seca - unceasing in research
seca supports national and international research and field studies. Specialists around the world have been relying on seca scales and measuring instruments when the quick and accurate determination of body size and weight is required.
The following products and studies are supported by seca products:
Partnership for the Heart – telemedicine research project
Patients with heart failure often do not recognize a worsening of their condition because symptoms arise late in the course of the disease. To help these patients, representatives from science, industry and health care formed a partnership under the leadership of Charité Berlin to develop a telemedical early warning system. The work was done from 2007 through 2010 as part of the project known as "Partnership for the Heart". Patients at home collected their own vital parameters (e.g., weight, blood pressure) every day and transmitted the data wirelessly to their physicians. Remote monitoring was done around the clock. The goal was to recognize complications early and, if required, to initiate therapy without delay. The patient's weight is a vital parameter because a sudden weight gain from one day to the next may be a warning sign of fluid retention and its potential complications. The task of accurately measuring the patient's weight every day was handled by the flat scale seca 861.
Results of the study: With telemedical monitoring – in addition to outpatient care – the quality of life and sometimes even life expectancy for high-risk patients with chronic heart failure could be improved significantly.
Moby Dick – Therapy program for adipose children
seca is committed to the Moby Dick prevention centre. Moby Dick a national one-year program for 6 to 17 year old children that is supported by specialists. The holistic method is based on the three columns of nutritional education, sport and psychological help. It shows in theory and practices how nutritional behaviour can be changed, offers exercise and sporting activities and supports the children in strengthening their self-awareness. 72 percent of children who enter the program subsequently stabilise their body weight.
KiGGS
KiGGS, the children and your health study by the Robert Koch-Institute is a survey about the health and health behaviour of children and your ages 0 to 17 years in Germany. The results form the basis for a national health report on children and youth and provides approaches for targeted intervention and prevention strategies.
The study financed by the Federal Ministry of Health and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research ran from mid 2003 to the start of 2006. 17,641 people took part. All children were medically examined. Researchers relied on seca scales to determine body weight.
Causal research and prevention of early childhood obesity
As a sponsor partner of the European study "Childhood Obesity - Early Programming by Infant Nutrition", seca supported the causal research and thus prevention of early childhood obesity. Seven participating clinics in Germany, Belgium, Italy, Poland and Spain researched the effects of baby foot with varying protein content in the first year of life on the later body weight of children.
BedRest Study – Vibration muscle training under simulated weightlessness
Just five to ten minutes of training per day are enough to generally prevent muscle and bone atrophy as occur in weightlessness during long-term space flights. That was the determination made from the so-called Berliner BedRest Study (BBR). The Bed Rest project in preparation for a manned space flight to Mars was conducted 2003/2004 and 2007 by the Berlin Center (ZMK, Berlin Centre for Muscle and Bone Research) in cooperation with the European Space Agency.
The objective was to examine mechanisms that lead to muscle and bone atrophy in astronauts in space walk or on earth under strict confinement to bed. seca provided the bed and dialysis scale seca 985 for the study. The bed scale was used to weight subjects everyday during their entire length of stay in bed.
