Medgadget @ CES 2016: The Genworth Aging Experience R70i Age Suit (VIDEO)

Fans of Iron Man know well how Tony Stark's technologically advanced suit gives him superhuman vision, hearing, and movement. At CES this past week, however, Genworth Financial wanted to remind attendees that without his super suit, Tony Stark is a mere mortal who ages and will become obese and unhealthy if he eats too many donuts or doesn't exercise. To demonstrate this point, Genworth teamed up with technology innovation firm Applied Minds to develop the R70i Age Suit.

The R70i, which is named for the reality that 70% of Americans over the age of 65 require some form of long term care during their lifetime, can be thought of as the ultimate anti–Iron Man suit. It allows the wearer to directly experience common age-related vision, hearing, and mobility problems that many senior citizens have. On-board cameras with an augmented reality vision system demonstrate glaucoma, cataracts, macular degeneration, and floaters. Noise-cancelling headphones and on-board microphones simulate tinnitus, hearing loss, and aphasia. The exoskeleton is controlled by sensors and software to create resistance and limit range of motion in response to joint movement that together simulate arthritis and muscle loss.

The R70i was created as a first-hand experience to educate younger generations about the difficulties that come with aging and the importance of diet and exercise. It is Genworth's hope that the experience will also help others express more empathy toward their loved ones who suffer through age-related diseases.

Our editor Scott had the opportunity to don the suit in front of a live CES audience and feel what it's like to be somewhere around 70.

More information: The Genworth R70i Aging Experience

Scott wishes to thank Dr. David Ahn for his assistance in the filming of the video!

The post Medgadget @ CES 2016: The Genworth Aging Experience R70i Age Suit (VIDEO) appeared first on Medgadget.

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An apparently untreatable ulcer of the face

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20Q: Hearing Aids - The Future Ain't What it Used to Be!

Back in May of 1994, I wrote an article titled, Update On Programmable Hearing Aids (With An Assist From Yogi Berra). At the time, there were a lot of questions surrounding the use of programmable hearing aids, and I thought it might be appropriate to use several Yogi-isms to help sort out the confusion. With the passing of Yogi this past September, it only seems appropriate to revisit that theme today to look at current issues regarding hearing aid selection and fitting. In a way, it's like "déjà vu all over again."

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Metabolic modeling of clostridia: current developments and applications

Anaerobic Clostridium spp. is an important bio-production microbial genus that can produce solvents and utilize a broad spectrum of substrates including cellulose and syngas. Genome-scale metabolic (GSM) models are increasingly being put forth for various clostridial strains to explore their respective metabolic capabilities and suitability for various bioconversions. In this study, we have selected representative GSM models for six different clostridia (Clostridium acetobutylicum, Clostridium beijerinckii, Clostridium butyricum, Clostridium cellulolyticum, Clostridium ljungdahlii, and Clostridium thermocellum) and performed a detailed model comparison contrasting their metabolic repertoire. We also discuss various applications of these GSM models to guide metabolic engineering interventions as well as assessing cellular physiology.

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Host receptors for bacteriophage adsorption

The adsorption of bacteriophages (phages) onto host cells is, in all but a few rare cases, a sine qua non condition for the onset of the infection process. Understanding the mechanisms involved and the factors affecting it is, thus, crucial for the investigation of host-phage interactions. This review provides a survey of the phage host receptors involved in recognition and adsorption and their interactions during attachment. Comprehension of the whole infection process, starting with the adsorption step, can enable and accelerate our understanding of phage ecology and the development of phage-based technologies. To assist in this effort we have established an open-access resource – the Phage Receptor Database (PhReD) – to serve as a repository for information on known and newly identified phage receptors.

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Network mechanisms of intentional learning

Publication date: 15 February 2016
Source:NeuroImage, Volume 127
Author(s): Adam Hampshire, Peter J. Hellyer, Beth Parkin, Nole Hiebert, Penny MacDonald, Adrian M. Owen, Robert Leech, James Rowe
The ability to learn new tasks rapidly is a prominent characteristic of human behaviour. This ability relies on flexible cognitive systems that adapt in order to encode temporary programs for processing non-automated tasks. Previous functional imaging studies have revealed distinct roles for the lateral frontal cortices (LFCs) and the ventral striatum in intentional learning processes. However, the human LFCs are complex; they house multiple distinct sub-regions, each of which co-activates with a different functional network. It remains unclear how these LFC networks differ in their functions and how they coordinate with each other, and the ventral striatum, to support intentional learning. Here, we apply a suite of fMRI connectivity methods to determine how LFC networks activate and interact at different stages of two novel tasks, in which arbitrary stimulus-response rules are learnt either from explicit instruction or by trial-and-error. We report that the networks activate en masse and in synchrony when novel rules are being learnt from instruction. However, these networks are not homogeneous in their functions; instead, the directed connectivities between them vary asymmetrically across the learning timecourse and they disengage from the task sequentially along a rostro-caudal axis. Furthermore, when negative feedback indicates the need to switch to alternative stimulus–response rules, there is additional input to the LFC networks from the ventral striatum. These results support the hypotheses that LFC networks interact as a hierarchical system during intentional learning and that signals from the ventral striatum have a driving influence on this system when the internal program for processing the task is updated.



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Temperature dependence of water diffusion pools in brain white matter

Publication date: 15 February 2016
Source:NeuroImage, Volume 127
Author(s): Bibek Dhital, Christian Labadie, Frank Stallmach, Harald E. Möller, Robert Turner
Water diffusion in brain tissue can now be easily investigated using magnetic resonance (MR) techniques, providing unique insights into cellular level microstructure such as axonal orientation. The diffusive motion in white matter is known to be non-Gaussian, with increasing evidence for more than one water-containing tissue compartment. In this study, freshly excised porcine brain white matter was measured using a 125-MHz MR spectrometer (3T) equipped with gradient coils providing magnetic field gradients of up to 35,000mT/m. The sample temperature was varied between −14 and +19°C. The hypothesis tested was that white matter contains two slowly exchanging pools of water molecules with different diffusion properties. A Stejskal–Tanner diffusion sequence with very short gradient pulses and b-factors up to 18.8ms/μm² was used. The dependence on b-factor of the attenuation due to diffusion was robustly fitted by a biexponential function, with comparable volume fractions for each component. The diffusion coefficient of each component follows Arrhenius behavior, with significantly different activation energies. The measured volume fractions are consistent with the existence of three water-containing compartments, the first comprising relatively free cytoplasmic and extracellular water molecules, the second of water molecules in glial processes, and the third comprising water molecules closely associated with membranes, as for example, in the myelin sheaths and elsewhere. The activation energy of the slow diffusion pool suggests proton hopping at the surface of membranes by a Grotthuss mechanism, mediated by hydrating water molecules.



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