Life expectancy in most countries has been increasing continually over the several few decades thanks to significant improvements in medicine, public health, as well as personal and environmental hygiene. However, increased life expectancy combined with falling birth rates are expected to engender a large aging demographic in the near future that would impose significant  burdens on the socio-economic structure of these countries. Therefore, it is essential to develop cost-effective, easy-to-use systems for the sake of elderly healthcare and well-being. Remote health monitoring, based on non-invasive and wearable sensors, actuators and modern communication and information technologies offers an efficient and cost-effective solution that allows the elderly to continue to live in their comfortable home environment instead of expensive healthcare facilities. These systems will also allow healthcare personnel to monitor important physiological signs of their patients in real time, assess health conditions and provide feedback from distant facilities. In this paper, we have presented and compared several low-cost and non-invasive health and activity monitoring systems that were reported in recent years. A survey on textile-based sensors that can potentially be used in wearable systems is also presented. Finally, compatibility of several communication technologies as well as future perspectives and research challenges in remote monitoring systems will be discussed.

Advancements in medical science and technology, medicine and public health coupled with increased consciousness about nutrition and environmental and personal hygiene have paved the way for the dramatic increase in life expectancy globally in the past several decades. However, increased life expectancy has given rise to an increasing aging population, thus jeopardizing the socio-economic structure of many countries in terms of costs associated with elderly healthcare and wellbeing. In order to cope with the growing need for elderly healthcare services, it is essential to develop affordable, unobtrusive and easy-to-use healthcare solutions. Smart homes, which incorporate environmental and wearable medical sensors, actuators, and modern communication and information technologies, can enable continuous and remote monitoring of elderly health and wellbeing at a low cost. Smart homes may allow the elderly to stay in their comfortable home environments instead of expensive and limited healthcare facilities. Healthcare personnel can also keep track of the overall health condition of the elderly in real-time and provide feedback and support from distant facilities. In this paper, we have presented a comprehensive review on the state-of-the-art research and development in smart home based remote healthcare technologies.

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The sinoatrial node is the primary pacemaker of the heart. Nodal dysfunction with aging, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, and even endurance athletic training can lead to a wide variety of pathological clinical syndromes. Recent work utilizing molecular markers to map the extent of the node, along with the delineation of a novel paranodal area intermediate in characteristics between the node and the surrounding atrial muscle, has shown that pacemaker tissue is more widely spread in the right atrium than previously appreciated. This can explain the phenomenon of a "wandering pacemaker" and concomitant changes in the P-wave morphology. Extensive knowledge now exists regarding the molecular architecture of the node (in particular, the expression of ion channels) and how this relates to pacemaking. This review is an up-to-date summary of the current state of our appreciation of the above topics.

BackgroundThe healthcare burden related to congenital heart disease (CHD) is increasing with improving survival. We assessed changing trends in prenatal risk factors for CHD in the current era in a Canadian cohort.Methods and ResultsCHD patients <18 years old (n=2339) and controls without structural heart disease (n=199) were prospectively enrolled in an Ontario province‐wide biobank registry from 2008–2011. Family history, frequency of extra‐cardiac anomalies (ECAs), and antenatal risk factors were assessed. Temporal trends were analyzed and associations with CHD were measured using linear and logistic regression. Family history of CHD and frequency of major ECAs was higher in cases versus controls (P<0.001). Despite an increase in genetic testing in the recent era, only 9.5% of cases with CHD had a confirmed genetic diagnosis. Yield of genetic testing (ie, frequency of abnormal results) was higher in familial and syndromic cases. There was an increase in parental age at conception, maternal prepregnancy body mass index, maternal urinary tract infections, type 1 diabetes, and exposure to nonfertility medications during pregnancy from 1990–2011. Later year of birth, family history of CHD, presence of major ECAs, maternal smoking during pregnancy, and maternal medication exposure were associated with increased odds of CHD (P<0.05 for all). Advanced parental age was associated with increased odds of CHD caused by genetic abnormalities.ConclusionsThe increase in prenatal risk factors for CHD highlights the need for more rigorous ascertainment of genetic and environmental factors including gene‐environment interactions that contribute to CHD.