Surgery – Truss – Pad
Patent
1986-04-03
1988-06-28
Cohen, Lee S.
Surgery
Truss
Pad
128738, 324 65P, A61B 505
Patent
active
047532475
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for monitoring redox reactions, particularly but not exclusively physiological redox reactions that occur in the human or animal body, particularly those which occur during the menstrual cycle at ovulation. The invention is thus particularly concerned with a method and apparatus for detecting or predicting the onset of ovulation in mammals, and more especially in humans, and moreover an ovulation prediction or detection apparatus that is portable and is simple to use on a day-to-day basis by a completely untrained and unskilled person.
As is well known the onset of ovulation in humans and other mammals is accompanied by a number of physiological changes the monitoring of which can, with varying degrees of success, by used to detect or predict the onset of ovulation. In cattle, for example, numerous suggestions have been made for detection of oestrus by monitoring the physiological changes which take place in the vagina or in the vaginal secretions, and particularly changes in electrical resistance or conductivity of the cervical mucus. Merely as illustrative of such procedures there may be mentioned the papers published by L. B. Aizinbudas and P. P. Dovil'tis in Zhivotnovodstro 1962 (11) 68-70; Schams, Schallenberger, Hoffman and Karg in Acta Edocrinologica 86 (1977) 180-192; Heckman, Katz, Foote, Oltenaan, Scott and Marshall in J. Dairy Science 1979 (62) 64-68; Carter and Dufty in Australian Veterinary Journal 1980 (56) 321-323; Edwards in Med. & Biol. Eng. and Computing 1980 (18) 73-80; and Scipioni, Foote, Lamb, Hall, Lein and Shin in Cornell Vet. 1982 (72) 269-278; and also U.S. Pat. No. 3,844,276, U.S. Pat. No. 4,039,934 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,224,949.
So far as the prediction or detection of ovulation in humans is concerned a wide variety of approaches have likewise been tried ranging from simple physical measurements, e.g. temperature measurements, through electrometric methods to chemical and biochemical methods involving the assay of hormone levels, ATP levels etc., in various body fluids and secretions, with considerable concentration on the latter which are not suited to every day use in the home by an unskilled, untrained user.
In the electrometric field, studies have tended to concentrate on potentiometric techniques which may be suitable for carrying out on a clinical basis but which are not readily adaptable for use on an individual basis. Such potentiometric techniques for the detection or prediction of ovulation in humans are described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 3,924,609 and in Human Ovulation, Ed. C. S. Keefer, published by J. & A. Churchill Ltd. 1965 Chapter 4, pp 46-74. Studies of changes in the electrical conductivity of the squamous epithelium of the cervix uteri throughout the menstrual cycle have also been reported by Stiksa in Acta Universitatis, Carolinae Medica 1964 (10) No. 2, 139-164. So far, however, research has failed to produce a simple, safe, reliable and easy to use ovulation predictor or detector such as can be used on a day-to-day basis in the home by an unskilled, untrained user to predict or detect ovulation, and hence establish the time when the chances of a conception are the highest, either as an aid to contraception or indeed as an aid to conception.
The present invention seeks inter alia to fulfil that need and adopts an approach that is significantly different from the electrometric techniques so far investigated, namely conductimetric methods (mainly used in cattle) and potentiometric methods (mainly used in humans), and is based on changes in the physico-chemical properties of components of body tissues and fluids such as the cervical mucus. As is known, Human Ovulation, Ed. E. S. E. Hafez, published Elsevier/North Holland Biomedical Press, 1979, Chapter 19, 313-322, the physical structure of e.g. the glycoproteins (mucoproteins, mucins) changes at the time of ovulation from a highly cross-linked network of polypeptide molecules which is substantially impenetrable to spermatozoa to a striated, fibrous structure
REFERENCES:
patent: 3749089 (1973-07-01), Derr
patent: 3844276 (1974-10-01), McDougall
patent: 3920003 (1975-11-01), Ash et al.
patent: 4059406 (1977-11-01), Fleet
patent: 4224949 (1980-09-01), Scott et al.
patent: 4498481 (1985-02-01), Lemke
Edwards, "Proposed Instrumentation . . . Impedance", Med. & Biol. Eng. & Comput., 18, 73-80, 1/1980.
Cohen Lee S.
Prutec Limited
LandOfFree
Method and apparatus for monitoring redox reactions does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Method and apparatus for monitoring redox reactions, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Method and apparatus for monitoring redox reactions will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-1910185