The increase in the elderly population today is a fact. This group of people needs day-to-day care due to their age, and, in addition, they often have health problems. Technology can be used to mitigate these problems. However, it must be borne in mind that most of this population is currently unable to get the most out of electronic devices. To help elders benefit from these devices, systems adapted to their needs, and preferences are needed. In particular, systems that use the elders' contextual information to integrate several aspects of eldercare and adapt them to each elder would provide significant benefits. In this case, the emotions will be used to recognize to what extent an elderly person needs care at certain times of the day and to adapt surrounding IoT systems to their needs and moods. For this purpose, this chapter proposes to use smartphones as the devices that centralize contextual information of the elders, focusing on emotion recognition.
follow-up period (group A), and 13 had recurrent wheezing (group B). There was no significant difference in birth weight, male-to-female ratio (1:1), or age at hospitalization (group A: 6.3 Ϯ 5.3 months; group B: 4.2 Ϯ 3.3 months) between groups. There was a trend for children in group A to have been breastfed more than those in group B (83% vs 46%; P ϭ .18). Similarly, children in group A tended to have higher birth weight than those in group B (3303 Ϯ 647 vs 2864 Ϯ 486 g; P ϭ .15). Children in group A (nonwheezers) had significantly higher sCD14 levels on hospital admission than those in group B (wheezers) (14521 Ϯ 1773 vs 11243 Ϯ 3264 pg/mL; P Ͻ .05). sCD14 levels correlated with age at hospitalization (P Ͻ .01). The sCD14 level was Ͼ11 000 pg/mL in 5 of 6 (83%) children in group A and 6 of 13 (46%) children in group B. This level was chosen as the one felt to be the best predictor for subsequent recurrent wheezing. Conclusions. In infants hospitalized for RSV bronchiolitis, high serum sCD14 levels correlate with protection from subsequent recurrent wheezing and may modulate the influence of RSV development of lower airway disease. Reviewers' Comments. Membrane-bound CD14 on monocytes and macrophages binds lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and transfers it from LPS-binding protein to Toll-like receptors (TLRs). CD14/TLR activation by LPS enhances interleukin 12 and interleukin 18 synthesis, T H 1 differentiation, and inhibition of the atopic phenotype. It is not clear from this study if increased sCD14 levels are the result of a differential responsiveness to RSV in group A or if sCD14 levels predated acquisition of the RSV infection. Nonetheless, this study adds another layer to our understanding of the early role of innate immune responsiveness and the subsequent risk of development of atopic disease.
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