Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 10, 2025
Short-Duration Hypothermia Induction in Rats using Models for Studies examining Clinical Relevance and Mechanisms
Published on: March 3, 2021
Effectiveness of hypothermia prevention devices for preterm infants: A laboratory study
Prakash Kannan Loganathan1,2,3, Charles Dorkins1, George Marlow1
1Department of Physics, University of Durham, Durham, UK.
Background:
Newborn hypothermia at birth remains as global challenge across all settings. The prevention of delivery room hypothermia at birth could potentially reduce neonatal morbidity and mortality.
Objective:
To compare the heat conservation efficacy of Neohelp and Neowrap and evaluate the heat production efficacy of trans-warmer infant mattress (TWM) in a laboratory setting.
Methods:
A beaker of water was heated at 60∘C was covered by Neohelp or two layers of Neowrap and left to cool in an open room for 90 minutes and calculated the decay constant. Using infra-red camera, we measured the maximum temperature and time taken to reach the temperature in the TWM.
Results:
Neowrap took 863 seconds for the temperature to drop from 37∘C to 35∘C, compared with 941 seconds with Neohelp. When activated TWM reached a maximum temperature of 39.3 ± 0.1∘C. It took 30 seconds when the activator was placed in the centre, compared with 88 seconds when it was at the corner.
Conclusion:
Compared to Neowrap, Neohelp had better heat conservation properties. Activating the metal disk from the TWM center would deliver quicker heat.
