606,619 research outputs found
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Degraded reality: Using VR/AR to simulate visual impairments
The effects of eye disease cannot be depicted accurately using traditional media. Consequently, public understanding of eye disease is often poor. We present a VR/AR system for simulating common visual impairments, including disability glare, spatial distortions (Metamorphopsia), the selective blurring and filling-in of information across the visual field, and color vision deficits. Unlike most existing simulators, the simulations are informed by patients' self-reported symptoms, can be quantitatively manipulated to provide custom disease profiles, and support gaze-contingent presentation (i.e., when using a VR/AR headset that contains eye-tracking technology, such as the Fove0). Such a simulator could be used as a teaching/empathy aid, or as a tool for evaluating the accessibility of new products and environments
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Feeling the pressure: a cross-sectional study exploring feasibility of a healthcare Pop-Up for intraocular pressure measurements in shopping centres in England
OBJECTIVES: To test the hypothesis that a shopping centre Pop-Up health check combining an intraocular pressure (IOP) check with a general health check (blood pressure (BP)) is more readily accepted by the general public than an IOP check only. We investigate public awareness of IOP compared with BP and the feasibility of measuring IOP in large numbers in a Pop-Up. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study using a tailor-made healthcare Pop-Up. SETTING: The 'Feeling the Pressure' Pop-Up was sited in eight regionally-different shopping centres in England. PARTICIPANTS: Adult members of the public in shopping centres. METHODS: On one day we measured IOP only and on another measured BP and IOP. IOP was measured by Icare IC100 tonometer (Helsinki, Finland). Potential participants were asked about their awareness of IOP and BP and when they last visited their optometrist. RESULTS: More people attended the combined BP + IOP days (461; 60%; 95% CI 56% to 64%) than IOP-only days (307; 40%, 95% CI 37% to 43%) over 16 days of testing. We recorded IOP in 652 participants (median (IQR) age and IOP of 54 (42 to 68) years and 13 (11 to 15) mm Hg, respectively). Fewer people reported awareness about IOP (19%, 95% CI 16% to 23%) compared with BP (71%, 95% CI 66% to 75%). Of 768 participants, 60 (8%) reported no previous optometric eye examination and 185 (24%) reported >2 years since their most recent examination. CONCLUSIONS: Measuring IOP in large numbers of the public via a shopping centre Pop-Up is feasible. Public engagement was greater when a BP check was offered alongside an IOP check, suggesting unfamiliar health checks can be promoted by aligning them with a more familiar check. Our findings hint at strategies for public health schemes that engage the public with their eye health
Fast and Accurate Algorithm for Eye Localization for Gaze Tracking in Low Resolution Images
Iris centre localization in low-resolution visible images is a challenging
problem in computer vision community due to noise, shadows, occlusions, pose
variations, eye blinks, etc. This paper proposes an efficient method for
determining iris centre in low-resolution images in the visible spectrum. Even
low-cost consumer-grade webcams can be used for gaze tracking without any
additional hardware. A two-stage algorithm is proposed for iris centre
localization. The proposed method uses geometrical characteristics of the eye.
In the first stage, a fast convolution based approach is used for obtaining the
coarse location of iris centre (IC). The IC location is further refined in the
second stage using boundary tracing and ellipse fitting. The algorithm has been
evaluated in public databases like BioID, Gi4E and is found to outperform the
state of the art methods.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures, IET Computer Vision, 201
The Population Biology and Transmission Dynamics of Loa loa
Endemic to Central Africa, loiasis – or African eye worm (caused by the filarial nematode Loa loa) – affects more than 10 million people. Despite causing ocular and systemic symptoms, it has typically been considered a benign condition, only of public health relevance because it impedes mass drug administration-based interventions against onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis in co-endemic areas. Recent research has challenged this conception, demonstrating excess mortality associated with high levels of infection, implying that loiasis warrants attention as an intrinsic public health problem. This review summarises available information on the key parasitological, entomological, and epidemiological characteristics of the infection and argues for the mobilisation of resources to control the disease, and the development of a mathematical transmission model to guide deployment of interventions
Exploring celebrity influence on public attitude towards the COVID-19 pandemic: social media shared sentiment analysis
The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced new opportunities for health
communication, including an increase in the public use of online outlets for
health-related emotions. People have turned to social media networks to share
sentiments related to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper we
examine the role of social messaging shared by Persons in the Public Eye (i.e.
athletes, politicians, news personnel) in determining overall public discourse
direction. We harvested approximately 13 million tweets ranging from 1 January
2020 to 1 March 2022. The sentiment was calculated for each tweet using a
fine-tuned DistilRoBERTa model, which was used to compare COVID-19
vaccine-related Twitter posts (tweets) that co-occurred with mentions of People
in the Public Eye. Our findings suggest the presence of consistent patterns of
emotional content co-occurring with messaging shared by Persons in the Public
Eye for the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic influenced public opinion
and largely stimulated online public discourse. We demonstrate that as the
pandemic progressed, public sentiment shared on social networks was shaped by
risk perceptions, political ideologies and health-protective behaviours shared
by Persons in the Public Eye, often in a negative light.Comment: 7 Pages, 4 Figure
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