SensorMapRT – a System for Real-Time Acquisition, Visualization and Analysis of Mobile Sensor Data in an Urban Context

The use of wearables in citizens’ daily life will increase significantly in the coming years. By analyzing these sensor data, it is possible to detect the emotional well-being in urban areas, which is highly relevant for urban planning purposes. Through the combination of several physiological and other sensor data such as GPS, "stress spots" in the urban environment can be recognized and located. A major objective of this project is therefore, to combine and evaluate various research approaches in the field of human as sensorswith wearables. This is the reason why the project group will be an interdisciplinary cooperation between spatial planning, psychophysiology and computer technology.Together with the project partner cities of Neustadt an der Weinstraße and Pirmasens in the German Federal State Rhineland-Palatine, the project group aims to show exemplary the influence of potential stressing factors in the urban area such as traffic and noise and creates scientifically-robust models of stress detection in urban areas. Besides this, a visualization for planning purposes with the tool GeoVisualizer as well as an evaluation of the resilience of such informtion and their potential use for urban planning is aim of the project

Selective processing of food words during insulin-induced hypoglycemia in healthy humans

Rationale: Hypoglycemia leads to undernutrition of the brain. Favoring selective processing of food stimuli would be an adaptive cognitive strategy. However, hypoglycemia is known to impair several aspects of cognitive function, and it is unknown whether selective cognitive processing of food stimuli occurs during insulin-induced hypoglycemia. Methods: In a single-blind repeated measures design, healthy young adults (n=12, six female, mean age 28 years; mean body mass index 22.5kg/m2) performed a standard Stroop word-color test, as well as a variant with food words designed to detect selective processing of food cues. Two sessions were scheduled with a 4-week interval. In each session, a hyperinsulinemic clamp method produced a normoglycemic (plasma glucose: 4.7mmol/l) period, followed on 1 day by a hypoglycemic (2.7mmol/l) testing period, and on the other day a second normoglycemic testing period (counterbalanced order). Results: Color naming verbal reaction time (RT) increased during hypoglycemia (P<0.0001). The extent of the Stroop cognitive interference was independent of plasma glucose level. The key finding is that RT for food words increased more than for non-food control words (P<0.004), and this effect was not predicted by hunger ratings. Conclusions: Our data provide new evidence that during hypoglycemia, attention is directed selectively to food-relevant stimuli. The results are discussed in terms of adaptatio

Angiotensin-converting enzyme insertion/deletion polymorphism does not influence the restenosis rate after coronary stent implantation

Background. Experimental studies have shown an activation of the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) system as a response to endothelial injury. Recent publications have elucidated the hypothesis that the ACE gene polymorphism may influence the level of late luminal loss after coronary stent implantation. It is still unclear whether the polymorphism of the angiotensin gene is a major predictor of the extent of neointimal hyperplasia. In this multicenter study, we therefore tested the relationship between the ACE gene polymorphism and the restenosis rate after coronary stent implantation. Methods: As a substudy of the optimization with intracoronary, ultrasound (ICUS) to reduce stent restenosis (OPTICUS) study, we analyzed ACE serum levels and the ACE gene polymorphism in 154 patients at 9 different centers. All patients underwent elective coronary stent implantation in a stenosis of a major coronary vessel. Balloon inflations were repeated until a satisfactory result was achieved in on-line quantitative coronary angiography or ICUS fulfilling the OPTICUS study criteria. After follow-up of 6 months, all patients underwent reangiography tinder identical projections as the baseline procedure. A blinded quantitative analysis of the initial procedure as well as the follow-up examinations were performed by an independent core laboratory. ACE gene polymorphism and ACE serum activity were measured at the 6-month follow-up in a double-blinded setting. Results: With respect to the ACE gene polymorphism, there were three subgroups: DID genotype (48 patients), ID (83 patients) and 11 (23 patients). The subgroups did not differ in regard to age, gender, extent of coronary artery disease, stenosis length, initial degree of stenosis or degree of stenosis after stent implantation. In all, 39 patients (25.3%) had significant restenosis: 12 DD patients (25.0%), 18 ID patients (21.7%) and 9 II patients (39.1%) (odds ratio 2.164, 95% confidence interval 0.853-5.493). We obtained the following results for ACE serum levels: 0.53 mumol/l/s in the DD subgroup, 0.29 mumol/l/s in the ID

Reduced vagal activity in salt-sensitive subjects during mental challenge

Background: Salt-sensitive normotensive men exhibit an enhanced pressor and heart rate (HR) response to mental stress. Stress-induced HR acceleration may result from sympathetic activation or vagal withdrawal. We studied the importance of vagal withdrawal for the increased stress responsiveness of salt-sensitive subjects. Methods: We studied cardiovascular reactivity to mental challenge in 17 salt-sensitive healthy white male students and 56 salt-resistant control subjects who were comparable with respect to age, body mass index, and physical fitness. Salt sensitivity was determined by a 2-week dietary protocol (20 mmol v 240 mmol sodium/day). Mental stress was induced by a computerized information-processing task (manometer test). Electrocardiogram and finger blood pressure (BP; Finapres, Ohmeda, Louisville, CO) were registered continuously to determine HR and interbeat-interval length. Time and frequency domain (spectral power) based measures of respiratory-related heart rate variability (HRV) were calculated to estimate vagal cardiac control; diastolic BP reactivity was assessed to estimate peripheral sympathetic effects. Results: Stress-induced increase in HR was higher in salt-sensitive than in salt-resistant subjects. Salt-sensitive subjects, in comparison to salt-resistant subjects, showed significantly reduced respiratory-related HRV during baseline and mental stress conditions (P < .01). The increase in diastolic BP during mental challenge was significantly greater in salt-sensitive subjects (P < .05). Conclusions: Our findings suggest reduced vagal and increased sympathetic tone during mental challenge in salt-sensitive subjects. Altered autonomic nervous system function may contribute to later development of hypertension in salt-sensitive individuals. Am J Hypertens 2003; 16:531-536 @ 2003 American Journal of Hypertension, Lt

Transplantation of progenitor cells and regeneration enhancement in acute myocardial infarction - (TOPCARE-AMI)

Background - Experimental studies suggest that transplantation of blood-derived or bone marrow–derived progenitor cells beneficially affects postinfarction remodeling. The safety and feasibility of autologous progenitor cell transplantation in patients with ischemic heart disease is unknown

Cortisol rapidly increases baroreflex sensitivity of heart rate control, but does not affect cardiac modulation of startle

Cortisol, the final product of human HPA axis activation, rapidly modulates the cortical processing of afferent signals originating from the cardiovascular system. While peripheral effects have been excluded, it remains unclear whether this effect is mediated by cortical or subcortical (e.g. brainstem) CNS mechanisms. Cardiac modulation of startle (CMS) has been proposed as a method to reflect cardio-afferent signals at subcortical (potentially brainstem-) level. Using a single blind, randomized controlled design, the cortisol group (n = 16 volunteers) received 1 mg cortisol intravenously, while the control group (n = 16) received a placebo substance. The CMS procedure involved the assessment of eye blink responses to acoustic startle stimuli elicited at six different latencies to ECG-recorded R-waves (R + 0, 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 ms). CMS was assessed at four measurement points: baseline, -16 min, +0 min, and +16 min relative to substance application. Baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) of heart rate (HR) control was measured non-invasively based on spontaneous beat-to-beat HR and systolic blood pressure changes. In the cortisol group, salivary cortisol concentration increased after IV cortisol administration, indicating effective distribution of the substance throughout the body. Furthermore, BRS increased in the cortisol group after cortisol infusion. There was no effect of cortisol on the CMS effect, however. These results suggest that low doses of cortisol do not affect baro-afferent signals, but central or efferent components of the arterial baroreflex circuit presumably via rapid, non-genomic mechanisms

Preprocedural C-reactive protein levels and cardiovascular events after coronary stent implantation

AbstractOBJECTIVESThis study assessed the predictive value of preprocedural C-reactive protein (CRP) levels on six-month clinical and angiographic outcome in patients undergoing coronary stent implantation.BACKGROUNDRecent data indicate that low-grade inflammation as detected by elevated CRP serum levels predicts the risk of recurrent coronary events.METHODSWe prospectively investigated the predictive value of preprocedural CRP-levels on restenosis and six-month clinical outcome in 276 patients after coronary stent implantation. The primary combined end point was death due to cardiac causes, myocardial infarction related to the target vessel and repeat intervention of the stented vessel.RESULTSGrouping patients into tertiles according to preprocedural CRP-levels revealed that, despite identical angiographic and clinical characteristics at baseline and after stent implantation, a primary end point event occurred in 24 (26%) patients of the lowest tertile, in 42 (45.6%) of the middle tertile and in 38 (41.3%) of the highest CRP tertile, p = 0.01. On multivariate analysis, tertiles of CRP levels were independently associated with a higher risk of adverse coronary events (relative risk = 2.0 [1.1 to 3.5], tertile I vs. II and III, p = 0.01) in addition to the minimal lumen diameter after stent (p = 0.04). In addition, restenosis rates were significantly higher in the two upper tertiles compared with CRP levels in the lowest tertile (45.5% vs. 38.3% vs. 18.5%, respectively, p = 0.002).CONCLUSIONSLow-grade inflammation as evidenced by elevated preprocedural serum CRP-levels is an independent predictor of adverse outcome after coronary stent implantation, suggesting that a systemically detectable inflammatory activity is associated with proliferative responses within successfully implanted stents

Rising Sound Intensity: An Intrinsic Warning Cue Activating the Amygdala

Human subjects overestimate the change of rising intensity sounds compared with falling intensity sounds. Rising sound intensity has therefore been proposed to be an intrinsic warning cue. In order to test this hypothesis, we presented rising, falling, and constant intensity sounds to healthy humans and gathered psychophysiological and behavioral responses. Brain activity was measured using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging. We found that rising compared with falling sound intensity facilitates autonomic orienting reflex and phasic alertness to auditory targets. Rising intensity sounds produced neural activity in the amygdala, which was accompanied by activity in intraparietal sulcus, superior temporal sulcus, and temporal plane. Our results indicate that rising sound intensity is an elementary warning cue eliciting adaptive responses by recruiting attentional and physiological resources. Regions involved in cross-modal integration were activated by rising sound intensity, while the right-hemisphere phasic alertness network could not be supported by this stud