Body Organ Biomedical (Taiwan)

A capacitive sensing smart clothing system is specially designed for respiratory monitoring and includes a breath capture controller and capacitive sensing clothing. Capacitive sensing clothing can be sewn with silver cloth on the chest or abdomen, and the signal is connected to the controller, and then the controller picks up the breathing signal and sends it to the graphical user interface (GUI). Integrating capacitive sensing technology into wearable clothing not only showcases technological advancements but also paves the way for new avenues in understanding and enhancing human health. By providing insights into breathing patterns and behaviors, this smart garment contributes to a more comprehensive approach in promoting health and medical care. This innovation holds the potential to empower individuals to make informed health decisions and enable healthcare professionals to deliver more personalized and effective treatments.

The aim of this study was to test the use of BioCornea, a fish scale-derived collagen matrix for sealing full-thickness corneal perforations in mini-pigs.Two series of experiments were carried out in 8 Lan-Yu and 3 Göttingen mini-pigs, respectively. A 2mm central full thickness corneal perforation was made with surgical scissors and 2mm trephines. The perforations were sealed immediately by suturing BioCornea to the wounded cornea. The conditions of each patched cornea were followed-up daily for 3 or 4 days. Status of operated eyes was assessed with slit lamp examination or optical coherence tomography (OCT). Animals were sacrificed after the study period and the corneas operated were fixated for histological examination.Both OCT imaging and handheld slit lamp observations indicated that a stable ocular integrity of the perforated corneas was maintained, showing no leakage of aqueous humor, normal depth of anterior chamber and only mild swelling of the wounded cornea. Hematoxylin and eosin staining of the patched cornea showed no epithelial ingrowths to the perforated wounds and no severe leucocyte infiltration of the stroma.The fish scale-derived BioCornea is capable to seal full-thickness corneal perforation and stabilize the integrity of ocular anterior chamber in pre-clinic mini-pig models. BioCornea seems to be a safe and effective alternative for emergency treatment of corneal perforations.

A textile-based breath-sensing belt is presented. Four textile-based, clip type tension sensors, switching at different tension, are installed on a belt such that four-stage digitized pneumograph can be generated, from which both the breath rate and amplitude of the wearer can be estimated. The belt is washable, low-cost, easy and comfortable to wear, and suitable for healthcare, sports, interactive games, breath therapy.

Low motor activity levels and prolonged episodes of uninterrupted immobility are characteristics of sleep. In clinical practice, the use of polysomnographic (PSG) recording is a standard procedure to assess sleep. However, PSG is not suitable for long-term monitoring in the home environment. This paper describes the development of a portable telemonitoring device that detects movements of a subject by conductive mats, and evaluates sleep stages via physical activity data. The device itself also serves as a Web server. Doctors and caregivers can access real-time and historical data via an IE browser or a remote application program for telemonitoring of physical activities and sleep/awake states during sleep, while the patients stay in their own homes. In our validation test with four normal subjects and four arousal subjects, this system showed a good performance in locating sleep epochs of a subject. The sensitivity of locating sleep epochs was 89.5% and the average positive prediction value was 94.8%, with a specificity of 84.3%. This device is not intended to be a diagnosis device, instead, it is to be used as a home telehealth tool for monitoring physical activity and sleep/awake states. This portable telemonitoring device provides a convenient approach to better understand and recognize a subject's sleep pattern through long-term sleep monitoring in the home environment.

In this paper we present textile sensors for the equipment of detecting the frequency of breathing. The aim of this study wants to monitor the respiratory rate whenever the users are sitting still, walking and jogging. The sensor, which is entirely fabricated out of textile, is integrated in a prototype belt of the monitoring suit. The complete suit contains not only the sensor but also the electronics for interface, data handling, storage and transmission. The sensor may be used in exercise or homecare applications to monitor breathing frequency for people who live alone or children who need to be taken care. The sensor is highly flexible and has high resistance to washing processes and cyclic mechanical deformations. This work demonstrates that electronic clothing is a feasible design via the textile sensor embedded in clothing. We hope to make the design of an "e-vital wear" possible and easy to use.So we can achieve low cost and long term healthcare for people.