[ad_1]
Medical diagnoses typically focus on solving individual problems. However, the resolution of a problem can lead to another problem and sometimes even a complete collapse. Scientists from Wageningen University & Research and Radboudumc have now found a way to assess the resilience of humans and animals based on data from portable electronics.
Measuring resilience seemed difficult to achieve. However, new mathematical knowledge now makes it possible to use the innumerable small recovery episodes (micro-recoveries) recorded by the sensors.
Staying alive requires resilience, that is, the ability to return to normal levels after disturbances ranging from scary or scratch to a severe fall or severe flu. Resilience naturally decreases at a later age, but is also determined by genes, lifestyle, and events.
Despite all the knowledge about health, measuring essence – resilience – has proven difficult to achieve. However, new mathematical knowledge now makes it possible to use countless small recovery episodes (micro-recoveries), recorded by sensors, to assess the resilience of the whole and therefore the risk of collapse of health. This comes at a time when massive data from fitness watches and other electronic devices is becoming commonplace, allowing for inexpensive surveillance of resilience.
Ecosystems
"The signals we find are strikingly similar to those at risk of tipping points in ecosystems, such as the tropical rainforests," said Marten Scheffer, principal investigator at Wageningen University. & Research. "It may seem strange, but we are on the verge of unraveling the fundamental laws that complex systems must behave when they become unstable."
Tiltpoint
Although the concept of the set is the biggest challenge, separate system components can also collapse. The personal mood is an example. When the resilience of the mood system is eroded, even small stressful events can trigger self-stimulating collapse leading to depression. The Dynamic Resilience Indicators (DIORs) that have now been discovered are based on changes in system behavior when such a tipping point is near.
The researchers were able to estimate the risk of depression based on the pattern of mood fluctuation, such as the patients who reported. The same principles are indicative of the stability of other "subsystems" of the body, such as the walking position of the elderly, which is related to the risk of falling. The new indicators pave the way for measuring the resilience of both individuals as a whole and various interconnected essential subsystems (see figure).
Real-Time Monitoring
The same approach can be used to create continuous data streams. resilience of animals. All individuals belonging to thousands of electronically marked dairy cows can be monitored in real time to quickly detect abnormalities in animals that are not.
Medicine
The objective measure of resilience greatly facilitates the task of researchers. to study the factors that influence this resilience. "The same thing applies to medicine," says Professor Marcel Olde Rikkert, co-author, professor of clinical geriatrics in Radboudumc. "It is widely felt the need to see the patient again, especially for the elderly, who must make a decision about whether to operate or not, for example, to better understand the resilience of the patient. patient, which we can better identify with the new techniques. "
Source link
