Representation of skin carcinomas in public awareness - Awareness worldwide and in Germany.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: In recent years, there has been an increase in skin cancer. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate the representation of skin cancer in public awareness worldwide and in Germany, and to determine whether Skin Cancer Awareness Month is represented in the search interests of the Internet-using population in the same way as Breast Cancer Awareness Month worldwide. DATA AND METHODS: In this study, Google Trends data were used to track levels of public awareness for different tumor entities and skin cancer types worldwide and for Germany. RESULTS: The results of this analysis clearly showed a high level of relative public search interest in breast cancer worldwide in the awareness month of October. Worldwide and in Germany, there was a certain increase in search interest and a certain seasonal effect around the May awareness month for skin cancer. For example, the analysis showed a search interest in May and during the summer months in Germany. CONCLUSIONS: It is likely that the population, for example in Germany, may benefit further from an even greater emphasis on the topic of skin cancer.

Public awareness for "classic" childhood diseases and inflammatory syndromes in children during the COVID-19 pandemic.

OBJECTIVES: The objective was to analyze in silico public search interest during the COVID-19 pandemic for some classic infectious childhood diseases, e.g., measles, mumps, chickenpox, scarlet fever, and inflammatory diseases like Kawasaki disease and the pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome (PIMS). STUDY DESIGN: In this study, a comparison of five childhood diseases in public search trends with the pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome was performed. METHODS: Google Trends data for the period of five years for six childhood diseases were used. We used topics coverings all languages worldwide and all connected search queries. RESULTS: Public search interest decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic for some classic infectious childhood diseases. Search interest for the pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome, despite strong indication of a connection with COVID-19, remained relatively low compared to Kawasaki disease. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Better understanding of Google Trends can map public awareness of childhood diseases in terms of time course and search intensity. CONCLUSIONS: Public interest during the pandemic was generated for diseases with suspected connection to COVID-19, presumably due to media triggers.

Multi-wavelength, handheld laser speckle imaging for skin evaluation.

OBJECTIVE: A handheld device was developed and qualified for in vivo human skin evaluation using laser speckle imaging technology. METHODS: Each laser speckle device prototype allows the choice of up to three different laser wavelengths in the range of 400 nm to 800 nm in total. Speckle pattern analysis gives various speckle parameters, for example, speckle contrast, speckle size, speckle modulation or fractal dimension. The developed laser speckle device prototypes were evaluated investigating three skin issues. RESULTS: We receive reproducible results from the speckle imaging device. For skin ageing, we found significant changes within three age groups. The effect of a methyl nicotinate treatment was clearly visible and quantifiable using a moorFLPI device as well as our speckle imaging device. In terms of basal cell carcinoma diagnosis, we found significant differences between normal and diseased skin, even though the number of samples was limited. CONCLUSION: As shown with first application examples, it was possible to demonstrate the potential of the method for skin evaluation in vivo.

Application of a drainage film reduces fibroblast ingrowth into large-pored polyurethane foam during negative-pressure wound therapy in an in vitro model.

Negative-pressure wound therapy (NPWT) is an advantageous treatment option in wound management to promote healing and reduce the risk of complications. NPWT is mainly carried out using open-cell polyurethane (PU) foams that stimulate granulation tissue formation. However, growth of wound bed tissue into foam material, leading to disruption of newly formed tissue upon dressing removal, has been observed. Consequently, it would be of clinical interest to preserve the positive effects of open-cell PU foams while avoiding cellular ingrowth. The study presented analyzed effects of NPWT using large-pored PU foam, fine-pored PU foam, and the combination of large-pored foam with drainage film on human dermal fibroblasts grown in a collagen matrix. The results showed no difference between the dressings in stimulating cellular migration during NPWT. However, when NPWT was applied using a large-pored PU foam, the fibroblasts continued to migrate into the dressing. This led to significant breaches in the cell layers upon removal of the samples after vacuum treatment. In contrast, cell migration stopped at the collagen matrix edge when fine-pored PU foam was used, as well as with the combination of PU foam and drainage film. In conclusion, placing a drainage film between collagen matrix and the large-pored PU foam dressing reduced the ingrowth of cells into the foam significantly. Moreover, positive effects on cellular migration were not affected, and the effect of the foam on tissue surface roughness in vitro was also reduced.

Maximum generable interest: A universal standard for Google Trends search queries.

The coronavirus or COVID-19 pandemic represents a health event with far-reaching global consequences, triggering a strong search interest in related topics on the Internet worldwide. The use of search engine data has become commonplace in research, but a universal standard for comparing different works is desirable to simplify the comparison. The coronavirus pandemic's enormous impact and media coverage have triggered an exceptionally high search interest. Consequently, the maximum generable interest (MGI) on coronavirus is proposed as a universal reference for objectifying and comparing relative search interest in the future. This search interest can be explored with search engine data such as Google Trends data. Additional standards for medium and low search volumes can also be used to reflect the search interest of topics at different levels. Size standards, such as reference to MGI, may help make research more comparable and better evaluate relative search volumes. This study presents a framework for this purpose using the example of stroke.

Influence of the COVID-19 pandemic measures on incidence and representation of other infectious diseases in Germany: a lesson to be learnt.

Aim: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a wide range of serious health, social and economic consequences. To counteract the pandemic, various measures and restrictions such as lockdowns, closures, social distancing, hygiene, and protective measures such as wearing face masks have been enforced. Apart from the COVID-19 pandemic, these measures also had effects on other transmittable diseases. This study therefore determined the impact on case numbers and interest for other infectious diseases as well. Subject and methods: Anonymized data on reported case numbers from the German Robert Koch Institute and data from Google Trends about the search interest have been used in this study to track courses of infectious diseases before and during the coronavirus pandemic in Germany. Results: The results of this analysis clearly demonstrated that the case numbers of influenza, whooping cough, measles, mumps, scarlet fever and chicken pox decreased in the pandemic years, most probably due to anti-pandemic measures in Germany. Additionally, the Google Trends analysis demonstrated public awareness, documented by a corresponding search interest, for the new topic COVID-19 and for other infectious diseases. Conclusion: Online available data provided valuable sources for research purposes in infodemiology or infoveillance.

Representation of long COVID syndrome in the awareness of the population is revealed by Google Trends analysis.

In some COVID-19 patients, symptoms persist for several weeks and sometimes, after the acute disease phase, these patients develop new symptoms, which then represents a transition into the so-called long COVID. The exact demarcation of the terms and generally applicable definitions are still discussed, but the phenomenon is most commonly referred to as long COVID. In this study, Google Trends data have been used to track levels of public awareness for long COVID and some important symptoms during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of this analysis clearly demonstrate the public interest in the new topic of long COVID, as documented by a corresponding search volume. This is related to the disease COVID-19, which is being spread by the corona pandemic. Relevant symptoms for COVID-19 or long COVID, for example ageusia and anosmia, only started to receive more public attention during the pandemic. Therefore, Google Trends is a useful tool to demonstrate the population's awareness of certain infodemiological topics like long COVID.

Evaluation of weekly COVID-19 vaccination and case data supports negative correlation between incidence and vaccination in German federal states and cities during 4th wave.

Global efforts have been made to end the COVID-19 pandemic. Among other things, various vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, partly based on novel principles, have been developed internationally within a short time. While initially the hardly available vaccines were distributed according to criteria according to defined priorities, in Germany, after the prioritization has been lifted, attempts are being made to provide as many people as possible with vaccinations. The study examines the relationship between vaccination and incidence in 16 German federal states and city states using data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). Clear trends became apparent, showing a negative correlation between the vaccination rate and the infection incidence. This indicates that during the 4th corona wave in Germany, the lower the incidence, the higher the vaccination rate.

The rise of infodemiology and infoveillance during COVID-19 crisis.

We noticed an increase in the relative number of published papers on topics such as infoveillance, infodemiology and Google Trends. Collected PubMed data are from the period of January 2020 to March 2021 and were searched with the use of five keywords: infoveillance, infodemiology, Google Trends, diabetes and in silico. We compared an increase in the number of papers from PubMed with search interest expressed in Google Trends. Collected Google Trends data is from the same period, covering fifteen months starting January 2020 and were searched with the use of three search topics: coronavirus, lockdown and social distancing. The geographic setting for search engine users was worldwide. We propose a hypothesis that after increased interest in searches during the pandemic's initial months came an increased number of published papers on topics such as infoveillance, infodemiology and Google Trends.