ABSTRACT
Brain aging and COVID-19 Many biological pathways that change with natural aging in the brain also changed in patients with severe COVID-19, say researchers who used RNA sequencing to assess changes in gene expression profiles in the brain of COVID-19 patients compared with uninfected individuals. The scientists observed that gene expression in the brain tissue of patients who died of COVID-19 closely resembled that of uninfected individuals aged 71 years or older. In genetially modified mice, the emergency mode of haematopoiesis ran without any detectable infection or increased interferon levels and these genetically modified animals were better able to fight off infection with the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes than normal mice.
ABSTRACT
In recent years, there has been a significant growth in the number of research works focused on improving the lifestyle and health of elderly people by means of technology. Telerehabilitation and the promotion of physical activity at home have been two of the fields that have attracted more attention, especially currently due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, elderly people are sometimes reluctant to use technology at home, mainly due to fear of technology and lack of familiarity. In this context, this article presents a low-cost platform that relies on exergames and natural user interfaces to promote physical activity at home and improve the quality of life in elderly people. The underlying system is easy to use and accessible, offering a number of interaction mechanisms that guide users through the execution of routines and exercises. A relevant feature of the proposal is the ability to customize the exergames, making it possible for the therapist to adapt them according to the user’s needs. Motivation is also addressed within the developed platform to maintain the user’s engagement level as time passes by. An empirical experiment is conducted to measure the usability and motivational aspects of the proposal, which was evaluated by 17 users between 62 and 89 years of age. The obtained results showed that the proposal was well received, considering that most of the users were not experienced at all with exergame-based systems.