1,720,986 research outputs found
Ethics and acceptance of smart homes for older adults
Get PDFSocietal challenges associated with caring for the physical and mental health of the elderly worldwide have grown at an unprecedented pace, increasing demand for healthcare services and technologies [1]. Despite the development of several assistive systems tailored to older adults, the rate of adoption of health technologies is low [2, 3]. This review discusses the ethical and acceptability challenges resulting in low adoption of health technologies specifically focused on smart homes for the elderly. The findings have been structured in two categories: Ethical Considerations (Privacy, Social Support, Autonomy) and Technology Aspects (User Context, Usability, Training). The findings conclude that the elderly community is more likely to adopt assistive systems when four key criteria are met. The technology should: be personalized towards their needs, protect their dignity and independence, provide user control, and not be isolating. Finally, we recommend researchers and developers working on assistive systems to: (1) Provide interfaces via smart devices to control and configure the monitoring system with feedback for the user, (2) Include various sensors/devices to architect a smart home solution in a way that is easy to integrate in daily life and (3) Define policies about data ownership
Homocysteine and neurodegenerative: Current concepts and potential for intervention
No full textOver 17 500 articles have been published about homocysteine, indicating intense biomedical research interest in this compound. Homocysteine has been associated with a large number of health conditions, in particular with cardiovascular and neurological diseases. This chapter will focus on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases, since a great deal of evidence links homocysteine to the pathogenesis of these conditions. Therapies designed to lower circulating plasma homocysteine levels have not had a major impact on progression of neurodegenerative diseases. More recently, the description of novel pathways clarifies how homocysteine influences neurodegenerative disease by affecting neuronal viability and function and epigenetic alterations to gene expression. These new insights have the potential for benefiting neurodegenerative disorders by amelioration of the adverse effects of abnormal homocysteine metabolism
Is it true that your dance skills have something to do with talent from birth:neuroscience is trying to answer that
No full textLeptin: a novel therapeutic target in the fight against neurodegeneration?
No full textNeurodegenerative diseases present one of the greatest ongoing challenges to modern medicine with a paucity of therapies available and a lack of understanding as to why many patients develop these disorders. Given that neurodegeneration largely affects the elderly and that the world is seeing a marked demographic shift towards an ageing population, the need to better understand and treat these conditions is becoming ever more urgent. Recent research has implicated low levels of the anti-obesity hormone leptin in the development of neurodegeneration and has suggested that exogenous leptin may offer protection from the loss of neurons associated with this process. At this time, our understanding of leptin's potential in this field is very much in its infancy, thus it seems timely to bring the emerging evidence together. Therefore, this review considers the data revealing that leptin deficiency can play a key role in degenerative changes in the central nervous system and investigates the potential of leptin as a novel therapeutic reagent in the fight against neurodegenerative diseases
Metabolic influences on neurological disorders: Focus on homocysteine in Alzheimer's Disease:Homocysteine and Alzheimer's Disease
No full textReading of the scientific literature would lead us to believe that the nervous system consists mainly of neurons that exist in isolation, cut off from the influences of the periphery due to the presence of the blood-brain barrier. However, it is becoming increasingly evident that neurons are extensively influenced by both blood-borne factors that can determine both their viability and function; and also by the activities of the support, non-neuronal cells of the nervous system. This book considers how such factors can influence neuropathology. This first chapter considers the consequences of elevated levels of homocysteine in the blood for the development and pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s Disease, revealing an important role of dysfunction in homocysteine metabolism for influencing the pathogenesis of this disorder. <br/
Developmental switch in the effects of TNFa on ventral midbrain dopaminergic neurons
No full textThe cytokine tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF alpha) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative conditions as well as in the establishment of neural networks during development. This study investigated the in vitro effects of TNF alpha on embryonic dopaminergic neurons of the ventral mesencephalon. TNF alpha treatment enhanced the number of dopaminergic neurons in cultures derived from E12.5 mice embryos in a dose-dependent manner. In order to achieve this effect TNF alpha signalled via NF-kappa B. This enhancement in cell number was found to be due to TNF alpha promoting the differentiation of dopaminergic neurons rather than to an increase in cell survival. In contrast, TNF alpha-treated cultures derived from E 14 or E16 mice demonstrated a decrease in dopaminergic neurons, and this loss was negated by pharmacological inhibition of caspases. The data presented demonstrate that during embryonic development, dopaminergic ventral mesencephalic neurons switch their in vitro response to TNF alpha from neurotrophic to neurotoxic. This is the first report of a population of neurons exhibiting this switch in TNF alpha responsiveness during neurodevelopment. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ireland Ltd and the Japan Neuroscience Society. All rights reserved.</p
How can we prevent neuronal apoptosis?
No full textThe cells that make up the nervous system die at two distinct times during the lifetime of an organism. These periods of neuron loss occur during embryonic development and also during neurodegenration or ageing. During development, neuronal apoptosis is essential for the correct shaping and hard-wiring of the nervous system. However, in a number of neurological conditions, apoptosis causes a devastating, and currently irreversible, loss of neurons. This review considers the extracellular and intracellular signals that determine which neurons live, and which neurons die, during development. It then asks the question of whether our understanding of apoptosis during neurodevelopment can lead to novel treatments to protect the nervous system from neuron loss due to pathology and/or ageing
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