Validation of a low-cost virtual reality system for training street-crossing. A comparative study in healthy, neglected and non-neglected stroke individuals

Unilateral spatial neglect is a common consequence of stroke that directly affects the performance of activities of daily living. This impairment is traditionally assessed with paper-and-pencil tests that can lack correspondence to real life and are easily compensated. Virtual reality can immerse patients in more ecological scenarios, thus providing therapists with new tools to assess and train the effects of this impairment in simulated real tasks. This paper presents the clinical validation and convergent validity of a low-cost virtual reality system for training street-crossing in stroke patients with and without neglect. The performance of neglect patients was significantly worse than the performance of non-neglect and healthy participants. 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Clinical Validation of a Virtual Environment Test for Safe Street Crossing in the Assessment of Acquired Brain Injury Patients with and without Neglect

Part 1: Long and Short PapersInternational audienceAcquired brain injury (ABI) is a complex disease that involves loss of brain functions related to cognitive and motor capabilities and that can produce unilateral spatial neglect (USN). The heterogeneity of the symptoms of these disorders causes a lack of consensus on suitable tools for evaluation and treatment. Recently, several studies have initiated the application of virtual reality (VR) systems as an evaluation instrument for neuropsychological disorders. Our main objective was to evaluate the validity of the VR Street Crossing Test (VRSCT) as an assessment tool. Twenty-five patients with ABI were evaluated with traditional tests and with the VRSCT. The results showed significant correlations between the conventional tests and the measures obtained with the VRSCT in non-negligent patients. Moreover, the VRSCT indicated significant differences in performance of negligent and non-negligent subjects. These pilot results indicate that ABI patients with and without USN can be assessed by the therapists using the VRSCT system as a complementary tool

Quality of counselling assessed by patients after total knee arthroplasty:a cross-sectional study

Abstract Patient counselling is a key function in nursing. High-quality counselling promotes adherence to treatment and reduces complications. The purpose of the study was to describe the quality of counselling experienced by total knee arthroplasty patients following surgery. The study was a descriptive cross-sectional study. The data were collected from patients following total knee arthroplasty (N = 60) in 2016 with a modified Quality of Counselling Instrument, and analysed using statistical methods. Over half of the patients (58%) were women and the mean age was 68 years (range 49–84). Over a quarter of patients (28.9%) lived alone, and about two-thirds were overweight (42.1%), or obese (31.6%). After surgery, many patients (88%) experienced moderate pain. Half of patients (52.6%) received a good quality of counselling for the disease and its treatment, and counselling for recovery from treatment (81.6%) was good. Most patients (92.1%) received satisfactory counselling about physical activity. There was a correlation between the disease and its treatment counselling and quality of life (r = −0.553, p = 0.003) and pain (r = −0657, p = 0.000). Interaction during counselling was good (97.4%) and it was implemented in a patient-centred way (89.5%). High-quality counselling implemented in a patient-centred manner can play a part in reducing pain and increasing patients’ quality of life

Probing Time-Dependent Molecular Dipoles on the Attosecond Time Scale

Photoinduced molecular processes start with the interaction of the instantaneous electric field of the incident light with the electronic degrees of freedom. This early attosecond electronic motion impacts the fate of the photoinduced reactions. We report the first observation of attosecond time scale electron dynamics in a series of small-and medium-sized neutral molecules (N-2, CO2, and C2H4), monitoring time-dependent variations of the parent molecular ion yield in the ionization by an attosecond pulse, and thereby probing the time-dependent dipole induced by a moderately strong near-infrared laser field. This approach can be generalized to other molecular species and may be regarded as a first example of molecular attosecond Stark spectroscopy

Microwave metrology for superconducting quantum circuits

Quantum technologies and quantum computing offer exciting new possibilities but also significant challenges that must be overcome to achieve their potential, including the need for fundamental microwave metrology at cryogenic temperatures to support the booming quantum technology industry. The European SuperQuant project, which is introduced in this contribution, aims at establishing novel metrological and scientific tools for the measurement of microwave signals in circuits in-situ in cryogenic environments down to the millikelvin range using a combination of superconducting, semiconducting, integrated and conventional photonics, and plasmonic techniques