The £20 gadget that keeps an 注目する，もくろむ on your 肺s: Could 装置 that 対策 血 oxygen levels be a lifesaver during the coronavirus pandemic?

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Could a £20 gadget that can be used at home to 手段 血 oxygen levels be a lifesaver during the coronavirus pandemic?

That's the theory of one 主要な GP, who says those with serious 肺 problems need one.

The gadget would be 特に useful now, when most GP 協議s are 存在 done remotely, says Dr Nick Summerton, a GP in East Yorkshire and former 助言者 to the 国家の 学校／設ける for Health and Care Excellence.

Pulse oximeters ― matchbox-sized 装置s that clip over the fingertip or ear ― 手段 the 量 of oxygen 存在 carried around the 団体／死体. One 味方する of the clip 放出するs beams of light, which pass through the finger to a sensor on the other 味方する of the 殴打／砲列-力／強力にするd 部隊, to give a quick readout of how 井戸／弁護士席 the heart and 肺s are working. They can cost いっそう少なく than £20 online and from shops 含むing Argos.

Pulse oximeters ― matchbox-sized 装置s that clip over the fingertip or ear ― 手段 the 量 of oxygen 存在 carried around the 団体／死体

Oxygenated and unoxygenated 血 吸収する light 異なって, so by analysing the pattern of light that 攻撃する，衝突するs the sensor, it can 見積（る） the 量 of oxygen in the 血. The 人物／姿／数字 is 陳列する，発揮するd on its 数字表示式の 審査する.

A level of above 95 per cent is normal for a healthy person at 残り／休憩（する）. But for those with chronic obstructive pulmonary 病気 (COPD) ― an umbrella 称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語 for illnesses that 原因（となる） breathing difficulties ― 肺 損失 means levels are often lower.

The 装置s became ありふれた in GP practices about five years ago. If the 装置 shows a person with COPD's 血 oxygen level has fallen, their 医薬 may be adjusted, they may be given more 正規の／正選手 任命s or even be 認める to hospital.

More recently, these 患者s have started to use the 装置s at home. Most buy them themselves and take readings which they give to a doctor during a phone call.

Oxygenated and unoxygenated 血 吸収する light 異なって, so by analysing the pattern of light that 攻撃する，衝突するs the sensor, it can 見積（る） the 量 of oxygen in the 血. The 人物／姿／数字 is 陳列する，発揮するd on its 数字表示式の 審査する (とじ込み／提出する image)?

Now Dr Summerton is calling for everyone with serious 肺 problems to be 問題／発行するd with a pulse oximeter on prescription, so they can 監視する their oxygen levels at home if they start developing symptoms of Covid-19.

They could then quickly 警報 their GP to any 潜在的に dangerous 落ちる in their readings without having to visit the 外科.

This is important because 血 oxygen levels can 落ちる without 患者s showing any symptoms such as breathlessness or blueness of the lips or fingers ― and an oximeter can 選ぶ up 落ちるing levels before such symptoms appear.

COPD 影響する／感情s 1.2 million Britons. It 含むs emphysema and chronic bronchitis, both of which 原因（となる） breathing difficulties.

治療s, 含むing inhalers, can help, but some people's breathing keeps より悪くするing over time and it can be life-脅すing. While 患者s are no more likely to be 感染させるd with coronavirus than others, there's a greater 危険 of 厳しい illness if they do catch it because their 肺s are already 損失d.

監視するing their 血 oxygen levels could 供給する an 早期に 警告 that their 条件 is 悪化するing, says Dr Summerton.

He 示唆するs that when 患者s first get a pulse oximeter, they should take a reading to learn what a normal level is for them. 'After that, if they get a ny Covid-19 symptoms, they should 監視する it at home every few hours,' he says.

'If their oxygen saturation 減少（する）s by 2 or 3 per cent, they should call their GP, specialist nurse or 111.'

It's important not to be なぎd into a 誤った sense of 安全 by a normal reading, though, he 追加するs.

'If they get short of breath, have chest 苦痛, become 混乱させるd or drowsy or their lips go blue, they should 捜し出す help even if their oxygen levels 港／避難所't changed.'

'What we want to do is 選ぶ up people with coronavirus 早期に,' says Dr Summerton. 'There is no need for your 普通の／平均（する） fit 30-year-old to buy one. They need to be 利用できる for those who would really 利益 from them.'

What I wished I'd known: Those 影響する／感情d by Covid-19 株 their insights??

This week: I should have taken paracetamol sooner. Henry 行為s, 41, is the Mail's 議会の sketch writer. He says:

This week: I should have taken paracetamol sooner. Henry 行為s, 41, is the Mail's 議会の sketch writer

薬／医学 was never going to be my calling. I was hopeless in school science exams and have hardly ever been ill in my life, so I could barely tell you what any pill is for.

So when I succumbed to the coronavirus last Tuesday night ― an ache that started in the calves and quickly spread over my whole 団体／死体 ― my only thought was to get 水平の in bed.

There I lay for the next 12 hours, frozen and shivering, my muscles horribly stiff. It was only the next evening, during a dreaded bathroom trip, that I noticed a packet of paracetamol on the shelf and took two.

An hour later I was finally able to sit up, the aches having receded into mere stiffness. I even managed half an hour on the sofa in 前線 of the telly. Before then, when I'd tried to watch something, it 傷つける my 注目する，もくろむs and ears.

Another rough night followed ― shivers 取って代わるd by violent sweats ― but the paracetamol helped me sleep through most of it. Next time you are shopping pop a packet in your shopping trolley. It may help.

A look on the 有望な 味方する...?

The coronavirus pandemic has brought 恐れる and 苦悩 ― but it's not all bad news.

A breathing 援助（する） that can help keep coronavirus 患者s out of 集中的な care has been created by the Mercedes 決まり文句／製法 1 team in いっそう少なく than a week. The CPAP 装置 pumps pressurised 空気／公表する into the 肺s through a mask to keep the 航空路 open.

CPAP 装置s have been used in 中国 and Italy to 扱う／治療する coronavirus 患者s, with 報告（する）／憶測s 示すing that 概略で half have 避けるd the need for ventilators.

The 装置 'will help to save lives by 確実にするing that ventilators, a 限られた／立憲的な 資源, are used only for the most 厳しく ill,' says Professor Mervyn Singer, a 批判的な care 顧問 who is 伴う／関わるd in the 事業／計画（する）. One hundred of the new 装置s are now 存在 used in NHS hospitals.

A ten minute 演習 programme designed to help older people stay active at home during lockdown is 存在 broadcast on BBC 5 Live Sports Extra.

The '10 Today' workouts can be adapted to different levels of fitness and may be done standing or sitting, making them suitable for people who use 車椅子s or have mobility problems.

Listen on weekdays from 5am or on the BBC website: bbc.co.uk/programmes/p087wddm?

Scientists are working flat-out to find a ワクチン for coronavirus but one 希望に満ちた, PittCoVac, is the first to be critiqued by scientists not 伴う／関わるd in the 初めの 研究.

The ワクチン, 実験（する）d on mice by the University of Pittsburgh, 生成するd antibodies in 量s thought to be 十分な to 'neutralise' the ウイルス within two weeks. Scientists are now 適用するing to start human 臨床の 裁判，公判s.

The ワクチン uses lab-made pieces of a protein called a spike protein, that scientists know is 効果的な in producing 免疫 to the Sars and Mers ウイルスs, which are closely 関係のある to Covid-19.

Human 裁判，公判s could （問題を）取り上げる to a year, 研究員s say.

NHS 労働者s are 存在 申し込む／申し出d a 解放する／自由な subscription to a 主要な mental health and wellbeing app to help them を取り引きする the 強調する／ストレスs of fighting coronavirus.

Headspace has been shown in 裁判，公判s to 減ずる 強調する／ストレス and 増加する resilience.

NHS 労働者s can get 解放する／自由な 接近 until the end of the year by 調印 up with their NHS email 演説（する）／住所.

This will give them 接近 to 1,200 hours of meditation and mindfulness content to 改善する 苦悩.