Smart Bandages Can Monitor, Treat Chronic Wounds

Sometimes a wound requires a bandage, but what if that bandage wasn't just a passive way to prevent infection? What if a bandage could play an active role in diagnosis and recovery?

This idea, that bandages can be "smart," is behind a new invention by a team of engineers at Tufts University. The team developed a flexible bandage less than 3 millimeters (around an eighth of an inch) thick that actively monitors chronic wounds and then responds by delivering wound-specific drug treatments to promote healing.

"We've been able to take a new approach to bandages because of the emergence of flexible electronics," said Sameer Sonkusale, Ph.D., co-author and professor of electrical and computer engineering at Tufts University's School of Engineering, in a news release. "In fact, flexible electronics have made many wearable medical devices possible, but bandages have changed little since the beginnings of medicine. We are simply applying modern technology to an ancient art in the hopes of improving outcomes for an intractable problem."

The research, published in the July 6, 2018 issue of the journal Small, if successful in clinical settings, could transform the future of bandages. This could be an important advancement for people with chronic skin wounds that are difficult to heal, such as those arising from burns or diabetes.

The smart bandages have pH and temperature sensors to measure the primary markers of wound healing. The pH balance for optimal wound healing is a range of 5.5 to 6.5, while wounds that are not healing have a pH range above 6.5. An elevated temperature at the wound site indicates inflammation is taking place and that a wound is not healing. A separate bandage prototype made by the team also takes oxygenation into account, signaling whether a wound is healing optimally.

The real-time data from the bandage's sensors is read by a microprocessor that can then signal an on-demand antibiotic release, creating a better environment for wounds to heal.

The next step for Tufts University's smart bandages is to test them in a clinical setting and see how the concept stacks up against other smart bandages, including one designed in 2017 by researchers at the University of Nebraska that uses a smartphone to deliver medication.

Comments

Why Do We Scratch Our Heads When We're Thinking?

Some people believe that certain automatic gestures — like scratching our heads when we're thinking — are natural motions that were passed down to us from our caveman predecessors. JOSE LUIS PELAEZ INC./GETTY IMAGES If you've ever had the distinct pleasure of sourcing stock photos for any reason, you've likely come across a whole lot of laughing women eating salads alone . But you've also probably stumbled upon a truckload of people scratching their heads to symbolize confusion, deep thought and/or perhaps a bad case of seborrheic dermatitis — dandruff. Scalp dryness aside, how exactly did the head scratch come to symbolize intellectual processes? Some people believe that certain automatic gestures are simply natural, expressive motions our caveman predecessors passed down to us. "One popular explanation for any hand-to-head movements is that they're frustrated aggression — a reversion to the natural movements of our rock-throwing ancestors," wrote Sa...

Jackie Robinson in Reverse, Eddie Klep Integrated Negro Leagues

WASHINGTON President Bush presented the Congressional Gold Medal to the family of Jackie Robinson this week, in posthumous honor of the man who broke through major league baseball’s racial barrier in 1947. Unmentioned and unmourned was the late Eddie Klep, who crossed baseball’s color line a year earlier in the opposite direction. Klep was the first white man to play Negro League ball. A short-lived pioneer, he washed out in his first season as a Cleveland Buckeye. A few years later he was wearing the uniform of the Rockview (Pa.) State Prison baseball team. In talent, character and impact, he was no Jackie Robinson. But Eddie Klep’s exploits, such as they were, serve as a reminder that integration is a two-way street. Beyond the brave tales of celebrated black breakthroughs, the path toward racial progress is also adorned with intriguing stories of white Americans willing to go where others feared to tread, everyday people distinguishing themselves with simpl...

Subtle ways to change your life - Nudge theory.

The nudge theory The theory states that small changes when subtly encouraged can lead to big results . The nudge theory enables us to focus on the minuscule aspects of our life that makes up the big goal or the main objective we desire. The subtle tasks could include setting your alarm 5minutes earlier to encourage you to be prompt. This is a typical example of you nudging yourself to becoming a major partaker in your life’s goals. Hence, there are 7 main steps to encourage you to nudge yourself to task completion: 1. Pursue a single goal that contributes to your well-being, set targets and deadlines: As humans, we tend to fixate on goals we think makes us happy. Say for example, your goal may be to buy a sport car which you think makes you happy, the irony is that it isn’t realistic. Even according to research, the 5 top factors that improves well-being are: social relationship, health and activity, generosity, learning new things and building curiosity. So, it is very impor...

The Art of Reading

Search This Blog