The World Health Organization promotes healthy living through regular physical activities, such as exercise and sports, as well as access to healthcare and rehabilitation services for people with motor dysfunctions. However, there is a lack of specialized personnel and increased costs associated with such activities. These have led to the increased use of machine learning for the analysis and evaluation of human motion during exercise. To study the latest advancements in this area, a systematic literature review focusing on publications from 2017 to 2021 was performed. As a result, 88 relevant publications were identified, which developed both shallow machine learning and deep learning algorithms. The results indicated that algorithms for human motion assessment should provide personalized and informative assessments, with explainable and interpretable outcomes, that can be computed in real-time or concurrently with the execution of an exercise. Furthermore, they should be easy to adapt based on the needs of applications and should be able to perform with different motion capture systems. This has been challenging because of the usually small amount of collected data, the lack of large open datasets, and the unique characteristics of exercise motions. Based on the above findings, guidelines for the development of such algorithms are proposed and discussed. They relate to the selection of the type of assessment, handling data imbalances, selecting of motion capture technologies, balancing between accuracy and speed, selecting the right algorithm, performing concurrent assessment during an exercise, personalization and scalability, and evaluation.

Emerging research confirms the need for technologically enhanced solutions to support non-pharmacological interventions which can improve the quality of life, the mental and physical health of demented people. Several types of research examined if virtual reality can be an effective solution. This paper aims to present the cyclic process of prototyping, testing, analysing, and refining the VR system in real-world clinical settings. Seven people with moderate to severe dementia were recruited. The experiment required the patients to attend three virtual reality iterations of rapid prototyping with user testing. All three iterations involved training activities with upper body movements similar to their usual physical training. A mixed-methods design measured affect and emotional behaviour using the Observed Emotion Rating Scale and the Visual Analog Scale. Content analysis was conducted following observations and interviews. During each iteration of rapid prototyping with user testing, quantitative measurements of performance, independence and time were recorded. Eye tracking and movement information were captured by the system. Finally, a simplified version of the presence and usability scales evaluated the system. The results of this study provide further evidence that virtual reality can play a significant role in the improvement of people’s with dementia physical training and emotional health when is appropriately designed. The results present the vital factors which should be incorporated in a virtual reality system which are: 1) a simple interactions modality; 2) visible visual targets and continuous feedback; 3) personalized virtual environments; 4) personalized range of movements.

The present article explores the most popular approaches and the best practices for the design and implementation of cognitive gaming interventions that combine Brain Computer Interface (BCI) systems with Virtual Reality (VR). We focus on interventions that target cognitive skills related to perception, visuospatial attention and visuospatial memory. To this purpose, we review the techniques and algorithms that are commonly used for data pre-processing, feature extraction, and classification in such interventions. We discuss issues related to BCI-VR Cognitive Gaming, including the BCI paradigms, the action tasks and environments, user characteristics, algorithms, channels, accuracy, and the most prominent findings. We conclude with a discussion of the current challenges, limitations, future research directions, and the potential commercial applications of BCI-VR in cognitive gaming.

In recent years, there has been growing interest in designing non-pharmacological interventions to improve the quality of life for People with Dementia (PwD) who face motor impairments. This paper investigates the feasibility of using Virtual Reality (VR) technologies for the rehabilitation of 20 patients with moderate to severe dementia residing in a confined psychiatric hospital and discusses the impact of this interactions on motor training. To accomplish this, we present three interrelated studies that refer to: (1) System requirement analysis carried out through a workshop with experts in dementia care; (2) System interaction method assessment by testing two different types of interaction in Virtual Reality, to identify the most suitable for People with Dementia; and (3) A pilot study with patients performing three upper limb physiotherapy tasks in Virtual Reality. The issues encountered during the design, testing and execution of the experimental tasks are discussed and a set of guidelines and recommendations for the future deployment of VR in healthcare services is provided.

Height velocity (HV) growth charts constructed from longitudinal studies are scarce as they have inherent difficulties, e.g., time, and costs. These difficulties can be partly overcome by a mixed-longitudinal study that covers the entire age range within 3–6 years. To construct HV charts of Greek children and to estimate the milestones of the adolescent growth spurt (AGS), i.e., the onset of AGS (take-off), peak HV, and total pubertal growth (TPG), we performed a mixed longitudinal study in 1514 Greek schoolchildren (6–18 years) with height measurements every 6 months during three schoolyears. We constructed HV charts for boys and girls. Take-off occurs earlier in girls, and, in both sexes, it precedes by 1–1.5 years the appearance of physical signs of puberty. PHV in boys occurs at 12.61 years and in girls at 10.93 years. At take-off, boys are 5 cm taller than girls and TPG for boys is 35.8 cm and for girls 27.3 cm. We constructed HV charts plotted by age, irrespective of pubertal status, and presented data on the milestones of AGS. Furthermore, we suggest that the gradual increase in IGF-1 and E2 that occurs after 5 to 6 years of age triggers the onset of AGS, which precedes physical signs of puberty.

Screening for Type 1 Diabetes (T1D, incidence 1:300) with T1D autoantibodies (T1Ab) at ages 2 and 6, while sensitive, lacks a preventive strategy. Cholecalciferol 2000 IU daily since birth reduced T1D by 80% at 1 year. T1D-associated T1Ab negativized within 0.6 years with oral calcitriol in 12 children. To further investigate secondary prevention of T1D with calcitriol and its less calcemic analog, paricalcitol, we initiated a prospective interventional non-randomized clinical trial, the PRECAL study (ISRCTN17354692). In total, 50 high-risk children were included: 44 were positive for T1Ab, and 6 had predisposing for T1D HLA genotypes. Nine T1Ab+ patients had variable impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), four had pre-T1D (3 T1Ab+, 1 HLA+), nine had T1Ab+ new-onset T1D not requiring insulin at diagnosis. T1Ab, thyroid/anti-transglutaminase Abs, glucose/calcium metabolism were determined prior and q3–6 months on calcitriol, 0.05 mcg/Kg/day, or paricalcitol 1–4 mcg × 1–3 times/day p.o. while on cholecalciferol repletion. Available data on 42 (7 dropouts, 1 follow-up < 3 months) patients included: all 26 without pre-T1D/T1D followed for 3.06 (0.5–10) years negativized T1Ab (15 +IAA, 3 IA2, 4 ICA, 2 +GAD, 1 +IAA/+GAD, 1 +ICA/+GAD) within 0.57 (0.32–1.3) years or did not develop to T1D (5 +HLA, follow-up 3 (1–4) years). From four pre-T1D cases, one negativized T1Ab (follow-up 1 year), one +HLA did not progress to T1D (follow-up 3.3 years) and two +T1Ab patients developed T1D in 6 months/3 years. Three out of nine T1D cases progressed immediately to overt disease, six underwent complete remission for 1 year (1 month–2 years). Five +T1Ab patients relapsed and negativized again after resuming therapy. Four (aged <3 years) negativized anti-TPO/TG, and two anti-transglutaminase-IgA. Eight presented mild hypercalciuria/hypercalcemia, resolving with dose titration/discontinuation. Secondary prevention of T1D with calcitriol and paricalcitol seems possible and reasonably safe, if started soon enough after seroconversion.