Gladstone Reid

Ambulatory monitoring of physiology and behavior utilizing the PDA platform

Training prepares civilian first responders and military personnel to handle the many aspects of their mission to the best of their capability. For training to be the most effective, it should be as realistic as possible and elicit the stress response. Stress, however, is not measurable by a simple variable or recording. A stress response measurement requires the collection of physiological, behavioral, neuropsychological, and self report variables simultaneously. These are most valid when recorded or documented in real-time to the stress itself. To facilitate the recording of a stress profile, a handheld computer platform (HP-IPAQ) was developed. The HP-IPAQ with the PocketPC operating system running LabVIEW software offers the best flexibility for the interfacing of sensors and physiological amplifiers. The interactive human interface allows for the collection of self-report and other neuropsychological assessments. To test system designs, civilian and military trainees participated in various scenarios. Our system for simultaneous data collection of physiological and behavioral variables shows promise for field applications.

Virtual Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Pain Study System

A virtual fMRI facility was needed to habituate Persian Gulf War Veteran subjects, participating in a painperception study, to a real fMRI environment similar to a 3 Teslafacility located in the Advanced Imaging Center at UMDNJ. Toaccomplish this, an automated hardware and software systemwas developed using a decommissioned MRI unit, ergonomicmouse, Finapres- Continuous Blood Pressure (BP) Monitor, Dinamap- Automatic BP Monitor, audiovisual feedback system, Medoc- Thermal Sensory Analyzer (TSA), and LabVIEW- 7.0 software. After the creation of the system, tests were conductedto determine if an individual would be more comfortable and lessnervous after repeated trials in the virtual fMRI.