At the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival, technology capable of diagnosing Alzheimer's disease long before its symptoms appear won a coveted honor for innovation.
Neurotrack, which uses eye tracking to achieve a claimed 100 percent success rate, took the health technologies category in the SXSW Accelerator competition as the festival's interactive segment drew to a close.
Alzheimers Disease
Alzheimer''s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease affecting memory and thinking and making the person increasingly dependent on others.
Advertisement
"It a computer-based visual cognitive test that is able to diagnose Alzheimer's disease six years before symptoms appear," said Elli Kaplan, chief executive officer of the Richmond, Virginia-based upstart.
"Today the only way to diagnose Alzheimer's is once full symptoms are in existence," Kaplan told AFP, "but that's years after irreparable damage has already taken place."
![Medicines Meant to Treat Alzheimers Found to be Good for Victims of Dementia]( "Medicines Meant to Treat Alzheimers Found to be Good for Victims of Dementia")
Cholinesterase inhibitors, that help victims of Alzheimer's disease can also assist in the management of behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia, a new study has shown.
Initial users of Neurotrack will be pharmaceutical manufacturers to help them develop drugs to prevent, or at least slow the progression, of the most common form of dementia.
But in time, Kaplan said, it will be rolled out to doctor's offices and research hospitals -- and potentially, much further down the road, appear in the form of an app that individuals can use as well.
SXSW Accelerator is a showcase for up-and-coming news, social, mobile, web, entertainment, health and music technologies. One of its 2010 winners, the voice recognition software Siri, now is a standard feature in all Apple iPhones.
Other winners Tuesday included the mobile advocacy app Phone2Action; Plotter, a social network for maps; mobile typing assistant Syntellia; Wanderu, a website for young budget travellers; and MakieLab, a 3D printing toy and game service.
The Accelerator winner for music technologies will be announced later this week, as the music portion of SXSW -- with more than 1,000 bands playing live around Austin -- kicks off and the film segment continues.
Source: AFP
Medicines Meant to Treat Alzheimers Found to be Good for Victims of Dementia
Cholinesterase inhibitors, that help victims of Alzheimer's disease can also assist in the management of behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia, a new study has shown.
Advertisement
Initial users of Neurotrack will be pharmaceutical manufacturers to help them develop drugs to prevent, or at least slow the progression, of the most common form of dementia.
But in time, Kaplan said, it will be rolled out to doctor's offices and research hospitals -- and potentially, much further down the road, appear in the form of an app that individuals can use as well.
SXSW Accelerator is a showcase for up-and-coming news, social, mobile, web, entertainment, health and music technologies. One of its 2010 winners, the voice recognition software Siri, now is a standard feature in all Apple iPhones.
Other winners Tuesday included the mobile advocacy app Phone2Action; Plotter, a social network for maps; mobile typing assistant Syntellia; Wanderu, a website for young budget travellers; and MakieLab, a 3D printing toy and game service.
The Accelerator winner for music technologies will be announced later this week, as the music portion of SXSW -- with more than 1,000 bands playing live around Austin -- kicks off and the film segment continues.
Source: AFP
Early Alzheimers in Drivers may Prove Potentially Dangerous
Researchers at Rhode Island Hospital and Brown University have revealed that people with early Alzheimer's Disease (AD) are more prone to accidents as well as performing poorly in road tests
Advertisement
 New Study Found Statins to Help Prevent AlzheimersStatins, the anti-cholesterol drugs, may help prevent the brain damage that leads to Alzheimer's disease, a new US study has found. | Advertisement
|
Advertisement
Recommended Readings
Latest Hospital News
Indian-origin researcher reveals that the main chlorine disinfectant used in hospitals fails to eliminate illnesses worldwide.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society expressed shock over the hospital explosion and has urged pressure on Israel to revoke hospital evacuation orders.
Researchers analyzed the optimal dose and type of physical activity to improve recovery and minimize adverse events in hospitalized older adults.
Understanding the impact of shared medical appointments on patients' well-being and actions has been explored by researchers.
Among individuals admitted to hospitals, 66% were found to be colonized with bacteria that displayed resistance to third-generation cephalosporins.