Older people are often over-represented in morbidity and mortality statistics associated with hot and cold weather, despite remaining mostly indoors. The study “Improving thermal environment of housing for older Australians” focused on assessing the relationships between the indoor environment, building characteristics, thermal comfort and perceived health/wellbeing of older South Australians over a study period that included the warmest summer on record. Our findings showed that indoor temperatures in some of the houses reached above 35 °C. With concerns about energy costs, occupants often use adaptive behaviours to achieve thermal comfort instead of using cooling (or heating), although feeling less satisfied with the thermal environment and perceiving health/wellbeing to worsen at above 28 °C (and below 15 °C). Symptoms experienced during hot weather included tiredness, shortness of breath, sleeplessness and dizziness, with coughs and colds, painful joints, shortness of breath and influenza experienced during cold weather. To express the influence of temperature and humidity on perceived health/wellbeing, a Temperature Humidity Health Index (THHI) was developed for this cohort. A health/wellbeing perception of “very good” is achieved between an 18.4 °C and 24.3 °C indoor operative temperature and a 55% relative humidity. The evidence from this research is used to inform guidelines about maintaining home environments to be conducive to the health/wellbeing of older people. Original publication at MDPI: https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos13010096 © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI.
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Background The plantar intrinsic foot muscles (PIFMs) have a role in dynamic functions, such as balance and propulsion, which are vital to walking. These muscles atrophy in older adults and therefore this population, which is at high risk to falling, may benefit from strengthening these muscles in order to improve or retain their gait performance. Therefore, the aim was to provide insight in the evidence for the effect of interventions anticipated to improve PIFM strength on dynamic balance control and foot function during gait in adults. Methods A systematic literature search was performed in five electronic databases. The eligibility of peer-reviewed papers, published between January 1, 2010 and July 8, 2020, reporting controlled trials and pre-post interventional studies was assessed by two reviewers independently. Results from moderate- and high-quality studies were extracted for data synthesis by summarizing the standardized mean differences (SMD). The GRADE approach was used to assess the certainty of evidence. Results Screening of 9199 records resulted in the inclusion of 11 articles of which five were included for data synthesis. Included studies were mainly performed in younger populations. Low-certainty evidence revealed the beneficial effect of PIFM strengthening exercises on vertical ground reaction force (SMD: − 0.31-0.37). Very low-certainty evidence showed that PIFM strength training improved the performance on dynamic balance testing (SMD: 0.41–1.43). There was no evidence for the effect of PIFM strengthening exercises on medial longitudinal foot arch kinematics. Conclusions This review revealed at best low-certainty evidence that PIFM strengthening exercises improve foot function during gait and very low-certainty evidence for its favorable effect on dynamic balance control. There is a need for high-quality studies that aim to investigate the effect of functional PIFM strengthening exercises in large samples of older adults. The outcome measures should be related to both fall risk and the role of the PIFMs such as propulsive forces and balance during locomotion in addition to PIFM strength measures.
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De incidentie van niet aangeboren hersenletsel (NAH) bij personen in de leeftijd tot 25 jaar in Nederland is aanzienlijk, met ca. 18.000 nieuwe gevallen per jaar. Kinderen en jongeren met NAH hebben naast fysieke, cognitieve en emotionele beperkingen, een significant lager niveau van sociale participatie dan hun gezonde leeftijdgenoten. Het gebruik van de Nintendo Wii, een spelcomputer die bewegingen op natuurlijke en intuïtieve wijze uitlokt, lijkt mogelijkheden te bieden om contacten met anderen en actieve vrijetijdsbesteding bij jongeren met NAH te stimuleren. In deze studie wordt onderzocht wat het effect is van het gebruik van de Nintendo Wii bij kinderen en jongeren met NAH op fysiek, cognitief en sociaal functioneren. Om dit te onderzoeken is een multicenter, observationele pilotstudie verricht, bij 50 kinderen en jongeren met NAH in de leeftijd van 6-29 jaar die onder controle of behandeling zijn van een revalidatiearts. De interventie, van in totaal 12 weken, startte met 2 trainingssessies van 60 minuten, waarbij de toe te passen games werden gekozen passend bij zelf gekozen behandeldoelen (te verbeteren functies of activiteiten) en uitvoerbaar gezien de individuele beperkingen van de deelnemer. Vervolgens werd er minimaal 2 keer in de week gegamed. Er was wekelijks contact met een therapeut per telefoon of e-mail. De effectmetingen (vragenlijsten en een neuropsychologische test) werden verricht aan het begin en einde van de interventie en betroffen het fysiek, cognitief en sociaal functioneren. De statistische analyse bestond uit vergelijkingen van de uitkomstmaten tussen 0 en 12 weken met behulp van gepaarde t-toetsen, Wilcoxon-Signed-Rank tests en chi-kwadraat toetsen. Deze eerste pilotstudie naar de effecten van het gamen met de Nintendo Wii bij jongeren met NAH laat significante verbetering zien op het fysiek en cognitief functioneren, en niet op het sociaal functioneren. Deze resultaten zijn aanleiding om de effectiviteit van de Nintendo Wii in deze patiëntengroep in een grotere, gecontroleerde studie verder te onder ABSTRACT Aim: To explore the effects of usage of the Nintendo Wii on physical, cognitive and social functioning in patients with acquired brain injury (ABI). Methods: This multicenter, observational proof-of-concept study included children, adolescents and young adults with ABI aged 6-29 years. A standardized, yet individually tailored 12-week intervention with the Nintendo Wii was delivered by trained instructors. The treatment goals were set on an individual basis and included targets regarding physical, mental and/or social functioning. Outcome assessments were done at baseline and after 12 weeks, and included: the average number of minutes per week of recreational physical activity; the CAPE (Children's Assessment of Participation and Enjoyment); the ANT (Amsterdam Neuropsychological Tasks); the achievement of individual treatment goals (Goal Attainment Scaling); and quality of life (PedsQL; Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory). Statistical analyses included paired t-tests or Wilcoxon-Signed-Rank tests. Results: 50 patients were included, (31 boys and 19 girls; mean age 17.1 years (SD 4.4)), of whom 45 (90%) completed the study. Significant changes of the amount of physical activity, speed of information processing, attention, response inhibition and visual-motor coordination (p<0.05) were seen after 12 weeks, whereas there were no differences in CAPE or PedsQL scores. Two-thirds of the patients reported an improvement of the main treatment goal. Conclusion: This study supports the potential benefits of gaming in children and youth with ABI.
