Biomedical Parameters Research Articles

Wireless Stand-alone Portable Patient Monitoring and Logging System

In this paper, we propose a wireless stand-alone, embedded system design that integrates the monitoring of three biomedical parameters into a single personal medical device. The three parameters are: blood glucose level, heart rate, and pulse oximetry. The goal of this work is to build a compact and cost-effective device capable of monitoring several medical parameters while patients conduct their normal daily activities, and store these parameter readings in an embedded system-based portable device. A communication protocol and patient monitoring software application are developed to store data that can be later downloaded to a physician’s workstation for analysis and diagnosis.

The Relationship between IMPS-measured Stress Score and Biomedical Parameters Regarding Health Status among Public School Workers

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between the stress score measured using the Inventory to Measure Psychosocial Stress (IMPS) and biomedical parameters regarding health status among apparently healthy subjects in order to evaluate the validity of the IMPS. Out of the 1,941 public school workers in Kyushu and Okinawa, Japan, who were admitted to a hospital for medical check-ups, 1,499 workers responded to questionnaires which assessed the degree of stress response (i.e., stress score) measured using the IMPS, and the degree of stress tolerance capacity (i.e., stress intolerance score) measured using the Inventory to Measure Stress Tolerance Capacity (IMST). One thousand two-hundred and one workers (684 men and 517 women) were analyzed, excluding 298 subjects who were taking medication for hypertension, hyperuricemia, hyperlipidemia and diabetes, or had a value for glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c)>or=6.0 percent. An increase in the stress score was positively associated with an increase in both body fat percentage and glycosylated hemoglobin values among men, while it was positively associated with an increase in plasma triglyceride concentrations among women. The stress score significantly correlated with the value for glycosylated hemoglobin even after controlling for age, body mass index, alcohol consumption, smoking, and exercise among men. An increase in the stress intolerance score was positively associated with an increase in body fat percentage among men, while it was positively associated with an increase in body weight, body mass index, and body fat percentage among women. Our result that the stress score measured using the IMPS was associated with obesity and unfavorable glycemic changes is in congruency with the model that psychosocial stress has a detrimental effect on humans by inducing obesity and insulin resistance, suggesting that the IMPS is a valid means to evaluate psychosocial stress levels among an otherwise healthy population.

The ontology of childbirth

Recently I was reflecting on the experience of working as a bank midwife on a busy consultant unit. Much of the time I feel like I am an obstetric nurse, occasionally punctuated by a wonderful physiological birth when I feel like a midwife again. I trained to ‘be’ a midwife but much of the ‘doing’ of midwifery appears tangential to this initial call. The differences between being a midwife and doing stuff that a midwife does on modern delivery suites is crucial. Many influential writers like Nicky Leap, Kathleen Fahy and Holly Powell Kennedy have highlighted the difference. One emanates from a state of being and the great philosophical line of enquiry known as ontology. The question of ontology or ‘what does it mean to exist’ or ‘to be’ has been equally as important in the history of philosophical thought as the other great question of epistemology, ‘what is knowledge’ or ‘how do we know’. Knowledge is the basis of ‘the doing’ that guides practice. We are more familiar with knowledge for practice or epistemological concerns as the debates around evidence illustrate. For example, much of the ‘doing’ on busy delivery suites is based on one kind of epistemology – biomedical knowledge (observations and measurement of labour progress and biomedical parameters).

Functional Evaluation of Handgrip Signals for Parkinsonian Patients

This paper concerns the problem of recording and analyzing biomedical data that characterize the motor activities of the limbs in patients suffering from Parkinson's disease. The aim of this paper is the individuation of suitable parameters that are useful for detecting subjects affected by Parkinson's disease and revealing the state of the patient. Hence, a simple and inexpensive system that measures the force of palmar grip is presented and discussed, and a suitable software protocol that is able to record and manage the acquired data is developed. Finally, some biomedical parameters have been identified, characterizing the motor activities of limbs. The study of these parameters and the analysis of the correlations between the acquired data permit taking out useful information and details about the objective evaluation of Parkinson pathology, taking into account the metrological characteristics of the used measurement system

Programme d'éducation thérapeutique collective pour l'enfant asthmatique à Nantes

A program of patient education was set up at the CHU of Nantes, for groups of children with asthma in 1997. The aim of this study is to realize a formative evaluation to corelate with some effects. This study was proposed to 99 families with asthmatic children. A written questionnaire, was administered to the parents and children, exploring their satisfaction with the programme, their general knowledge and know-how, biomedical parameters. The observation focused on skills and day-to-day life with the illness. The study was completed by 21 families. The majority of the children, aged 7 to 11 years old, had asthma that needed treatment. All of the parents and children were satisfied with their visit to "l'espace du souffle". They all declared having increased their general knowledge and know-how and biomedical parameters did better. They did, however, feel that they did not know enough about how to recognise precursory symptoms of an attack, about how to practise a sport or how to use "corticoids". They also could not control their personal fear during an attack. During the oral questionnaire a general feeling of stress and worry was clearly noticeable in the parents feeling, that did not appear in the written questionnaire. This patient education program appears to be beneficial. Furthermore, this evaluation highlights some subjects that pass unseen during current individual consultations.

Relationship of serum leptin concentration with age, gender, and biomedical parameters in healthy, non-obese subjects

It is known that the circulating levels of leptin, the adipocyte hormone implicated in the control of energy balance, are correlated with fat body mass (FBM), although the influences of other physiological conditions are not fully understood. We investigated the relationships of serum leptin concentration with age, gender, and 36 hormone-metabolic parameters in a sample of a well defined healthy population ( n = 246; age range 20–93 years), and in subgroups of lean individuals according to their body mass index (BMI), within similar age range and gender distribution. Only insulin secretion (positively) and testosteronemia (negatively, in males) show direct correlations. The other relationships are not significant but throughout collaborating variables, such as serum lipids, especially through FBM, lean body mass (LBM) through insulin secretion, and gender through FBM. In males, LBM correlates with insulin secretions, s-IGF-1 and with s-testosterone. The relationship between insulin secretion and LBM persists up to advanced age. From the present study it may be concluded that the positive relationship of leptin with insulin secretion and the negative one with testosterone, indicate direct implications of leptin in insulin signaling, as well as in male sexual development. Finally, the fact that the amount of secreted insulin depends on LBM and the latter on testosterone and IGF-1, indicates the importance of muscle mass in the control of insulin secretion.

Fast parametric imaging algorithm for dual-input biomedical system parameter estimation

Medical parametric imaging with dynamic positron emission tomography (PET) plays an increasingly potential role in modern biomedical research and clinical diagnosis. The key issue in parametric imaging is to estimate parameters based on sampled data at the pixel-by-pixel level from certain dynamic processes described by valid mathematical models. Classic nonlinear least squares (NLS) algorithm requires a “good” initial guess and the computational time-complexity is high, which is impractical for image-wide parameter estimation. Although a variety of fast parametric imaging techniques have been developed, most of them focus on single input systems, which do not provide an optimal solution for dual-input biomedical system parameter estimation, which is the case of liver metabolism. In this study, a dual-input-generalized linear least squares (D-I-GLLS) algorithm was proposed to identify the model parameters including the parameter in the dual-input function. Monte Carlo simulation was conducted to examine this novel fast algorithm. The results of the quantitative analysis suggested that the proposed technique could provide comparable reliability of the parameter estimation with NLS fitting and accurately identify the parameter in the dual-input function. This method may be potentially applicable to other dual-input biomedical system parameter estimation as well.

A tissue impedance measurement chip for myocardial ischemia detection

In this paper, the design of a specific integrated circuit for the measurement of tissue impedances is presented. The circuit will be part of a multi-micro-sensor system intended to be used in cardiac surgery for sensing biomedical parameters in living bodies. Myocardium tissue impedance is one of these parameters which allows ischemia detection. The designed chip will be used in a four-electrode based setup where the effect of electrode interfaces are cancelled by design. The chip includes a circuit to generate the stimulus signals (sinusoidal current) and the circuitry to measure the magnitude and phase of the tissue impedance. Several integrated circuits have been designed, fabricated and tested, in a 0.8-/spl mu/m CMOS process, working at 3 V of power supply. Some of them including building blocks, and other with the whole measurement system. Experimental tests have shown the circuit feasibility giving expected results for both in-vitro and in-vivo test conditions.

Does a patient’s self-reported health-related quality of life predict survival beyond key biomedical data in advanced colorectal cancer?

The purpose of this study was to determine whether baseline patients’ self reported health-related quality of life (HRQOL) parameters could predict survival beyond key biomedical prognostic factors in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. The analysis was conducted on 299 patients. HRQOL baseline scores were assessed using the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer, Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core30 (EORTC QLQ-C30). The Cox proportional hazards regression model was used for both univariate and multivariate analyses of survival. In addition, a bootstrap resampling technique was used to assess the stability of the outcomes. The final multivariate Cox regression model retained four variables as independent prognostic factors for survival: white blood cell (WBC) count with a hazard ratio (HR) of 1.961 (95% CI, 1.439–2.672; P < 0.001), alkaline phosphatase with HR = 1.509 (95% CI, 1.126–2.022; P = 0.005), number of sites involved with HR = 1.108 (95% CI, 1.024–1.198; P = 0.01) and the patient’s score on the social functioning scale with HR = 0.991 (95% CI, 0.987–0.996; P < 0.001) which translates into a 9% decrease in the patient’s hazard of death for any 10 point increase. The independent prognostic importance of social functioning and the stability of the final Cox regression model were also confirmed by the additional bootstrap model averaging analysis, based on 1000 bootstrap-generated samples. The results suggest that social functioning, acts as a prognostic measure of survival beyond a number of previously known biomedical parameters.

Thick-film potentiometric biosensor for bloodless monitoring of hemodialysis

A potentiometric complete bioelectrochemical cell manufactured in an integrated strip format has been applied as dialysate urea nitrogen (DUN) biosensor. Both the urea enzyme electrode and reference electrode have been fabricated only by means of screen-printing. This thick-film DUN-biosensor has been applied as detector in a double-channel flow injection analysis (FIA) system. Under optimized conditions the determination range offered by this system covers urea levels in postdialysate fluid. The frequency of analysis is at least 12 samples of postdialysate per hour without any additional sample pretreatment. The results of analysis performed with the DUN-biosensor/FIA system are comparable with those obtained using the reference method. The system has been tested as a prototype of discrete on-line monitor of urea in spent dialysate. The DUN-time profiles are useful for evaluation of initial and final toxin levels, toxin reduction ratio, total toxin removal and other biomedical parameters important for quantitative description of intra- and inter-session periods of hemodialysis (HD) therapy. Examples of HD monitoring and modeling using the developed system are demonstrated.

When “health” is not enough: societal, individual and biomedical assessments of well-being among the Matsigenka of the Peruvian Amazon

Although biomedical indicators of health status show that physical health for the Matsigenka of the Peruvian Amazon has significantly improved over the past 20–30 years, the Matsigenka perceive their health and well-being to have severely declined during this period. This discrepancy between empirical measures and local perceptions of health and well-being points to the central tension inherent in measuring and defining “health.” While biomedical parameters of health are generally linked to notions of the body free of illness, measurable by physiological means, the Matsigenka define physical health as only one component of what it means to be healthy and to experience well-being. For the Matsigenka, notions of health and well-being are linked fundamentally to ideals about happiness, productivity and goodness, in addition to biomedical health. The Matsigenka attribute the decrease in their well-being to newly instigated sorcery and stressors resulting from outside influences and morality institutionalized by cultural “outsiders”, such as missionaries, school teachers, health personnel, oil company employees and government officials. This article explores the relationships between biomedical, societal and personal assessments of health and well-being among the Matsigenka as they seek to preserve their sense of wellness in spite of their rapidly changing social and economic environment. By using longitudinal qualitative and quantitative ethnographic and health data, this paper shows that, for the Matsigenka, increases in acculturation and permanent settlement result in an alarming decrease in their health and well-being.

Bioanalytical system for control of hemodialysis treatment based on potentiometric biosensors for urea and creatinine

Highly stable, sensitive and fast responding urea and creatinine biosensors have been successfully used for development of new flow injection analysis (FIA) system dedicated for biomedical bloodless control of hemodialysis. The biosensors are based on ammonium ion-selective electrodes with covalently bound monomolecular layer of enzymes. To improve the selectivity of the biosensing the FIA system contains cation exchange column for separation of endogenous ammonia and alkaline cations, that interfere in the course of urea and creatinine determination. In the developed analytical procedure the steps of separation and regeneration of the ion exchanger are fully automated. Other metabolites, commonly used drugs, as well as anionic components of dialysate fluids did not interfere. Under optimized conditions the determination ranges offered by this bioanalytical system completely cover levels of urea and creatinine present in real samples of postdialysate fluid. The results of analysis are fully comparable with those obtained using reference methods (bienzymatic spectrophotometric for urea, and kinetic spectrophotometric Jaffe and electrophoretic/UV methods for creatinine). The available frequency of this biparametric analysis is 8–9 samples of postdialysate per hour without any additional sample pretreatment. The operational stability of the developed FIA system exceeds one month. Storage stability determined by storage lifetimes of the biosensors was found to be longer than six months without any loss of sensitivity. The demonstrated bioanalytical system could be used as discrete on-line monitor of urea and creatinine profiles in spent dialysate. Such profiles are useful for evaluation of biomedical parameters important for quantitative description of hemodialysis therapy.

Effects of distance running and subsequent intake of glutamine rich peptide on biomedical parameters of male Japanese athletes

Plasma glutamine concentration is considered to be an indicator for immune system, and its kinetics and effects of glutamine supplementation have been widely investigated under various conditions. However most of the investigations were performed using Caucasian subjects and free glutamine as a glutamine source, and there is limited information for Japanese subjects and the efficacy of peptide-bonded glutamine. The purposes of this work were to assess the kinetics of glutamine and other biomedical parameters during and after prolonged exercises and effects of post-exercise administration of glutamine peptide (wheat gluten hydrolysate) in male Japanese athletes. The participants performed a half-marathon and a 45-km running. Glutamine peptide (c.a. 0.2 g Gln/kg bodyweight) was administered after the exercise. Plasma branched chain amino acids (BCAA) decreased after both exercises, while a decrease in glutamine was observed only after 45-km run. Intake of glutamine peptide increased plasma glutamine and BCAA, and decreased Trp/BCAA ratio both after the half marathon and the 45-km run.

Possible mechanism for nitric oxide and oxidative stress induced pathophysiological variance in acute myocardial infarction development: A study by a flow injection–chemiluminescence method

The acute myocardial infarction (AMI) model was established through rabbits, and this kind of model was used to investigate the possible mechanism for the AMI mediated damage, induced by NO release and oxidative stress. The biomedical parameters nitric oxide (NO), total antioxidant capacity (TAC) variation in vivo and the enzymatic activity of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and superoxide dismutase (SOD), which are considered as the major markers for pathophysiological variation, were detected. The results obtained gave evidence that AMI can lead to the NO excess release and compensation by excess cellular respiration, and both of them can result in oxidative stress and further generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The latter can bring a series of damages to the organism, including decrease of the TAC value, and NOS and SOD activity.

Psychosocial outcome of living donors after living donor liver transplantation: a pilot study

In view of the scarcity of organ resources available for transplantation, living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) is gaining growing importance in the treatment of chronically terminal liver diseases. In the period between December 1999 and October 2000, 47 potential living liver donors were evaluated and 24 right hepatic lobes and two left lateral segments were transplanted at the Virchow-Klinikum of the Charité Hospital in Berlin. The present study looks into biomedical and psychosocial parameters of 23 donors before and 6 months after LDLT. Our aims were to investigate the development of psychosocial parameters after donation and the relationship between psychosocial findings and post-operative complications. Most donors showed an improved quality of life (QoL) after LDLT when compared with pre-operative results. Twenty-six percent of donors show high values for 'tiredness', 'fatigue' and 'limb pain' following donation. The post-operative complications had no influence on the psychosocial outcome. In this pilot study the resection of the right hepatic lobe amounts to a safe operation for donors and holds promise of a good psychosocial outcome for most donors, irrespective of donation-related complications. The pronounced complaints appears to indicate psychological tension and distress in some donors following donation.

Psychosomatic interrelations following liver transplantation.

It is well described that quality of life (QoL) improved after liver transplantation. The aim of the present study was to investigate how psychosocial parameters develop after liver transplantation (LTX) and whether post-operative complaints are the result of osteoporosis or patient somatization. The prospective study looks into biomedical and psychosocial parameters of 82 LTX patients before, 1 and 3 yrs after transplantation. Osteoporosis was measured by bone mineral density (BMD) and psychosocial parameters were assessed with validated questionnaires measuring complaints, mood and overall QoL. Overall QoL and mood improved after liver transplantation, while back and limb pain increased continuously. Back and limb pain were highly correlated with reduced bone density and high values for tiredness and depressive anxiety. Back and limb pain of patients following liver transplantation may indicate the development of a post-operative depression in some cases. The treatment offered by an essentially biologically based medicine may promote the manifestation of this depression as a somatization disorder.

Optical-Fiber Medical Sensors

AbstractOptical-fiber sensors can be placed on the skin or inside the human body for the direct measurement of biomedical parameters. This article presents an overview of the most recent applications of optical-fiber sensors for biomedical purposes and those currently under development.

Blemished Physiologies: Delacroix, Paganini, and the Cholera Epidemic of 1832

What is the cultural impact of disruptive, catastrophic upheaval—such as massive epidemic—and how does its impact get translated in artistic representation? Exploring the peculiar cultural, social, and biomedical parameters shaped by the great cholera epidemic of 1832 in Paris, this article focuses on Eugène Delacroix's small portrait of the Italian violinist-composer Niccolò Paganini, who performed in Paris in 1831 and 1832, as the circumstantial product and symbolic focus of newly minted, intersecting medical, intellectual, moral, social, and aesthetic discourses in the early July Monarchy.

Exploiting the advantages of symbolically interpretable continuous biomedical parameters with a fuzzyfied symbolic model

Continuous biomedical parameters are normally hybrid signals, because they contain both sub-symbolic and symbolic information. This paper describes a methodology to design adequate processing systems for the automatic analysis of this kind of signals. The methodology is supported by the concept of fuzzy system.

Comparisons among selected neonatal biomedical parameters of four species of semi-free ranging Hippotragini: Addax (Addax nasomaculatus), scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx dammah), Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx), and sable antelope (Hippotragus niger).

Basic biomedical data from 164 neonates of four species of the tribe Hippotragini, addax (Addax nasomaculatus), scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx dammah), Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx), and sable antelope (Hippotragus niger), were compared at one zoological institution over a 9-year period. Measured biomedical parameters included body weight, temperature, pulse and respiratory rates, packed cell volume (PCV), total plasma protein, glucose, IgG assessment via zinc sulfate turbidity, and white blood cell count with differential. All species were maintained in a semi-free ranging setting with the same diet, available shelter, and opportunity for social interaction. Based on clinical and field observations, all neonates used in the study were believed to be at least 24 hr old, to have bonded with the dam, and to have no obvious physical abnormalities. Median body weights were similar only in the addax and Arabian oryx with sable antelope having the largest median body weight. No significant differences in rectal temperatures or pulse rates were found among species. Median respiratory rates were similar between certain groups. Arabian oryx and scimitar-horned oryx shared the highest packed cell volumes while the sable antelope had the lowest. Sable antelope had the highest median total plasma protein with no significant differences among the other species. Sable were also significantly lower in median blood glucose than the three other Hippotraginae. Zinc sulfate turbidities in all species were similar. Addax had higher median total white blood cell counts than sable. No significant differences in the median numbers of segmented neutrophils, band neutrophils, and eosinophils were detected among species. Basophils were only found in the scimitar-horned oryx in one animal. Addax had higher median lymphocyte counts than sable and Arabian oryx as well as higher median monocyte counts than sable. All four species exhibited higher median counts of neutrophils compared with lymphocytes. The biomedical differences observed highlight the importance of having an accurate database of clinical normal values against which to evaluate neonatal health. Zoo Biol 20:47-54, 2001. Copyright 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.