Google and Apple’s Role in Combating Alzheimer’s

Medicine has struggled to keep up with the amount of Alzheimer’s disease in this country and around the world. There is still no cure and very little medicine to reduce symptoms. Even more shocking is that Alzheimer’s disease is the sixth largest killer in the United States. Fortunately, tech companies like Apple and Google have been working to create products and services that will keep patients with Alzheimer’s more comfortable and safe.

Google has been working with Google Glass so that it is useful for those affected by Alzheimer’s. The device will use facial recognition software to tell the patient who is in front of them by alerting them to their name and their relationship. Additionally the Glass device can give the patients reminders like when to take their medicine or when they have to go to the doctor. Glass, along with wearable devices can track Alzheimer’s patients and their movements throughout the house and beyond. If a patient wanders away, as is known to happen with over 60% of Alzheimer’s patients, the wearable devices will indicate where they are.

In addition to health concerns and knowing who people are, tech experts have been working on therapeutic games. The pharmaceutical company Pfizer is working with game developer Akili Interactive Labs to create and test a game called Project EVO for Apple’s iPhones and iPads. The point of the game is to keep up memory through therapeutic activities and it also tracks the development of the Alzheimer’s patients disease symptoms and how rapidly they changing. Pfizer is currently working on a clinical trial that will test 100 people both with and without brain plaque, one of the first signs of Alzheimer’s. They are looking to see whether Project EVO can be a biomarker for the disease. All of these companies are working to help those who are affected and offering solutions in the meantime while medical experts continue to search for the cause and cure for the disease.

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Caltech Raising Money for the World

The most imminent threat facing us today is climate change and Caltech is looking to do something about it. The Caltech Resnick sustainability Institute is raising money to help support scientists and their research in renewable energy. So far, Caltech has received $15 million in gifts for the researchers to deal with the realities of climate change.

The Caltech organization has its home in Pasadena, California campus of the California Institute of Technology. They are publically announcing their contributors to drum up support. Lynda and Stewart Resnick gifted the latest donation to the cause. The fund was started by a donation from the co-owners of Roll Global that own POM Wonderful and Wonderful Pistachios. In 2009 they donated $21 million and that helped to kick start the institute as a whole.

The scientists are using the funds to explore many options for sustainable technologies and sources of energy. So far they have examined wind energy, fuel cells and batteries, smart grid systems, solar photovoltaics, and biofuels, among others. The executive director of Resnick, Neil Fromer says of the work, “we style ourselves as a studio for sustainability. Our goal is to capitalize on the unique culture at Caltech of interdisciplinary collaboration and playful scientific exploration to solve some of the biggest challenges facing the world, in terms of how do we use energy and natural resources in ways that can sustain our future?” The fossil fuels that we are currently using to get energy are filling our atmosphere with greenhouse gasses. Scientists have noted that we have already crossed a dangerous threshold so we must come up with other ways of harnessing energy for our purpose so we stop harming the planet to ease the consequences. Currently, the use of fossil fuels is causing the loss of species, rising sea levels, severe weather, and international conflict. The work that Caltech is investing in may be the only option to help stop this process and start the world on a healthier path for

sustainability.

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TM for War Victims in Africa

In the United States, we understand what it is like to have veteran return home from the Iraq and Afghanistan with post-war trauma like PTSD. The continent of Africa has also been plagued with wars as over the past 20 years, 18 African countries have been engaged in war. This means that war trauma has affected not only soldiers, but citizens and it is estimated that as many as 100 million Africans have been victims of war and the violence and sexual abuse it brings and therefore suffer from post-traumatic stress. Therefore, PTSD is an epidemic on the continent and has caused many Africans from living the most productive and healthy lives they can. If PTSD is not treated it can lead to violent or self-destructive behavior, depression, alcoholism, anxiety, unemployment, and suicide. In the United States these symptoms are often deal with using physician prescribed drugs and therapy. These options are not available to many Africans because of the shortage of psychologists and psychiatrists in the area.

An option for those in African countries affected by PTSD may be transcendental meditation. The technique has been through many peer-reviewed studies and they all show great benefits to those suffering from post-war trauma. TM is an evidenced-based solution and has frequently outperformed other healing techniques by reducing stress, anxiety, and depression, among other PTSD symptoms. TM has already been used effectively in the Congo, demonstrating that it is effective in the African region. A retired U.S. Army Colonel, Brian Rees, M.D., M.P.H. was the primary author for the Congo study and notes that TM, “provides the mind and body with a unique state of ‘restful alertness’ that reduces deeply-rooted stress and improves brain function.” Without access to psychologists and psychiatrists, Transcendental Meditation is a proved effective way to help treat those ravaged by war throughout Africa and around the world.

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