by Kazushige Kimura  , James F. Reichert  , Omid Pouya  , Ahmad Byagowi  , Xikui Wang  , Debbie M. Kelly  and Zahra Moussavi

Received: 25 May 2018;  Published: 09 August 2018;  doi: 10.21926/obm.geriatr.1803007

(1) Background: In this paper, we describe the design of a virtual environment (VE) using Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) to scan and replicate a real environment (RE) in a virtual domain. Compared to using a CAD software, SLAM allows for the replication of an RE quite easily and quickly. (2) Methods: To test the user’s performance in a SLAM-based VE, we developed an immersive virtual reality setup using a specialized wheelchair (VRNChair) and a head mounted display (Oculus Rift DK2), and employed a kn [...]

by Shoshana H. Bardach  , Christina Moore  , Sarah Holmes  , Richard R. Murphy  , Allison Gibson  and Gregory A. Jicha

Received: 15 June 2018;  Published: 26 July 2018;  doi: 10.21926/obm.geriatr.1803006

Background: Given the stigma and fear associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), many presume the diagnosis of AD or mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to be a negative experience. Aims: To assess the psychological impact of a diagnosis of MCI or early dementia on positive well-being. Methods: Individuals with a diagnosis of MCI or AD were mailed surveys with the Silver-Lining Questionnaire. Results: Completed surveys were returned from 38 individuals and were analyzed in relation to demographic and cognitive data. All [...]

by Florence Durand  , Noomane Bouaziz  , Sonia Braha-Zeitoun  , Clémence Isaac  , Palmyre Schenin-King Andrian  and Dominique Januel

Received: 12 March 2018;  Published: 11 June 2018;  doi: 10.21926/obm.geriatr.1802005

Background: Mild Cognitive Impairment [MCI] is a transition stage between normal aging and dementia. It seems to be useful to treat MCI before the onset of early dementia, though no pharmacological treatment is recommended [1]. These case studies aimed to assess the efficacy of long-term repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation [rTMS] treatment on cognition, and clinical changes, in elderly MCI patients. Methods: Three patients with MCI were treated by rTMS with different parameters of stimulation, targeting t [...]

by Michael Fossel

Received: 20 March 2018;  Published: 28 March 2018;  doi: 10.21926/obm.geriatr.1801004

All of us are intuitively aware, and many of us explicitly aware as well, of the meaning of geriatrics as a specialty. After all, most of us practice geriatrics or we have been intimately involved with this area and we are know the reality of geriatrics. Or do we? Geriatrics is an oddly ill-defined specialty when you look at it more carefully. Some of us practice medicine, some of us practice in the social sciences, and many of us simply do our jobs day-to-day and try to get by. What we share, however, is the heart [...]

by Michael Fossel

Received: 12 December 2017;  Published: 24 December 2017;  doi: 10.21926/obm.geriatr.1704003

by Giacinto Libertini

Received: 19 February 2017;  Published: 13 April 2017;  doi: 10.21926/obm.geriatr.1702002

Nowadays, geriatrics is mainly the treatment by palliative methods of the disorders that characterize senile decay. This is perfectly compatible with the prevailing view that aging is the inevitable result of multiple degenerative processes that can only partially be treated as they are in themselves inevitable and irreversible. This interpretation of aging clashes with a mass of data and arguments that, conversely, indicate aging as a specific physiological function, favoured by supra-individual natural selection [...]

by Michael Fossel

Received: 11 December 2016;  Published: 06 January 2017;  doi: 10.21926/obm.geriatr.1701001

Geriatrics, and much of clinical medicine, is on the verge of a profound transformational shift. Until now, there has been a sharp conceptual divide between diseases which can be readily and effectively treated, and diseases which we have thought to be beyond clinical intervention. In the first disease category, are many of the most common infections that respond to antibiotics and immunizations. We have made dramatic changes in the demographics and the mortality of many such treatable diseases. At the other extrem [...]