Medical Design Briefs - March 2022 - 26

Wearable Sensors
Measure Alcohol
Concentration
Patch Delivers Insulin in Cheeks
To deliver insulin in a less-invasive
Sensors that measure alcohol
concentration through the skin
can provide valid measures of
drinking intensity. (Credit: Michal
Jarmoluk/Pixabay)
Sensors that measure alcohol
concentration through
the skin can provide valid
measures of drinking intensity
and predict alcohol consequences
among young adult
drinkers, according to a study
in Alcoholism: Clinical and Ex -
perimental Research. Wearable
transdermal alcohol concentration (TAC) sensors offer a
viable and unobtrusive option by passively and continuously
measuring perspired ethanol.
During and after a drinking episode, TAC rises to a peak
before diminishing; the precise trajectory can be plotted as a
graph and different features assessed. These features could
facilitate prediction of consequences, aiding prevention
efforts. In the new study, researchers derived and tested these
five features from TAC sensor data as indicators of selfreported
drinking and predictors of alcohol consequences in
over 200 heavy drinking young adults.
The findings support the use of TAC sensors in future studies
of young adult drinking in everyday settings and highlight
the specific TAC features that help predict consequences. The
findings may also facilitate development of novel self-report
measures that reflect these features.
For more information, visit www.medicaldesignbriefs.com/
roundup/0322/alcohol.
Single-Use Sensor
Strips Detect Cerebrospinal
Fluid Leaks
Researchers have developed a
Cerebrospinal fluid detection
showing inserted sensor
strip and four-digit
readout. (Credit: Minghan
Xian, et al.)
single- use sensor strip that can be
used with a circuit board, like a
handheld glucometer, to detect
cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leaks.
The researchers collected nine
human clinical samples from a
Florida hospital and introduced the
test fluid into a small liquid channel
on the tip of the sensor strips. The liquid channel held electrodes
that contained antibodies on the surface specific to proteins
found only in human cerebrospinal fluid.
Once the test fluid was inserted into the liquid channel, a
few short electrode pulses were sent through the electrodes.
The circuit board then analyzed the signal and produced a
four-digit number that correlates to the concentration of the
protein, called beta-2-transferrin, found in CSF.
The researchers were able to detect beta-2-transferrin in the
fluid sample even when other proteins and salts were present
and from samples across different patients. They used similar
technology to detect proteins in SARS-CoV2, the virus that
causes COVID-19. Their next phase of research will focus on
detecting various cancer and heart disease biomarkers.
For more information, visit www.medicaldesignbriefs.com/
roundup/0322/strips.
26
Cov
A prototype patch comfortably
sticks inside the cheek
to deliver insulin. (Credit:
Adapted from ACS Applied
Bio Materials 2022, DOI:
10.1021/acsabm.1c01161)
way, researchers have developed a
prototype insulin-loaded patch that
comfortably sticks to the inside of a
person's cheek. They used a polymer
fiber mat that is activated by
heat to release drugs attached to the
cheek's lining and deliver insulin.
They first soaked small squares of
a nanofiber mat, made from electrospun
fibers of poly(acrylic acid),
β-cyclodextrin and reduced graphene oxide, in a solution with
insulin for three hours. Then the team applied the insulinloaded
patches onto cheek linings and corneas from pigs.
Heating the material with a near-infrared laser for 10 minutes
to 122 °F activated the material and released insulin into the
two types of membranes several times faster than through skin.
In addition, the researchers placed the patches in vivo inside
the cheeks of three insulin-dependent pigs.
The cheek linings showed no irritation or visual changes
from the laser's heat. As soon as the material was activated, the
pigs' blood sugar levels declined. Simultaneously, the animals'
plasma insulin levels increased, which the researchers say is
proof-of-concept that this preliminary platform is efficient at
getting insulin into the bloodstream. Finally, six human volunteers
placed a placebo version of the patch inside their cheeks,
saying that it felt comfortable over a two-hour period. The
researchers say their next step is to conduct further preclinical
studies of the prototype on animal models.
For more information, visit www.medicaldesignbriefs.com/
roundup/0322/patch.
AI Platform for Mammography
Aids Decision-Making
A new AI platform tells
doctors which past experiences
it is using to draw
its
conclusions.
Duke University)
(Credit:
An artificial intelligence (AI) platform
analyzes potentially cancerous
lesions in mammography scans to determine
whether a patient should receive
an invasive biopsy. But unlike its many
predecessors, this algorithm is interpretable,
meaning it shows physicians
exactly how it came to its conclusions.
The researchers trained the AI to
locate and evaluate lesions just like an actual radiologist would be
trained, rather than allowing it to freely develop its own procedures,
giving it several advantages over its " black box " counterparts.
It could make for a useful training platform to teach students
how to read mammography images. It could also help physicians
in sparsely populated regions around the world who do not regularly
read mammography scans make better healthcare decisions.
They first taught the AI to find the suspicious lesions in question
and ignore all the healthy tissue and other irrelevant data. Then
they hired radiologists to carefully label the images to teach the AI
to focus on the edges of the lesions, where the potential tumors
meet healthy surrounding tissue, and compare those edges to
edges in images with known cancerous and benign outcomes.
For more information, visit www.medicaldesignbriefs.com/
roundup/0322/AIplatform.
www.medicaldesignbriefs.com
ToC
Medical Design Briefs, March 2022
http://www.medicaldesignbriefs.com/roundup/0322/alcohol http://www.medicaldesignbriefs.com/roundup/0322/patch http://www.medicaldesignbriefs.com/roundup/0322/strips http://www.medicaldesignbriefs.com/roundup/0322/AIplatform http://www.medicaldesignbriefs.com
Medical Design Briefs - March 2022

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