CD4+ T cells from preeclamptic patients cause hypertension, autoantibodies and cognitive dysfunction in a pregnant rat model

CD4+ T Cells from Preeclamptic patients with or without a history of COVID-19 during pregnancy cause hypertension, autoantibodies and cognitive dysfunction in a pregnant rat model Objective: Preeclampsia (PE) new onset hypertension (HTN) during pregnancy, is associated with increased autoantibodies, cerebral blood flow (CBF) impaired cognitive function and memory loss. We have shown adoptive transfer of placentalCD4+T cells from PE women into athymic nude pregnant rats causesHTNand autoantibodies associated with PE.COVID-19 (CV) during pregnancy is associated with increased diagnosis of PE. However, we do not know the role of CD4+ T cells stimulated in response to CV in contributing to the PE phenotype seen patients with a Hx of CV during pregnancy. Therefore, we hypothesize that adoptive transfer of placental CD4+ T cells from patients with a CV History (Hx) during pregnancy with PE causes HTN, increased CBF and cognitive dysfunction in pregnant athymic nude recipient rats. Study Design: Placental CD4+ T cells isolated from normotensive (NP), PE, Hx of CV normotensive (CV Hx NT), and Hx of CV with PE (CV Hx+PE) at delivery. One million CD4+ T cells were injected i.p. into nude athymic rats on gestational day (GD) 12. The Barnes maze and the novel object recognition behavioral assays were used to assess cognitive function on GDs 15-19. Blood pressure (MAP) and CBF were measured by carotid catheter and laser Doppler flowmetry on GD19, respectively. A two-way ANOVA was used for statistical analysis. Result(s):MAPincreased inCVHx+PE (111 +/- 4, n = 4) and PE recipient rats (115 +/- 2 mmHg, n = 5) compared to CV Hx NT (100 +/- 4, n = 5) and NP (99 +/- 3 mmHg, n = 4, P < .05). CV Hx+PE and PE exhibited latency with errors navigating in the Barnes maze compared to CV Hx NT and NP groups. Locomotor activity was decreased in CV Hx+PE (P < .05) compared to PE, CV Hx NT, and NP groups. CV Hx+PE and PE spent more time exploring identical objects compared to CV Hx NT and NP groups. PE and CV Hx+ PE had increased CBF compared to CV Hx NT and NP rats. Conclusion(s): Our findings indicate that pregnant recipients of CD4+ T cells from PE with or without a Hx CV during pregnancy cause HTN, increased CBF and cognitive dysfunction compared to recipients of NP or NT Hx COVID-19 CD4+ T cells.

Psychopharmacological assessment of antidepressant-like, anxiolytic, and sedative-hypnotic effects of tilia platyphyllos scop. Extract using experimental animal models

The prevalence of psychiatric disorders namely depression, anxiety, and sleep disturbances has been increased worldwide, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this regard, the interest of recent investigations is moved toward phytomedicines and bioactive substances derived from natural sources. Although Tilia platyphyllos Scop. contains high amounts of phenolic compounds such as quercetin, kaempferol, and catechin, there is no study on the possible effects of its extract on psychological disorders. The present study was carried out to determine the antidepressant-like, anxiolytic, and sedative-hypnotic effects of the hydroethanolic extract of T. platyphyllos leaves using forced swimming test (FST), tail suspension test (TST), elevated plus maze test (EPMT), pentobarbital-induced loss of righting reflex test and open field test (OFT). Following the ethanolic extraction of T. platyphyllos leaves, the extraction yield was 14% and the total phenolic and total flavonoid contents were found to be 135.23 +/- 0.14 mg gallic acid equivalent/g dry extract and 19.02 +/- 0.03 mg rutin equivalent/g dry extract, respectively. Both FTS and TST revealed a significant antidepressant-like activity for the tested extract at 400 mg/kg compared to the control group. In addition, the anxiolytic activity of the extract was proven through OFT and EPMT in the same dose. Finally, T. platyphyllos extract at 200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg significantly increased the sleeping time when compared to the control group reflecting its potential hypnotic activity. Co-administration of T. platyphyllos extract at 400 mg/kg and flumazenil as the GABA-A receptor antagonist decreased the sleeping time but the observed effect was not statistically significant. Therefore, we cannot completely rule out the GABA-A receptor's involvement in the hypnotic activity of the extract. The biological results presented here led us to conclude that T. platyphyllos extract can be a prominent source of antidepressant, anxiolytic and hypnotic agents. Probably, the main phenolic compounds of T. platyphyllos such as quercetin, kaempferol, and catechin are involved in the observed effects. However, there is still a great need for additional investigations on the exact mechanisms.Copyright © 2022, Iranian Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists. All rights reserved.

Influence of surgical masks on the avoidance of virtual pedestrians

To combat the COVID-19 pandemic, governments around the world have proposed a series of mitigation strategies. While responses varied across different governing bodies, recommendations such as social distancing and the use of surgical masks were nearly universal. These recommendations, as well as the social anxiety that emerged during the pandemic, are likely to have influenced pedestrian interactions. In this study, we have examined the effect of surgical masks on locomotor circumvention strategies in response to virtual pedestrians. We further explored the relationship between measures of obstacle clearance and feelings of anxiety related to community ambulation in the context of the pandemic. Using virtual reality, locomotor circumvention strategies in response to approaching pedestrians with and without surgical masks were measured in a sample of 11 healthy young individuals. Additionally, a questionnaire was developed and used to gain insights into participants' behaviours during and after a strict period of restrictions that were in effect before the summer of 2020. Results showed that participants maintained a larger clearance when virtual pedestrians wore a surgical mask. Furthermore, clearance was positively associated with anxiety toward community ambulation in the context of the pandemic. Our findings provide evidence that mask-wearing elicits an increase in physical distancing during pedestrian interactions. Furthermore, results indicate that social context and mental health status influence locomotor outcomes measured in the context of a pedestrian interaction task and highlight the potential of virtual reality simulations to study locomotion in the community setting. Copyright © 2023 Bühler, Lynch, Bhojwani, Zidan, Fiset, McFadyen and Lamontagne.

Holobot: Hologram based Extended Reality Telepresence Robot

Nowadays, telepresence systems based on the Extended Reality (XR) system are actively developed and used for remote collaboration due to COVID-19. Still, several issues, such as limited traversable space in Virtual Reality (VR) and require all participants to wear head-mounted display (HMD), stop these systems from being used in our daily life. On the other hand, telepresence robots have been used in various fields before the pandemic. However, these robots also have a limitation in that the current form is incapable of delivering non-verbal expressions, which is essential for social interaction. Therefore, we present a Holobot, a telepresence robot based on the XR system. A remote user connects to the Holobot through VR HMDs, and the Holobot augments a virtual avatar that projectsusers' facial and gesture expressions.We developed a prototype and conducted a simple field test in the exhibition to receive feedback. VR participants enjoyed exploring remote spaces and interacting with each other through Holobot. Furthermore, remote space participants mentioned that a 1:1 scale avatar helped to build co-presence with the VR user. Based on these insights, we think Holobot could provide design guideline for future telepresence robot. For further approach, we plan to improve our prototype and conduct user test for structured evaluation of our system. © 2023 IEEE Computer Society. All rights reserved.

Teleconsultation and Human Parameter Monitoring system using Arduino UNO and NODE MCU

In this paper, we propose a model named Virtual Doctor- Teleconsultation and Parameter Monitoring System' which provides some usefulness of providing medication and helps in gauging the essential parameters (Heart rate, Temperature and SpO2) and UVC (Ultraviolet sort C) sterilization unit for the sensors. During the ongoing situation, diminishing the human-to-human contact in emergency clinics is required. In a bid, to keep specialists and clinical staff from getting impacted by Coronavirus, the job of medication conveying robots are being developed. We can attain the Locomotion procedure of the robot using telegram bot and live video streaming by ESP32-Camera. The working principle is that the Doctor or the Nurse can control the moment of entire model by observing surroundings using a camera and commanding through a mobile application. For this model, we are utilizing the essential microcontroller, that is to say, Arduino UNO. We were effective in taking readings with the assistance of a sensors and had the option to supply capacity to the UVC light in which it cleaned the articles inside the unit when it was uncovered for 2-3 minutes. Lastly, the robot had the option to move effectively with the assistance of Arduino and Wi-Fi arrangement. All the data will be successfully sent to the Doctor's smartphone using Telegram application and NodeMCufor internet connectivity. © 2022 IEEE.

COVID-19 Containment Measures-a Step Back for Walking Mobility? A 2-Year, 60-Country Analysis of the Apple Mobility Data.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 containment measures curb viral spread but may hamper walking mobility. As a low daily step count is associated with increased noncommunicable diseases and mortality, assessing the relationship between pandemic responses and walking mobility can help trade-off public health measures. We investigated the association between containment stringency and walking mobility across 60 countries in the period between January 21, 2020 and January 21, 2022 and modeled how this could impact mortality hazard. METHODS: Walking mobility was measured through the Apple Mobility Trends, containment measures stringency index through the Oxford COVID-19 response tracker (which considers local policies on closures, healthcare, and economy), and meteorological data by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather stations. Walking mobility was regressed over stringency in a mixed-effect model with weather variables as covariates. The impact of stringency on all-cause mortality due to reduced mobility was modeled based on regression results, prepandemic walking mobility, and the association between step count and all-cause mortality hazard. RESULTS: Across the 60 countries, the average stringency was 55 (9) (mean [SD]) out of 100. Stringency was negatively associated with walking mobility; a log-linear model fitted data better than a linear one, with a regression coefficient for stringency on ln (walking mobility) (95% confidence interval) of  -1.201 × 10-2 (-1.221 × 10-2 to -1.183 × 10-2). Increasing stringency, thus decreasing walking mobility, nonlinearly incremented the modeled all-cause mortality hazard by up to ∼40%. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, walking mobility was negatively associated with containment measures stringency; the relationship between stringency, mobility, and the subsequent impact on health outcomes may be nonlinear. These findings can help in balancing pandemic containment policies.

Under pressure: Locomotion and assessment in the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic poses unique opportunities to explore how fundamental self-regulatory variables affect responses to the pandemic. We examine how two critical self-regulatory orientations, locomotion and assessment, relate to psychological distress and obeying public health guidelines using secondary data analysis. In the initial pandemic stages (April and May, 2020), North American participants (N = 924) completed measures of chronic locomotion and assessment, pandemic behaviors and feelings, and various individual-differences. Analyses revealed that assessment, but not locomotion, was indirectly associated with greater pandemic rule-breaking and psychological distress through the fear of missing out, difficulty engaging in activities, and engagement in negative activities. We discuss why the vulnerabilities of assessment, and not locomotion, may be particularly sensitive to pandemic-related constraints. © 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on mobility of older adults: A scoping review.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To identify the most frequent determinants of contact limitation on older adults' mobility addressed by the recommendations to mitigate mobility limitation during the COVID-19 pandemic and identify the recommendations characteristics and means of dissemination that might guide coping actions. BACKGROUND: Measures for physical contact restriction were implemented to prevent COVID-19 spread. These measures directly impacted older people, reducing their mobility, especially outside home environment. Health systems worldwide need to be prepared to implement strategies to mitigate negative effects of reduced mobility in this population. DESIGN: Scoping review using Arksey and O'Malley's methodological framework. METHOD: Therefore, a scoping review was conducted in LILACS, CINAHL, MEDLINE, WEB OF SCIENCE and SCOPUS databases. Documents and reports with recommendations from government agencies were also consulted. Results were presented in a narrative synthesis based on a conceptual model of mobility proposed by Webber (The Gerontologist, 2010, 50, 443) regarding the most frequently addressed determinants, characteristics of the proposed interventions, and means of dissemination for the older person population. FINDINGS: Twenty-eight studies were selected for the final sample. According to Webber's model, most articles (n = 14) presented the impacts on mobility from the perspective of physical determinants, relating this aspect to biological losses in the musculoskeletal system, and a minority assessed mobility in vital spaces, encompassing environmental (n = 3) and financial (n = 1) determinants. Also, the most frequent recommendation was that physical activity promotes maintenance of mobility and prevents the occurrence of adverse results, such as falls, fractures and functional decline. As to dissemination, digital technologies were recognised as a strategy to motivate, instruct and monitor exercise practice to increase mobility in older adults. CONCLUSION: The main conditions related to the decline in mobility of older adults during COVID-19 pandemic were physical inactivity and sedentary lifestyle. The practice of physical activity is widespread and needs to be adapted according to individual needs. Finally, digital technologies are essential tools in this period, but other alternatives should also be considered for low-income seniors. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: It is hoped that the gaps identified through this scoping review can help enhance the discussion on the broader assessment of mobility in older adults and the design of interventions when contact restriction is a reality.

Robot locomotions in complex terrains

This essay discusses the different specialties and shortcomings of existing or newly established complex terrain robot platforms;and compares them from the perspectives of mechanical complexity, maneuverability, and terrain crossability. In the end, readers will have a solid understanding of how to apply different platforms based on their unique needs (Figure 1). © 2022 IEEE.

Impact of Sudden Rule Changes on Player Injuries and Performance: Insights from Australian Football.

This study investigated the effects of reduced quarter time due to COVID-19 pandemic rule changes, on running performance and injuries in Australian Football. Microsensor data for eight matches performed by the same 17 players were compared between the 2019 (standard) and 2020 (COVID-19) seasons using linear and generalised mixed models. Injury rates were assessed in 34 players across the full 2019 season, and 32 players across the full 2020 season. The total distance (ES = 1.28 [0.55 to 2.02]), high-speed (>18 km/h) (ES = 0.44 [-0.24 to 1.12]) and very highspeed (>24 km/h) (ES = 0.27 [-0.41 to 0.94]) distances, PlayerLoad™ (ES = 0.96 [0.25 to 1.67]), high-intensity efforts (ES = 0.48 [-0.20 to 1.16]), and accelerations (ES = 0.33 [-0.34 to 1.01]) were smaller (p ≤ 0.01) for the 2020 than the 2019 season. Expressed relative to playing time, distance (ES=-0.38 [-1.06 to 0.30]), PlayerLoad™ (ES = -0.27 [-0.94 to 0.41]), and acceleration efforts (ES = -0.50 [-1.18 to 0.18]) were greater (p < 0.05) for the 2020 than the 2019 season. No significant differences in maximum ball-in-play periods nor the difference between the 1^st and 4^th quarters were evident. Injury rates remained similar between 2019 (3.36 per game) and 2020 (3.55 per game). However, the proportion of injuries that led to lost time (missed games) was greater for the 2020 (38%) than 2019 season (24%). The changes in the rules had a profound impact on player performance and increased the likelihood of time loss injuries.

Everesting: cycling the elevation of the tallest mountain on Earth.

PURPOSE: With few cycling races on the calendar in 2020 due to COVID-19, Everesting became a popular challenge: you select one hill and cycle up and down it until you reach the accumulated elevation of Mt. Everest (8,848 m or 29,029ft). With an almost infinite number of different hills across the world, the question arises what the optimal hill for Everesting would be. Here, we address the biomechanics and energetics of up- and downhill cycling to determine the characteristics of this optimal hill. METHODS: During uphill cycling, the mechanical power output equals the power necessary to overcome air resistance, rolling resistance, and work against gravity, and for a fast Everesting time, one should maximize this latter term. To determine the optimal section length (i.e., number of repetitions), we applied the critical power concept and assumed that the U-turn associated with an additional repetition comes with a 6 s time penalty. RESULTS: To use most mechanical power to overcoming gravity, slopes of at least 12% are most suitable, especially since gross efficiency seems only minimally diminished on steeper slopes. Next, we found 24 repetitions to be optimal, yet this number slightly depends on the assumptions made. Finally, we discuss other factors (fueling, altitude, fatigue) not incorporated in the model but also affecting Everesting performances. CONCLUSION: For a fast Everesting time, our model suggests to select a hill climb which preferably starts at (or close to) sea level, with a slope of 12-20% and length of 2-3 km.

Changes of neuropsychiatricsymptomsin patients with dementia during COVID-19 crisis: Telephone survey from the Yangcheon Dementia Reassurance Center

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes in the neuropsychiatric symptoms of patients with dementia during the pandemic through the complete enumeration telephone survey in the caregivers of dementia patients who were registered at the database of Yangcheon Dementia Reassurance Center (YDRC) for Dementia. Background: It has been reported that the social isolation imposed by COVID-19 pandemic can have a major impact on the mental health of dementia patients. Design/Methods: There were a total of 2080 dementia patients on the database of YDRC who were registered as having dementia from 2008 ∼2020. From Mar to April in 2021, the telephone survey was conducted in all the caregivers with dementia on the database of YDRC. We asked whether the neuropsychiatric symptoms of patients were aggravated during COVID 19 and if they were, which neuropsychiatric symptoms were aggravated among the 12 symptoms of neuropsychiatric inventory (NPI): delusions, hallucinations, agitation/aggression, depression/dysphoria, anxiety, elation/euphoria, apathy/indifference, disinhibition, irritability/lability, aberrant motor behavior, disturbances of sleep, and disturbances of appetite/eating. Results: Among 2080 patients with dementia (mean age: 81.2 years, 66.8 % females), a total of 1038 caregivers of patients with dementia responded to the telephone survey. Among 1038 patients, 274 patients (26.4%) were reported to have at least one and more aggravating neuropsychiatric symptoms, especially depression/dysphoria (44.5 %), disturbances of sleep (9.5 %), and delusion (9.1 %). Conclusions: Given that patients'neuropsychiatric worsening is commonly associated with greater burden of the caregiver's, a more preemptive strategy to manage aggravating the neuropsychiatric symptoms from the Community Dementia Reassurance can help reduce difficulties of caregivers in this pandemic situation.

FES, critical care and COVID-19

In this keynote session we will have a set of linked presentations and discussion: The Covid-19 pandemic has brought the reality of mass critical care into the public eye. In particular, the high material and personal cost to patients, societies and carers of assisted breathing has been obvious. Mechanical ventilation is associated with acquired weakness in the muscles of breathing and locomotion. We will discuss the role of FES to maintain muscle during Critical Care and in the following rehabilitation phase. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the various strategies for diaphragm pacing.

User Movement for Safety Training in a Virtual Chemistry Lab

Virtual Reality (VR) has become a large area of focus especially after the effects of COVID-19. During the lockdown students had to partake in different methods of learning outside of the traditional face-to-face classroom setting. In this paper, we focus on the type of locomotion that students would utilize when traversing in a virtual environment. We studied the effectiveness of two types of movement the first being Embodied Movement, or movement through the Head Mounted Display (HMD) device such as the Oculus Quest, or the HTC VIVE, and the second form of movement being Joystick Movement through the use of a thumb stick on an attached controller. To test these movements, we implemented a scenario in a virtual chemistry lab, where the user’s vision is impaired, and they would need to navigate throughout the scene to reach a safety shower that once activated would restore their vision. Our results show that using the joystick controller was more suitable for this type of experiment in terms of user preference and the speed of which the user completed the task. Our results also show that for some subjects when partaking in the study, mild cyber-sickness was prevalent and further investigation is needed on how to mitigate its effects. © 2022, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Comparing Hand Gestures and a Gamepad Interface for Locomotion in Virtual Environments

Hand gesture is a new and promising interface for locomotion in virtual environments. While several previous studies have proposed different hand gestures for virtual locomotion, little is known about their differences in terms of performance and user preference in virtual locomotion tasks. In the present paper, we presented three different hand gesture interfaces and their algorithms for locomotion, which are called the Finger Distance gesture, the Finger Number gesture and the Finger Tapping gesture. These gestures were inspired by previous studies of gesture-based locomotion interfaces and are typical gestures that people are familiar with in their daily lives. Implementing these hand gesture interfaces in the present study enabled us to systematically compare the differences between these gestures. In addition, to compare the usability of these gestures to locomotion interfaces using gamepads, we also designed and implemented a gamepad interface based on the Xbox One controller. We conducted empirical studies to compare these four interfaces through two virtual locomotion tasks. A desktop setup was used instead of sharing a head-mounted display among participants due to the concern of the Covid-19 situation. Through these tasks, we assessed the performance and user preference of these interfaces on speed control and waypoints navigation. Results showed that user preference and performance of the Finger Distance gesture were close to that of the gamepad interface. The Finger Number gesture also had close performance and user preference to that of the Finger Distance gesture. Our study demonstrates that the Finger Distance gesture and the Finger Number gesture are very promising interfaces for virtual locomotion. We also discuss that the Finger Tapping gesture needs further improvements before it can be used for virtual walking.

Multi-Scale Sparse Graph Convolutional Network For the Assessment of Parkinsonian Gait

Automated assessment of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) is urgently required in clinical practice to improve the diagnostic efficiency and objectivity and to remotely monitor the motor disorder symptoms and general health of these patients, especially in view of the travel restrictions due to the recent coronavirus epidemic. Gait motor disorder is one of the critical manifestations of PD, and automated assessment of gait is vital to realize automated assessment of PD patients. To this end, we propose a novel two-stream spatial-temporal attention graph convolutional network (2s-ST-AGCN) for video assessment of PD gait motor disorder. Specifically, the skeleton sequence of human body is extracted from videos to construct spatial-temporal graphs of joints and bones, and a two-stream spatial-temporal graph convolutional network is then built to simultaneously model the static spatial information and dynamic temporal variations. The multi-scale spatial-temporal attention-aware mechanism is also designed to effectively extract the discriminative spatial-temporal features. The deep supervision strategy is then embedded to minimize classification errors, thereby guiding the weight update process of the hidden layer to promote significant discriminative features. Besides, two model-driven terms are integrated into this deep learning framework to strengthen multi-scale similarity in the deep supervision and realize sparsification of discriminative features. Extensive experiments on the clinical video dataset show that the proposed model exhibits good performance with an accuracy of 65.66% and an acceptable accuracy of 98.90%, which is much better than that of the existing sensor- and vision-based methods for Parkinsonian gait assessment. Thus, the proposed method is potentially useful for assessing PD gait motor disorder in clinical practice.

Close-Contact Detection Using a Single Camera for Sports Considering Occlusion

The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is still prevalent in the world. Exercise is important to maintain our health while dealing with infectious diseases. Social distancing is more important during exercise because we may not be able to wear masks to avoid breathing problems, heatstroke, etc. To maintain social distancing during exercise, we develop a close-contact detection system using a single camera especially for sports in schools and gyms. We rely on a single camera because of the deployment cost. The system recognizes people from a video and estimates the interpersonal distance for close-contact detection. The challenge is the occlusion of people, which leads to false negatives in close-contact detection. To solve the problem, we leverage the observation that most false negatives in human detection are caused by occlusion owing to other people. This is because there are few obstacles in sports facilities. Based on the above observation, we assume that a person still exists near the last detected position even when s/he disappears in the proximity of other people. For evaluation, we recorded 834 videos that were 112 min long in total including various scenarios with 2724 close-contacts. The results show that the F1-score of close-contact detection and tracking are 83.6% and 67.3%, respectively. We also confirmed that the start and end time errors are within 1 s for more than 80% of the close-contacts. © 2013 IEEE.

Under pressure: Locomotion and assessment in the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic poses unique opportunities to explore how fundamental self-regulatory variables affect responses to the pandemic. We examine how two critical self-regulatory orientations, locomotion and assessment, relate to psychological distress and obeying public health guidelines using secondary data analysis. In the initial pandemic stages (April and May, 2020), North American participants (N = 924) completed measures of chronic locomotion and assessment, pandemic behaviors and feelings, and various individual-differences. Analyses revealed that assessment, but not locomotion, was indirectly associated with greater pandemic rule-breaking and psychological distress through the fear of missing out, difficulty engaging in activities, and engagement in negative activities. We discuss why the vulnerabilities of assessment, and not locomotion, may be particularly sensitive to pandemic-related constraints. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Self & Identity is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

FFT Spectrum Spread With Machine Learning (ML) Analysis of Triaxial Acceleration From Shirt Pocket and Torso for Sensing Coughs While Walking

Early detection of respiratory distress, marked by coughing associated with pandemics such as Covid, severe acute respiratory syndrome, and influenza, has become important for early public health preparedness. Recognizing respiratory distress from data pooled from accelerometers and other sensors common in phones/wearables can be a useful tool in tracking diseases in larger populations. However, detecting low-/medium-intensity coughs, which are a precursor to influenza/Covid, are harder to detect in the presence of human activity especially walking. In this letter, we study spectrum-spread features of triaxial accelerometer signals measured from the human torso during coughs. In particular, we analyze the vestigial sideband like spurs that cough-induced motion of the torso produces alongside walking signal between 0.2 and 2 Hz and propose the use of its spectral spread square metric in discerning coughs during walking action in test subjects of different sizes. Unlike prior works on time-domain measurements or spectral summation (units: g) in multiple bands, this work uses bandwidth, i.e., spectrum-spread features of acceleration signals (units: Hz(2)) to detect low to medium intensity coughs from a single accelerometer worn on the chest or shirt pocket or stomach. Acceleration signals measured at these points in five test subjects of varying heights, age, and weight show its median square spectral spread increase prominently along Y (up-down) and Z axes (front-back) from between 0.016-0.0167 Hz(2) to between 0.023-0.026 Hz(2) with a cough-detection threshold observed at 0.02 Hz(2) for all axes. Using a machine learning (ML) classification model with these spectral spread features results in cough detection accuracy of 92.5, 92.2, and 91.5% with k-nearest neighbors (kNN), and 94.3, 96.1, and 93.6% using Support Vector Machine (SVM) ML models for all three torso points especially shirt pocket where phones are commonly worn.

Virtual Walking With Omnidirectional Movies and Foot Vibrations: Scene-Congruent Vibrations Enhance Walking-Related Sensations and Ground Material Perceptions

Walking is a human need. Even when physical disabilities or social situations, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, prevent people from walking, virtual reality can provide an opportunity for virtual walking or travel. In this study, a virtual walking system was developed in which users view omnidirectional movies while receiving scene-congruent vibrations to their left and right forefeet and heels. The timings of foot vibrations were generated by estimating the camera motion trajectory with visual simultaneous localization and mapping (visual SLAM) applied to four omnidirectional movies. Congruent vibration patterns were prepared for four ground scenes. Modulation of walking-related sensations and ground material perceptions by congruent and incongruent vibrations was verified using psychological measurements. The results showed that rhythmic foot vibration improved the sensations of self-motion, walking, leg action, and telepresence irrespective of scene-vibration congruency. Moreover, congruent vibrations were better than incongruent vibrations for walking-related sensations and telepresence in indoor corridors and snowy ground scenes. The perception of ground materials was enhanced by scene-congruent vibrations, whereas it was confused by scene-incongruent vibrations. These findings suggest that vibration patterns do not necessarily need to match the ground exactly to induce virtual walking sensations;however, scene-congruent or similar vibrations improve virtual walking sensations and ground material perception. By applying our methods, we can convert various public omnidirectional movies into realistic virtual walking experiences.