Non-invasive Continuous Hydration Monitoring

描述(由申请人提供)：适当的脱水治疗方案要求准确评估体液不足并逐步纠正体液不足。为此，皮肤肿胀试验(又名皮肤挤压试验)被广泛用于评估体液流失或脱水的程度。在许多研究中发现，这种高度主观的测试除了最严重的病例外，对所有病例的脱水程度都是不准确的，因此不适合评估整体的水分状况。或者，能够测量皮肤电流反应(GSR)的新技术已经导致了可穿戴设备的展示，这些设备能够量化佩戴者的相对水分水平。然而，人们普遍意识到 这也是一个高度不准确的水化测量，因为测量很容易被交感神经系统反应、脂肪组织数量、温度、湿度和角质层本身的水化混淆，这些都可能因年龄以及各种外用面霜和软膏而倾斜。该项目旨在通过开发一种非侵入性的水合传感贴片来解决传统水合监测技术的上述局限性。这凝聚了印刷电极的功能化的创新技术，并依赖于与新的电化学转导方法相关的离子选择膜的开发。该表皮生物传感器平台的显著特点包括高灵敏度、稳定性、选择性、简单性、通用性和坚固性，其价格我可以接受广泛的医疗保健应用。这一范例使个体能够采取主动措施，在日常生活中评估他们的水合作用，从而减少因高钠脱水而住院的可能性。除了向佩戴者提供实时反馈外，这一独特的方法还可以利用无线基础设施将数据转发给医疗保健提供商，以进行审查、趋势分析和归档。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The appropriate treatment regimen for dehydration mandates the accurate assessment of fluid deficit and the gradual correction of that deficit. To this end, the skin turgor test (a.k.a. the "skin pinch test") is widely performed to assess the degree of fluid loss or dehydration. This highly subjective test has been found, in numerous studies, to be an inaccurate measure of dehydration in all but the most severe cases and hence is not suitable for assessing overall hydration status. Alternatively, new techniques able to measure the galvanic skin response (GSR) have resulted in the demonstration of wearable devices able to quantify the relative hydration level of the wearer. However, it is widely realized that this, too, is a highly inaccurate measure of hydration as the measurement is easily confounded by the sympathetic nervous system response, amount of adipose tissue, temperature, humidity, and hydration of the stratum corneum itself, which can be skewed by age as well as various topical creams and ointments. This project aims to address the above limitations of conventional hydration monitoring techniques via the development of a non-invasive hydration-sensing patch. The proposed device leverages our team's latest innovations in electrochemistry, screen printing, conducting polymers, and surface functionalization to tender the real-time profile of circulating sodium levels in a non-invasive, pain-free fashion, thereby leading to substantially improved clinical outcomes among the elderly population. Expected outcomes from this research project include: (1) the development of epidermal adhesive biosensors containing a sodium ion-selective layer and (2) the ability to fabricate the said sodium biosensors employing high-throughput, low-cost screen-printing methods. This agglomerates innovative techniques for the functionalization of the printed electrode contingent and relies on the development of ion-selective membranes in connection with novel methods of electrochemical transduction. The salient features of this epidermal biosensor platform include high sensitivity, stability, selectivity, simplicity, versatility, and robustness at a price that i amenable to widespread healthcare adoption. This paradigm enables the individual to take proactive measures to assess their hydration throughout their daily routine, thereby mitigating the likelihood of hospital admission due to hypernatremic dehydration. In addition to tendering real-time feedback to the wearer, this unique approach can leverage the wireless infrastructure to relay the data to the healthcare provider for review, trending, and archiving.