Breaking a sweat? Researchers are creating a skin patch that can test those droplets while people exercise and beam results to their smartphones, possibly a new way to track health and fitness.
大汗淋漓?研究人员正在研制一种皮肤贴片,可以检测人们锻炼时流出的汗滴,并将结果传到他们的智能手机上,这可能是追踪健康和健身状况的一种新方法。
"Sweat has biochemical components within it that tell us a lot about physiological health," said John A. Rogers, who directs Northwestern University's Center for Bio-Integrated Electronics and led the new research.
西北大学生物集成电子中心的负责人约翰·罗杰斯表示:“汗液中含有生化成分,可以告诉我们很多关于生理健康的信息。”
Today's wearable technology helps people track their calories, activity and heart rate. A wearable biosensor would be "radically different".
目前市场上的可穿戴技术可以帮助人们追踪他们的热量、活动和心率。不过这个可穿戴生物传感器将变得“截然不同。”
For simple fitness purposes, it could give an early warning that it's time to replenish electrolytes before someone starts to feel dehydrated.
对于简单的健身目的,它可以在人们开始感到脱水之前,事先提醒人们补充电解质。
But eventually with additional research, Rogers envisions more sophisticated use of such devices, such as real-time monitoring of how the body adjusts during military training, or even to screen people for diseases such as diabetes or cystic fibrosis.
但是最终通过额外的研究,罗杰斯为这样的设备设想了更复杂的使用方法,如实时监测身体在军事训练中如何做出调整,或者甚至检测出人们所患的疾病,如糖尿病或囊性纤维症。
Rogers, who did much of the research while at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has long worked to develop electronic devices that can stretch and twist with the body. The patch adds a capability called microfluidics, capturing and analyzing tiny amounts of body fluid.
罗杰斯在伊利诺伊大学做过很多研究,长期以来一直致力于开发能随着身体而伸展和弯曲的电子设备。这种贴片增加了一种名为微流体的功能,能够捕获和分析少量体液。
How it works: Stick the patch on the skin and start moving. Tiny channels collect perspiration and route it to different compartments where it interacts with chemicals that change color to reflect sweat loss, the perspiration's acidity level, and concentrations of glucose and lactate.
其工作原理是:将贴片贴在皮肤上,然后开始移动。贴片用微小的通道来收集汗液,并将汗液发送到不同的隔间,汗液与化学物质相互作用后,会改变颜色以反映汗液流失情况、汗液的酸度以及葡萄糖和乳酸的浓度。
The patches worked even in the challenging outdoor race, and the patches' biochemical test results agreed with the indoor bikers' conventional sweat tests, the researchers reported in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
研究人员在《科学转化医学》杂志上报告称,这些贴片即使在极具挑战性的户外赛事中也能发挥作用,贴片的生化检测结果与室内骑自行车的人的常规汗液检测一致。