[Sleep, an issue for nurses and patients].

A three-day training programme on sleep in hospitals was created in 2008 on the initiative of the national association for the continuing training of hospital staff, in collaboration with the French ministry of health. 448 nurses have been trained thanks to a participative programme integrating new, interactive pedagogical tools.

[Nutrition and Alzheimer's disease].

Weight loss is frequent in Alzheimer's disease. Its severity increases with the progression of the disease and may be a predictor of patients' mortality. Weight loss often precedes the diagnosis and may be considered as a feature of the disease itself.

Improvement of weight and fat-free mass with oral nutritional supplementation in patients with Alzheimer's disease at risk of malnutrition: a prospective randomized study.

Objectives: To study the effects of oral nutritional supplements (OS) on body weight, body composition, nutritional status, and cognition in elderly patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Design: Prospective, randomized, controlled study.

Setting: Geriatric wards and day care centers in the Toulouse area, France.

Identifying the elderly at risk for malnutrition. The Mini Nutritional Assessment.

In more than 10,000 elderly persons, the mean prevalence of malnutrition is 1% in community-healthy elderly persons, 4% in outpatients receiving home care, 5% in patients with Alzheimer's disease living at home, 20% in hospitalized patients, and 37% in institutionalized elderly persons. In community-dwelling elderly persons, the MNA detects risk of malnutrition and life-style characteristics associated with nutritional risk while albumin levels and the BMI are still in the normal range. In outpatients and in hospitalized patients, the MNA is predictive of outcome and cost of care.

Cognitive function and caregiver burden: predictive factors for eating behaviour disorders in Alzheimer's disease.

Background: Patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) commonly develop aversive feeding behaviours. These behaviours lead to weight loss and frequently to physicians using tube feeding. Little is known about factors correlated with feeding difficulties during AD.