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Hexoskin at the Virtual MedTech Conference: Sessions Explore Everything from Outer Space to the Hospital of the Future

Hexoskin's CEO Pierre-Alexandre Fournier joined astronaut David Saint-Jacques and other panelists this week to discuss innovation in space medicine at the Virtual MedTech Conference.

After 20 years of continuous human presence on the International Space Station, countries from around the world are getting ready to send humans farther into our solar system, beyond Earth's orbit. Technologies required to support long-duration missions, such as to Mars and back to the moon, will be critical to the next 50 years of space exploration.

The Canadian Space Agency, numerous innovative Canadian medical technology companies and the National Research Council of Canada, are performing key research to develop and incorporate novel medical devices solutions for long-duration human spaceflight.

Cutting-edge microgravity research and space-relevant clinical expertise are critical to ensure an autonomous crew health care system. Canadian scientists, clinicians and specialists have developed and demonstrated new devices for remote clinical care including point of care diagnostics and real-time astronaut monitoring.

Among these innovations, Hexoskin has launched the wearable Astroskin Bio-Monitor system to the International Space Station in 2018 to monitor astronaut's vital signs. The system is used since for medical research in micro-gravity but also for research on Earth by a wide community of clinicians working in universities and research centers around the world.

The video of the MedTech Conference panel has been published and is available on the conference platform for attendees here: https://medtechvirtual2020.pathable.co/meetings/virtual/v98noBALBh3R4Xa5e

To learn more on Astroskin Vital Signs Monitoring Platform, Download Astroskin Product Specifications or contact us.

Intelligent Health AI Summit 2020: Hexoskin's CEO Discusses Chronic Disease Management and AI Solutions for Healthcare

For a second year, Hexoskin was invited to present at the Intelligent Health AI Summit.

On Wednesday, September 9th, Hexoskin's Co-founder & CEO Pierre-Alexandre Fournier gave a presentation on chronic disease management and the challenges of data collection when developing AI solutions for healthcare.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Intelligent Health AI Summit 2020 is held online. To view the program and to register please follow this link: https://intelligenthealth.ai/programme/

• Pierre-Alexandre Fournier, Co-Founder and CEO, Hexoskin: 
  Pierre-Alexandre Fournier is CEO and co-founder of Hexoskin, a Montreal-based company focused on clinical-grade wearable sensors and AI software for health and clinical research. Hexoskin was founded in 2006 and launched in 2013 the first iPhone compatible smart clothing for health monitoring, which won several international awards. In 2018 Hexoskin launched a remote health monitoring system for astronauts to the International Space Station. The Hexoskin data collection and analytics platform has been used in more than 95 scientific publications. Pierre-Alexandre is also an advocate for transparency in healthcare, patient empowerment, and healthcare innovation through design.

Hexoskin has a dedicated group of AI & biomedical researchers with years of experience in preparing and analyzing health data, and in the development of machine learning algorithms with health data. Our research team support the collection of vital signs with smart clothing and use external datasets to answer novel research questions.

If you wish to learn more on Hexoskin's Artificial Intelligence capabilities for Cardiovascular & Respiratory Health Research, we invite you to request access to our Webinar, with our Co-founders Pierre-Alexandre Fournier and Jean-François Roy, and our guest speaker Dr. Thomas Beltrame PhD. Department of Physiotherapy - Federal University of São Carlos. Institute of Computing - University of Campinas. Request the Webinar's recording

Contact us to learn more about how Hexoskin can support you. 

Webinar on Continuous & Remote Respiratory Monitoring With Hexoskin

We thank all our attendees and Guests Speakers who participated in our Live Webinar on Continuous & Remote Respiratory Monitoring with Hexoskin - In the Era of Chronic Illness, Pandemics & Limited Health Resources, on August 25th, 2020! If you were not able to attend live, and wish to watch it, you can now access the Webinar's recording:

Over 250 guests registered for this panel with our guest speakers Dr. Dennis Jensen (McGill University), and Denise Mannée (Radboud University Medical Center). In this session we discussed the benefits and considerations of digital technologies for Healthcare Providers, Researchers and Patients, and provide real-world evidence of Hexoskin's remote respiratory monitoring capabilities.

If you couldn't attend, and wish to watch it, you can now request access to the Webinar's recording. Thank you for your interest and feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

Register to the Upcoming Live Webinar on Continuous & Remote Respiratory Monitoring with Hexoskin

The introduction of digital technologies has promulgated innovative platforms aimed at reducing the gaps in respiratory disease management and research. How are they used? How can we distinguish effective programs from the hundreds of available digital solutions? This webinar will discuss the benefits and considerations of digital technologies for Healthcare Providers, Researchers and Patients, and provide real-world evidence of Hexoskin's remote respiratory monitoring capabilities.

Join us with our guest speakers on Tuesday, August 25, 2020, at 11:00 AM (EDT), for the upcoming Hexoskin Live Webinar on Continuously & Remote Respiratory Monitoring. If you are unable to attend, you can still register and we will send you the recorded webinar by email afterwards. 

Guest Speakers: 

• Dr. Dennis Jensen: 
  Associate Professor, Department of Kinesiology & Physical Education, at McGill University.
  Dennis Jensen's research focuses on identifying the causes of activity-related breathing discomfort (dyspnea) and exercise intolerance in health, variants of health (e.g., elderly, obesity) and in patients with chronic cardiorespiratory disease, specifically chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
  
  
• Denise Mannée: 
  PhD Candidate & Technical Physician, Department of Pulmonology, at Radboundumc University.
  Denise Mannée was born in Amersfoort, Utrecht, The Netherlands in 1992. She received B.S. and M.S. degree in Technical Medicine from the University of Twente in 2013 and 2017. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree in medicine at the Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, Gelderland, The Netherlands. Since 2017, she was a junior researcher at the Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, Gelderland, The Netherlands. Her research interest includes lung physiology, the development of home monitoring devices and improvement of patient care.

Moderator:

• Maria Athanassiou: Medical Science Liaison at Hexoskin

 We look forward to your presence for this special event!

White Paper: A comparative Perspective on Wearables Key Features for Advanced Respiratory Monitoring

Over the last few weeks, the global number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 has dramatically increased, leading to critically elevated hospitalization rates and emergency room overcrowding [1]. Shortage of beds and equipment in addition to staff exhaustion are aggravating the already fragile and precarious situation in hospitals [2–4]. This setting has created an unprecedented strain on healthcare systems, thereby compromising the quality of patient care [2,4]. Despite the concerted efforts of scientists and clinicians to find an effective vaccine, this health crisis will likely persist longer than expected [5]. Therefore, all efforts should be directed to confirm and deploy approaches to relieve healthcare systems before they crumble under pressure [3,4,6,7]. One such strategy is the early recognition of clinical deterioration, which limits the spread of the disease and reduces unnecessary hospital demands [4].

A growing body of evidence supports the clinical relevance of respiratory rate (RR) as a key predictor for adverse health outcomes [8–11]. In patients affected by COVID-19, an increase of RR can be a warning sign for patient deterioration and criteria for ICU transfer [12]. Massaroni et al. suggested that the current situation has ironically generated the perfect conditions for wearables to demonstrate their worth and capabilities to alleviate caregivers’ workload in this time of crisis. According to the authors, digital health respiratory monitoring technologies can provide relevant data to facilitate effective remote triage, diagnosis and symptoms monitoring. This will positively impact care assistance for self-isolated patients [13]. A wide variety of technologies for RR monitoring have been developed, tested and are commercially available [14–16]. However, these portable health technologies are not all comparable in terms of design, validity and usability [14–19].

Hexoskin stands out against other contenders in the respiratory field as a result of its strong presence in research publications, but also in consequence of the clinical validation of its biometric data [14,16]. Hexoskin supports professionals & researchers to improve their standards of care and research by providing cutting edge health sensors, and state-of-the-art health data management & analysis software.

To learn more about Hexoskin’s digital health solutions for RR monitoring, we invite you to download our latest White Paper titled: A comparative Perspective on Wearables Key Features for Advanced Respiratory Monitoring. In this White Paper, we explore:

• The speculative world of emerging respiratory monitoring technologies.
• The key features for advanced respiratory monitoring.
• Hexoskin’s unique capabilities to remotely monitor respiratory volumes and patterns through rich and high-resolution respiratory data integrated with the Hexoskin’s end-to-end platform (i.e. interoperable software solutions, secure and private infrastructure and machine learning services) to support research and professional organizations.

References:

1. World Health Organization. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Situation Report-197. 2020.
2. Mishra S. Hospital overcrowding. Western Journal of Medicine 2001 ; 174 : 170–170.
3. Shoukat A, Wells CR, Langley JM, et al. Projecting demand for critical care beds during COVID-19 outbreaks in Canada. CMAJ 2020 ; 192 : E489–E496.
4. Whiteside T, Kane E, Aljohani B, et al. Redesigning emergency department operations amidst a viral pandemic. The American Journal of Emergency Medicine 2020 ; 38 : 1448–1453.
5. Adhanom Ghebreyesus T. WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 - 3 August 2020. 2020.
6. Government of Canada. The “smart shirts” helping reduce the pressure COVID-19 is putting on hospitals. 2020.
7. Verelst F, Kuylen E, Beutels P. Indications for healthcare surge capacity in European countries facing an exponential increase in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases, March 2020. Eurosurveillance 2020 ; 25.
8. Cretikos MA, Bellomo R, Hillman K, et al. Respiratory rate: the neglected vital sign. Medical Journal of Australia 2008 ; 188 : 657–659.
9. Garrido D, Assioun JJ, Keshishyan A, et al. Respiratory Rate Variability as a Prognostic Factor in Hospitalized Patients Transferred to the Intensive Care Unit. Cureus 2018.
10. Keshvani N, Berger K, Gupta A, et al. Improving Respiratory Rate Accuracy in the Hospital: A Quality Improvement Initiative. J Hosp Med 2019 ; 14 : 673–677.
11. Van Diest I, Thayer JF, Vandeputte B, et al. Anxiety and respiratory variability. Physiology & Behavior 2006 ; 89 : 189–195.
12. Sun Q, Qiu H, Huang M, et al. Lower mortality of COVID-19 by early recognition and intervention: experience from Jiangsu Province. Ann. Intensive Care 2020 ; 10 : 33.
13. Massaroni C, Nicolò A, Schena E, et al. Remote Respiratory Monitoring in the Time of COVID-19. Front. Physiol. 2020 ; 11 : 635.
14. Khundaqji H, Hing W, Furness J, et al. Smart Shirts for Monitoring Physiological Parameters: Scoping Review. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth 2020 ; 8 : e18092.
15. Massaroni C, Nicolò A, Lo Presti D, et al. Contact-Based Methods for Measuring Respiratory Rate. Sensors 2019 ; 19 : 908.
16. Soon S, Svavarsdottir H, Downey C, et al. Wearable devices for remote vital signs monitoring in the outpatient setting: an overview of the field. BMJ Innov 2020 ; 6 : 55–71.
17. Aliverti A. Wearable technology: role in respiratory health and disease. Breathe 2017 ; 13 : e27–e36.
18. Düking P, Hotho A, Holmberg H-C, et al. Comparison of Non-Invasive Individual Monitoring of the Training and Health of Athletes with Commercially Available Wearable Technologies. Front. Physiol. 2016 ; 7.
19. Peake JM, Kerr G, Sullivan JP. A Critical Review of Consumer Wearables, Mobile Applications, and Equipment for Providing Biofeedback, Monitoring Stress, and Sleep in Physically Active Populations. Front. Physiol. 2018 ; 9 : 743

Hexoskin Smart BLE Demo - Now Available on All Operating Systems

We are now making the Hexoskin Smart BLE Demo widely available for development across all Bluetooth enabled operating systems. Our community of developers can now retrieve Hexoskin's Data Channels in real time, with remote access through our open API.

Compatible with the Hexoskin Smart Device - Bluetooth 4.1 interface, the Hexoskin Smart BLE Demo is OS agnostic and now available for development on all operating systems including Mac, Windows, Linux, Raspberry Pi, Android, iOS.

We invite you to visit our Developer page to learn more about Hexoskin data integration solutions, developer tools and documentation available.

To request access for your project please contact the Hexoskin API team: api@hexoskin.com

European Connected Health Alliance Pop-Up: Hexoskin's CEO Presents New Ways of Keeping Chronic Cardiac and Pulmonary Diseases Patients Safe at Home during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

As countries are affected by COVID-19, populations are being asked to self-isolate and prevent the spread of the virus in Europe and Canada. For instance, patients suffering from cardiac, and lung diseases such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) are among the most vulnerable to infections, including the Coronavirus disease (SARS-CoV-2). However, it is well documented that social isolation among older adults is a serious public health concern due to its impacts on physical and mental health.

This European Connected Health Alliance Pop Up looks at ways that Canada and Europe can connect in areas they have collaborated previously such as healthy ageing to find common lessons and solutions. 

On Thursday, July 2nd, Hexoskin's CEO and co-founder, Pierre-Alexandre Fournier attended the Pop-Up Ecosystem “Canada and Europe Tackle COVID-19 and Isolation” from European Connected Health Alliance. Our CEO talked about new ways of keeping chronic pulmonary and cardiac diseases patients safe at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. See minute 47:00 in the video.

SENSORIA 6 Mars Mission: Long Duration Mars Analog Simulations using Hexoskin

HI-SEAS (Hawai’i Space Exploration Analog and Simulation) is a Habitat on an isolated Mars-like site on the Mauna Loa side of the saddle area on the Big Island of Hawaii at approximately 8200 feet above sea level. HI-SEAS not only offers physical isolation but also geological and environmental similarities to Mars.

The Sensoria Mars Mission took place from January 4-18, 2020 in Hawaii, on the remote slopes of Mauna Loa, the largest volcano in the world, six scientists embarked on a novel "mission to Mars."

Analog astronaut missions place scientists and explorers in remote locations on Earth that physically resemble cosmic destinations like the moon and Mars. There, the researchers explore and perform research as if they were in space. This both generates important scientific data and informs space agencies about what it might be like to step foot on those far-off hostiles surfaces. 

The Sensoria program is unique for a number of reasons, but one that stands is that this is the first HI-SEAS crew to consist of all women. 

«There is an imperative to advance the female narrative within human space exploration and this high-visibility, high-impact mission places women squarely at the center of a shared vision for the future». Sensoria-6 Mars Mission. 

Congratulations to the SENSORIA Team for this great mission!
 

A super big thank you to @DrSianProctor and @eboninflight who collected pilot data for #RxEVA during the @SENSORIA_6 Mars mission @HI_SEAS with @Astro_Eustice @HackerAstro #Space2inspire #WomenInSTEM #AnalogAstronaut @flight_ready @AnalogAstro pic.twitter.com/EfEdW1rxYI

— Ryan L Kobrick, PhD (@RyInSpace) July 2, 2020

Are you working on a project where you believe our technologies would suit your needs in monitoring health vitals on earth and in Space? Contact us to discuss your objectives and see how Astroskin or Hexoskin could be useful! 

Continuity of respiratory care during COVID-19 - Continuous Respiratory Monitoring with Hexoskin

Patients suffering from lung diseases such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) are among the most vulnerable to infections, including the Coronavirus disease (SARS-CoV-2). In fact, they are more likely to develop severe disease or to be admitted to intensive care units (ICU) when compared to patients with conditions like high blood pressure or diabetes (Jain et al. 2020). COPD patients also have a 5 fold greater risk of developing complications when contracting SARS-CoV-2 (Lippi et al. 2020). In fact, COPD patients are at risk of developing a more severe form of SARS-CoV-2 leading to serious complications (Attaway et al. 2020). Overall, the care management may turn out to be far more complicated for these patients (Tal-Singer et al. 2020).

The importance of ensuring continuity of care for lung diseases & COPD Patients

The number of COPD patients has been on the rise for several decades already and are projected to keep increasing (Adeloye et al. 2015; GlobalData 2018; Ma et al. 2015). Comorbidities and complications associated with this chronic condition make this the highest financial burden on the healthcare system (Chapman et al. 2006; Ford et al. 2015). In the current COVID-19 context, these costs may increase dramatically.

This alarming rate of COPD patients requiring continuous and expensive medical care is now combined with the pressure faced by Healthcare systems to tackle  the COVID-19 pandemic. It has become essential to think of cost-effective tools such as connected health platforms and telemedicine services for assisting and monitoring these patients at home (Tal-Singer et al. 2020). It was even reported that some COPD patients were misdiagnosed for SARS-CoV-2,  thus delaying proper care and putting them in a precarious situation (Tal-Singer et al. 2020). Imperative actions must be implemented to closely monitor all COPD patients, ensure the continuity of their care and prevent disease progression, exacerbations and further harm. Acting early and effectively towards this most vulnerable population will be the key to good clinical outcomes and lower medical costs for the healthcare system.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Hexoskin remains committed to providing complete connected health solutions for remote patient monitoring, thereby promoting efficient and valuable continuity of care. Hexoskin is the only clinically validated garment able to provide continuous vital signs monitoring and has already been widely used in both clinical and scientific research settings (over 85 scientific publications). Integrating new and innovative technologies such as Hexoskin into the basic care of patients with chronic respiratory diseases will ensure an enhanced and continuous assessment of their health condition, and this, at all times.

Figure 1. Optimizing patient care with continuous monitoring with Hexoskin.

How to remotely and continuously monitor patients with respiratory diseases & COPD with Hexoskin?

To learn more about how to remotely and continuously monitor patients with respiratory diseases & COPD with Hexoskin, we invite you to download our latest White Paper. In this White Paper, you will learn more about: 

• Hexoskin’s unique capabilities to continuously monitor, not only respiratory rate, but the overall respiratory function.
• Easing patient burden and improving their overall experience outcome using the Hexoskin Remote Monitoring Platform
• How Hexoskin telemonitoring solution for COPD patients and other respiratory diseases contribute to Patient empowerment and improvement of Quality of Life.

Join us this week at #BIODigital International Convention 2020!

Hexoskin is thrilled to attend once again the upcoming BIODigital International Convention 2020, and connect with other members of the life science community. This year the meetings will transition to a virtual event format in which Hexoskin will take part. Pierre-Alexandre Fournier, co-founder, and CEO of Hexoskin will speak on the panel:

Can AI Prevent Epidemics? (Available on demand).

The panel is hosted by Annastasiah Mudiwa Mhaka, PhD, Co-founder and Convenor of the Alliance for Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare (AAIH) Convenor, former President; Founder; Mawambo Lifesciences. Our CEO will be joined in this panel by leaders in government, technology, venture capital, and health care to discuss the potential for using AI to protect us from the next pandemic or superbug. The world is more vulnerable than ever to outbreaks and remains ill-prepared to predict, prevent, detect, and respond to a significant pandemic. The panel will cover how advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) tools and algorithms can improve the prediction of infectious disease outbreaks and prevent them from causing devastating pandemics. The panel participants will also discuss the kind of innovative public-private partnerships that can be used to develop and test new AI tools for epidemic prevention. 

Hexoskin will also demonstrate how the industry can leverage Hexoskin sensors, clinical solutions, and AI to fulfill the increasing demand for real-world evidence. Pharma and CROs interested in digital biomarkers are invited to reach out to our team to get insights on how clinical-grade wearable sensors and AI software can facilitate remote trials and monitor patients from home.

A CONNECTED HEALTH PLATFORM BUILT AROUND
YOU AND THE PATIENT

Hexoskin is the world leader in smart clothing and body sensing technologies.

The Hexoskin Connected Health Platform is the fastest growing platform available to collect Real World Evidence and publish results. Hexoskin is the leading clinically validated solution that collects continuously precise ECG, Respiratory & Activity & Sleep data.

Thousands of professionals, researchers, and students from universities, research institutions, colleges, and private organizations are leveraging the precise data collected by our comfortable and non-invasive Smart Garments. Our clients appreciate our accessible solutions such as the Hexoskin Dashboards, Open API, and Apps to manage, visualize, analyze, and export raw & processed data.

With over 85 scientific publications & validation studies published since 2012, Hexoskin is the solution of choice to generate precise physiological health data. Hexoskin’s team of experts supports researchers and investigating teams to design and manage their multi-sites studies.

Request an e-meeting with our team to discuss your needs and learn more about how Hexoskin can support remote patient-centered studies. 

 

@Hexoskin is thrilled to attend once again the BIO International Convention this week. @pafournier, co-founder, and CEO of Hexoskin will speak on the panel: Can AI Prevent Epidemics? (Available on demand).https://t.co/oF1Q2e5tYX pic.twitter.com/xuV5oSzVWp

— Hexoskin - Sensors & AI (@Hexoskin) June 9, 2020