Surgery – Truss – Pad
Patent
1995-11-03
1998-03-24
Hindenburg, Max
Surgery
Truss
Pad
128771, A61B 500
Patent
active
057301492
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This application is a 371 of PCT/JP94/02264 filed on Dec. 27, 1994.
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a toilet provided with a urine analysis function which is capable of sampling and analyzing, in situ, urine excreted by the individuals at a toilet installed in residences, offices or other facilities. More specifically, the present invention relates to a toilet bowl-mounted urinalysis unit which is adapted to be mounted to a standardized water closet bowl fixture commercially available on the market. The present invention is also concerned with a method for converting a toilet equipped with a standard toilet bowl fixture to a toilet having a urinalysis function.
2. Background Art
In view of the trends for longevity of the individuals, the importance of health care and maintenance has been receiving increasing attention. As urine is an important source of information that represents the health conditions of an individual, various dysfunction such as pancreatic disorders (typically, diabetes), hypohepatia, and kidney disorders can be detected advantageously in a non-invasive manner by performing quantitative analysis of certain urine constituents, such as glucose, protein, urobilinogen, occult blood and other substances. Accordingly, proposed in the art are toilets having a urinalysis function which are capable of performing sampling and analysis of urine so as to assist the individuals in rendering their health check by making use of toilets provided in residences, offices and other facilities.
For instance, JP-A-59-217844 of Toto Ltd., U.S. Pat. No. 4,961,431 to Ikenaga et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,962,550 to Ikenaga et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,741 to Saito et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,073,500 to Saito et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,111,539 to Hiruta et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,184,359 to Tsutamura et al., propose to form a urine sampling cavity or sampling well on the bowl surface of a water closet bowl fixture to sample a quantity of urine excreted into the toilet bowl, the urine sample being subjected to urinalysis by way of liquid chromatographic process, colorimetric analysis process, or polarographic or voltammetric process.
The advantage of these sampling systems which are designed to make use of the urine sampling cavity or sampling well formed on the bowl surface is that urine excreted into the toilet bowl is received and collected by a considerably wide surface area of the bowl so that urine is readily sampled regardless of the direction of urination or the variation in the trajectory of urine column. Therefore, an adequate quantity of urine necessary for urinalysis can easily be sampled even in the case of elderly people who are apt to suffer from the shortage of the amount of urine per urination.
However, the problem associated with these systems is that they require a special-purpose toilet bowl fixture provided with a urine sampling cavity or well formed on the bowl surface for the purposes of sampling of urine so that a standard-type toilet bowl fixture having the conventional bowl configuration cannot be used. Accordingly, in order to reform an existing toilet equipped with the conventional standard bowl fixture into a toilet having a urinalysis function, the existing conventional bowl fixture must first be removed and then a special purpose bowl fixture envisioned for sampling and urinalysis must be installed. This involves a great deal of labor and expenses for reform works and necessitates to discard the existing bowl fixture.
Furthermore, as such special purpose toilet bowl fixtures must be manufactured specially and separately from standard-type toilet bowls, it is difficult to produce them via the mass production process. As a result, these systems are too expensive to be installed widely in regular households and offices.
Another disadvantage is the difficulty in obtaining a good urine specimen since residual flushing water remaining in the urine sampling cavity of the bowl surface after flushing of the bowl tends to dilute the fresh urine to be sampled. Similarly, the fresh urine
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Fukuda Yukihiro
Koguro Toshio
Matsuno Takanori
Nakayama Chiaki
Sato Naoki
Hindenburg Max
Toto Ltd.
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