Social Telepresence Robots: A Narrative Review of Experiments Involving Older Adults before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Social isolation is a common phenomenon among the elderly. Retirement, widowhood, and increased prevalence of chronic diseases in this age group lead to a decline in social relationships, which in turn has adverse consequences on health and well-being. The coronavirus COVID-19 crisis worsened this situation, raising interest for mobile telepresence robots (MTR) that would help create, maintain, and strengthen social relationships. MTR are tools equipped with a camera, monitor, microphone, and speaker, with a body on wheels that allows for remote-controlled and sometimes autonomous movement aiming to provide easy access to assistance and networking services. We conducted a narrative review of literature describing experimental studies of MTR involving elderly people over the last 20 years, including during the COVID-19 period. The aim of this review was to examine whether MTR use was beneficial for reducing loneliness and social isolation among older adults at home and in health and care institutions and to examine the current benefits and barriers to their use and implementation. We screened 1754 references and included 24 research papers focusing on the usability, acceptability, and effectiveness of MTR. News reports on MTR use during the COVID-19 period were also examined. A qualitative, multidimensional analysis methodology inspired by a health technology assessment model was used to identify facilitating and limiting factors and investigate if and how MTR could reduce social isolation in elderly people. Reviewed studies provide encouraging evidence that MTR have potential in this regard, as experiments report positive feedback on MTR design and core functionalities. However, our analysis also points to specific technical, ergonomic, and ethical challenges that remain to be solved, highlighting the need for further multidimensional research on the design and impact of MTR interventions for older adults and building on new insights gained during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Digital transformation of health and care to sustain Planetary Health: The MASK proof-of-concept for airway diseases-POLLAR symposium under the auspices of Finland's Presidency of the EU, 2019 and MACVIA-France, Global Alliance against Chronic Respiratory Diseases (GARD, WH0) demonstration project, Reference Site Collaborative Network of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing.

In December 2019, a conference entitled "Europe That Protects: Safeguarding Our Planet, Safeguarding Our Health" was held in Helsinki. It was co-organized by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, the Finnish Environment Institute and the European Commission, under the auspices of Finland's Presidency of the EU. As a side event, a symposium organized as the final POLLAR (Impact of air POLLution on Asthma and Rhinitis) meeting explored the digital transformation of health and care to sustain planetary health in airway diseases. The Finnish Allergy Programme collaborates with MASK (Mobile Airways Sentinel NetworK) and can be considered as a proof-of-concept to impact Planetary Health. The Good Practice of DG Santé (The Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety) on digitally-enabled, patient-centred care pathways is in line with the objectives of the Finnish Allergy Programme. The ARIACARE-Digital network has been deployed in 25 countries. It represents an example of the digital cross-border exchange of real-world data and experience with the aim to improve patient care. The integration of information technology tools for climate, weather, air pollution and aerobiology in mobile Health applications will enable the development of an alert system. Citizens will thus be informed about personal environmental threats, which may also be linked to indicators of Planetary Health and sustainability. The digital transformation of the public health policy was also proposed, following the experience of the Agency for Health Quality and Assessment of Catalonia (AQuAS).

POLLAR: Impact of air POLLution on Asthma and Rhinitis; a European Institute of Innovation and Technology Health (EIT Health) project.

Allergic rhinitis (AR) is impacted by allergens and air pollution but interactions between air pollution, sleep and allergic diseases are insufficiently understood. POLLAR (Impact of air POLLution on sleep, Asthma and Rhinitis) is a project of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT Health). It will use a freely-existing application for AR monitoring that has been tested in 23 countries (the Allergy Diary, iOS and Android, 17,000 users, TLR8). The Allergy Diary will be combined with a new tool allowing queries on allergen, pollen (TLR2), sleep quality and disorders (TRL2) as well as existing longitudinal and geolocalized pollution data. Machine learning will be used to assess the relationship between air pollution, sleep and AR comparing polluted and non-polluted areas in 6 EU countries. Data generated in 2018 will be confirmed in 2019 and extended by the individual prospective assessment of pollution (portable sensor, TLR7) in AR. Sleep apnea patients will be used as a demonstrator of sleep disorder that can be modulated in terms of symptoms and severity by air pollution and AR. The geographic information system GIS will map the results. Consequences on quality of life (EQ-5D), asthma, school, work and sleep will be monitored and disseminated towards the population. The impacts of POLLAR will be (1) to propose novel care pathways integrating pollution, sleep and patients' literacy, (2) to study sleep consequences of pollution and its impact on frequent chronic diseases, (3) to improve work productivity, (4) to propose the basis for a sentinel network at the EU level for pollution and allergy, (5) to assess the societal implications of the interaction. MASK paper N°32.

Rehabilitation of the psychomotor consequences of falling in an elderly population: A pilot study to evaluate feasibility and tolerability of virtual reality training.

BACKGROUND: A fall in elderly subjects can lead to serious psychological consequences. These symptoms can develop into Fear of Falling with behavioural disorders comparable to PTSD that may severely limit autonomy. Virtual reality training (VRT) could be seen as a worthwhile therapeutic approach for this syndrome since it has been shown to be a useful tool for motor rehabilitation or combat-related PTSD. We thus developed a training scenario for VRT with psychomotor therapists. OBJECTIVE: To test the feasibility and acceptability of VRT when used by elderly adults for fall rehabilitation. METHODS: Our population of 8 patients older than 75 years, with a Mini Mental Score Examination greater than 18/30 performed sessions of VRT and answered a questionnaire on the feasibility and acceptability of it. RESULTS: This sample showed a highly favourable response to the prototype of VRT. They found it easy to use, enjoyed the experience, and thought it realistic and helpful. CONCLUSION: The conclusions of our study are limited by sample size. However, applications with VRT can offer the potential of an acceptable technique for elderly subjects. The next step will be to show the efficacy of this method in the management of post-fall PTSD.

Enfermedad de Heck: a propósito de un caso / Heck’s disease: a case report

La Enfermedad de Heck (EH) o Hiperplasia Epitelial Focal (HEF) es una proliferación benigna poco frecuente de la mucosa oral, generalmente asintomática, causada por el Virus Papiloma Humano (VPH), en su mayoría VPH 13 y 32. Afecta principalmente a niños, predominantemente de sexo femenino. En general se resuelve en forma espontánea, pero en algunos casos por su sintomatología o extenso compromiso se requiere de tratamiento. Existen múltiples modalidades terapéuticas, destacando entre ellas el Imiquimod. Describimos el caso de una paciente de ocho años de edad con una EH que presentó buena respuesta al tratamiento con Imiquimod 5 por ciento.

Heck’s Disease (HD) or Focal Epithelial Hyperplasia (FEH) is a rare benign proliferation of the oral mucosa, usually asymptomatic, caused by Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), especially HPV 13 and 32. Affects mainly children, predominantly female.FEH generally resolves spontaneously, but some cases, either because of intensity or extension of symptoms may require treatment. There are several therapeutic alternatives, being Imiquimod the most successful. We report the case of a 8-year old with a HD that present good response to treatment with Imiquimod 5 percent.

A pilot usability study of MINWii, a music therapy game for demented patients.

MINWii is a music therapy game for the renarcissization of demented patients. It lets players improvise or play songs of their choice by pointing at a virtual keyboard with a Wiimote Pistol. We present the results of a three-month usability study we conducted with 7 institutionalized patients suffering from mild to moderately severe Alzheimer's disease at the LUSAGE Living Lab in Paris. We demonstrate that MINWii is indeed usable by AD patients despite their motor and cognitive impairments: our results, which were largely computed automatically thanks to MINWii's extensive logging capabilities, show either an instant mastery or a clear learning effect depending on patients' cognitive abilities. Moreover, patients were overall very satisfied with the game and expressed a desire to repeat the experience: MINWii fosters positive interaction with the caregivers and elicits powerful reminiscence with even the most severely impaired patients. This study justifies future research to assess the lasting effects of playing MINWii on both quality of life and cognitive impairment in demented patients.

Seudotumor inflamatorio pulmonar: presentación de 2 casos y revisión de la literatura / Pulmonary inflammatory pseudotumour: two case report and review of theliterature

Primary lung tumours in children are rare, the most common lesions seen in clinical practice are metastatic disease. The majority of children who present with a primary or secondary pulmonary malignancy will present coincidentally while seeking attention for another medical problem, or with non-specific abnormalities such as cough with collapse or consolidation on the chest x-ray. Primary malignant tumours of the lung are the most common, this group is made up of carcinoid tumours, bronchogenic carcinoma and pleuropulmonary blastoma. Benign primary pulmonary tumours are inflammatory pseudotumour or plasma cell granuloma and hamartoma. Often, the possibility of a primary or secundary pulmonary tumour is considered only when radiographic abnormalities or symptoms persist or fail to respond to therapy, many children are asymptomatic until they have advanced disease, which delays diagnosis even further. The aim of this article is show our experience of two patients with inflammatory pseudotumour and literature review.

Los tumores pulmonares primarios en niños son muy poco frecuentes, siendo más reportadas las lesiones metátasicas. La mayoría de los pacientes que presentan un tumor pulmonar ya sea primario o secundario, son hallazgos de algún examen generalmente imagenológico, como parte del estudio de otras causas o en presencia de síntomas inespecíficos como tos asociada a atelectasia o condensación. Los tumores pulmonares primarios malignos son los más frecuentes, comprenden el tumor carcinoide, carcinoma broncogénico y blastoma pleuropulmonar. Los tumores pulmonares primarios benignos son el seudotumor inflamatorio (sTi) o granuloma de células plasmáticas y el hamartoma. Se debe tener un alto índice de sospecha en el diagnóstico de tumor pulmonar primario o secundario, frente a la persistencia de síntomas o si presenta una lesión en la radiografía de tórax que no se modifica o invade localmente a otros tejidos adyacentes a pesar del tratamiento. El objetivo de este artículo es mostrar nuestra experiencia de 2 pacientes portadores de sTi y hacer una revisión de la literatura.