Thermal imaging applications in neonatal care: a scoping review

Background In neonatal care, assessment of the temperature of the neonate is essential to confirm on-going health, and as an early signal of potential pathology. However, some methods of temperature assessment involve disturbing the baby, disrupting essential sleep patterns, and interrupting maternal/infant interaction. Thermal imaging is a completely non-invasive and non-contact method of assessing emitted temperature, but it is not a standard method for neonatal thermal monitoring. To examine the potential utility of using thermal imaging in neonatal care, we conducted a comprehensive systematic scoping review of thermal imaging applications in this context. Methods We searched EMBASE, MEDLINE and MIDIRS. Results From 442 hits, 21 met the inclusion criteria and were included in the review. A significant number (n = 9) were published in the last 8 years. All the studies were observational studies, with 20 out of 21 undertaken in North America or Europe. Most of them had small cohorts (range 4–29 participants). The findings were analysed narratively, to establish the issues identified in the included studies. Five broad themes emerged for future examination. These were: general thermal physiology; heat loss and respiratory monitoring; identification of internal pathologies, including necrotising enterocolitis; other uses of thermal imaging; and technical concerns. The findings suggest that thermal imaging is a reliable and non-invasive method for continuous monitoring of the emitted temperature of the neonates, with potential for contributing to the assurance of wellbeing, and to the diagnosis of pathologies, including internal abnormalities. However, the introduction of thermal imaging into everyday neonatology practice has several methodological challenges, including environmental parameters, especially when infants are placed in incubators or open radiant warmers. Conclusion In conclusion, although the first attempt at using thermal imaging in neonatal care started in the early-1970s, with promising results, and subsequent small cohort studies have recently reinforced this potential, there have not been any large prospective studies in this area that examine both the benefits and the barriers to its use in practice

Tool And Task Design Challenges For Left Handers: A Brief Review

Left-handed users are often overlooked by equipment and hand tool designers. Designers may assume that left handers will eventually learn to adapt themselves in a right-handed environment. However in reality left handers face a lot of difficulties when trying to perform tasks meant for right-handed users. Medical personnel are most affected by this issue, followed by workers in non-medical field such as services and manufacturing. This review aims to highlight the issues faced left handers by analysing common household product examples as well as hand tools in occupational settings. Discussions are centred on the differences between the right-handed tools versus left-handed tools, as well as task/procedural challenges faced by left handers. In summary, the notion of designing an ambidextrous tool may not be a realistic recommendation for tool manufacturers and designers

Design Of An Internet Of Things Based Electromagnetic Robotic Arm For Pick And Place Applications

In this generation, industrial robotic arm has been widely used in fields separated from the human society. It is limited because it is not possible to manipulate and interact with people. To depict robotics technology with human-machine interaction and wireless communication, interactivity is possible in real time with virtual objects that makes some other technology needs to be developed which maximizes robot use to assist people with their work in an efficient way. The main objective of this project is to develop and design an interface of Internet of Things controller for robotic arm. The main purpose of making this interface is to remotely control the robotic arm using internet facilities. The robotic arm has four servo motor where all servo motor are assigned with single pulse width modulation which can be control separately. Furthermore, the NodeMCU board was used to receive signal from the Blynk app that authorizes monitoring and controlling the movement of the robotic arm to perform pick and place operations. Meanwhile, the results of this study are verified through manual test implementation. Two type of manual test were done for this project that is pick and place application and time delay to send the data. The pick and place operation of the robotic arm was observed to see whether the robotic arm capable to conduct the instruction precisely to move within their desired angular displacement degree. The time delay to send the data shows that the respond at each of the servo motor to move 180 degrees with no load was influenced by the Wi-Fi signal strength at particular places. Hence, this prototype of the robotic arm showed that the operational to control the robotic arm to perform pick and place application using internet facilities was successful

Qualitative and Qualitative Phytochemical Screening of Medicinal Herbal Ocimum Tulsi Leaves

Department of Pharmacy; Chemistry For Health, De Montfort UniversityThe drastic changes in human life style and food habits over the last century have led to various chronic diseases. Diabetes milletus is one such disease, which is causing serious problems to human health in all parts of the world. Diabetes Mellitus is a metabolic disorder characterized by high blood glucose levels due to defect in insulin secretion, insulin action or both. Poor control of the condition can result in long term complication such as diabetic nephropathy, neuropathy, retinopathy, hypertension, dyslipidaemia and cardiovascular disease, which can lead to a heart attack or stroke. Scientific reports revealed that diabetes cannot be cured completely. Current therapy for diabetes is centred around controlling blood sugar levels to keep them in the normal range. However, diabetes is often associated with dyslipidaemia and oxidative stress, which contributes to the damage caused to organs. Therefore, to adequately control diabetes, blood lipid levels and oxidative stress need to be controlled alongside blood glucose. The modern systems of medicine have not shown any significant effect for the treatment of the disease. There are also concerns about the cost and safety in long-term use for some of these 5th Annual International Conference on Health & Medical Sciences, 1-4 May 2017, Athens, Greece: Abstract Book 136 drugs. Hence focus has been turned towards traditional system of medicine. Medicinal plants play an important role in management of diabetes milletus. During the past few years many bioactive drugs have been isolated from plants. Herbal medicines have shown good clinical practice in the therapy of diabetic milletus. The genus Ocimum is of the basil family Lamiaceae, which contains approximately 150 species of aromatic plants that are found mainly in the tropical regions of the world. Many of these species have extensive medicinal applications in indigenous medicinal systems of countries in Asia, Africa and South America. Lamiaceae is one of the holiest and sacred herbs grown in India. This plant is known to possess antiseptic, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antistress, Immunomodulatory, hypoglycaemic, hypotensive and antioxidant properties. Among these species are Ocimum sanctum L. or Ocimum tenuiflorum L., also known as Tulsi or Holybasil, an aromatic plant. There are two sub- types of Ocimum sanctum called Krishna tulsi which is the black-purple variety, and the white Vana tulsi. It is widely used in Ayurveda and Siddha system of medicine to cure various ailments. The dried powder of Tulsi was placed in the thimble of Soxhlet apparatus, distilled water employed as a solvent. The extract was concentrated using Rotavapor. Then the extract was dried in a digital water bath till a dark green residue was obtained. The percentage yield was 10%w/w. The test residue and powder was subjected to phytochemical analysis to find out the presence of phytochemical constituents and compared. The phytochemical tests employed for alkaloids and tannins, Cardiac glycosides, saponins, terpenoids and flavonoids. The latter are known for their strong antioxidant properties. Here reported investigation carried out to determine the qualitative and qualitative analysis of phytochemical screening and possible chemical components including assessment of antioxidant properties. The analytical techniques employed for chemical investigation comprised Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy, Thin Layer Chromatography, Mass Spectroscopy, Infrared spectrophotometry, UV and Visible spectroscopy, High Pressure Liquid Chromatography, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance.and scanning electron microscope. Ocimum sanctum L. leaves analysis of hydro alcoholic extract revealed mainly Eugenol, an important phytochemical bioactive compound of Ayurvedic and other marketed herbal formulations. This study is currently in progress

Identification of a piezoelectric compact actuator

This paper describes the identification of a highly nonlinear and hysteretic piezoelectric compact actuator. A system identification technique was used based on observed data from the actuator mounted on a base structure. The parameter estimation process was conducted using the recursive least squares algorithm. Once the transfer function model has been obtained, it is required to verify whether the model is good enough or it meets the necessary requirements to represent the system. The experimental results and the SI approach indicate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme