OKEY

Five Noncommunicable Diseases (NCD) – diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory disease and Mental Health Disorders (MHD) – account for 86% deaths and 77% disease burden in the WHO Europe region. Of these five NCDs, MHD is unique as it has a complex bi-directional relationship with the other four major NCDs, meaning that, on one hand, it could be the initiator of the other NCDs, or other NCDs could lead to MHD which, in turn, can further aggravate the primary NCD leading to a vicious circle. Recent research identified MHD as the highest ranked NCD in adolescent population. A specific group in this population that is 3 - 6 times more vulnerable for developing MHD and subsequent NCD is the adolescents diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). There is no Evidence Based Intervention (EBI) for preventing MHD in an ASD adolescent since 1) the major risk factors are in-grained in their biological process and 2) they present with multiple MHD comorbidity. Personalisation is the key to prevent their already vulnerable mental states making transition to an MHD - "which" EBI is appropriate for "which" ASD adolescent and "how" to choose it - an unsolved question. Because of their neurobiological characteristics, personalisation must be done at biological level. Recent research showed how the environmental factors can alter gene expressions that leads to an MHD through Epigenetic-Genetic/metabolomic-Mental health (EGM) process. Using quantitative modelling of this process, ETHREAL will develop a personalised, flexible, single service delivery model that will empower an ASD adolescent to self-control their environmental factors while seamlessly accessing the community care services to prevent their mental health making transition to an MHD - a unique solution for sustainable prevention of MHD and subsequent NCDs in this population. Without loss of generality, the proposed solution could be adapted to prevent MHD in wider adolescent population.

The BD-KNEE project is a “patient specific” system that provides innovative knee replacement devices, matching ICT with 3D printing new production technologies, which reduce patient pain, speeding up the recovery with a competitive price. This project is led by REJOINT, a company that work in the orthopaedic implant industry, that has joined forces with ORTHOKEY, the JV SensoriaHealth-ICT and Fundación Rioja Salud. Total Knee Arthroplasty, also known as Total Knee Replacement (TKR), is one of the most commonly performed orthopaedic procedures. The number of total knee replacements performed annually in the US is expected to grow +5 times to 4.34 million procedures by 2030. In Europe, this number has increased in recent years in most European countries as well (70%). Since many years, the biomedical “Total Knee Replacement” (TKR) industry is static and stationary in terms of material evolution, design and surgical procedures, although the orthopaedic market is a never stop growing market. The knee orthopaedic market value was $9bn in 2017 with a constant CAGR of 3% until 2020. BD-KNEE project is a medical e-platform that design and develop a family of medical devices and processes for the total knee replacement using the most advanced technologies (Electron Beam Melting or EBM 3D printing, Innovative software) at competitive cost and price (50% cheaper than the premium alternative ConforMis, our main competitor). Moreover, BD-KNEE e-medical platform reduces the rehabilitation of the patient, reducing the surgical time in OR thanks to customized pre-op software (design the implants and instrumentations for each patient) and intra-op software (a surgical technique to guide the surgeons). This project will have an important impact on the growth of BD-KNEE consortium, enabling to reach additional revenues of €30.36 million by 2025 and imply a growth in personnel, with the creation of 55 new jobs.

MADIA aims at realizing a versatile and cheap diagnostic device based on magnetoresistive sensors, microfluidic device, ultra–small Magnetic Nanoparticles (MNPs) and advanced bio-chemical functionalization methods for the early and ultrasensitive. in vitro detection of biomarkers trustfully associated with 2 incurable neurodegenerative diseases: Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and Parkinson Disease (PD). We plan to achieve sensitivities at least three orders of magnitude higher than best state-of-the-art values flexibility to operate for a wide range of concentrations. WHY: Neurodegenerative diseases (ND) are debilitating and largely untreatable conditions that are strongly linked with age. Amongst these disorders, the dementias are responsible for the greatest burden of disease, with Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders affecting some 7 million people in Europe. The current costs of the order of €130 billion per annum to care for people with dementia across Europe highlight age-related neurodegenerative disease as one of the largest medical and societal challenges faced by our society. PD is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder worldwide after AD. WHAT: The operation principle behind the proposed tool embodies a Magnetic Sensor Assay approach and consists of recognizing the targeted core and downstream biomarkers obtained from body fluids (such as cerebrospinal fluid - CSF and blood) through their complexation with nano-magnetic labels (MNPs) followed by a highly sensitive magnetic detection at micro-scales. The specific recognition of the protein by the magnetic nanoparticles will be achieved and ensured via protein bonding to functionalizing groups grafted on the surface of the MNP. The complexes MNP-BM will be injected into microfluidics channels flowing in the close vicinity of magnetic sensors, bringing thus the MNP-BM to distances where the magnetic field of the MNP will trigger a quantitatively detectable sensor response.

MEFISTO will develop two novel solutions to treat meniscus loss as a strategy for preventing the onset of an epidemic of post-meniscectomy knee osteoarthritis (OA) in Europe. Morphological profiling will identify the population of patients who, after meniscal resection, are at higher risk of early compartment degeneration, providing a personalized approach for the patient. The two different reconstructive strategies are: i) a controlled vascularized bioactive biodegradable meniscal scaffold, which will regenerate the native meniscus. This strategy will address younger patients with early osteoarthritic changes. ii) a bioactive non-biodegradable meniscal prosthesis, which will act as a mechanical unloading device and a drug delivery system, with the capacity to modulate the inflammatory environment. This strategy will address patients with advanced OA. A socio-economic analysis of the efficacy of existing meniscal substitutes will complete the project. This analysis is of vital importance for the European healthcare system, as it will provide a clear understanding of the costs and benefits of current clinical practice and predict the impact of the two new interventions. The technological innovation lies in the development of biologically active functionalized nanobiomaterials that can interact with the surrounding articular tissues. The biodegradable scaffold will promote revascularization in the peripheral zone, while leaving the inner zone avascular, reflecting the native meniscal tissue and functionalization with drug delivery micro/nanoparticles of the non-biodegradable device will provide modulation of inflammation. The impact is expected to be significant as so many patients have undergone or will undergo meniscectomy. The interventions developed in MEFISTO will prevent these patients from receiving joint-sacrificing procedures such as metal prosthesis whilst reducing the social burden, associated costs and high levels of morbidity resulting from OA.

The aim of this Project is to create an International and Intersectoral network to facilitate the exchange of staff to progress developments in reminding technologies for persons with dementia which can be deployed in smart environments. The focus will be on developing staff and partner skills in the areas of user centered design and behavioral science coupled with improved computational techniques which in turn will offer more appropriate and efficacious reminding solutions. This will be further supported through research involving user centric studies into the use of reminding technologies and the theory of behaviour change to improve compliance of usage. A program of work has been established to maximise the transfer of knowledge between the different sectors offering a range of development and training opportunities for staff. Industrial staff will benefit from bi-lateral exchanges from the technical domains of context aware reminding technologies, soft computing, aware intelligent systems, pervasive computing and the psychological domain of behaviour change. The academic beneficiaries will benefit from gaining experience in the development of industrial standard software conforming to ISO and medical standards, engagement with stakeholders through a user centred design process and working with organisations delivering care to the elderly and persons with dementia. The consortium is comprised of an International network of beneficiaries and partners, all of which are committed to progressing the notion of reminding technologies within smart environments.