702results about "Diagnostics using pressure" patented technology

An optical measurement device and method are presented for use in non-invasive measurements on a patient's body. The device comprises an illumination assembly configured and operable to generate illuminating light of a predetermined wavelength range; a detection assembly; and a light directing assembly. The detection assembly comprises a first detector unit for detecting a first light signal transmitted through an illuminated body portion and generating first measured data indicative of the detected transmitted light, and a second detector unit for detecting a second light signal reflected from the illuminated body portion and generating second measured data indicative of the detected reflected light. The light directing assembly comprises a light diffuser for scattering back light incident thereto, to thereby direct the illuminating light or the light coming from the body portion back towards the body portion. This technique provides for increasing the amount of light reaching a region of interest inside the body portion and maximizing homogeneity of the first and second detected light signals.

A device and a method for measuring body fluid-related metrics using spectrophotometry to facilitate therapeutic interventions aimed at restoring body fluid balance. The specific body fluid-related metrics include the absolute volume fraction of water in the extravascular and intravascular tissue compartments, as well as the shifts of water between these two compartments. The absolute volume fraction of water is determined using algorithms where received radiation measured at two or more wavelengths are combined to form either a single ratio, a sum of ratios or ratio of ratios of the form log[R(λ1) / R(λ2)] in which the received radiation in the numerator depends primarily on the absorbance of water and the received radiation in the denominator depends primarily on the absorbance of water and the sum of the absorbances of non-heme proteins, lipids and water in tissue. The difference between the fraction of water in the intravascular fluid volume (“IFV”) and extravascular fluid volume (“EFV”) compartments are also determined using a differential method that takes advantage of the observation that pulsations caused by expansion of blood vessels in the skin as the heart beats produce changes in the received radiation at a particular wavelength that are proportional to the difference between the effective absorption of light in the blood and the surrounding tissue. This difference, integrated over time, provides a measure of the quantity of the fluid that shifts into and out of the capillaries. A mechanism for mechanically inducing a pulse is built into the device to improve the reliability of measurements of IFV−EFV under weak-pulse conditions.

A firmness tester is disclosed which conducts its test through one or more rolling indenters impinging upon the surface of a subject. Most firmness sensors require the sample to be held stationary relative to the tester's reference plane. This invention allows the tester to differentiate between the firmness of the sample and movement of the sample relative to the sensing device. This is desirable in the application of an automatic massage chair where the roller / sensor presses upon the user's back and may cause the point of contact on the user's body to move away by means of the user flexing at the hips or arching through the back. The rolling feature is desirable in the field of automated chair massage where the massage indenters slide across the user's back with significant pressure through a membrane. This membrane would wear quickly if the indenters were not equipped with such a rolling mechanism.