BACKGROUND Stethoscopes are widely used by doctors and nurses. Poor stethoscope hygiene is a potential source of nosocomial infection. This study aimed to propose an innovative solution, based on the latest advances in ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs), for disinfecting stethoscope membranes automatically and efficiently. METHODS Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomona...

A stethoscope is an instrument used for auscultations to convey heart sounds as well sounds in the other parts of the body. However, traditional stethoscopes are restricted only to audio representation of such sounds and the diagnosis depends on the expertise of the doctor. This project is an attempt to develop an Embedded Stethoscope to capture heart sounds which offers better noise cancellati...

In this paper we present a system aimed at demonstrating the photoacoustic (PA) effect for educational purposes. PA imaging is a hybrid imaging modality that requires no contrast agent and has a great potential for spine and brain lesion characterisation, breast cancer and blood flow monitoring notably in the context of fetal surgery. It relies on combining light excitation with ultrasound rece...

At every annual exam, the primary care physician uses a stethoscope to listen for cardiac abnormalities. This approach is non-invasive, inexpensive, and fast. It is also highly unreliable. Over 80% of the people referred to cardiologists as suffering from the most commonly diagnosed condition, mitral valve prolapse (MVP), do not have this condition. Working in conjunction with cardiologists at ...

To the Editor:—We read with interest the case report by Williams et al. of an accidental middle turbinectomy during nasotracheal intubation. Though the authors stated it as being the first case, there have been some earlier reports on middle turbinectomy. Prewarming of endotracheal tube (ETT) to soften, lubricating of the ETT, and using a vasoconstrictor have been recommended to reduce trauma d...

Korotkoff sounds are known to change their characteristics during blood pressure (BP) measurement, resulting in some uncertainties for systolic and diastolic pressure (SBP and DBP) determinations. The aim of this study was to assess the variation of Korotkoff sounds during BP measurement by examining all stethoscope sounds associated with each heartbeat from above systole to below diastole duri...

<span>Auscultation training devices are needed by teachers and students in health schools to practice auscultation techniques. In this paper, a low-cost IoT-based device has been developed using NodeMCU, four proximity sensors, metal as stethoscope, switch, an android smartphone, earphone, phantom doll. The message queuing telemetry transport (MQTT) protocol used for data communication be...