HTAD 2014: The First International Workshop on Healthcare Technologies for Alzheimer's Disease Care
http://htad2014.unbsj.ca/

September 22 - 25, 2014, Halifax, Canada (Co-located with ICTH 2014)

Extended Submission Deadline
Submission Deadline: *EXTENDED TO JUNE 10, 2014*
Author Notification: June 24 2014
Camera Ready Due: July 17 2014

Call for Papers
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative disorders of the aging human brain, clinically presenting with early memory deficit and progressive cognitive and functional disorientation. In the early stages memory loss is mild, but with late-stage AD individuals lose the ability to carry on a conversation and respond to their environment. Therefore, the healthcare needs for individuals affected with the disease vary as they progress from mild cognitive decline to severe cognitive impairment.
The brain has 100 billion nerve cells (neurons) and each nerve cell connects with many others to form communication networks. Two abnormal structures called plaques and tangles are prime suspects in damaging and killing nerve cells.
• Plaques are deposits of a protein fragment called beta-amyloid that build up in the spaces between nerve cells.
• Tangles are twisted fibers of another protein called tau that build up inside cells.
Though most people develop some plaques and tangles as they age, those with AD tend to develop far more. They also tend to develop them in a predictable pattern, beginning in areas important for memory before spreading to other regions. Scientists have not yet determined the specific role of plaques and tangles in AD. Most experts believe they play a critical role in blocking communication between nerve cells and hence, disrupt processes that cells need to survive.
Currently, there is no cure for AD. Many biomarkers have been developed in order to diagnose and predict progression of the disease. So far, most of them do not provide consistent results. The research is still at an early stage and hence cannot provide objective and reliable measures of disease progression in order to begin early available therapies or to prepare the families and social environment prepare for their care process.

It is known that people with AD cannot carry out normal activities and require 24/7 care. The financial burden of this care-process is a threat to the economy of any country. A major effort is underway by pharmaceutical companies to develop disease-modifying therapeutics based on the known pathophysiologic mechanisms of AD and a number of strategies for disease prevention are under investigation as well.
This workshop will be open to research studies on identifying challenges and providing solutions to combat the disease. Research include topics in deriving integrated markers from multimodal data such as clinical, MRI and PET imaging, and bioinformatics in the clinical field, smart monitoring and assistive technologies in the home and healthcare process, tools for early diagnosis and related areas all welcome.
Papers describing original research on both theoretical and practical aspects in the use of healthcare technologies in the care of the disease are solicited for this workshop. Success stories are also welcome to be shared in this platform.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to the following:
•Tools for early diagnosis
•Advances in the diagnostic process
•AD care technologies
•AD cloud
•Genome-Phenome-Behaviour (GePheBe) patterns
•GePheBe based simulation models for MCI/AD healthcare
•Nonintrusive behaviour monitoring with wireless sensor network
•EEG and related physiological signals analysis for disease progression
•Use of neurosensors in brain health and neurodegeneration study
•Knowledge discovery from experimental data
•NMR metabolite fingerprinting
•Metabolomics analysis
•AD Grids
•ANN tools to support clinical decision making and disease classification and prediction of MCI and AD
•Proactive measures
•Monitoring brain health
•Neuroscience
•Predictive models for MCI and AD
•Brain image analysis
•Brain signal analysis
•Technology support for the caregiver
•Safety and security technologies for AD patient’s care at home
•Current research for AD biomarkers
•Models for care
•Care management technologies
•Affordable Care Act and its effects on the dementia population
•Future of health care technology
•Clinical care models
•Success AD care stories
Papers should contain original work not published or currently under review elsewhere. Manuscripts are limited to 8 pages. EasyChair will be used for paper submission. All papers accepted for this workshop will be included in the ICTH 2014 proceedings, which will be published by Elsevier Science in the open-access Procedia Computer Science series on-line. Check the Paper Kit section on the ICTH 2014 conference website for more details. The authors must follow Elsevier guidelines as given in ICTH-2014 Website. At least one author of each accepted paper is required to register and attend the conference to present the work. Selected outstanding papers presented at the workshop may be considered for publication in journal special issues.
Program Committee
General Chair
Prof. Janet Light Thompson
University of New Brunswick (Saint John), Canada
Email: jlight(-at-)unb.ca

Program Chairs
Dr. Claudio Babiloni
University of Rome, Italy
Email: c.babiloni(-at-)unifg.it

Dr. Rose McCloskey,
University of New Brunswick, Saint John, Canada
Email: rmcclosk(-at-)unb.ca

Dr. Pam Jarret M.D, PhD,
Clinical Department Head, Geriatric Medicine, AHSC - St. Joseph's Hospital,
Associate Professor, Dalhousie and Memorial University
Email: jarpa(-at-)reg2.health.nb.ca

Technical Program Committee
Dr. Arnold Mitnitski,
Scientist - Math Modelling & Data Mining, Dalhousie University, Canada
Dr. Giovanni Frisoni,
National Centre for Alzheimer Disease, University of Roma, Italy
Dr. Pietro Pietrini,
MD, Ph.D., Chair of Clinical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Director, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Molecular Diagnostics, University of Pisa Medical School, Italy
Dr. Silvia Pellegrini,
Molecular Biology Scientist, Department of Experimental Pathology, MBIE, University of Pisa Medical School, Italy
Dr. Raffaele Antonelli Incalzi,
Chair of Geriatrics Department, Medical Doctor, Università CAMPUS Bio-Medico di Roma, Italy
Prof. P Rossini,
Full Professor at Università Campus Bio-Medico and Scientific Director of San Raffaele Cassino Hospital (SRC), Italy
Dr. Dan Tulpan,
Research officer, NRC-IIT Knowledge Discovery Group, Moncton, Canada
Dr. Femida Gwadry-Sridhar,
Departments of Medicine, harmacology and Physiology, University of Western Ontario & Associate Director Critical Care Research Network, Ontario, Canada
Prof. Michael Borrie,
University of Western Ontario, Canada
Dr. Miroslava Cuperlovic-Culf,
Research officer, NRC-IIT Knowledge Discovery Group, Moncton, Canada
Dr. Rene Witte,
Assistant professor, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada
Dr. Chad Haykanse,
MBA, PhD, Research & Innovation Lead, Health Innovation and Information Technology Centre (HiiTeC), Department of Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Canada
Dr. Laurent Billonnet,
University of Limoes, France
Dr. Thierry Dantoine,
University of Limoes, France

Publicity Chair
Alireza Manashty,
University of New Brunswick, Canada
a.manashty(-at-)unb.ca

Submission
Submissions are received using Easychair. Simply create an account (or login if you already have one) using the following link and upload your manuscript.
Author guideline and paper template will be published shortly.

Submit Articles via Easychair

Any questions? Contact
htad2014@easychair.org