10 hi-tech ways to Track, Detect and Combat Alzheimer's
Healthcare experts and patients dealing with Alzheimer's usually have to cope with mammoth difficulties. In the initial stages of the disease, people often appear to be healthy due to which they fail to get proper medical attention. And the ones who are in the advanced stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD) are not in a position to handle self-care and so need someone to monitor them constantly. Thankfully we have some hi-tech options for continuous tracking, detecting and monitoring of the brain disease. Let's have a glimpse at some of these wonders of technology.
Track Patients
Alzheimer’s GPS tracking system
CEAFA (Spanish Confederation of Relatives of Alzheimer’s) and Vision Localization Systems recently launched a fresh and upgraded Alzheimer GPS tracking system known as Keruve 2010. The Keruve 2010 has a base station which helps you (the caretaker) establish where the patient is, and a stylish handy wrist watch worn by the patient. The device uses four tracking systems which include GPS-SBAS, an indoor positioning system, VisionCellid, and T-GSM, and has an option known as “multicoverage” which employs the sum of all the GSM networks in each nation. The base station has an ergonomic design with a 4.2″ screen to present streets using large letters.
GPS Shoes to Trace Alzheimer’s Patients
GPS Smart Shoe is the brainchild of Aetrex Worldwide, a footwear manufacturer, and GTX Corp, which makes miniaturized GPS tracking and location transmitting technology. Having a GPS device embedded in a shoe is a great idea given that Alzheimer's patients are predisposed to getting rid of unknown things placed on them although getting dressed is among the last kinds of memory they retain.
GoTEK7 Series Tracking devices
The GoTEK7 Series of tracking devices combines a mobile telephone system with intelligent alerts and GPS. So you can easily locate the Alzheimer’s patient and contact them instantly. GoTEK7 devices have been launched in the US, whose networks will support the mobile data and telephone transmission services. The Series is based on intelligent detection and programmed alerts, and a geo-location system using GPS and a GSM/ AGPRS transceiver that incorporates a Webber/Global Tech card. What you get is a watch-sized bracelet, using which the Alzheimer's sufferer can move around without any restrictions. In case the subject leaves his/her usual place, the device releases an alert and the GoTEK7 can be instantly located — via phone assistance servers that function 24/7 — and the patient can be contacted right away with the hands-free function in the device.
Comfort Zone – Internet-based GPS location management
Comfort Zone is an internet-based GPS location management system from the Alzheimer's Association. It helps you locate a loved one when the person is carrying a GPS device or has one placed in their car. The device uses cell towers and/or satellite signals to be located & sends that info to the Alzheimer's Association web-mapping service. You and other relatives can inspect the person's location on a map 24/7 through the secure website or you can place a toll-free call to the monitoring center. The battery needs to be charged just about every 2-1/2 to 3 days, depending on the plan you choose.
Tell My Geo Android app tracks Alzheimer’s patients
Tell My Geo is an Android app for Alzheimer’s patients, which acts a lot like Apple’s Find My iPhone service. This app uses Iconosys’ proprietary secure tethering technology for adults to monitor and track the location of their AD-affected loved ones.
The app requires the use of two Android phones - one for the patient, the other for the caretaker. The touch of a single button on the caretaker's phone lets him/her know the precise location of the patient through the app installed on the second phone also. And the patient’s phone can be set to send regular updates with location points in a gap of fifteen, thirty, and sixty-minute breaks. The application also stores detailed medical information that emergency workers can access and update with a single click on the Tell My Geo website.
Detect Cared-for's Location
DETECT device
This new device called DETECT may allow patients to take a brief, economical test as part of a routine yearly checkup at a doctor’s office to detect mild cognitive impairment (MCI) — often the earliest stage of Alzheimer’s. This device, developed by researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, gives individuals a more or less ten-minute test meant to gauge reaction time and memory — functions that, when impaired, are linked with the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s disease. The test is a particularly modified, shortened version of the conventional pen-and-paper test and could be used frequently by doctors to assess any changes in cognitive functions.
Non-Invasive Alzheimer's detection
Last year, Neuronetrix based in Louisville, Kentucky launched the COGNISION system for early detection of Alzheimer's. The headset gauges the brain’s electrical field potentials while a sound sample is played to the patient, and a computer compares those readings with a record of prior recordings. In other words, the thirty-minute test entails recording brainwaves whilst the subject listens to a series of auditory stimuli. Healthy people are used as control subjects who will go through a short psychometric examination prior to the COGNISION Test. The COGNISION Software can then tell apart a healthy subject from one who may have Alzheimer’s disease.
Cognition System – A revolutionary hairnet
Called the Cognition System, this is a hi-tech hairnet that tracks brain waves and helps in accelerating the detection of Alzheimer’s. The device consists of small sensors held together by adaptable straps. When the sensors touch the skull, they can pick up electrical activity patterns related to the onset of Alzheimer’s. The ultra-modern hairnet is currently undergoing trials. If these prove successful, the technology could mean quicker prescription of medication to slow disease progression, keeping them healthy for longer.
Monitor Alzheimer's
Buddy – A tablet device for Alzheimer’s
This device is meant for people who are in the initial stages of Alzheimer’s. The Buddy gives reminders for medication and doctor’s appointments, supervises diet and passes on vital data to health professionals. Also, this hand-held unit comes with brain games and presents an easy interface for communicating with relatives.
Infrared Beaming Helmet
Despite looking like a grotesque PC case-mod for your head, a Virulite-funded research says that this infrared beaming helmet may serve as a way of dealing with Alzheimer's disease. It directs low levels of infrared light at the heads of Alzheimer's sufferers so as to combat the disease by invigorating brain cell growth.
