KEYWORDS: Meteorology, Medicine, Thermography, Humidity, Ion beam finishing, Infrared imaging, Infrared radiation, Environmental sensing, Temperature metrology, Body temperature
It is of great importance to study the manifestations and the influencing factors of the time-related changes of infrared
thermal images (ITI) of human body since the variable body surface temperature distribution seriously affected the
application of ITI in medicine. In this paper, manifestations of time-related changes of the ITI of human body from three
double-blind randomized trials and their correlation with meteorological factors (e.g. temperature, pressure, humidity,
cold front passage and tropical cyclone landing) were studied. The trials were placebo or drug controlled studying the
influences of Chinese medicine health food (including Shengsheng capsule with immunity adjustment function, Shengan
capsule with sleep improvement function and Shengyi capsule with the function of helping to decrease serum lipid) on
the ITI of human body. In the first thirty-six days of the trials images were scanned every six days and image data in the
seven observation time spots (including the 0, 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36 day of the trial) were used for the time-related study.
For every subject the scanned time was fixed in the day within two hours. The ITI features which could reflect the
functions of the health foods were studied. The indexes of the features were relative magnitude (temperature difference
between the viewing area and the reference area). Results showed that the variation tendencies of the trial group and
control group were basically the same in placebo controlled trials and some of the long-term effects of Chinese medicine
health food could be reflected significantly in certain time spots in the first thirty-six days. Time-related changes of the
ITI of human body were closely related with meteorological factors but there were other influencing factors still need to
be studied. As the ITI of human body could reflect the influences of Chinese medicine health foods and are closely
related with meteorology, there are bright prospects for the application of ITI in health monitor.
To explore the assessing technique which could objectively reflect the characteristics of Chinese medicine in the
prevention of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, four balance features of infrared thermal images (ITI)
corresponding to the up and down, left and right, proximal and distal balance of blood circulation of human body were
studied. First, the ITI features of the middle-aged and elderly people with lipid abnormality history were compared with
those of the healthy youth. It was found that the balance state of the youth was significantly better than that of the
middle-aged and elderly, P≤0.01 for all the balance features. For the youth, the balance state of females was better than
that of the males. But this sexual difference disappeared for the middle-aged and elderly group. Second, a double-blind
randomized trial was carried out to study the influences of Shengyi capsule, a Chinese medicine health food with the
function of helping to decrease serum lipid, on the balance features. The subjects were middle-aged and elderly people
with lipid abnormality history. Shengyi capsule was taken by the trial group while Xuezhikang capsule (with lovastatin
as the main effective component) by the control group for 108 days. The balance features of ITI showed that Shengyi
was significantly better than Xuezhikang in improving the whole body balance of blood circulation (including the up and
down, left and right, proximal and distal balance). The relative efficacy rate was 81.0% for the trial group and 33.3% for
the control group, there was significant difference between the two groups (P=0.002). Shengyi could effectively decrease
the low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) but the effect of Xuezhikang in decreasing total cholesterol (TC) and
LDL-C was better than Shengyi. Though the lipid-lowering effect of Shengyi was not as good as Xuezhikang, ITI
reflected the obvious advantage of Shengyi in improving the whole body balance of blood circulation which indicated
that helping to decrease serum lipid is only part of the health function of Shengyi. The physiology and pathology basis of
the influences of Shengyi on the four balance features and its relationship with the clinical outcome deserves further
study. So the prospect of infrared thermal imaging is indicated as the suitable evaluation technique which could
objectively reflect the whole balance regulation advantage of Chinese medicinal compounds.
Infrared thermal imaging (ITI) is the potential imaging technique for the health care field of traditional Chinese medicine
(TCM). Successful application demands obeying the characteristics and regularity of the ITI of human body and
designing rigorous trials. First, the influence of time must be taken into account as the ITI of human body varies with
time markedly. Second, relative magnitude is preferred to be the index of the image features. Third, scatter diagrams and
the method of least square could present important information for evaluating the health care effect. A double-blind
placebo-controlled randomized trial was undertaken to study the influences of Shengsheng capsule, one of the TCM
health food with immunity adjustment function, on the ITI of human body. The results showed that the effect of
Shengsheng capsule to people with weak constitution or in the period of being weak could be reflected objectively by ITI.
The relative efficacy rate was 81.3% for the trial group and 30.0% for the control group, there was significant difference
between the two groups (P=0.003). So the sensitivity and objectivity of ITI are of great importance to the health care
field of TCM.
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