EmoCycling – Analysen von Radwegen mittels Humansensorik und Wearable Computing

Radfahren erfreut sich einer zunehmenden Wertschätzung. Einerseits als neuer Lifestyle, andererseits als wichtiges Thema der städtischen Mobilitätsplanung: Bike-Sharing-Angebote, Radwegekonzepte und Förderung eines umweltfreundlichen Mobilitätsmix sind hierbei wichtige Stichworte. Daher fördern zunehmend mehr Städte den Ausbau der Radwege-Infrastruktur, um das Radfahren attraktiver zu gestalten. Wie stark Radfahren aber tatsächlich angenommen und praktiziert wird, hängt von ganz verschiedenen Faktoren ab: Verkehrslage, Quantität und Qualität der Infrastruktur, Topografie sowie das subjektive Sicherheitsempfinden z.B. an unübersichtlichen Kreuzungen beeinflussen die Verkehrsmittelwahl. Insbesondere die Erfassung und Analyse des subjektiven Sicherheitsempfindens stellt hierbei eine große Herausforderung dar – wird aber durch neue Methoden der Humansensorik (Exner et al. 2012) möglich. Entwicklungen in den Bereichen des Wearable Computing sowie der Geoinformatik ermöglichen es, das subjektive Sicherheitsempfinden während der Fahrt genauer zu analysieren. Anknüpfend an Projekte zur emotionalen Stadtkartierung (Höffken et al. 2008, Zeile et al. 2010) erfolgt ein Live-Monitoring der Probanden während der Fahrt. Mittels eines Sensorarmbands (Smartband) zur Erfassung psychophysiologischer Reaktionen des Körpers in Kombination mit Video-Kamera-Daten und GPS-Koordinaten wird der emotionale Zustand der Probanden sekundengenau gemessen. Dadurch lassen sich Emotionen, insbesondere Stress, interpretieren und auf einer Karte verorten sowie die Auslöser (Trigger) identifizieren. Zudem kann auf diese Weise der Verkehr kontinuierlich erfasst und in die Analyse mit aufgenommen werden, um Gefahrenstellen zu lokalisieren. Nach einer Einführung in das Thema Radfahren in der Untersuchungsgemeinde Kaiserslautern, gibt das Paper einen Überblick über den aktuellen Stand der Methodik, die Konzeptionierung der Teststrecken sowie die Methodik im konkreten Projekt EmoCycling. Darauf basierend werden die Ergebnisse des Projektes vorgestellt und daraus resultierende weiterführende Fragenstellungen aufgezeigt

Quantification of the response of circulating epithelial cells to neodadjuvant treatment for breast cancer: a new tool for therapy monitoring

INTRODUCTION: In adjuvant treatment for breast cancer there is no tool available with which to measure the efficacy of the therapy. In contrast, in neoadjuvant therapy reduction in tumour size is used as an indicator of the sensitivity of tumour cells to the agents applied. If circulating epithelial (tumour) cells can be shown to react to therapy in the same way as the primary tumour, then this response may be exploited to monitor the effect of therapy in the adjuvant setting. METHOD: We used MAINTRAC(® )analysis to monitor the reduction in circulating epithelial cells during the first three to four cycles of neoadjuvant therapy in 30 breast cancer patients. RESULTS: MAINTRAC(® )analysis revealed a patient-specific response. Comparison of this response with the decline in size of the primary tumour showed that the reduction in number of circulating epithelial cells accurately predicted final tumour reduction at surgery if the entire neoadjuvant regimen consisted of chemotherapy. However, the response of the circulating tumour cells was unable to predict the response to additional antibody therapy. CONCLUSION: The response of circulating epithelial cells faithfully reflects the response of the whole tumour to adjuvant therapy, indicating that these cells may be considered part of the tumour and can be used for therapy monitoring

Disposition kinetics and urinary excretion of ciprofloxacin in goats following single intravenous administration

We evaluated the pharmacokinetics of ciprofloxacin in serum (n = 6) and urine (n = 4) in goats following a single intravenous administration of 4 mg/kg body weight. The serum concentration-time curves of ciprofloxacin were best fitted by a two-compartment open model. The drug was detected in goat serum up to 12 h. The elimination rate constant (β) and elimination half-life (t1/2β) were 0.446 ± 0.04 h-1 and 1.630 ± 0.17 h, respectively. The apparent volume of distribution at steady state (Vdss) was 2.012 ± 0.37 l/kg and the total body clearance (ClB) was 16.27 ± 1.87 ml/min/kg. Urinary recovery of ciprofloxacin was 29.70% ± 10.34% of the administered dose within 36 h post administration. In vitro serum protein binding was 41% ± 13.10%. Thus, a single daily intravenous dose of 4 mg/kg is sufficient to maintain effective levels in serum and for 36 h in urine, allowing treatment of systemic, Gram-negative bacterial infections and urinary tract infections by most pathogens

A phase I study of bendamustine hydrochloride administered day 1+2 every 3 weeks in patients with solid tumours

The aim of the study was to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD), the dose limiting toxicity (DLT), and the pharmacokinetic profile (Pk) of bendamustine (BM) on a day 1 and 2 every 3 weeks schedule and to recommend a safe phase II dose for further testing. Patients with solid tumours beyond standard therapy were eligible. A 30-min intravenous infusion of BM was administered d1+d2 q 3 weeks. The starting dose was 120 mg m−2 per day and dose increments of 20 mg m−2 were used. Plasma and urine samples were analysed using validated high-performance liquid chromatography/fluorescence assays. Fifteen patients were enrolled. They received a median of two cycles (range 1–8). The MTD was reached at the fourth dose level. Thrombocytopaenia (grade 4) was dose limiting in two of three patients at 180 mg m−2. One patient also experienced febrile neutropaenia. Lymphocytopaenia (grade 4) was present in every patient. Nonhaematologic toxicity including cardiac toxicity was not dose limiting with this schedule. Mean plasma Pk values of BM were tmax 35 min, t1/2 49.1 min, Vd 18.3 l m−2, and clearance 265 ml min−1 m−2. The mean total amount of BM and its metabolites recovered in the first micturition was 8.3% (range 2.7–26%). The MTD of BM in the present dose schedule was 180 mg m−2 on day 1+2. Thrombocytopaenia was dose limiting. The recommended dose for future phase II trials with this schedule is 160 mg m−2 per day

Do genetic factors protect for early onset lung cancer? A case control study before the age of 50 years

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Early onset lung cancer shows some familial aggregation, pointing to a genetic predisposition. This study was set up to investigate the role of candidate genes in the susceptibility to lung cancer patients younger than 51 years at diagnosis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>246 patients with a primary, histologically or cytologically confirmed neoplasm, recruited from 2000 to 2003 in major lung clinics across Germany, were matched to 223 unrelated healthy controls. 11 single nucleotide polymorphisms of genes with reported associations to lung cancer have been genotyped.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Genetic associations or gene-smoking interactions was found for <it>GPX1(Pro200Leu) </it>and <it>EPHX1(His113Tyr)</it>. Carriers of the Leu-allele of <it>GPX1(Pro200Leu) </it>showed a significant risk reduction of OR = 0.6 (95% CI: 0.4–0.8, p = 0.002) in general and of OR = 0.3 (95% CI:0.1–0.8, p = 0.012) within heavy smokers. We could also find a risk decreasing genetic effect for His-carriers of <it>EPHX1(His113Tyr) </it>for moderate smokers (OR = 0.2, 95% CI:0.1–0.7, p = 0.012). Considered both variants together, a monotone decrease of the OR was found for smokers (OR of 0.20; 95% CI: 0.07–0.60) for each protective allele.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Smoking is the most important risk factor for young lung cancer patients. However, this study provides some support for the T-Allel of <it>GPX1(Pro200Leu) </it>and the C-Allele of <it>EPHX1(His113Tyr) </it>to play a protective role in early onset lung cancer susceptibility.</p

Current concept of abdominal sepsis : WSES position paper

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