Not sure what type of material they are using exactly, but if it is possible for pads, why not for diapers as well?

What’s genius about it is that really, it’s all about their new product line that’s supposed to assist in the bath&massage ritual step and help the baby and the mother to relax with the calming essential oils. This reminds me of the bed side brand idea and I think it supports our idea nicely.

If we can identify a challenging aspect about caring for an AD family member (eg. Incontinence) and package the problem in this type of assessment and improvement tool, a line of specialized products that solves this problem totally makes sense.

Getting babies to sleep is definitely a big challenge for parents and here is an honest expression by a parent, narrate by Samuel L. Jackson.

It’s just so cool. The ideas as well as the visual presentation and prototyping methods.

Through the fulfillment of dreams and educational programs, Second Wind Dreams®, an international non-profit organization, enhances the quality of life for those living in elder care communities (nursing homes, assisted living, hospice, etc) and changes the perception of aging.

One of the educational material they have developed is Virtual Dementia Tour – a experience based learning system to understand those suffering from dementia. This approach is not something new – it has been done before to simulate the experience of elderlies and I don’t really see how it is “dementia” specific. However, if it can aid in caregiver patience and understanding, I think it is a great tool to be used.

The hope is to use them for “robot therapy” in geriatric medicine for patients that suffer from dementia, says Fujitsu.

Fujitsu’s teddy bear robot is reminiscent of Pleo, the green robotic dinosaur capable of displaying basic emotions through animatronics and reacting to its surroundings. Despite Pleo’s innovative approach and tech capability, the robot didn’t really become a mainstream sensation –largely because it was positioned as a toy.

Fujitsu’s teddy bear robot comes with loftier ambition. The robotic teddy bear can be plugged to a PC using a USB port. Sensors stuffed into it help it make some gestures such as lifting one of its furry hands up in response to external stimuli.

The bears have a miniature camera built into their nose so they can automatically wake up from sleep state when they sense a person nearby and can turn in their direction.  A voice synthesizer inside the device lets it channel the voice of a young boy. The sound is projected from a built-in speaker and synchronized to the robot’s behavior.

The robotic bears are capable of up to 300 movement patterns including raising its arms, looking downwards and kicking its feet. The movement are combined with display of “emotions” to signal happiness, sadness and anger, says Fujitsu. And since the robot can be connected to the PC, new movements can be recorded and displayed.

What makes these robots interesting, says Fujitsu, is that it is interactive and real, in a world that is increasingly filled with virtual interactions. The bears can be played with and are likely to integrate easily into people’s lives, says the company.

Fujitsu hopes its teddy bear can help develop “robot therapy,” a way to use robots to help people overcome challenges or problems–much like how animals are used to cheer up patients in some hospitals today.

If you want to see how the robotic teddy bears work, check out this video:

Source: Wired

The most devastating impact of the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could be on soldiers’ brains, and many of the injured likely don’t even know it. At least not yet.

As I describe in the new issue of Nature, a growing body of scientific evidence suggests that these injured troops, who could easily number in the hundreds of thousands, face a heightened risk of early-onset dementia, and other diseases that attack the brain.

Worse, by Pentagon officials’ own admission, the military effectively ignored many cases of mild Traumatic Brain Injury, or TBI, primary caused by exposure to roadside bombs, for the better part of six years. One study, published in 2008 by a group of Army researchers in the New England Journal of Medicine, even downplayed the role of mild TBI, suggesting that people should use the word “concussion” rather than “mild traumatic brain injury” to avoid perpetuating the belief they are suffering from a long-term injury.

But with evidence mounting of troops returning home with severe neurological impairment, that attitude has finally changed. And over the past two years, a combination of a better science, and growing awareness among military leaders about the scope of the potential epidemic, has finally led to new policies and treatment for those suffering from mild TBI…

According to official Pentagon statistics, over 200,000 troops have suffered some form of Traumatic Brain Injury over the past 10 years, and independent estimates, such as those from Rand Corp., suggest the real number could be even higher. By the Pentagon’s own admission, many soldiers who likely suffered this invisible form of TBI were never screened for concussions prior to 2009-2010.

Even more concerning is that this “silent epidemic” is not limited to the military. The thousands of troops going home every year with symptoms of brain injuries pale by comparison with the number of these injuries found in civilians, including professional sports players. People involved in car crashes get traumatic brain injuries, as do high-school athletes; surprisingly, girls’ soccer has one of the highest concussion rates among adolescent sports, second only to American football.

“It’s a silent epidemic, it’s not a military epidemic,” says Col. Christian Macedonia, medical adviser to Admiral Mullen.

Photo: U.S. Army

Source: Wired

In some senior centers, “humor therapists,” who are also known as “elder clowns” use jokes, stories, music and magic to “help stimulate memory and cognitive functioning,” according to a recent Lancet article. For example, an “elder clown” may ask someone with dementia to tell a story or give some life advice. The clown may also act foolishly or purposely misunderstand instructions so that the residents “have the opportunity to tell the clowns what to do,” the Lancet article said.

While hospital clowns mostly visit patients in their hospital rooms, elder clowns go to a place that seniors call home. This home may be the last one they will know. Unlike in the hospital setting, most residents are not bed-ridden and elder clowns treat the resident’s living space with respect. Elder clowns are not circus or birthday clowns who “play big”. They do not wear garish make-up, oversized clothes, and large floppy shoes in order to be identified as clowns. Since elder clowns often perform in a more personal and private space than a hospital ward, they must perform in softer, subtler ways than their circus clown counterparts. They rely on character-based idiosyncrasies to create humorous moments and relationships in their interactions with other people. They use techniques, such as telling jokes and stories, magic, music, and song, to help stimulate memory and cognitive functioning. This is important since many older people in residential care facilities experience cognitive difficulties either from the natural processes of ageing or more profoundly as a result of dementia.

The primary aim of the elder-clown visit is to engage with each resident on a personal level. Elder clowns also work with the health-care team. Before each shift they meet and interact with staff and receive notes about each resident’s psychosocial and medical condition. Elder clowns keep notes after the visit and share their observations with the health-care team. Elder clowns are improvisers who use staff information about a resident’s abilities, previous history, and interests combined with their own experience and intuition to create tailored interactions, or “plays”, with each resident. Strategies used by elder clowns include such approaches as asking residents stimulating questions to engage them in conversation. By asking the resident to tell them a story about a picture on their wall, or asking them if they have one piece of life advice, for example, elder clowns may encourage residents to take the lead in interactions. Often through the clown’s misunderstanding of instructions and “acting foolish”, residents have the opportunity to tell the clowns what to do.

source: Laughter Could Help Dementia Patients: Study , Laughing to Longevity – The work of Elder Clowns