November 14th is World Diabetes Day. The day was created by the International Diabetes Federation to help increase Diabetes awareness. Diabetes is a disease that affects people worldwide and its complications are blindness, heart attack, kidney failure and limb amputation. Blindness and amputation are consequences of Diabetic Rethinopathy and Diabetic Neuropathy, respectively. Researchers from Fraunhofer Portugal AICOS are developing new solutions to improve the early detection of these Diabetes complications. COLABORAR wants to mark the date by highlighting those projects:
- EyeFundusScope – “Mobile-based risk assessment of Diabetic Retinopathy by image processing” comprises an ophthalmoscopic adapter attached to a smartphone with an application that processes the images of the eye fundus captured by the optical adapter. The app allows the detection of micro-aneurysms, which are the first visible signs of Diabetic Rethinopathy, on an non-expert monitoring context, enabling an early pre-diagnosis;
- NeuropathyDetect – “Detection of Peripheral Neuropathy in Diabetes patients” consists of using plantar pressure sensors and smartphone built-in accelerometers to collect gait data that is then analyzed by a mobile application. It enables to identify early signs of Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy in diabetic patients who therefore must adopt protective measures to prevent feet injuries and be followed-up by their medical doctor, in order to improve their treatment.
You can see a news piece by SIC Notícias on these two Fraunhofer Portugal AICOS’s projects below (in Portuguese).