LED for hyperspectral imaging - a new selection method.

Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) has become a sophisticated technique in modern applications such as food analyses, recycling technology, medicine, pharmacy and forensic science. It allows one to analyse both spatial and spectral information from an object. But hyperspectral cameras are still expensive due to their extended wavelength range. The development of new light-emitting diodes (LED) in the recent past enables another approach to HSI using a monochrome camera in combination with a LED-based illumination. However, such a system has a lower spectral resolution. Additionally, the growing supply of LED on the market complicates the selection of LED. In this paper, we propose a new time efficient selection method for the design process of an illumination. It chooses an optimised LED combination from an existing database to match a predefined spectral power distribution. Therefore, an algorithm is used to evaluate various LED combinations. Furthermore, the method considers the spectral behaviour of each LED in dependence of forward current and temperature of the solder point. Our method has already shown promise during the selection process for even spectral distributions which is demonstrated in the study. Additionally, we will show its potential for HSI illuminations.

"On-site" prevention and education to improve cardiac pre-competition screening in competitive amateur athletes.

STUDY/PRINCIPLES: To assess the effects of an "on-site" prevention and education programme to improve the cardiac screening in competitive amateur athletes. METHODS: We integrated an "on-site prevention and education programme" at the 2012 edition of the Swiss Alpine Marathon in Davos, Switzerland. After a specific lecture, the athletes could visit a "Sports-Cardiology-Section" at the official "medical-park". On an anonymised questionnaire, they could state their intention for a screening programme in general and after our "on-site" intervention. RESULTS: Among the 150 athletes who attended the medical day (3.3% of 4,500 finishers) the response rate was 82%. While 39 (31.7%) athletes were aware of "exercise related SCD", more than twice as many (64.2%) were not. 72.4% of the participants (n = 89) reported that they never had taken part in cardiac screening examinations. 70.7% (n = 87) runners were convinced that they would benefit from such a screening. 65.9% (n = 81) of the runners stated that our "on-site" prevention concept influenced their decision to consider a cardiac screening in the future. CONCLUSION: An "on-site prevention and education" concept for the prevention of SCD in competitive amateur athletes is feasible and successfully increased the athletes' awareness of the issue. The vast majority of athletes felt to have benefited from such a programme. The current study confirms that there is an alarming lack of preventive measures in the very large group of ambitious, competitive, amateur athletes that are frequently underprepared for challenging sports events.