Evaluation of a wireless infrared thermometer with a narrow field of view

Many agricultural studies rely on infrared sensors for remote measurement of surface temperatures for crop status monitoring and estimating sensible and latent heat fluxes. Historically, applications for these non-contact thermometers employed the use of hand-held or stationary industrial infrared thermometers (IRTs) wired to data loggers. Wireless sensors in agricultural applications are a practical alternative, but the availability of low cost wireless IRTs is limited. In this study, we designed prototype narrow (10◦) field of view wireless infrared sensor modules and evaluated the performance of the IRT sensor by comparing temperature readings of an object (Tobj) against a blackbody calibrator in a controlled temperature room at ambient temperatures of 15 ◦C, 25 ◦C, 35 ◦C, and 45 ◦C. Additional comparative readings were taken over plant and soil samples alongside a hand-held IRT and over an isothermal target in the outdoors next to a wired IRT. The average root mean square error (RMSE) and mean absolute error (MAE) between the collected IRT object temperature readings and the blackbody target ranged between 0.10 and 0.79 ◦C. The wireless IRT readings also compared well with the hand-held IRT and wired industrial IRT. Additional tests performed to investigate the influence of direct radiation on IRT measurements indicated that housing the sensor in white polyvinyl chloride provided ample shielding for the self-compensating circuitry of the IR detector. The relatively low cost of the wireless IRT modules and repeatable measurements against a blackbody calibrator and commercial IR thermometers demonstrated that these wireless prototypes have the potential to provide accurate surface radiometric temperature readings in outdoor applications. Further studies are needed to thoroughly test radio frequency communication and power consumption characteristics in an outdoor setting

Anti-Suicidal Efficacy of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Depressive Patients: A Retrospective Analysis of a Large Sample

Background: Suicide is a major public health problem. About 90% of suicide victims have one or more major psychiatric disorder, with a reported 20-fold increased risk for suicide in patients with affective disorders in comparison with healthy subjects. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has been established as an effective alternative or adjunctive treatment option for patients with depressive disorders, but little is known about its effects on suicide risk. Objective: For the assessment of the effectiveness of rTMS on suicidal ideation and behaviors, we performed a retrospective analysis of a large sample of patients with depressive disorders, who were treated with rTMS. Methods: We analyzed the records of 711 TMS in- and out-patients with depressive affective disorders in a tertiary referral hospital between 2002 and 2017. Out of these patients we were able to collect Hamilton depression rating scale (HAMD) data of 332 patients (180 females, 152 males; age range 20 to 79 years; mean age 47.3 ± 12.3) for which we analyzed the change of suicidal ideation by using item 3 (suicidality) of HAMD. Results: Out of all 711 patients treated with rTMS for their depression, one patient (0.1%) committed suicide during the TMS treatment. In the statistical analysis of the subsample with 332 patients there was an overall amelioration of depressive symptoms accompanied by a significant decrease in the suicidality item with a medium effect size. Decrease in suicidality was not inferior to changes in other items as indicated by effect sizes. Forty-seven percent of patients showed an amelioration in suicidality, 41.3% of patients did not show a change in their suicidality’s scores, and 11.7% of patients showed an increase in suicidality’s scores from baseline to final rating. Correlation of item 3 (suicidality) and item 7 (drive) demonstrated a significant positive association, revealing improved drive with a parallel decreased suicidality. Conclusion: Based on the proposed data, there is no evidence that rTMS increases the risk for suicide during the course of the treatment. Conversely, rTMS tends to reduce suicidal ideation. Our findings call for further rTMS controlled studies using large sample sizes and specific suicidality assessment measures to obtain more conclusive results

Personalization of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for the Treatment of Chronic Subjective Tinnitus

Background: Personalization of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for tinnitus might be capable to overcome the heterogeneity of treatment responses. The assessment of loudness changes after short rTMS protocols in test sessions has been proposed as a strategy to identify the best protocol for the daily treatment application. However, the therapeutic advantages of this approach are currently not clear. The present study was designed to further investigate the feasibility and clinical efficacy of personalized rTMS as compared to a standardized rTMS protocol used for tinnitus. Methods: RTMS personalization was conducted via test sessions and reliable, sham-superior responses respectively short-term reductions in tinnitus loudness following active rTMS protocols (1, 10, 20 Hz, each 200 pulses) applied over the left and right temporal cortex. Twenty pulses at a frequency of 0.1 Hz served as a control condition (sham). In case of a response, patients were randomly allocated to ten treatment sessions of either personalized rTMS (2000 pulses with the site and frequency producing the most pronounced loudness reduction during test sessions) or standard rTMS (1 Hz, 2000 pulses left temporal cortex). Those participants who did not show a response during the test sessions received the standard protocol as well. Results: The study was terminated prematurely after 22 patients (instead of 50 planned) as the number of test session responders was much lower than expected (27% instead of 50%). Statistical evaluation of changes in metric tinnitus variables and treatment responses indicated only numerical, but not statistical superiority for personalized rTMS compared to standard treatment. Conclusions: The current stage of investigation does not allow for a clear conclusion about the therapeutic advantages of personalized rTMS for tinnitus based on test session responses. The feasibility of this approach is primarily limited by the low test session response rate

Heading for Personalized rTMS in Tinnitus: Reliability of Individualized Stimulation Protocols in Behavioral and Electrophysiological Responses

Background: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation tool potentially modulating pathological brain activity. Its clinical effectiveness is hampered by varying results and characterized by inter-individual variability in treatment responses. RTMS individualization might constitute a useful strategy to overcome this variability. A precondition for this approach would be that repeatedly applied protocols result in reliable effects. The condition tinnitus provides the advantage of immediate behavioral consequences (tinnitus loudness changes) after interventions and thus offers an excellent model to exemplify TMS personalization. Objective: The aim was to investigate the test–retest reliability of short rTMS stimulations in modifying tinnitus loudness and oscillatory brain activity as well as to examine the feasibility of rTMS individualization in tinnitus. Methods: Three short verum (1, 10, 20 Hz; 200 pulses) and one sham (0.1 Hz; 20 pulses) rTMS protocol were administered on two different days in 22 tinnitus patients. Before and after each protocol, oscillatory brain activity was recorded with electroencephalography (EEG), together with behavioral tinnitus loudness ratings. RTMS individualization was executed on the basis of behavioral and electrophysiological responses. Stimulation responders were identified via consistent sham-superior increases in tinnitus loudness (behavioral responders) and alpha power increases or gamma power decreases (alpha responders/gamma responders) in accordance with the prevalent neurophysiological models for tinnitus. Results: It was feasible to identify individualized rTMS protocols featuring reliable tinnitus loudness changes (55% behavioral responder), alpha increases (91% alpha responder) and gamma decreases (100% gamma responder), respectively. Alpha responses primary occurred over parieto-occipital areas, whereas gamma responses mainly appeared over frontal regions. On the contrary, test–retest correlation analyses per protocol at a group level were not significant neither for behavioral nor for electrophysiological effects. No associations between behavioral and EEG responses were found. Conclusion: RTMS individualization via behavioral and electrophysiological data in tinnitus can be considered as a feasible approach to overcome low reliability at the group level. The present results open the discussion favoring personalization utilizing neurophysiological markers rather than behavioral responses. These insights are not only useful for the rTMS treatment of tinnitus but also for neuromodulation interventions in other pathologies, as our results suggest that the individualization of stimulation protocols is feasible despite absent group-level reliability

Treating depression at home with transcranial direct current stimulation: a feasibility study

Introduction: Treating major depressive disorder (MDD) with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) devices at home has various logistic advantages compared to tDCS treatment in the clinic. However, preliminary (controlled) studies showed side effects such as skin lesions and difficulties in the implementation of home-based tDCS. Thus, more data are needed regarding the feasibility and possible disadvantages of home-based tDCS. Methods: Ten outpatients (23–69 years) with an acute depressive episode were included for this one-arm feasibility study testing home-based tDCS. All patients self-administered prefrontal tDCS (2 mA, 20 min, anodal left, cathodal right) at home on 30 consecutive working days supported by video consultations. Correct implementation of the home-based treatment was analyzed with tDCS recordings. Feasibility was examined by treatment compliance. For additional analyses of effectiveness, three depression scores were used: Hamilton depression rating scale (HDRS-21), Major Depression Inventory (MDI), and the subscale depression of the Depression-Anxiety-Stress Scale (DASS). Furthermore, usability was measured with the user experience questionnaire (UEQ). Tolerability was analyzed by the number of reported adverse events (AEs). Results: Eight patients did not stick to the protocol. AEs were minimal. Four patients responded to the home treatment according to the MDI. Usability was judged positive by the patients. Conclusions: Regular video consultations or other safety concepts are recommended regardless of the number of video sessions actually conducted. Home-based tDCS seems to be safe and handy in our feasibility study, warranting further investigation

Evaluation of a wireless infrared thermometer with a narrow field of view

Many agricultural studies rely on infrared sensors for remote measurement of surface temperatures for crop status monitoring and estimating sensible and latent heat fluxes. Historically, applications for these non-contact thermometers employed the use of hand-held or stationary industrial infrared thermometers (IRTs) wired to data loggers. Wireless sensors in agricultural applications are a practical alternative, but the availability of low cost wireless IRTs is limited. In this study, we designed prototype narrow (10◦) field of view wireless infrared sensor modules and evaluated the performance of the IRT sensor by comparing temperature readings of an object (Tobj) against a blackbody calibrator in a controlled temperature room at ambient temperatures of 15 ◦C, 25 ◦C, 35 ◦C, and 45 ◦C. Additional comparative readings were taken over plant and soil samples alongside a hand-held IRT and over an isothermal target in the outdoors next to a wired IRT. The average root mean square error (RMSE) and mean absolute error (MAE) between the collected IRT object temperature readings and the blackbody target ranged between 0.10 and 0.79 ◦C. The wireless IRT readings also compared well with the hand-held IRT and wired industrial IRT. Additional tests performed to investigate the influence of direct radiation on IRT measurements indicated that housing the sensor in white polyvinyl chloride provided ample shielding for the self-compensating circuitry of the IR detector. The relatively low cost of the wireless IRT modules and repeatable measurements against a blackbody calibrator and commercial IR thermometers demonstrated that these wireless prototypes have the potential to provide accurate surface radiometric temperature readings in outdoor applications. Further studies are needed to thoroughly test radio frequency communication and power consumption characteristics in an outdoor setting

Concomitant lorazepam use and antidepressive efficacy of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in a naturalistic setting

Background/objectives: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has been established as an effective therapeutic intervention for the treatment of depression. Preliminary data suggest that the efficacy of rTMS is reduced in patients taking benzodiazepines (BZD). Here, we use real-world data from a large sample to investigate the influence of lorazepam on the effectiveness of rTMS. Methods From a retrospective cohort of clinically depressed patients that were treated with rTMS, we compared 176 patients not taking any BZD with 73 patients taking lorazepam with respect to changes in the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HRDS). Results Both groups improved during rTMS according to HRDS scores, but the amelioration of symptoms was significantly less pronounced in patients taking lorazepam (18% vs. 38% responders in the non-lorazepam group). We could not see any association of intake regimen of lorazepam with response in rTMS. Conclusion Our observational study suggests that intake of lorazepam impedes the response to rTMS. The impact of lorazepam and other BZD on rTMS should receive more attention and be further investigated in prospective, hypothesis-based treatment studies to determine causal relationships between medication treatments and outcome. This could lead to specific recommendations for pharmacological treatment for depressed patients undergoing rTMS

Activate & fire: a feasibility study in combining acoustic stimulation and continuous theta burst stimulation in chronic tinnitus

Abstract Background Low frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is commonly used to inhibit pathological hyperactivity of the auditory cortex in tinnitus. Novel and supposedly superior and faster inhibitory protocols such as continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) were examined as well, but so far there is not sufficient evidence for a treatment application in chronic tinnitus. rTMS effects in general are dependent on the brain state immediate before stimulation. This feasibility study was designed based on the concept to shift the pathological intrinsic brain state of tinnitus patients via acoustic stimulation (“activate”) and induce inhibitory effects via cTBS (“fire”). Methods Seven tinnitus patients with response in residual inhibition received 10 consecutive daily sessions of a combinatory treatment comprised of 3-minute acoustic stimulation with white noise followed by 600 pulses of cTBS over the left temporo-parietal cortex (activate & fire). A control group of 5 patients was treated parallel to the activate & fire data collection with 10 sessions á 3000 pulses of 1 Hz rTMS over the left temporo-parietal cortex. Results The activate & fire protocol was well tolerated except in one patient with tinnitus loudness increase. This patient was excluded from analyses. No statistical superiority of the activate & fire treatment approach in alleviating tinnitus-related symptoms was evident. Power calculations showed an effect size of 0.706 and a needed sample size of 66 for statistical significant group differences. On a descriptive level the activate & fire group demonstrated a stronger decrease in tinnitus-related symptoms. Conclusion The present feasibility study showed that combining acoustic stimulation with magnetic brain stimulation may be well-tolerable in the majority of patients and represents a promising treatment approach for tinnitus by hypothetically alter the intrinsic state prior to brain stimulation