Spanish scientists develop a online game to anticipate the signs of Alzheimer’s and Dementia | Technology | EUROtoday

Paz Rey Duarte can’t be drawn for twenty-four hours. Possible danger detected. Although no physician has formally identified it, the lady – 73 years previous, of Vigo, impeccable canoe hair – is satisfied that she has Alzheimer’s. “A while ago I am noticing that I forget even the simplest things,” he says as a cotton handkerchief that’s sure to the neck to fall for the Atlantic chilly on the coast of the tip of the world. He can’t bear in mind, for instance, neither the title nor the creator of the novel he’s studying, nor the title of the drugs that has been taking for months. “I’m worried,” he provides.

Paz joined the prevention applications of the Association of Family members of Alzheimer’s sufferers and different dementias of Galicia (Afaga) after retiring. At first it was like collaborating in a social membership for veterans as a result of their reminiscence issues had not but manifested. But simply the day earlier than talking with the nation, Paz discovered that he’s liable to becoming a member of the 40,000 new instances of Alzheimer’s which can be identified yearly in Spain and of which 65% correspond to ladies. The warning was not given a specialist, however a online game.

The lady has tried prematurely The Mind Guardianan software developed by scientists from the Atlantic Research Center of the University of Vigo and the Translational Neuroscience Group of the Galicia Sur Health Research Institute, in collaboration with Samsung, who put the cash and the technical and enterprise equipment in order that the thought was not fitted. The South Korean multinational has a program, Technology with objectivewhich applies technological innovation in fixing social issues. They carry greater than 25 million euros inverted.

The software – Gratuita, advisable for over 55 – is offered as of Tuesday for customers of the Android working system in Spain.

The Mind Guardian It is what is named a screening instrument. That is, it doesn’t provide a medical analysis as such, however makes use of three video games and synthetic intelligence strategies to look at the consumer and, based mostly on the knowledge collected throughout the completely different assessments – which measure the episodic reminiscence, procedural and semantics -, classify it as somebody with attainable cognitive deterioration or with out cognitive deterioration. Development has the scientific assure of the Spanish Society of Neurology and the Spanish Society of Psychiatry and Mental Health.

The software recognized peace as a “risk person” and now handles two choices: seek the advice of an knowledgeable to make a extra thorough analysis and make sure the warning, or wait six months and repeat the assessments throughout the app To see what outcomes he throws. In the center, he believes that his greatest different is to be alert to signs and ask for recommendation to know what sort of habits might decelerate his progress, for now, possible cognitive deterioration.

An invention made in Galicia

The germ of The Mind Guardian You must search for him on the slope of a mountain within the parish of Zamanes, on the outskirts of Vigo. There, surrounded by oak, pines and moist chestnuts, are the laboratories of the Atlanttic Research Center, the place telematic methods and different applied sciences are withered. Luis Anido is a professor in Telecommunications of the University and has been devoted to holding bridges between neuroscience and know-how for years.

In 2014 – in a context during which the prevalence figures between older folks elevated in Galicia – Anido and his staff found that, opposite to what may very well be assumed, video video games have been a really efficient option to hyperlink older adults with technological developments. Thus it was that they started to check the attainable mixed use of strategies of Gamification and synthetic intelligence with medical assessments, to create an instrument that would measure the cognitive deterioration of the consumer and that the consequence had scientific validity.

With that spirit he was born Panoramixa online game battery to establish attainable neuronal problems already in its early phases, when the signs are nonetheless evident. The completely different video games have been based mostly on the standard assessments utilized in hospitals and clinics to measure reminiscence capability and a focus. The venture started to be examined in nucleated sufferers inside Affa with forceful outcomes: 97.1% statistical accuracy within the detection of cognitive deterioration.

In the center of all these assessments and experiments the information fell: Anido’s mom, 88, was identified with Alzheimer’s. The skilled ended up crossing the trail of the non-public.

“It doesn’t remember me anymore,” says the researcher supporting his elbows on a railing with a view to the college campus, a steep and bare panorama that awaits the arrival of spring. And he provides: “I don’t remember how she was before the disease. Sometimes, to do so, I watch family videos from other times. ” His mom’s Alzheimer’s is already unstoppable: it is just essential to enhance his high quality of life. But the appliance that Anido and his colleague, Manuel José Fernández – who certainly states that Alzheimer’s is “the pandemic of the future” -, they’ve developed, it might make a distinction within the lives of different sufferers.

“When he got sick,” remembers the scientist, “my mother was not aware of her own deterioration. All decisions around his life and treatment had to take them, their children. He lost his freedom. The video game can allow other people to advance a few steps to the advancement of the disease and plan how they will live in the coming years. ” Prevention is, in short, the reason for being The Mind Guardian.

An alert on time

Carlos Spuch’s office at the Galicia Sur Health Research Institute (IIS) is on the ground floor of the Álvaro Cunqueiro University Hospital. It is a functionalist and contemporary building with a facade of huge metal slats overlooking Vigo’s estuary. Spuch works there by monitoring and disseminating the progress of neurodegenerative diseases between the aging population of Galicia, where more than 26% of the inhabitants exceed 65 years. The Autonomous Community is an open sky laboratory for the study of brain alterations in the elderly. “The key with these diseases is early detection. The diagnosis usually appears when the symptoms are already very evident and is too late, ”explains the neurologist with a pronounced Galician accent.

Spuch has participated in the scientific evaluation of The Mind Guardiancollaborating in clinical studies in patients diagnosed with cognitive impairment to determine the reliability of the application. “It was the primary time I noticed how a technological system may very well be put on the service of neurological ailments and it appeared attention-grabbing to me,” he explains. The value of this development, according to the expert, is that it allows the ease of early detection tool to the reach of the elderly fingers with the ease of a video game. “If you wanted to apply to a patient the same tests that are applied through the games of The Mind Guardianyou would need a two -hour consultation with a trained official. However, this allows them to do them very simplely, from home, in 45 minutes and playing, ”he says. In addition, as the application recommends playing in a quiet and comfortable environment, you can avoid the “white coat effect”, in which the results of a test may have biases, since patients usually worry or alarm in hospital environments and make more mistakes.

If at the end of the game, the result throws the possible risk of deterioration, the user can bring that report to the consultation and submit to a stricter diagnosis. “It’s a message that you must change some habits,” explains Spuch. To slow down the deterioration, people can practice intense physical exercise, avoid ultra -processed in their diet and, more than anything, socialize. “Social activity is what makes the difference in cognition. The worst thing a person can do with cognitive impairment is to isolate. ”

The expertise of peace, the 73 -year -old Galician lady who has simply proved the appliance, appears to confirm that idea. “What I enjoy belonging to the affaga groups is the social part. I don’t know if it will be, but we have a good time, we had a good time. ” He additionally says that if one thing is going on inside his mind, he desires to know. “Let’s see if there is any type of preventive medicine and I am losing it for fear of the results of a test. I prefer to be aware of what I am going to face and be prepared for it, ”he says smiling.