Proposal of a novel remote command and control configuration extension for interoperable Personal Health Devices (PHD) based on ISO/IEEE11073 standard.

New use cases to extend the interoperability standard ISO/IEEE11073 (X73) were found during the development of recent specializations. These use cases expose the need of remote command and control extensions to allow managers to configure agents through the standard. This paper presents a proposal for an extension of remote control and configuration service able to standardize a general procedure within the newest branch of this standard called X73 for Personal Health Devices (X73PHD). In order to develop a service for remote control, several approaches have been studied and discussed in the Personal Health Device Working Group (PHD-WG). The final solution is defined following the PHD-WG guidelines and integrated with the Optimized Exchange Protocol (X73-20601) and device specializations (X73-104xx). Previous works such as the classic command and control and the extended services packages from X73-10201 and X73-20301, respectively, have also been taken into account.

New use cases for remote control and configuration of interoperable medical devices.

The newest branch of the ISO/IEEE 11073 (X73) standard for Personal Health Devices (X73PHD), allow the development of interoperable personal health ecosystems. At the moment of this writing, more than 11 specializations have been successfully published by the Personal Health Device (PHD) Working Group (PHD WG). Nevertheless, some recent specializations at draft stage show the need for a procedure to control configuration parameters. As a solution, some ad-hoc methods have been elaborated to deal with it, but, the aim of the PHD WG is to standardize a general procedure, valid for longer term. Then it is needed to identify use cases requiring remote configuration services. This work identifies and studies new use cases that employ remote configuration services. The resulting use cases, discussed within the PHD WG to get the maximum consensus, are within the scope of the Basic Electrocardiograph (X73-10406), the Sleep Apnea Breathing Therapy Equipment (X73-10424), and the Medication Monitor (X73-10472) specializations. In addition, a classification of the findings is proposed for each use case. These findings could be the basis for the new remote configuration extension.

Synergistic antimycobacterial activities of sesquiterpene lactones from Laurus spp.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to determine the antimycobacterial potential of laurel oil, its fractions and its two sesquiterpene lactones against several mycobacterial strains and clinical isolates, and to establish the possibility of occurrence of some synergistic effects between those lactones using a modification of the fluorometric Alamar Blue microassay (FMABA). METHODS: The in vitro antimycobacterial activity of whole oil and its fractions and pure active compounds were determined by FMABA. A bioassay-guided fractionation of the traditional preparation of laurel oil from Madeira Islands was performed, yielding pure compounds chemically identified by standard procedures. Synergism of pure compounds was established by X/Y quotient analysis adapted to FMABA. RESULTS: Sesquiterpene lactones, costunolide and dehydrocostuslactone, were the compounds responsible for the antimycobacterial activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv with MICs of 6.25 and 12.5 mg/L, respectively. Antimycobacterial activity against drug-resistant M. tuberculosis clinical isolates was better for the mixture than for pure compounds. CONCLUSIONS: Both lactones presented synergistic activity, i.e. analysis of relative fluorescence units presented an X/Y value <0.5 at a concentration of 1/8 MIC of each compound in the combination. Establishment of synergism by FMABA represents another application of the microplate Alamar Blue assay.