Wearable Healthcare Monitoring Based on a Microfluidic Electrochemical Integrated Device for Sensing Glucose in Natural Sweat

Novel Sweat-Based Wearable Device for Advanced Monitoring of Athletic Physiological Biometrics

Blood testing has traditionally been the gold standard for the physiological analysis and monitoring of professional athletes. In recent years, blood testing has moved out of the laboratory thanks to portable handheld devices, such as lactate meters. However, despite its usefulness and widespread use, blood testing has several drawbacks and limitations, such as the need for the athlete to stop exercising for blood extraction and the inability to have data continuously collected. In this scenario, sweat has become an alternative to blood testing because of its rich content of electrolytes and metabolites, as well as small quantities of sugars, proteins, and ions. Nevertheless, there are few devices capable of analyzing this biofluid and providing useful information to users. In this paper, an electronic system designed for the autonomous analysis of sweat electrolytes and metabolites along with heart rate dynamics is presented. This system is part of a novel wearable device tailored for athletes that offers to the user a real-time assessment of their physiological status and performance.

Review of Noninvasive Continuous Glucose Monitoring in Diabetics

For diabetics, taking regular blood glucose measurements is crucial. However, traditional blood glucose monitoring methods are invasive and unfriendly to diabetics. Recent studies have proposed a biofluid-based glucose sensing technique that creatively combines wearable devices with noninvasive glucose monitoring technology to enhance diabetes management. This is a revolutionary advance in the diagnosis and management of diabetes, reflects the thoughtful modernization of medicine, and promotes the development of digital medicine. This paper reviews the research progress of noninvasive continuous blood glucose monitoring (CGM), with a focus on the biological liquids that replace blood in monitoring systems, the technical principles of continuous noninvasive glucose detection, and the output and calibration of sensor signals. In addition, the existing limits of noninvasive CGM systems and prospects for the future are discussed. This work serves as a resource for further promoting the development of noninvasive CGM systems.

Miniaturized Rapid Electrochemical Immunosensor Based on Screen Printed Carbon Electrodes for Mycobacterium tuberculosis Detection

In 2019, over 21% of an estimated 10 million new tuberculosis (TB) patients were either not diagnosed at all or diagnosed without being reported to public health authorities. It is therefore critical to develop newer and more rapid and effective point-of-care diagnostic tools to combat the global TB epidemic. PCR-based diagnostic methods such as Xpert MTB/RIF are quicker than conventional techniques, but their applicability is restricted by the need for specialized laboratory equipment and the substantial cost of scaling-up in low- and middle-income countries where the burden of TB is high. Meanwhile, loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) amplifies nucleic acids under isothermal conditions with a high efficiency, helps in the early detection and identification of infectious diseases, and can be performed without the need for sophisticated thermocycling equipment. In the present study, the LAMP assay was integrated with screen-printed carbon electrodes and a commercial potentiostat for real time cyclic voltammetry analysis (named as the LAMP-Electrochemical (EC) assay). The LAMP-EC assay was found to be highly specific to TB-causing bacteria and capable of detecting even a single copy of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) IS6110 DNA sequence. Overall, the LAMP-EC test developed and evaluated in the present study shows promise to become a cost-effective tool for rapid and effective diagnosis of TB.