Prevalence and determinants of care needs among older people in Ghana.

INTRODUCTION: Given the longevity noticed among older people in Ghana, and the potential occurrence of functional disability in later years of life, it has become essential to understand their care needs. This study examined the care needs in daily tasks and associated factors in Ghana, following the World Health Organisation International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health framework. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among a sample of 400 older people from Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Southern Ghana. Care need was assessed by one question; "Do you regularly need help with daily tasks because of long-term illness, disability, or frailty?" Multivariate logistic regression was used to test the association between care need and independent variables based on the WHO-ICF conceptual framework. RESULTS: Majority of the sample (81%), particularly women (54%) reported needing care in daily tasks. Per the WHO-ICF conceptual framework, functional disability-activity variable, (OR = 1.07 95%CI: 1.05-1.09, p<0.001), and absence of government support-an environmental factor, (OR = 3.96 95%CI: 1.90-8.25, p<0.001) were associated with care need. CONCLUSIONS: The high prevalence of care needs among older people may offer an indication that majority of older people in Ghana could benefit from long-term care services. Functional disability and the absence of government support are the major issues that need to be prioritised in addressing the increased demand for care related to performing daily tasks among older people in Ghana.

A propósito de un caso clínico: mujer con gastroenteritis aguda / About a clinical case of a woman with acute gastroenteritis

Se presenta el caso de una paciente de 80 años, afectada de una gastroenteritis aguda de 2 semanas de evolución en posible relación con un cuadro viral. La causa principal es la infección transmitida por alimentos y superficies contaminadas, que en personas de edad avanzada supone un riesgo para su vida debido a la deshidratación. Por ello, será fundamental una reposición de líquidos oral e intravenosa, además de una introducción temprana de alimentación sólida. La valoración de las respuestas de la paciente se ha realizado a partir de los requisitos de autocuidado de Dorothea Orem. La evolución ha sido favorable, y en el periodo de una semana se redujeron las deposiciones en frecuencia y características favoreciendo así la restauración de la piel perianal, se sustituyó la fluidoterapia con reposición de electrolitos por hidratación oral, y la dieta astringente pasó a dieta basal, con buena tolerancia

We present here the case of an 80 old female patient, affected by an acute gastroenteritis of two weeks of evolution in possible relation with a viral case. The main cause is infection transmitted by food and contaminated surfaces. Therefore, an oral and intravenous fluid replacement will be essential, as well as an early introduction of solid nutrition. The assessment of the patient's responses was based on the self-care requirements of Dorothea Orem. The evolution has been favorable and in a period of one week the depositions in frequency and characteristics were reduced favoring the restoration of the perianal skin, fluid therapy has been replaced with the replacement of electrolytes by oral hydration, and the astringent diet has passed a basal diet, with good tolerance

Monitoring the Motor Phenotype in Huntington's Disease by Analysis of Keyboard Typing During Real Life Computer Use.

BACKGROUND: Besides cognitive and psychiatric abnormalities, motor symptoms are the most prominent in Huntington's disease. The manifest disease is preceded by a prodromal phase with subtle changes such as fine motor disturbances or concentration problems. OBJECTIVE: Movement disorders show a high variation in their clinical manifestation depending on condition and external influences. Therefore, devices for continuous measurements, which patients use in their daily life and which can monitor motor abnormalities, in addition to the medical examination, might be useful. The aim of current scientific efforts is to find markers that reflect the prodromal phase in gene carriers. This is important for future interventional studies, as future therapies should be applied at the stage of neuronal dysfunction, i.e., before the clinical manifestation. METHODS: We performed a software-supported, continuous monitoring of keyboard typing on the participants' own computer to evaluate this method as a tool to assess the motor phenotype in HD. We included 40 participants and obtained sufficient data from 25 participants, 12 of whom were manifest HD patients, 7 HD gene expansion carriers (HDGEC) and 6 healthy controls. RESULTS: In a cross-sectional analysis we found statistically significant higher typing inconsistency in HD patients compared to controls. Typing inconsistency compared between HDGEC and healthy controls showed a trend to higher inconsistency levels in HDGEC. We found correlations between typing cadence and clinical scores: the UHDRS finger tapping item, the composite UHDRS and the CAP score. CONCLUSION: The typing cadence inconsistency is an appropriate marker to evaluate fine motor skills of HD patients and HDGEC and is correlated to established clinical measurements.

Life expectancy and active life expectancy by disability status in older U.S. adults.

OBJECTIVES: The Medicare Health Outcome Survey (HOS) is the largest longitudinal survey of the U.S. community-dwelling elderly population. This study estimated total life expectancy, active life expectancy (ALE), and disability-free life expectancy (DFLE) by disability status among HOS participants. METHODS: Data were from the Medicare HOS Cohort 15 (baseline 2012, follow-up 2014). We included respondents aged ≥ 65 years (n = 164,597). Participants' disability status was assessed based on the following six activities of daily living (ADL): bathing, dressing, eating, getting in or out of chairs, walking, and using the toilet. The multi-state models were used to estimate life expectancy, ALE, and DFLE by participants' baseline disability status and age. RESULTS: Persons who had higher-level ADL limitations had a shorter life expectancy, ALE, and DFLE. Also persons with disability had greater expected life years with disability than those with no limitations and those with mild limitations. For example, among 65-year old respondents with no limitations, mild limitations, and disability, life expectancy was 19.9, 18.6, and 17.1 years, respectively; ALE was 14.0, 9.5, and 7.2 years, respectively; DFLE was 17.3, 15.2, and 11.4 years, respectively; and expected years with disability was 2.6, 3.4, and 5.7 years, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that greater levels of disability adversely impact life expectancy, ALE, DFLE, and expected number of years with a disability among U.S. older adults. Understanding levels of disability, and how these may change over time, would enhance health care quality and planning services related to home care and housing in this community-dwelling population.

Intervenciones para normalizar las actividades de la vida cotidiana en pacientes a los que se ha practicado una reciente ostomía / Interventions to normalize activities of daily living in patients who have had a recent ostomy

CASO: ejemplo mujer de mediana edad procedente de entorno rural a la que se ha practicado una ostomía digestiva definitiva. OBJETIVO: identificar intervenciones basadas en evidencias destinadas a fomentar la autonomía de la persona portadora de un estoma, garantizando su seguridad y motivación hacia el autocuidado. METODOLOGÍA: búsqueda de evidencias siguiendo el modelo PRAXIS. Recomendaciones de buena práctica: (a) colaborar conjuntamente con la paciente en el cuidado del estoma y manejo de dispositivos, (b) para satisfacer las necesidades básicas al descubierto, (c) educar en la prevención de complicaciones, (d) involucrar a la familia y entorno social, (e) apoyarse en el uso de tecnologías visuales y (f) apoyar el establecimiento de relaciones con pares para compartir experiencias. PRÁCTICAS DE AUTOCUIDADO: automanejo del estoma, compartir temores y experiencia con entorno social y grupos de apoyo, y utilización de recursos complementarios

CASE: example of a middle-aged woman from a rural environment who has undergone a definitive digestive ostomy. OBJECTIVE: to identify evidence-based interventions aimed at promoting the autonomy of the person with a stoma, guaranteeing their safety and motivation towards self-care. METHODOLOGY: search for evidence following the PRAXIS model. Good practice recommendations: (a) collaborate together with the patient in the care of the stoma and management of devices, (b) to satisfy the basic needs in the open, (c) educate in the prevention of complications, (d) involve the family and social environment, (e) rely on the use of visual technologies and (f) support the establishment of relationships with peers to share experiences. SELF-CARE PRACTICES: self-management of the stoma, sharing fears and experience with the social environment and support groups, and use of complementary resources

Efecto de la rehabilitación física en pacientes con ataxia espinocerebelosa hereditaria. Una revisión sistemática / Effect of physical rehabilitation in patients with hereditary spinocerebellar ataxia. A systematic review

Las evidencias sobre la efectividad de las intervenciones rehabilitadoras en las ataxias espinocerebelosas son escasas y variables. OBJETIVO: Recopilar las evidencias existentes sobre dicha efectividad. Material y MÉTODOS: Se han analizado todos los ensayos clínicos publicados hasta la fecha y evaluado los resultados obtenidos en cuanto a la mejora del equilibrio, marcha y realización de actividades diarias postratamiento. Encontramos una mejora significativa de la postura (p <0,008), marcha (p <0,02), así como una reducción de la puntuación de la subescala SARAg&p (marcha y postura) e índice SCAFI 8MW (velocidad de marcha) (p = 0,02). También observamos mejora en desórdenes del habla (p = 0,02), síntomas depresivos (p <0,0001) y caídas accidentales (p <0,005). CONCLUSIONES: A pesar de la controversia en aspectos relacionados con la intensidad, la temporalidad y la duración de las mejoras conseguidas, queda constatada la efectividad clínica del tratamiento rehabilitador en estos pacientes, especialmente en aspectos como la marcha y el equilibrio

Evidence of the effectiveness of rehabilitation interventions in spinocerebellar ataxia is scarce and variable. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this systematic review was to gather the existing evidence on the effectiveness of these interventions. MATERIAL AND METHODS: To do this, we analysed all the clinical trials published to date and assessed their results in terms of improved balance, gait, and performance of daily activities after treatment. Significant improvements were found for posture (P<.008) and gait (P<.02), as well as a reduction in the scores for the SARAg&p subscale (gait and posture) and SCAFI 8MW index (gait speed) (P=.02). We also observed improvements in speech disorders (P=.02), depressive symptoms (P<.0001) and accidental falls (P<.005)

El papel de las mascarillas en el control de la epidemia COVID-19 / The role of face masks in the control of the COVID-19 epidemic

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Algunas lecciones aprendidas (o no tanto) de la COVID-19 / Some learned lessons (or not so much) from COVID-19

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Functional dependence and the mental dimension of quality of life in Hemodialysis patients: the PROHEMO study.

BACKGROUND: Functional dependence is highly prevalent in maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) settings. Also, poor health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and high levels of depressive symptoms have been reported by MHD patients. We investigated associations between functional status and mental aspects of quality of life in Brazilian MHD patients. METHODS: Cross sectional study of 235 patients enrolled in two of the four participating MHD clinics of the Prospective Study of the Prognosis of Chronic Hemodialysis Patients (PROHEMO) in Salvador, BA, Brazil. Data were collected from September 2016 to August 2017. The Katz's questionnaire was used for basic activities of daily living (ADL) and the Lawton-Brody's questionnaire for instrumental activities of daily living (IADL). ADL and IADL scores were combined to create 3 functional status groups: highly dependent (n = 47), moderately dependent (n = 109) and independent (n = 82). The validated Brazilian version of the Kidney Disease Quality of Life Short Form (KDQOL-SF) was used for scores of two distinct HRQoL measures, i.e., the mental component summary (MCS) and the 5-item mental health inventory (MHI-5). We used linear regression to estimate differences in scores with adjustment for possible confounders: months of dialysis, age, gender, other sociodemographic variables, body mass index, type of vascular access, dialysis dose by Kt/V, laboratory variables (albumin, blood hemoglobin, calcium, phosphorus, urea, creatinine and parathyroid hormone) and nine comorbid conditions. RESULTS: Mean age was 51.2 ± 12.4 yr (median age = 51.0 yr), 59.1% were male, 93.2% were non-White. The prevalence of self-reported functional status differed by age: 54.4% for age < 45 yr, 67.8% for age 45-60 yr and 73.9% for age ≥ 60 yr. Using functionally independent as reference, lower scores were observed for highly dependent patients in MCS (difference: -4.69, 95% CI: -8.09, -0.29) and MHI-5 (difference: -5.97, 95% CI: -8.09, -1.29) patients. These differences changed slightly with extensive adjustments for covariates. CONCLUSIONS: Our results call attention to a high prevalence of functional dependence in younger and older MHD patients. The results suggest that the lower self-reported mental quality of life in functionally dependent MHD patients cannot be explained by differences in age and comorbidities.

Elastic-band resistance exercise or vibration treatment in combination with hydroxymethylbutyrate (HMB) supplement for management of sarcopenia in older people: a study protocol for a single-blinded randomised controlled trial in Hong Kong.

INTRODUCTION: Sarcopenia is a geriatric syndrome characterised by progressive loss of skeletal muscle mass and function with risks of adverse outcomes and becomes more prevalent due to ageing population. Elastic-band exercise, vibration treatment and hydroxymethylbutyrate (HMB) supplementation were previously proven to have positive effects on the control of sarcopenia. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of elastic-band exercise or vibration treatment with HMB supplementation in managing sarcopenia. Our findings will provide a safe and efficient strategy to mitigate the progression of sarcopenia in older people and contribute to higher quality of life as well as improved long-term health outcomes of elderly people. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: In this single-blinded, randomised controlled trial (RCT), subjects will be screened for sarcopenia based on the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia (AWGS) definition and 144 sarcopenic subjects aged 65 or above will be recruited. This RCT will have three groups evaluated at two time points to measure changes over 3 months-the control and the groups with combined HMB supplement and elastic-band resistance exercise or vibration treatment. Changes in muscle strength in lower extremity will be the primary outcome. Muscle strength in the upper extremity, gait speed, muscle mass (based on AWGS definition), functional performance in terms of balancing ability and time-up-and-go test and quality of life will be taken as secondary outcomes. In addition, each participant's daily activity will be monitored by a wrist-worn activity tracker. Repeated-measures analysis of variance will be performed to compare within-subject changes between control and treatment groups at two time points of pretreatments and post-treatments. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The procedures have been approved by the Joint CUHK-NTEC Clinical Research Management Office (Ref. CREC 2018.602) and conformed to the Declaration of Helsinki. Results will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications, conferences and workshops. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT04028206.

Real-time Positioning Among Nursing Home Residents Living With Dementia: A Case Study.

Dementia contributes to the development of pressure injuries (PrIs). PURPOSE: This study describes the real-time body positions of 2 nursing home (NH) residents, residing in the United States and living with dementia, to inform development of PrI prevention strategies tailored to individual risk profiles. METHODS: As part of a larger study, eligible residents were fitted with a triaxial accelerometer sensor placed on the anterior chest to monitor body positions 24-hours daily through a 4-week monitoring period. The current study used an observational, prospective design during routine repositioning events for 2 residents. A convenience sample of 2 residents from a single NH wing who were considered moderately at risk for PrI development (Braden Scale score 13-14) with a Brief Interview for Mental Status score in the severely impaired range were selected based on nursing staff recommendation. RESULTS: Sensor data showed that both residents, although "chairfast" according to the Braden Scale, spent <5% in an upright position and the great majority of time reclining at an angle <50%. One (1) resident demonstrated a persistent side preference. CONCLUSIONS: Wearable sensors are not a long-term solution for protecting those with dementia from PrI formation but do provide a crude picture of overall body positions throughout the 24-hour day that may inform individualized PrI prevention strategies. Studies including large samples of NH residents living with dementia are warranted.

Pandemia COVID-19: y ahora ¿qué? / COVID-19 pandemic: now what?

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SemImput: Bridging Semantic Imputation with Deep Learning for Complex Human Activity Recognition.

The recognition of activities of daily living (ADL) in smart environments is a well-known and an important research area, which presents the real-time state of humans in pervasive computing. The process of recognizing human activities generally involves deploying a set of obtrusive and unobtrusive sensors, pre-processing the raw data, and building classification models using machine learning (ML) algorithms. Integrating data from multiple sensors is a challenging task due to dynamic nature of data sources. This is further complicated due to semantic and syntactic differences in these data sources. These differences become even more complex if the data generated is imperfect, which ultimately has a direct impact on its usefulness in yielding an accurate classifier. In this study, we propose a semantic imputation framework to improve the quality of sensor data using ontology-based semantic similarity learning. This is achieved by identifying semantic correlations among sensor events through SPARQL queries, and by performing a time-series longitudinal imputation. Furthermore, we applied deep learning (DL) based artificial neural network (ANN) on public datasets to demonstrate the applicability and validity of the proposed approach. The results showed a higher accuracy with semantically imputed datasets using ANN. We also presented a detailed comparative analysis, comparing the results with the state-of-the-art from the literature. We found that our semantic imputed datasets improved the classification accuracy with 95.78% as a higher one thus proving the effectiveness and robustness of learned models.

Military-Specific Normative Data for Cognitive and Motor Single- and Dual-Task Assessments for Use in Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Assessment.

INTRODUCTION: Military personnel and civilian athletes are both at risk for mild traumatic brain injury. However, these groups are unique in their training and typical daily activities. A fundamental gap in the evaluation of military personnel following mild traumatic brain injury is the lack of military-specific normative reference data. This project aimed to determine if a separate normative sample should be used for military personnel on their performance of the Cleveland Clinic Concussion application and a recently developed dual-task module. METHODS: Data were collected from healthy military personnel (n = 305) and civilians (n = 281) 18 to 30 years of age. Participants completed the following assessments: simple and choice reaction time, Trail Making tests A&B, processing speed test, single-task postural stability, single-task cognitive assessment, and dual-task assessment. RESULTS: Civilian participants outperformed military service members on all cognitive tasks under single- and dual-task conditions (P ≤ 0.04). The military group outperformed civilians on all postural stability tasks under single- and dual-task conditions (P ≤ 0.01). CONCLUSION: Differences in cognitive performance and postural stability measures may be influenced by demographic differences between military and civilian cohorts. Thus, military-specific normative datasets must be established to optimize clinical interpretation of Cleveland Clinic Concussion assessments.

Performance Analysis of Boosting Classifiers in Recognizing Activities of Daily Living.

Physical activity is essential for physical and mental health, and its absence is highly associated with severe health conditions and disorders. Therefore, tracking activities of daily living can help promote quality of life. Wearable sensors in this regard can provide a reliable and economical means of tracking such activities, and such sensors are readily available in smartphones and watches. This study is the first of its kind to develop a wearable sensor-based physical activity classification system using a special class of supervised machine learning approaches called boosting algorithms. The study presents the performance analysis of several boosting algorithms (extreme gradient boosting-XGB, light gradient boosting machine-LGBM, gradient boosting-GB, cat boosting-CB and AdaBoost) in a fair and unbiased performance way using uniform dataset, feature set, feature selection method, performance metric and cross-validation techniques. The study utilizes the Smartphone-based dataset of thirty individuals. The results showed that the proposed method could accurately classify the activities of daily living with very high performance (above 90%). These findings suggest the strength of the proposed system in classifying activity of daily living using only the smartphone sensor's data and can assist in reducing the physical inactivity patterns to promote a healthier lifestyle and wellbeing.

Prediction of Prolonged Length of Stay for Stroke Patients on Admission for Inpatient Rehabilitation Based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) Generic Set: A Study from 50 Centers in China.

BACKGROUND This study aimed to develop a risk prediction model for prolonged length of stay (LOS) in stroke patients in 50 inpatient rehabilitation centers in 20 provinces across mainland China based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) Generic Set case mix on admission. MATERIAL AND METHODS In this cohort study, 383 stroke patients were included from inpatient rehabilitation settings of 50 hospitals across mainland China. Independent predictors of prolonged LOS were identified using multivariate logistic regression analysis. A prediction model was established and then evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis and the Hosmer-Lemeshow test. RESULTS Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the type of medical insurance and the performance of daily activities (ICF, d230) were associated with prolonged LOS (P<0.05). Age and mobility level measured by the ICF Generic Set demonstrated no significant predictive value. The prediction model showed acceptable discrimination shown by an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.699 (95% CI, 0.646-0.752) and calibration (χ²=11.66; P=0.308). CONCLUSIONS The risk prediction model for prolonged LOS in stroke patients in 50 rehabilitation centers in China, based on the ICF Generic Set, showed that the scores for the type of medical insurance and the performance of daily activities (ICF, d230) on admission were independent predictors of prolonged LOS. This prediction model may allow stakeholders to estimate the risk of prolonged LOS on admission quantitatively, facilitate the financial planning, treatment regimens during hospitalization, referral after discharge, and reimbursement.

A Multimodal Wearable System for Continuous and Real-Time Breathing Pattern Monitoring During Daily Activity.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to understand breathing patterns during daily activities by developing a wearable respiratory and activity monitoring (WRAM) system. METHODS: A novel multimodal fusion architecture is proposed to calculate the respiratory and exercise parameters and simultaneously identify human actions. A hybrid hierarchical classification (HHC) algorithm combining deep learning and threshold-based methods is presented to distinguish 15 complex activities for accuracy enhancement and fast computation. A series of signal processing algorithms are utilized and integrated to calculate breathing and motion indices. The designed wireless communication structure achieves the interactions among chest bands, mobile devices, and the data processing center. RESULTS: The advantage of the proposed HHC method is evaluated by comparing the average accuracy (97.22%) and predictive time (0.0094 s) with machine learning and deep learning approaches. The nine breathing patterns during 15 activities were analyzed by investigating the data from 12 subjects. With 12 hours of naturalistic data collected from one participant, the WRAM system reports the breathing and exercise performance within the identified motions. The demonstration shows the ability of the WRAM system to monitor multiple users breathing and exercise status in real-time. CONCLUSION: The present system demonstrates the usefulness of the framework of breathing pattern monitoring during daily activities, which may be potentially used in healthcare. SIGNIFICANCE: The proposed multimodal based WRAM system offers new insights into the breathing function of exercise in action and presents a novel approach for precision medicine and health state monitoring.

Highly Accurate Bathroom Activity Recognition Using Infrared Proximity Sensors.

Among elderly populations over the world, a high percentage of individuals are affected by physical or mental diseases, greatly influencing their quality of life. As it is a known fact that they wish to remain in their own home for as long as possible, solutions must be designed to detect these diseases automatically, limiting the reliance on human resources. To this end, our team developed a sensors platform based on infrared proximity sensors to accurately recognize basic bathroom activities such as going to the toilet and showering. This article is based on the body of scientific literature which establish evidences that activities relative to corporal hygiene are strongly correlated to health status and can be important signs of the development of eventual disorders. The system is built to be simple, affordable and highly reliable. Our experiments have shown that it can yield an F-Score of 96.94%. Also, the durations collected by our kit are approximately 6 seconds apart from the real ones; those results confirm the reliability of our kit.

Avaliação da dependência no autocuidado: estudo exploratório do fenómeno em contexto comunitário / Self-care dependency assessment: an exploratory study of the phenomenon in community

The assessment of the dependent person's self-care ability, through measure-ment instruments, and the assessment of the level and kind of dependency, may provide nurses a more assertive method for understand the nature of the problems that affect dependency and for establish an action plan tailored to the development of new practices centered on the dependent person, looking forward to promote autonomy. Within this context, and in order to develop nursing practice in self-care dependency context, this paper serves the goal of the characterization of dependent people in self-care in a community context and the analysis of the different domains of self-care according to sociodemographic and clinical variables. It was used the non-probabilistic sampling method, of the accidental type and for data collection was used the reduced version of the Self-Care Dependency Assessment Form. The results found show that women and the elderly are more dependent, and that the dependence settles mainly gradually. Regarding the level of dependence by self-care domain, the one that registered the highest level of dependence was self-care "taking medication", followed by "dressing and undressing" and self-care "taking a bath". The "global level of dependence" has an average of 2.64 and a standard deviation of 0.83, which reveals high degrees of dependence on self-care. With current demographic changes and consequent health needs and their implications for health policy preparation and planning, the measurement and evaluation of the dependent person and their caregiver is becoming increasingly essential, enabling a holistic and adjusted approach

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