Use of patient simulators to characterize the repeatability and reproducibility of automated oscillometric blood pressure monitors.

Objectives: Automated oscillometric blood pressure (BP) monitors can be critical health assessment tools if they are accurate and can provide repeatable and reproducible readings. Commercial patient simulators are capable of screening for poorly performing oscillometric BP monitors. A valid screening bench test method to identify unreliable and underperforming BP monitors could advance surveillance of these devices and support regulatory decision making.

Interlaboratory Evaluation of Ultraviolet Radiation Emissions from Compact Fluorescent Lamps.

There have been many recent reports regarding the potential risks of UV emissions from compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs). In some of these reports, the robustness of the measurements was difficult to discern. We conducted round-robin measurements, involving three lamp manufacturers and two government research laboratories to gather reliable data on the UV emissions from commercially available CFLs.