ETHICAL AND ORGANISATIONAL CONSIDERATIONS IN SCREENING FOR DEMENTIA

The United Kingdom National Screening Committee (UKNSC) defines screening as “the process of identifying individuals who may be at higher risk of a disease or condition amongst large populations of healthy people”. Building on foundations laid by Wilson and Jungner in the landmark paper in 1968, the UKNSC states that “Once identified, those individuals can consider further tests, and healthcare providers can offer them interventions of benefit. A screening programme needs to offer more benefit than harm, at a reasonable cost to the NHS” (gov.uk 2014). We will consider the ethical issues surrounding some of the UK’s screening programmes and other methods used to assess and communicate patients’ risk of disease. We will discuss the appropriateness of candidate dementia biomarkers in order to inform research into developing such a biomarker or series of biomarkers

ETHICAL AND ORGANISATIONAL CONSIDERATIONS IN SCREENING FOR DEMENTIA

The United Kingdom National Screening Committee (UKNSC) defines screening as “the process of identifying individuals who may be at higher risk of a disease or condition amongst large populations of healthy people”. Building on foundations laid by Wilson and Jungner in the landmark paper in 1968, the UKNSC states that “Once identified, those individuals can consider further tests, and healthcare providers can offer them interventions of benefit. A screening programme needs to offer more benefit than harm, at a reasonable cost to the NHS” (gov.uk 2014). We will consider the ethical issues surrounding some of the UK’s screening programmes and other methods used to assess and communicate patients’ risk of disease. We will discuss the appropriateness of candidate dementia biomarkers in order to inform research into developing such a biomarker or series of biomarkers

DEPRESSION AND DRY EYE DISEASE: A NEED FOR AN INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH?

A recent meta-analysis including data from 22 studies including 2.9 million patients found that anxiety and depression are more prevalent in patients with dry eye disease (DED) than in controls. DED is a common disorder of the tear film which can cause ocular irritation, foreign body sensation and visual disturbance. However there is often a great discrepancy between signs and symptoms of DED, which the symptoms often being more associated with non-ocular disorders such as depression and PTSD than to tear film parameters. In this way it could be considered as more of a psychiatric than ophthalmic complaint. DED and depression feedback on one another in a synergistic manner. Severity of DED is associated with symptoms of anxiety and depression. Treatment of DED could help reduce depression symptoms, but also effective management of depression could help alleviate symptoms of DED. Complicating this however is the evidence that SSRIs can exacerbate DED. This makes the management of these comorbidities more difficult, however there are putative therapeutic targets which may be a source of future treatments for DED-associated depression. In conclusion, it is clear that DED and depression are closely linked and influence one another in ways that drastically affect patients’ lives. Collaboration between psychiatrists and ophthalmologists could be beneficial in the management of those with DED

The Profiling Potential of Computer Vision and the Challenge of Computational Empiricism

Computer vision and other biometrics data science applications have commenced a new project of profiling people. Rather than using 'transaction generated information', these systems measure the 'real world' and produce an assessment of the 'world state' - in this case an assessment of some individual trait. Instead of using proxies or scores to evaluate people, they increasingly deploy a logic of revealing the truth about reality and the people within it. While these profiling knowledge claims are sometimes tentative, they increasingly suggest that only through computation can these excesses of reality be captured and understood. This article explores the bases of those claims in the systems of measurement, representation, and classification deployed in computer vision. It asks if there is something new in this type of knowledge claim, sketches an account of a new form of computational empiricism being operationalised, and questions what kind of human subject is being constructed by these technological systems and practices. Finally, the article explores legal mechanisms for contesting the emergence of computational empiricism as the dominant knowledge platform for understanding the world and the people within it

Few-cycle laser driven reaction nanoscopy on aerosolized silica nanoparticles

Nanoparticles offer unique properties as photocatalysts with large surface areas. Under irradiation with light, the associated near-fields can induce, enhance, and control molecular adsorbate reactions on the nanoscale. So far, however, there is no simple method available to spatially resolve the near-field induced reaction yield on the surface of nanoparticles. Here we close this gap by introducing reaction nanoscopy based on three-dimensional momentum-resolved photoionization. The technique is demonstrated for the spatially selective proton generation in few-cycle laser-induced dissociative ionization of ethanol and water on SiO2 nanoparticles, resolving a pronounced variation across the particle surface. The results are modeled and reproduced qualitatively by electrostatic and quasi-classical mean-field Mie Monte-Carlo (M3C) calculations. Reaction nanoscopy is suited for a wide range of isolated nanosystems and can provide spatially resolved ultrafast reaction dynamics on nanoparticles, clusters, and droplets

iVoltage - Einsatz einer Simulation im E-Lehre-Praktikum

Mithilfe von verschiedenen Modelldarstellungen und Medien können abstrakte physikalische Größen und deren Zusammenhänge Lernenden nähergebracht werden. Im Rahmen des Forschungsprojektes iVoltage (Investigation of Visualisation with Multimedia Learning Technologies for Augmenting Electrical Experiments) wird die Effektivität von unterschiedlichen Modelldarstellungen und Medien auf das konzeptionelle Verständnis der Studierenden beim Thema „einfache Stromkreise“ untersucht.In diesem Beitrag wird der Aufbau des übergreifenden Forschungsprojektes sowie die hier aufgeführte Teilstudie zusammen mit einer HTML-JavaScript Simulation vorgestellt, in der einfache Stromkreise durch Klicken zusammengestellt und simuliert werden können. Das Potential wird durch einen Farbverlauf Blau-Weiß-Rot dargestellt und die Stromstärke durch die Pfeildicke des Stromstärkepfeiles. Zusätzlich werden die Spannungen und Stromstärken bei jedem Bauteil numerisch angezeigt, so dass auch eine quantitative Auseinandersetzung mit dem Thema möglich ist. Die Mixed-Methods-Studie findet im Rahmen eines Praktikums im Studiengang Lehramt für Haupt- und Realschule an der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main statt

iVoltage - Einsatz einer Simulation im E-Lehre-Praktikum

Mithilfe von verschiedenen Modelldarstellungen und Medien können abstrakte physikalische Größen und deren Zusammenhänge Lernenden nähergebracht werden. Im Rahmen des Forschungsprojektes iVoltage (Investigation of Visualisation with Multimedia Learning Technologies for Augmenting Electrical Experiments) wird die Effektivität von unterschiedlichen Modelldarstellungen und Medien auf das konzeptionelle Verständnis der Studierenden beim Thema „einfache Stromkreise“ untersucht.In diesem Beitrag wird der Aufbau des übergreifenden Forschungsprojektes sowie die hier aufgeführte Teilstudie zusammen mit einer HTML-JavaScript Simulation vorgestellt, in der einfache Stromkreise durch Klicken zusammengestellt und simuliert werden können. Das Potential wird durch einen Farbverlauf Blau-Weiß-Rot dargestellt und die Stromstärke durch die Pfeildicke des Stromstärkepfeiles. Zusätzlich werden die Spannungen und Stromstärken bei jedem Bauteil numerisch angezeigt, so dass auch eine quantitative Auseinandersetzung mit dem Thema möglich ist. Die Mixed-Methods-Studie findet im Rahmen eines Praktikums im Studiengang Lehramt für Haupt- und Realschule an der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main statt

Controlled dehydration of a ruthenium complex-DNA crystal induces reversible DNA kinking

Hydration-dependent DNA deformation has been known since Rosalind Franklin recognised that the relative humidity of the sample had to be maintained to observe a single conformation in DNA fibre diffraction. We now report for the first time the crystal structure, at the atomic level, of a dehydrated form of a DNA duplex and demonstrate the reversible interconversion to the hydrated form at room temperature. This system, containing d(TCGGCGCCGA) in the presence of Λ-[Ru(TAP)2(dppz)]2+ (TAP = 1,4,5,8-tetraazaphenanthrene, dppz = dipyridophenazine), undergoes a partial transition from an A/B hybrid to the A-DNA conformation, at 84-79% relative humidity. This is accompanied by an increase in kink at the central step from 22° to 51°, with a large movement of the terminal bases forming the intercalation site. This transition is reversible on rehydration. Seven datasets, collected from one crystal at room temperature, show the consequences of dehydration at near-atomic resolution. This result highlights that crystals, traditionally thought of as static systems, are still dynamic and therefore can be the subject of further experimentation

Few-cycle laser driven reaction nanoscopy on aerosolized silica nanoparticles

Nanoparticles offer unique properties as photocatalysts with large surface areas. Under irradiation with light, the associated near-fields can induce, enhance, and control molecular adsorbate reactions on the nanoscale. So far, however, there is no simple method available to spatially resolve the near-field induced reaction yield on the surface of nanoparticles. Here we close this gap by introducing reaction nanoscopy based on three-dimensional momentum-resolved photoionization. The technique is demonstrated for the spatially selective proton generation in few-cycle laser-induced dissociative ionization of ethanol and water on SiO2 nanoparticles, resolving a pronounced variation across the particle surface. The results are modeled and reproduced qualitatively by electrostatic and quasi-classical mean-field Mie Monte-Carlo (M3C) calculations. Reaction nanoscopy is suited for a wide range of isolated nanosystems and can provide spatially resolved ultrafast reaction dynamics on nanoparticles, clusters, and droplets