Feasibility and first results of a group program to increase the frequency of cognitively stimulating leisure activities in people with mild cognitive impairment (AKTIVA–MCI)

AKTIVA-MCI is a program for patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) that aims to enhance participation in cognitively stimulating leisure activities. Participation in cognitively stimulating activities seems to be a potential strategy for people with MCI delaying cognitive decline for a while. In total, 35 MCI patients were enrolled in the pilot study of whom 29 completed the whole program (16 female, 71.1±7.5 years; Mini Mental Status Examination score: 28±2.2). Daily activity protocols were used to measure the frequency of participation in cognitively stimulating activities during the program (12 sessions). Additional standardized psychometric tests and questionnaires were used to assess cognition, mood, and subjective memory decline. Analyses of the daily activity protocols showed that during the intervention participants increased the frequency of several cognitively stimulating leisure activities. Comparison of pre-post data indicates no changes in cognitive status, mood, and subjective memory decline. These findings indicate that the program is suitable for patients with MCI

Entwicklung eines konfigurierbaren Flugtaxi-Simulators mit Hilfe einer kopfgetragenen Anzeige mit Video-Durchsicht - Ein Vergleich verschiedener Mixed-Reality-Ansätze

Um zukünftige Flugtaxi-Konzepte frühzeitig aus Passagiersicht bewerten zu können, wird ein immersiver und gleichzeitig konfigurierbarer Kabinensimulator benötigt. Dieser Vortrag zeigt wie moderne Mixed-Reality-Technologien bei der Umsetzung eines solchen Simulators helfen können. So kann zum Beispiel mit Hilfe einer Video-Durchsicht-Brille das reale Kabinenmockup flexibel um virtuelle Objekte erweitert werden. Die durchgeführte Probandenstudie zeigt die Vorteile und Grenzen solcher Ansätze

Experiencing Urban Air Mobility: How Passengers evaluate a simulated flight with an Air Taxi

For the successful development and implementation of novel concepts and technology, the acceptance of potential users is crucial. Therefore, within the project HorizonUAM, we investigated passengers' acceptance of air taxis. One challenge is that not many people have real experiences with urban air mobility (UAM) at the moment and thus requirements formulated by potential users refer to rather abstract concepts. To allow participants to gain realistic impressions of UAM concepts, a Mixed Reality Air Taxi Simulator was set up. It allows participants to experience an inner-city business shuttle flight. A study with 30 participants assessed the information needs and the influence of another person on board on wellbeing in nominal situations (experiment 1) as well as one non-nominal situation (experiment 2). For the latter, participants experienced a re-routing of the flight due to an unavailability of landing sites at the vertidrome. During and after the flights, participants answered questionnaires and extensive interviews were conducted. The study produced first empirical data on relevant factors regarding interaction, information needs and comfort within an air taxi. The findings show that passengers want to be informed about intentions of the vehicle. The presence of a steward on board is not necessary but can increase wellbeing especially during non-nominal situations.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures, 8 table

Impact of Resveratrol on Glucose Control, Hippocampal Structure and Connectivity, and Memory Performance in Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment

In healthy older adults, resveratrol supplementation has been shown to improve long-term glucose control, resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) of the hippocampus, and memory function. Here, we aimed to investigate if these beneficial effects extend to individuals at high-risk for dementia, i.e., patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). In a randomized, double-blind interventional study, 40 well-characterized patients with MCI (21 females; 50–80 years) completed 26 weeks of resveratrol (200 mg/d; n = 18) or placebo (1,015 mg/d olive oil; n = 22) intake. Serum levels of glucose, glycated hemoglobin A1c and insulin were determined before and after intervention. Moreover, cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (3T) (n = 14 vs. 16) was conducted to analyze hippocampus volume, microstructure and RSFC, and neuropsychological testing was conducted to assess learning and memory (primary endpoint) at both time points. In comparison to the control group, resveratrol supplementation resulted in lower glycated hemoglobin A1c concentration with a moderate effect size (ANOVARM p = 0.059, Cohen's d = 0.66), higher RSFC between right anterior hippocampus and right angular cortex (p < 0.001), and led to a moderate preservation of left anterior hippocampus volume (ANOVARM p = 0.061, Cohen's d = 0.68). No significant differences in memory performance emerged between groups. This proof-of-concept study indicates for the first-time that resveratrol intake may reduce glycated hemoglobin A1c, preserves hippocampus volume, and improves hippocampus RSFC in at-risk patients for dementia. Larger trials with longer intervention time should now determine if these benefits can be validated and extended to cognitive function

Assessment of Air Taxi Passenger Acceptance – Implementation and Initial Evaluation of a Mixed Reality Simulator

Urban air mobility paves new ways for public transport modalities like air taxis. To shape the operational concepts and the design of these air taxis, the acceptance and requirements of future passengers should be considered even in early stages of the development process. Within the HorizonUAM project, it is of interest to understand the effects of social presence, e.g. through on-board service personnel, on perceived comfort. These results help to develop concepts, how fully or mainly autonomous operations can be achieved that are accepted by users. As part of HorizonUAM, an air taxi simulator was implemented to assess the aforementioned passenger acceptance with regard to defined key criteria like presence of on-board personnel or amount of presented information. To create an experience that is as close to a real air taxi flight as possible, recent advancements in head-mounted display technology facilitated the creation of a mixed reality simulation. Mixed reality combines advantages of full-flight simulators like human collaboration and use of analog instruments with those of virtual reality simulators that are cost-effective, highly immersive devices for rapid prototyping. This paper reports on the work conducted to define and design such a mixed reality simulation to investigate factors of passenger acceptance. First, functional requirements that were defined for a first study of passenger interaction and comfort are presented, as well as the technical requirements that were derived. Additionally, mixed reality technology should be used for the novel simulator to enable high flexibility. Second, as numerable different setups of mixed reality were possible with state-of-the-art technology, four different setups were compared in a pre-study against each other. The empirical results with regards to experienced immersion are presented. Finally, the conclusion from this study regarding the final setup for the mixed reality simulation are presented

Can Urban Air Mobility become reality? Opportunities, challenges and selected research results

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) is a new air transportation system for passengers and cargo in urban environments, enabled by new technologies and integrated into multimodal transportation systems. The vision of UAM comprises the mass use in urban and suburban environments, complementing existing transportation systems and contributing to the decarbonization of the transport sector. Initial attempts to create a market for urban air transportation in the last century failed due to lack of profitability and community acceptance. Technological advances in numerous fields over the past few decades have led to a renewed interest in urban air transportation. UAM is expected to benefit users and to also have a positive impact on the economy by creating new markets and employment opportunities for manufacturing and operation of UAM vehicles and the construction of related ground infrastructure. However, there are also concerns about noise, safety and security, privacy and environmental impacts. Therefore, the UAM system needs to be designed carefully to become safe, affordable, accessible, environmentally friendly, economically viable and thus sustainable. This paper provides an overview of selected key research topics related to UAM and how the German Aerospace Center (DLR) contributed to this research in the project "HorizonUAM - Urban Air Mobility Research at the German Aerospace Center (DLR)". Selected research results that support the realization of the UAM vision are briefly presented.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures, project HorizonUA

A “Crossomics” Study Analysing Variability of Different Components in Peripheral Blood of Healthy Caucasoid Individuals

Background: Different immunotherapy approaches for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases are being developed and tested in clinical studies worldwide. Their resulting complex experimental data should be properly evaluated, therefore reliable normal healthy control baseline values are indispensable. Methodology/Principal Findings: To assess intra- and inter-individual variability of various biomarkers, peripheral blood of 16 age and gender equilibrated healthy volunteers was sampled on 3 different days within a period of one month. Complex "crossomics'' analyses of plasma metabolite profiles, antibody concentrations and lymphocyte subset counts as well as whole genome expression profiling in CD4(+)T and NK cells were performed. Some of the observed age, gender and BMI dependences are in agreement with the existing knowledge, like negative correlation between sex hormone levels and age or BMI related increase in lipids and soluble sugars. Thus we can assume that the distribution of all 39.743 analysed markers is well representing the normal Caucasoid population. All lymphocyte subsets, 20% of metabolites and less than 10% of genes, were identified as highly variable in our dataset. Conclusions/Significance: Our study shows that the intra- individual variability was at least two-fold lower compared to the inter-individual one at all investigated levels, showing the importance of personalised medicine approach from yet another perspective