Impact of an intermittent and localized cooling intervention on skin temperature, sleep quality and energy expenditure in free-living, young, healthy adults.

Where people live and work together it is not always possible to modify the ambient temperature; ways must therefore be found that allow individuals to feel thermally comfortable in such settings. The Embr Wave® is a wrist-worn device marketed as a 'personal thermostat' that can apply a local cooling stimulus to the skin. The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of an intermittent mild cold stimulus of 25 °C for 15-20 s every 5 min over 3.5 days under free-living conditions on 1) skin temperature, 2) perception of skin temperature, 3) sleep quality and 4) resting energy expenditure (REE) in young, healthy adults. Ten subjects wore the device for 3.5 consecutive days. This intervention reduced distal skin temperature after correcting for personal ambient temperature (P < 0.05), but did not affect the subjects' the perception of skin temperature, sleep quality or REE (all P ≥ 0.051). Thus, this intermittent mild cold regime can reduce distal skin temperature, and wearing it under free-living conditions for 3.5 days does not seem to impair the perception of skin temperature and sleep quality or modify REE.

Assessment of radio-frequency heating of a parallel transmit coil in a phantom using multi-echo proton resonance frequency shift thermometry.

We propose a workflow for validating parallel transmission (pTx) radio-frequency (RF) magnetic field heating patterns using Proton-Resonance Frequency shift (PRF)-based MR thermometry. Electromagnetic (EM) and thermal simulations of a 7 T 8-channel dipole coil were done using commercially available software (Sim4Life) to assess RF heating. The fabrication method for a phantom with electrical properties matched to human tissue is also described, along with methods for its electrical and thermal characterisation. Energy was deposited to specific transmit channels, whilst acquiring 3D PRF data using a pair of interleaved RF shim transmit modes. A multi-echo readout and pre-scan stabilisation protocol were used for increased sensitivity and to correct for measurement-to-measurement instabilities. The electrical properties of the phantom were found to be within 10% of the intended values. Adoption of a 14-min stabilisation scan gave sufficient suppression of any evolving background spatial variation in the B0 field to achieve <0.001 °C/mm thermometry drift over 10 min of subsequent scanning. Using two RF shim transmit modes enabled full phantom coverage and combining multiple echo times enabled a 13-54% improvement in the RMSE sensitivity to temperature changes. Combining multiple echoes reduced the peak RMSE by 45% and visually reduced measurement-to-measurement instabilities. A reference fibre optic probe showed temperature deviations from the PRF-estimated temperature to be smaller than 0.5 °C. Given the importance of RF safety in pTx applications, this workflow enables accurate validation of RF heating simulations with minimal additional hardware requirements.

Low-Cost Quantitative Photothermal Genetic Detection of Pathogens on a Paper Hybrid Device Using a Thermometer.

Tuberculosis (TB), one of the deadliest infectious diseases, is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) and remains a public health problem nowadays. Conventional MTB DNA detection methods require sophisticated infrastructure and well-trained personnel, which leads to increasing complexity and high cost for diagnostics and limits their wide accessibility in low-resource settings. To address these issues, we have developed a low-cost photothermal biosensing method for the quantitative genetic detection of pathogens such as MTB DNA on a paper hybrid device using a thermometer. First, DNA capture probes were simply immobilized on paper through a one-step surface modification process. After DNA sandwich hybridization, oligonucleotide-functionalized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were introduced on paper and then catalyzed the oxidation reaction of 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB). The produced oxidized TMB, acting as a strong photothermal agent, was used for the photothermal biosensing of MTB DNA under 808 nm laser irradiation. Under optimal conditions, the on-chip quantitative detection of the target DNA was readily achieved using an inexpensive thermometer as a signal recorder. This method does not require any expensive analytical instrumentation but can achieve higher sensitivity and there are no color interference issues, compared to conventional colorimetric methods. The method was further validated by detecting genomic DNA with high specificity. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first photothermal biosensing strategy for quantitative nucleic acid analysis on microfluidics using a thermometer, which brings fresh inspirations on the development of simple, low-cost, and miniaturized photothermal diagnostic platforms for quantitative detection of a variety of diseases at the point of care.

Detection and Prediction of Ovulation From Body Temperature Measured by an In-Ear Wearable Thermometer.

OBJECTIVE: We present a non-invasive wearable device for fertility monitoring and propose an effective and flexible statistical learning algorithm to detect and predict ovulation using data captured by this device. METHODS: The system consists of an earpiece, which measures the ear canal temperature every 5 min during night sleep hours, and a base station that transmits data to a smartphone application for analysis. We establish a data-cleaning protocol for data preprocessing and then fit a Hidden Markov Model (HMM) with two hidden states of high and low temperature to identify the more probable state of each time point via the predicted probabilities. Finally, a post-processing procedure is developed to incorporate biorhythm information to form a time-course biphasic profile for each subject. RESULTS: The performance of the proposed algorithms applied to data collected by the device are compared with traditional methods in terms of match rate with self-reported ovulation days confirmed with an ovulation test kit. Empirical study results from a group of 34 users yielded significant improvements over the traditional methods in terms of detection accuracy (with sensitivity 92.31%) and prediction power (23.07-31.55% higher). CONCLUSION: We demonstrated the feasibility for reliable ovulation detection and prediction with high-frequency temperature data collected by a non-invasive wearable device. SIGNIFICANCE: Traditional fertility monitoring methods are often either inaccurate or inconvenient. The wearable device and learning algorithm presented in this paper provide a user friendly and reliable platform for tracking ovulation, which may have a broad impact on both fertility research and real-world family planning.

GFP fluorescence peak fraction analysis based nanothermometer for the assessment of exothermal mitochondria activity in live cells.

Nanothermometry methods with intracellular sensitivities have the potential to make important contributions to fundamental cell biology and medical fields, as temperature is a relevant physical parameter for molecular reactions to occur inside the cells and changes of local temperature are well identified therapeutic strategies. Here we show how the GFP can be used to assess temperature-based on a novel fluorescence peak fraction method. Further, we use standard GFP transfection reagents to assess temperature intracellularly in HeLa cells expressing GFP in the mitochondria. High thermal resolution and sensitivity of around 0.26% °C-1 and 2.5% °C-1, were achieved for wt-GFP in solution and emGFP-Mito within the cell, respectively. We demonstrate that the GFP-based nanothermometer is suited to directly follow the temperature changes induced by a chemical uncoupler reagent that acts on the mitochondria. The spatial resolution allows distinguishing local heating variations within the different cellular compartments. Our discovery may lead to establishing intracellular nanothermometry as a standard method applicable to the wide range of live cells able to express GFP.

Development of a Wireless Health Monitoring System for Measuring Core Body Temperature from the Back of the Body.

In this paper, a user-friendly and low-cost wireless health monitoring system that measures skin temperature from the back of the body for monitoring the core body temperature is proposed. To measure skin temperature accurately, a semiconductor-based microtemperature sensor with a maximum accuracy of ±0.3°C was chosen and controlled by a high-performance/low-power consumption Acorn-Reduced Instruction Set Computing Machine (ARM) architecture microcontroller to build the temperature measuring device. Relying on a 2.4 GHz multichannel Gaussian frequency shift keying (GFSK) RF communication technology, up to 100 proposed temperature measuring devices can transmit the data to one receiver at the same time. The shell of the proposed wireless temperature-measuring device was manufactured via a 3D printer, and the device was assembled to conduct the performance tests and in vivo experiments. The performance test was conducted with a K-type temperature sensor in a temperature chamber to observe temperature measurement performance. The results showed an error value between two devices was less than 0.1°C from 25 to 40°C. For the in vivo experiments, the device was attached on the back of 10 younger male subjects to measure skin temperature to investigate the relationship with ear temperature. According to the experimental results, an algorithm based on the curve-fitting method was implemented in the proposed device to estimate the core body temperature by the measured skin temperature value. The algorithm was established as a linear model and set as a quadratic formula with an interpolant and with each coefficient for the equation set with 95% confidence bounds. For evaluating the goodness of fit, the sum of squares due to error (SSE), R-square, adjusted R-square, and root mean square error (RMSE) values were 33.0874, 0.0212, 0.0117, and 0.3998, respectively. As the experimental results have shown, the mean value for an error between ear temperature and estimated core body temperature is about ±0.19°C, and the mean bias is 0.05 ± 0.14°C when the subjects are in steady status.

Challenges of cold chain quality for routine EPI in south-west Burkina-Faso: An assessment using automated temperature recording devices.

BACKGROUND: Abnormal temperatures are a major issue for vaccines within the Expanded Program of Immunization in tropical climates. Prolonged exposure to temperatures outside the standard +2 °C/+8 °C range can impact vaccine potency. METHODS: The current study used automatic temperature recording devices (Testostore 171-1©) to monitor cold chain in remote areas of Western Burkina Faso. A series of 25 randomly selected health centers representing 33% of the existing 176 EPI facilities in Western Burkina Faso were prospectively assessed for eight months in 2015. Automatic measurements were compared to routine temperature loggers and vaccine vial monitors (VVM). RESULTS: The median age for all refrigerators was 9 years with 10/25 (42%) older than 10 years. Adverse temperatures were recorded in 20/24 (83%) refrigerators and ranged from -18.5 °C to +34.2 °C with 12,958/128,905 (10%) abnormal hourly records below +2 °C and 7357/128,905 (5.7%) above +8 °C. Time of day significantly affected the rate of temperature excursions, with higher rates from 00 am to 06 am (p < 0.001) for low temperatures and 10-12 am (p < 0.001) and 13-16 pm (p < 0.001) for high temperatures. Abnormal temperatures lasted from 1 h to 24 h below +2 °C and 13-24 h above +8 °C. Standard manual registers reported only 182/2761 (7%) inadequate temperatures and VVM color change detected only 133/2465 (5%) disruptions. Reliability of the refrigerators ranged from 48% to 98.7% with a median of 70%. Risk factors for excursions were old age of the refrigerators, the months of April and May, hours of high activity during the day, and health staff-associated factors such as inappropriate actions or insufficient knowledge. CONCLUSION: Important cold chain reliability issues reported in the current study in Western Burkina Faso raise concern about vaccine potency. In the absence of systematic renewal of the cold chain infrastructure or improved staff training and monitoring, antibody response assessment is recommended to study levels of effective immunization coverage.

Assessment of MRI issues at 1.5 T for the Temperature Logger Implant.

PURPOSE: The Temperature Logger Implant is a newly developed device that is capable of providing data for animal studies on thermoregulatory function, hibernation, hypothermia, and general health. During research, it may be necessary to conduct a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examination on an animal with this device implanted to assess anatomical changes or other conditions. Notably, this new device was specially designed to be unaffected by the electromagnetic fields used for MRI. Therefore, to verify that there would be no problems related to MRI, the purpose of this investigation was to evaluate MRI-related issues for the Temperature Logger Implant. METHODS: Tests were performed on the Temperature Logger Implant using well-accepted techniques to evaluate magnetic field interactions (translational attraction and torque, 1.5 T), MRI-related heating (whole body averaged specific absorption rate, 2.9 W/kg), artifacts (T1-weighted, spin echo and gradient echo pulse sequences), and functional changes related to exposure to eight different imaging conditions. RESULTS: Magnetic field interactions were relatively low (deflection angle 4°, no torque) and heating was minor (highest temperature rise, > 1.1 °C) indicating that these factors will not pose a hazard to an animal. The largest artifact (gradient echo pulse sequence) extended 10 mm from the size and shape of the Temperature Logger Implant. Exposure to the eight different conditions at 1.5 T/ 64 MHz did not alter or damage the operational aspects of the device. CONCLUSIONS: The findings demonstrated that MRI can be performed safely on an animal with this new Temperature Logger Implant and, thus, this device is deemed "MR Conditional" (i.e., using current labeling terminology), according to the conditions used in this investigation.

Cost minimisation analysis of thermometry in two different hospital systems.

INTRODUCTION: Temperature monitoring can be accomplished by various methods, including oral (OT), rectal (RT), axillary (AT), tympanic membrane (TMT) and temporal artery (TAT) thermometry, with varying amounts of cost incurred by healthcare systems. METHODS: The potential thermometry cost savings in two hospital systems-University Hospital Centre Zagreb (UHCZ), which uses TMT (device Covidien Genius 2) and University of Michigan Hospitals (UMH), which relies on OT, RT and AT (device Welch Allyn suretemp plus 692)-were analysed to evaluate institution-wide TAT (device Exergen TAT-5000) implementation. Two scenarios were developed: scenario 1, comparing costs for a period of 1, 3 and 5 years; scenario 2, calculation of the number of measurements per device for TAT to be cost-effective. RESULTS: At UHCZ, use of TAT would bring budget savings regardless of the number of devices per bed and the number of years observed. Savings would range from US$0.08 million (one device per bed, impact for 1 year) to US$1.8 million (one device per 10 beds, impact for 5 years). At UMH, use of TAT would lead to budget savings if one device per 10 beds were acquired, but only over a period of 3 or 5 years. Other TAT scenarios were associated with budget costs at UMH even after a period of 5 years. CONCLUSIONS: Sensitivity analyses showed that the price of current consumables had the highest impact on the model in both hospital settings, with TAT up to 10 times cheaper in that regard over TMT at UHCZ, potentially leading to considerable budget savings within a year of hospital-wide implementation.

A Lab Assembled Microcontroller-Based Sensor Module for Continuous Oxygen Measurement in Portable Hypoxia Chambers.

BACKGROUND: Hypoxia-based cell culture experiments are routine and essential components of in vitro cancer research. Most laboratories use low-cost portable modular chambers to achieve hypoxic conditions for cell cultures, where the sealed chambers are purged with a gas mixture of preset O2 concentration. Studies are conducted under the assumption that hypoxia remains unaltered throughout the 48 to 72 hour duration of such experiments. Since these chambers lack any sensor or detection system to monitor gas-phase O2, the cell-based data tend to be non-uniform due to the ad hoc nature of the experimental setup. METHODOLOGY: With the availability of low-cost open-source microcontroller-based electronic project kits, it is now possible for researchers to program these with easy-to-use software, link them to sensors, and place them in basic scientific apparatus to monitor and record experimental parameters. We report here the design and construction of a small-footprint kit for continuous measurement and recording of O2 concentration in modular hypoxia chambers. The low-cost assembly (US$135) consists of an Arduino-based microcontroller, data-logging freeware, and a factory pre-calibrated miniature O2 sensor. A small, intuitive software program was written by the authors to control the data input and output. The basic nature of the kit will enable any student in biology with minimal experience in hobby-electronics to assemble the system and edit the program parameters to suit individual experimental conditions. RESULTS/CONCLUSIONS: We show the kit's utility and stability of data output via a series of hypoxia experiments. The studies also demonstrated the critical need to monitor and adjust gas-phase O2 concentration during hypoxia-based experiments to prevent experimental errors or failure due to partial loss of hypoxia. Thus, incorporating the sensor-microcontroller module to a portable hypoxia chamber provides a researcher a capability that was previously available only to labs with access to sophisticated (and expensive) cell culture incubators.

Does the technique employed for skin temperature assessment alter outcomes? A systematic review.

Skin temperature is an important physiological measure that can reflect the presence of illness and injury as well as provide insight into the localised interactions between the body and the environment. The aim of this systematic review was to analyse the agreement between conductive and infrared means of assessing skin temperature which are commonly employed in in clinical, occupational, sports medicine, public health and research settings.Full-text eligibility was determined independently by two reviewers. Studies meeting the following criteria were included in the review: (1) the literature was written in English, (2) participants were human (in vivo), (3) skin surface temperature was assessed at the same site, (4) with at least two commercially available devices employed-one conductive and one infrared-and (5) had skin temperature data reported in the study.A computerised search of four electronic databases, using a combination of 21 keywords, and citation tracking was performed in January 2015. A total of 8,602 were returned.Methodology quality was assessed by two authors independently, using the Cochrane risk of bias tool.A total of 16 articles (n = 245) met the inclusion criteria.Devices are classified to be in agreement if they met the clinically meaningful recommendations of mean differences within ±0.5 °C and limits of agreement of ±1.0 °C.Twelve of the included studies found mean differences greater than ±0.5 °C between conductive and infrared devices. In the presence of external stimulus (e.g. exercise and/or heat) five studies found exacerbated measurement differences between conductive and infrared devices.This is the first review that has attempted to investigate presence of any systemic bias between infrared and conductive measures by collectively evaluating the current evidence base. There was also a consistently high risk of bias across the studies, in terms of sample size, random sequence generation, allocation concealment, blinding and incomplete outcome data.This systematic review questions the suitability of using infrared cameras in stable, resting, laboratory conditions. Furthermore, both infrared cameras and thermometers in the presence of sweat and environmental heat demonstrate poor agreement when compared to conductive devices. These findings have implications for clinical, occupational, public health, sports science and research fields.

Noninvasive assessment of muscle temperature during rest, exercise, and postexercise recovery in different environments.

We introduced noninvasive and accurate techniques to estimate muscle temperature (Tm) of vastus lateralis (VL), triceps brachii (TB), and trapezius (TRAP) during rest, exercise, and postexercise recovery using the insulation disk (iDISK) technique. Thirty-six volunteers (24 men, 12 women; 73.0 ± 12.2 kg; 1.75 ± 0.07 m; 24.4 ± 5.5 yr; 49.2 ± 6.8 ml·kg(-1)·min(-1) peak oxygen uptake) underwent periods of rest, cycling exercise at 40% of peak oxygen uptake, and postexercise recovery in three environments: Normal (24°C, 56% relative humidity), Hot-Humid (30°C, 60% relative humidity), and Hot-Dry (40°C, 24% relative humidity). Participants were randomly allocated into the "model" and the "validation" groups. Results in the model group demonstrated that Tm (VL: 36.65 ± 1.27°C; TB: 35.76 ± 1.73°C; TRAP: 36.53 ± 0.96°C) was increased compared with iDISK (VL: 35.67 ± 1.71°C; TB: 34.77 ± 2.27°C; TRAP: 35.98 ± 1.34°C) across all environments (P < 0.001). Stepwise regression analysis generated models that accurately predicted Tm (predTm) of VL (R(2) = 0.73-0.91), TB (R(2) = 0.85-0.93), and TRAP (R(2) = 0.84-0.86) using iDISK and the difference between the current iDISK temperature and that recorded between 1 and 4 min before. Cross-validation analyses in the validation group demonstrated small differences (P < 0.05) of no physiological significance, small effect size of the differences, and strong associations (r = 0.85-0.97; P < 0.001) between Tm and predTm. Moreover, narrow 95% limits of agreement and low percent coefficient of variation were observed between Tm and predTm. It is concluded that the developed noninvasive, practical, and inexpensive techniques provide accurate estimations of VL, TB, and TRAP Tm during rest, cycling exercise, and postexercise recovery.

Assessment of human intraoral thermal sensitivity with simple devices in the clinic: implications for orofacial pain conditions.

AIMS: To use simple thermal devices with different diameters and temperatures to investigate reliability and magnitude of human intraoral thermal sensitivity. METHODS: Sixteen healthy volunteers participated. Six thermal devices with tapered circular ends (stimulus diameter 3, 5, and 10 mm) were used. Three different temperatures (room temperature, heat, and cold) were applied with each of the three diameters, ie, nine combinations. Participants were stimulated in randomized order at nine different sites: tongue, lip, maxillary attached gingiva adjacent to the left and right central incisors (without touching the lip) and to the left and right premolars (with or without touching the lip), and the left and right cheeks extraorally. Participants rated the perceived stimulus intensity on 0-50- 100 numeric rating scales (NRS). The number of paradoxical thermal sensations was also recorded. Ten volunteers were examined twice on the same day and recalled for a second session for assessment with the 5-mm-diameter device of within- and between-session reliability (interclass correlation coefficients [ICC]). The results were analyzed using a three-way analysis of variance. RESULTS: Reliability of NRS scores ranged from poor (ICC = 0.09, with cold stimulation at the premolar region) to excellent (ICC > 0.92, with cold stimulation at the cheek or tongue). NRS values varied with stimulus diameter (P < .050), temperature (P < .001), and sites (P < .001), with significant size x site and temperature x site interactions (P < .001). The tongue was the most sensitive site (P < .001) and the gingiva was the least sensitive site (P < .050). The 10-mm-diameter device produced higher NRS scores than the 3-mm-diameter device. CONCLUSION: The reliability of intraoral thermal sensitivity recorded with the 5-mm-diameter device varied greatly between different sites. Nonetheless, with this caveat in mind, the study did document that semiquantitative assessment of intraoral thermal sensitivity is feasible and applicable for clinical studies in different intraoral pain conditions.

Assessment of temperature measurement error and its correction during Nd:YAG laser ablation in porcine pancreas.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to experimentally assess temperature measurement error, or artefact, in ex vivo healthy porcine pancreases undergoing laser ablation due to direct light absorption by thermocouples, investigate this artefact at different relative positions between thermocouples and laser applicator, and correct the artefact by a three-variables model. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Temperature in ex vivo healthy porcine pancreases undergoing laser ablation, using a Nd:YAG laser at two low powers (i.e., 1.6 W and 2 W) and a single applicator, was monitored by thermocouples. Artefact caused by laser light absorption of thermocouple metallic wires was assessed at 12 relative positions by changing the relative distance (d) and the angle (θ) forming between applicator and thermocouples. Reference temperature was measured by fibre Bragg grating sensors. Trials were performed using a three-variables model (i.e., power, d and θ) based on Pennes' equation to correct the artefact. RESULTS: The higher d and θ, the lower the artefact (e.g., at θ = 0° and power = 2 W, the artefact is 14.0 °C at d = 3 mm and 4.0 °C at d = 7 mm). Artefact increases with power. The three-variables model allows the minimising of the artefact: the maximum artefact decreases from 14 °C to 2.8 °C applying the proposed correction. CONCLUSIONS: Artefact is strongly influenced by the relative position between applicator and thermocouples. The correction based on the model minimises the artefact at the two low powers employed during the experiments. Further trials are required to investigate the feasibility of the model at higher powers.

Fever screening of seasonal influenza patients using a cost-effective thermopile array with small pixels for close-range thermometry.

OBJECTIVE: Infrared thermography systems have been used for fever screening at many airports since the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003. However, many of these systems are expensive and non-portable. Therefore, we developed a cost-effective and compact (2.9 × 5.8 × 2.0 cm) thermopile array for fever screening of patients with infectious diseases in the clinical setting. METHODS: The array was created with small pixels (48 × 47 = 2256 pixels) fabricated on a silicon wafer using microelectromechanical systems technology. We tested this array on 155 febrile and afebrile patients (35.4°C ≤ axillary temperature ≤ 39.3°C) with seasonal influenza at the Japan Self-Defense Forces Central Hospital. RESULTS: The maximum facial temperature, measured by the array at 0.3 m from the subject, exhibited a positive correlation with axillary temperature measured using a contact-type thermometer (r = 0.71, p < 0.01). The sensitivity and specificity of the thermopile array in identifying the febrile subjects were 80.5% and 93.3%, respectively, setting the threshold cut-off of maximum facial temperature at an appropriate value. CONCLUSIONS: Our cost-effective thermopile array appears promising for future close-range fever screening of patients with infectious diseases at primary care doctor clinics, health care centers, and quarantine stations in developing and developed countries.

Feasibility of non-invasive temperature estimation by the assessment of the average gray-level content of B-mode images.

This paper assesses the potential of the average gray-level (AVGL) from ultrasonographic (B-mode) images to estimate temperature changes in time and space in a non-invasive way. Experiments were conducted involving a homogeneous bovine muscle sample, and temperature variations were induced by an automatic temperature regulated water bath, and by therapeutic ultrasound. B-mode images and temperatures were recorded simultaneously. After data collection, regions of interest (ROIs) were defined, and the average gray-level variation computed. For the selected ROIs, the AVGL-Temperature relation were determined and studied. Based on uniformly distributed image partitions, two-dimensional temperature maps were developed for homogeneous regions. The color-coded temperature estimates were first obtained from an AVGL-Temperature relation extracted from a specific partition (where temperature was independently measured by a thermocouple), and then extended to the other partitions. This procedure aimed to analyze the AVGL sensitivity to changes not only in time but also in space. Linear and quadratic relations were obtained depending on the heating modality. We found that the AVGL-Temperature relation is reproducible over successive heating and cooling cycles. One important result was that the AVGL-Temperature relations extracted from one region might be used to estimate temperature in other regions (errors inferior to 0.5 °C) when therapeutic ultrasound was applied as a heating source. Based on this result, two-dimensional temperature maps were developed when the samples were heated in the water bath and also by therapeutic ultrasound. The maps were obtained based on a linear relation for the water bath heating, and based on a quadratic model for the therapeutic ultrasound heating. The maps for the water bath experiment reproduce an acceptable heating/cooling pattern, and for the therapeutic ultrasound heating experiment, the maps seem to reproduce temperature profiles consistent with the pressure field of the transducer, and in agreement with temperature maps developed by COMSOL®MultiPhysics simulations.

Experimental system for real-time assessment of potential changes in protein conformation induced by electromagnetic fields.

A novel experimental system to distinguish between potential thermal and non-thermal effects of electromagnetic fields (EMFs) on the conformational equilibrium and folding kinetics of proteins is presented. The system comprises an exposure chamber installed within the measurement compartment of a spectropolarimeter and allows real-time observation of the circular dichroism (CD) signal of the protein during EMF exposure. An optical temperature probe monitors the temperature of the protein solution at the site of irradiation. The electromagnetic, thermal, and fluid-dynamic behavior of the system is characterized by numerical and experimental means. The number of repeated EMF on/off cycles needed for achieving a certain detection limit is determined on the basis of the experimentally assessed precision of the CD measurements. The isolated thermosensor protein GrpE of the Hsp70 chaperone system of Eschericha coli serves as the test protein. Long-term experiments show high thermal reproducibility as well as thermal stability of the experimental setup.

Assessment for predicting parturition in mares based on prepartum temperature changes using a digital rectal thermometer and microchip transponder thermometry device.

The purpose of this study was to observe the changes in body temperature before parturition using a wireless temperature monitoring device (WTMD) and to evaluate the usefulness of body temperature measurements using a digital rectal thermometer (DRT) and a microchip transponder thermometry device (MTTD) for predicting parturition in mares. The body temperatures using a WTMD at 0 hr and -1 hr were significantly different from those at the same time on Days 1-5 (P<0.01). The temperature differences between the morning of Day 0 and at -3 hr, -2 hr, -1 hr and 0 hr using the DRT and MTTD showed a significant drop compared with the temperature differences between the morning and evening of Days 1-5 (P<0.05). Furthermore, when the cutoff value of the temperature differences between the morning and other times was set to ≤0, the sensitivities of the DRT and MTTD in the evening of Day 0 and at -3 hr were 43% and 100% and 71% and 86%, respectively. The results suggested that monitoring the body temperature differences between morning and within 3 hr before the time of parturition is a valuable method for predicting parturition in mares. Conversely, this method would be more useful in predicting parturition when used in combination with other observations such as the mammary gland size and waxing of the teat ends because it has nearly a 20% probability of false-positive results prior to the day of parturition.