Virtually Better

Typically, TV producers of motor-racing programs manually overlay visuals to provide on-screen context, such as a driver's name, position, or photo. Chroma Tools, deployed on live Formula E broadcast, automates these tasks and enables dynamic overlays that track the racers as they appear on the screen in strict real time.

We provide a critical review of digital technologies in evidence-based treatments (EBTs) for mental health with a focus on the functions technologies are intended to serve. The review highlights issues related to clarity of purpose, usability, and assumptions related to EBT technology integration, branding, and packaging. Developers continue to use technology in creative ways, often combining multiple functions to convey existing EBTs or to create new technology-enabled EBTs. Developers have a strong preference for creating and investigating whole-source, branded solutions related to specific EBTs, in comparison to developing or investigating technology tools related to specific components of behavior change, or developing specific clinical protocols that can be delivered via existing technologies. Default assumptions that new applications are required for each individual EBT, that EBTs are best served by the use of only one technology solution rather than multiple tools, and that an EBT-specific technology product should include or convey all portions of an EBT slow scientific progress and increase risk of usability issues that negatively impact uptake. We contend that a purposeful, functions-based approach should guide the selection, development, and application of technology in support of EBT delivery.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is reported to be caused by traumatic events that are outside the range of usual human experiences including (but not limited to) military combat, violent personal assault, being kidnapped or taken hostage and terrorist attacks. Initial data suggests that 1 out of 6 Iraq War veterans are exhibiting symptoms of depression, anxiety and PTSD. Virtual Reality (VR) exposure treatment has been used in previous treatments of PTSD patients with reports of positive outcomes. The aim of the current paper is to present the rationale, technical specifications, application features and user-centered design process for the development of a Virtual Iraq PTSD VR therapy application. The VR treatment environment is being created via the recycling of virtual graphic assets that were initially built for the U.S. Army-funded combat tactical simulation scenario and commercially successful X-Box game, Full Spectrum Warrior, in addition to other available and newly created assets. Thus far we have created a series of customizable virtual scenarios designed to represent relevant contexts for exposure therapy to be conducted in VR, including a city and desert road convoy environment. User-Centered tests with the application are currently underway at the Naval Medical Center-San Diego and within an Army Combat Stress Control Team in Iraq with clinical trials scheduled to commence in February 2006.

There are several effective treatment approaches for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These include pharmacotherapy, psychotherapy, and a multitude of augmentation strategies which seek to combine different medications and therapy to enhance treatment efficacy. There are some data to support pharmacotherapy as an effective form of treatment for PTSD (Stein, Ipser, & Seedat, Cochrane Database Syst Rev 25:CD002795, 2006). However, exposure therapy (ET) is the only treatment with sufficient empirical evidence to be recommended by the Institute of Medicine (IOM, Treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder: An assessment of the evidence. The National Academies Press, Washington, DC, 2008). Still, due to the avoidant nature of PTSD, ET does not work for everyone. This chapter investigates different augmentation strategies which include adding an antipsychotic medication to the ongoing SSRI pharmacotherapy, adding an SSRI to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and finally, adding a medication called d-Cycloserine (DCS) acutely during ET. DCS has been shown to enhance the extinction of fear in rodents (Walker, Ressler, Lu, & Davis, The Journal of Neuroscience, 22(6), 2343–2351, 2002) as well as during ET for humans for a number of anxiety disorders (Ressler et al., Archives of General Psychiatry, 61(11), 1136–1144, 2004; Otto et al., Biological Psychiatry, 67(4), 365–370, 2010). Its effect on PTSD, however, is largely unknown. Along with reviewing the literature on DCS, this chapter introduces a number of studies currently underway investigating the effect of DCS on ET for PTSD.

The effectiveness of virtual reality (VR) as a behavioral intervention designed to decrease distress during port access procedure was examined in 20 7- to 14-year-old pediatric oncology patients. Children were randomized to either engage in an immersive VR environment during the procedure or to a no VR control condition. Children's distress was assessed through subjective self-ratings and objective physiological and behavioral ratings. Narrative accounts of the experience were used as a measure of how well the child coped with the procedure. VR was effective in reducing children's distress on all measures. Implications of these findings for intervention are discussed.

Die Bilanzgleichung last sich auch schreiben: $$Q = {G_t} \cdot {c_h}\mathop {({t_h}}\limits_{(1)} - {t_r}) + {G_L} \cdot {c_{pr}}\mathop {({t_h}}\limits_{(2)} - {t_r}) + {G_L}({i_{Dh}} - {c_w} \cdot \mathop {{t_r}}\limits_{(3)} )({x_h} - {x_r}) + \mathop {{Q_{verl}}}\limits_{(4)} $$ fur Verdunstung $$Q = {G_t} \cdot \mathop {{c_h}}\limits_{(1)} ({t_h} - {t_r}) + {G_t}({i_{Dh}} - \mathop {{c_w}}\limits_{(3)} \cdot {t_r})({x_r} - {x_h}) + \mathop {{Q_{verl}}}\limits_{(4)} $$ fur Verdampfung