Wearable Sensors for Remote Health Monitoring

Global Trends and Hotspots on Microglia Associated with Pain from 2002 to 2022: A Bibliometric Analysis

Background

Researchers have made significant progress in microglia associated with pain in recent years. However, more relevant bibliometric analyses are still needed on trends and directions in this field. The aim of this study is to provide a comprehensive perspective and to predict future directions of pain-related microglia research via bibliometric tools.

Methods

English articles and reviews related with pain and microglia were extracted from the Web of Science core collection (WosCC) database between 2002 to 2022. Bibliometric tools such as VOSviewer, CiteSpace, and Bibliometrix R package were used to analyze publication characteristics, countries, authors, institutions, journals, research hotspots, and trend topics.

Results

A total of 2761 articles were included in this analysis. Research on microglia associated with pain has increased significantly over the last two decades. China (n = 1020, 36.94%) and the United States (n = 751, 27.20%) contributed the most in terms of publications and citations, respectively. Kyushu University published the most articles in this field compared to other institutions, and Professor Inoue Kazuhide (n = 54) at this university made outstanding contributions in this field. Molecular Pain (n = 113) was the journal with the most publication, while Journal of Neuroscience had the highest number of citations. According to the authors keywords analysis, the research in this area can be summarized into 7 clusters such as "microglia activation pathways", "pain treatment research", "mental symptoms of chronic pain", and so on.

Conclusion

This study provides a comprehensive analysis of pain-related microglia research in the past two decades. We identified the countries, institutions, scholars, and journals with the highest number of publications and the most influence in the field, and the research trends identified in this paper may provide new insights for future research.

The electrochemical quantitation method for sugammadex via a molecularly imprinted polymer-based sensor

Sugammadex (SUG) is a synthetically modified γ-cyclodextrin derivative used in hospitals after surgeries to reverse the neuromuscular blockade induced by rocuronium or vecuronium. In this study, we aimed to develop the first electroanalytical quantification method for sugammadex by using molecular imprinting (MIP) via the electropolymerization (EP) technique. An EP-MIP film was formed by EP on a screen-printed gold electrode (SPAuE) and a new electrochemical sensor, EP-MIP(SUG)/SPAuE, was fabricated using the 4-aminophenol monomer with copper ions to enhance the MIP-binding site. Surface and electrochemical characterization of the EP-MIP(SUG)/SPAuE sensor have been done via scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). After screening and optimization studies were carried out to fabricate a MIP-based electrochemical sensor, the analytical performance of EP-MIP(SUG)/SPAuE and the validation parameters were tested according to the ICH guidelines. The specificity/selectivity of the developed sensor has been shown by using common interferents found in the biological fluids and also molecules having similar structures, such as α-cyclodextrin, β-cyclodextrin, and γ-cyclodextrin. As a result, a quantitative analysis method has been developed and validated by using the EP-MIP(SUG)/SPAuE sensor in the concentration range of 0.1-1.0 pM with very high sensitivity (limit of detection: 27.3 fM). The applicability of the method has been shown for bulk drug substances, pharmaceutical dosage forms, and commercial serum samples with good recovery and RSD% results. The EP-MIP(SUG)/SPAuE is the first electrochemical sensor developed for the determination of sugammadex serving the aims of simplicity, short analysis time, and low cost, and has the potential to be adapted in the future as a portable and/or wearable sensor via miniaturization.

Plasmonic biosensing with tilted fiber Bragg gratings interrogated using a 512-pixel spectrometer

Plasmonic tilted fiber Bragg gratings (TFBGs) are very efficient for fast, accurate, and minimally invasive biosensing. Their transmitted amplitude spectrum is a dense comb of narrowband cladding mode resonances (full width at half maximum < 1 nm) that is usually demodulated using highly resolved (wavelength resolution < 10 pm) devices. This work demonstrates the possibility of using a coarsely resolved spectrometer (166 pm) to read out the amplitude spectrum of a gold-coated TFBG. A refined analysis of the spectral content has allowed us to develop signal processing that provides a refractometric sensitivity of 2656 nm/RIU. This is a fivefold improvement compared to previously reported read-out techniques. Biosensing has then been successfully implemented with gold-coated TFBGs implemented in reflection mode for the detection of insulin, with specific antibodies grafted on the gold surface. Our experimental work is a first step toward the industrialization of the FBG technology, as it opens the door to fast parallel biosensing, profiting from the multiple sensing channels (up to 64) of the interrogator and its high processing speed (repetition rate up to 3 kHz).

A microfluidic plasma separation device combined with a surface plasmon resonance biosensor for biomarker detection in whole blood

Biomarker detection in whole blood enables understanding of the cause, progression, relapse or outcome of treatment of a disease. Conventional biomarker detection techniques, such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, polymerase chain reaction, and immunofluorescence, require long assay time, costly laboratory instruments, large reagent volume and sample pre-processing. Hence, there is an unmet need for reliable capture and detection of biomarkers in unprocessed blood which are adaptable to point-of-care (POC) testing. Here, we present a simple, low-cost, and rapid protein detection device from whole blood samples which has the potential to be employed in a POC setting. The platform consists of two components: a plasma separation device that extracts plasma from whole blood without the application of any external active forces and a SPR sensor chip that uses a label-free optical technique for the detection of biomarkers in the extracted plasma. We have demonstrated the detection of IgG and IgM biomolecules in unprocessed blood at concentrations lower than the physiological value within 15 min. The proposed technique has the potential for improving the diagnosis and screening of many diseases, including cancer, influenza, human immunodeficiency virus, and SARS-Cov2 at POC.

Surface plasmon resonance temperature sensor with tunable detection range based on a silver-coated multi-hole optical fiber

A novel surface plasmon resonance (SPR) temperature sensor based on a silver-coated multi-hole optical fiber (SMHOF) is presented. The central and surrounding air holes of the SMHOF are filled with two kinds of thermosensitive liquid with high and low refractive index (RI), respectively. Two separated resonance dips, which are related to the high and low RI filled liquid respectively, are observed at different wavelength in the transmission spectrum. Advantageously, the two dips move towards opposite direction with the temperature variation. The interval between the two SPR dips is measured under different environmental temperature and exhibits a good linearity. The proposed sensor with different detection range is fabricated by changing the RIs of the filled thermosensitive liquids. The temperature sensitivity of 7.72 nm/°C and -7.81 nm/°C is obtained in the range of 20-60 °C and -20-20 °C, respectively. Owing to the high temperature sensitivity and tunable detection range, the proposed sensor is expected to find potential applications in biomedicine, health care and environmental monitoring.

Smart Electronic Textile-Based Wearable Supercapacitors

Electronic textiles (e-textiles) have drawn significant attention from the scientific and engineering community as lightweight and comfortable next-generation wearable devices due to their ability to interface with the human body, and continuously monitor, collect, and communicate various physiological parameters. However, one of the major challenges for the commercialization and further growth of e-textiles is the lack of compatible power supply units. Thin and flexible supercapacitors (SCs), among various energy storage systems, are gaining consideration due to their salient features including excellent lifetime, lightweight, and high-power density. Textile-based SCs are thus an exciting energy storage solution to power smart gadgets integrated into clothing. Here, materials, fabrications, and characterization strategies for textile-based SCs are reviewed. The recent progress of textile-based SCs is then summarized in terms of their electrochemical performances, followed by the discussion on key parameters for their wearable electronics applications, including washability, flexibility, and scalability. Finally, the perspectives on their research and technological prospects to facilitate an essential step towards moving from laboratory-based flexible and wearable SCs to industrial-scale mass production are presented.

RuO2/rGO heterostructures as mimic peroxidases for colorimetric detection of glucose

The successful synthesis of ruthenium oxide/reduced graphene oxide (RuO₂/rGO) heterostructures by one-pot hydrothermal method using graphene oxides and RuCl₃ as precursors is reported. The heterostructures had high peroxidase-like (POD-like) activities, which catalyzes the oxidation of classical peroxidase substrate 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) in the presence of H₂O₂ to create a blue colored reaction product. The catalytic activity was significantly enhanced by the synergistic effect between RuO₂ nanoparticles and rGO. RuO₂/rGO had a low K_m of 0.068 mM and a high v_max of 1.228 × 10^-7 M·s^-1 towards TMB in the TMB-H₂O₂ catalytic oxidation system. In addition, the POD-like activity originating from the electron transfer mechanism was confirmed by cytochrome C (Cyt C) oxidation experiment. A colorimetric method based on RuO₂/rGO heterostructures was developed with good sensitivity and selectivity for glucose detection with a limit of detection of 3.34 μM and a linear range of 0-1500 μM. The RuO₂/rGO heterostructures have potential applications in the biomedical areas, such as biosensor and diagnostics.

Detecting accelerometer non-wear periods using change in acceleration combined with rate-of-change in temperature

Background

Accelerometery is commonly used to estimate physical activity, sleep, and sedentary behavior. In free-living conditions, periods of device removal (non-wear) can lead to misclassification of behavior with consequences for research outcomes and clinical decision making. Common methods for non-wear detection are limited by data transformations (e.g., activity counts) or algorithm parameters such as minimum durations or absolute temperature thresholds that risk over- or under-estimating non-wear time. This study aimed to advance non-wear detection methods by integrating a ‘rate-of-change’ criterion for temperature into a combined temperature-acceleration algorithm.

Methods

Data were from 39 participants with neurodegenerative disease (36% female; age: 45–83 years) who wore a tri-axial accelerometer (GENEActiv) on their wrist 24-h per day for 7-days as part of a multi-sensor protocol. The reference dataset was derived from visual inspection conducted by two expert analysts. Linear regression was used to establish temperature rate-of-change as a criterion for non-wear detection. A classification and regression tree (CART) decision tree classifier determined optimal parameters separately for non-wear start and end detection. Classifiers were trained using data from 15 participants (38.5%). Outputs from the CART analysis were supplemented based on edge cases and published parameters.

Results

The dataset included 186 non-wear periods (85.5% < 60 min). Temperature rate-of-change over the first five minutes of non-wear was − 0.40 ± 0.17 °C/minute and 0.36 ± 0.21 °C/minute for the first five minutes following device donning. Performance of the DETACH (DEvice Temperature and Accelerometer CHange) algorithm was improved compared to existing algorithms with recall of 0.942 (95% CI 0.883 to 1.0), precision of 0.942 (95% CI 0.844 to 1.0), F1-Score of 0.942 (95% CI 0.880 to 1.0) and accuracy of 0.996 (0.994–1.000).

Conclusion

The DETACH algorithm accurately detected non-wear intervals as short as five minutes; improving non-wear classification relative to current interval-based methods. Using temperature rate-of-change combined with acceleration results in a robust algorithm appropriate for use across different temperature ranges and settings. The ability to detect short non-wear periods is particularly relevant to free-living scenarios where brief but frequent removals occur, and for clinical application where misclassification of behavior may have important implications for healthcare decision-making.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12874-022-01633-6.

Physical stream quality measured by drones and image analysis versus the traditional manual method

Information on the physical and ecological state of streams along with an overview of the need for maintenance is traditionally a time-consuming manual field task with subsequent limitations in area coverage. Here we propose a novel approach to stream monitoring and management using a low-cost Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) platform to collect data comparable to that from traditional monitoring schemes. This technology provides high-resolution imagery while being easy to implement at a low cost along with providing data that represent the stream in both fine-scale and at landscape scale. The results show a significant correlation between results obtained by the two methods, with the largest difference in DFI values being 10, but in many cases being <5. The UAV-method is especially strong in supporting geographical measurements of stream width and course along with certain stream parameters such as physical variation, water flow and gravel coverage. The results indicate that UAV mapping of streams is a feasible alternative or support to the traditional mapping of certain open stream types with the possibility of covering more area with the same time-use.

Contactless Body Temperature Monitoring of In-Patient Department (IPD) Using 2.4 GHz Microwave Frequency via the Internet of Things (IoT) Network

Since the COVID-19 situation keeps going on started from 2019. Many solutions are to against the spreading of coronavirus disease. The nurses have died, and other medical workers are in critical condition from operating in the hospital. It is a deadly virus that kills many humans; Thailand's solutions have urged the public to be confident about the Government's handling of the 2019-novel Coronavirus. At the same time, everyone has to embrace the new normal lifestyle and social distancing while patiently waiting for scientists and doctors to discover vaccines and treatments to defeat COVID-19. This work proposes an innovation of wireless body temperature that instead of the used manual by medical workers in the hospital of "the contactless body temperature monitoring (CBTM) of the in-patient department (IPD)." The proposed CBTM implementation applied artificial intelligence and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. The specified infrared body temperature on the MLX90614 DCI used for the medical field was selected to embed the IoT-CBTM for IPD using the IoT platform. The MLX90614 is an accurate sensor that matches to use for medical promotion. The detected information data from IPD will be sent to the host computer and stored in the cloud internet service at a microwave band frequency of 2.5/5.0 GHz. This paper presents the accuracy test of the IoT-CBTM prototype calibrated with the manual body temperature verifying device under Thai Industrial Institute to close with the accuracy standard requirement. The experiments were repeated many times until raise up over 70% to get more reliability accuracy. The findings indicated that the proposed prototype achieved a reliability calibration of 74.7%. The actual use of IoT-CBTM is convenient to the nurse, doctor, and medical workers to collect body temperature data into the host computer, and they can monitor this information at all times in the working room, which is far away from the COVID-19 patients. Therefore, this novel innovation was achieved because it took to try out at a local health-promoting hospital in Songkhla Province, Thailand, which the IoT-CBTM system was satisfied by the medical staff because it can safe their time, and genuinely reaching the new norm on medical distancing real-time monitoring.

Optical sensors based on electrospun membranes – principles, applications, and prospects for chemistry and biology

Electrospun membranes are promising substrates for receptor layer immobilization in optical sensors. Either colorimetric, luminescence, or Raman scattering signal can be used to detect the analyte.

Molecularly imprinted polymer-based electrochemical sensors for environmental analysis

The ever-increasing presence of contaminants in environmental waters is an alarming issue, not only because of their harmful effects in the environment but also because of their risk to human health. Pharmaceuticals and pesticides, among other compounds of daily use, such as personal care products or plasticisers, are being released into water bodies. This release mainly occurs through wastewater since the treatments applied in many wastewater treatment plants are not able to completely remove these substances. Therefore, the analysis of these contaminants is essential but this is difficult due to the great variety of contaminating substances. Facing this analytical challenge, electrochemical sensing based on molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) has become an interesting field for environmental monitoring. Benefiting from their superior chemical and physical stability, low-cost production, high selectivity and rapid response, MIPs combined with miniaturized electrochemical transducers offer the possibility to detect target analytes in-situ. In most reports, the construction of these sensors include nanomaterials to improve their analytical characteristics, especially their sensitivity. Moreover, these sensors have been successfully applied in real water samples without the need of laborious pre-treatment steps. This review provides a general overview of electrochemical MIP-based sensors that have been reported for the detection of pharmaceuticals, pesticides, heavy metals and other contaminants in water samples in the past decade. Special attention is given to the construction of the sensors, including different functional monomers, sensing platforms and materials employed to achieve the best sensitivity. Additionally, several parameters, such as the limit of detection, the linear concentration range and the type of water samples that were analysed are compiled.