Thermal comfort, perceived air quality, and cognitive performance when personally controlled air movement is used by tropically acclimatized persons.

In a warm and humid climate, increasing the temperature set point offers considerable energy benefits with low first costs. Elevated air movement generated by a personally controlled fan can compensate for the negative effects caused by an increased temperature set point. Fifty-six tropically acclimatized persons in common Singaporean office attire (0.7 clo) were exposed for 90 minutes to each of five conditions: 23, 26, and 29°C and in the latter two cases with and without occupant-controlled air movement. Relative humidity was maintained at 60%. We tested thermal comfort, perceived air quality, sick building syndrome symptoms, and cognitive performance. We found that thermal comfort, perceived air quality, and sick building syndrome symptoms are equal or better at 26°C and 29°C than at the common set point of 23°C if a personally controlled fan is available for use. The best cognitive performance (as indicated by task speed) was obtained at 26°C; at 29°C, the availability of an occupant-controlled fan partially mitigated the negative effect of the elevated temperature. The typical Singaporean indoor air temperature set point of 23°C yielded the lowest cognitive performance. An elevated set point in air-conditioned buildings augmented with personally controlled fans might yield benefits for reduced energy use and improved indoor environmental quality in tropical climates.

Skin level permanent feeding gastrostomy.

Feeding gastrostomy can be troublesome, inconvenient and painful to the patient, especially if the catheter is redundant, thereby causing deformity of the opening ad leakage of gastric juice and food around the tube. A skin level permanent feeding gastrostomy was fashioned in four patients with neurologic disease. The mushroom catheter was introduced into the stomach, secured by a purse-string suture and fastened to the abdominal wall by a metal hub. The hub was fitted to a syringe by an adaptor for feeding purposes and was covered between meals. The device is simple to construct, safe, spill-proof and easily adopted by the patients.