Minimal Rates of Oxygen Consumption in Sick and Premature Newborn Infants

Abstract

The total energy expenditure of the living organism has been the subject of interest and research since the eighteenth century when Lavoisier made the fundamental observation that energy is produced in the body by the process of oxidation. The quantity of heat produced by a subject can be measured by direct calorimetry, or indirectly by measurement of the gaseous exchange between a subject and his atmosphere and calculation of heat produced.