Unfortunately, the size and the cost of even the smallest minicomputer has limited its use to relatively large and costly systems. This is also true of ME apparatus but for some small equipment, such as Cobalt-60 teletherapy control unit or verifying unit or spirometer, adoption of LSI for desk top calculator has successfully been achieved. Under these circumstances, microcomputer is developed from the LSI for desk top calculator by Intel 1971.
Recently various semiconductor manufacturer have succeeded to produce the microprocessors, which have brought about revolutionary changes in the electronic devices and systems, and have vastly increased the scope of computer usage. But to realize this advantage, we have yet many points to take care of, because it is only two years since the first model of microcomputer was announced. For example, the speed, addressing modes, interrupt capabilities and the number of internal registers and even the word size (bits) are still in fluid state and not fixed.
The most significant advantage of a microcomputer is the low cost, but its drawbacks include slow speed and difficult programming. As far as ME apparatus concerned, however, these defects are not essential, and many ME apparatus are likely to be controlled by microcomputer in future.
Microcomputer-aided diagnostic X-ray controller and data analyzer are explained as examples.

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In this paper, a software system for pattern recognition of chest X-ray films is presented. This system called AISCR-V 2 (Automatic Interpretation System of Chest Roentgenograms-Version 2) is able to recognize borders of heart, thorax and ribs, to detect some kinds of abnormal shadows in the lung due to lung cancer, pulmonary tuberculosis etc. and to extract features of heart shadows in chest photofluorograms. AISCR-V 2 consists of four subsystems : Subsystem 0 (Sampling and quantization), Subsystem I (Recognition of borders of heart and thorax, extraction of features concerning heart and aorta etc. and diagnosis of heart disease), Subsystem II (Recognition of borders of rib images), and Subsystem III (Detection of abnormal shadows in lung). The outline of AISCR-V 2 is first introduced briefly. Then, the procedure of image process&ing in each subsystem is presented. Finally, some results of application of the system to chest photofluorograms taken in mass screening are shown. These results are promising as the first step of automatic diagnosis of chest X-ray films and very interesting as the example of pattern recognition of extremely complex images.

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In order to record urine flow rate and electrolyte concentration continuously, an improved drop transducer was developed. The transducer is constructed with a tube and a wick of stainless steel, supported vertically and separated 3-6 mm. The urine drop is generated at the bottom of the tube and glows until it contacts the wick. The drop falls at the moment and the circuit of the tube and the wick is closed electrically by the drop. If a constant voltage is applied between the tube and the wick, a current proportional to the conductivity of the solution is drained at every moment of the drop fall. The drop rate is proportional to the flow rate up to 400 drops per minute. Electrical conductivity is recorded as pen diffraction of drop record. The amplitude is approximately proportional to the electrolyte concentration of urine. Making use of integrators, urine flow rate and electrolyte concentration or electrolyte output can be recorded continuously by a 1-channel pen recorder. It is considered that the drop transducer can be applied to record rapid changes of urine flow rate and electrolyte concentration in animal experiments as well as to clinical application of urine monitoring.

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Capacitocardiography is a new method to detect thoracic plethysmograms by means of a very high frequency oscillation which is modulated directly by the capacitive change between electrodes mostly due to the resistive change in the internal tissues. The apparatus is a kind of telemeter which is composed of an oscillator giving a frequency of 70-100 MHz, an FM receiver and a recorder. Two insulated electrodes (20-30 mm in diameter) of the oscillator are attached 4-40 cm apart to the chest wall using double-sided adhesive collars. Through animal experiments, it has been confirmed that this method detects the movement of the anterior part of the heart relative to the chest wall. The experimental evidence suggests the possibility of monitoring the heart function by this method.

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