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Current clinical practice lacks of quantitative tools for the assessment of nutritive sucking and its coordination with breathing. This paper aimed to fill this gap by integrating a module for neonatal breathing monitoring with a system for the measurement of sucking during bottle feeding. An in-house flow meter, based on two commercial transistors, has been tested in laboratory to assess its static response and dynamic characteristics (step response and capability to follow simulated neonatal breathing patterns). We designed a new electronic architecture for an easy integration of this module with our system for nutritive sucking assessment. In order to test the suitability of the integrated system for clinical use, we collected preliminary data from preterm and a term newborn in the pediatric unit of Santa Maria Goretti Hospital in Latina (Italy). The laboratory tests allowed us to select the sensing element that guaranteed the best sensitivity. The dynamic trials, which were carried out with a neonatal lung simulator, confirmed the suitability of the proposed system for monitoring neonatal breathing patterns. Finally, the preliminary data that were collected from newborns confirmed previous literature findings. These promising results pave the way to the clinical application of this first integrated system for the simultaneous assessment of breathing and nutritive sucking. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The assessment of oral-motor behavior (OMB) represents one the earliest noninvasive ways to evaluate newborns' well-being and neuromotor behavior. This work aimed at developing a new low-cost, easy-to-use and noninvasive system for a technology-aided assessment of newborns' OMB during bottle feeding. A SUcking MOnitoring Device (SUMOD) was designed and developed to be easily integrated on a typical feeding bottle. A software system was developed to automatically treat and analyze the acquired data: proper algorithms for a fully automatic segmentation and features extraction are proposed and implemented. A set of measures of motor control and coordination are introduced and implemented for the specific application to the OMB analysis. Experimental data were collected on two groups of newborns (healthy versus low birth weight) with the SUMOD in a clinical setting. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, we propose a novel, low cost flowmeter suitable for application in disposable breathing circuits. The sensor consists of two nominally identical transistors employed as hot sensing elements, placed into a pipe where the fluid flows. The working principle is based on the convective heat transfer between the transistors, heated by Joule effect, and the colder hitting gas. The proposed design allows the sensor to discriminate flow direction. The sensor response has been numerically simulated, and the results validated by experimental trials varying the pipe diameter (i.e., 10 and 30 mm), the flowrate values (ranging from - 8 to 8 L/min), and the collector current (i.e., 100, 300, and 500 mA). Experimental results show that the configuration with a pipe diameter of 10 mm at the highest collector current guarantees the highest mean sensitivity (1143 mV/L· min-1) at low flowrate (i.e., ±1 L/min); in addition, this configuration ensures the minimum dead space (0.5 versus 5 mL for 30 mm of diameter). However, the 30-mm pipe diameter allows extending the range of measurement (up to ±8 versus ±3.5 L/min at 10 mm), and improving both the discrimination threshold (<;0.1 L/min) and the symmetry of response. The response time of the sensor is 340 ms. These characteristics together with the low dead space and low cost foster its application to neonatal ventilation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Feeding by sucking is one of the first activities of daily life performed by infants. Sucking plays a fundamental role in neurological development and may be considered a good early predictor of neuromotor development. In this paper, a new method for ecological assessment of infants' nutritive sucking behavior is presented and experimentally validated. Preliminary data on healthy newborn subjects are first acquired to define the main technical specifications of a novel instrumented device. This device is designed to be easily integrated in a commercially available feeding bottle, allowing clinical method development for screening large numbers of subjects. The new approach proposed allows: 1) accurate measurement of intra-oral pressure for neuromotor control analysis and 2) estimation of milk volume delivered to the mouth within < 2\% variation between estimated and reference volumes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]