Physiological Status Monitoring Research Articles

Physiological condition monitoring of construction workers

Abstract Monitoring of workers' physiological conditions can potentially enhance construction workforce productivity, safety, and well-being. Recently, Physiological Status Monitors (PSMs) were validated as an accurate technology to assess physiological conditions during typical sport science and medicine testing procedures (e.g., treadmill and cycle ergometer protocols). However, sport science and medicine testing procedures cannot simulate routine construction worker movements in a comprehensive manner. Thus, this paper investigated the validity of two PSMs by comparing their measurements with gold standard laboratory instruments' measurements at rest and during dynamic activities resembling construction workforce's routine activities. Two physiological parameters such as heart rate and breathing rate were considered. Ten apparently healthy subjects participated in the study. One of the PSMs proved to be a viable technology in assessing construction workers' heart rate (correlation coefficient ≥ 0.74; percentage of differences within ± 11 bpm ≥ 84.8%).

Seasonal variations in immunoreactive cortisol and fecal immunoglobulin levels in Sichuan golden monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellana)

The Sichuan golden monkey is deserving of conservation and the welfare of this species is receiving increasing attention. However, it is difficult to identify physiological parameters for assessing its conservation status. In the present study, we employed noninvasive sampling methods and immunochemical assays to determine if measurements of cortisol and immunoglobulin in feces allowed monitoring of physiological status. The results indicated that the cortisol and immunoglobulin concentrations in feces could serve as biomarkers for monitoring stress and immune status, and that there was a relationship between stress and the immune response. A tendency toward seasonal fluctuation in immunoreactive cortisol and fecal immunoglobulin concentrations emerged, indicating that these indices could be useful tools for monitoring the welfare of the monkey and could be used in the field of wildlife research.

Organizational Performance and Regulatory Compliance as Measured by Clinical Pertinence Indicators Before and After Implementation of Anesthesia Information Management System (AIMS)

Previous studies have suggested that electronic medical records (EMR) can lead to a greater reduction of medical errors and better adherence to regulatory compliance than paper medical records (PMR). In order to assess the organizational performance and regulatory compliance, we tracked different clinical pertinence indicators (CPI) in our anesthesia information management system (AIMS) for 5 years. These indicators comprised of the protocols from the Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP), elements of performance (EP) from The Joint Commission (TJC), and guidelines from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). A comprehensive AIMS was initiated and the CPI were collected from October 5, 2009 to December 31, 2010 (EMR period) and from January 1, 2006 to October 4, 2009 (PMR period). Fourteen CPI were found to be common between the EMR and PMR periods. Based on the statistical analysis of the 14 common CPI, there was a significant increase (p < 0.001) in overall compliance after the introduction of EMR compared to the PMR period. The increase in overall compliance was significantly progressive (p = 0.013) from year to year over 2006 and 2010. Of the 14 CPI, Documentation of a) medication doses, and b) monitoring of postoperative physiological status, mental status, and pain scores showed significant improvement (p < 0.001) during the EMR period compared to the PMR period.

Isothermal amplified detection of reduced thiol through graphene oxide nanoscaffold and disulfide-bonded DNA tweezers

We report herein a method for reduced biothiol detection using isothermal amplified strategy through graphene oxide (GO) nanoscaffold and disulfide-bonded DNA tweezers. This protocol elegantly links DNA sequences with disulfide bond followed by isothermal amplification methods, which overcomes the lack of aptamer for reduced thiol and then exhibits high sensitivity. As compared to the traditional double-stranded DNA acquisition from the mixture solution of single-stranded and double-stranded DNA in which the sample should undergo two cumbersome procedures of chromatography separation and extraction collection, in the present assay the GO-related separation procedures are only upon centrifugation displaying incomparable superiority of convenience, rapidity and environment-friendly technology. Besides, glutathione (GSH) as an example, with the successive amplification steps, the strategy exhibits high sensitivity and specificity with the detection concentration as low as 1.0×10−10M GSH and shows satisfactory recovery in K562 cell homogenate. Overall, the proposed method holds a great promise for physiological condition monitoring applications.

An exploratory study of the relationship between construction workforce physical strain and task level productivity

The monitoring of construction workforce physical strain can be a valuable management strategy in improving workforce productivity, safety, health, and quality of work. Nevertheless, clear relationships between workforce performance and physical strain have yet to be established. An exploratory investigation of the relationship between task level productivity and physical strain was conducted. Nine participants individually performed a four-hour simulated construction task while a wearable physiological status monitor continuously assessed their physiological condition. Heart rate, relative heart rate, and breathing rate were utilized as predictors of physical strain, and task level–single factor productivity was used as an index of productivity. Numerous regression models were generated using the collected data. This investigation initially unsuccessfully attempted to establish a relationship between physiological condition and productivity at the individual worker level. However, an analysis of the regression models showed that there is a relationship between productivity and either heart rate or relative heart rate at the group level, and that this relationship is parabolic. Breathing rate was proved to not be a significant predictor of productivity. Research results significantly improve understanding of the relationship between work physiology and task productivity. Researchers and practitioners may use the tested monitoring devices, analysis methods, and results to design further applied studies and to improve workforce productivity.

Acceptability and Usability of an Ambulatory Health Monitoring System for Use by Military Personnel

OCCUPATIONAL APPLICATIONS A physiological status monitoring system was evaluated for use by soldiers in the field. Two different designs were evaluated, with the design based on previous human factors evaluations proven to be more comfortable and acceptable for use. This study demonstrated that the advanced design of the EQ-02 physiological status monitoring system met dismounted soldier needs. Furthermore, this study validated the use of a usability evaluation in the successful design/advancement of a physiological status monitoring system. TECHNICAL ABSTRACT Background: Previous research has shown that the form factor of a physiological status monitoring system, the Equivital™ EQ-01 (Hidalgo Ltd., Cambridge, UK) had problems associated with comfort and usability of the system for soldiers. Previous data gathered was used to guide improvements in the physiological status monitoring system. Purpose: Assess whether the previous feedback from usability evaluations helped guide improvements in comfort, acceptability, and usability of a physiological status monitoring system for dismounted soldiers. Improvements to the EQ-01 system were incorporated into the next-generation EQ-02 (Hidalgo Ltd., Cambridge, UK) system. Methods: Thirty-nine infantry dismounted soldiers were randomly assigned to wear either an EQ-01 or EQ-02 system while performing standard military field training. They filled out a survey on fit, comfort, irritation to the body, impact on military performance, and acceptability. They then wore the other system and filled out the same survey. Results: The Equivital™ EQ-02 system was superior in terms of fit (51% better in overall fit), ease of donning (10% easier), comfort (45% more comfortable), impact on military performance (45% less impact), impact on the body (17% less impact), and acceptability (32% more acceptable). All these measures are subjective self-report ratings. Conclusions: A human factors engineering approach provided an effective means of guiding improvements and the production of a physiological status monitoring system that dismounted soldiers were more likely to accept and wear.

Canopy Water Content Estimation for Typical Emerged Plant Community from Simulation Worldview-2 Data: A Case Study in Wild Duck Lake Wetland, Beijing

Quantitative estimation of vegetation water content with remote sensing technique is of great significance for vegetation physiological status and growth trend monitoring. It also provides a theoretical foundation for actual application of vegetation water content diagnosis using remote sensing images in Wild Duck Lake wetland. In this paper the NDVIs and SRs calculated from simulation WorldVeiw-2 curves can be used to model and predict canopy water content of typical emerged plant. The NDVIs and SRs involving the additional spectral bands of WorldView-2, such as the red-edge and near infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, improve the prediction accuracy compared with the traditional NDVIs and SRs.

Network Monitoring System in Sustainable Manufacturing Envirnment Based on .NET and Ethernet/SDARP

For the trend of aging population in China is increasingly serious and all kinds of advanced robots for senior and disable people aid emerged, the concept of intelligent network monitoring was considered. Monitoring system with video linkage monitoring, personnel physiological parameter measurement, real-time positioning and robotic status monitoring was designed for nursing house. Ethernet/SDARP (Ethernet /the Senior and Disable people Aid Robot Protocol) was firstly introduced into the network to ensure communication reliability and real-time performance. Integrated software of monitoring system with good compatibility, high efficiency and data security was developed using C#.NET and SQL Server. The integration of communication module was mainly introduced. Finally, the intelligent network monitoring system was practically used in Sijiqing Nursing House and has greatly improved the quality of medical and nursing service.

Probing the effects of high-light stress on pigment and lipid metabolism in nitrogen-starving microalgae by measuring chlorophyll fluorescence transients: Studies with a Δ5 desaturase mutant of Parietochloris incisa (Chlorophyta, Trebouxiophyceae)

We investigated effects of irradiance on the relationships between chlorophyll fluorescence transients (OJIP), carotenoid-to-chlorophyll ratio, and fatty acids in a nitrogen-deprived Parietochloris incisa (Chlorophyta, Trebouxiophyceae) Δ5 desaturase mutant accumulating valuable LC-PUFA dihomo-γ-linolenic acid (DGLA). High light (270μE·m−2·s−1 PAR) and nitrogen starvation brought about a decrease in maximum quantum yield of photosystem II (ΦP0) and electron transport (ΦE0) but enhanced the quantum yield of thermal dissipation (ΦD0) and induced non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) in an irradiance-dependent manner. Under high irradiance a decline in the rate of total fatty acid accumulation and DGLA percentage in comparison with the cultures grown under 130μE·m−2·s−1 PAR was recorded. Increasing irradiance from 130 to 270μE·m−2·s−1 enhanced total fatty acid accumulation only within the first week of nitrogen starvation and negatively affected DGLA production. Regardless of irradiance, ΦP0, ΦE0, and ΦD0 exhibited tight (r2=0.8–0.9) relationships with the stress-induced changes of total fatty acid and DGLA content and the carotenoid-to-chlorophyll ratio. The applicability and limitations of OJIP and its derived parameters for on-line monitoring of physiological condition and accumulation of value-added products in microalgal cultures grown in photobioreactors are discussed.

Validity and Reliability of Multiparameter Physiological Measurements Recorded by the Equivital Lifemonitor During Activities of Various Intensities

The Equivital LifeMonitor EQ02 is a multiparameter body-worn system capable of logging and transmitting physiological data describing a wearer's cardiorespiratory and thermal status. A number of vital signs can be acquired by the system, including electrocardiography, respiratory inductance plethysmography, posture/activity, multipoint skin temperature, and core temperature. The validity and reliability of the multiparameter physiological data recorded by the EQ02 were assessed. Participants performed resting, low-, and moderate intensity activities and wore the EQ02 and other calibrated laboratory physiological monitoring devices simultaneously. Heart rate, respiratory rate, multipoint skin temperature, and core temperature recorded by the EQ02 were compared with measurements recorded by standard devices. Results show that the validity error scores for HR and RR for all three activities were not significantly different from zero, and the CV, 95% LOA, and r were all clinically accepted. The validity error score for MTSK (0.59°C) falls outside the limits of 0.5°C, but the differences were parallel, r remained high (0.96), and 95% LOA remained narrow (±0.88°C). The validity error score for TC (–0.1°C) was similar in direction and magnitude to other studies, and r (0.98) and 95% LOA (±0.22°C) showed acceptable agreement between devices. The reliability error scores for HR, RR, MTSK, and TC between trials were significantly different from zero. The 95% LOA, CV, and ICC for the EQ02 were similar to standard devices and were all clinically accepted. These findings demonstrate the validity and reliability of the EQ02 for ambulatory monitoring of multiple physiological parameters and suggest that the system could be used to provide a complete human physiological monitoring platform for the study of occupational health, environmental hygiene, and other application fields requiring ambulatory monitoring of multiparameter physiological status.

Using Workforce’s Physiological Strain Monitoring to Enhance Social Sustainability of Construction

AbstractSustainability is often described in terms of the triple bottom line, which refers to its environmental, economic, and social dimensions. However, the economic and environmental impacts of decisions have been easier to determine than have been the social impacts. One area of social sustainability that is particularly applicable to construction projects is that of construction workforce safety and well-being. This is a critical part of sustainability, and a socially sustainable construction industry needs to consider the safety and well-being of construction workers. However, construction activities are generally physically demanding and performed in harsh environments. Monitoring workers’ physical strain may be an important step toward enhancing the social sustainability of construction. Recently introduced physiological status monitors (PSMs) have overcome the past limitations, allowing physical strain to be monitored without hindering workers’ activities. Three commercially available PSMs have b...

Data Fusion of Real-Time Location Sensing and Physiological Status Monitoring for Ergonomics Analysis of Construction Workers

AbstractPrevious research and applications in construction resource optimization have focused on tracking the location of material and equipment. There is a lack of studies on remote monitoring for improving safety and health of the construction workforce. This paper presents a new approach for monitoring ergonomically safe and unsafe behavior of construction workers. The study relies on a methodology that utilizes fusion of data from continuous remote monitoring of construction workers’ location and physiological status. To monitor construction workers activities, the authors deployed nonintrusive real-time worker location sensing (RTLS) and physiological status monitoring (PSM) technology. This paper presents the background and need for a data fusion approach, the framework, the test bed environment, and results to some case studies that were used to automatically identify unhealthy work behavior. Results of this study suggest a new approach for automating remote monitoring of construction workers safet...

Personal Omics Profiling Reveals Dynamic Molecular and Medical Phenotypes

Personalized medicine is expected to benefit from combining genomic information with regular monitoring of physiological states by multiple high-throughput methods. Here, we present an integrative personal omics profile (iPOP), an analysis that combines genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, metabolomic, and autoantibody profiles from a single individual over a 14 month period. Our iPOP analysis revealed various medical risks, including type 2 diabetes. It also uncovered extensive, dynamic changes in diverse molecular components and biological pathways across healthy and diseased conditions. Extremely high-coverage genomic and transcriptomic data, which provide the basis of our iPOP, revealed extensive heteroallelic changes during healthy and diseased states and an unexpected RNA editing mechanism. This study demonstrates that longitudinal iPOP can be used to interpret healthy and diseased states by connecting genomic information with additional dynamic omics activity.

Clinical Use of Telemonitoring in Chronic Heart Failure: Keeping up with the Times or Misuse of Time?

Close follow-up of patients with severe heart failure, especially after hospital discharge, has been shown to impact the mortality and readmission rates in this patient population. Monitoring of the patients' physiological status is important for predicting a potential heart failure decompensation. Earlier studies on structured telephone support and telemonitoring suggested a clear benefit on mortality and heart failure admissions, though recent large randomized controlled trials have been neutral. This review looks into the possible reasons for discrepancies in the outcomes. Remote monitoring of implantable cardiac devices is becoming increasingly utilized in a proportion of patients for device follow-up, and recent technology advances have suggested utility of certain device algorithms in detecting heart failure decompensations. Implantable hemodynamic monitors also show promise in this sphere, though have limited evidence at this stage, and further development in the technology is likely before they become part of routine practice.

E-Nanoflex Sensor System: Smartphone-Based Roaming Health Monitor

The growing need and market demand for point of care (POC) systems to improve patient’s quality of life are driving the development of wireless nanotechnology based smart systems for diagnosis and treatment of various chronic and life threatening diseases. POC diagnostics for neurological, metabolic, and cardiovascular disorders require constant long term untethered monitoring of individuals. Given the uncertainty associated with location and time at which immediate diagnosis and treatment may be required, constant vigilance and monitoring are the only practical solutions. What is needed is for a remote cyber-enabled health care smart system incorporating novel ideas from nanotechnology, low power embedded systems, wireless networking, and cloud computing to fundamentally advance. To meet this goal, we present e-Nanoflex platform, which is capable of monitoring patient health wherever they may be and communicating the data in real time to a physician or a hospital. Unlike state-of-the-art systems that are either local sensor systems or rely on custom relaying devices, e-Nanoflex is a highly nonintrusive and inexpensive end-to-end cyber-physical system. Using nanostructured sensors, e-Nanoflex provides nearly invisible monitoring of physiological conditions. It relies on smartphones to filter, compress, and relay geo-tagged data. Further, it ties to a backend cloud infrastructure for data storage, data dissemination, and abnormality detection using machine learning techniques. e-Nanoflex is a complete end-to-end system for physiological sensing and geo-tagged data dissemination to hospitals and caregivers. It is intended as a basic platform that can support any nanostructure based flexible sensor to monitor a variety of conditions such as body temperature, respiration air flow, oxygen consumption, bioelectric signals, pulse oximetry, muscle activity, and neural activity. Additionally, to address the cost of manufacturing sensors, e-Nanoflex uses a low cost production technique based on roll to roll gravure printing. We show the efficacy of our platform through a case study that involves acquiring electrocardiogram signals using gold nano-electrodes fabricated on a flexible substrate.

An implantable biochip to influence patient outcomes following trauma-induced hemorrhage

Following hemorrhage-causing injury, lactate levels rise and correlate with the severity of injury and are a surrogate of oxygen debt. Posttraumatic injury also includes hyperglycemia, with continuously elevated glucose levels leading to extensive tissue damage, septicemia, and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome. A temporary, implantable, integrated glucose and lactate biosensor and communications biochip for physiological status monitoring during hemorrhage and for intensive care unit stays has been developed. The dual responsive, amperometric biotransducer uses the microdisc electrode array format upon which were separately immobilized glucose oxidase and lactate oxidase within biorecognition layers, 1.0-5.0 μm thick, of 3 mol% tetraethyleneglycol diacrylate cross-linked p(HEMA-co-PEGMA-co-HMMA-co-SPA)-p(Py-co-PyBA) electroconductive hydrogels. The device was then coated with a bioactive hydrogel layer containing phosphoryl choline and polyethylene glycol pendant moieties [p(HEMA-co-PEGMA-co-HMMA-co-MPC)] for indwelling biocompatibility. In vitro cell proliferation and viability studies confirmed both polymers to be non-cytotoxic; however, PPy-based electroconductive hydrogels showed greater RMS 13 and PC12 proliferation compared to controls. The glucose and lactate biotransducers exhibited linear dynamic ranges of 0.10-13.0 mM glucose and 1.0-7.0 mM and response times (t(95)) of 50 and 35-40 s, respectively. Operational stability gave 80% of the initial biosensor response after 5 days of continuous operation at 37 °C. Preliminary in vivo studies in a Sprague-Dawley hemorrhage model showed tissue lactate levels to rise more rapidly than systematic lactate. The potential for an implantable biochip that supports telemetric reporting of intramuscular lactate and glucose levels allows the refinement of resuscitation approaches for civilian and combat trauma victims.

Spectroscopic phase microscopy for quantifying hemoglobin concentrations in intact red blood cells

We report a practical method for label-free quantification of specific molecules using spectroscopic imaging of sample-induced phase shifts. Diffraction phase microscopy equipped with various wavelengths of light source is used to record wavelength-dependent phase images. We first perform dispersion measurements on pure solutions of single molecular species present in the cells, such as albumin and hemoglobin (Hb). With this prior calibration of molecular specific dispersion, we demonstrate the extraction of Hb concentration from individual human red blood cells. The end point of this study is noninvasive monitoring of physiological states of intact living cells.

Factorial Switching Linear Dynamical Systems Applied to Physiological Condition Monitoring

Condition monitoring often involves the analysis of systems with hidden factors that switch between different modes of operation in some way. Given a sequence of observations, the task is to infer the filtering distribution of the switch setting at each time step. In this paper, we present factorial switching linear dynamical systems as a general framework for handling such problems. We show how domain knowledge and learning can be successfully combined in this framework, and introduce a new factor (the "X-factor") for dealing with unmodeled variation. We demonstrate the flexibility of this type of model by applying it to the problem of monitoring the condition of a premature baby receiving intensive care. The state of health of a baby cannot be observed directly, but different underlying factors are associated with particular patterns of physiological measurements and artifacts. We have explicit knowledge of common factors and use the X-factor to model novel patterns which are clinically significant but have unknown cause. Experimental results are given which show the developed methods to be effective on typical intensive care unit monitoring data.

Low‐cost wireless sensor networks for remote cardiac patients monitoring applications

AbstractOne of today's most pressing matters in medical care is response time to patients in need. Scope of this research is to suggest a solution that would help reduce response time in emergency situations utilizing technologies of wireless sensor networks. The enhanced power efficiency, minimized production cost, condensed physical layout, and reduced wired connections present a much more proficient and simplified approach to the continuous monitoring of patients' physiological status. The proposed sensor network system is composed of wearable vital sign sensors and a workstation monitor. The wearable platforms are to be distributed to patients of concern. The wearable platforms can provide continuous electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring by measuring electrical potentials between various points of the body using a galvanometer. They will then relay the ECG signals wirelessly to the workstation monitor. In addition to displaying the data, the workstation will also perform signal wavelet transformation for ECG characteristic extractions. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

OUR AND CER ESTIMATION IN HIGH DENSITY MAMMALIAN CELL PERFUSION CULTURES

We present methods for real-time estimation of OUR and CER in high density mammalian cell perfusion cultures. These computations are based on global mass balances and do not require kLa data and reactor perturbations. The applicability of this approach was tested in a long-term CHO cell cultivation where pH, temperature and DO were varied over the course of the cultivation. Real time OUR and CER data enable real-time metabolic flux estimation and allow cell physiological state monitoring and manipulation through advanced bioreactor process control.