Chaotic perturbations to avoid falls in elderly - SMILING

Researchers in Europe continue the good fight against age-related impairments and in favour of social inclusion. Experts from the SMILING ('Self mobility improvement in the elderly by counteracting falls') project, initiated by Step of Mind ltd, focused on prevention of falls by training the elderly to walk on uneven ground while carrying out another activity. The result? A pair of computer-controlled shoes that simulate changes in the height and slope of the ground beneath a user's feet during active walking.

SMILING offers life satisfaction - Headlines - Research – European Commission: "SMILING offers life satisfaction - Headlines - Research – European Commission"

CP before is was CP

Deformations have been attributed to supernatural causes since antiquity. Cerebral palsy was associated with God's wrath, witchcraft, the evil eye, or maternal imagination. Greek scholars recommended prevention by tight swaddling, a custom that persisted into modern times. In the Middle Ages, the midwife's negligence was held responsible as was difficult teething. Morgagni described in 1769 that the neonatal brain can liquefy, and Bednar described leukomalacia in 1850 as a distinct disorder of the newborn. In 1861, Little associated cerebral palsies with difficult or protracted labor and neonatal asphyxia, but he was challenged by Freud, who in 1897 declared that most cases are prenatal in origin. In 1868, Virchow demonstrated inflammatory changes, a view recently confirmed by Leviton and Nelson. Although a causal relationship of cerebral palsy to the birth never has been established, the habit to put the blame for cerebral palsy on someone remained a frequent attitude.

Obladen M. J Child Neurol. 2010