Healthcare Kit for 5 Symptoms of Menopause

Introduction

In this project we will give solution to five symptoms currently of the menopause: 1) Hot flushes, 2) Irregular Heartbeat, 3) Electric Shocks, 4) Difficulties Concentrating, and 5) Memory Lapses.

Goals:

Development of the following prototypes to prevent this 5 symptoms in women with menopause:

• 1 --> Smart Cuff for Monitoring the Temperature and Heart Rate.
• 2 --> Static Electricity Detector.
• 3 --> Concentrating and Memory Game App.

1. Smart Cuff for Monitoring the Temperature and Heart Rate

With this prototype I'm going to solve two symptoms of Menopause:

• Hot flushes, and
• Irregular Heartbeat

Human body temperature

The researchers found that women 60 and older who reported moderate to severe hot flashes were likely to be married or in a committed relationship. https://www.aarp.org/health/conditions-treatments/info-2018/menopause-symptoms-can-last-decades.html The temperature reading depends on which part of the body is being measured. The typical daytime temperatures among healthy adults are as follows: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_body_temperature

Heart rate

Heart rate is the speed of the heartbeat measured by the number of contractions (beats) of the heart per minute (bpm). Activities that can provoke change include physical exercise, sleep, anxiety, stress, illness, and ingestion of drugs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_rate

• The American Heart Association states the normal resting adult human heart rate is 60–100 bpm.
• Tachycardia is a fast heart rate, defined as above 100 bpm at rest.
• Bradycardia is a slow heart rate, defined as below 60 bpm at rest.
• During sleep a slow heartbeat with rates around 40–50 bpm is common and is considered normal.
• When the heart is not beating in a regular pattern, this is referred to as an arrhythmia.

Hardware

In the figure below I show you the electrical diagram of this project, and also the image of the assembled device.

The DS18B20 temperature sensor is one of the most versatile sensors you can find in the market. This sensor is ideal when we want to measure the temperature in humid environments and even in the water. This is because we can buy a version that comes in the form of a waterproof probe. In my case I used this sensor with a probe. Features: Supply voltage: 3V to 5.5V, Temperature range: -55ºC to 125ºC, Error: (-10ºC to 85ºC) ± 0.5ºC, Error: (-55ºC to 125ºC) ± 2ºC, and Programmable resolution: 9-bit, 10-bit, 11-bit or 12-bit (default). https://cdn.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Sensors/Temp/DS18B20.pdf

Pulse Sensor is a well-designed plug-and-play heart-rate sensor for Arduino. It can be used by students, artists, athletes, makers, and game & mobile developers who want to easily incorporate live heartrate data into their projects. The sensor clips onto a fingertip or earlobe and plugs right into Arduino with some jumper cables. https://www.generationrobots.com/media/DetecteurDePoulsAmplifie/PulseSensorAmpedGettingStartedGuide.pdf

Software

Note: A Beginner’s Guide to TFT LCD Displays with libraries by Arduino is here: https://electropeak.com/learn/absolute-beginners-guide-to-tft-lcd-displays-by-arduino/

In this project I used Arduino IDE 1.8.11 and you can download it from the official site: https://www.arduino.cc/en/main/software

smart_cuff.ino file is the main code and here we declare the libraries and the variables of the pulse sensors and DS18B20, we also configure the TFT screen.

AllSerialHandling.ino file is used to print the results of the temperature and pulse sensors on the serial port and on the TFT screen.

interrupt.ino file is useful for pulse sensor interruptions, we also calculate the pulse rates per minute in the BPM variable.

How to Assembling the Smart Cuff?

a) We have used a cuff to place our pulse sensors and temperature DS18B20. I got my smart cuff from an old wrist cuff of baumanometer, and that I cut it on the velcro part.

b) First, we set the pulse sensor.

c) Then we fix the DS18B20 sensor with a three-pin cable.

d) We immediately placed a metal probe, in my case, I cut off an old antenna to get it.

e) Now we can fix the sensor on the smart cuff and in the opposite direction to the pulse sensor.

f) The back side of the cuff is as follows:

g) Now we can roll up the smart cuff according to the size of our finger and adjust it with the velcro

Test

In the video below I show you the tests carried out with this project

2. Static Electricity Detector

With this prototype I'm going to solve next Menopause symptom:

• Electric Shocks

Static electricity is an imbalance of electric charges within or on the surface of a material. The charge remains until it is able to move away by means of an electric current or electrical discharge. The effects of static electricity are familiar to most people because people can feel, hear, and even see the spark as the excess charge is neutralized when brought close to a large electrical conductor, or a region with an excess charge of the opposite polarity (positive or negative). The familiar phenomenon of a static shock is caused by the neutralization of charge. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Static_electricity

How does it work?

a) Connect everything as shown in the electrical diagram. Extract a piece of wire from the base of the third transistor that will act as an antenna to detect the charges. After completing everything, turn it on and put your hand near the antenna and the led will light dimly or blink.

b) You may have read that static electricity is the type of electricity in which loads are at rest. This is a project in which you can check the presence of static electricity around us. If anything is touched, the LED will light up indicating the presence of static electricity. The circuit is so sensitive that it can detect the static of a comb or of the hand approaching the antenna.

Test

In the video below I show you the tests carried out

3. Concentrating and Memory Game App

With this android application I'm going to solve two symptoms of menopause:

• Difficulties Concentrating, and
• Memory Lapses

There are several cognitive capabilities and executive functions that adults can work on and strengthen to maintain: Attention, Perception, Memory, Processing Speed, and Reasoning. There are different types of cognitive stimulation activities for older adults, in my case I will use Brain Training games: Nowadays, practically anyone can access mobile applications for cell phones, tablets and computers, which can be used for cognitive stimulation exercises anywhere, anytime. Usually the level of complexity can be adjusted to work on different cognitive capabilities and executive functions such as attention, reasoning, language and memory. https://www.bitbrain.com/blog/cognitive-stimulation-activities-for-elderly-seniors-adults

Software

Note: You can download the project of this application developed with Android Studio version 3.5.3, in the download section, in the github Project repository: "Concentrating Game App"

Below I show you the main files of this project:

activity_main.xml

MainActivity.java

Notes: 1) The application to install in the smartphone is called: "ConcentratingGame.apk", and you find it in the folder: ConcentratigGame\app\build\outputs\apk\debug ; and 2) To install the App, you must have disabled "Google Play Protect", in this link you can see how to do it: https://www.theandroidsoul.com/how-to-turn-on-or-off-google-play-protect-on-android/

In the images below you can see how this android application would look. You start to enter your personal data, and then the game show you that it has three levels: easy, medium and hard.

Test

In the video below you can see the tests done with this application on an Android 9.0 device:

4. Conclusion and Recommendations

• According to our goals, we managed to implement an smart cuff where we can place the pulse sensor and the DS18B20 temperature sensor. The tests were satisfactory: the temperature sensor gave us values between 35 and 36 degrees Celsius, that is, values very close to the oral temperature technique with the conventional thermometer. On the other hand, the pulse sensor gave me values between 60 and 80 pulses per minute on average. Now we have shown that under normal conditions, we have innovated an smart cuff that women with hot flushes and irregular heartbeat can comfortably see their temperature and heart rate at home, and on a digital screen.
• Additionally, I've added a static electricity detector that can be connected directly to the battery of the smart cuff. Now, a woman who suspects that she may have an electric shock, she only needs use this module to know if she has a high static charge.
• Finally, we have developed an Android application, that really is a fun memory game with health icons and three difficulties levels, and that can help menopausal women with memory lapses and difficulties concentrating.