Novel design of multichannel electrotherapeutic system.

This paper presents a new design for an electrotherapeutic system, characterized by a robust graphical user interface (GUI) design and patient feedback approach in order to guide the electrical stimulation process. This system is based on stimulating the patient by an electric current and analysing the signals generated from his/her body in response to the stimulation effect. The main advantage of this system over the conventional designs is that it is capable of providing self-adjustment of the stimulation parameters during the treatment session to achieve optimal stimulation results that increase the treatment efficiency and reduce the time needed to overcome the patients' impairments. Furthermore, it prevents any harm, pain or fatigue due to online measuring of the fatigue parameters during the treatment session. It is also capable of generating various shapes of stimulation pulses to treat patients with different impairments, and it has a friendly GUI that greatly simplifies patient data management and views the stimulus pulses with their controllable parameters.

Statistical modelling of human blood carbon dioxide partial pressure.

This paper deals with statistical modelling of blood carbon dioxide partial pressure pCO2. The clinical measurements were carried out in the Arab Centre for Heart and Special Surgery in Amman. The statistical analysis of the results obtained demonstrates that pCO2 for arterial, venous and capillary blood have histograms approaching normal ones. Moreover, the experimental data suggest that the blood pCO2 can be expressed by a linear regression model. Making use of this regression model, the blood pCO2 population can indirectly be obtained with accuracy fulfilling clinical requirements. Therefore, this approach will not only lead to less invasive methods but will also result in decreasing the cost of projected analyser for blood gas analysis. The implementation of this proposed regression equation ensures the effectiveness of the model as an indirect method for pCO2 measurements.

Technical note. A design study of a bioelectric amplifier and improvement of its parameters.

A design study of a bioelectric amplifier that has better parameters than conventional designs is presented. The design allows the construction of bioelectric amplifiers with improved parameters in terms of noise, common mode rejection ratio, and input impedance. The voltage gain and bandwidth are easily adapted to a wide range of biomedical applications. The experimental results of the designed bioelectric amplifier are also included.

A computer-based system for identification of the static characteristics of medical sensors.

This paper presents the design and implementation of a computer-based system for identification of the static characteristics of medical sensors. The static characteristic obtained is then used to correct the input-output non-idealities caused by nonlinearity effects, gain error, hysteresis and environmental effects. The knowledge of this characteristic enables digital signal processing of the sensor response, facilitates correction of input-output non-idealities and forms a compensation formula which is required for the optimal design of the experiment for medical sensor calibration. The identification system consists of a personal computer and a microcontroller-based electronic system. In consideration of practical situations special emphasis is oriented toward its user friendliness and future extendability.

Ophthalmomyiasis caused by the sheep nasal bot, Oestrus ovis (Oestridae) larvae, in the Benghazi area of Eastern Libya.

In a two-year study, from January 1977 to December 1978, 80 human cases of ophthalmomyiasis were recorded at the Benghazi Central Eye Clinic. Infections were due to larvae of the sheep nasal bot, Ostrus ovis. The annual incidence was estimated to be 10 per 100,000 population, with most of the cases occurring amongst males during the months of May, June and July. A typical case history is described to illustrate the clinical features and the treatment used.