Health apps. TAB-Fokus

There is a broad variety of health apps which is constantly being expanded. The offer ranges from fitness and nutrition apps to apps providing support in case of illness. With constantly new functionalities, these apps open up innovation potentials by accompanying everyday forms of people’s health behaviour in an individually adapted way. Numerous health apps are developed for people with chronic diseases to support them in coping independently and actively with problems of everyday life and making competent decisions. However, despite of the large number of health apps, there is only little evidence regarding the benefits as well as the health-promoting and preventive effects of these apps. The market for health apps is only little regulated. Moreover, there is a lack of reliable quality control taking into account particularly the issue of data protection

Equations of state for supernovae and compact stars

A review is given of various theoretical approaches for the equation of state (EoS) of dense matter, relevant for the description of core-collapse supernovae, compact stars, and compact star mergers. The emphasis is put on models that are applicable to all of these scenarios. Such EoS models have to cover large ranges in baryon number density, temperature, and isospin asymmetry. The characteristics of matter change dramatically within these ranges, from a mixture of nucleons, nuclei, and electrons to uniform, strongly interacting matter containing nucleons, and possibly other particles such as hyperons or quarks. As the development of an EoS requires joint efforts from many directions, different theoretical approaches are considered and relevant experimental and observational constraints which provide insights for future research are discussed. Finally, results from applications of the discussed EoS models are summarized

There is more to NPH than lower body Parkinsonism

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Benefits and obstacles of telemetric ICP monitoring

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How Well Do We Know The Supernova Equation of State?

We give an overview about equations of state (EOS) which are currently available for simulations of core-collapse supernovae and neutron star mergers. A few selected important aspects of the EOS, such as the symmetry energy, the maximum mass of neutron stars, and cluster formation, are confronted with constraints from experiments and astrophysical observations. There are just very few models which are compatible even with this very restricted set of constraints. These remaining models illustrate the uncertainty of the uniform nuclear matter EOS at high densities. In addition, at finite temperatures the medium modifications of nuclear clusters represent a conceptual challenge. In conclusion, there has been significant development in the recent years, but there is still need for further improved general purpose EOS tables

Motor skills, cognitive impairment, and quality of life in normal pressure hydrocephalus: early effects of shunt placement

Background Traditionally, clinical fndings of normal pressure hydrocephalus are mainly characterized by the Hakim triad. The aim of this study is to evaluate the performance of patients sufering from idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) in a more holistic manner regarding motor skills, cognitive impairment, and quality of life. Methods In total, 30 individuals diagnosed with iNPH as well as a reference group with another 30 individuals were included. The iNPH patients and the reference group were age, educational, and morbidity matched. A standardized test battery for psychomotor skills, gait, neuropsychological abilities as well as questionnaires for quality of life was applied. The iNPH group was tested prior to surgery, at 6 weeks, and 3 months postoperatively. The reference group was tested once. Results Patients showed a signifcant improved performance in various items of the test battery during the frst 3 months postoperatively. This included neuropsychological evaluation, motor skills including gait and upper motor function as well as the quality of life of the patients. Compared to reference individuals, neuropsychological aspects and quality of life of iNPH patients improved in some parts nearly to normal values. Conclusion Our fndings underline that shunt surgery does not only improve the symptoms in iNPH patients but also ame liorates the quality of life to a great extent close to those of age and comorbidity matched reference individuals. This data enables an optimized counseling of iNPH patients regarding the expectable outcome after shunt surgery especially regarding cognitive performance, motor skills as well as life quality

Predicting the outcome of normal pressure hydrocephalus therapy-where do we stand?

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PMMA vertebroplasty in patients with malignant vertebral destruction of the thoracic and lumbar spine

Object: Patients with osteolytic metastases frequently suffer from serious local and radicular pain. Pathophysiologically, local pain arises from skeletal instability, whereas radicular pain originates from compression of nerve roots by local tumor growth. Causal treatment of osteolytic metastases in disseminated malignant disease is very difficult. Resection of vertebrae, in combination with ventro-dorsal stabilization, is a complex treatment for patients with a limited life expectancy. Percutaneous polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) vertebroplasty is a new and easy method of relieving patients' pain. In addition, it is both cost effective and safe. Pain is reduced immediately after treatment. Due to the regained vertebral stability, early mobilization of the patients is possible

Endoscope-assisted resection of brainstem cavernous malformations

Targeted surgical precision and minimally invasive techniques are of utmost importance for resectioning cavernous malformations involving the brainstem region. Minimisation of the surgical corridor is desirable but should not compromise the extent of resection. This study provides detailed information on the role of endoscopy in this challenging surgical task. A retrospective analysis of medical documentation, radiologic studies and detailed intraoperative video documentation was performed for all consecutive patients who underwent surgical resection of brainstem cavernous malformations between 2010 and 2020 at the authors’ institution. A case-based volumetry of the corticotomy was performed and compared to cavernoma dimensions. A total of 20 procedures have been performed in 19 patients. Neuroendoscopy was implemented in all cases. The mean size of the lesion was 5.4 (± 5) mm3. The average size of the brainstem corticotomy was 4.5 × 3.7 (± 1.0 × 1.1) mm, with a median relation to the cavernoma’s dimension of 9.99% (1.2–31.39%). Endoscopic 360° inspection of the resection cavity was feasible in all cases. There were no endoscopy-related complications. Mean follow-up was 27.8 (12–89) months. Gross-total resection was achieved in all but one case (95%). Sixteen procedures (80%) resulted in an improved or stable medical condition. Eleven patients (61.1%) showed further improvement 12 months after the initial surgery. With the experience provided, endoscopic techniques can be safely implemented in surgery for BSCM. A combination of neuroendoscopic visualisation and neuronavigation might enable a targeted size of brainstem corticotomy. Endoscopy can currently be considered a valuable additive tool to facilitate the preparation and resection of BSCM

Automatische vektorbezogene Generierung von Straßennetzabbildern auf Basis von Floating Car Data: Automatische vektorbezogene Generierung von Straßennetzabbildern auf Basis von Floating Car Data

Straßen-Knoten-Netze als modelliertes Abbild der Straßeninfrastruktur bilden die Grundlage für eine Vielzahl von Diensten und Anwendungen. Die Verortung von Fahrzeugen, aber auch die Verkehrsumlegung, basieren darauf. Die Ermittlung optimaler Routen und die Visualisierung der Verkehrslage werden ermöglicht. Die resultierenden Anforderungen an das Netzabbild sind vielfältig und deren Bewältigung mit nicht unerheblichem Aufwand verbunden. Kernpunkte sind Genauigkeit, Aktualität und Flächendeckung. Ferner werden geringe Kosten bei dessen Erstellung angestrebt. Als Ergänzung zu manueller Digitalisierung und der Erfassung durch Messfahrzeuge mit hochpräziser Ortung stellt die Nutzbarmachung von Mehrwerten aus Floating Car Systemen einen viel versprechenden Ansatz dar. Vorgestellt wird ein Verfahren, welches mittels eines vektorbasierten Ansatzes Straßen-Knoten-Netze aus Floating Car Daten ermittelt.Node-edge-networks representing road infrastructure are base for various applications and services. Georeferencing of vehicles as well as traffic assignment are based on. Routing and traffic conditions visualisation become possible. Requirements concerning precision, topicality and area coverage of road network image are caused by. Low costs are aspired as well. Utilisation of additional benefits from floating car systems is a promising approach, supplementing common technologies like manual digitalisation or capturing road trajectories by special equipped probe vehicle. A vector based method aggregating positions information of floating car to process road infrastructure images will be presented