Mean Skin Surface Temperature Research Articles

204 Detecting subclinical mastitis in meat-breed ewes using infrared thermography

Abstract Mastitis, the inflammation of the mammary gland most commonly due to bacterial infection, is an important welfare concern in meat-breed sheep. The objective of our study was to evaluate udder surface temperature obtained from infrared thermography as a diagnostic tool for subclinical mastitis. We predicted that udder halves with subclinical mastitis would have greater surface temperatures than healthy udder halves. We enrolled 39 meat-breed ewes (10 Hampshire, 24 Polypay, 5 Targhee; 2 to 9 yr of age) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison sheep unit. All procedures were approved by the UW-Madison Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. Milk samples from each udder half were collected in duplicate weekly beginning 2 to 4 d postpartum until 8 wk postpartum. Immediately before milk sampling, the udder was photographed from the rear using a thermal camera. A sample was considered a true infection if at least 100 CFU/mL of a bacterial species were isolated. From each photo, we obtained values for minimum, maximum, and mean skin surface temperature for the right and left udders. Three linear mixed models were fit using minimum, maximum, and mean temperatures as the response variables. Fixed effects were infection status (infected or not), weeks postpartum (wk 1-8), and ambient temperature, with a random effect of udder half nested within animal ID. Contrary to our predictions, infection status did not predict udder skin surface temperature (P > 0.12). Healthy udder halves had a mean temperature of 35.5 ± 0.1°C (mean ± SE), minimum temperature of 29.9 ± 0.3°C, and maximum temperature of 37.8 ± 0.1°C. Infected udder halves had a mean temperature of 35.4 ± 0.1°C, minimum temperature of 30.5 ± 0.3°C, and maximum temperature of 37.7 ± 0.1°C. Our results contradict findings in dairy cows, and suggest more research is needed to evaluate the relationship between udder surface temperature and subclinical mastitis in sheep.

AUTOMATED DETECTION OF CHILDHOOD OBESITY IN ABDOMINOPELVIC REGION USING THERMAL IMAGING BASED ON DEEP LEARNING TECHNIQUES

Childhood obesity is a preventable disorder which can reduce the risk of the comorbidities linked with an adult obesity. In order to improve the lifestyle of the obese children, early and accurate detection is required by using some non-invasive technique. Thermal imaging helps in evaluation of childhood obesity without injecting any form of harmful radiation in human body. The goal of this proposed research is to evaluate the body surface temperature in abdominopelvic and cervical regions and to evaluate which region is best for predicting childhood obesity using thermal imaging. Next, to customize the ResNet-18 and VGG-19 architecture using transfer learning approach and to obtain the best modified classifier and to study the classification accuracy between normal and obese children. The two-study region which was selected for this study was abdominopelvic and cervical region where the mean skin surface temperature was recorded. From the two selected body regions, abdominopelvic region has depicted highest temperature difference of 10.98% between normal and obese subjects. The proposed modified ResNet-18 model produced an overall accuracy of 94.2% than the modified VGG-19 model (86.5%) for the classification of obese and normal children. Thus, this study can be considered as a non-invasive and cost-effective way for pre-screening the obesity condition in children.

Computer aided diagnosis of obesity based on thermal imaging using various convolutional neural networks

ObjectivesThe study aims at the following: i) To construct a custom Deep Learning Network for classifying the thermal images of abdomen, forearm and shank regions into obese and normal cases ii) To compare the performance of the proposed CNN with some of the state-of-the-art pre-trained CNN and Machine Learning models in detection of obesity. MethodsFifty healthy subjects along with fifty other age cum sex matched obese subjects were included in the study. The mean skin surface temperature was measured in abdomen, shank and forearm region for normal and obese subjects. After data augmentation, the images are fed to the proposed CNN and pre-trained networks for training, validation and classification of normal and obese thermograms. ResultsAmong the ROI studied, the abdomen region exhibited a high temperature difference of 4.703 % between the normal and obese compared to other regions. The proposed custom network-2 provided an overall accuracy of 92 %, area under the curve (AUC) value of 0.948 whereas the pre-trained model VGG16 net produced an accuracy of 79 % and AUC value of 0.90 for discrimination into obese and normal thermograms. ConclusionsHence, the deep learning system based on custom CNN provided a reliable classification performance to identify the occurrence of obesity in test subjects. The experimental analysis showed that custom CNN network-2 provided a commendable degree of accuracy in classification of normal and obese subjects from the thermal images. Thus, the trained Custom-2 CNN model can be used for computer aided screening of test subjects for obesity detection.

Thermal imaging method in the evaluation of obesity in various body regions–A preliminary study

Technologies like 3-dimensional scanners and thermal imaging are slowly overtaking the traditional means of evaluating the obesity. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the mean skin surface temperature of different regions such as abdominal, shank, gluteal (thigh), forearm, neck, fingerbed region and to study the potential of feature extracted from thermograph of various region and its measured skin temperature values in the evaluation of obesity. In this preliminary study 30 normal and 30 obese young adult of age 19- 23 years were invited out of which 30 were female and 30 were male. Thermal imaging of abdominal, shank, gluteal, forearm, neck and fingerbed regions was acquired and average skin temperature was estimated in various regions for obese and normal subjects. Among the six region studied, neck region shows the greater temperature variation between the study population. In total population studied, the feature extracted parameter depicted positive association with mean skin surface temperature in various regions. Among various feature extracted parameters, mean and total standard deviation depicted the highest significance in abdomen (mean- r = 0.877, TSD- r = 0.449), neck (mean- r = 0.910, TSD- r = -0.617) and in forearm region (mean- r = 0.918, TSD- r = -0.404). ANOVA test provided a significant difference between the skin surface temperature of the groups (normal and obese subjects) at abdomen [F (1, 58) = 261.265, p< 0.05], forearm [F (1, 58) = 619.586, p< 0.05] and neck region [F (1, 58) = 492.322, p< 0.05]. Feed Forward Back Propagation Neural Network provided 98% accuracy, 95% sensitivity and 92% specificity while classifying normal and obese subjects.

Infrared thermal imaging as a screening tool for paediatric wrist fractures.

Wrist injuries are common in paediatric trauma; however, only half of children evaluated with an x-ray for possible fractures will have one. Thermal imaging offers a possible non-ionising method of screening for fractures and thus reducing negative x-ray rates. One hundred five children attending the Emergency Department for wrist injuries were recruited. Two 30-s thermal videos were recorded from injured and uninjured wrists-in flat and 45° elevated positions. A region of interest (ROI) was defined on each wrist. Cases in which the ROI was covered or had ice applied were excluded, leaving 40 patients for analysis. Comparisons of ROI included (i) injured and uninjured wrists-flat and elevated positions; (ii) as in (i) with a reference region on the proximal forearm subtracted; (iii) injured wrist ROI-flat and elevated positions. Fractures and sprains increased the mean skin surface temperature by 1.519% (p = 0.008) and 0.971% (p = 0.055) respectively compared with the uninjured wrist. The mean temperature difference between flat and elevated positions for fractures was 0.268% and - 0.1291% for sprains. This difference was statistically significant for fracture (p = 0.004) but not sprain (p = 0.500). The temperature differences recorded by thermal imaging between fractured and sprained wrists may assist in differentiation of these injuries. Graphical abstract Operational stages involved from thermal video recording to generation of results.

Volume of water added to crushed ice affects the efficacy of cryotherapy: a randomised, single-blind, crossover trial

ObjectiveTo compare the effects of different cryotherapeutic preparations. DesignRandomised, single-blind, crossover trial. SettingUniversity laboratory. ParticipantsSixteen healthy women. InterventionsParticipants were randomised to receive three cryotherapeutic preparations: pure ice (500g), watered ice (500g of ice in 500ml of water) and wetted ice (500g of ice in 50ml of water). Main outcome measuresThe primary outcome was skin surface temperature after cryotherapy, measured at the central point of application, and the minimum temperature of the region of interest (ROI). The secondary outcome was the surface area cooled to <13.6°C, which is the recommended temperature to achieve therapeutic effects. ResultsAfter application of ice, mean skin surface temperature at the central point was 4.6 [standard deviation (SD) 1.9] °C for the pure ice preparation, 4.9 (SD 2.5) °C for the wetted ice preparation, and 9.6 (SD 1.8) °C for the watered ice preparation. When compared with the watered ice preparation, this represented a mean difference (MD) of 5.0°C for the pure ice preparation [95% confidence interval (CI) 4.0 to 6.0; P<0.001] and an MD of 4.7°C for the wetted ice preparation (95% CI 2.5 to 6.8; P<0.001). The minimum temperatures in the ROI were also lower for the pure ice preparation 3.0 (SD 0.9) °C and the wetted ice preparation 2.8 (SD 0.6) °C than the watered ice preparation 7.9 (SD 1.5) °C. This represented an MD of 4.8°C for the pure ice preparation (95% CI 4.0 to 5.7; P<0.001) and 5.1°C for the wetted ice preparation (95% CI 4.0 to 6.2; P<0.001]. ConclusionsApplication of pure ice or wetted ice led to a greater decrease in skin surface temperature compared with watered ice. For clinical purposes, combining equal parts of water and ice could decrease this effect. Clinical trial registration numberClinicaltrials.gov (NCT03414346).

Safety, tolerability, and efficacy evaluation of the SlimME device for circumference reduction.

ObjectiveTo assess the short‐ and long‐term thermal impact of subclinical and clinical regimens of a single, non‐invasive uniform ultrasound treatment session on subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT).Study DesignProspective, open‐label, single‐arm, split‐side study.MethodsPatients (n = 17) were subjected to uniform ultrasound treatment, delivered in a single session with the SlimME device. The device was set to one of four treatment regimens, which differed in their durations and energy fluences during the raise and maintenance phases. Up to six abdominal regions were treated, with six patients receiving a different treatment on each side of the abdomen. Safety was assessed by measuring skin surface temperature, evaluating expected skin responses immediately and 30 min after treatment and via patient ratings of pain and discomfort. Efficacy of raising and then maintaining SAT temperatures at 48°C, was determined by routinely measuring SAT temperatures during the treatment session and by histological analysis of samples collected 7 (n = 13) or 90 (n = 4) days after treatment.ResultsTrace to mild erythema was observed in up to 48% of the treated zones, which, in most cases, resolved within 30 minutes. No significant rise in mean skin surface temperature (≤26.5°C) was recorded following any of the four tested regimens. Overall, patients reported tolerability to treatment, with the highest mean pain score registered for the moderate and high intensity regimens (4.4 ± 1.5 and 4.9 ± 1.4, respectively). Mean SAT temperatures did not exceed 48.4 ± 2.5°C and were effectively maintained throughout the maintenance phase of the treatment session. Low‐energy fluence led to localized fat coagulative necrotic lesions, surrounded by subacute rim of inflammation, while high‐energy fluence induced fat coagulative necrosis alongside granulomatous panniculitis, which resolved within 90 days.ConclusionThe tested uniform ultrasound regimens elicited SAT temperature elevations, with a subsequent energy‐dependent increase in degree of fat necrosis. At the same time, the unique design spared the surrounding tissue from thermal damage and was associated with minimal discomfort. Taken together, the SlimME device constitutes an effective tool for destruction of stubborn hypodermal fat deposits. Lasers Surg. Med. 50:745–754, 2018. © 2018 The Authors. Lasers in Surgery and Medicine Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Physiological Changes and Blood Flow in Murrah Buffaloes during Summer and Winter Season

Present study was designed to investigate the changes in physiological reactions and blood flow during different seasons in Murrah buffaloes. Six Murrah buffalo heifers of 18-24 months were selected as experimental animals. The respiration rate (RR), heart rate (HR) and blood pressure was measured through BPL-Excello multi parameter monitor. Rectal temperatures were recorded with electronic thermometer. Skin surface temperatures at the different body sites were recorded using infrared thermometer (Metravi MT-2). The blood flow was measured on Perimed Multichannel Laser Doppler system using skin perfusion probe 408 at dorsal region, abdomen region and middle ear. Results showed a significant difference for respiration rate (P&lt;0.001); rectal temperature (P&lt;0.05) and heart rate (P&lt;0.001) during summer and winter season. The mean blood pressure was 93.74/186.36 mmHg in summer and 97.40/198.08 mmHg in winter, respectively. In the present experiment, both diastolic and systolic pressure differed significantly (P&lt;0.001) during different seasons. The mean skin surface temperature in summer was 37.03±0.39, 36.12±0.27 and 33.15±0.98°C at dorsal, abdomen and middle ear, respectively; whereas, during winter it was 29.87±0.69, 29.92±0.40 and 23.82±1.12°C at dorsal, abdomen and middle ear, respectively. The skin surface temperature among the different parts of the body differed significantly (P&lt;0.001). During summer, the mean blood flow was 4.71±0.49, 14.85±1.63 and 16.72±1.47 PU; whereas, during winter, it was low, 1.10±0.16, 8.96±0.58 and 12.16±0.95 PU at dorsal, abdomen and middle ear, respectively. The difference in the blood flow among the different parts of the body differed significantly (P&lt;0.001) in summer and winter. The results indicated that blood flow was positively correlated with temperature of the body parts and it varied in different seasons. This study concluded that, summer stress evokes a series of physiological changes in the Murrah buffalo’s, which affects production during summer season.

Effects of ambient room temperature on cold air cooling during laser hair removal

Forced air cooling is a well-established technique that protects the epidermis during laser heating of deeper structures, thereby allowing for increased laser fluences. The goal of this prospective study was to identify whether an elevation in ambient room temperature influences the efficacy of forced air cooling. Skin surface temperatures were measured on 24 sites (12 subjects) during cold air exposure in examination rooms with ambient temperatures of 72 degrees F (22.2 degrees C) and 82 degrees F (27.8 degrees C), respectively. Before cooling, mean skin surface temperature was 9 degrees F (5 degrees C) higher in the warmer room (P < 0.01). Immediately after exposure to forced air cooling (within 1 s), the skin surface temperature remained considerably higher (10.75 degrees F, or 5.8 degrees C, P < 0.01) in the warmer room. We conclude that forced air cooling in a room with an ambient temperature of 82 degrees F (27.8 degrees C) is not as effective as in a room that is at 72 degrees F (22.2 degrees C).

Comparison of Skin Surface Temperature During the Application of Various Cryotherapy Modalities

Kanlayanaphotporn R, Janwantanakul P. Comparison of skin surface temperature during the application of various cryotherapy modalities. Objective To compare the skin surface temperature during the application of 4 cryotherapy modalities. Design A repeated-measures design. Setting Laboratory experiment. Participants Convenience sample of 50 women (age range, 20–23y; mean, 20.6±0.8y). Interventions Each of the 4 cryotherapy modalities (ice pack, gel pack, frozen peas, mixture of water and alcohol) was applied randomly to the skin overlying the right quadriceps femoris muscle. Main Outcome Measure Skin surface temperature recorded every minute for 20 minutes. Results Throughout 20 minutes of cryotherapy application, the ice pack and mixture of water and alcohol showed significantly lower skin surface temperatures than the gel pack or frozen peas ( P<.001). The mean skin surface temperature at the 20th minute of application with the ice pack, gel pack, frozen peas, and mixture of water and alcohol was 10.2°±3.5°, 13.9°±4.1°, 14.4°±3.0°, and 10.0°±4.5°C, respectively. Conclusions The ice pack and mixture of water and alcohol were significantly more efficient in reducing skin surface temperature than the gel pack and frozen peas.

Perspectives for core and skin surface temperature guided extubation in patients after normothermic cardiopulmonary bypass.

To investigate the relationship between changes in core and skin surface temperature and extubation time in patients following normothermic cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). Prospective observational study. Intensive care unit (ICU) of a university hospital. Patients admitted to the ICU after cardiac surgery. None. Thirty-two patients undergoing cardiac surgery with the use of normothermic CPB were studied. In the ICU, urinary bladder temperature and skin surface temperature gradient (forearm temperature minus fingertip temperature) were measured at 30-min intervals for 10 h postoperatively. Every half-hour an anaesthesiologist, blinded to temperature measurements, checked the possibility of extubation. On arrival in the ICU the mean skin surface temperature gradient of the patients was 1.9+/-1.6 degrees C, indicating vasoconstriction of the dermal vessels (>0 degrees C = vasoconstriction, <0 degrees C = vasodilation) while the mean urinary bladder temperature was 36.8+/-0.4 degrees C. The change from thermoregulatory vasoconstriction to vasodilation (skin surface temperature gradient of 0 degrees C) was 137+/-49 min after arrival in the ICU. The mean time until extubation was 135+/-55 min after arrival in the ICU. There was a linear relation between a temperature gradient of 0 degrees C and extubation time, r(2)=0.49. Later, 181+/-67 min after arrival in the ICU, the urinary bladder temperature reached its maximum of 38.2+/-0.6 degrees C. This study demonstrates that the transition period from peripheral vasoconstriction to vasodilation provides an opportunity for postoperative extubation.

Skin surface temperature over the temporomandibular joint and masseter muscle in healthy children and adolescents

Skin surface temperature (SST) measurements were carried out over the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) and masseter muscle (MM) of 159 healthy children and adolescents aged 7, 11, 15 and 18 years. No current symptoms were found of impaired general health or from the masticatory system or recurrent headache. The recordings were done with a thermocouple in contact with the skin. The mean SST over the TMJ and MM increased with age, and from the youngest to the oldest group regarding the TMJ by 1.3°C (right) and 1.6°C (left), and for MM by 2.1°C (right) and 2.5°C (left). Variation in the mean difference between sides of the TMJ was 0.0-0.2°C and for the MM 0.1-0.3°C. The variation in SST between sides was reduced with increasing age, but was higher for MM than for TMJ in all age groups. In the 7-years group, there was a significant difference between right and left SST over TMJ and MM. It is concluded that SST increases with growth during childhood and that the SST for the TMJ is higher than MM in all age groups. The finding of a high degree of thermal symmetry between sides in all age groups may have diagnostic potential for pathological conditions involving blood flow and in evaluation of treatment of these conditions.

Can non-shivering thermogenesis in brown adipose tissue following NA injection be quantified by changes in overlying surface temperatures using infrared thermography?

We aimed to investigate whether infra red thermography (IRT) can be used to measure and quantify non-shivering thermogenesis (NST) in the short-tailed field vole Microtus agrestis, by directly comparing it with a standard method, i.e. metabolic response following Noradrenaline injection (NA). Mean skin surface temperature overlying Brown adipose tissue (BAT) depot was 0.82°C higher than mean surface temperature that did not overly BAT. The difference in temperature increased by 1.26°C after NA was administered. Mean skin surface temperature overlying BAT increased by 0.32°C after NA was administered; however, surface temperature decreased by 1.32°C after saline was administered. Mean skin surface temperature overlying BAT did not change significantly between warm and cold acclimated voles; in contrast metabolic peak following NA injection significantly increased in cold acclimated voles. There was no significant correlation between change in surface temperature after NA injection and metabolic peak following NA injection. The results of this study suggest that IRT is not a sensitive enough method to measure changes in NST capacity in BAT following NA injection, or to detect changes in NST capacity induced by cold acclimation. However, IRT can distinguish between skin surfaces overlying BAT and skin surfaces that do not.

Effect of drinking-water temperature on heat balance and thermoregulatory responses in dairy heifers

A study was made to determine the effect of heat dissipation from drinking water (8 kg at 10, 20, or 30�C) on the heat balance and thermoregulatory responses of 4 dairy heifers housed at 24, 29, and 34�C. No effect of drinking-water temperature on heat production or heart rate was found. Respiration rate, mean skin-surface temperature, and rectal temperature all decreased with decreasing drinking-water temperature. Rectal temperature reached a minimum 20 min after watering. The respiration rate, skin temperature, and rectal temperature returned to prior-to-watering values 120-180 min after watering. The cooling efficiency of drinking water was about 40%, and decreased at high environmental temperature, because the cooling potential was used initially in depressing heat loss responses. It is suggested that in order to eliminate excessive heat load, chilled drinking water could be effective during the night time when the environmental temperature is lowest.

Effect of solar radiation on the heat load of dairy heifers.

Thermoregulatory responses of Holstein heifers were studied under direct solar radiation and shade conditions during summer and autumn periods in southern Japan. The data were used to predict the contribution to effective temperature (ET) of solar radiation. The amount of solar radiation, including both direct and indirect sources, was estimated from black globe temperature (GT). There was no effect of solar radiation on the rate of heat production nor heart rate of the heifers. Rectal temperature increased significantly under no shade conditions during the summer period. Respiration rate (RR) and mean skin surface temperature paralleled changes in dry bulb temperature (DBT) and GT. The ET in the test situations, using RR and mean body temperature (Tb) as physiological indices, was predicted as: ET(DBT, GT) = 0.24DBT + 0 76GT. This equation indicates that solar radiation as measured by black globe temperature contributes substantially more to the heat load on animals than does dry bulb temperature.

The Effect of Local Heat and Cold Therapy on the Intraarticular and Skin Surface Temperature of the Knee

To evaluate the effects of local application of ice chips, ligno-paraffin, short-wave diathermy, and nitrogen-cold air on skin and intraarticular temperature. Forty-two healthy subjects were divided into 4 treatment groups. A temperature probe was inserted into the knee joint cavity and another placed on the overlying skin, and changes in temperature over 3 hours, by treatment group, were recorded. The mean skin surface temperature dropped from 27.9 degrees C to 11.5 degrees C after application of ice chips, and from 28.8 degrees C to 13.8 degrees C after application of cold air. The mean intraarticular temperature decreased from 31.9 degrees C to 22.5 degrees C and from 32.9 degrees C to 28.8 degrees C, respectively, after these 2 treatments. Shortwave diathermy increased skin temperature by 2.4 degrees C; intraarticular temperature was increased only 1.4 degrees C by short-wave diathermy. Treatment with ligno-paraffin increased the skin surface temperature 8.9 degrees C; the temperature in the joint cavity was increased 3.5 degrees C. The use of short-wave diathermy and superficial heat packs in the treatment of patients with arthritis may potentially cause harm by increasing intraarticular temperature. This may have major implications regarding treatment policy for patients with arthritis.