The development of gerontechnology for hospitalized frail elderly people: The ALLEGRO hospital-based geriatric living lab

Our objective was to bridge the gap between gerontechnology developers and hospitalized frail elderly people, in order to promote open gerontechnology innovation in hospitals. We designed a hospital-based living lab that provides reflexive "idea incubator workshops" that gather both the users and the developers of technology, supplemented with an "experimental hospital room" for the testing of devices by older inpatients. The ALLEGRO living lab was delivered in 2018 at the Geriatric Department of Angers University Hospital, France. The workshops and experimental hospital room should help frail older inpatients to participate in the co-design and co-development of new technologies to improve hospital care and promote successful aging

Simulator-based assessment of ankle arterial systolic blood pressure measurement skills

OBJECTIVE: Learning basic vascular examination is a complex process. Very few studies have focused on the ability to measure the arterial systolic blood pressure at the ankle (ASBPa). The aim of this study was to objectively assess the effects of a 1-h practical educational intervention on the ability to measure ASBPa among medical students. METHODS: A total of 27 medical students were prospectively recruited. Two evaluation sessions of ASBPa measurement skills were conducted, before (T1) and after a 1-h practical lesson (T2). To assess the learning effect associated to the simulator-based evaluation, a control group composed by nonmedical students, not involved in the practical lesson, was also tested. Objective assessments of ASBPa measurements were performed by an instrumented leg prototype. RESULTS: There was a nonsignificant decreasing trend measurement time after practical lesson. The average pressure determination error (ΔP) was significantly reduced: ΔPT1: 10.5 ± 13.8 mmHg vs. ΔPT2: 5.7 ± 6.0 mmHg (P = 0.002). The mean deflation rate (DR) of the cuff was significantly decreased: DRT1: 12.9 ± 9.2 mmHg/s vs. DRT2: 8.7 ± 4.6 mmHg/s (P = 0.001). The control group did not show significant changes. CONCLUSION: A 1-h practical learning could improve some parameters of the ASBPa measurement among medical students, but was not sufficient to allow the measured technical factors to reach established guidelines

Painless local pressure application to test microvascular reactivity to ischemia

BACKGROUND: Forearm cutaneous blood flux (CBF) measurement with post-occlusive reactive hyperemia (PORH) is uncomfortable and may not be devoid of risks. We aimed to investigate post-compression reactive hyperemia (PCRH) with a custom-made indenter that was designed to be easily used routinely by inexperienced observers. METHODS: Medical students evaluated PCRH with 1- to 4-min pressure applications of 16 to 34 kPa and PORH with 3-min forearm cuff occlusion using laser speckle contrast imaging in 15 healthy volunteers. Participants were asked to quantify their discomfort with a visual analogue scale (VAS) of 10 cm. Total ischemia (ISCH) was quantified by the product of CBF during ischemia and ischemia duration (min). We subtracted the CBF changes in the skin from a reference ipsilateral (PCRH) or contralateral (PORH) non-stimulated area. RESULTS: The average VAS was 1.0 for PCRH vs. 6.0 for PORH (p < 0.001). A strong linear relationship between ISCH and peak PCRH (r = 0.915, p < 0.001) was noted. Peak PORH values (63.9 laser perfusion units (LPU)) were significantly lower than all values of the 3-min PCRH (72.6 LPU), including the one obtained with 16 kPa. CONCLUSION: Inexperienced observers could test microvascular reactivity with PCRH without inducing the discomfort that is typically experienced with PORH. Further, PCRH elicits a higher peak response to ischemia compared with PORH. This extremely simple method could influence a broad spectrum of routine cutaneous microcirculation investigations, especially when a painful approach is particularly inadequate or if the patient is fragile. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT02861924

The international St-aging system as a prognostic marker in general senior population : findings from the EPIDOS cohort study

International audienceThe International Staging System (ISS) -calculated from serum albumin and beta-2 microglobulin (β2m)- is an established prognostic marker in multiple myeloma (MM), which has also been suggested to account for survival among general senior population. Our objective was to examine long-term survival of older women free of MM according to baseline ISS. The study included 230 community-dwelling healthy older women without known MM from the EPIDOS cohort (mean ± SD, 80.4 ± 3.4 years). Serum albumin and β2m were measured at baseline, and used to calculate the ISS a posteriori. Abnormal ISS was defined as ISS = 2 or ISS = 3, although ISS = 1 was considered normal. The vital status was sought after a mean follow-up of 17.6 ± 0.2 years (range, 16.8–18.3). Age, body mass index, mean arterial pressure, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, use corticosteroids, number of drugs daily taken, smoking, physical activity, fall history, bone mineral density, and creatinine clearance were used as potential confounders. All participants died during the 17-year follow-up. Compared to women with normal ISS, those with abnormal ISS (n = 24) had shorter survival time (4.9 ± 4.3 versus 8.7 ± 5.2 years, P = .001) and died earlier (85.6 ± 4.8 versus 89.1 ± 5.6 years old, P = .003). Survival time after blood test correlated with both serum albumin (r = 0.16, P = .015) and β2m (r = −0.27, P < .001). Cox regression revealed that abnormal ISS was associated with mortality (adjusted HR = 3.03, P < .001). Kaplan-Meier distributions showed that participants with abnormal ISS died earlier than those with normal ISS (log-rank P < .001). In conclusion, community-dwelling older women with abnormal ISS had shorter survival time than the others, suggesting that ISS could be considered as a universal prognostic “aging system” rather than a specific MM “staging system”

Measuring Outdoor Walking Capacities Using Global Positioning System in People with Multiple Sclerosis: Clinical and Methodological Insights from an Exploratory Study

International audienceWe aimed at showing how Global Positioning System (GPS) along with a previously validated speed processing methodology could be used to measure outdoor walking capacities in people with multiple sclerosis (MS). We also deal with methodological issues that may occur when conducting such measurements, and explore to what extent GPS-measured outdoor walking capacities (maximal walking distance [MWDGPS] and usual walking speed) could be related to traditional functional outcomes (6-min total walking distance) in people with MS. Eighteen people with MS, with an Expanded Disability Status Scale score ≤6, completed a 6-min walking test and an outdoor walking session (60 min maximum) at usual pace during which participants were wearing a DG100 GPS receiver and could perform several walking bouts. Among the 12 participants with valid data (i.e., who correctly completed the outdoor session with no spurious GPS signals that could prevent the detection of the occurrence of a walking/stopping bout), the median (90% confidence interval, CI) outdoor walking speed was 2.52 km/h (2.17; 2.93). Ten participants (83% (56; 97)) had ≥1 stop during the session. Among these participants, the median of MWDGPS was 410 m (226; 1350), and 40% (15; 70) did not reach their MWDGPS during the first walking bout. Spearman correlations of MWDGPS and walking speed with 6-min total walking distance were, respectively, 0.19 (−0.41; 0.95) and 0.66 (0.30; 1.00). Further work is required to provide guidance about GPS assessment in people with MS