This study describes an IoT-based health monitoring system designed to notify attending physicians when necessary. The developed IoT system incorporates sensors for ECG, PPG, and temperature; a gyroscope/accelerometer; and a microcontroller. A critical analysis of existing components in these areas was conducted to ensure the IoT system’s good performance, reliability, and suitability for continuous cardiac monitoring and data processing. This study addresses the challenge of monitoring cardiac activity in patients with arrhythmias, focusing on the differences in heart rate variability (HRV) parameters between healthy individuals and those with extrasystolic arrhythmia. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the effectiveness of IoT-based systems using PPG and ECG sensors for cardiac data registration and HRV analysis. The system leverages time domain and frequency domain methods for HRV analysis to assess the states of the autonomic nervous system. Significant differences were observed in HRV parameters, such as the SDNN, SDANN, RMSSD, and the LF/HF ratio. The results demonstrated that both the PPG and ECG methods provide comparable HRV measurements, despite PPG’s higher susceptibility to noise. This study concludes that IoT-based monitoring systems with PPG and ECG integration can reliably detect arrhythmias and offer real-time data for cardiac care.

This article focuses on enhancing the quality of training in nursing and midwifery specialties through the application of innovative technologies in education. The widespread integration of innovations into the education process creates expanding opportunities for the implementation of modern, sustainable, and technology-supported training methods. An innovative training system for nurses and midwives was developed and implemented over one academic year. The system incorporated educational video materials, serious games, problem-solving activities, and more. Additionally, the study explored the potential of leveraging artificial intelligence and virtual reality to enhance training effectiveness. Participants in the educational experiment were divided into an experimental group (who received additional training through innovative methods) and a control group (who underwent traditional training). Both groups underwent pre-tests and post-tests to evaluate their practical skills in injection techniques. The results demonstrated a significant improvement in the acquisition of patient care skills when modern interactive technologies were integrated into the training process. Statistical analysis confirmed the significance of the obtained results. This research provides foundational methodological guidelines for researchers, educators, and curriculum developers interested in incorporating innovative interactive technologies into healthcare education.

The use of innovative technology in the field of Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) has gained significant attention nowadays. Despite being a promising research area, Socially Assistive Robots (SARs) have not been thoroughly studied and used in SLT. This paper makes two main contributions: firstly, providing a comprehensive review of existing research on the use of SARs to enhance communication skills in children and adolescents. Secondly, organizing the information into tables that categorize the interactive play scenarios described in the surveyed papers. The inclusion criteria for play scenarios in the tables are based only on their effectiveness for SLT proven by experimental findings. The data, systematically presented in a table format, allow readers to easily find relevant information based on various factors, such as disorder type, age, treatment technique, robot type, etc. The study concludes that the despite limited research on the use of social robots for children and adolescents with communication disorders (CD), promising outcomes have been reported. The authors discuss the methodological, technical, and ethical limitations related to the use of SARs for SLT in clinical or home environments, as well as the huge potential of conversational Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a secondary assistive technology to facilitate speech and language interventions.

The dynamics of cardiac signals can be studied using methods for nonlinear analysis of heart rate variability (HRV). The methods that are used in the article to investigate the fractal, multifractal and informational characteristics of the intervals between heartbeats (RR time intervals) are: Rescaled Range, Detrended Fluctuation Analysis, Multifractal Detrended Fluctuation Analysis, Poincaré plot, Approximate Entropy and Sample Entropy. Two groups of people were studied: 25 healthy subjects (15 men, 10 women, mean age: 56.3 years) and 25 patients with arrhythmia (13 men, 12 women, mean age: 58.7 years). The results of the application of the methods for nonlinear analysis of HRV in the two groups of people studied are shown as mean ± std. The effectiveness of the methods was evaluated by t-test and the parameter Area Under the Curve (AUC) from the Receiver Operator Curve (ROC) characteristics. The studied 11 parameters have statistical significance (p < 0.05); therefore, they can be used to distinguish between healthy and unhealthy subjects. It was established by applying the ROC analysis that the parameters H_q=2(MFDFA), F(α)(MFDFA) and SD₂(Poincaré plot) have a good diagnostic value; H(R/S), α₁(DFA), SD₁/SD₂(Poincaré plot), ApEn and SampEn have a very good score; α₂(DFA), α_all(DFA) and SD₁(Poincaré plot) have an excellent diagnostic score. In conclusion, the methods used for nonlinear analysis of HRV have been evaluated as effective, and with their help, new perspectives are opened in the diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases.

The paper presents a system for analyzing cardiac activity with the possibility of continuous and remote monitoring. The created sensor mobile device monitors heart activity by means of the convenient and imperceptible registration of cardiac signals. At the same time, the behavior of the human body is also monitored through the accelerometer and gyroscope built into the device, thanks to which it is possible to signal in the event of loss of consciousness or fall (in patients with syncope). Conducting real-time cardio monitoring and the analysis of recordings using various mathematical methods (linear, non-linear, and graphical) enables the research, accurate diagnosis, timely assistance, and correct treatment of cardiovascular diseases. The paper examines the recordings of patients diagnosed with arrhythmia and syncope recorded by electrocardiography (ECG) sensors in real conditions. The obtained results are subjected to statistical analysis to determine the accuracy and significance of the obtained results. The studies show significant deviations in the patients with arrhythmia and syncope regarding the obtained values of the studied parameters of heart rate variability (HRV) from the accepted normal values (for example, the root mean square of successive differences between normal heartbeats (RMSSD) in healthy individuals is 24.02 ms, while, in patients with arrhythmia (6.09 ms) and syncope (5.21 ms), it is much lower). The obtained quantitative and graphic results identify some possible abnormalities and demonstrate disorders regarding the activity of the autonomic nervous system, which is directly related to the work of the heart.

The article presents a methodology to support the process of correct cardiodiagnostics based on cardio signals recorded with modern optical photoplethysmographic (PPG) sensor devices. An algorithm for preprocessing registered PPG signals and the formation of a time series for the analysis of heart rate variability is presented, which is an important information indicator in the diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases. In order to validate the proposed algorithm, an experimental scheme for synchronous recordings of PPG and electrocardiographic (ECG) signals and the study of the accuracy of the registered signals was created. The obtained results show high accuracy of the studied signals in terms of the following parameters: number of QRS complexes/pulse waves and mean RR intervals/PP intervals and the finding that the proposed algorithm is suitable for preprocessing PPG signals, as well as the possibility of interchangeable use of PPG and ECG. The results of the mathematical analysis of heart rate variability by applying linear methods (Time-Domain and Frequency-Domain) to two groups of people are presented: healthy controls and patients with cardiovascular disease (syncope). After determining the values of the parameters of the methods used, in order to distinguish healthy subjects from sick ones, statistical analysis was applied using t-test and Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) analysis. The obtained results show that the linear methods used are suitable for analysing the dynamics of PP interval series and for distinguishing healthy subjects from those with pathological diseases. The presented research and analyses can find applications in guaranteeing correctness and accuracy of conducting cardiodiagnostics in clinical practice.