• Title/Summary/Keyword: feed rate

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Effects of Brewers Grain, Soybean Curd and Rice Straw as an Ingredient of TMR on Growth Performance, Serum Parameters and Carcass Characteristics of Hanwoo Steers (섬유질 배합사료 원료로서 맥주박, 비지박 및 볏짚이 한우 거세우의 사양성적, 혈액성상 및 도체특성에 미치는 영향)

  • Chang, Sun Sik;Kwon, Hyuk Jin;Lee, Sang Min;Cho, Young Moo;Chung, Ki Yong;Choi, Nag Jin;Lee, Sung Sill
    • Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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    • v.55 no.1
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    • pp.51-59
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    • 2013
  • This study was conducted to investigate the dietary effect of total mixed rations (TMR) containing brewers grain, soybean curd and rice straw, respectively, on growth performance and carcass characteristics of Hanwoo steers. Twenty four Hanwoo steers (average body weight 168 kg) in 6 months age were randomly allocated to 4 experimental groups, which contained 6 animals per group during 22-months feeding trial. The treatment was composed of the group fed concentrate and rice straw separately (T1), the group fed TMR containing brewers grain (T2), the group fed TMR containing soybean curd (T3) and the group fed TMR containing rice straw (T4). Body weight (BW) was not different among treatment groups during the growing and middle fattening period. However, it was significantly greater in T4 group than in T2 group on the final BW (p<0.05). Average daily gain was significantly greater in TMR groups compared to T1 group on the growing and late fattening (p<0.05). However, it was not different in total average. Dry matter intake tended to be increased in TMR groups. The feed conversion ratio was significantly lower in T4 group compare to T2 group (p<0.05). According to the yield traits, carcass weight of T1, T2, T3 and T4 were 389.0, 368.4, 387.5 and 384.3 kg, respectively. The back fat thickness, rib-eye area, and yield index were not different among the groups. Meat color, fat color, texture and maturity were not significantly different among groups. However, marbling score and appearance rate of meat quality grade of over $1^+$ were greater in T2 and T3 groups compare to other groups. Therefore, these results indicated that TMR with brewers grain and soybean curd may be ameliorated the growth performance and carcass characteristics of Hanwoo steers.

Comparative Analysis on Growth Performances, Behavioral Characteristics and Blood Parameters of the Sex in Different Group Sizes of Hanwoo calves (한우 육성우의 성별 군집두수에 따른 사양성적, 행동특성 및 혈액성상 비교분석)

  • Ha, Jae Jung;Oh, Dong Yep;Lee, Jea Young;Yang, Ka Young;Kim, Jong Bok;Ohh, Sang Jip;Song, Young Han
    • Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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    • v.55 no.5
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    • pp.381-388
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    • 2013
  • This study examined the effects of sex in different group sizes of Hanwoo calves. The growth performance including the mean daily gain, feed conversion rate, behavioral characteristics, and blood parameters in Hanwoo calves were investigated. A total of 54 heads of Hanwoo calves were housed separately at 4 heads per group, 3 heads per group, and 2 heads per group per pen. In the heifer calves, except for those 10 months of age, the growth performance was improved by increasing the group size, which was similar to steer calves (p<0.05). The heifer calves housed in 3 heads group spent more time lying down (p<0.05). The steer calves spent more time standing in the 3 heads group, lying down (2 heads group), and walking (4 heads group). The heifer calves housed in 2 heads group had a lower frequency of drinking, self-grooming, pairwise grooming, and fighting (p<0.05). On the other hand, the steer calves in the 4 heads group had a higher frequency of drinking, rubbing, and fighting (p<0.05). The white blood cell and cortisol were highest in the heifer calves in the 2 heads group (p<0.05).

Effects of Heat Treatment of Three Animal by-products on Ruminal Degradation Characteristics and Intestinal Availability of Crude Protein (동물성 부산물 사료 세 종류에 대한 열처리가 조단백질의 반추위내 분해특성 및 하부장기내 이용성에 미치는 영향)

  • Moon, Y.H.;Lee, S.C.;Kim, B.K.
    • Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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    • v.44 no.1
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    • pp.105-112
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    • 2002
  • In order to investigate the effects of heat treatment of three animal by-products(feather meal, tallow meal, viscera meal) on in situ ruminal degradation characteristics and gastrointestinal availability of dietary crude protein(CP), three ruminally and duodenally cannulated dry Holstein cows were employed. Cows were fed a diet containing 60% concentrate and 40% orchard grass hay, and had free access to water and mineral block. Experimental feeds were processed for 4 hr at 149$^{\circ}C$ in a forced-air oven, and were passed through a 1-mm screen. Degradation kinetics of feed protein in the rumen were fitted to an exponential type model, and intestinal availability was estimated by the mobile nylon bag technique. Effective CP degradabilities in the rumen for feather meal, tallow meal and viscera meal were 30.2%, 75.0% and 56.4% at 5% passage rate per hour(k=0.05), respectively. In addition, heat treatment increased effective ruminal CP degradability on feather meal and viscera meal treatments, whereas decreased in tallow meal treatment(P$<$0.05). Gastrointestinal CP disappearances of feather meal, tallow meal and viscera meal were 56.2%, 18.6%, and 37.9%, respectively. In addition, heat treatment decreased the gastrointestinal CP disappearance on feather meal and viscera meal treatment, but increased in tallow meal treatment(P$<$0.05). Intestinal availability of rumen undegradable protein(A-UDP) was 80.4% for feather meal, 83.8% for tallow meal and 86.9% for viscera meal. In addition, heat treatment increased A-UDP on feather meal and tallow meal treatment, 94.0% and 91.3%, respectively, but decreased on viscera meal treatment, 76.5%(P$<$0.05).

Effects of Dietary Kugija Lycium chinense Supplementation on Juvenile Korean Rockfish Sebastes schlegeli (치어기 조피볼락 사료내 구기자 첨가효과)

  • Lim, Dong-Kuy;Yoo, Kwang-Yeol;Shin, Dong-Gun;Kim, Jong-Eung;Bae, Jun-Young;C. Bai, Sung-Chul;Lee, Jeong-Yeol
    • Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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    • v.42 no.3
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    • pp.250-256
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    • 2009
  • A 8-week feeding trial was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation of Kugija (Lycium chinense) on the growth and immunological response in juvenile Korean rockfish (Sebastes schlegeli). Six experimental diets were supplemented with Kugija at 0, 0.1, 0.5 1.0, 3.0 and 5.0% ($K_0,\;K_{0.1},\;Ko_{0.5},\;K_{1.0},\;K_{3.0},\;K_{5.0}$) on a dry-matter basis. After 2 weeks, triplicate groups of 30 fish initially averaging 3.36$\pm$0.2 g (mean$\pm$SD) were randomly distributed into the aquarium and were fed one of the experimental diets for 8 weeks. By the end of the 8-week feeding trial, fish fed the $K_{0.5}$ and $K_{1.0}$ diets exhibited a higher weight gain and specific growth rate than fish fed $K_0$ and $K_{0.1}$ diets (P<0.05). Feed efficiency of fish fed the $K_{0.5}$ diet showed significant higher value than that of fish fed the $K_0$, $K_{3.0}$ and $K_{5.0}$ diets (P<0.05). Hepatosomatic index of fish fed the $K_{0.5}$ diet was significantly higher than that of fish fed the $K_{0.1}$ and $K_{5.0}$ diets (P<0.05). Hematocrit of fish fed the $K_{0.5},\;K_{1.0}$ and $K_{5.0}$ diets was significantly higher than that of fish fed the $K_0$ diet (P<0.05). Glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase of fish fed the $K_{0.5},\;K_{1.0},\;K_{3.0}$ and $K_{5.0}$ diets was significantly lower than in fish fed the other diets (P<0.05). Glutamic pyruvic transaminase activity of fish fed the $K_{3.0}$ diet was significantly lower than those of fish fed the $K_0$ and $K_{0.1}$ diets (P<0.05). However, there was no significant difference in the activity of the transaminase in fish fed the $K_{0.5}\;K_{1.0},\;K_{3.0}$ and $K_{5.0}$ diets. Lysozyme activity of fish fed the $K_{0.5}$ and $K_{1.0}$ diets was significantly higher than that in fish fed the $K_0$ and $K_{0.1}$ diets (P<0.05). Respiratory burst activity of fish fed the $K_{3.0}$ diet was significantly higher than those of fish fed the $K_0$ and $K_{0.1}$ diets (P<0.05). However, there was no significant difference in respiratory burst activity of fish fed the $K_{0.5}\;K_{1.0},\;K_{3.0}$ and $K_{5.0}$ diets. Fish fed Kugija showed lower early mortality than fish fed a Kugija-free diet upon challenge with Vibrio ordalii. The results suggest that feeding of Kugija (Lycium chinense) enhances growth, non-specific immunity and disease resistance in juvenile Korean rockfish.

Automatic Interpretation of Epileptogenic Zones in F-18-FDG Brain PET using Artificial Neural Network (인공신경회로망을 이용한 F-18-FDG 뇌 PET의 간질원인병소 자동해석)

  • 이재성;김석기;이명철;박광석;이동수
    • Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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    • v.19 no.5
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    • pp.455-468
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    • 1998
  • For the objective interpretation of cerebral metabolic patterns in epilepsy patients, we developed computer-aided classifier using artificial neural network. We studied interictal brain FDG PET scans of 257 epilepsy patients who were diagnosed as normal(n=64), L TLE (n=112), or R TLE (n=81) by visual interpretation. Automatically segmented volume of interest (VOI) was used to reliably extract the features representing patterns of cerebral metabolism. All images were spatially normalized to MNI standard PET template and smoothed with 16mm FWHM Gaussian kernel using SPM96. Mean count in cerebral region was normalized. The VOls for 34 cerebral regions were previously defined on the standard template and 17 different counts of mirrored regions to hemispheric midline were extracted from spatially normalized images. A three-layer feed-forward error back-propagation neural network classifier with 7 input nodes and 3 output nodes was used. The network was trained to interpret metabolic patterns and produce identical diagnoses with those of expert viewers. The performance of the neural network was optimized by testing with 5~40 nodes in hidden layer. Randomly selected 40 images from each group were used to train the network and the remainders were used to test the learned network. The optimized neural network gave a maximum agreement rate of 80.3% with expert viewers. It used 20 hidden nodes and was trained for 1508 epochs. Also, neural network gave agreement rates of 75~80% with 10 or 30 nodes in hidden layer. We conclude that artificial neural network performed as well as human experts and could be potentially useful as clinical decision support tool for the localization of epileptogenic zones.

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Beak Trimming Methods - Review -

  • Glatz, P.C.
    • Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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    • v.13 no.11
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    • pp.1619-1637
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    • 2000
  • A review was undertaken to obtain information on the range of beak-trimming methods available or under development. Beak-trimming of commercial layer replacement pullets is a common yet critical management tool that can affect the performance for the life of the flock. The most obvious advantage of beak-trimming is a reduction in cannibalism although the extent of the reduction in cannibalism depends on the strain, season, and type of housing, flock health and other factors. Beak-trimming also improves feed conversion by reducing food wastage. A further advantage of beak-trimming is a reduction in the chronic stress associated with dominance interactions in the flock. Beak-trimming of birds at 7-10 days is favoured by Industry but research over last 10 years has shown that beak-trimming at day-old causes the least stress on birds and efforts are needed to encourage Industry to adopt the practice of beak-trimming birds at day-old. Proper beak-trimming can result in greatly improved layer performance but improper beak-trimming can ruin an other wise good flock of hens. Re-trimming is practiced in most flocks, although there are some flocks that only need one trimming. Given the continuing welfare scrutiny of using a hot blade to cut the beak, attempts have been made to develop more welfare friendly methods of beak-trimming. Despite the developments in design of hot blade beak-trimmers the process has remained largely unchanged. That is, a red-hot blade cuts and cauterises the beak. The variables in the process are blade temperature, cauterisation time, operator ability, severity of trimming, age of trimming, strain of bird and beak length. This method of beak-trimming is still overwhelmingly favoured in Industry and there appears to be no other alternative procedures that are more effective. Sharp secateurs have been used trim the upper beak of both layers and turkeys. Bleeding from the upper mandible ceases shortly after the operation, and despite the regrowth of the beak a reduction of cannibalism has been reported. Very few differences have been noted between behaviour and production of the hot blade and cold blade cut chickens. This method has not been used on a large scale in Industry. There are anecdotal reports of cannibalism outbreaks in birds with regrown beaks. A robotic beak-trimming machine was developed in France, which permitted simultaneous, automated beak-trimming and vaccination of day-old chicks of up to 4,500 chickens per hour. Use of the machine was not successful because if the chicks were not loaded correctly they could drop off the line, receive excessive beak-trimming or very light trimming. Robotic beak-trimming was not effective if there was a variation in the weight or size of chickens. Capsaicin can cause degeneration of sensory nerves in mammals and decreases the rate of beak regrowth by its action on the sensory nerves. Capsaicin is a cheap, non-toxic substance that can be readily applied at the time of less severe beak-trimming. It suffers the disadvantage of causing an extreme burning sensation in operators who come in contact with the substance during its application to the bird. Methods of applying the substance to minimise the risk to operators of coming in contact with capsaicin need to be explored. A method was reported which cuts the beaks with a laser beam in day-old chickens. No details were provided on the type of laser used, or the severity of beak-trimming, but by 16 weeks the beaks of laser trimmed birds resembled the untrimmed beaks, but without the bill tip. Feather pecking and cannibalism during the laying period were highest among the laser trimmed hens. Currently laser machines are available that are transportable and research to investigate the effectiveness of beak-trimming using ablasive and coagulative lasers used in human medicine should be explored. Liquid nitrogen was used to declaw emu toes but was not effective. There was regrowth of the claws and the time and cost involved in the procedure limit the potential of using this process to beak-trim birds.

Nutrient Recovery from Sludge Fermentation Effluent in Upflow Phosphate Crystallization Process (상향류 인 결정화공정을 이용한 슬러지 발효 유출수로 부터의 영양소 회수)

  • Ahn, Young-Ho
    • Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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    • v.28 no.8
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    • pp.866-871
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    • 2006
  • The nutrient recovery in phosphate crystallization process was investigated by using laboratory scale uptlow reactors, adopting sequencing batch type configuration. The industrial waste lime was used as potential cation source with magnesium salt($MgCl_2$) as control. The research was focused on its successful application in a novel integrated sludge treatment process, which is comprised of a high performance fermenter followed by a crystallization reactor. In the struvite precipitation test using synthetic wastewater first, which has the similar characteristics with the real fermentation effluent, the considerable nutrient removal(about 60%) in both ammonia and phosphate was observed within $0.5{\sim}1$ hr of retention time. The results also revealed that a minor amount(<5%) of ammonia stripping naturally occurred due to the alkaline(pH 9) characteristic in feed substrate. Stripping of $CO_2$ by air did not increase the struvite precipitation rate but it led to increased ammonia removal. In the second experiment using the fermentation effluent, the optimal dosage of magnesium salt for struvite precipitation was 0.86 g Mg $g^{-1}$ P, similar to the mass ratio of the struvite. The optimal dosage of waste lime was 0.3 g $L^{-1}$, resulting in 80% of $NH_4-N$ and 41% of $PO_4-P$ removal, at about 3 hrs of retention time. In the microscopic analysis, amorphous crystals were mainly observed in the settled solids with waste lime but prism-like crystals were observed with magnesium salt. Based on mass balance analysis for an integrated sludge treatment process(fermenter followed by crystallization reactor) for full-scale application(treatment capacity Q=158,880 $m^3\;d^{-1}$), nutrient recycle loading from the crystallization reactor effluent to the main liquid stream would be significantly reduced(0.13 g N and 0.19 g P per $m^3$ of wastewater, respectively). The results of the experiment reveal therefore that the reuse of waste lime, already an industrial waste, in a nutrient recovery system has various advantages such as higher economical benefits and sustainable treatment of the industrial waste.

Possible Use of the Animal By-product Mixture as n Dietary Fish meal Relpacer in Growing Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio) (잉어 사료에 있어 축산 가공 부산 혼합물의 어분 대체 가능성)

  • BAI Sungchul;JANG Hye-Kyung;CHO Eun-Sun
    • Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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    • v.31 no.3
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    • pp.380-385
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    • 1998
  • This study evaluated the possible utilization and the replacing range of animal by-product mixture (ABPM) as a dietary fish meal replacer in growing common carp (Cyprinus carpio). ABPM is a mixture of leather meal, meat and bone meal, blood meal and squid liver powder at a specific weight based ratio. Five different diets were formulated on isonitrogenous and isocaloric basis of $40\%$ crude protein and 15.3 KJ/g diet in which white fish meal (WFM) protein was substituted with the ABPM Protein as follows: diet 1, $100\%$ WFM ($0\%$ ABPM, control); diet 2, $75\%$ WFM+$25\%$ ABPM ($25\%$ ABPM); diet $3,\;50\%$ WFM+$50\%$ ABPM ($50\%$ ABPM); diet 4 $25\%$ WFM+$75\%$ ABPM ($75\%$ ABPM); diet $5.0\%$ WFM+$100\%$ ABPM ($100\%$ ABPM). As the dietary protein sources, each diet contained $34.7\%$ of animal protein supplied by white fish meal and/or ABPM and $65.3\%$ of plant protein. After one week of conditioning period, fish averaging 10 g were randomly assigned to each diet treatment as triplicate groups and fed one of the experimental diets for 12 weeks. Weight gain of fish fed diet 1 (control) and 3 were significantly higher than those of fish fed diet 2, 4 and 5 during the first 4 weeks (P< 0.05), while there were no significant differences among all diet groups during the third 4 weeks (P>0.05). Feed conversion ratio of fish fed diet 1 was significantly higher than those fed diet 2, 3, 4 and 5 during the second 4 weeks (P<0.05), while there were no significant differences among all diet groups during the first and the third 4 weeks (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in proximate analysis among fish fed the experimental diets either for the second 4 weeks or the third 4 weeks (P>0.05). These results indicated that ABPM could be used as a fish meal replacer up to $100\%$ in growing common carp.

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A study on analyzing effectiveness of childbirth education (임부교실 운영효과 분석을 위한 일 연구)

  • Kim, Hea Sook;Choi, Yun Soon;Chang, Soon Bok;Jung, Jae Won
    • The Korean Nurse
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    • v.34 no.3
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    • pp.85-98
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    • 1995
  • The purpose of this study is to provide basic data regarding effective learning opportunities in childbirth education classes. Also analysis of the data indicates the optimum conditions for the welfare and improvements in the promotion of health in childbearing mothers. The results of this study are as follows; 1) The average age of the subjects in this study was 30.6 years and the total number of subjects was 58 pregnant women. The average number of children was one and 84.5% of the subjects were unemployed even though 63.8% of them held over bachelor's degrees. It was found that 22.4% of the subjects were living in an extended family. Also 61.5% of them were living with parents-in-law. The number of pregnancies were calssified as one, two, or three to nine times with the percentages of 58.7%, 22.4% and 18.9%, respectively. Further, 72.4% of the subjects had no abortion experience and 15.5% had one aborion experience. While 89.7% of the subjects planned to feed their babies with breastmilk, mixed feeding were used by only 22.4% of the sample. These data were collected at about 6 months after delivery. Thus one can see that a low rate of breastfeeding was common. 2) The length of one period of childbirth education is four weeks. It was found that 36.2% of the subjects participated in childbirth education only once, where as 13.8% participated four times and 19% of the subjects participated in this class more than four times. pregnant at least once. Further, 75.9% of the participants were participated in this education through their own will. Their motivation for participation developed through information, advertisement and posters which contained information on childbirth education. Those with unplanned pregnancies 92.9% participated after a suggestion by the nurses. The number of participants in terms of percentage according to the childbirth education contents can be classified as following. The most active participation was shown in preparation of delivery(77.6%), postpartrm management(56.9%) fetal development(37.6%) and physiology of pregnancy(17.2%). It was found that 75.9% of the subjects were willing to participate again if they were given a chance. The reason can be summarized as following: The content of the education is very helpful(47.7%). Scientific knowledge can be obtained through this program(20.5%). Participation helps in achieving psychological stability(9.1%). Participation enables one to establish a friendly relationship with other participants(6.8%) of the sample. 24.1% of the participants did not want to participate again. The reasons can be as following: They do not want another baby(42.9%). The first paricipation in childbirth education gave enough knowledge about childbirth(21.4%). Another reason for not want to participate again was because they had a cesarean birth(14.3%). Only 7.1% of them responded with a negative view. A response that they do not need childbirth education after their operation can be traced back to the general belief that childbirth education is the place where one prepares for natural birth through the Lamaze breathing technique. Of the subjects, 91.4% suggested that this program could be recommended to other childbearing mothers, because this program gave educational content along with psychological stability for childbearing women. Of the subjects 41.4% did not see any efforts towards the welfare of the baby, where as 88.2% did. Among the subjects 58.6% made some effort to eliminate the discomfort of labor by breathing and imagination and breathing and walking. Further 41.7% of the 24 subjects did not do anything toward the welfare of the baby, because they did have a cesarean section so that they didn't have a chance even though they had been educated about childbirth. Also 33.3% of the subjects did not do anything toward the welfare of the baby, because they lacked a willingness. After leaving the hospital, only 75.9% of the subjects did some exercises. The subjects who tried participate this program with their husband accounted for 20.7% of the sample. Interviewing with the subjects solved some of the uneasiness and. fear of delivery, increased self-confidence in parenting and active coping in the delivery process.

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THE CURRENT STATUS OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING IN THE USA

  • Webster, John G.
    • Proceedings of the KOSOMBE Conference
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    • v.1992 no.05
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    • pp.27-47
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    • 1992
  • Engineers have developed new instruments that aid in diagnosis and therapy Ultrasonic imaging has provided a nondamaging method of imaging internal organs. A complex transducer emits ultrasonic waves at many angles and reconstructs a map of internal anatomy and also velocities of blood in vessels. Fast computed tomography permits reconstruction of the 3-dimensional anatomy and perfusion of the heart at 20-Hz rates. Positron emission tomography uses certain isotopes that produce positrons that react with electrons to simultaneously emit two gamma rays in opposite directions. It locates the region of origin by using a ring of discrete scintillation detectors, each in electronic coincidence with an opposing detector. In magnetic resonance imaging, the patient is placed in a very strong magnetic field. The precessing of the hydrogen atoms is perturbed by an interrogating field to yield two-dimensional images of soft tissue having exceptional clarity. As an alternative to radiology image processing, film archiving, and retrieval, picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) are being implemented. Images from computed radiography, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), nuclear medicine, and ultrasound are digitized, transmitted, and stored in computers for retrieval at distributed work stations. In electrical impedance tomography, electrodes are placed around the thorax. 50-kHz current is injected between two electrodes and voltages are measured on all other electrodes. A computer processes the data to yield an image of the resistivity of a 2-dimensional slice of the thorax. During fetal monitoring, a corkscrew electrode is screwed into the fetal scalp to measure the fetal electrocardiogram. Correlations with uterine contractions yield information on the status of the fetus during delivery To measure cardiac output by thermodilution, cold saline is injected into the right atrium. A thermistor in the right pulmonary artery yields temperature measurements, from which we can calculate cardiac output. In impedance cardiography, we measure the changes in electrical impedance as the heart ejects blood into the arteries. Motion artifacts are large, so signal averaging is useful during monitoring. An intraarterial blood gas monitoring system permits monitoring in real time. Light is sent down optical fibers inserted into the radial artery, where it is absorbed by dyes, which reemit the light at a different wavelength. The emitted light travels up optical fibers where an external instrument determines O2, CO2, and pH. Therapeutic devices include the electrosurgical unit. A high-frequency electric arc is drawn between the knife and the tissue. The arc cuts and the heat coagulates, thus preventing blood loss. Hyperthermia has demonstrated antitumor effects in patients in whom all conventional modes of therapy have failed. Methods of raising tumor temperature include focused ultrasound, radio-frequency power through needles, or microwaves. When the heart stops pumping, we use the defibrillator to restore normal pumping. A brief, high-current pulse through the heart synchronizes all cardiac fibers to restore normal rhythm. When the cardiac rhythm is too slow, we implant the cardiac pacemaker. An electrode within the heart stimulates the cardiac muscle to contract at the normal rate. When the cardiac valves are narrowed or leak, we implant an artificial valve. Silicone rubber and Teflon are used for biocompatibility. Artificial hearts powered by pneumatic hoses have been implanted in humans. However, the quality of life gradually degrades, and death ensues. When kidney stones develop, lithotripsy is used. A spark creates a pressure wave, which is focused on the stone and fragments it. The pieces pass out normally. When kidneys fail, the blood is cleansed during hemodialysis. Urea passes through a porous membrane to a dialysate bath to lower its concentration in the blood. The blind are able to read by scanning the Optacon with their fingertips. A camera scans letters and converts them to an array of vibrating pins. The deaf are able to hear using a cochlear implant. A microphone detects sound and divides it into frequency bands. 22 electrodes within the cochlea stimulate the acoustic the acoustic nerve to provide sound patterns. For those who have lost muscle function in the limbs, researchers are implanting electrodes to stimulate the muscle. Sensors in the legs and arms feed back signals to a computer that coordinates the stimulators to provide limb motion. For those with high spinal cord injury, a puff and sip switch can control a computer and permit the disabled person operate the computer and communicate with the outside world.

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