Development and Application of a Device for Measuring the Warm/Cold Threshold.

本研究的目的是研制一种简单、快速地测量人体皮肤温度阈值的新装置，并应用于测定年轻和老年女性受试者皮肤表面的温度阈值分布，该装置由传感器探头、温度控制器、反应开关和个人计算机组成。由珀耳帖元件控制的探头表面的温度首先被调节到受试者的测量部位的皮肤温度，然后以恒定速率降低/升高，直到受试者感觉到冷/暖感觉并按下按钮。首先，设备的基本能力，即，研究了探针材料的影响和探针温度变化速度的影响，并采用铜探针，因为铜探针在调节探针温度以适应测试开始时的皮肤温度。探头温度的变化速度确定为0.1℃/秒，而不是0.3℃/秒。在此实验条件下，该装置显示出较高的精度和良好的可靠性。其次，将该装置应用于中老年妇女冷/暖阈值的研究。在室温28℃、相对湿度50%RH条件下，对40 ~ 88岁健康女性受试者26个部位的冷/暖阈值进行了测定。20名20 ~ 25岁的女大学生也在与对照组相同的条件下进行了测量。中老年妇女的冷/暖阈值大于青年妇女，且随年龄的增长差异增大。作为主成分分析的结果，第一个组成部分，一个大小的因素，解释了强度的冷/暖阈值敏感性的整个身体也是大的老年人。

The purpose of this study is to develop a new device for measuring the threshold of the human skin easily and quickly and to apply it for determining the distribution of the thermal threshold over the skin surface of young and elderly female subjects.The device consisted of a sensor probe, a thermo controller, a reaction switch and a personal computer. The temperature of the probe surface, which was controlled by a peltier element, was adjusted first to the skin temperature of the measuring site of the subject and then decreased/increased at a constant rate until the subject felt cold/warm sensation and pushed a buttonAt first, the fundamental ability of the device, that is, the effects of the probe materials and the effects of changing speed of the probe temperature were examined and a copper probe was adopted for its superiority over the aluminum probe in adjusting the probe temperature to the skin temperature at the beginning of the test. The changing speed of the probe temperature was decided at 0.1℃/sec rather than 0.3℃/sec. Under these experimental conditions the device showed high precision and good reliability.Next, the device, was applied to the investigation of the cold/warm thresholds in middle and elderly women. The cold/warm thresholds of forty healthy female subjects aged 40 to 88 years old were measured over 26 body regions under the condition of 28℃ ambient temperature and 50% RH. Twenty female students aged 20 to 25 years old were also measured under the same conditions as the control. The cold/warm thresholds for the middle elderly women were larger than those for young women and the difference increased with advancing age. As a result of the principal component analysis, the first component, a size factor which explained the intensity of the cold/warm thresholds sensitivity of the whole body was also large in the elderly.