Preliminary results for measurement and classification of overnight wandering by dementia patient using multi-sensors

The measurement and detection of overnight wandering is a significant issue for dementia patients and their caregivers such as a spouse. The wandering places the patient at risk of injury or even death if they fall or leave their residence without being detected. While it also causes stress and reduced sleep for the caregiver as they try to remain alert to the actions of their partner. This paper presents initial data for the first participant from an ongoing study of dementia patients where a wander detection and diversion system based on low-cost commercial sensors has been deployed into the residence. The paper shows that over a 3-week period, the analysis and classification of the sensor data is able to measure the behavior of the patient. In this period, the patient only used the washroom overnight and did not wander into other parts of the residence. These early results show that an off the shelf system targeted for residential security and home automation applications based on low-cost sensors supported with automated analysis and classification has the potential to be used to assist caregivers and dementia patients

Pediatric cardiomyopathies: causes, epidemiology, clinical course, preventive strategies and therapies

Pediatric cardiomyopathies, which are rare but serious disorders of the muscles of the heart, affect at least one in every 100,000 children in the USA. Approximately 40% of children with symptomatic cardiomyopathy undergo heart transplantation or die from cardiac complications within 2 years. However, a significant number of children suffering from cardiomyopathy are surviving into adulthood, making it an important chronic illness for both pediatric and adult clinicians to understand. The natural history, risk factors, prevalence and incidence of this pediatric condition were not fully understood before the 1990s. Questions regarding optimal diagnostic, prognostic and treatment methods remain. Children require long-term follow-up into adulthood in order to identify the factors associated with best clinical practice including diagnostic approaches, as well as optimal treatment approaches. In this article, we comprehensively review current research on various presentations of this disease, along with current knowledge about their causes, treatments and clinical outcomes