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BACKGROUND: This study was conducted to compare the accuracy of two noninvasive thermometers (axillary and infrared non-contact forehead thermometer) in measuring core temperature compared to the gold standard oral thermometer in the detection of fever in pediatric cancer patients with febrile neutropenia. METHODS: The study was conducted with a single group of 42 children with febrile neutropenia between 23 December 2020 and 25 January 2023 in the pediatric hematology and oncology clinic of a training and research hospital, which provides a specialized environment for both medical education and advanced scientific research in the field of pediatric hematology and oncology. The participants' body temperature was measured with an oral, axillary, and non-contact infrared forehead thermometer immediately after admission to the clinic and at 5 and 10 min after admission. The inter-rater agreement for each method and inter-method agreement between axillary and non-contact infrared temperature readings and oral readings were analyzed for each time point using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). RESULTS: The children in the study had a mean age of 11.62 ± 3.00 years and 28 (66.7%) were boys, 19 (45.2%) were younger children (5-10 years of age), and 23 (54.8%) were adolescents (11-16 years of age). In the analysis of agreement between the thermometers at admission and at 5 and 10 min after admission in children with febrile neutropenia, the highest agreement was between the oral and axillary thermometers (ICC: 0.584, 0.835, 0.536, respectively) and the lowest agreement was between the oral and non-contact infrared thermometers (ICC: 0.219, 0.022, 0.473, respectively). CONCLUSION: Compared to orally measured body temperature, axillary temperature readings showed better agreement than non-contact infrared temperature readings from the forehead in pediatric patients with febrile neutropenia. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: The research findings may guide nurses and families caring for pediatric patients with febrile neutropenia and should contribute to the prevention of false findings of fever and the reduction of its adverse consequences.

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In this study, the thermal and drying characteristics of a thin layer food sample were investigated. An indirect type, simple, efficient, and economically feasible solar dryer was fabricated and used for food preservation. However, a dynamic model of a fabricated solar dryer was also presented to gain a better insight into the drying and thermal actions. This model consists of thermal modeling of the drying chamber, solar collector, and solar-dried food sample. The law of conservation of energy was applied to evaluate the temperature at different sections of the solar dryer with respect to drying time. All listed model equations were solved in the MATLAB environment. This study helps to examine the influence of solar radiation on the collector plate temperature, drying chamber temperature, food sample temperature, and performance parameters such as thermal efficiency with respect to drying time. Model data was found in good agreement with experimental data within a 4% error. It is concluded that the drying of food material is affected by air temperature, the collector temperature, mode of heat transfer, and material characteristics such as dimension and mass of the food sample.

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High-precision temperature control of large-area blackbodies has a pivotal role in temperature calibration and thermal imaging correction. Meanwhile, it is necessary to correct the temperature difference between the radiating (surface of use) and back surfaces (where the temperature sensor is installed) of the blackbody during the testing phase. Moreover, large-area blackbodies are usually composed of multiple temperature control channels, and manual correction in this scenario is error-prone and inefficient. At present, there is no method that can achieve temperature-automated calibration for a large-area blackbody radiation source. Therefore, this article is dedicated to achieving temperature-automated calibration for a large-area blackbody radiation source. First, utilizing two calibrated infrared thermometers, the optimal temperature measurement location was determined using a focusing algorithm. Then, a three-axis movement system was used to obtain the true temperature at the same measurement location on a large-area blackbody surface from different channels. This temperature was subtracted from the blackbody's back surface. The temperature difference was calculated employing a weighted algorithm to derive the parameters for calibration. Finally, regarding experimental verification, the consistency error of the temperature measurement point was reduced by 85.4%, the temperature uniformity of the surface source was improved by 40.4%, and the average temperature measurement deviation decreased by 43.8%. In addition, this system demonstrated the characteristics of strong environmental adaptability that was able to perform temperature calibration under the working conditions of a blackbody surface temperature from 100 K to 573 K, which decreased the calibration time by 9.82 times.

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OBJECTIVE: To assess the repeatability of infrared thermometer temperature readings and evaluate the correlation between digital rectal temperature and infrared thermometer temperatures taken at different locations in healthy afebrile horses. ANIMALS: 101 afebrile horses ≥ 1 year old. METHODS: Digital rectal temperatures and infrared temperatures from the eye, gingiva, neck, axilla, and perineum were obtained in a climate-controlled environment and at 2 outdoor ambient temperatures (study period, November 1, 2021, to April 30, 2023). RESULTS: Infrared temperature measurements were well tolerated by horses, including those resistant to rectal temperature. There was significant correlation between rectal temperature and infrared temperature taken at the perineum (R = 0.57; P < .001) and eye (R = 0.37; P < .001). Infrared temperature measurements were highly repeatable, allowing for calculation of reference ranges for the perineum (36.0 to 37.8 °C) and eye (35.7 to 37.1 °C) in climate-controlled conditions. There was increased variance in outside temperatures compared to climate-controlled conditions for the eye (P = .002), gingiva (P = .047), and perineum (P = .005). CLINICAL RELEVANCE: While infrared thermometer temperatures were not numerically the same as rectal temperature using a digital thermometer, measurements at the perineum and eye were correlated with rectal temperature readings. Further, the repeatability of infrared readings allows for computation of reference ranges that make the infrared thermometer a viable alternative for the practicing veterinarian when obtaining a temperature in uncooperative horses. The infrared thermometer was reliable outdoors for the eye, but not the perineum. Additional validation of infrared temperature reference ranges in febrile horses and warmer ambient temperatures is warranted.

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Photopolymerization kinetics affects the curing time, degree of conversion, polymerization shrinkage, and mechanical properties of composites. The aim of this study was to compare three methods (temperature, heat flow, and polymerization shrinkage) for photopolymerization kinetics measurement of composites. The photopolymerization kinetics of four composites (2 packable and 2 flowable) were measured with an LED light for 20 s (radiant emittance: 2,100 mW/cm2). For the two packable composites, photopolymerization kinetics was measured with varying the radiant emittance and exposure time. For each measurement method, peak times were determined as the time when maximum temperature rise, heat flow, and shrinkage rate occurred, respectively. The photopolymerization kinetics differed among the measurement methods. The photopolymerization kinetics of composites changed as the radiant emittance and composite type varied. In clinical practice and research on the composite restoration, the kinetics should be considered comprehensively with the complementary use of various measurement methods.

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In recent years, non-contact infrared thermometers (NCITs) and infrared thermography (IRT) have gained prominence as convenient, non-invasive tools for human body temperature measurement. Despite their widespread adoption in a range of settings, there remain questions about their accuracy under varying conditions. This systematic review sought to critically evaluate the performance of NCITs and IRT in body temperature monitoring, synthesizing evidence from a total of 72 unique settings from 32 studies. The studies incorporated in our review ranged from climate-controlled room investigations to clinical applications. Our primary findings showed that NCITs and IRT can provide accurate and reliable body temperature measurements in specific settings and conditions. We revealed that while both NCITs and IRT displayed a consistent positive correlation with conventional, contact-based temperature measurement tools, NCITs demonstrated slightly superior accuracy over IRT. A total of 29 of 50 settings from NCIT studies and 4 of 22 settings from IRT studies achieved accuracy levels within a range of ±0.3 °C. Furthermore, we found that several factors influenced the performance of these devices. These included the measurement location, the type of sensor, the reference and tool, individual physiological attributes, and the surrounding environmental conditions. Our research underscores the critical need for further studies in this area to refine our understanding of these influential factors and to develop standardized guidelines for the use of NCITs and IRT.

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BACKGROUND: Major respiratory infectious diseases, such as influenza, SARS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2, have caused historic global pandemics with severe disease and economic burdens. Early warning and timely intervention are key to suppress such outbreaks. OBJECTIVE: We propose a theoretical framework for a community-based early warning (EWS) system that will proactively detect temperature abnormalities in the community based on a collective network of infrared thermometer-enabled smartphone devices. METHODS: We developed a framework for a community-based EWS and demonstrated its operation with a schematic flowchart. We emphasize the potential feasibility of the EWS and potential obstacles. RESULTS: Overall, the framework uses advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technology on cloud computing platforms to identify the probability of an outbreak in a timely manner. It hinges on the detection of geospatial temperature abnormalities in the community based on mass data collection, cloud-based computing and analysis, decision-making, and feedback. The EWS may be feasible for implementation considering its public acceptance, technical practicality, and value for money. However, it is important that the proposed framework work in parallel or in combination with other early warning mechanisms due to a relatively long initial model training process. CONCLUSIONS: The framework, if implemented, may provide an important tool for important decisions for early prevention and control of respiratory diseases for health stakeholders.

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The aim of this study was to assess the influence of the post-mortem outer ear temperature (OET) on the measurement bias previously observed for short post-mortem intervals (PMI) between a commercially available infrared thermometer and a reference metal probe thermometer. To that end, 100 refrigerated bodies were added to our initial cohort to investigate lower OET. In contrast to our previous findings, a very good concordance was noted between both methods. There was still an overall underestimation of ear temperatures with the infrared thermometer, but the average bias was significantly reduced compared to that observed in the initial cohort (1.47 °C for the right ear and 1.32 °C for the left ear). Most importantly, this bias progressively decreased as the OET decreased, becoming negligible for OET lower than 20 °C. These results are in agreement with literature data regarding these temperature ranges. The discrepancy observed with our previous observations may be due to the technical characteristics of the infrared thermometers. The lower the temperatures measured, the more the measurements approach the lower limit of the measuring range of the device and tend to give constant values, resulting in a smaller underestimation of the measurements. Further research is needed to assess the interest of integrating in the already validated OET-based formulae a variable dependent on the temperature measured with the infrared thermometer, to eventually allow infrared thermometry to be used for PMI estimation in forensic practice.

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BACKGROUND: Shortcomings of the current school-based infectious disease syndromic surveillance system (SSS) in China include relying on school physicians to collect data manually and ignoring the health information of students in attendance. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to design and implement an influenza SSS based on the absenteeism (collected by face recognition) and temperature of attending students (measured by thermal imaging). METHODS: An SSS was implemented by extending the functionality of an existing application. The system was implemented in 2 primary schools and 1 junior high school in the Yangtze River Delta, with a total of 3535 students. The examination period was from March 1, 2021, to January 14, 2022, with 174 effective days. The daily and weekly absenteeism and fever rates reported by the system (DAR1 and DFR; WAR1 and WFR) were calculated. The daily and weekly absenteeism rates reported by school physicians (DAR2 and WAR2) and the weekly positive rate of influenza virus (WPRIV, released by the Chinese National Influenza Center) were used as standards to evaluate the quality of the data reported by the system. RESULTS: Absenteeism reported by school physicians (completeness 86.7%) was 36.5% of that reported by this system (completeness 100%), and a significant positive correlation between them was detected (r=0.372, P=.002). When the influenza activity level was moderate, DAR1s were significantly positively correlated among schools (rab=0.508, P=.004; rbc=0.427, P=.02; rac=0.447, P=.01). During the influenza breakout, the gap of DAR1s widened. WAR1 peaked 2 weeks earlier in schools A and B than in school C. Variables significantly positively correlated with the WPRIV were the WAR1 and WAR2 of school A, WAR1 of school C, and WFR of school B. The correlation between the WAR1 and WPRIV was greater than that between the WAR2 and WPRIV in school A. Addition of the WFR to the WAR1 of school B increased the correlation between the WAR1 and WPRIV. CONCLUSIONS: Data demonstrated that absenteeism calculation based on face recognition was reliable, but the accuracy of the temperature recorded by the infrared thermometer should be enhanced. Compared with similar SSSs, this system has superior simplicity, cost-effectiveness, data quality, sensitivity, and timeliness.

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Background: Sublingual temperature measurement is a quick and accurate representation of oral temperature and corresponds closely with core temperature. Sub-lingual temperature measurement using non-contact infrared thermometers has not been studied for this purpose and if accurate they would be a reliable and convenient way of recording temperature of a patient very quickly. The aim of the study was to evaluate the utility of recording sublingual temperature using an infrared non-contact thermometer and establish its accuracy by comparing the readings with tympanic thermometer recordings. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out in 29 patients (328 paired recordings from sublingual and tympanic sites simultaneously). Subjects were requested to keep their mouth closed for five minutes before recording the temperature. Sublingual recordings were performed for each patient at different times of the day using an infrared thermometer. The infrared thermometer was quickly brought 1cm away from the sublingual part of the tongue and the recordings were then done immediately. Readings were compared with the corresponding tympanic temperature. Results: The non-contact sublingual temperature correlated very closely with tympanic temperature (r=0.86, p<0.001). The mean difference between the infrared sublingual and tympanic temperature was 0.21°C (standard deviation [SD]:0.48°C, 95% confidence interval [CI] of 0.16-0.27). The intra-class correlation co-efficient (ICC) between core and sublingual temperatures was 0.830 (95% CI: 0.794 to 0.861) p<0.001. The sensitivity of sublingual IR (infrared) temperature of 37.65°C was 90% and specificity was 89% for core temperature >38°C. Conclusions: This innovative modification of using the forehead infrared thermometer to measure the sublingual temperature offers an accurate, rapid and non-contact estimation of core temperature.

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In clinical practice, an important aspect of animal health status evaluation is the body temperature recording obtained using different methods. Within them, the non-contact and non-invasive infrared thermometer can provide an accurate estimation of body temperature improving the quality of care and medical decision. To evaluate the use of the monitoring of auricular temperature to improve the quality of care and medical decision. To evaluate the use of the monitoring of auricular temperature as indices of body temperature, as well as rectal temperature in eleven clinically healthy mixed bred cats, eleven Rottweiler dogs, and eleven Italian saddle horses temperature values were obtained by means of an infrared thermometer in the left and right ears and by means of a digital thermometer in the rectum. Two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated a statistically higher rectal temperature value than the temperature recorded in the left and right ears (P<0.001). In all species, no differences between the right and left ear were recorded (p>0.05). Cats and dogs showed a statistically higher auricular (p<0.001) and rectal (p<0.01) temperature compared to horses. No differences were observed between cats and dogs (p>0.05). Auricular and rectal temperature agreement was shown by the Bland-Altman test. Between the two methods, the average difference was 1.6 °C for cats, 1.4 °C for dogs, and 3.3 °C for horses. In dogs, rectal and auricular temperature showed a positive correlation (r2=0.78). In conclusion, only in healthy dogs maintained in controlled conditions the monitoring of auricular temperature reflects the clinical practice gold standard of core body temperature measurement represented by rectal temperature. The lower value of about 1.5 °C must be taken into consideration when this technique is used.

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On land, the amphibians interact with the environment in a complex way-even small changes in the physiological conditions may significantly impact the behaviour and vice versa. In ectothermic tetrapods, the transition from inactive to active phase may be related to important changes in their thermal status. We studied the thermal ecology of adult Balkan spadefoots (Pelobates balcanicus Karaman, 1928) in northeastern Bulgaria. These toads spend the daytime buried between 10 and 15 cm in sandy substrates, and emerge after sunset. On the substrate, their thermal energy exchange is defined by the absence of heat flow from the sun. Secondary heat sources, like stored heat and infrared radiation from the soil play an important role for the thermal balance of the active spadefoot toads. At the beginning of their daily activity, we measured substrate temperature (at a depth of 11-12 cm), toad's surface body temperature, and also provided thermal profiles of the animals and the substrate surface in their microhabitats. In animals which recently emerged from the substrate, the temperature was comparatively higher and was closer to that of the subsoil on the spot. After that, body temperature decreased rapidly and continued to change slowly, in correlation with air temperature. We detected a temperature gradient on the dorsal surface of the toads. On the basis of our measurements and additional data, we discuss the eventual role of air humidity and the effects of surface and skin water evaporation on the water balance and activity of the investigated toads.

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Infrared thermometry has certain advantages over traditional oral thermometry including quick, non-invasive administration and an absence of required consumables. This study compared the performance of tympanic, temporal artery and forehead contactless thermometers with traditional oral electronic thermometer as the reference in measuring temperature in outpatients in a Nigerian secondary care hospital. A convenience sample of 100 male and 100 female adult patients (Mean age = 38.46 years, SD = 16.33 years) were recruited from a secondary care hospital in Kano, Nigeria. Temperature measurements were taken from each patient using the tympanic, temporal artery and contactless thermometers and oral electronic thermometer. Data was analyzed to assess bias and limits using scatterplots and Bland-Altman charts while sensitivity analysis was done using ROC curves. The tympanic and temporal artery thermometers systematically gave higher temperature readings compared to the oral electronic thermometer. The contactless thermometer gave lower readings compared to the oral electronic thermometer. The temporal artery thermometer had the highest sensitivity (88%) and specificity (88%) among the three infrared thermometers. The contactless thermometer showed a low sensitivity of 13% to detect fever greater than 38 °C. Our study shows that replacing oral thermometers with infrared thermometers must be done with caution despite the associated convenience and cost savings.

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A novel uncooled thermal sensor based on a suspended transistor, fabricated in standard CMOS-SOI process, and released by dry etching, dubbed Digital TMOS, has been developed. Using the transistor as the sensing element has advantages in terms of internal gain, low power, low-cost technology, and high temperature sensitivity. A two channel radiometer, based on the new nano-metric CMOS-SOI-NEMS Technology, enables remote temperature sensing as well as emissivity sensing of the forehead and body temperatures of people, with high accuracy and high resolution. Body temperature is an indicator of human physiological activity and health, especially in pediatrics, surgery, and general emergency departments. This was already recognized in past pandemics such as SARS, EBOLA, and Chicken Flu. Nowadays, with the spread of COVID-19, forehead temperature measurements are used widely to screen people for the illness. Measuring the temperature of the forehead using remote sensing is safe and convenient and there are a large number of available commercial instruments, but studies show that the measurements are not accurate. The surface emissivity of an object has the most significant effect on the measured temperature by IR remote sensing. This work describes the achievements towards high-performance, low-cost, low power, mobile radiometry, to rapidly screen for fever to identify victims of the coronavirus (COVID-19). The main two aspects of the innovation of this study are the use of the new thermal sensor for measurements and the extensive modeling of this sensor.

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Non-contact infrared sensors are widely used as a diagnostic tool for elevated body temperature during initial screening for coronaviruses. The aim of this study was to investigate the thermal differences at three anatomical points: temple, forehead, and wrist, in the initial screening for temperature indicative of febrile and non-febrile states in skin pigmentation variations in Black, Half-Black and Caucasian skins, correlated with height and weight variables. Temperatures were obtained by means of an infrared thermometer in 289 volunteers with mean age of 18.30 ± 0.76, in a controlled environment according to Singapore Standard, SS582 part 1 and 2, normative standard IEC 80601-2-59, with standard technical protocols established by the International Organization for Standardization, ISO / TR 13154. The data were processed in MATLAB® R2021a, and data normality verified by Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, non-parametric data paired between temple / forehead / wrist were compared using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. The results show different median temperatures in these anatomical regions, 37.2°C at the temple, 36.8°C at the forehead and 36.4°C at the wrist. As the temple region presents a temperature higher than the other investigated regions and, therefore, close to the core temperature, it should be considered for the initial screening of SARS-CoV-2 when using non-contact infrared thermometers. Furthermore, no significant changes were found due to variation in skin tone, height, or weight.

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The sea surface temperature (SST) is a crucial parameter system in climate monitoring. Satellite remote sensing is currently the most common approach for measuring long-term and large-area sea surface temperatures. The SST data measured by the satellite radiometer include the sea surface skin temperature (SSTskin) at a depth of approximately 10 µm. Satellite remote sensing measurement data must be compared and validated with on-site measured data. There are various solutions for on-site measuring instruments; the essential components are usually infrared radiation sensors with radiation output. This paper uses an ordinary integrated infrared thermometer without a radiation output function to remotely measure the sea surface temperature to achieve a high-precision measurement. The scheme of integrating infrared thermometers to measure the sea surface temperature is investigated in this paper. Based on Planck's formula, the bidirectional conversion relationship between temperature and radiation in a certain band is established. The experimental system introduced in this paper uses an integrated infrared thermometer to measure the small blackbody and the target in a cyclic measurement system. We combine it with the sea surface emissivity characteristics and eliminate the influence of sky background radiation on the sea surface to obtain the actual amount of radiation on the sea surface, from which we obtain the actual radiation amount on the sea surface. Accurate SST can be calculated from the actual amount of radiation at the sea surface. The temperature measurement accuracy can reach 0.1 K, allowing it to meet on-site temperature measurement requirements, as well as the comparison measurement requirements confirmed by satellite remote sensing on-site data. There are relatively few products available for sensors with a temperature measurement accuracy of 0.1 K on the market, and temperature measurement equipment with a temperature measurement accuracy of 0.1 K is relatively expensive. Cost is one of the important factors to consider when using in bulk, especially as global warming increases the need for ocean monitoring. The scheme proposed in this paper is beneficial to reduce the volume and weight of measuring instruments, reduce the cost, and promote the large-scale combined application of sea surface temperature change monitoring.

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Measurement of core body temperature-clinical thermometry-provides critical information to anaesthetists during perioperative care. The value of this information is determined by the accuracy of the measurement device used. This accuracy must be maintained despite external influences such as the operating room temperature and the patient's thermoregulatory defence. Presently, perioperative thermometers utilise invasive measurement sites. The public health challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, has highlighted the use of non-invasive, non-contact infrared thermometers. The aim of this article is to review common existing thermometers used in perioperative care, their mechanisms of action, accuracy, and practicality in comparison to infrared non-contact thermometry used for population screening during a pandemic. Evidence currently shows that contact thermometry varies in accuracy and practicality depending on the site of measurements and the method of sterilisation or disposal between uses. Despite the benefits of being a non-invasive and non-contact device, infrared thermometry used for population temperature screening lacks the accuracy required in perioperative medicine. Inaccuracy may be a consequence of uncontrolled external temperatures, the patient's actions prior to measurement, distance between the patient and the thermometer, and the different sites of measurement. A re-evaluation of non-contact thermometry is recommended, requiring new studies in more controlled environments.

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Workplace temperature screening has become standard practice during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The objective was to determine the consistency of four temperature devices during exposure to simulated and actual environmental conditions reflective of a workplace. An infrared (IR) digital thermometer (accuracy(A)±0.2), IR laser thermometer (A±1), and thermal imaging camera (A±0.3) were used to measure forehead and tympanic (digital only) temperatures. The first experiment was conducted in a controlled simulated environment (-20 to 20 °C) with three participants (32-YOF, 27-YOM, 20-YOF). The second experiment used actual outdoor conditions (-0.48 to 45.6 °C) with two participants (32-YOF, 27-YOM). The tympanic measurement was the least impacted by environmental temperature (mean(±SD)): simulated (36.8(±0.18) °C) and actual (36.9(±0.16) °C). The thermal imaging camera had the lowest RMSE values (0.81-0.97 °C), with outdoor temperatures ranging from 0 to 45 °C. Environmental temperature influenced forehead temperature readings and required a resting period in a thermoneutral environment (5-9 min (-20 to -10 °C) to immediate (15-20 °C)).

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AIM: The risk of serious illness in febrile infants (<60 days old) is high, and so fever often warrants aggressive management. Infrared thermometers are unreliable in young infants despite their ubiquity. We aim to describe the: (i) frequency of infrared thermometer usage; (ii) progression to documented fever in the emergency department (ED) and (iii) rate of serious illness (meningitis, urinary tract infection and bacteremia). METHODS: In this single-centre retrospective chart review at The Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, we audited medical records of infants (<60 days old) presenting to the ED with pre-hospital fever on history over a 12-month period. We described the type of thermometer used at home (tympanic or forehead, 'infrared' vs. axillary or rectal, 'direct') correlated to peak temperature in ED, investigations, treatment and diagnosis. The primary outcome was subsequent fever in ED. RESULTS: Of 159 infants, two of three had infrared temperature measurement at home. Fifty-one (32.1%) developed fever in ED (direct 28/54, 52% vs. infrared 23/105, 22% RR 2.36 (95% CI 1.52-3.69)). Investigations (75%) and admission (60%) were common. Pre-hospital fever alone was less likely to be associated with serious illness, with fever in ED a much stronger predictor. CONCLUSIONS: In young infants, infrared thermometer use is common and less likely to predict subsequent fever. Twenty-two percent of infants with fever via infrared measurement had fever in ED. History of fever without confirmation is less likely to signal serious illness. Education to public and health-care providers is required to avoid usage of infrared devices in this population.

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Monitoring foot skin temperatures at home have been shown to be effective at preventing the occurrence of diabetic foot ulcers. In this study, the construct validity of using >2.2°C difference between contralateral areas on the foot as a warning sign of imminent ulceration is explored. Thirty participants with diabetes at high risk of ulceration (loss of protective sensation and previous ulceration and/or amputation) monitored their foot temperatures at six sites, four times a day for six days using a handheld infrared thermometer. Walking activity, time of day, and environmental temperature were also monitored and correlated with foot temperatures. We found that contralateral mean skin temperature difference was 0.78°C at baseline. At single sites, left-to-right temperature differences exceeding the threshold were found in 9.6% of measurements (n = 365), which reduced to 0.4% when individually corrected and confirmed the next day. No correlation was found between contralateral temperature differences and activity, time of day, and environmental temperature. We conclude that using a >2.2°C difference is invalid as a single measurement in people at high risk of ulceration, but the construct validity is appropriate if both individual corrections and next day confirmation are applied.