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MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY FOR INNOVATIVE DIAGNOSTICS
Think out side the box
Roller coaster record breaker
Alternative uses for our devices – Thanks to telemetric data transfer and its inherent flexibility, the SOMNOscreen ™ plus has also been used in a record attempt at long-term roller coaster riding. Richard Rodriguez has set a record in endurance rollercoaster riding at the Hasslocher Holiday Park in Rhineland-Palatinate with a non-stop 104-day ride. His health was partly monitored with the help of the SOMNOscreen ™ plus – a complete PSG with continuous blood pressure determination provided information about the sleep behaviour during the ride. Doctors at the Mannheim University Hospital found that Mr Rodriguez slept despite extreme acceleration G-forces – however, the sleep behaviour reflected the harsh conditions and was extremely fragmented. Mr Rodriguez reached a maximum phase 2 sleep and briefly REM sleep. Heart rate, respiration, and blood pressure also fluctuated during the ride and sometimes increased dramatically (heart rate changes up to 40bpm, systolic blood pressure changes up to 40mmHg).
Is that a horse in the sleep lab?
If the patient can’t get to the sleep laboratory, then the sleep laboratory can come to the patient – except that the patients we are talking about have four legs and are at home in the stable. Thanks to the flexibility and mobility of the SOMNOscreen™ plus, researchers from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich were able to measure how horses sleep by using wireless data transmission. A complete polysomnography study was applied to the horses utilizing the SOMNOscreen™ plus and then subsequently evaluated. The result: Horse sleep is comparable to human sleep, with the typical sleep stages, from one to deep sleep are identical. The REM sleep can also be detected. However, the sleep cycles are shorter and are interrupted frequently by wake phases. Deep sleep usually lasts only a few minutes – after all, the horse must be ready to bolt!
