Physiological measurements

Author(s):  
Maria Flynn ◽  
Dave Mercer

An important part of nursing decision-making, in both hospital and community settings, is interpreting the results of physiological measurements. These may be used to assist in making a diagnosis, monitoring the effects of treatments, or assessing changes to a person’s health condition. Physiological values are always interpreted within the context of what is known about the person and their health state, and can guide nursing practices and interventions. This chapter describes widely used physiological measurements, together with reference range values which may be useful to the general nurse.

Author(s):  
A.E. Vlasenko ◽  
N.M. Zhilina ◽  
A.A. Kozhevnikov ◽  
G.I. Chechenin

The article presents the algorithm for calculating the integral index of problems in the evaluation of indicators of population health and identifying risk areas. The integral indices for Novokuznetsk municipal district were calculated. The index can be used by specialists of various levels and regions in assessing the level of health, environmental and socio-economic indicators for appropriate decision-making.


2015 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 224-232
Author(s):  
Jarosław Siwiński ◽  
Katarzyna Kubiak ◽  
Miłosz Tkaczyk ◽  
Anna Mazur ◽  
Ryszard Rekucki

Abstract The study was conducted to perform a comparative analysis of the mechanical properties of wood samples derived from oaks in the Krotoszyn Plateau, which depend on the health state of the trees. Strength parameters of oak wood were calculated for selected diseased and healthy trees (according to the Roloff classification). The study was conducted by a modified method described in the standard Polish Norm PN EN 408+ A1: 2012. For testing, prior selection of wood samples showed that more wood samples of diseased trees compared with those of healthy oaks did not fulfil the Polish standard requirements. According to the method used, the average results of strength tests of timber structures from healthy oaks exhibited higher strength parameters than those of the diseased trees.


2010 ◽  
Vol 138 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 746-751
Author(s):  
Momcilo Mirkovic ◽  
Snezana Simic ◽  
Jelena Marinkovic ◽  
Sladjana Djuric

Introduction. For health assessment, beside the data of routine health statistics, it is necessary to include and data obtained by a health survey of the citizens. Objective. The aim of this study was to establish how northern Kosovska Mitrovica adults assess their health and which diseases are most common among the population, as well as to investigate differences in relation to demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, the characteristics of social interaction and health behavior and habits. Methods. The research was conducted as a cross-sectional study conducted on the representative sample of adult citizens in northern Kosovska Mitrovica in 2006. Two hundred-eighteen respondents were included in the survey. In the research we used a questionnaire identical to the Health Survey conducted in Serbia in 2006. The significance of differences in responses about self-rated health and chronic diseases in relation to the characteristics of respondents? responses were determined by X2-test with the significance level of 0.05. Results. Over half of the respondents (54.7%) assessed their health condition as good or very good. There was a significant difference in self-rated health in relation to the respondents? age (?2=202.036; p=0.000), education (?2=72.412; p=0.000), social support (?2=12.416; p=0.015), smoking (?2=11.675; p=0.020) and physical activity (?2=61.842; p=0.000). The leading health problems among the respondents were high blood pressure, rheumatologic diseases of joints, ulcer of the duodenal or gastric ulcer, gall bladder disease and high blood fat. Conclusion. Adult residents of northern Kosovska Mitrovica assessed their health as better than the residents of Serbia without Kosovo and Metohia. The diseases in which stress plays the major role among etiological factors are in the leading position. The obtained data on the population level of specific areas represent the basis in the planning of health education and health promotion activities.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zara Cooper ◽  
Emily B. Rivet

Palliative care is a multidisciplinary approach to care that includes relief of suffering and attention to the social, spiritual, physical, and psychological needs of patients and families. The intent of palliative care is to help patients live as well as possible for as long as possible, and relevant domains of palliative care include symptom relief, prognostication, communication with patients, families and clinicians, transitions of care, and end-of-life care. Palliative care is distinct from hospice in many respects including that it can be provided simultaneously with recovery-directed treatments rather than reserved for individuals at end of life. Patients with surgical disease are particularly in need of palliative care due to the common occurrence of severe symptoms such as pain and nausea, complex decision-making, and the often sudden onset of the disease or injury which precludes preparation for the new health state.   Key Words: communication, end-of- life, goals of care, high-risk surgery, palliative, palliative care, palliative surgery, patient comfort, surgical decision-making, surgical prognostication This review contains 3 figures, 10 tables, and 61 references.


Information ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 298
Author(s):  
Zhiyan Zhao ◽  
Bin Wu ◽  
Ting Zhou

The lateral damper is one of the key components of rolling stock. Establishing the relationship between the degraded signal and the health state of the lateral damper is important in order to perform timely performance detection and fault diagnosis. This paper proposes a wavelet packet cross-correlation method (WPCC) that is based on wavelet packet transform (WPT) and cross-correlation analysis (CCA). First, the vibration signals under different running speeds, different running conditions, and different track excitations were collected and analyzed. Second, the wavelet packet transform was used to select larger energy band signals for reconstruction. Subsequently, the WPCC coefficient was calculated between the reference signal and the signal to be measured. The proposed method was applied to analysis of vibration signals of the lateral damper performance degradation. The lateral damper health condition was divided into four intervals, and the average accuracy calculated under different running speeds, different running conditions, and different track excitation was 95%.


2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamisu M. Salihu ◽  
Abraham A. Salinas-Miranda ◽  
Wei Wang ◽  
DeAnne Turner ◽  
Estrellita Lo Berry ◽  
...  

<em>Background</em>. Providing practitioners with an intuitive measure for priority setting that can be combined with diverse data collection methods is a necessary step to foster accountability of the decision-making process in community settings. Yet, there is a lack of easy-to-use, but methodologically robust measures, that can be feasibly implemented for reliable decision-making in community settings. To address this important gap in community based participatory research (CBPR), the purpose of this study was to demonstrate the utility, applicability, and validation of a community priority index in a community-based participatory research setting. <br /><em>Design and Methods</em>. Mixed-method study that combined focus groups findings, nominal group technique with six key informants, and the generation of a Community Priority Index (CPI) that integrated community importance, changeability, and target populations. Bootstrapping and simulation were performed for validation. <br /><em>Results</em>. For pregnant mothers, the top three highly important and highly changeable priorities were: stress (CPI=0.85; 95%CI: 0.70, 1.00), lack of affection (CPI=0.87; 95%CI: 0.69, 1.00), and nutritional issues (CPI=0.78; 95%CI: 0.48, 1.00). For non-pregnant women, top priorities were: low health literacy (CPI=0.87; 95%CI: 0.69, 1.00), low educational attainment (CPI=0.78; 95%CI: 0.48, 1.00), and lack of self-esteem (CPI=0.72; 95%CI: 0.44, 1.00). For children and adolescents, the top three priorities were: obesity (CPI=0.88; 95%CI: 0.69, 1.00), low self-esteem (CPI=0.81; 95%CI: 0.69, 0.94), and negative attitudes toward education (CPI=0.75; 95%CI: 0.50, 0.94). <br /><em>Conclusions</em>. This study demonstrates the applicability of the CPI as a simple and intuitive measure for priority setting in CBPR.


Computation ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abhaya Kumar Sahoo ◽  
Chittaranjan Pradhan ◽  
Rabindra Kumar Barik ◽  
Harishchandra Dubey

In today’s digital world healthcare is one core area of the medical domain. A healthcare system is required to analyze a large amount of patient data which helps to derive insights and assist the prediction of diseases. This system should be intelligent in order to predict a health condition by analyzing a patient’s lifestyle, physical health records and social activities. The health recommender system (HRS) is becoming an important platform for healthcare services. In this context, health intelligent systems have become indispensable tools in decision making processes in the healthcare sector. Their main objective is to ensure the availability of the valuable information at the right time by ensuring information quality, trustworthiness, authentication and privacy concerns. As people use social networks to understand their health condition, so the health recommender system is very important to derive outcomes such as recommending diagnoses, health insurance, clinical pathway-based treatment methods and alternative medicines based on the patient’s health profile. Recent research which targets the utilization of large volumes of medical data while combining multimodal data from disparate sources is discussed which reduces the workload and cost in health care. In the healthcare sector, big data analytics using recommender systems have an important role in terms of decision-making processes with respect to a patient’s health. This paper gives a proposed intelligent HRS using Restricted Boltzmann Machine (RBM)-Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) deep learning method, which provides an insight into how big data analytics can be used for the implementation of an effective health recommender engine, and illustrates an opportunity for the health care industry to transition from a traditional scenario to a more personalized paradigm in a tele-health environment. By considering Root Square Mean Error (RSME) and Mean Absolute Error (MAE) values, the proposed deep learning method (RBM-CNN) presents fewer errors compared to other approaches.


2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dhinu J. Jayaseelan ◽  
John J. Mischke ◽  
Raymond L. Strazzulla

Background: Achilles tendinopathy is a common health condition encountered in the orthopedic and sports medicine settings. Eccentric exercise is a common intervention in the management of pain and limited function for this patient population, although contemporary evidence suggests additional exercise methods may be effective as well. Study design: Narrative review: Methods: A literature review was performed using the electronic databases Pubmed and PEDRO for articles through February 2019. Randomized clinical trials integrating eccentric exercise, with or without co-interventions, were evaluated. Outcomes related to pain and/or function were considered. A patient case is provided to highlight decision making processes related to clinical prescription of eccentrics for Achilles tendinopathy. Results: After screening titles and abstracts, seven studies were included for full review. Two articles compared eccentric exercise to a control group, four compared eccentrics to the use of modalities, while one used eccentric exercise as part of a multimodal intervention. In each case, eccentric exercise was effective in reducing pain and improving function. In comparison to other forms of exercise or additional interventions, eccentric exercise was frequently not more effective than other options. Discussion: Eccentric exercise has been associated with clinical benefit in improving pain and function for patients with Achilles tendinopathy. Despite the available evidence reporting effectiveness of eccentrics, other options may be equally useful. Appropriate load modification and exercise prescription for patients with Achilles tendinopathy requires systematic clinical reasoning and incorporation of patient values to optimize outcomes.


Author(s):  
N. Y. Vysotska ◽  
S. V. Sydorenko ◽  
S. H. Sydorenko

The influence of recreation of varying intensity on the health condition and structure of forest shelter belts formed by common oak (Quercus robur L.) and green ash (Fraxinus lanceolata Borkh.) is estimated. The long-term impact of recreational pressure on shelterbelts that were identical at the time of creation was evaluated. It was found that the long recreational influence of different intensity leads to a significant decrease in the stocking of the tree stand (by 27.5%), changes in the stand structure, deterioration of health condition (in the S-2 section, the health condition index was І.7 and in the S-1 section, ІІ.3) and a decrease in the average diameter of the trees (by 20.5 %). In addition, such an effect led to a significant reduction in the density, both for advance growth (by 73.5 %) and undergrowth (71.3 %), which ultimately affected the change in the openness of the vertical profile of the shelterbelt. Frequently, uncontrolled burning of refuse and dry grass by recreators provoked the emergence of surface fires and additional weakening of the trees in the stand (the health state of damaged trees fluctuated within the 3-4 category of health condition) as well as partial destruction of the advance growth and undergrowth. Cenomorphic analysis of forest phytocoenoses by Belgard revealed the predominance of ruderants. Sylvants (typical species for the forest) and Pratants (steppe species) are represented by three species and have occurred seldomly.


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