Public Health.

Background: The increasing prevalence of dementia globally, including Germany, necessitates effective strategies to reduce the burden on patients, caregivers, and healthcare systems. Risk factor prevention plays a crucial role in delaying the onset of severe symptoms and alleviating the strain on resources.

Method: This study focuses on identifying the requirements of a digital healthcare application for risk factor prevention in dementia within the German public healthcare system.

[Benefits of participatory involvement of patients in the development of a dermatological treatment app-A report from the practice].

Approximately 2% of the German population suffer from psoriasis. HybridVITA has developed a mobile application (app) that enables psoriasis patients to independently document the progression of the disease and the current psychological stress at home. The HybridVITA app was created in close collaboration with user groups to ensure optimal adaptation to their needs.

Nanosecond multipulse retinal damage thresholds of elongated irradiance profiles in explant measurements and simulations.

Significance: The database for multipulse retinal damage thresholds for the laser safety standard (IEC 60825-1:2014) is confined, especially for elongated irradiation profiles. To ensure eye safety, retinal damage thresholds ( values) need to be determined.

Aim: This study aims to examine nanosecond multipulse scenarios.

Dimensional emotion recognition from camera-based PRV features.

Heart rate variability (HRV) is an important indicator of autonomic nervous system activity and can be used for the identification of affective states. The development of remote Photoplethysmography (rPPG) technology has made it possible to measure pulse rate variability (PRV) using a camera without any sensor-skin contact, which is highly correlated to HRV, thus, enabling contactless assessment of emotional states. In this study, we employed ten machine learning techniques to identify emotions using camera-based PRV features.

Model-Driven Dementia Prevention and Intervention Platform.

Most types of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, are not curable. However, there are risk factors, such as obesity or hypertension, that can promote the development of dementia. Holistic treatment of these risk factors can prevent the onset of dementia or delay it in its early stages.

Digital Health Apps in the Context of Dementia: Questionnaire Study to Assess the Likelihood of Use Among Physicians.

Background: Age-related diseases such as dementia are playing an increasingly important role in global population development. Thus, prevention, diagnostics, and interventions require more accessibility, which can be realized through digital health apps. With the app on prescription, Germany made history by being the first country worldwide to offer physicians the possibility to prescribe and reimburse digital health apps as of the end of the year 2020.

Explainable Artificial Intelligence in Ambulatory Digital Dementia Screenings.

Recently, digital apps have entered the market to enable the early diagnosis of dementia by offering digital dementia screenings. Some of these apps use Machine Learning (ML) to predict cognitive impairment. The aim of this work is to find explanations for the predictions of such a mobile application called DemPredict using methods from the field of Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI).

Compensation of lens manufacturing errors and inhomogeneities by filtering view images in three-dimensional lenticular displays.

For a multiview autostereoscopic three-dimensional display based on the lenticular lens, the manufacturing errors and inhomogeneities of the lenticular sheet can deteriorate the view image quality. A calibration method is proposed by filtering the pixel mapping of all view images. Each view is first sequentially turned on to show a white test image, and the intensity distribution of every view will be analyzed.

Multiple-pulse damage thresholds of retinal explants in the ns-time regime.

The data situation of laser-induced damage measurements after multiple-pulse irradiation in the ns-time regime is limited. Since the laser safety standard is based on damage experiments, it is crucial to determine damage thresholds. For a better understanding of the underlying damage mechanism after repetitive irradiation, we generate damage thresholds for pulse sequences up to N = 20 000 with 1.

Capabilities and limitations of a new thermal finite volume model for the evaluation of laser-induced thermo-mechanical retinal damage.

Many experimental studies focus on the physical damage mechanisms of short-term exposure to laser radiation. In the nanosecond (ns) pulse range, damage in the Retinal Pigment Epithelium (RPE) will most likely occur at threshold levels due to bubble formation at the surface of the absorbing melanosome. The energy uptake of the melanosomes is one key aspect in modeling the bubble formation and damage thresholds.

Sit-to-Stand Transition Reveals Acute Fall Risk in Activities of Daily Living.

The focus of this paper was on finding wrist sensor-derived features for detecting highly acute fall risk from the sit-to-stand transitions performed in a non-ambulatory environment. Furthermore, the influence of the dominant and non-dominant hand on these features was investigated. A cohort of 174 older subjects was monitored for seven consecutive days in their home setting by using inertial sensors attached at the wrist.

Development of a Knowledge Base for Enduser Consultation of AAL-Systems.

Manufacturer information, user experiences and product availability of assistive living technologies are usually not known to citizens or consultation centers. The different knowledge levels concerning the availability of technology shows the need for building up a knowledge base. The aim of this contribution is the definition of requirements in the development of knowledge bases for AAL consultations.

Quantification of Ethylene Production in Tomato Leaves Infected by .

Ethylene is a gaseous plant hormone controlling fruit ripening, flower opening, leaf senescence as well as abscission, and disease symptom development. Ethylene plays a critical role in the bacterial pathogen ()-elicited symptom development in tomato. This protocol describes the measurement of ethylene gas produced by tomato leaves infected with .

Influence of laser coherence on reference-matched laser Doppler velocimetry.

The probe length is investigated under the influence of the coherence length of Gaussian and Lorentzian spectra for the case that the focal point and the point of highest interference are matched in a strongly focused laser Doppler velocimetry setup (LDV). Isosurfaces of a -3  dB drop of the intensity maximum are estimated and suggested as an alternative, comprehensible way to define probe volumes. In the end, the equations are applied for an exemplary lidar setup to show the reduction of requirements for the coherence length of the laser source in comparison to unmatched cases.

A prediction model for ocular damage - Experimental validation.

With the increasing number of laser applications in medicine and technology, accidental as well as intentional exposure of the human eye to laser sources has become a major concern. Therefore, a prediction model for ocular damage (PMOD) is presented within this work and validated for long-term exposure. This model is a combination of a raytracing model with a thermodynamical model of the human and an application which determines the thermal damage by the implementation of the Arrhenius integral.

Functional Analysis of Plant Defense Suppression and Activation by the Xanthomonas Core Type III Effector XopX.

Many phytopathogenic type III secretion effector proteins (T3Es) have been shown to target and suppress plant immune signaling but perturbation of the plant immune system by T3Es can also elicit a plant response. XopX is a "core" Xanthomonas T3E that contributes to growth and symptom development during Xanthomonas euvesicatoria infection of tomato but its functional role is undefined. We tested the effect of XopX on several aspects of plant immune signaling.

Prediction of temperature and damage in an irradiated human eye-Utilization of a detailed computer model which includes a vectorial blood stream in the choroid.

The work presented here describes the development and use of a three-dimensional thermo-dynamic model of the human eye for the prediction of temperatures and damage thresholds under irradiation. This model takes into account the blood flow by the implementation of a vectorial blood stream in the choroid and also uses the actual physiological extensions and tissue parameters of the eye. Furthermore it considers evaporation, radiation and convection at the cornea as well as the eye lid.

Large aperture at low cost three-dimensional time-of-flight range sensor using scanning micromirrors and synchronous detector switching.

In this article the problem of achieving fast scanning of a time-of-flight range sensor with a large optical receiver aperture at low system cost is targeted. The presented approach to solve this problem consists of a micromirror-based transmitter unit and a receiver unit consisting of a large aperture lens system with a small field of view and a detector array. A concept, which is called synchronous detector switching, is applied to the detector array.

Xanthomonas type III effector XopD desumoylates tomato transcription factor SlERF4 to suppress ethylene responses and promote pathogen growth.

XopD, a type III secretion effector from Xanthomonas euvesicatoria (Xcv), the causal agent of bacterial spot of tomato, is required for pathogen growth and delay of host symptom development. XopD carries a C-terminal SUMO protease domain, a host range determining nonspecific DNA-binding domain and two EAR motifs typically found in repressors of stress-induced transcription. The precise target(s) and mechanism(s) of XopD are obscure.

Eye safety for scanning laser projection systems.

In the growing field of pico-projectors, laser-based scanning systems may be advantageous over DLP- or LCoS-based imagers due to their potential for miniaturization, enhanced optical efficiency and cost reduction. The high energy density of a combined laser beam can, however, be hazardous to the human eye. Laser projection systems must therefore be identified with the laser class, depending on their maximum optical output power.

Trichomes as dangerous lollipops: do lizards also use caterpillar body and frass odor to optimize their foraging?

When attacked by herbivores, plants produce toxic secondary metabolites that function as direct defenses, as well as indirect defenses that attract and reward predators of the offending herbivores. These indirect defenses include both nutritive rewards such as extra floral nectar, as well as informational rewards, such as the production and release of volatile compounds that betray the location of feeding herbivores to predators. Herbivory of Nicotiana attenuata by the tobacco hornworm (Manduca larvae) alters the volatile profiles of both the plant and larval headspace.

Moiré pattern movement compensation and quadrature averaging phase retrieval from time series of speckled arbitrary phase shift interferograms for automatic computation of fundus pulsation curve of the human eye.

Purpose: the method described here allows for automatic calculation of the fundus pulse from interferometric measurements.

Method: a low intensity laser beam is coupled into the eye. Two strong reflections, one of the cornea and one of the retina, interfere on a high-speed complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor camera chip.

An ecological analysis of the herbivory-elicited JA burst and its metabolism: plant memory processes and predictions of the moving target model.

Background: Rapid herbivore-induced jasmonic acid (JA) accumulation is known to mediate many induced defense responses in vascular plants, but little is known about how JA bursts are metabolized and modified in response to repeated elicitations, are propagated throughout elicited leaves, or how they directly influence herbivores.

Methodology/principal Findings: We found the JA burst in a native population of Nicotiana attenuata to be highly robust despite environmental variation and we examined the JA bursts produced by repeated elicitations with Manduca sexta oral secretions (OS) at whole- and within-leaf spatial scales. Surprisingly, a 2(nd) OS-elicitation suppressed an expected JA burst at both spatial scales, but subsequent elicitations caused more rapid JA accumulation in elicited tissue.

Context-aware mobile health monitoring: evaluation of different pattern recognition methods for classification of physical activity.

There are various applications of physical activity monitoring for medical purposes, such as therapeutic rehabilitation, fitness enhancement or the use of physical activity as context information for evaluation of other vital data. Physical activity can be estimated using acceleration sensor-systems fixed on a person's body. By means of pattern recognition methods, it is possible to identify with certain accuracy which movement is being performed.