An examination of five theoretical foundations associated with localized thermosensory testing (original) (raw)
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3rd Symposium on Occupational Safety and Health Proceedings Book, 2019
Introduction: The skin plays a substantive role in the thermoregulatory process. The maintenance of a constant internal body temperature by the thermoregulatory system, partially achieved by vasoconstriction and vasodilation, makes the skin temperature an important mechanism to indicate the thermal state of the comfort of a given subject. However, this parameter is still little considered in studies that evaluate thermal comfort. Therefore, this work aims to investigate the use of skin temperatures as a predictor of thermal sensation to assess thermal comfort. Methodology: A short systematic review based on Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) was performed to assess scientific publications that evaluated thermal comfort considering the skin temperature as a predictor. The review search strategy considered the use of "thermal comfort" and "skin temperature" as keywords in the ‘Web of Science’, ‘Scopus’, ‘PubMed’, and ‘Academ...
Partial- and whole-body thermal sensation and comfort— Part I: Uniform environmental conditions
Journal of Thermal Biology, 2006
Subjects exposed to uniform environments were polled for their local and overall (whole-body) thermal sensation and comfort. Sensation and comfort for local body parts vary greatly. In cool environments, hands and feet feel colder than other body parts. The head, insensitive to cold but sensitive to warm, feels warmer than the rest of the body in warm environments. Overall sensation and comfort follow the warmest local sensation (head) in warm environments and the coldest (hands and feet) in cool environments. Subjects evaluate neutral conditions as "comfortable", never "very comfortable", and overshoot of sensation and comfort during wholebody step-changes is small.
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Journal of the Neurological Sciences, 1995
Values for thermal specific and thermal pain thresholds were determined in 150 healthy volunteers, 67 women and 83 men, aged from 10 to 73 years. Warm-cold difference limen, heat pain and cold pain thresholds were assessed at the face, thenar, medial surface of the upper-and forearm, lateral mammary, lateral umbilical, anterior thigh and lateral leg regions, and lateral aspect of the dorsum of the foot. Temperature and pain sensitivity were assessed by the Marstock method. Temperature sensitivity was found obviously age-dependent. The correlation is linear. Women showed greater sensitivity for small temperature changes, reflected as warm-cold difference limen, and for heat pain and cold pain. Great variation of thermal and pain sensitivity of different body parts was significant in all volunteers, irrespective of age and sex. Interindividual variation was also considerable. Small intraindividual variability was found in measurements repeated in 4 consecutive days and after 4 weeks. Body length did not influence thermal and pain perception thresholds. There were no differences found in thermal and pain sensitivity between the left and the right side of the body.
Regional differences in temperature sensation and thermal comfort in humans
Journal of Applied Physiology, 2008
Sensations evoked by thermal stimulation (temperature-related sensations) can be divided into two categories, “temperature sensation” and “thermal comfort.” Although several studies have investigated regional differences in temperature sensation, less is known about the sensitivity differences in thermal comfort for the various body regions. In the present study, we examined regional differences in temperature-related sensations with special attention to thermal comfort. Healthy male subjects sitting in an environment of mild heat or cold were locally cooled or warmed with water-perfused stimulators. Areas stimulated were the face, chest, abdomen, and thigh. Temperature sensation and thermal comfort of the stimulated areas were reported by the subjects, as was whole body thermal comfort. During mild heat exposure, facial cooling was most comfortable and facial warming was most uncomfortable. On the other hand, during mild cold exposure, neither warming nor cooling of the face had a ...
Skin and core temperature response to partial- and whole-body heating and cooling
Journal of Thermal Biology, 2004
1. Human subjects were exposed to partial-and whole-body heating and cooling in a controlled environmental chamber to quantify physiological and subjective responses to thermal asymmetries and transients. 2. Skin temperatures, core temperature, thermal sensation, and comfort responses were collected for 19 local body parts and for the whole body. 3. Core temperature increased in response to skin cooling and decreased in response to skin heating. 4. Hand and finger temperatures fluctuated significantly when the body was near a neutral thermal state. 5. When using a computer mouse in a cool environment, the skin temperature of the hand using the mouse was observed to be 2-3 1C lower than the unencumbered hand.
Repeatability and Reliability of a New Thermotactile Quantitative Sensory Testing Algorithm
DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals), 2009
Background Thermotactile quantitative sensory testing (TQST), as a part of quantitative sensory testing (QST), has been used for quantifying perceived thermal sensory thresholds. The suggested TQST algorithm (method of alternate level stimuli-MALS) tries to overcome the weaknesses of the two most often applied algorithms/methods (thermal sensory limen, method of levels). Subjects and The study included 30 healthy subjects, 16 men and 14 women. On average, they were 24 methods years old (SD 2 years), 178.1 high (SD 8.8 cm) and weighed 74.8 kg (SD 16.4 kg). Warm sensory perceived thresholds (WSPT), cool sensory perceived thresholds (CSPT) and interthreshold interval (II) were obtained for further data analysis. Every subject underwent a complex of three measurements twice. For comparison of experimental conditions, independent samples t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC [2.1]), coefficient of variation (CV) and minimal detectable change (MDC 95) were used to assess repeatability and reliability of the proposed TQST algorithm. Results ICC for all measures within each measurement series (repeatability) was above 0.45 and CV did not exceed 50 %. When comparing both series (reliability), ICC was above 0.30 for all except two measurements and CV did not exceed 50 %. The difference between two measures within a series was in all cases lower than MDC 95. The same was observed when comparing both series. Altogether, 180 measurements of thermotactile sensory perceived thresholds were made and their average duration was 7.1 min (SD 2.3 min). Conclusions Good repeatability and poor reliability of MALS was observed. The causes of poor reliability can be explained with various factors. Short duration of a single measurement implies promising application of the suggested algorithm for clinical purposes. Key words perceived thermal sensory threshold; method of alternate level stimuli; intraclass correlation coefficient; coefficient of variation; minimal detectable change Izvleček Izhodišča Termotaktilno kvantitativno senzorično testiranje (TKST) se uporablja za kvantifikacijo zaznanega temperaturnega senzoričnega praga. Predlagani algoritem TKST (metoda izmeničnih nivojskih dražljajev-MIND) skuša odpraviti slabosti dveh najbolj pogosto uporabljenih metod in njihovih algoritmov (metoda toplotne senzorične meje, metoda nivojev).