be used stand-alone or
connected to a PC with graph generation and archiving. Patient safety is guaranteed by isolation in the power section, DC-DC switched-mode power supply
and PC isolation by means of optocouplers.
Currently in use in Nephrology (14th floor, Hospital de Clínicas).
Students: Lauro Artia,
Ramiro Escuder and Cecilia Frugoni
Thesis Advisors: Dr. Fernando Nieto and Ing. Franco Simini
This prototype allows real-time acquisition, display and analysis of respiratory signals. It is intended for use in intensive care
with a compact design based on an SBC-PC (single circuit board) and a touch-sensitive resistive type monitor.
It was tested to great acclaim from
clinicians for the touch-sensitive display and is being fine-tuned in 1998.
Students: María Graciela Facelli, Laura Gesto and Raúl Rego
Thesis
Advisors: Dr. Daniel Rivara, Dr. Javier Hurtado and Ing. Franco Simini
This equipment was developed for use in the investigation of myocardial viability (recovery to different stimuli). In these studies,
variations against electrical activity, mechanical activity, drugs and perfusion pressure are recorded. The team aims to improve recordings, facilitate
measurements and reduce the time and equipment needed to analyse the data and draw conclusions. The system is based on a PC, an A/D converter card,
signal matching circuitry and real-time software.
In use by the Department of Pharmacology for several years.
Students: Gustavo Coppola,
Alejandro Paz and Inés Pérez
Thesis Advisors: Dr. Gustavo Tomasiunas and Ing. Franco Simini
With this project it was possible to interconnect different equipment (and with different operating systems) to allow local and
remote visualisation of the images generated in the Nuclear Medicine Centre of the Hospital de Clínicas. At the time the project was developed (1992),
the images were generated in a Digital PDP 11 equipment in RT11 environment. There was also a MicroVAX 3300 and personal computers (XT, AT and 386).
An image viewing programme was installed in the MicroVAX VMS environment and the personal computers were connected as MicroVAX terminals.
Students: Gonzalo Casas, Marcel Kuza and Gabriela Ratafiá
Thesis Advisors: Dra. Graciela Lagos, Prof. Dr. Eduardo Touya and Ing. Franco Simini
AUTOVENT aims to incorporate an automatic control mechanism in ventilators to correct artificial ventilation parameters (respiratory
rate and pressure support) based on the concentration of CO2 in the exhaled air at any time.
The system integrates a capnograph, a personal
computer, an A/D converter card, specific circuitry and programming into an artificial ventilator. The software is based on a real-time kernel that
allows simultaneous tasks such as signal acquisition, issuing commands to the ventilator, attending to operator actions on the keyboard, alarms for
software or hardware failures.
Students: Fernando Crego, Álvaro Giusto and Juan José Pérez
Thesis Advisors: Prof. Dr. Hernán Artucio, Dr.
Javier Hurtado and Ing. Franco Simini
VESTI 90 is a system for the study of the functional state of the brain stem.
Data acquisition and storage on disk makes it
possible to perform calculations and processing, quickly obtaining some parameters, a measurement that usually involves arduous manual work. The
possibility of having a series of studies indicating the patient's ability to recover through re-education helps greatly in making reliable diagnoses.
The magnitude of the results is also indicative of the therapies to be followed.
In use in the Vestibular Physiopathology Laboratory (Chair of
Physiopathology, Hospital de Clínicas, 15th floor) from 1990 to 1998.
Students: Pablo Del Prato, Daniel Delisante and Wadaed Uturbey.
Thesis
Advisors: Dr. Omar Macadar, Dr. Hamlet Suárez and Ing. Franco Simini
This equipment allows the conditioning of the different biological signals whose spectral content is in the frequency range between
continuous values and 1 kHz. It has 5 channels with the following characteristics:
Gain or attenuation amplifiers adjustable by the operator.
Possibility of adding continuous level.
Low-pass and high-pass filters with cut-off frequency variable by the operator.
Line noise elimination (50
Hz.)
Luminous indication of saturation of the A/D converter or work outside the linear range.
In use in the Physiopathology Department (15th
floor, Hospital de Clínicas) from 1990 to 2002 approximately.
Students: José Pedro Podestá
Thesis Advisors: Prof. Dr. Héctor Piriz and Ing
Franco Simini
Equipment designed to acquire, display and process signals from intensive care patients. Some of the signals recorded are: airway
pressure, airflow, pulmonary arterial pressure, systemic arterial pressure, electrocardiogram. The system allows the presentation (on screen and on
polygraph) and the storage of the signals on disk, the real-time calculation of respiratory mechanics parameters among other features. In use at the CTI
of the Hospital de Clínicas (14th floor) from 1990 to 1998.
Students: Gabriel Chapt, Luc Chapt and Rafael Sanguinetti
Thesis Advisors: Prof.
Dr. Hernán Artucio, Dr. Jorge Depaula, Dr. Javier Hurtado and Ing. Franco Simini
TACONATAL is a device designed to measure the heart rate of newborns. It is equipped with a three-digit display for reading the heart
rate and there is also a luminous and audible indication of each heartbeat. The equipment has three alarms that are activated when detecting low
frequency, low frequency and zero frequency or disconnection. The maximum and minimum limits can be set by the operator.
The heart sound is picked
up by a condenser microphone placed in a plastic cavity.
It can be operated connected to the mains or with common batteries. Prototype used in the
Neonatology Unit of the HC in trials for a few months.
Students: Eduardo Cassou and Jorge Stolovich
Thesis Advisors: Ing. Hugo Valdenegro and Ing.
Franco Simini
The MECVENT is a neonatal ventilatory mechanics monitor, which can be used to display air volume, tidal volume, airway and oesophageal
pressure graphs, as well as to measure pulmonary resistance and compliance, respiratory rate, inspiratory time, duty cycle, etc.
Operating with
other transducers, the device can be used on adult patients. In use for many years at C.L.A.P. since 1987.
Students: Sergio Basalo, Héctor
Deambrosi and Claudio Pravia
Thesis Advisors: Dr. Paul Estol, Prof. Dr. Héctor Piriz and Ing. Franco Simini