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Kinect and Unreal Engine 4 power Alzheimer's and dementia care project (video)
Sure, virtual reality and browser-based games are impressive, but Unreal Engine 4's latest use is a bit more noble: improving the lives of Alzheimer's and dementia patients. The Forest Project uses the game engine, smart TVs and Microsoft's Kinect 2 tech in an attempt to create a temporary reprieve for those suffering from the cognitive diseases via an interactive, virtual woodland. There's also a virtual dementia simulation that aims to help caregivers understand first-hand how their patients see the world, possibly improving care as a result. Should the dev team reach its crowdfunding goal, the arboreal environment could be just the beginning, with beach or Christmas-themed environments hinted as possible expansions. Opaque Multimedia and Alzheimer's Australia Vic need a fraction of what many modern game budgets command to bring The Forest Project to multiple platforms in early 2015 -- $82,000 (AU$90,000). Other details are scarce, but seeing that the team is in San Francisco for this week's Game Developer's Conference, we may hear more as the show progresses.
Can playing WoW improve your brain power?
Can playing World of Warcraft maintain or improve your brain power? When it comes to specifics like improving cognitive function, there really haven't been many significant, sizeable research studies that can put hard numbers on the line. WoW player and early onset Alzheimer's disease sufferer Bill Craig would certainly attest to the power of gaming in maintaining brain function -- he's living proof that WoW can be a vital part of a brain-healthy regimen to stretch and maintain cognitive function. (If you haven't already read Bill's story, you owe it yourself to follow that link. It'll make your day.) So when news of a fresh research project looking at WoW's effects on cognitive abilities in older players started making the rounds in the national media, Bill was one of the first to ping us with an excited email. "Tell us something we didn't already know, right, Lisa?" he crowed. "Guess I might be called a 'pioneer' of sorts, huh?" Indeed, Bill, you're totally my hero -- and look out, because it looks like the scientific world is starting to catch on and catch up to our secrets. This week, WoW Insider interviews Dr. Jason Allaire at North Carolina State University, who co-authored the recent study showing that playing WoW can boost certain cognitive functions in older adults. Himself a former WoW player and long-time MMO player, Dr. Allaire shares a gaming-filtered view of how his research and WoW interrelate to show that indeed, World of Warcraft can be good for your brain.
Helsinki care center imports bots to battle Alzheimer's, lead sing-alongs (video)
In what we can only assume is part of their community service, after running amok and devouring all that medicine, robots are now visiting our old people in hospitals, leading them in sing-alongs and helping them battle Alzheimer's -- instead of terrorizing them. The Kustaankartano Elderly Centre in Helsinki has brought in a pair of bots designed by the Korean Institute of Science and Technology to entertain patients and lead them though exercise routines. Of course, without legs or proper arms, their usefulness as fitness instructors is severely limited, and watching them lip sync Bohemian Rhapsody is more creepy than amusing. So, yeah, while robots may have a place in helping care for our elderly, we're pretty sure these two don't have a future in the industry. They'll be moving along just as soon as their court-ordered service is complete. Check out the video after the break.
15 Minutes of Fame: Holding fast to Azeroth through the journey of Alzheimer's
From Hollywood celebrities to the guy next door, millions of people have made World of Warcraft a part of their lives. How do you play WoW? We're giving each approach its own 15 Minutes of Fame. Bill Craig is doing it right. The 61-year-old WoW player has suffered from early-onset Alzheimer's disease for half a dozen years now, winding his way through Azeroth for about half that time. He's ridden a bicycle all the way from Carrollton, Texas, to Carrollton, Georgia, to raise money and awareness for animal welfare -- not once but twice. He's a Vietnam vet. He serves as an advocate with the Alzheimer's Association, having recently returned from a trip to Washington, D.C., with his wife to meet with legislators about bills impacting Alzheimer's. Bill's contributions and commitment to his community and country are impressive for any seasoned professional, let alone someone living with a disease that monkeywrenches a person's thinking, memory and behavior. I know Bill's doing it right because I live under the baleful gaze of Alzheimer's, too. My mother passed away two years ago after a particularly cruel struggle with the disease. She began batting aside its first tendrils while caring for my grandmother, also stripped bare by Alzheimer's. My father wanders through a related type of dementia -- perversely, with all the sets of symptoms my mother never developed. (Ding! We hit the jackpot, I guess.) In my work, I've written about Alzheimer's and the incredible burdens it places on families, parents with young children who now also care for their own parents over the painfully protracted years it takes life to trickle away. Alzheimer's is inextricably part of my life, too. So none of that makes me special -- Alzheimer's grip on families is all too common -- but it does mean I can say one thing with certainty: Bill Craig is doing it right. His view of Azeroth, however, is very different from yours or mine.
Transparent material developed that's twice as strong as Kevlar, infinitely weirder
Scientists in Israel have developed a transparent material with "the hardest organic nanostructure known to man," according to Discovery News. Based on artificial proteins similar to (and simpler than) the beta-amlyoid proteins that have been linked to Alzheimer's disease, and covered with transparent nanospheres, the new material is very, very strong: in order to cut it, a diamond-tipped probe would have to apply twice the pressure it would take to cut Kevlar. Researchers see it being used for anything from bulletproof armor to reinforced steel -- but don't throw out your old body armor yet! It could be years (if not decades) before this comes to market.
Two days at E3 with a Vicon Revue life-blogging camera (video)
Each year the video gaming Mecca that is the Electronics Entertainment Expo seems to get a little more... stale. I've been attending since 1997, back when PC games dominated the show floor, scantily-clad mascots were everywhere, and press releases were handed out in three-ring binders. Despite the increasing sameness of it all it's still a huge privilege to go, an invitation I receive every summer and wish I could share with all my gamer friends -- which is, at this point, just about all of them. This year, thanks to Vicon, who kindly let me borrow one of its wearable Revue cameras, I can finally take you all along for the ride. %Gallery-96315%
Study finds casual gaming can help cognition
East Carolina University's Psychophysiology Lab recently published some promising findings from a study on the effect casual games can have on the cognitive abilities of older players. According to Gamasutra, the study, which has run for almost six months and counting, has measured certain mental functions of 40-some participants over the age of 50 as they've played various PopCap games in half-hour chunks over the duration of the study. Researchers have found that even this semi-regular play (like, really, who plays a PopCap game for just thirty minutes) has boosted participants' cognitive response times by 87 percent, in addition to increasing their executive functioning by a whopping 215 percent. So, what does that mean? The group conducting the study explained these findings could prove casual games (and, in all likelihood, "so-called 'hardcore' video games") could constitute effective mental exercise for the elderly, or those who suffer from dementia and Alzheimer's. That's really great news, since our grandmother has probably played enough Zuma that she can now move things around with her mind.
Study finds cellphone use may fend off effects of Alzheimer's disease
Could cellphone radiation actually be good for you and bad for you at the same time? It might, according to a group of researchers at the University of South Florida, who say that tests on mice suggest that long-term cellphone use might actually help fend off some of the effects of Alzheimer's disease. That, as you might have suspected, is the exact opposite of what the researchers expected to find, and they say that exposure to electromagnetic waves from cellphones could both prevent some of the effects of Alzheimer's if the exposure is introduced in early adulthood, or potentially even reverse some of the impairment among those already memory-impaired. Needless to say, the tests are still in the earliest of stages, but the researchers are apparently planning on modifying the experiment to try to speed up the results, and eventually expand it to include tests on humans. Tests on mice still found cellphones to be an impairement while driving. [Thanks, Antonio]
Peptide nanotube 'forest' coating could mean self-cleaning windows, more efficient batteries, Alzheimer's cure, world peace
We are rapidly coming to grips with the idea that there is nothing nanotubes can't do. They're boosting solar cell efficiency, hoisting more junk into space, and even providing an exceptionally light meal. Now they'll even clean your windows -- well, not your windows, but your future self's windows thanks to research at Tel Aviv University, where a team has created a way to grow a so-called forest of nanotubes out of peptides. This means they're exceptionally cheap to produce and, as they've been shown to repel dirt and water, they'll make an ideal coating for windows and solar cells. They can also act as a super-capacitor, increasing the output of batteries, and there's even hope that they could treat Alzheimer's disease. Yes, nanotubes certainly are the future -- prepare for obsolescence.
'Pac-Man' enzyme may eat away at Alzheimer's
Video games may hold the cure to the memory-plaguing Alzheimer's disease. It won't be Brain Age to the rescue, though. Classic 80s arcade icon Pac-Man holds a key in defeating the untreatable disease.Researchers from Florida's Mayo Clinic have figured out a way to break down amyloid proteins associated with Alzheimer's. An insulin-degrading enzyme nicknamed "Pac-Man" works very much like the classic video game character by opening and closing, "gobbling up" amyloid proteins. Rebecca Wood, Chief Executive of the Alzheimer's Research Trust, called this new finding "fascinating," but noted that "the work is at very early stages in the laboratory."We're all for naming potentially life-saving treatments after video game characters. Imagine the Katamari cure for cancer, or the Yoshi cure for the common cold. We're pretty sure even anti-game lobbyists would have to approve of our hobby then, right?[Thanks, Andrew! (No, I'm not thanking myself.)] [Image Source]
RFID network used in the fight against Alzheimer's
The problem with diagnosing Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia is that by the time someone presents symptoms, it is generally rather late in the game. Looking for a way to detect the affliction earlier on, researchers at the University of South Florida have developed a wireless network for use by senior living centers. Utilizing a series of receivers placed strategically around the building and RFID transponders worn on the wrists of patients, the system monitors people's walking patterns, looking for actions characteristic of cognitive decline -- including a tendency to wander, to veer suddenly, or to pause repeatedly. So far the study has found a statistical relationship between abnormal walking patterns and people for whom testing indicated dementia. The next step is to take that data and look for ways to predict the disease. Good luck, kids -- and hurry up. We ain't getting any younger 'round here.
JHU researchers create self-assembling organic wires
Once more it looks like Johns Hopkins has taken humanity a step closer to full-blown Borg-hood. A research team at the school has created water-soluble electronic materials that spontaneously assemble themselves into wires some 10,000 times smaller than a human hair, for potential uses that include regulating cell-to-cell communication, re-engineering neural networks, repairing damaged spinal cords and transforming individuals into cybernetically enhanced drones. The researchers also point out that the self-assembly principles used to create the nano-scale wires are based on those of beta-amyloid plaques (which have been associated with Alzheimers), so the research may someday lead to a better understanding of the disease. This is definitely good news, but we can't help but think that once we've been assimilated into the hive mind Alzheimer's will be the least of our concerns.[Via TG Daily]
Keruve GPS locator promises to keep watch on Alzheimer's patients
There's plenty of people-tracking GPS devices out there to choose from, but if you're in need of something a bit more specialized, you may want to consider this latest device from Keruve, which is apparently intended specifically for Alzheimer's patients. To that end, the system employs a GPS tracker bracelet that's water-proof and can only be removed with a special tool -- it can also apparently fall back on cell tower triangulation (otherwise known as A-GPS) provide a location when regular GPS is unavailable. As you can see above, that gets paired with a handheld unit that pinpoints the patient's location on a map, but the entire kit doesn't exactly come cheap, with it setting you back €850 (or about $1,340).[Via NaviGadget]
Researchers craft new testing device to detect early Alzheimer's
We've heard that the "gold standard" pen and paper test seems to work fairly well at detecting the earliest stage of Alzheimer's disease, but gurus from Georgia Tech and Emory University have teamed up to develop a much quicker method for accomplishing the same. The ten-minute DETECT test utilizes a head-worn visor with a built-in LCD, headphones and a handheld controller, which the patient interacts with as he / she is put through a series of visual and auditory tests that "assess cognitive abilities relative to age," gauge reaction time and measure memory capabilities. Initial tests have purportedly shown it to have "similar accuracy" to the aforementioned pen and paper test (which takes around 90-minutes to administer), and while we've no idea when the device will be available for public use, its creators have already formed a firm (Zenda Technologies) to commercialize it. Finally, a legitimate use for head-mounted displays -- thought we'd never see the day.[Via Wired]
VeriChip chipping 200 Alzheimer's patients for RFID VeriMed trials
Maybe it's our inevitable future, but we still can't help but feel a bit icky at the thought of VeriChip implanting VeriMed RFID chips into 90 volunteers suffering from Alzheimer's. The two-year trial program, VeriMed Patient Identification Project, will involve 200 patients, and apparently so far everybody is pretty upbeat about the idea. We first heard about this a couple months ago, but it seems things are really ramping up. The chips are designed to manage the records of the patients and their caregivers, and VeriChip is confident that it'll be growing into other "high-risk patient categories" soon.
Alzheimer's patients, caregivers receiving VeriMed RFID chips
Caring for those with Alzheimer's could be getting a whole lot less stressful, as VeriChip has reportedly doled out 25 VeriMed RFID implantable microchips at the Alzheimer's Community Care 2007 Alzheimer's Educational Conference. Of course, these aren't the first invasive chips that the company has crammed under folks' skin for one reason or another, but these data packin' devices are aiming to provide medical personnel "quick access to identification and medical records information in an emergency situation." Interestingly, not much else was said about future rollouts beyond this small sample trial, but we can't imagine these not showing up en masse (and in humans) once it gets the green light from regulators.
