@article{JariusRuprechtWildemannetal.2012, author = {Jarius, Sven and Ruprecht, Klemens and Wildemann, Brigitte and Kuempfel, Tania and Ringelstein, Marius and Geis, Christian and Kleiter, Ingo and Kleinschnitz, Christoph and Berthele, Achim and Brettschneider, Johannes and Hellwig, Kerstin and Hemmer, Bernhard and Linker, Ralf A. and Lauda, Florian and Hayrettin, Christoph A. and Tumani, Hayrettin and Melms, Arthur and Trebst, Corinna and Stangel, Martin and Marziniak, Martin and Hoffmann, Frank and Schippling, Sven and Faiss, J{\"u}rgen H. and Neuhaus, Oliver and Ettrich, Barbara and Zentner, Christian and Guthke, Kersten and Hofstadt-van Oy, Ulrich and Reuss, Reinhard and Pellkofer, Hannah and Ziemann, Ulf and Kern, Peter and Wandinger, Klaus P. and Bergh, Florian Then and Boettcher, Tobias and Langel, Stefan and Liebetrau, Martin and Rommer, Paulus S. and Niehaus, Sabine and M{\"u}nch, Christoph and Winkelmann, Alexander and Zettl, Uwe K and Metz, Imke and Veauthier, Christian and Sieb, J{\"o}rn P. and Wilke, Christian and Hartung, Hans P. and Aktas, Orhan and Paul, Friedemann}, title = {Contrasting disease patterns in seropositive and seronegative neuromyelitis optica: A multicentre study of 175 patients}, series = {Journal of Neuroinflammation}, volume = {9}, journal = {Journal of Neuroinflammation}, number = {14}, doi = {10.1186/1742-2094-9-14}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-133636}, year = {2012}, abstract = {Background: The diagnostic and pathophysiological relevance of antibodies to aquaporin-4 (AQP4-Ab) in patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD) has been intensively studied. However, little is known so far about the clinical impact of AQP4-Ab seropositivity. Objective: To analyse systematically the clinical and paraclinical features associated with NMO spectrum disorders in Caucasians in a stratified fashion according to the patients' AQP4-Ab serostatus. Methods: Retrospective study of 175 Caucasian patients (AQP4-Ab positive in 78.3\%). Results: Seropositive patients were found to be predominantly female (p < 0.0003), to more often have signs of co-existing autoimmunity (p < 0.00001), and to experience more severe clinical attacks. A visual acuity of <= 0.1 during acute optic neuritis (ON) attacks was more frequent among seropositives (p < 0.002). Similarly, motor symptoms were more common in seropositive patients, the median Medical Research Council scale (MRC) grade worse, and MRC grades <= 2 more frequent, in particular if patients met the 2006 revised criteria (p < 0.005, p < 0.006 and p < 0.01, respectively), the total spinal cord lesion load was higher (p < 0.006), and lesions >= 6 vertebral segments as well as entire spinal cord involvement more frequent (p < 0.003 and p < 0.043). By contrast, bilateral ON at onset was more common in seronegatives (p < 0.007), as was simultaneous ON and myelitis (p < 0.001); accordingly, the time to diagnosis of NMO was shorter in the seronegative group (p < 0.029). The course of disease was more often monophasic in seronegatives (p < 0.008). Seropositives and seronegatives did not differ significantly with regard to age at onset, time to relapse, annualized relapse rates, outcome from relapse (complete, partial, no recovery), annualized EDSS increase, mortality rate, supratentorial brain lesions, brainstem lesions, history of carcinoma, frequency of preceding infections, oligoclonal bands, or CSF pleocytosis. Both the time to relapse and the time to diagnosis was longer if the disease started with ON (p < 0.002 and p < 0.013). Motor symptoms or tetraparesis at first myelitis and > 1 myelitis attacks in the first year were identified as possible predictors of a worse outcome.}, language = {en} } @article{KernKullmannGanaletal.2021, author = {Kern, Florian and Kullmann, Peter and Ganal, Elisabeth and Korwisi, Kristof and Stingl, Ren{\´e} and Niebling, Florian and Latoschik, Marc Erich}, title = {Off-The-Shelf Stylus: Using XR Devices for Handwriting and Sketching on Physically Aligned Virtual Surfaces}, series = {Frontiers in Virtual Reality}, volume = {2}, journal = {Frontiers in Virtual Reality}, doi = {10.3389/frvir.2021.684498}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-260219}, year = {2021}, abstract = {This article introduces the Off-The-Shelf Stylus (OTSS), a framework for 2D interaction (in 3D) as well as for handwriting and sketching with digital pen, ink, and paper on physically aligned virtual surfaces in Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality (VR, AR, MR: XR for short). OTSS supports self-made XR styluses based on consumer-grade six-degrees-of-freedom XR controllers and commercially available styluses. The framework provides separate modules for three basic but vital features: 1) The stylus module provides stylus construction and calibration features. 2) The surface module provides surface calibration and visual feedback features for virtual-physical 2D surface alignment using our so-called 3ViSuAl procedure, and surface interaction features. 3) The evaluation suite provides a comprehensive test bed combining technical measurements for precision, accuracy, and latency with extensive usability evaluations including handwriting and sketching tasks based on established visuomotor, graphomotor, and handwriting research. The framework's development is accompanied by an extensive open source reference implementation targeting the Unity game engine using an Oculus Rift S headset and Oculus Touch controllers. The development compares three low-cost and low-tech options to equip controllers with a tip and includes a web browser-based surface providing support for interacting, handwriting, and sketching. The evaluation of the reference implementation based on the OTSS framework identified an average stylus precision of 0.98 mm (SD = 0.54 mm) and an average surface accuracy of 0.60 mm (SD = 0.32 mm) in a seated VR environment. The time for displaying the stylus movement as digital ink on the web browser surface in VR was 79.40 ms on average (SD = 23.26 ms), including the physical controller's motion-to-photon latency visualized by its virtual representation (M = 42.57 ms, SD = 15.70 ms). The usability evaluation (N = 10) revealed a low task load, high usability, and high user experience. Participants successfully reproduced given shapes and created legible handwriting, indicating that the OTSS and it's reference implementation is ready for everyday use. We provide source code access to our implementation, including stylus and surface calibration and surface interaction features, making it easy to reuse, extend, adapt and/or replicate previous results (https://go.uniwue.de/hci-otss).}, language = {en} } @article{WinterKernGalletal.2021, author = {Winter, Carla and Kern, Florian and Gall, Dominik and Latoschik, Marc Erich and Pauli, Paul and K{\"a}thner, Ivo}, title = {Immersive virtual reality during gait rehabilitation increases walking speed and motivation: a usability evaluation with healthy participants and individuals with multiple sclerosis and stroke}, series = {Journal of Neuroengineering and Rehabilitation}, volume = {18}, journal = {Journal of Neuroengineering and Rehabilitation}, number = {1}, issn = {1743-0003}, doi = {10.1186/s12984-021-00848-w}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-258698}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Background: The rehabilitation of gait disorders in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and stroke is often based on conventional treadmill training. Virtual reality (VR)-based treadmill training can increase motivation and improve therapy outcomes. The present study evaluated an immersive virtual reality application (using a head-mounted display, HMD) for gait rehabilitation with patients to (1) demonstrate its feasibility and acceptance and to (2) compare its short-term effects to a semi-immersive presentation (using a monitor) and a conventional treadmill training without VR to assess the usability of both systems and estimate the effects on walking speed and motivation. Methods: In a within-subjects study design, 36 healthy participants and 14 persons with MS or stroke participated in each of the three experimental conditions (VR via HMD, VR via monitor, treadmill training without VR). Results: For both groups, the walking speed in the HMD condition was higher than in treadmill training without VR and in the monitor condition. Healthy participants reported a higher motivation after the HMD condition as compared with the other conditions. Importantly, no side effects in the sense of simulator sickness occurred and usability ratings were high. No increases in heart rate were observed following the VR conditions. Presence ratings were higher for the HMD condition compared with the monitor condition for both user groups. Most of the healthy study participants (89\%) and patients (71\%) preferred the HMD-based training among the three conditions and most patients could imagine using it more frequently. Conclusions For the first time, the present study evaluated the usability of an immersive VR system for gait rehabilitation in a direct comparison with a semi-immersive system and a conventional training without VR with healthy participants and patients. The study demonstrated the feasibility of combining a treadmill training with immersive VR. Due to its high usability and low side effects, it might be particularly suited for patients to improve training motivation and training outcome e. g. the walking speed compared with treadmill training using no or only semi-immersive VR. Immersive VR systems still require specific technical setup procedures. This should be taken into account for specific clinical use-cases during a cost-benefit assessment.}, language = {en} }