Engineers Found Multi-Tasking Wearable Device for Continuous Monitor
Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a prototype of such a wearable that can continuously monitor several health stats—glucose, alcohol, and lactate levels—simultaneously in real-time.
Figure 1: Painless wearable device for continuous monitor.
Figure 1 shows that the device is about the size of a stack of six quarters. It is applied to the skin through a Velcro-like patch of microscopic needles, or microneedles, that are each about one-fifth the width of a human hair.
Wearing the device is not painful—the microneedles barely penetrate the surface of the skin to sense biomolecules in interstitial fluid, which is the fluid surrounding the cells beneath the skin. The device can be worn on the upper arm and sends data wirelessly to a custom smartphone app. [1]
When enzymes on the tips of the microneedles react with glucose, alcohol, and lactate in interstitial fluid, the wearable transmits analytical data wirelessly to a custom smartphone application.
UCSD's Farshad Tehrani said, "With our wearable, people can see the interplay between their glucose spikes or dips with their diet, exercise, and drinking of alcoholic beverages. That could add to their quality of life as well." [2]
Enzymes on the tips of the microneedles react with glucose, alcohol, and lactate in interstitial fluid. These reactions generate small electric currents that are analyzed by electronic sensors and sent wirelessly to the smartphone app, and results are displayed in real time on the app.
The team tested the wearable device on 5 volunteers who wore the device while exercising, eating, and drinking a glass of wine. The device continuously monitored the participants’ glucose levels simultaneously with either their alcohol or lactate levels.
Results showed that the glucose, alcohol, and lactate measurements closely matched the measurements taken respectively by a commercial blood glucose monitor, Breathalyzer, and blood lactate measurements performed in the lab, according to the press release.
“Further validation of the technology in large populations with concurrent validation of sensor readouts through centralized laboratory tests should determine the robustness and utility of real-time simultaneous monitoring of several biomarkers in interstitial fluid,” concluded Wang et al. [3]
References:
- https://currentsciencedaily.com/stories/625973272-multi-tasking-wearable-continuously-monitors-glucose-alcohol-and-lactate
- https://cacm.acm.org/news/260945-multi-tasking-wearable-continuously-monitors-glucose-alcohol-lactate/fulltext
- https://www.patientcareonline.com/view/prototype-of-multi-tasking-wearable-found-to-continuously-monitor-glucose-alcohol-and-lactate-levels
Cite this article:
Sri Vasagi K (2022), Engineers Found Multi-Tasking Wearable Device for Continuous Monitor, Anatechmaz, pp. 353