LOS ANGELES, June 18, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GTX Corp (OTCBB:GTXO), an IoT platform in the personal location wearable and wandering assistive technology business, announced today that George Mason University’s College of Health and Human Services has successfully completed its Phase II machine learning wandering prediction research. The recently published study1 explores the possibility of using machine learning methods applied to data from GPS trackers to create individualized models that describe patterns of movement. These patterns can be used to predict the typical locations of individuals with dementia and to detect movements that do not follow regular patterns and may correspond to wandering. This research has the potential to greatly help families and caregivers quickly detect and stop episodes of wandering before they can result in tragic incidents.
As part of a the GTX collaboration agreement with Mason, which began in fall of 2016, the university utilized the patented GPS SmartSole, GTX’s location-based technology and data, in order to study wandering habits in elderly people with Alzheimer’s and dementia, and data from a sample of 338 GPS trackers were used during the trial.
“When individuals with Alzheimer’s or dementia wander, it can be dangerous and cause their loved ones great concern,” said Janusz Wojtusiak, PhD, associate professor and Director of Health Informatics at Mason’s College of Health and Human Services. “As many as 60 percent of those afflicted will wander and become lost at least once during the progression of the disease, and until now there hasn’t been the ability to predict the movements of these individuals as they are wandering. We’re proud to take the lead on potentially finding a long-sought solution to this puzzle. This project would not have been possible without the help from GTX that provided access to GPS data, technology and valuable expertise and combined with our expertise on intelligent systems and prediction, which in the future may very much help save lives of those who wander.”
“Professor Wojtusiak’s team continues to advance his research and has done a great job combining advanced machine learning methods with our tracking and monitoring GPS wearable technology. We believe ‘advanced machine learning and big data’ will play a major role in finding solutions to complex problems such as Alzheimer’s wandering,” stated Andrew Duncan, GTX Corp director of business development.
“GTX has been at the forefront of wandering assistive and recovery technology and, as a for-profit-for-purpose company, we are committed to working with our partners to develop solutions that will have a major impact on large sections of the aging population,” stated Patrick Bertagna, GTX Corp CEO. “Professor Wojtusiak’s research is very promising, 2 and comes on the heels of this month’s issue of AARP asking experts such as Steve Wozniak, Sanjay Gupta, Dr. Oz and Professor Andy Carle, ‘What’s Next in technologies for seniors.’ Some of the answers were shoes that diagnose, tracking your Health through an App, data coming from your shoes and soles, and your shoes may soon monitor your health.”
As the Mason team members continue to work on more advanced predictive techniques, they have also submitted proposals for additional funding to advance the research to uncover patterns of movement that are associated with Alzheimer’s disease progression.
“According to the World Health Organization (WHO) the number of people affected will triple from 50 million to 152 million, with an estimated annual cost of $818 billion. Many of those who wander will not even realize they are lost or may hide from those searching for them. So this is truly groundbreaking data that offers the potential to save lives and dramatically reduce the costs of high-resource rescue operations,” states Andrew Carle, Adjunct Professor and Founding Director of the Program in Senior Housing Administration at GMU.
The research will be made available to GTX Corp, which will consider deploying the prediction algorithms into its backend monitoring platform, adding another layer of technology and overall value to the Company’s proprietary GPS tracking platform and monitoring services. The Company is also developing a low cost data-collection-only SmartSole that could be used in wide-scale research programs.
The patented GPS SmartSole® is a non-visible GPS tracking device designed to monitor the location of people afflicted with cognitive memory disorders, such as Alzheimer’s, dementia, autism and traumatic brain injury (TBI), who have a tendency to get lost or wander, and for people at risk of kidnapping, such as government employees, journalists and high-level executives.
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About George Mason University
George Mason University is Virginia's largest and most diverse public research university. Located near Washington, D.C., Mason enrolls 34,000 students from 130 countries and all 50 states. Mason has grown rapidly over the last half-century and is recognized for its innovation and entrepreneurship, remarkable diversity and commitment to accessibility. Learn more at http://www.gmu.edu.
About GTX Corp
GTX Corp (GTXO) is a pioneer in smart, mobile and wearable GPS tracking and recovery location-based products, supported through a proprietary IoT enterprise monitoring platform. GTX offers a global end-to-end solution of hardware, software and connectivity. GTX Corp develops two-way GPS tracking technologies, which seamlessly integrate with consumer products and enterprise applications. GTX Corp utilizes the latest in miniaturized, low power consumption GPS, Cellular, RF and BLE technology, enabling subscribers to track in real time the whereabouts of people or high value assets through a complete end to end -- customizable transceiver module, wireless connectivity gateway, smart phone Apps, middleware, and IoT portal. Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, GTX is known for its game-changing and award-winning patented GPS SmartSole® -- think Dr. Scholl’s meets LoJack, the world’s first invisible wearable technology tracking device created for those at risk of wandering due to Alzheimer’s, dementia, autism and traumatic brain injury. GTX Corp’s business model is built around technology innovation and holds over 85 patents, with many issued patents in the area of GPS tracking. The company has international distributors servicing customers in over 35 countries and is a U.S. Military Government contractor. Other customers include public health authorities and municipalities, emergency and law enforcement, NGOs, private companies, public and private senior care homes, and consumers.
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