Real-time Miscarriage Prediction with SPARK

Cluster Analysis: A New Approach for Identification of Underlying Risk Factors and Demographic Features of First Trimester Pregnancy Women

Thyroid pathology is reported internationally in 5-10% of all pregnancies. The overall aim of this research was to determine the prevalence of hypothyroidism and risk factors during the first trimester screening in a Mexican patients sample. We included the records of 306 patients who attended a prenatal control consultation between January 2016 and December 2017 at the Women's Institute in Monterrey, Mexico. The studied sample had homogeneous demographic characteristics in terms of age, weight, height, BMI (body mass index) and number of pregnancies. The presence of at least one of the risk factors for thyroid disease was observed in 39.2% of the sample. Two and three clusters were identified, in which patients varied considerably among risk factors, symptoms and pregnancy complications. Compared to Cluster 0, one or more symptoms or signs of hypothyroidism occurred, while Cluster 1 was characterized by healthier patients. When three clusters were used, Cluster 2 had a higher TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) value and pregnancy complications. There were no significant differences in perinatal variables. In addition, high TSH levels in first trimester pregnancy are characterized by pregnancy complications and decreased newborn weight. Our findings underline the high degree of disease heterogeneity with existing pregnant hypothyroid patients and the need to improve the phenotyping of the syndrome in the Mexican population.

Big Data and Reality Mining in Healthcare: Promise and Potential

Nowadays individuals are creating a huge amount of data; with a cell phone in every pocket, a laptop in every bag and wearable sensors everywhere, the fruits of the information are easy to see but less noticeable is the information itself. This data could be particularly useful in making people’s lives healthier and easier, by contributing not only to understand new diseases and therapies but also to predict outcomes at earlier stages and make real-time decisions. In this paper, we explain the potential benefits of big data to healthcare and explore how it improves treatment and empowers patients, providers and researchers. We also describe the capabilities of reality mining in terms of individual health, social network mapping, behavior patterns and treatment monitoring. We illustrate the benefits of reality mining analytics that lead to promote patients’ health, enhance medicine, reduce cost and improve healthcare value and quality. Furthermore, we highlight some challenges that big data analytics faces in healthcare.

Big Data Analytics in Healthcare

Sensors and mobile phones shine in the Big Data area due to their capabilities to retrieve a huge amount of real-time data; which was not possible previously. In the specific field of healthcare, we can now collect data related to human behavior and lifestyle for better understanding. This pushed us to benefit from such technologies for early miscarriage prediction. This research study proposes to combine the use of Big Data analytics and data mining models applied to smartphones real-time generated data. A K-means data mining algorithm is used for clustering the dataset and results are transmitted to pregnant woman to make quick decisions; with the intervention of her doctor; through an android mobile application that we created. As well, she receives recommendations based on her behavior. We used real-world data to validate the system and assess its performance and effectiveness. Experiments were made using the Big Data Platform Databricks.