'Smart' diaper for bedside urine testing

Date:
May 5, 2022
Source:
American Chemical Society
Summary:
Urine can reveal a lot about a person's health. But physicians
don't currently have a convenient or fast way of tracking
the concentration of important compounds in their patients'
urine. Now, researchers have designed a flexible sensor that fits
in a diaper, measures multiple components in urine and can share
those results over Bluetooth to provide real-time bedside analyses
for incontinent, elderly or infant patients.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Urine can reveal a lot about a person's health. But physicians don't
currently have a convenient or fast way of tracking the concentration of important compounds in their patients' urine. Now, researchers reporting
in ACS Applied Nano Materials have designed a flexible sensor that
fits in a diaper, measures multiple components in urine and can share
those results over Bluetooth to provide real-time bedside analyses for incontinent, elderly or infant patients.


==========================================================================
The concentration of certain compounds in urine can provide information
about many different conditions, including kidney disease, urinary
tract infections and electrolyte deficiencies. Though many people with
diabetes monitor their glucose levels with blood tests, glucose levels in
their urine can also reveal spikes or dips. To analyze urine, however, physicians typically must order a urinalysis from a hospital lab, which
takes time, or use paper test strips, which aren't very sensitive. Neither system can deliver fast, bedside analyses.

Some researchers have explored wearable devices to monitor health markers
- - like electrolyte and sugar content in sweat. So, Xi Xie, Hui-Jiun Chen
and colleagues wanted to design a similar type of wearable device that
could accurately and sensitively measure the concentration of multiple
health markers in urine and give real-time feedback to care providers.

The team first fabricated a flexible electrode array about the size of
a U.S.

quarter. They included five different electrodes on the array that
were designed to specifically detect potassium ions, sodium ions,
hydrogen peroxide, uric acid or glucose, which are biomarkers for various conditions. Then they connected the array to a circuit board that had a Bluetooth module and lithium- ion battery power source. When the array
was exposed to urine samples from three volunteers, it performed as well
as a commercial urine test system. Next, the researchers incorporated the
array into a diaper and found that, when urine was present, they could
get readable signals for the biomarkers. However, they anticipate that
in a real-world setting, where dry diapers become slowly saturated with
urine, the electrode array would have to take multiple measurements to
get stable readings. So, with optimization, this "smart" diaper could
be a way to provide quick and painless urinalysis with wearable device technology, the researchers say.

The authors acknowledge funding from the National Key R&D Program of
China; the National Natural Science Foundation of China; the China
Postdoctoral Science Foundation; the Science and Technology Program
of Guangzhou, China; the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research
Foundation; the Key Program of Sun Yat-Sen University; and the Pazhou
Lab, Guangdong.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by American_Chemical_Society. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Xiangling Li, Changyuan Zhan, Qiqi Huang, Mengyi He, Cheng Yang,
Chengduan Yang, Xinshuo Huang, Meiwan Chen, Xi Xie, Hui-Jiuan
Chen. Smart Diaper Based on Integrated Multiplex Carbon
Nanotube-Coated Electrode Array Sensors for In Situ Urine
Monitoring. ACS Applied Nano Materials, 2022; 5 (4): 4767 DOI:
10.1021/acsanm.1c04220 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220505114638.htm

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