Heart rate variability (HRV) is a clinically important and prominent cardiovascular diseases diagnostic factor. Since HRV is a highly individualised measure, long-term continuous ECG and HRV tracking using a non-invasive armband-based wearable monitoring device is an appealing option for HRV trend-based indicator of general health. Therefore, we investigated the correlation between the bipolar arm-ECG Lead-1 (electrodes axis coplanar to chest and at axilla level) HRV measurements and their corresponding standard measurements from the standard chest ECG Lead I, using a 2 stage dB4 Wavelet-based denoising process supported by an iterative signalaveraged ECG optimal-thresholding adaptation algorithm on the arm-ECG signal, followed by a Pan-Tompkins QRSdetection algorithm. The conventional Pearson correlation coefficient was used as the main performance assessment metric. Four clinically common HRV time-domain metrics were studied: SDNN, RR-rms, RR-median and the interquartile-range value of normal-to-normal heartbeat intervals (IQRNN). The results revealed that RR-rms and RR-median HRV metrics from bipolar arm-ECG (Lead-1) closely correlated to the values measured from the standard Lead-I and present potential for clinical use.

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Studies of old aerial photographs of the Bahrain burial mound fields have revealed that a small number of both Early Type (c. 2200–2050 BC) and Late Type (c. 2050–1750 BC) mounds are encircled by an outer ring wall, apparently marking out the mound as belonging to an elite. Four of these mounds have been excavated, and the results are presented. The geological differences between the Early Type and the Late Type mound landscapes are discussed.

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