This book documents the state of the art in the field of ambient assisted living (AAL), highlighting the impressive potential of novel methodologies and technologies to enhance well-being and promote active ageing. The coverage is wide ranging, with sections on assistive devices, elderly people monitoring, home rehabilitation, ICT solutions for AAL, living with chronic conditions, robotic assistance for the elderly, sensing technologies for AAL, and smart housing. The book comprises a selection of the best papers presented at the 7th Italian Forum on Ambient Assisted Living (ForitAAL 2016), which was held in Pisa, Italy, in June 2016 and brought together end users, technology teams, and policy makers to develop a consensus on how to improve provision for elderly and impaired people. Readers will find that the expert contributions offer clear insights into the ways in which the most recent exciti ng advances may be expected to assist in addressing the needs of the elderly and those with chronic conditions.

Written by key researchers and practitioners in the field, this book presents an overview of gerontology appropriate for graduate and advanced undergraduate students. It includes seminal chapters on theory, methodology, physiological processes, health, culture, dying and bereavement, cognitive processes and intellectual abilities, personality, assessment, clinical issues and competency, caregiving, and public policy issues. Each chapter includes review questions and a list of additional reference sources.

In this book, leading authors in the field discuss the habitats of tomorrow. These habitats will be connected through autonomous and assistive systems, turning habitats into health resorts. This book discusses how assistance technologies enable a smooth transition from comfortable health support to medical or nursing care. The contributions have been chosen and invited at the 9th AAL congress, Frankfurt.

Provides recommendations by foremost scholars regarding best practices and future directions in LGBT aging. With its critical examination of contemporary issues facing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) elders, this landmark Annual Review continues a nearly 40-year tradition of providing state-of-the-art knowledge, insight, and research on topics critical to gerontologists worldwide. The 37th volume addresses the cardinal changes occurring in the public policy arena—marriage rights, social security benefits, and other movements toward equality—as they pertain to LGBT elders, and focuses on a variety of key challenges affecting this population. Bringing together the work of highly respected researchers in health policy and psychosocial spheres pertinent to older LGBT adults, the Review also sets forth recommendations on best practices and discusses future directions for working with this population. Each chapter covers a specific issue affecting the older LGBT population and includes definitions of key concepts; a summary of current research; and a discussion of trends and future directions. The Review addresses such key topics as sexuality and sexual health, health and mental health disparities, caregiving, and service needs. It focuses on such critical issues for LGBT elders as social services, families and social supports, health and wellbeing for transgender and bisexual older adults, stigma for bisexual older adults, and special issues for older LGBT veterans and rural-dwelling elders. Also examined is the intersection of diverse characteristics such as gender, race, religion, disability, and sexual orientation. The book concludes with a discussion of programs and policies for older LGBT adults and offers concluding comments for professionals working with this population. Key Features: Provides an historical view of events, policy, and public opinion that have affected the lives of older LGBT cohorts Distils state-of-the-art research and data on such critical issues as sexuality, health and mental health disparities, caregiving, and service needs Considers the intersection of diverse characteristics such as gender, race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and aging Discusses families and social supports, health and wellbeing for transsexual and bisexual older adults, LGBT veterans, and rural elders Examines future trends and changes in policy and programming to benefit older LGBTs .

This book is designed to present an overview of common geriatrics ethical issues that arise during patient care and research activities. Each chapter includes a case example and practical learning pearls that are useful in day-to-day patient care. Coverage includes a brief overview of geriatric epidemiology, highlighting the high rates of dementia, use of surrogate decisions makers at the end-of-life, relocation from home to long-term care facilities, and low health literacy in the geriatrics population. Sections are devoted to issues around capacity, surrogate decision making, end-of-life care, hemodialysis in the elderly, and futility as well as challenges presented by independence questions, such as dementia care, driving, feeding, and intimacy in nursing homes. The text also addresses questions around recognizing, reporting, and treating elder abuse and self-neglect, ethics related to research and technology in the geriatric population, and the use of e-mail, Facebook, and open notes. Written by experts in the field, Ethical Considerations and Challenges in Geriatrics is a valuable tool for trainees at a variety of levels including medical students, residents, and fellows. In addition, it provides practical guidance and a useful reference for practicing geriatricians, primary care physicians, geriatric nurses, social workers, nursing home workers, hospice care employees, and all medical health professionals working with the elderly.

This issue of Clinics in Geriatric Medicine, Guest Edited by Dr. M. Carrington Reid, is devoted to Geriatric Pain Management. Articles in this timely issue include: Overview of Pain Management in the Older Adult; Assessment Approaches in Geriatric Pain Management; Pharmacotherapies in Geriatric Pain Management; Psychological Approaches in Geriatric Pain Management; Exercise and Movement-based Therapies in Geriatric Pain Management; Non-surgical Interventional Approaches in Geriatric Pain Management; Interdisciplinary Approach to Managing Pain in Geriatric Patients; Role of Opioid Medications in Geriatric Pain Management; Pain Beliefs and Attitudes in Geriatric Patients; Role of Emerging Technologies in Geriatric Pain Management; Impact of Pain on Family Members and Caregivers of Geriatric Patients; and Pain in the Geriatric Patient with Advanced Chronic Disease.

This volume will bring together a review of research being carried out by international experts in this field, detailing treatment and research approaches in several forms of malignant brain tumors. These include glioblastoma (GBM), a highly aggressive and fatal form of astrocytoma which accounts for 80% of newly diagnosed brain tumor patients per year, and meningioma, of which 10% are malignant and extremely resistant to targeted therapies. The volume will also include a discussion of methods to overcome blood-brain barrier exclusion for more efficient targeted drug delivery in all forms of brain cancer treatment. The volume will include information on the repurposing of drugs in an attempt to circumvent drug resistance, use of small molecule inhibitors in GBM treatment, mechanisms of secondary brain metastasis, drug resistance, and state-of-the-art imaging of targeted therapies.

This book aims to address the major aspects of future drug product development and therapy for older adults, giving practical guidance for the rational product and clinical development and prescribing of drug products to this ever growing segment of the population. With authors coming from key "aging" markets such as Europe, the USA, China and Japan, the book will provide valuable information for students, scientists, regulators, practitioners, and other healthcare professionals from academia, industry and regulatory bodies.

Elderly patients are often afflicted with the onset of a convergent strabismus as a sign of aging, without any other neurologic disorder. Unfortunately, physicians and even ophthalmologists are generally unaware of this fact. Consequently, such patients fail to find timely help for their double vision. In addition, there are other geriatric alterations (such as cataracts, glaucoma and age-related maculopathy), which are connected with binocularity disorders but do not always result in double vision. These masked diplopia are only perceptible as the closing of one eye and the patients complaint of seeing clouds. Erroneous diagnoses have a dramatic outcome for many elderly people whose ability to read is vitally important for their quality of life. Studies on this topic and suggestions for improving the patients situation are contained in this book. The book also covers intractable diplopia, or "horror fusionis", which is particularly difficult to understand. Examinations of the micromotility of the eyes could explain some of the puzzling observations. Although eye muscle palsies are generally outside the scope of this books focus, connections between neuro-ophthalmology (e.g. in Parkinson's disease) and reading problems due to convergence insufficiency are discussed. Finally, this book examines what happens in adulthood to the numerous patients whose squints were operated on during childhood. Many of these patients later suffer problems such as double vision, which may be misinterpreted as eye muscle palsy. This book is not a textbook of orthoptics. It seeks to provide advanced training for ophthalmologists based on the authors personal experiences collected over fifty years of practice as an ophthalmologist and specialist for strabismology at the Medical University of Viennas eye clinic and in her own office. As far as the author is aware, it is the first book to be published exclusively on this topic. The previously unpublished research and experiences it contains should provoke the interest of colleagues and orthoptists whose elderly patients present with binocularity, a condition which sadly remains underestimated.

The book describes the major degenerative processes and pathologies exacerbated by senescence and how they can be alleviated through retardation of cellular aging. Topics discussed include neurodegenerative disease, protein oxidation, cerebrovascular disease, particle-induced inflammation and cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's disease, ovarian aging, dietary and endogenous anti-oxidants in management of Parkinson's disease, and effects of exercise on oxidation and inflammation. The nineteen expertly authored chapters are organized into three sections in order to present a complete picture to the reader: Age Related Cellular Events, Role of Inflammatory and Oxidative Processes in Age-Related Diseases, and Retardation of Cellular Aging. Inflammation, Oxidative Stress and Age-Related Disease draws from a variety of international perspectives and provides a comprehensive overview of the relationship between disease, cell aging, and oxidative stress, as well as potential for preventing or slowing these processes. This installment of Springer's Oxidative Stress in Applied Basic Research and Clinical Practice is ideal for researchers, clinicians, and advanced graduate students in the fields of cardiology, neuroscience, biogerontolgy, and cell biology.

This issue of Emergency Medicine Clinics focuses on Geriatric Emergencies. Articles include: Recent Trends in Geriatric Emergency Medicine, Resuscitation of the Elderly, Pharmacology in the Geriatric Patient, Trauma and Falls in the Elderly, Sepsis and Infectious Emergencies in the Elderly, Evaluation of the Geriatric Patient with Chest Pain, Evaluation of Dyspnea in the Elderly, Abdominal Pain in the Geriatric Patient, Neurologic Emergencies in the Elderly, Evaluation of Syncope, Altered Mental Status and Delirium, and more!

This book examines the social aspects of healthy ageing for older individuals. It features more than 15 papers that explore the relevance of the social environment for health on the micro, meso, and macro level. Overall, the book applies a comprehensive contextual approach that includes discussion of how family and friends, neighborhoods, nations, and welfare regimes influence health. The book first explores the issue on the individual level. It looks at the importance of social capital for health among older people, examines types of social networks and health among older Americans, as well as discusses dynamic social capital and mental health in late life. Next, the book looks at the issue through a neighborhood and societal context, which takes into account day-to-day interaction in the immediate environment as well as the social, health, and economic policies in place in different regions in the world, including America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. From there, the book goes on to offer implications and recommendations for research and practice, including the management of related concepts of research on well-being and health. It also offers a psychosocial approach to promoting social capital and mental health among older adults. This book provides health professionals as well as researchers and students in gerontology, sociology, social policy, psychology, and social work with vital insights into the social factors that increase healthy life years and promote well-being.

This book brings together state-of-the-art research on successful aging in Asian populations and highlights how the factors that contribute to successful aging differ from those in the West. It examines the differences between the Asian and Western contexts in which the aging process unfolds, including cultural values, lifestyles, physical environments and family structures. In addition, it examines the question of how to add quality to longer years of life. Specifically, it looks at ways to promote health, preserve cognition, maximize functioning with social support and maintain emotional well-being despite inevitable declines and losses. Compared to other parts of the world, Asia will age more quickly as a result of the rapid socioeconomic developments leading to rising longevity and historically low fertility rates in some countries. These demographic forces in vast populations such as China are expected to make Asia the main driver of global aging in the coming decades. As a result, researchers, professionals, policymakers, as well as the commercial sector, in both East and West, are increasingly interested in gaining a deeper understanding of aging in Asia.

This book presents the refereed proceedings of the Fourth Italian Forum on Ambient Assisted Living (AAL), held in Ancona, Italy, in October 2013. A wide range of issues are covered and new technological developments are described which will support the autonomy and independence of individuals with special needs through an innovative and integrated approach, designed to respond to the socio-economic challenges of an aging population. Topics addressed include: health and well-being, prevention and rehabilitation and support for care providers; active aging and its social implications; services for the frail elderly with health problems and their families; nutrition; ICT platforms/technologies for the benefit of the elderly; home automation and control technologies (autonomy, safety and energy saving); smart cities and smart communities; telemedicine, telerehabilitation, and telecare; mobility, participation and social inclusion; games and fun for the elderly; building design; social housing; interface design and interaction (accessibility, acceptance); social policies to encourage and support active aging; business models, market analysis and development of sustainable financing and business and ethics, privacy and data protection. Many experimental validations based on user trials and usability testing are presented and discussed. The knowledge and insights provided in this book will help researchers and others involved in AAL to understand relevant societal trends, novel technological developments and pressing challenges.

This book brings together in one volume the current state of ageing research in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. The authors are leading researchers in the field, placing this topic in the context of human ageing, describing how and why basic discoveries in this simple organism have impacted our prospects for intervention in the ageing process. The authors cover a broad range of topics with regards to organismal and reproductive ageing including anatomical, physiological and biochemical changes, as well as genetic and environmental interventions that promote longevity and ameliorate age-related disease. Ageing is the single most important factor determining the onset of human disease in developed countries. With current worldwide demographic trends indicating that the number of individuals over the age of 65 will continue to rise, it is clear that an understanding of the processes that underpin ageing and age-related disease represents a key challenge in the biomedical sciences. In recent years there have been huge advances in our understanding of the ageing process and many of these have stemmed from genetic analysis of C. elegans. With no analogous book in this subject area this work will be of interest to a wide audience, ranging from academic researchers to the general public.

The book addresses issues towards the design and development of Wireless Sensor Network based Smart Home and fusion of Real-Time Data for Wellness Determination of an elderly person living alone in a Smart Home. The fundamentals of selection of sensor, fusion of sensor data, system design, modelling, characterizations, experimental investigations and analyses have been covered. This book will be extremely useful for the engineers and researchers especially higher undergraduate, postgraduate students as well as practitioners working on the development of Wireless Sensor Networks, Internet of Things and Data Mining.

In this book, leading authors in the field discuss developments of Ambient Assisted Living. The contributions have been chosen and invited at the 7th AAL congress, Berlin. It presents new technological developments which support the autonomy and independence of individuals with special needs. As the technological innovation raises also social issues, the book addresses micro and macro economical aspects of assistive systems and puts an additional emphasis on the ethical and legal discussion. The presentation is supported by real world examples and applications.

This volume brings together various theories of how aberrations in mitochondrial function and morphology contribute to neurodegeneration in idiopathic and familial forms of Parkinson's disease. Moreover, it comprehensively reviews the current search for therapies, and proposes how molecules are involved in specific functions as attractive therapeutic targets. It is expected to facilitate critical thought and discussion about the fundamental aspects of neurodegeneration in Parkinson's disease and foster the development of therapeutic strategies among researchers and graduate students. Theories of idiopathic Parkinson's etiology support roles for chronic inflammation and exposure to heavy metals or pesticides. Interestingly, as this project proposes, a case can be made that abnormalities in mitochondrial morphology and function are at the core of each of these theories. In fact, the most common approach to the generation of animal and cell-culture models of idiopathic Parkinson's disease involves exposure to mitochondrial toxins. Even more compelling is the fact that most familial patients harbor genetic mutations that cause disruptions in normal mitochondrial morphology and function. While there remains to be no effective treatment for Parkinson's disease, efforts to postpone, prevent and "cure" onset mitochondrial aberrations and neurodegeneration associated with Parkinson's disease in various models are encouraging. While only about ten percent of Parkinson's patients inherit disease-causing mutations, discovering common mechanisms by which familial forms of Parkinson's disease manifest will likely shed light on the pathophysiology of the more common idiopathic form and provide insight to the general process of neurodegeneration, thus revealing therapeutic targets that will become more and more accessible as technology improves.

Evidence pertaining to continual violence throughout the life cycle coupled with the experience of growing old in a life permeated by intimate violence is scarce. And the focus is usually on the victims usually, the older, battered women and seldom on their aging partners or adult children who were part and parcel of the violent dynamics in the family system. With the increase in longevity and the older population's subsequent growth in size, the number of elderly couples living and aging in long-lasting conflictive relationships is on the rise. The relatively intense preoccupation with elder abuse in the gerontological literature in recent years has not specifically addressed long-term intimate violence among the old adults and its lasting consequences. Similarly, the literature on intimate intergenerational relationships in old age has usually focused on normative exchanges between partners and their extended family, including their adult children. Therefore, conflictive relationships, and particularly violent ones, have also fallen outside the scope of this body of research. This volume describes and analyzes the various perspectives of family members concerning life, and particularly old age, in the shadow of long-term intimate violence. It explores how people make sense out of living and aging in violence, how interpersonal, familial and cross-generational relationships are perceived and reconstructed and how "we-ness" is achieved, if at all, in such families.

Aktiv, gesund und vor allem produktiv im Alter? Seit mittlerweile 40 Jahren fordern Wissenschaft und Politik ein Umdenken: Alte Menschen sollen selbststandig und leistungsfahig bleiben, statt sich zuruckzuziehen und abzubauen. Doch was ist dran an diesen Ideen, und sind sie wirklich so neu? Daniel Schafer nimmt Sie mit auf einen ausgedehnten Streifzug durch die Kultur- und Wissensgeschichte mit vielen Gedankenanstoessen fur die Gegenwart. Sie erfahren, was Medizin, Psychologie und andere Forschungsbereiche derzeit uber Starken und Schwachen beim koerperlichen, mentalen und sexuellen Altern wissen. Und was Menschen in fruheren Epochen uber diese Themen gedacht haben. Das zeigt uns: Einseitig positive und negative Altersbilder wirken auch noch heute nach. Doch jenseits dieser Stereotypen gibt es viele unterschiedliche Moeglichkeiten, aber auch Grenzen, im Alter fur andere und auch fur sich selbst tatig zu sein.

This book presents a wealth of insights and new conceptualizations for the development of Assistive Technologies for the Interaction of the Elderly. The book arranges the chapters according to important aspects of maximizing the use value in innovation projects. Every chapter will include an executive summary reporting the main results, a storyline using everyday language, and scientific excursions, wherever useful. The book shows how an innovation project should be structured towards maximum use value and how a project should be structured in order to make a difference. It describes the useful categorization of the large group of the elderly to maximize the focus of the innovation and demonstrates the user involvement into innovation activities. Of course, the assessment of such innovative projects is discussed as well as the “lessons learned�. The book also explores the business opportunities and the financial evaluation of aspects of assistive technology.  

This book will contain the proceedings of the XV International Symposium on Retinal Degeneration (RD2012). A majority of those who will speak and present posters at the meeting will contribute to this volume. The blinding diseases of inherited retinal degenerations have no treatments, and age-related macular degeneration has no cures, despite the fact that it is an epidemic among the elderly, with 1 in 3-4 affected by the age of 70. The RD Symposium will focus on the exciting new developments aimed at understanding these diseases and providing therapies for them. Since most major scientists in the field of retinal degenerations attend the biennial RD Symposia, they are known by most as the "best" and "most important" meetings in the field. The volume will present representative state-of-the-art research in almost all areas of retinal degenerations, ranging from cytopathologic, physiologic, diagnostic and clinical aspects; animal models; mechanisms of cell death; candidate genes, cloning, mapping and other aspects of molecular genetics; and developing potential therapeutic measures such as gene therapy and neuroprotective agents for potential pharmaceutical therapy. While advances in these areas of retinal degenerations will be described, there will be many new topics that either were in their infancy or did not exist at the time of the last RD Symposium, RD2010. These include the role of inflammation and immunity, as well as other basic mechanisms, in age-related macular degeneration, several new aspects of gene therapy, and revolutionary new imaging and functional testing that will have a huge impact on the diagnosis and following the course of retinal degenerations, as well as to provide new quantitative endpoints for clinical trials. The retina is an approachable part of the central nervous system (CNS), and there is a major interest in neuroprotective and gene therapy for CNS diseases and neurodegenerations, in general. It should be noted that with successful and exciting initial clinical trials in neuroprotective and gene therapy, including the restoration of sight in blind children, the retinal degeneration therapies are leading the way towards new therapeutic measures for neurodegenerations of the CNS. Many of the successes recently reported in these areas of retinal degeneration sprang from collaborations established at previous RD Symposia, and many of those will be reported at the RD2010 meeting and included in the proposed volume. We anticipate the excitement of those working in the field and those afflicted with retinal degenerations will be reflected in the volume.