New! UFI FlashTrax Hot Flash Monitor
Our FlashTrax single-channel hot flash monitoring system
is now in prototype and will be available for purchase soon...
UFI is proud to announce the FlashTrax system, the latest incarnation of our popular series of menopausal hot flash monitors. The FlashTrax system has three main components:
the 63mm x 27mm x 12mm FlashTrax Logger (FTL) depicted above is worn on a lanyard around the subject's neck or clipped discretely under clothing. Two leads, each just 0.6mm diameter by 15-20cm long, run from the 14-gram logger to hidden patch electrodes in the sternal area. The FTL records several days of skin conductance data sampled once per second.
- a FlashTrax Subject Interface Module (SIM), just 57mm by 41mm by 19mm, can be carried in purse or pocket like a pager. The research subject enters data relevant to her perceived experience of each hot flash using a membrane keypad. With a couple taps, she inserts these as coded "event marks" into the skin conductance data stream.
The FTL and SIM are linked by micropower radio transceiver chips within each unit. As with Bluetooth cellphone headsets, these transceiver chips have a range of several meters.
- the Windows-based FlashTrax Analysis Software (FAS) performs both simple housekeeping as well as fairly complex data analysis tasks. The routine jobs include initializing the FTL at the start of a recording session; downloading the merged skin conductance and event mark data at the end of the session; and erasing the FTL data memory.
The FAS package transforms the downloaded data into a single input file that quantifies the subject's hot flash experience, moment to moment, over the duration of the recording session. This data may be plotted graphically with annotations, scanned to compile hot flash event lists, and saved in processed form as output/report files.
Prototype FlashTrax Logger (FTL unit) specifications
- Skin conductance range: 0 to 30 microsiemens (micromhos)
- Skin conductance resolution: 0.029 microsiemens (10 bits)
- Skin conductance sample rate: 1 Hz
- Data memory: 32 megabit FLASH chip
- Memory capacity: 65 hours (prototype; larger for production model)
- Power supply: 3-volt CR2032 lithium coin cell
- Battery life: 12 days (tested)
- Case type: Custom injection-molded, non-allergenic plastic
- Size: 63mm L x 27mm W x 12mm H (2.48" x 1.06" x 0.48") with lid but not leads
- Weight with battery: 14 grams (0.5 ounces) without leads or patch electrodes
Published references to production-model UFI Hot Flash Monitors