In addition, pulse diagnosis gefitinib cancer is one of four kinds of diagnostic methods used in TCM clinical practice to determine the physiological condition of the patients [2]. The most commonly used clinical methods to measure the behavior of the pulse include the stethoscope, sphygmomanometer, and Doppler-based instrumentation. Recently, some practitioners sellekchem in TCM use a pulse diagnosis machine or other device to record changes in the pulse Inhibitors,Modulators,Libraries [3]. A set of three pressure transducers for sensing the pulses at three locations has already been developed [4]. Lu et al. analyzed the harmonics of the frequency spectrum of arterial pulse waves and correlated some illness conditions to certain harmonics [5]. Hong et al.

described a non-touch pulse measurement method based on optical interferometer [6], which could estimate skin vibration velocity.

However, the devices used in the above-mentioned studies could either interfere Inhibitors,Modulators,Libraries with the measurement results because of making contact with the body, or were more costly because of Inhibitors,Modulators,Libraries having additional sensors for probing multiple points. An Inhibitors,Modulators,Libraries optical non-contacting technology, which is based on optical triangulation, Inhibitors,Modulators,Libraries is proposed in this study. Inhibitors,Modulators,Libraries Laser triangulation is a well-known method in thickness and contour measurement, and has been applied to many industrial fields [7-9]. It was also used to examine the vertical movements of the vocal folds during phonation [10].Laser triangulation is normally used in conjunction with light centroid Inhibitors,Modulators,Libraries measuring devices, e.

g. position sensing detectors (PSDs) and charge coupled devices (CCDs).

Since the manufacturing technology behind the CMOS image sensors has now been advanced sufficiently to achieve good stability Inhibitors,Modulators,Libraries and low cost, Dacomitinib the CMOS image sensors have become Brefeldin_A increasingly significant in industrial optical sensors [11-12]. The CMOS image sensors possess several programmable features including electronic exposure (ET) control, continuous or single frame capture, and progressive or interlaced scanning modes. The first of these features is very important to our experiments, especially for reducing noise and locating measurement point of laser spot.In general, the relationship between pulse waves and physiological or healthy conditions of the tested subjects is quite complex.

Such relationship might exhibit nonlinear characteristic and might also vary person to person due to characteristics of the artery, deep or shallow, healthy or hardened, etc.

Basically, the more pulse waveforms are obtained, the more information therefore including pulse rates and harmonics related to the diagnosis in TCM can be achieved. In TCM clinical practice, an experienced TCM physician can do the pulse diagnosis by palpation treatment conducted on multiple measurement points (i.e., Chun, Guan, and phase 3 Chy points) to determine the relationships between the organs health and the wave patterns of pulses. These facts have been demonstrated in many literatures [13-14].