People suffering from dementia often have problems with way finding and feel restless. In this paper we present an interactive wall developed for decreasing the amount of wandering behaviour of people suffering from dementia. The installation aims at making these people feel more at home in the nursing homes by guiding them with a motion triggered audio path. This leads them to a wall with large windows displaying images and short movie tracks from their hometown. The results of an observation study show that the interactive wall succeeds in attracting people and thus reducing the wandering behaviour. Remarks of the elderly as well as their family and caretakers support this conclusion.
Ageing-in-place is the preferred way of living for older individuals in an ageing society. It can be facilitated through architectural and technological solutions in the home environment. Dementia poses additional challenges when designing, constructing, or retrofitting housing facilities that support ageing-in-place. Older adults with dementia and their partners ask for living environments that support independence, compensate for declining and vitality, and lower the burden of family care. This study reports the design process of a demonstration home for people with dementia through performing a literature review and focus group sessions. This design incorporates modifications in terms of architecture, interior design, the indoor environment, and technological solutions. Current design guidelines are frequently based on small-scale studies, and, therefore, more systematic field research should be performed to provide further evidence for the efficacy of solutions. The dwellings of people with dementia are used to investigate the many aspects of supportive living environments for older adults with dementia and as educational and training settings for professionals from the fields of nursing, construction, and building services engineering.
BACKGROUND: People with Alzheimer's disease (AD) experience, in addition to the progressive loss of cognitive functions, a decline in functional performance such as mobility impairment and disability in activities of daily living (ADL). Functional decline in dementia is mainly linked to the progressive brain pathology. Peripheral biomechanical changes by advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) have been suggested but have yet to be thoroughly studied.METHODS: A multi-center, longitudinal, one-year follow-up cohort study was conducted in 144 people with early stage AD or mixed Alzheimer's/Vascular dementia. Linear mixed model analyses was used to study associations between AGE-levels (AGE reader) and mobility (Timed Up and Go), and ADL (Groningen Activity Restriction Scale and Barthel index), respectively.RESULTS: A significant association between AGE levels and mobility (β = 3.57, 95%CI: 1.43-5.73) was revealed; however, no significant association between AGE levels and ADL was found. Over a one-year time span, mean AGE levels significantly increased, and mobility and ADL performance decreased. Change in AGE levels was not significantly correlated with change in mobility.CONCLUSIONS: This study indicates that high AGE levels could be a contributing factor to impaired mobility but lacks evidence for an association with ADL decline in people with early stage AD or mixed dementia. Future research is necessary on the reduction of functional decline in dementia regarding the effectiveness of interventions such as physical activity programs and dietary advice possibly in combination with pharmacologic strategies targeting AGE accumulation.
Our unilateral diet has resulted in a deficiency of specific elements/components needed for well-functioning of the human body. Especially the element magnesium is low in our processed food and results in neuronal and muscular malfunctioning, problems in bone heath/strength, and increased chances of diabetes, depression and cardiovascular diseases. Furthermore, it has also been recognized that magnesium plays an important role in cognitive functioning (impairment and enhancement), especially for people suffering from neurodegenerative diseases (Parkinson disease, Alzheimer, etc). Recently, it has been reported that magnesium addition positively effects sleep and calmness (anti-stress). In order to increase the bioavailability of magnesium cations, organic acids such as citrate, glycerophosphate and glycinate are often used as counterions. However, the magnesium supplements that are currently on the market still suffer from low bio-availability and often do not enter the brain significantly.The preparation of dual/multiple ligands of magnesium in which the organic acid not only functions as a carrier but also has synergistically/complementary biological effects is widely unexplored and needs further development. As a result, there is a strong need for dual/multiple magnesium supplements that are non-toxic, stable, prepared via an economically and ecologically attractive route, resulting in high bioavailability of magnesium in vivo, preferably positively influencing cognition/concentration
Dementie is een wereldwijd gezondheidsprobleem, met enorme impact op de gezondheidszorg en economie. In Nederland is het aantal mensen met dementie de laatste jaren snel gegroeid en dit aantal zal door vergrijzing verder toenemen. De diagnose dementie is complex en vaak pas definitief na kostbaar en invasief onderzoek. Het introduceren van gemakkelijk uit te voeren tests in de eerstelijn kan bijdragen aan een verbeterde vroegtijdige herkenning en behandeling van dementie binnen de bredere bevolking. Een potentieel veelbelovende benadering is vroege detectie van retinale (netvlies) veranderingen in het oog met behulp van kunstmatige intelligentie (KI). Onderzoek toont aan dat neurale netwerken, een component van KI, subtiele afwijkingen in de retina kunnen detecteren die gerelateerd zijn aan dementie. Een algoritme, ontwikkeld door Cheung et al., toont veelbelovende resultaten op basis van retinale foto's. Het Geheugencentrum van het Jeroen Bosch Ziekenhuis heeft interesse in het gebruik van neurale netwerktechnologieën bij de diagnose van dementie. Het uitvoeren van een implementatieonderzoek gaat echter gepaard met uitdagingen op het gebied van dataverzameling, en daarnaast dienen zorgvuldige ethische overwegingen plaats te vinden. Om implementatieonderzoek in de toekomst mogelijk te maken, wil het Jeroen Bosch Ziekenhuis, samen met Biotactical BV en Avans Hogeschool verkennend onderzoek doen naar de nauwkeurigheid en praktische toepasbaarheid van het algoritme van Cheung et al., gebruikmakend van bestaande datasets. Daarnaast zal een juridisch en ethisch raamwerk worden ontworpen met richtlijnen voor een implementatieonderzoek van deze software in zorginstellingen. Het doel van dit verkennend onderzoeksproject is om vertrouwen op te bouwen bij belanghebbenden en 'lessons learned' op te nemen in een latere implementatiefase.
Met dit project ‘Directions’ wordt beoogd om het visueel functioneren van mensen die leven met dementie, te optimaliseren. Allereerst door oogzorg op maat te kunnen aanbieden in de thuis omgeving. Slecht of slechter zicht wordt gezien als een risico factor voor progressie van dementie. Slechter zicht kan zorgen voor sociale isolement, vermindering van het uitvoeren van dagelijkste activiteiten als het verhogen van risico op vallen. Dit onderzoek heeft als eerste focus de mensen met de ziekte van Alzheimer.
