ABSTRACT
The application of assistive technologies for elderly people is one of the most promising and interesting scenarios for intelligent technologies in the present and near future. Moreover, the improvement of the quality of life for the elderly is one of the first priorities in modern countries and societies. In this work, we present an informationally structured room that is aimed at supporting the daily life activities of elderly people. This room integrates different sensor modalities in a natural and non-invasive way inside the environment. The information gathered by the sensors is processed and sent to a centralized management system, which makes it available to a service robot assisting the people. One important restriction of our intelligent room is reducing as much as possible any interference with daily activities. Finally, this paper presents several experiments and situations using our intelligent environment in cooperation with our service robot.
Subject(s)
Robotics , Self-Help Devices , Aged , Equipment Design , Humans , Quality of LifeABSTRACT
We aimed to evaluate the effect of a Japanese herbal medicine, Hochu-ekki-to (TJ-41), on daily activity in a murine model of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). CFS was induced by repeated injection of Brucella abortus (BA) antigen every 2 weeks. TJ-41 was orally administered to mice in a dose of 500 mg/kg/day for 1 week before injecting BA and for 4 weeks thereafter. We evaluated daily running activity in mice receiving TJ-41 as compared with that in untreated mice. Survival of both mouse groups was also monitored during the observation period. Body weight (BW), spleen weight (SW), SW/ BW ratio and expression levels of interleukin-10 (IL-10) mRNA in spleen were determined in both groups at the time of sacrifice. The daily activity was significantly higher in the treated group than in the control. Two mice in the untreated group died 2 days after the second injection of BA, whereas no mice in the group treated with TJ-41 died. The SW and SW/BW ratio were significantly lower in the treated mice than in the control. Suppressed IL-10 mRNA levels were observed in the spleens of the mice treated with TJ-41. Our data suggest that Hochu-ekki-to might possess an inhibitory effect on the marked decrease in running activity following BA injection.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The aim of the present study was to clarify relationship between macroscopic and microscopic features of herpes simplex esophagitis (HSE), and localization of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1)-infected cells in esophageal lesions from autopsy cases of histopathologically proven HSE. METHODS: The study comprised morphological, immunohistochemical, cultural and electron microscopic investigations for 24 HSE patients collected from 1307 serial autopsy cases in the past 10 years. RESULTS: Macroscopic characteristics of HSE were divided into three types. Types I and II showed small punched-out lesions with and without raised margins, respectively. Type III revealed that multiple ulcers became confluent like a map. Microscopic findings showed that the HSV infection process seemed to begin in squamous epithelium and to induce vertical cellular change into the intact epithelial layer. Intranuclear inclusion bodies were observed at the centers of lesions, and ballooning changes of squamous cells at the margins. Both localization of HSV-1-infected cells and presence of HSV-1 in the esophageal lesions were confirmed with immunohistochemical staining, viral culture and electron microscopy. CONCLUSION: The present results suggest that the macroscopic and microscopic postmortem features of HSE may provide useful information for clinical diagnosis of HSE.
