A Pilot Study to Assess Hydration in Geriatric Patients by Bioimpedance.

Hydration plays a very important role in old age. This is because hydration changes over the course of life and therefore geriatric patients need to have their hydration monitored. However, the general problem is that there are no completely reliable methods' that can measure this. In this paper we performed a pilot monitoring in geriatric patients and compared directly measured electrical data with results from biochemistry. The observed correlations on our pilot sample show very promising values for (r=0.68) creatinine correlation with phase angle and (r=0.71) creatinine correlation with NI (nutritional index). It also shows that electrical readings may in the future indicate much more accurately the true status of the patient. Our research is still ongoing, and we are planning further measurements on a larger sample.

Comprehensive Analysis of the Real Lifestyles of T1D Patients for the Purpose of Designing a Personalized Counselor for Prandial Insulin Dosing.

Post-prandial hyperglycemia is still a challenging issue in intensified insulin therapy. Data of 35 T1D patients during a four-week period were analyzed: RT-CGM (real time continuous glucose monitoring) record, insulin doses, diet (including meal photos), energy expenditure, and other relevant conditions. Patients made significant errors in carbohydrate counting (in 56% of cooked and 44% of noncooked meals), which resulted in inadequate insulin doses. Subsequently, a mobile application was programmed to provide individualized advice on prandial insulin dose. When using the application, a patient chooses only the type of categorized situation (e.g., meals with other relevant data) without carbohydrates counting. The application significantly improved postprandial glycemia as normoglycemia was reached in 95/105 testing sessions. Other important findings of the study include: A high intake of saturated fat (median: 162% of recommended intake); a low intake of fiber and vitamin C (median: 42% and 37%, respectively, of recommended intake); an increase in overweight/obesity status (according to body fat measurement), especially in women (median of body fat: 30%); and low physical activity (in 16/35 patients). The proposed individualized approach without carbohydrate counting may help reach postprandial normoglycemia but it is necessary to pay attention to the lifestyle habits of T1D patients too.