Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2001. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 123 p. : ill. (some col.). Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 59-66).

Heart rate monitoring (HRM) is an essential tool for monitoring physical activity and as a diagnostic tool in the clinical setting. The ability to monitor heart rate gives users and clinicians vital information about the current condition of the cardiovascular system before, during, and after exercise. However, HRM requires a telemetric chest strap, and comfort, transmission and fit can become problems with the chest strap. New technology using photoplethysmography (PPG) has emerged recently to provide the possibility of HRM without a telemetric chest strap during exercise. The aim of this study was to determine if a new device could detect heart rate over a broad range of skin types (I-V), and whether what wavelength would be most suitable for detecting the signals. A light emitting diode (LED) based PPG system was used to determine heart rate by change in pulsatile blood flow on 22 apparently healthy individuals (11 male and 11 female, 20-59 years old) of varying skin type. Skin type was classified according to a questionnaire in combination with digital photographs with a skin type chart. Each subject was exposed to four different wavelengths (470 nm, 520 nm, 630 nm, and 880 nm) and multiple trials were conducted on each wavelength. Heart rate detection was represented by modulation of the incident light wave and normalized by saturation into a pulsatile waveform represented as modulation average. The 520nm wavelength classified as visible green light provided a significantly greater (p<0.001) ability to detect heart rate. Increasing levels of melanin, or darker skin type (Type V) showed decreased modulation however this trend was not significant (p<0.067). There was no significant interaction between the wavelength of light and the skin type. In conclusion, a PPG based device can detect heart rate across skin types and use of a green light wavelength provides an even greater resolution. / text

Master's thesis - - State University of New York College at Cortland, 2007 - - Department of Kinesiology. / Includes bibliographical references (p.46-7).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Florida, 2004. / Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains 58 pages. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Florida, 2004. / Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains 81 pages. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Exercise Sciences, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 149-160).

Monitoring of women in labour is an important aspect of the practice of the health care professionals working in the labour ward. The pregnancy of a woman mightappear to be normal but it is not possible to predict the positive outcome of labour until the baby is born because foetal distress can occur suddenly or other problems can arise during the course of labour. Doctors need to closely monitor the progress of labour of all the women regardless of whether he pregnancy is rated low risk or not. The use of Cardiotocography (CTG) during labour thus becomes critical. In the current study the perceptions of the doctors working in labour ward units will be explored and described in order to recommend activities that could optimize the use of CTG by doctors as an intrapartum monitoring tool. A qualitative research design will be used and the data collection method will be by means of semi-structured audio-taped one-on-one interviews.

Exercise prescription intensity is traditionally defined using a target heart rate (HR) as a surrogate measure of oxygen uptake (V02). The ACSM Guidelines recommends the use of a percentage of the maximal HRR because it is thought to match a similar percentage of maximal V02 (%V02max). However, several recent studies have challenged the notion that a given percentage of MHRR matches with the same percentage of V02max in older subjects. The purpose of this study was to assess the difference between percentages of MHRR and V02ma, and evaluate the influence of age on the agreement between these two variables across a range of exercise intensities. The sample included 530 subjects (232 men and 298 women, mean ages of 46.6 + 11.7 years and 43.3 + 11.3 years respectively) who completed a maximal treadmill test to volitional fatigue using the BSU/Bruce Ramp protocol. Heart rate and V02 data from minutes 3, 6, and 9 were converted into percentages of MHRR and V02mai,. Subjects were excluded from the analysis if they failed to achieve an RER,„a,,>1.0. Minutes 3, 6, and 9 represented 45.2 ± 11, 66.0 ± 15, and 83.1 ± 12% of VO2.x, respectively. A one-way ANOVA showed that statistically significant differences existed between the treatment means of relative intensity at minutes 3, 6, and 9 at a p-value of <0.05. The influence of age was assessed by correlation with the difference between percentages of MHRR and VO2max at minutes 3, 6, and 9. In addition, younger (<60 years of age) and older (>60 years of age) subjects were compared using an unpaired t-test. The association between age and the difference between percentages of HRR and VO2max were -0.24, -0.22, and - 0.26 at minutes 3, 6, and 9, respectively. The difference in the relative intensities of HRR and VO2max was greater for older subjects at minutes 3 and 6 (-7.0 vs. -2.2, -3.2 vs. -0.8%) but was smaller at minute 9 (-0.1 vs. -3.2%). A Scheffe post-hoc analysis was used to compare the differences between the treatment means of relative intensity. In conclusion, these results confirm the notion that percentages of MHRR. tend to underestimate percentages of VO2max in older subjects, however the differences observed within the present study were smaller than those reported previously. The small but statistically differences between the techniques would not appear to invalidate the use of percentages of MHRR as surrogate markers of percentages of VO2max in these subjects. / School of Physical Education

No description available.