Melanin bias in pulse oximetry explained by light source spectral bandwidth.

BACKGROUND: Pulse oximetry uses noninvasive optical measurements of light transmission from each of two sources through vascularised living tissue over the cardiac cycle (SpO2). From those measurements, the relative amount of oxygenated haemoglobin (SaO2) in circulating blood can be deduced. Recent reports have shown that, compared with SaO2 measurements from blood samples, SpO2 measurements are biased erroneously high for patients with dark skin. METHODS: We developed a new method, spectrally resolved photoplethysmography (srPPG), to examine how spectral bandwidth affects the transmission of polychromatic light through the fingertip across the cardiac cycle. We measured and recorded the spectral transmission through the fingertip as the O2 concentration in inspired air was reduced. We applied digital spectral filters of two different bandwidths, narrow or broad, to the same srPPG recordings to determine whether SpO2 readings systematically varied for the two bandwidths. The srPPG method also allowed us to measure the fractional amount of melanin in the optical path. The effect of melanin content on the ratio of SpO2 readings for narrow and broad spectral bandwidths was analysed. RESULTS: We hypothesised, based upon the Beer-Lambert law, and then showed experimentally, that the light emission spectra of light-emitting diode light sources, as used in commercial pulse oximeters, result in erroneously high SpO2 measurements for patients having greater melanin concentrations in their skin than those of the subject pool used for instrument calibration. CONCLUSIONS: To eliminate melanin bias, pulse oximeters should use much narrower spectral bandwidths than those used in current models.

The circadian stimulus-oscillator model: Improvements to Kronauer's model of the human circadian pacemaker.

Modeling how patterns of light and dark affect circadian phase is important clinically and organizationally (e.g., the military) because circadian disruption can compromise health and performance. Limit-cycle oscillator models in various forms have been used to characterize phase changes to a limited set of light interventions. We approached the analysis of the van der Pol oscillator-based model proposed by Kronauer and colleagues in 1999 and 2000 (Kronauer99) using a well-established framework from experimental psychology whereby the stimulus (S) acts on the organism (O) to produce a response (R). Within that framework, using four independent data sets utilizing calibrated personal light measurements, we conducted a serial analysis of the factors in the Kronauer99 model that could affect prediction accuracy characterized by changes in dim-light melatonin onset. Prediction uncertainty was slightly greater than 1 h for the new data sets using the original Kronauer99 model. The revised model described here reduced prediction uncertainty for these same data sets by roughly half.

UV-Transmitting Plastics Reduce Powdery Mildew in Strawberry Tunnel Production.

Strawberry powdery mildew, caused by Podosphaera aphanis, can be particularly destructive in glasshouse and plastic tunnel production systems, which generally are constructed of materials that block ultraviolet (UV) solar radiation (about 280 to 400 nm). We compared epidemic progress in replicated plots in open fields and under tunnels constructed of polyethylene, which blocks nearly all solar UV-B, and two formulations of ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE), one of which contained a UV blocker and another that transmitted nearly 90% of solar UV-B. Disease severity under all plastics was higher than in open-field plots, indicating a generally more favorable environment in containment structures. However, the foliar severity of powdery mildew within the tunnels was inversely related to their UV transmissibility. Among the tunnels tested, incidence of fruit infection was highest under polyethylene and lowest under UV-transmitting ETFE. These effects probably transcend crop, and the blocking of solar UV transmission by glass and certain plastics probably contributes to the widely observed favorability of greenhouse and high-tunnel growing systems for powdery mildew.

Use of Ultraviolet Light to Suppress Powdery Mildew in Strawberry Fruit Production Fields.

We designed and deployed an apparatus to apply UV light for suppression of powdery mildew in open field production of strawberry. The unit was evaluated in a commercial production field for one season, and for two additional seasons in open field research plots at the University of Florida Gulf Coast Research and Education Center. The apparatus contained two 180-cm-long hemicylindrical arrays of twenty 55-W low-pressure discharge UV-C lamps (operated at 30 W; peak wavelength = 254 nm) backed by polished aluminum reflectors covering two adjacent beds of the strawberry planting. The lamp arrays were suspended within a steel carriage that was tractor-drawn through the planting at 2.3, 4.6, and 5.6 km h-1. Nighttime applications of UV-C at doses ranging from 65 to 170 J⋅m-2 either once or twice weekly provided suppression of foliar and fruit disease that was consistently equal to or better than that provided by a commercial calendar-based fungicide spray program.

Declines in Wavelength Discrimination and Shifts in Unique Hue with Hypoxia.

INTRODUCTION: Hypoxia can be a problem for warfighters, compromising visual and cognitive performance. One area of study has been hypoxia-induced decrements in color vision.METHODS: The present study examined how hypoxia affected the perception of wavelengths associated with unique green and with unique yellow as well as discriminability by the blue vs. yellow (b-y) and the red vs. green (r-g) spectrally opponent color channels while breathing O2 levels found at sea level and at 5500 m. Measurements of wavelengths producing unique green (minimizing response by the b-y channel) and unique yellow (minimizing response by the r-g channel) preceded measurements of wavelength discriminability near those unique hues.RESULTS: Relative to sea level, unique yellow shifted to shorter wavelengths (0.54 nm) and unique green shifted to longer wavelengths (2.3 nm) under hypoxia. In terms of an equal psychophysical scale, both unique hues shifted by similar magnitudes. Wavelength discriminability of both color channels was compromised by statistically reliable amounts of 16-17% under hypoxia.DISCUSSION: These results were consistent with previous studies and the inference that postreceptor, M-cone neurons were differentially compromised by hypoxia. However, these measurable changes in color vision due to hypoxia were not perceived by the subjects.Bierman A, LaPlumm T, Rea MS. Declines in wavelength discrimination and shifts in unique hue with hypoxia. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2020; 91(5):394-402.

Evaluating the blue-light hazard from solid state lighting.

PURPOSE: New light sources including light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have elicited questions about retinal damage, including the blue-light hazard. Some organizations have recommended avoiding using LEDs with correlated color temperatures exceeding 3000 K, since they tend to produce greater short-wavelength energy. This article provides quantitative comparisons among light sources and use cases as they affect the blue-light hazard. METHODS: The spectral radiant power characteristics of incandescent, fluorescent, LED and daylight sources were evaluated in terms of blue-light hazard using standard procedures for phakic, aphakic and pseudophakic eyes. RESULTS: Under most use cases, LEDs do not exhibit greater risk for the blue-light hazard than other sources (e.g., incandescent). Because they generally produce little to no ultraviolet energy, LEDs often present less risk to aphakic eyes. CONCLUSIONS: LEDs present no special concerns for the blue-light hazard over some other common sources in typical use cases because photophobic responses limit exposure to bright sources. Where photophobic responses might not occur (e.g., eye surgery patients or premature infants) or where individuals suppress these responses (e.g., stage actors), caution is necessary. Evidence remains inconsistent regarding the risk of human retinal damage from long-term exposures to light insufficient to reach acute blue-light hazard thresholds.

A High-Throughput Phenotyping System Using Machine Vision to Quantify Severity of Grapevine Powdery Mildew.

Powdery mildews present specific challenges to phenotyping systems that are based on imaging. Having previously developed low-throughput, quantitative microscopy approaches for phenotyping resistance to Erysiphe necator on thousands of grape leaf disk samples for genetic analysis, here we developed automated imaging and analysis methods for E. necator severity on leaf disks. By pairing a 46-megapixel CMOS sensor camera, a long-working distance lens providing 3.5× magnification, X-Y sample positioning, and Z-axis focusing movement, the system captured 78% of the area of a 1-cm diameter leaf disk in 3 to 10 focus-stacked images within 13.5 to 26 seconds. Each image pixel represented 1.44 µm2 of the leaf disk. A convolutional neural network (CNN) based on GoogLeNet determined the presence or absence of E. necator hyphae in approximately 800 subimages per leaf disk as an assessment of severity, with a training validation accuracy of 94.3%. For an independent image set the CNN was in agreement with human experts for 89.3% to 91.7% of subimages. This live-imaging approach was nondestructive, and a repeated measures time course of infection showed differentiation among susceptible, moderate, and resistant samples. Processing over one thousand samples per day with good accuracy, the system can assess host resistance, chemical or biological efficacy, or other phenotypic responses of grapevine to E. necator. In addition, new CNNs could be readily developed for phenotyping within diverse pathosystems or for diverse traits amenable to leaf disk assays.

A train of blue light pulses delivered through closed eyelids suppresses melatonin and phase shifts the human circadian system.

A model of circadian phototransduction was published in 2005 to predict the spectral sensitivity of the human circadian system to narrow-band and polychromatic light sources by combining responses to light from the spectral-opponent "blue" versus "yellow" cone bipolar pathway with direct responses to light by the intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells. In the model, depolarizing "blue" responses, but not hyperpolarizing "yellow" responses, from the "blue" versus "yellow" pathway are combined with the intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cell responses. Intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cell neurons are known to be much slower to respond to light than the cone pathway, so an implication of the model is that periodic flashes of "blue" light, but not "yellow" light, would be effective for stimulating the circadian system. A within-subjects study was designed to test the implications of the model regarding retinal exposures to brief flashes of light. The study was also aimed at broadening the foundation for clinical treatment of circadian sleep disorders by delivering flashing light through closed eyelids while people were asleep. In addition to a dark control night, the eyelids of 16 subjects were exposed to three light-stimulus conditions in the phase delay portion of the phase response curve while they were asleep: (1) 2-second flashes of 111 W/m(2) of blue (λmax ≈ 480 nm) light once every minute for 1 hour, (2) 131 W/m(2) of green (λmax ≈ 527 nm) light, continuously on for 1 hour, and (3) 2-second flashes of the same green light once every minute for 1 hour. Inferential statistics showed that the blue flash light-stimulus condition significantly delayed circadian phase and significantly suppressed nocturnal melatonin. The results of this study further our basic understanding of circadian phototransduction and broaden the technical foundations for delivering light through closed eyelids during sleep for treating circadian sleep disorders.

Circadian Disruption: comparing humans with mice.

Disruption of the 24-h light-dark cycle has been implicated as an endocrine disruptor and linked to increased morbidity and mortality in animal studies. Previously reported measurements of circadian disruption in day-shift and rotating-shift nurses were compared with new mouse data where the light-dark patterns simulated shiftwork. Phasor magnitudes, a measure of circadian entrainment, were shown to be similar for humans and for mice when exposed to similar patterns of light and dark. Phasor analyses may be a useful method for quantitatively bridging ecological measurements of circadian disruption in human with parametric studies of health outcomes in a mouse model.

Measuring and predicting eyelid spectral transmittance.

The purpose of the present study was to objectively quantify the spectral transmittance of the eyelid. Reported here are data acquired using a technique that was developed to provide practical and accurate measurements of eyelid transmittance across the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. The empirical data were analyzed in terms of the absorption and scattering characteristics of the constituents of skin to develop a method for predicting eyelid transmission. Results showed that the eyelid has a much higher optical density at short wavelengths than previously published. The mean ± standard deviation (s.d.) optical density of the eyelid from 450 to 650 nm was 2.1 ± 0.3 with an optical density range among subjects of approximately 1.0. The study results indicate that skin pigmentation is poorly correlated with eyelid transmission; eyelid transmission is most affected by wavelength-independent macromolecules in the eyelid as well as its overall thickness.

Circadian light.

The present paper reflects a work in progress toward a definition of circadian light, one that should be informed by the thoughtful, century-old evolution of our present definition of light as a stimulus for the human visual system. This work in progress is based upon the functional relationship between optical radiation and its effects on nocturnal melatonin suppression, in large part because the basic data are available in the literature. Discussed here are the fundamental differences between responses by the visual and circadian systems to optical radiation. Brief reviews of photometry, colorimetry, and brightness perception are presented as a foundation for the discussion of circadian light. Finally, circadian light (CLA) and circadian stimulus (CS) calculation procedures based on a published mathematical model of human circadian phototransduction are presented with an example.

Preliminary evidence that both blue and red light can induce alertness at night.

BACKGROUND: A variety of studies have demonstrated that retinal light exposure can increase alertness at night. It is now well accepted that the circadian system is maximally sensitive to short-wavelength (blue) light and is quite insensitive to long-wavelength (red) light. Retinal exposures to blue light at night have been recently shown to impact alertness, implicating participation by the circadian system. The present experiment was conducted to look at the impact of both blue and red light at two different levels on nocturnal alertness. Visually effective but moderate levels of red light are ineffective for stimulating the circadian system. If it were shown that a moderate level of red light impacts alertness, it would have had to occur via a pathway other than through the circadian system. METHODS: Fourteen subjects participated in a within-subject two-night study, where each participant was exposed to four experimental lighting conditions. Each night each subject was presented a high (40 lx at the cornea) and a low (10 lx at the cornea) diffuse light exposure condition of the same spectrum (blue, lambda(max) = 470 nm, or red, lambda(max) = 630 nm). The presentation order of the light levels was counterbalanced across sessions for a given subject; light spectra were counterbalanced across subjects within sessions. Prior to each lighting condition, subjects remained in the dark (< 1 lx at the cornea) for 60 minutes. Electroencephalogram (EEG) measurements, electrocardiogram (ECG), psychomotor vigilance tests (PVT), self-reports of sleepiness, and saliva samples for melatonin assays were collected at the end of each dark and light periods. RESULTS: Exposures to red and to blue light resulted in increased beta and reduced alpha power relative to preceding dark conditions. Exposures to high, but not low, levels of red and of blue light significantly increased heart rate relative to the dark condition. Performance and sleepiness ratings were not strongly affected by the lighting conditions. Only the higher level of blue light resulted in a reduction in melatonin levels relative to the other lighting conditions. CONCLUSION: These results support previous findings that alertness may be mediated by the circadian system, but it does not seem to be the only light-sensitive pathway that can affect alertness at night.

A personal light-treatment device for improving sleep quality in the elderly: dynamics of nocturnal melatonin suppression at two exposure levels.

Light treatment has been used as a non-pharmacological tool to help mitigate poor sleep quality frequently found in older people. In order to increase compliance to non-pharmacological light treatments, new, more efficacious light-delivery systems need to be developed. A prototype personal light-treatment device equipped with low brightness blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs) (peak wavelength near 470 nm) was tested for its effectiveness in suppressing nocturnal melatonin, a measure of circadian stimulation. Two levels of corneal irradiance were set to deliver two prescribed doses of circadian light exposure. Eleven older subjects, between 51 and 80 yrs of age who met the selection criteria, were exposed to a high and a low level of light for 90 min on separate nights from the personal light-treatment device. Blood and saliva samples were collected at prescribed times for subsequent melatonin assay. After 1 h of light exposure, the light-induced nocturnal melatonin suppression level was about 35% for the low-light level and about 60% for the high-light level. The higher level of blue light suppressed melatonin more quickly, to a greater extent over the course of the 90 min exposure period, and maintained suppression after 60 min. The constant exposure of the low-light level resulted in a decrease in nocturnal melatonin suppression for the last sampling time, whereas for the high-light level, suppression continued throughout the entire exposure period. The present study performed with healthy adults suggests that the tested personal light-treatment device might be a practical, comfortable, and effective way to deliver light treatment to those suffering from circadian sleep disorders; however, the acceptance and effectiveness of personal light-treatment devices by older people and by other segments of the population suffering from sleep disorders in a real-life situation need to be directly tested.

A new approach to understanding the impact of circadian disruption on human health.

BACKGROUND: Light and dark patterns are the major synchronizer of circadian rhythms to the 24-hour solar day. Disruption of circadian rhythms has been associated with a variety of maladies. Ecological studies of human exposures to light are virtually nonexistent, however, making it difficult to determine if, in fact, light-induced circadian disruption directly affects human health. METHODS: A newly developed field measurement device recorded circadian light exposures and activity from day-shift and rotating-shift nurses. Circadian disruption defined in terms of behavioral entrainment was quantified for these two groups using phasor analyses of the circular cross-correlations between light exposure and activity. Circadian disruption also was determined for rats subjected to a consistent 12-hour light/12-hour dark pattern (12L:12D) and ones subjected to a "jet-lagged" schedule. RESULTS: Day-shift nurses and rats exposed to the consistent light-dark pattern exhibited pronounced similarities in their circular cross-correlation functions and 24-hour phasor representations except for an approximate 12-hour phase difference between species. The phase difference reflects the diurnal versus nocturnal behavior of humans versus rodents. Phase differences within species likely reflect chronotype differences among individuals. Rotating-shift nurses and rats subjected to the "jet-lagged" schedule exhibited significant reductions in phasor magnitudes compared to the day-shift nurses and the 12L:12D rats. The reductions in the 24-hour phasor magnitudes indicate a loss of behavioral entrainment compared to the nurses and the rats with regular light-dark exposure patterns. CONCLUSION: This paper provides a quantitative foundation for systematically studying the impact of light-induced circadian disruption in humans and in animal models. Ecological light and activity data are needed to develop the essential insights into circadian entrainment/disruption actually experienced by modern people. These data can now be obtained and analyzed to reveal the interrelationship between actual light exposures and markers of circadian rhythm such as rest-activity patterns, core body temperature, and melatonin synthesis. Moreover, it should now be possible to bridge ecological studies of circadian disruption in humans to parametric studies of the relationships between circadian disruption and health outcomes using animal models.

Retinal mechanisms determine the subadditive response to polychromatic light by the human circadian system.

Light is the major synchronizer of circadian rhythms to the 24-h solar day. The intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) play a central role in circadian regulation but cones also provide, albeit indirectly, input to these cells. In humans, spectrally opponent blue versus yellow (b-y) bipolar cells lying distal to the ganglion cell layer were hypothesized to provide direct input to the ipRGCs and therefore, the circadian system should exhibit subadditivity to some types of polychromatic light. Ten subjects participated in a within-subjects 3-night protocol. Three experimental conditions were employed that provided the same total irradiance at both eyes: (1) one unit of blue light (lambda(max)=450 nm, 0.077 W/m(2)) to the left eye plus one unit of green light (lambda(max)=525 nm, 0.211 W/m(2)) to the right eye, (2) one unit of blue light to the right eye plus one unit of green light to the left eye, and (3) 1/2 unit of blue light plus 1/2 unit of green light to both eyes. The first two conditions did not differ significantly in melatonin suppression while the third condition had significantly less melatonin suppression than conditions 1 and 2. Furthermore, the magnitudes of suppression were well predicted by a previously published model of circadian phototransduction incorporating spectral opponency. As was previously demonstrated, these results show that the human circadian system exhibits a subadditive response to certain polychromatic light spectra. This study demonstrates for the first time that subadditivity is due to spectrally opponent (color) retinal neurons.

On light as an alerting stimulus at night.

Light exposure at night increases alertness; however, it is not clear if light affects nocturnal alertness in the same way that it affects measures of circadian regulation. The purpose of this study was to determine if a previously established functional relationship between light and nocturnal melatonin suppression was the same as that relating light exposure and nocturnal alertness. Four levels of narrow-band blue light at the cornea were presented during nighttime sessions. The ratio of electroencephalographic alpha power density with eyes closed to eyes open (alpha attenuation coefficient, AAC) and the Norris mood scale were used. The AAC and ratings of alertness increased monotonically with irradiance and were highly correlated. Both measures of alertness were highly correlated with model predictions of nocturnal melatonin suppression for the same circadian light stimulus, consistent with the inference that the suprachiasmatic nuclei play an important role in nocturnal alertness as well as circadian regulation.

Demonstration of additivity failure in human circadian phototransduction.

OBJECTIVES: Published data, both on nocturnal melatonin suppression in humans and on widely accepted retinal structure and function, suggest that spectral opponency plays a role in human circadian phototransduction. We directly test subadditivity, implied by spectral opponency, in human circadian phototransduction in response to nearly monochromatic and to polychromatic light. METHODS: Adult male human subjects were exposed for 60 minutes to two intensities each of two lighting conditions, during nighttime experimental sessions. One condition consisted of light from mercury vapor lamps (450 and 1050 lx), and one condition consisted of light from these lamps filtered such that only the spectral line from this lamp at 436 nm was presented to subjects (7.5 and 15 lx). RESULTS: Melatonin suppression from the filtered illumination at 436 nm alone was greater than mercury lamp illumination (containing energy at 436 nm in addition to other wavelengths), even when the sources exposed subjects' retinae to equal amounts of irradiance at 436 nm. CONCLUSION: This direct test of subadditivity, together with evidence from neuroanatomy, supports the inference that spectral opponency is a fundamental characteristic of human circadian phototransduction.