Subject(s)
Beds , Costs and Cost Analysis , Electricity , Equipment and Supplies, Hospital , NetherlandsABSTRACT
A new method for objective assessment of cough under normal or pathological conditions is described. Thoracic coughing can be discriminated from any other pressure wave because of its relatively high frequency. This method was applied in a double blind crossover trial in 18 patients with respiratory disease.
Subject(s)
Antitussive Agents/therapeutic use , Cough/drug therapy , Clinical Trials as Topic , Codeine/therapeutic use , Drug Evaluation/instrumentation , HumansABSTRACT
A simple instrument for detecting seizures is described. Vibrations of the bed due to movements of the patient were converted to electrical oscillations by movement of a loudspeaker coil in reversed mode as transducer. To distinguish between normal movements and those caused by a seizure, three criteria were used--the amplitude of the oscillations, the time interval between them, and the duration of a burst of oscillations, each parameter compared with a reference value for each patient.
