Medical Testing And Data Recording Apparatus

Abstract

A container includes means for testing a manifestation of health, as a urine specimen of a diabetic, and means for cumulatively recording data indicative of the results of the test.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to apparatus useful in medical testing and recording data of such tests.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Diabetes mellitus is a disease caused by an insufficient supply of insulin in the body. This lack of insulin, supplied by the pancreas, reduces the ability of the body to store or burn glucose, a form of sugar utilized by the body for the production of energy. As a result, the body is starved for energy, while the glucose that could supply energy accumulates in the blood, is collected in the kidneys, and thereafter passes into the urine. Diabetes is thus marked by excessive sugar in the urine of the diabetic.

In order to offset this disorder, diabetics daily, and sometimes more frequently, take injections of insulin, or alternatively, take oral compounds which act to stimulate the pancreas. The insulin is injected subcutaneously with a hypodermic syringe and is usually administered by the diabetic. With insufficient insulin, harmful by-products ("ketone bodies") are produced which act as poisons to the system. Further, the amount of insulin may vary from time to time, depending upon the activity and diet of the diabetic as well as other factors.

Thus, the sugar level in the urine of a diabetic should be tested several times daily to insure that the proper insulin dosage is being administered. Again, this testing is usually performed by the diabetic. Generally, the test simply comprises collecting a urine specimen and applying a reagent to the specimen. The result is then compared with a color-encoded chart, to provide a gross gauge of the percent of sugar in the urine. Activity, food intake and ensuing insulin requirements can then be adjusted accordingly.

The diabetic must keep a written record of these tests, in order to adjust his own insulin intake and provide his physician with information needed for office visits. However, many diabetics fail to maintain proper records, and rely on memory for determining the proper insulin dosage. This approach prevents the accumulation of the statistical data necessary for proper control. Moreover, the problem is compounded when the information is not available to the diabetic's physician for recommendations during scheduled physicals.

Further, while studies of the variations in insulin requirements for diabetics have been conducted under controlled conditions, there is a need for providing means for collecting the data from daily urine sugar tests for a large number of diabetics over a long period of time. Such a large collection of data could provide useful information regarding the required insulin dosages, and the results of insulin in terms of urine sugar and ketone poisons. Further, this information, collected on a national scale could provide a basis for further research into improved medicines and methods for treating diabetics. Most importantly, since this testing is mandatory for proper diabetic control, if the data was collected for each individual diabetic, the diabetic himself would have a ready reference for determining the insulin requirements, depending upon the expected diet and subsequent activity.

Several portable systems have been developed for recording data. See, for example, U. S. Pat. Nos. 3,618,836 to BUSHNELL, et al.; 3,435,192 to HARTNEY; and see, U.S. Pat. No. 2,132,412 to GOLLWITZER; 2,716,484 to WEPPLER; and 2,077,242 to LA PIERRE.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention comprises medical testing and data recording apparatus and includes a container having means carried thereby for testing a manifestation of health. The container further carries means for cumulatively recording data indicative of successive ones of such tests.

THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a perspective view, a portion of which is cut-away, of apparatus embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is another perspective view of the apparatus of FIG. 1; and

FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 are cut-away portions of the apparatus of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Apparatus embodying the present invention is shown and described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3. In this embodiment the apparatus comprises means for testing a urine specimen of a diabetic and means for cumulatively recording data from such tests.

The apparatus, referred to generally as 10, comprises a container 12. In the embodiment of the drawing the container 12 comprises a body having six faces including one face 14 having a large area opening 16 therein. The size, shape and dimensions of the container 12 are not critical.

With a specific reference to FIG. 1, the container 12 defines a cavity 18 therein. The cavity is divided into an upper chamber 20 and a lower chamber 22 by a partition 24 therebetween. The term "upper" and "lower" as used with respect to chambers 20, 22 is intended to refer to FIG. 1 for descriptive purposes only, it being understood that the container 12 may have any orientation.

Another face of the container 12 opposite the one face 14 comprises a lid 26 hinged about one edge. Noting FIG. 3 the inner surface of the lid 26 has disposed thereon a color-encoded chart, the purpose of which will be hereinafter described in greater detail. The lid 26 also includes a diabetic identification card 27. The lower chamber 22 is adapted to receive some of the paraphernalia normally used by diabetics in the daily testing of urine and in the administration of insulin. This includes a test tube 28, dropper 30, a package 32 for carrying reagent tablets 34 therein, and a hypodermic syringe 36. A vial of insulin (not shown) may also be included. This paraphernalia is stored in the lower chamber 22 when not in use, as shown in cross section in FIG. 2. Noting FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, the container 12 includes an inner wall 37 which is adapted to receive the test tube 28.

Referring again to FIG. 1, a portion of another face of the container which is normal to the one face 14 comprises a removable cover 38. When removed the cover 38 provides access to the upper chamber 20. The cover 38 includes two apertures 40, 42 extending through the cover, the apertures each being adapted to receive a respective turning knob 41, 43. The turning knobs 41, 43 each comprise a portion of respective ones of a storage reel 44 and a takeup reel 46. Each of the reels 44, 46, are rotatably mounted on a side of the upper chamber 20 opposite the cover 38.

A flat tape guide 48 is juxtaposed substantially parallel to the one face 14 and is mounted inside the upper chamber 20. A pre-encoded universal machine readable tape 50 is disposed around the reels 44, 46 and across the tape guide 48 such that the tape 50 is exposed in the opening 16 of the one face 14. The tape 50 will be described in greater detail with reference to FIGS. 4, 5 and 6. The taps guide 48 has two tabs 47, 49 which are adapted to fit into two corresponding slots 51, 53 in the cover 38.

Noting FIGS. 1 and 2, the container 12 includes a transparent protective layer 52, as a piece of plastic, mounted over the tape 50 in the opening 16 of the one face 14. A perforating arm 54 is carried by the container 12 such that the arm 54 is slidable across the one face 16 and movable into and out of the opening 16 (note arrows in FIG. 6). A protrusion 56 extends towards the container 12 from the perforating arm 54 to provide means for perforating the tape 50. The protective layer 52 includes a slot 58 therein and the tape guide 48 has a slot 60 therein (note FIG. 2) which corresponds to, and is juxtaposed opposite the slot 58 in the protective layer. The perforating arm 54 is thus adapted to extend through the slot 58 in the protective layer 52 such that the protrusion perforates the tape at pre-selected areas thereon. As shown in FIG. 6, a plurality of male indentations 53 are mounted along an edge of the one face 14, and are adapted to mate with corresponding female indentations 55, such that the perforating arm 54 is properly aligned with the tape 50.

Noting FIGS. 5 and 6, the tape 50 has a plurality of holes 62 along a central portion 64 thereof. A gear 66 carried by the tape guide 48 has a plurality of gear teeth 68 adapted to sequentially engage the holes 62 in the tape 50. As shown in FIG. 2, a dual-pronged spring steel member 70 is mounted inside the upper chamber 20, and is adapted to frictionally engage gear teeth 71 along the rear of each reel 44, 46, such that movement of the tape 50 along the tape guide 48 is only caused by a rotational force about one of the reels 44, 46.

The apparatus 10 as described thus far, provides means for storing and carrying the paraphernalia required by diabetics. In addition, the apparatus 10 comprises a portable means for testing the diabetic urine specimen. Noting FIG. 3, the specimen is collected in the test tube 28, which is inserted in the inner wall 37. Thereafter one of the re-agent tablets 34 is inserted into the specimen, which is thereafter compared with the color-encoded chart 25 to determine the sugar content of the specimen. For example, if the urine is more close in color to the color block marked in the chart 25, then the diabetic is made readily aware that there is a moderate amount of sugar in the specimen. A ketone test is similarly made. The diabetic can then adjust his insulin dosage as needed.

An important part of the present invention is the manner in which the results of the urine test and the insulin dosage administered by the diabetic can be cumulatively recorded for long periods of time. Another important aspect of the invention is the manner in which this information can be gathered at a central data facility and processed by known data-processing machinery.

Noting FIG. 4, these and other aspects of the invention are achieved, in part, by employing any one of the paper tapes which are a standard in the data-processing industry. As shown in FIG. 4, the tape is pre-encoded with a date-group and test series, each series being representative of one 24-hour period. The center portion 72 of the series, identified by "test" provides means for indicating the results of each of four urine specimen tests at, for example, 7:00 and 11:00 a.m. and 5:00 and 10:00 p.m. of a 24-hour period. As the tape 50 is rotated around the reels 44, 46, the tape is perforated at the appropriate pre-selected and pre-encoded area to indicate the results of the tests (note perforations in tape 50 as shown in FIG. 6).

In a similar manner the diabetic enters the insulin dosage administered or amount of oral compound taken as a result of the corresponding urine test. For example, the upper-left portion 74 of the date-group includes three rows of single digit numbers 1 through 0. For a dosage of 64 units of insulin, the 6 digit in the upper row 76 is perforated and the 4 digit in the center row 78 is perforated. Similarly, the tape 50 can indicate the strength of the insulin taken; for example, whether the insulin was 40 units (u-40) or 80 units (u-80) per c.c. With respect to the oral compound, the 1/4, 1/2, etc., indicates the amount of one tablet taken. In this manner results of the test and the insulin and oral compound dosage administered can be cumulatively recorded.

Tape 50 can be pre-recorded with a date-group and test series for an extended period, for example, about 6 months. After all of the tape is perforated, the tape may be forwarded to a central location where the data for a large group of diabetics may be processed.

Claims

I claim:

1. A diabetes testing and data recording apparatus comprising:

a container;

means for collecting a urine specimen;

color-encoded means carried by said container for comparing a reagent inserted in said urine specimen with said color encoding;

a pre-encoded, machine readable tape;

means for moving said tape along one face of said container;

means for perforating said tape in pre-encoded portions to record data thereon, said data corresponding to said comparison between said specimen and said color encoding; and

means for sequentially taking up those portions of said tape having data recorded thereon.

2. Apparatus as recited in claim 1 further comprising means for recording data corresponding to a dosage of insulin administered as a result of said comparing step.

3. Apparatus as recited in claim 2 further comprising means for recording data corresponding to a ketone test as a result of employing said comparing means.

4. Apparatus as recited in claim 3 further comprising means for recording data corresponding to a dosage of an oral compound administered as a result of employing said comparing means.