67 results about "Physiological stress" patented technology

A mechanism to monitor an individual's level of stress in his or her home or workplace is provided. Unobtrusive physiologic stress senses are used in combination with a wireless link and a personal computer or other intelligent device to monitor the user's stress level. Based on a user profile and the user's baseline stress indicators, one or more stress-reducing activities are presented to the user. Additionally, if a user is in a stress-sensitive population, for example, persons with a pre-existing hypertension, the user may selectively enable additional alerts.

A method, system and device for measurement of a blood constituent level, including a light source, a light detector proximate an organ surface, adjustable gain amplifiers, and a processor/controller connected within a processing unit operative to separate AC and DC signal components. The device may determine the level of blood constituent, may use this level for monitoring and/or to activate an alarm when the level falls outside a predetermined range, may be applied to monitoring conditions of apnea, respiratory stress, and reduced blood flow in organ regions, heart rate, jaundice, and blood flow velocity, and may be incorporated within a monitoring system.

There is disclosed a system and method for treating obstructive sleep apnea by terminating an obstructive sleep apnea event before the cessation of breathing occurs. The system comprises one or more microphones capable of detecting breathing sounds within an airway of a person. The microphones generate signals representative of the breathing sounds and send the signals to a controller. The controller uses digital signal processing to identify at least one signal pattern that is associated with a breathing pattern of the person that occurs at the onset of an obstructive sleep apnea event. When the controller detects a signal pattern that indicates the onset of an obstructive apnea event, the controller sends an alarm signal to a stimulus generator. The stimulus generator creates a stimulus (an electric current, a sound, a vibrator, a flashing light, etc.) to cause the sleeping person to move in a manner to terminate the obstructive sleep apnea event before cessation of breathing occurs. The obstructive sleep apnea event is terminated without waking the sleeping person and without causing the sleeping person physiological stress associated with cessation of breathing.

Methods and systems for measuring mechanical property of a vascular wall and a method and system for determining health of a vascular structure are provided wherein local deformation of a vessel wall resulting from physiologic pressures with altered transmural forces is measured. A non-invasive free-hand ultrasound scanning-procedure was performed to apply external force, comparable to the force generated in measuring a subject's blood pressure, to achieve higher strains by equalizing the internal arterial baseline pressure. When the applied pressure matched the internal baseline diastolic pressure, strain and strain rate increased by a factor of 10 over a cardiac cycle. Radial arterial strain was assessed in the vessel wall over the entire deformation procedure using a phase-sensitive, two-dimensional speckle-tracking algorithm. An elastic modulus reconstruction procedure was developed to estimate the non-linear elastic properties of the vascular wall.

An automated biomonitoring system for monitoring water quality includes an exposure chamber for housing an aquatic organism having ventilatory behavior and body movement sensitive to water quality. Electrodes capture electrical signals produced by the organism during its ventilatory behavior and body movement, and a controller responsive to signals from the electrodes determines one or more ventilatory parameters based on the signals. The ventilatory parameters are compared with corresponding thresholds to determine when the water to which the organism is exposed has caused physiological stress to the organism. The signals captured by the electrodes may be corrected for variations in water conductivity so that the signals processed by the controlled are not influenced by conductivity.

An automated biomonitoring system for monitoring water quality includes an exposure chamber for housing an aquatic organism having ventilatory behavior and body movement sensitive to water quality. Electrodes sense electrical signals produced by the organism during its ventilatory behavior and body movement, and a controller responsive to signals from the electrodes determines a plurality of ventilatory parameters based on the signals. The ventilatory parameters are compared with corresponding thresholds to determine when the water to which the organism is exposed has caused physiological stress to the organism.

A system and method for detecting physiological stress in a person is provided which includes an imagining device and a processor. The processor receives an output from the imagining device representative of the. The processor identifies a characteristic of the person in the image which indicates that the person is not experiencing stress and a second characteristic which indicates the person is experiencing stress. A comparator compares the image of the subject and the two characteristics and the processor extrapolates from the comparison whether or not the person is experiencing a heightened state of stress or nervousness. If so the processor provides an output to activate an alarm or otherwise signal this condition to other individuals involved in monitoring a given area.

A portable automated biomonitoring system for monitoring water quality includes an exposure chamber for housing an aquatic organism and a water inlet for directing water to the exposure chamber. The aquatic organism has ventilatory behavior and body movement sensitive to water quality. Electrodes sense electrical signals produced by the organism during its ventilatory behavior and body movement, and a controller responsive to signals from the electrodes determines a plurality of ventilatory parameters based on the signals. The ventilatory parameters are compared with corresponding thresholds to determine when the water to which the organism is exposed has caused physiological stress to the organism. The water being evaluated may be recirculated through the system for further analysis.

Systems and methods are provided for evaluating the risk of stress-related injury associated with a predetermined activity. One embodiment involves collecting physiological data while a subject performs a predetermined task, collecting psychological data while the subject performs a cognitive task, and ascertaining the risk of stress-related injury based on both the collected physiological data and the collected psychological data. Another embodiment involves presenting a subject with a plurality of mental and physical tasks during which physiological data, psychological data, and/or both is collected, and determining the risk of stress-related injury based on the data collected. Yet another embodiment includes a test circuit for measuring stress responses that includes both physiological test stations and psychological test stations. Physiological stress is evaluated in the form of surface electromyography data that is quantified into a single index value, as will be described in detail herein.

Methods and systems for determining whether an implanted catheter used to deliver fluids to a selected internal delivery site is malfunctioning. The malfunctions may include that the infusion section of the catheter is not located at or has migrated away from the selected internal delivery site, is leaking, is blocked, etc. The determination is made by analyzing the pressure modulation of fluid within the catheter and determining whether the pressure of the fluid in the catheter is modulated by physiologic pressure changes experienced at the selected internal delivery site. The physiologic pressure modulations at the selected internal delivery site may be caused by, e.g., cardiac activity, respiration, changes in patient's posture, etc.

A process for providing upset recovery training (URT) includes using a sustained-G multi-axis platform (e.g., a centrifuge-based simulator). Various embodiments of the present invention address an important aspect of URT that is not present in the prior art, namely the placing of physiological stresses on the trainees during URT, such as sustained motions including, but not limited to, sustained, elevated G-forces and continuous rotational cues. Elevated, sustained, G-forces and continuous rotational cues can create many physiological challenges to aircrew. These challenges can include motion discomfort, disorientation, and visual disturbances. Embodiments of the present invention provide URT that includes physiological stresses on the pilot. If a pilot learns the correct procedures for recovery from an upset, as in the prior art URT programs, but cannot execute the procedures in the real world because he or she has not been prepared for the physiological environment to be faced, then safety is compromised. Embodiments of the present invention address this deficiency.

The invention discloses a force application device stimulating the human body physiological stress of bionic culture of a tissue in tissue engineering, which comprises a holder, wherein, a linear motor and a culture chamber are installed on the holder, a switch contact block and a tension and pressure transducer are installed at one end of the axle of the linear motor, a travel switch is installed on the axle housing of the motor axle, the tension and pressure transducer is connected with a connector through a coil spring and provided with a guiding axle which is inserted in the connector by passing through the coil spring and matched with the connector in a sliding way, the guiding axle has freedom of axial displacement in the connector, the culture chamber is provided with a device applying stress to culture tissue, the pole of the device applying stress to culture tissue extends out of the culture chamber and is connected with the connector and matched with the culture chamber in a sliding way. The force application device can stimulate the physiological stress and be used in the culture preparation of tissue engineering bone, gristle or tendon so as to realize the bionic culture of constructing tissue engineering bone, gristle or tendon.

A modular body armour system (100) includes an upper shoulder harness (102) in which shoulder straps (106, 108) are pivotally rotatable relative to each other and also to front and back connecting bridges (112, 114) that define a closed loop for the harness (102). Armour plates (124, 126) are attachable to the bridges (112, 114) and extend generally downwardly to protect the front and back torso regions of a wearer of the body armour (100). Pivotal articulation of the body armour (100) permits the armour to roll advantageously with the movement of its wearer such that movement, such as crouching or the adoption of a firing position, is not generally restricted. A lower girdle (104) incorporates additional plates and panels (140, 142, 105, 152) to provide enhanced protection to the wearer, which lower girdle (104) may be entirely independent of the upper shoulder harness (102). By providing for chest expansion through an elasticated connection within both the shoulder harness (102) and the lower girdle (104), a wearer is placed under less physiological stress during times of exertion and mental stress, thereby improving the overall performance of the wearer.

A probe for physiological pressure measurement in a human or animal body comprises a probe head, a line such as a catheter, and a pressure transducer, particularly an electric transducer, in the probe head. For measuring pressure, the probe head with the pressure transducer is disposed at a measuring site for pressure measurement, with the probe head being adapted for connection to an analyzer and display unit via the line. A counter or controller means is provided for recording a number of operational applications of the probe.

The invention discloses an intelligent biomimetic tissue cultivating device in tissue engineering, a gas-to-fluid and fluid-to-fluid exchanger is arranged between a tissue cultivating room and a fresh culture fluid storage bottle, the tissue cultivating room is connected with the gas-to-fluid and fluid-to-fluid exchanger through a circular pipeline, the fresh culture fluid storage bottle is communicated with the gas-to-fluid and fluid-to-fluid exchanger through another circular pipeline, a telescopic pump that is driven by a stepping motor is respectively arranged on each circular pipeline, the gas-to-fluid and fluid-to-fluid exchanger is communicated with O2/CO2/N2 sources through a gas transmitting pipe with a throttle, a forcing device that is driven by the stepping motor and simulates physiological stress of human beings is connected with a device used for exerting stress on a cultivated tissue of the tissue cultivating room, and a programmable logic controller is arranged for implementing intelligent control to the cultivation process. The intelligent biomimetic tissue cultivating device not only can provide the in vitro culture environment that is used for the in vitro tissue cultivation in tissue engineering and similar to the in vivo environment and truly realize biomimetic cultivation, but also can realize industrial production with intelligent control.

In a medical system and a method for operating such a system, the system includes an implantable medical device of a patient, a programmer device, and an extracorporeal stress equipment adapted to exert a physiological stress on the patient, for automatically determining settings of a sensor for sensing a physiological parameter of the patient or for automatically determining a pacing setting of the device over a broad range of workloads of the equipment. The ingoing units and/or devices of the medical system, i.e. the implantable medical device of the patient, the programmer device, and the extracorporeal stress equipment, communicate bi-directionally with each other and form a closed loop.

An apparatus for the mobile determination of at least one physiological stress threshold value of an athlete. The apparatus includes a sensor for determining the respired air volume at each point in time of a plurality of points in time. A processing unit is configured to compute a sum value for each point in time of the plurality of points in time at least based on the respired air volume of a present point in time and a sum value of a previous point in time, to set the sum value to an initial value, if the previous point in time is not within the plurality of points in time, and to determine the physiological stress threshold value based on the computed sum values.