Assisted Exercise in Premature Babies
(funded by NIH, National Institute of Nursing Research)

This novel project is testing the hypothesis that increasing physical activity in healthy growing premature babies will hasten bone mineralization, muscle growth, and weight gain. If proven, this would radically change the current approach toward the care of these infants in which energy expenditure is minimized and physical activity discouraged.

Informatics Needs

• Software infrastructure to quantify infant movement obtained from video imaging.
• Collaborative tools to enable social networking among heterogeneous researchers (nurses, physicians, physiologists), open and secure access to information.
• Software infrastructure for quantifying DXA imaging for bone mineralization and muscle mass assessment in premature babies.
• Systems support for data query, visualization and analysis and linking to DSMB and IRB.
• Development and use of novel mobile technologies to support caregivers in conducting interventions at home and communicating with investigators at a distance.