Assistive Technologies to Address Capabilities of People with Dementia: From Research to Practice.

Assistive technologies became pervasive and virtually present in all our life domains. They can be either an enabler or an obstacle leading to social exclusion. The Fondation Médéric Alzheimer gathered international experts of dementia care, with backgrounds in biomedical, human and social sciences, to analyze how assistive technologies can address the capabilities of people with dementia, on the basis of their needs. Discussion covered the unmet needs of people with dementia, the domains of daily life activities where assistive technologies can provide help to people with dementia, the enabling and empowering impact of technology to improve their safety and wellbeing, barriers and limits of use, technology assessment, ethical and legal issues. The capability approach (possible freedom) appears particularly relevant in person-centered dementia care and technology development. The focus is not on the solution, rather on what the person can do with it: seeing dementia as disability, with technology as an enabler to promote capabilities of the person, provides a useful framework for both research and practice. This article summarizes how these concepts took momentum in professional practice and public policies in the past 15 years (2000-2015), discusses current issues in the design, development and economic model of assistive technologies for people with dementia, and covers how these technologies are being used and assessed.

Prevalence and association of perceived stress, substance use and behavioral addictions: a cross-sectional study among university students in France, 2009-2011.

BACKGROUND: University students face multiple stressors such as academic overload, constant pressure to succeed, competition with peers as well as concerns about the future. Stress should not be considered on its own, but should be associated with potential risk behaviors leading to onset of substance use and related problems heightened during the university period. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of main substance use and behavioral addictions among students in higher education in France and to examine the relationship with perceived stress. METHODS: A self-administered questionnaire was filled out by university student volunteers from Upper Normandy (France) either by anonymous online questionnaire or by paper questionnaire. Data collected included socio-economic characteristics, Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), substance use (tobacco, alcohol, and cannabis) and hazardous behaviors: alcohol abuse problems, smoking, consumption of cannabis, eating disorders, and cyber addiction. RESULTS: A total of 1876 students were included. Mean PSS score was 15.9 (standard deviation = 7.2). Highly stressed students (4th quartile) were compared with lesser stressed students (1st quartile). A positive relation was observed between female gender, regular smokers, alcohol abuse problems, risk of cyberaddiction and especially eating disorders (AOR = 5.45, 95% CI = 3.42-8.69), and increasing PSS score. PSS score however, was not significantly related to the curriculum, regular alcohol use, drunkenness or binge drinking even after additional controlling for use of other substances. We found a significant negative association between stress and practice of sport: students with the most physical activity were less likely to report perceived stress (4th quartile: AOR = 0.57, 95% CI = 0.39-0.80). CONCLUSIONS: This cross-sectional study among university students in France revealed that perceived stress was associated not only with known risks such as alcohol misuse, but also with new risks such as eating disorders and cyber addiction. These results could help to develop preventive interventions focussing on these risk behaviors and subsequently improving stress coping capacity in this high-risk population.

Short-term associations between air pollution and respiratory drug sales.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: This research was implemented to assess the effect of air pollution on anti-asthmatic, bronchodilator, and cough and cold preparation sales in the city of Rouen (France) based on the Upper Normandy Regional Union of Health Insurance Offices database and the Air Quality Monitoring Network database. DESIGN: An ecological time-series analysis was performed for a period of 2 years (July 1998-June 2000). Generalized additive model yields to relative risks and 95% confidence interval (CI) estimates were also carried out. MAIN RESULTS: The 10-day cumulative effect of a 10-microg/m(3) black smoke increase was significantly associated with a 6.2% (95% CI, 2.4-10.1%) increase in the sales of anti-asthmatics and bronchodilators and to a 9.2% (95% CI, 5.9-12.6%) increase in the sales of cough and cold preparation for children aged under 15 years. The cumulative effect of a 10-microg/m(3) increase in SO(2) was associated with an 11.8% (95% CI, 6.7-17.1%) increase in cough and cold preparation sales for children aged under 15 years. The cumulative effect of 10-microg/m(3) increase in NO(2) was associated with an 13.6% (95% CI, 8-18.3%) increase in cough and cold preparation sales for children under 15 years of age. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study suggest that an increase in drugs sales was directly related to air pollutant concentration increases in the city of Rouen (France).