Performance of a Multisensor Smart Ring to Evaluate Sleep: In-Lab and Home-Based Evaluation Relative to Polysomnography and Actigraphy: Importance of Generalized Versus Personalized Scoring

Study Objectives: Wearable sleep technology has rapidly expanded across the consumer market due to advances in technology and increased interest in personalized sleep assessment to improve health and performance. In this study, we tested the performance of a novel device, alongside other commercial wearables, against in-lab and at-home polysomnography (PSG). Methods: 36 healthy adults were assessed across 77 nights while wearing the Happy Ring, as well as the Actiwatch, Fitbit, Whoop, and Oura Ring devices. Subjects participated in a single night of in-lab PSG and 2 nights of at-home PSG. The Happy Ring includes sensors for skin conductance, movement, heart rate, and skin temperature. Epoch-by-epoch analyses compared the wearable de-vices to both in-lab and at-home PSG. The Happy Ring utilized two machine-learning derived scor-ing algorithms: a generalized algorithm that applied broadly to all users, and a personalized algorithm that adapted to the data of individual subjects. Results: Compared to in-lab PSG, the generalized and personalized algorithms demonstrated good sensitivity (94% and 93%, respectively) and specificity (70% and 83%, respectively). The other wearable devices also demonstrated good sensitivity (89%-94%) but lower specificity (19%-54%), relative to the Happy Ring. Accuracy was 91% for generalized and 92% for personalized algorithms, compared to other devices that ranged from 84%-88%. The generalized algorithm demonstrated an accuracy of 67%, 85%, and 85% for light, deep, and REM sleep, respectively. The personalized algorithm was 81%, 95%, and 92% accurate for light, deep, and REM sleep, re-spectively. Conclusions: The Happy Ring performed well at home and in the lab, especially regarding sleep-wake detection. The personalized algorithm demonstrated improved detection accuracy over the generalized approach and other devices, suggesting that adaptable, dynamic algorithms can enhance sleep detection accuracy.

Dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction of 11-nor-Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol-carboxylic acid applied to urine testing

Aim: THC-COOH is the major metabolite of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol commonly tested in urine to determine cannabis intake. In this study, a method based on dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction was developed for testing THC-COOH in urine. Materials & methods: Hydrolyzed urine specimens were extracted via dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction with acetonitrile (disperser solvent) and chloroform (extraction solvent). Derivatization was performed with N,O-Bis(trimethylsilyl)trifluoroacetamide with 1% trichloro(chloromethyl)silane. Analysis was performed by GC–MS/MS. Results: The method showed acceptable linearity (5–500 ng/ml), imprecision (<10.5%) and bias (<4.9%). Limits of detection and quantitation were 1 and 5 ng/ml, respectively. Twenty-four authentic samples were analyzed, with 22 samples being positive for THC-COOH. Conclusion: The proposed method is more environmentally friendly and provided good sensitivity, selectivity and reproducibility.

Dual emissive amphiphilic carbon dots as ratiometric fluorescent probes for the determination of critical micelle concentration of surfactants

The sensitive determination of critical micelle concentration (CMC) of surfactants is very important for their practical applications. For the good sensitivity and simple operation, pyrene and its derivatives had been...

The Paediatric Iron Deficiency Assessment with Reticulocyte Haemoglobin Equivalent (Ret-He) in Comparison with Biochemical Markers of Serum Ferritin and Transferrin Saturation

Diagnosis of iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) is a challenge as the conventional methods often diagnose the disease at the later stage. Haemoglobin content of reticulocytes is useful to identify IDA at earlier stage. The objective of this study was to evaluate reticulocyte-haemoglobin equivalent (Ret-He) in diagnosing IDA in children and to compare it with other conventional methods. This prospective study was conducted on 120 paediatric patients aged 12 years and below, who attended Hospital Sultanah Aminah Johor Bahru, Malaysia with haemoglobin <12 g/dL. Ret-He and serum iron, ferritin and transferrin saturation were measured. Using a cut-off point of 20% for transferrin saturation, 81 out of 120 subjects (67.5%) were found as iron deficient. Based on the diagnosis of IDA, cut-off value for Ret-He using the Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) curve analysis was found as 22.65 pg. Ret-He showed a good sensitivity and specificity of 77.8% and 66.7%, respectively. As compared with Ret-He, serum ferritin showed a sensitivity of only 18.9%. However, a good specificity of 100% suggest it is useful for ruling in the disease but not suitable for screening. Transferrin saturation showed a good sensitivity and specificity, but it is biologically variable and not cost effective as a screening tool. Correlation study showed serum iron and transferrin saturation have significant positive correlation with Ret-He (r=0.415 to 0.518). However, there was no correlation between Ret-He and serum ferritin (r=0.051, p=0.578). This study shows that Ret-He at a cut-off point of 22.65 pg has a better sensitivity and potentially be useful as a screening tool in the paediatric population.

Basic investigation on identification of tissue composition based on propagation speeds of longitudinal and shear waves

The elastic modulus of tissue as a useful biomarker of disease detection can be quantitatively evaluated based on shear wave speed (SWS) measurements in shear wave elastography. Although the longitudinal wave speed (LWS) is also expected to be a promising biomarker for disease detection, the elasticity is not always dominant because the LWS is affected by the bulk modulus. In other words, LWS and SWS may reflect different tissue properties. Therefore, in this study, based on the improvement in LWS measurement, the relationship between the composition of a phantom mixed with agar and glycerol and ultrasonically measured LWS and SWS was investigated. The LWS had a good sensitivity in detecting glycerol, while the SWS had a good sensitivity in detecting agar. The calculated Poisson's ratio had a better sensitivity in detecting agar. In conclusion, a simultaneous measurement of LWS and SWS may help identify the tissue composition.

Glucose Sensor Based on Ellipsometry and Circular Dichroism in Achiral Plasmonic Structure

Various efforts have been made to detect minimum value of glucose in any medium like water or body buffer solutions with high-sensitivity, accurate, and low-cost sensors in order to enhance life style. Therefore, the present study was done to investigate reliability of two-dimensional plasmonic structure by circular dichroism (CD) and ellipsometry tools in different concentrations of glucose. Our results confirmed a dependency of the CD signal on glucose concentrations and also a very good sensitivity based on the phase difference between each polarization in ellipsometry parameters with the help of an achiral plasmonic structure.

Ripple Frequency Determined via a Novel Algorithm is Associated with Atrial Fibrillation Termination and Freedom from Atrial Fibrillation

Background: Persistent atrial fibrillation (PsAF) is a complex arrhythmia and achieving a high rate of freedom from recurrence of AF by catheter ablation has been challenging. CARTO® Ripple map has previously been identified as one possible method to improve ablation outcomes. Objective: To evaluate the relationship of AF termination and 18-month freedom from AF with Ripple Frequency measured via a novel CARTO® software algorithm. Methods: PsAF patients who underwent first time ablation were included. PV antral isolation was performed followed by locations with visually identified fast Ripple activations until AF termination. Patients were followed for 18 months. Retrospective analysis was performed using a novel CARTO® software algorithm to analyze Ripple Frequency. The Ripple Frequency algorithm quantifies amplitude changes in the bipolar electrogram over time. Results: 82 maps from 54 patients (mean age 65.4, 67% male) were analyzed. The top quartile of Ripple Frequency corresponded to a visual reference with 96.1% sensitivity and 84.7% specificity. AF terminated during ablation in 90.7% of patients: PV antrum alone (14.8%), or PV plus non-antral sites (85.2%). The top quartile of Ripple frequency was present in non-antral sites associated with AF termination with an 89.6% sensitivity and 87.7% specificity. After 18 months and a mean of 1.2 ablations, 53/54 patients (98.1%) were free of AF and 85.2% were free of any atrial arrhythmia. Conclusion: Automated analysis of CARTO® Ripple Frequency demonstrated good sensitivity and specificity for detecting atrial regions in PsAF where ablation is associated with AF termination and freedom from AF after 18 months.

Povidone iodine — new possibilities of a familiar dressing (literature review)

The article provides a review of the literature on the assessment of the efficacy, safety and indications for the use of povidone iodine in modern clinical practice. The preservation of good sensitivity to the drug, despite its long-term use, as well as new opportunities associated with the effectiveness against biofilm forms of pathogens and viruses, in particular SARS-CoV-2, has been shown.

Measuring Driving Fear

Presently, there is no instrument to support the diagnosis of driving fear and its severity. To enable a reliable and valid diagnosis, the 5-item German-language Instrument for Fear of Driving (IFD) was developed. The items, by DSM-5 criteria for a specific phobia, measure the emotional, cognitive, and physiological components of driving fear as well as the degree of avoidance and impairment. The present paper comprises two studies that describe the development of the IFD and its psychometric properties. In Study 1, the IFD was administered to 810 non-clinical participants in an online survey and demonstrated good reliability and construct validity. In Study 2, fifty-four people with a clinical diagnosis, including clinically relevant driving fear, completed the IFD and a clinical interview. The IFD demonstrated good sensitivity and specificity, and a cut-off score resulted in 95% sensitivity and 97% specificity. While the findings are preliminary and further studies with larger samples are needed, the IFD is a promising screening instrument for driving fear and its severity.

Electrochemical Determination of Levodopa Using Zinc Sulfide Nanospheres-Reduced Graphene Oxide

Zinc sulfide nanospheres (ZnS NSs) were prepared by hydrothermal synthesis and graphene oxide (GO) was prepared by the Hummer’s method. ZnS NSs-rGO/ITO electrode was synthesized by heat treatment at a certain temperature, which was used for the detailed electrochemical determination of levodopa (LD). Finally, they were annealed to form the ZnS NSs-rGO/ITO electrode for detecting levodopa (LD). The results reveal that the ZnS NSs with the diameter of ~1 μm are covered by rGO. The ZnS NSs-rGO/ITO electrode has a good sensitivity of 1.43 μA μM −1 for the determination of LD in the concentration range of 1–40 μM. Moreover, it also shows a good selectivity, reproducibility and stability. In order to verify the practicability, we also use the electrode to detect LD in human serum. The detection results also prove that the electrode can be used in real life.