NIKE BLUETRACK: Blue Force Tracking in GNSS-Denied Environments Based on the Fusion of UWB, IMUs and 3D Models.

Blue force tracking represents an essential task in the field of military applications. A blue force tracking system provides the location information of their own forces on a map to commanders. For the command post, this results in more efficient operation control with increasing safety. In underground structures (e.g., tunnels or subways), the localisation is challenging due to the lack of GNSS signals. This paper presents a localisation system for military or emergency forces tailored to usage in complex underground structures. In a particle filter, position changes from a dual foot-mounted INS are fused with opportunistic UWB ranges and data from a 3D tunnel model to derive position information. A concept to deal with the absence of UWB infrastructure or 3D tunnel models is illustrated. Recurrent neural network methodologies are applied to cope with different motion types of the operators. The evaluation of the positioning algorithm took place in a street tunnel. If a fully installed infrastructure was available, positioning errors under one metre were reached. The results also showed that the INS can bridge UWB outages. A particle-filter-based approach to UWB anchor mapping is presented, and the first simulation results showed its viability.

Increased red blood cell deformation in children and adolescents after SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is associated with hyperinflammation, hypercoagulability and hypoxia. Red blood cells (RBCs) play a key role in microcirculation and hypoxemia and are therefore of special interest in COVID-19 pathophysiology. While this novel disease has claimed the lives of many older patients, it often goes unnoticed or with mild symptoms in children. This study aimed to investigate morphological and mechanical characteristics of RBCs after SARS-CoV-2 infection in children and adolescents by real-time deformability-cytometry (RT-DC), to investigate the relationship between alterations of RBCs and clinical course of COVID-19. Full blood of 121 students from secondary schools in Saxony, Germany, was analyzed. SARS-CoV-2-serostatus was acquired at the same time. Median RBC deformation was significantly increased in SARS-CoV-2-seropositive compared to seronegative children and adolescents, but no difference could be detected when the infection dated back more than 6 months. Median RBC area was the same in seropositive and seronegative adolescents. Our findings of increased median RBC deformation in SARS-CoV-2 seropositive children and adolescents until 6 months post COVID-19 could potentially serve as a progression parameter in the clinical course of the disease with an increased RBC deformation pointing towards a mild course of COVID-19.

Depressive disorders are associated with increased peripheral blood cell deformability: a cross-sectional case-control study (Mood-Morph).

Pathophysiological landmarks of depressive disorders are chronic low-grade inflammation and elevated glucocorticoid output. Both can potentially interfere with cytoskeleton organization, cell membrane bending and cell function, suggesting altered cell morpho-rheological properties like cell deformability and other cell mechanical features in depressive disorders. We performed a cross-sectional case-control study using the image-based morpho-rheological characterization of unmanipulated blood samples facilitating real-time deformability cytometry (RT-DC). Sixty-nine pre-screened individuals at high risk for depressive disorders and 70 matched healthy controls were included and clinically evaluated by Composite International Diagnostic Interview leading to lifetime and 12-month diagnoses. Facilitating deep learning on blood cell images, major blood cell types were classified and morpho-rheological parameters such as cell size and cell deformability of every individual cell was quantified. We found peripheral blood cells to be more deformable in patients with depressive disorders compared to controls, while cell size was not affected. Lifetime persistent depressive disorder was associated with increased cell deformability in monocytes and neutrophils, while in 12-month persistent depressive disorder erythrocytes deformed more. Lymphocytes were more deformable in 12-month major depressive disorder, while for lifetime major depressive disorder no differences could be identified. After correction for multiple testing, only associations for lifetime persistent depressive disorder remained significant. This is the first study analyzing morpho-rheological properties of entire blood cells and highlighting depressive disorders and in particular persistent depressive disorders to be associated with increased blood cell deformability. While all major blood cells tend to be more deformable, lymphocytes, monocytes, and neutrophils are mostly affected. This indicates that immune cell mechanical changes occur in depressive disorders, which might be predictive of persistent immune response.