Abstract
Parkinson's Disease (PD) patients often need Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) surgery when they become intolerant to drugs or these lose efficiency. A stimulation electrode is implanted in the basal ganglia to promote the functional control of the deregulated dopaminergic motor pathways. The stimulation target is defined by medical imaging, followed by electrophysiological inspection for fine electrode position trimming and electrical stimulation tuning. Intra-operative stimulation of the target and the evaluation of wrist rigidity allows to choose the stimulation parameters which best alleviate PD symptoms without side effects. Neurologists impose a passive wrist flexion movement and qualitatively describe the perceived decrease in rigidity under different voltages, based on its experience and with subjectivity. We designed a novel, comfortable and wireless wearable motion sensor to classify the wrist rigidity by deriving a robust signal descriptor from angular speed values and a polynomial mathematical model to classify signals using a quantitative continuous scale. The descriptor significantly (p < 0.05) distinguished between non-rigid and rigid states, and the classification model labelled correctly 83.9 % of the evaluated signals against the blind-agreement of two specialists. Additionally, we developed a methodology to detect cogwheel rigidity from the angular speed signal with high sensitivity (0.93). Our system provides a reliable evaluation of wrist rigidity, improving upon the inherent subjective clinical evaluation while using small, simple and easy to use motion sensor.

Abstract
Heart rate variability (HRV) analysis has been used as a quantitative marker of the autonomous nervous system activity to measure mental stress. Wearable sensors have been emerging as a solution to collect HRV data for stress assessment in a real context, however such studies raise additional requirements. The wearable system must be minimally obtrusive to allow the subjects to perform their tasks without interference, and inconspicuous to avoid the anxiety associated with wearing medical devices in public. The purpose of this study was to quantify the accuracy trade-off in the use of a chest band heart rate sensor that is less intrusive and less costly than a wearable electrocardiogram (ECG). The HRV metrics extracted from a chest band heart rate monitor, Zephyr HxM (TM) (Zph (TM)), were compared with those extracted from an ECG certified medical device, Vital Jacket (TM) (VJ (TM)). The two systems were worn simultaneously. under laboratory conditions by a population of 14 young and healthy subjects, aged 20 to 26 years, under the stress induced by the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) procedure. The results showed a mean difference between RR intervals of 9 ms; a. root-mean square error. (RMSE) of less than 8% and. a Pearson's correlation higher than 0.946, considering all TSST phases. In the HRV analysis, the average of all normal intervals (AVNN) showed errors less than 2% between the two systems with a correlation higher than 0.99 for all TSST phases. We thus conclude that the used chest band sensor represents an alternative to the current wearable medical devices to monitor RR intervals, and could be used for mental stress monitoring similar to the TSST protocol.

Abstract
Background: The tip of an optical fiber has been considered an attractive platform in Biology. The simple cleaved end of an optical fiber can be machined, patterned and/or functionalized, acquiring unique properties enabling the exploitation of novel optical phenomena. Prompted by the constant need to measure and manipulate nanoparticles, the invention of the Scanning Near-field Optical Microscopy (SNOM) triggered the optimization and development of novel fiber tip microfabrication methods. In fact, the fiber tip was soon considered a key element in SNOM by confining light to sufficiently small extensions, challenging the diffraction limit. As result and in consequence of the newly proposed "Lab On Tip" concept, several geometries of fiber tips were applied in three main fields: imaging (in Microscopy/Spectroscopy), biosensors and micromanipulation (Optical Fiber Tweezers, OFTs). These are able to exert forces on microparticles, trap and manipulate them for relevant applications, as biomolecules mechanical study or protein aggregates unfolding. Scope of review: This review presents an overview of the main achievements, most impactful studies and limitations of fiber tip-based configurations within the above three fields, along the past 10 years. Major conclusions: OFTs could be in future a valuable tool for studying several cellular phenomena such as neurodegeneration caused by abnormal protein fibrils or manipulating organelles within cells. This could contribute to understand the mechanisms of some diseases or biophenomena, as the axonal growth in neurons.

Abstract
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a highly prevalent and disabling condition that requires a constant monitoring of patient's condition. Nevertheless, in Portugal appointments with specialist only occur every 6 months and the patient's capability to recall important past events is not always accurate besides often being a misinterpretation of their symptoms. In this paper we present a user-centred process for the design of a multimedia platform for the self-management of PD.

Abstract
The experience of daily stress among bus drivers has shown to affect physical and psychological health, and can impact driving behavior and overall road safety. Although previous research consistently supports these findings, little attention has been dedicated to the design of a stress detection method able to synchronize physiological and psychological stress responses of public bus drivers in their day-to-day routine work. To overcome this limitation, we propose a mobile sensing approach to detect georeferenced stress responses and facilitate memory recall of the stressful situations. Data were collected among public bus drivers in the city of Porto, Portugal (145 h, 36 bus drivers, +2300 km), and results supported the validation of our approach among this population and allowed us to determine specific stressor categories within certain areas of the city. Furthermore, data collected throughout the city allowed us to produce a citywide "stress map" that can be used for spotting areas in need of local authority intervention. The enriching findings suggest that our system can be a promising tool to support applied occupational health interventions for public bus drivers and guide authorities' interventions to improve these aspects in "future" cities.

Abstract
Recent trends on microbiology point out the urge to develop optical micro-tools with multifunctionalities such as simultaneous manipulation and sensing. Considering that miniaturization has been recognized as one of the most important paradigms of emerging sensing biotechnologies, optical fiber tools, including Optical Fiber Tweezers (OFTs), are suitable candidates for developing multifunctional small sensors for Medicine and Biology. OFTs are flexible and versatile optotools based on fibers with one extremity patterned to form a micro-lens. These are able to focus laser beams and exert forces onto microparticles strong enough (piconewtons) to trap and manipulate them. In this paper, through an exploratory analysis of a 45 features set, including time and frequency-domain parameters of the back-scattered signal of particles trapped by a polymeric lens, we created a novel single feature able to differentiate synthetic particles (PMMA and Polystyrene) from living yeasts cells. This single statistical feature can be useful for the development of label-free hybrid optical fiber sensors with applications in infectious diseases detection or cells sorting. It can also contribute, by revealing the most significant information that can be extracted from the scattered signal, to the development of a simpler method for particles characterization (in terms of composition, heterogeneity degree) than existent technologies.