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SenseCam Aids Patients with Memory Problems
Ponca City, We Love You writes "A small digital camera developed by Microsoft Research could boost memory in people with dementia and possibly mild forms of Alzheimer's disease. SenseCam is worn around the neck and automatically takes a wide-angle, low-resolution photograph every 30 seconds. It contains an accelerometer to stabilize the image and reduce blurriness, and it can be configured to take pictures in response to changes in movement, temperature, or lighting. An entire day's events can be captured and downloaded onto a PC where software converts the pictures into a short movie displaying the images at up to 10 frames per second, to allow patients to view a day's events in a few minutes to jolt their memory. "Not only does SenseCam allow people to recall memories while they are looking at the images, which in itself is wonderful, but after an initial period of consolidation, it appears to lead to long-term retention of memories over many months, without the need to view the images repeatedly," says neuropsychologist Emma Berry."
The problem of memory in Alzheimer patients (at least at the early stages) is not one of forgetfulness, so much, but the loss of context due to the loss of connections between two situations. A patient could sit down with a lunch tray at the hospital cafeteria when a nurse walks in the door and the patient would suddenly be unclear as to why they were in the cafeteria in the first place. Oliver Sacks discusses this quite a bit in his books. By taking the patient through the series of events, leaving out the extraneous information like the nurse walking in, it is possible to reconnect the events for the patient and they will typically be able to regain their "memory".
Now, if deodorant makers would simply stop using Aluminum oxide in their products, we could probably cut the number of Alzheimer cases in half, but it's no big surprise that the makers of those products are also the ones making the drugs to treat the disease.