Research Appraisals
Evidence-based critical appraisals of the latest medical research, systematically evaluated using Oxford CEBM methodology.
Showing 8 appraisals
Analytical chemistry
Wearable and Multimodal Electrochemical Hydrogel Sensor for Real-Time Non-Invasive Sweat Glucose Monitoring
Noninvasive sweat glucose monitoring is a promising strategy for real-time health management. In this study, we developed a flexible electrochemical sensor platform based on gold nanorods@polylysine-glucose oxidase (AuNRs@PLL-GOx) composite hydrogel, which enables noninvasive, highly sensitive, and multimode detection of sweat glucose. The polylysine (PLL) interfacial layer provides abundant amino groups for glucose oxidase (GOx) immobilization, improves the dispersion of gold nanorods (AuNRs) within the hydrogel matrix, and facilitates interfacial charge transport by maintaining close contact between GOx and the conductive AuNRs network. These effects improve the electron-transfer efficiency and analytical performance of the hydrogel sensor. Furthermore, the platform integrates differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), cyclic voltammetry (CV), and chronoamperometry (i-t) within a single hydrogel system for sweat glucose monitoring. Benefiting from synergistic and multitechnique detection, the sensor demonstrated excellent analytical performance, including wide detection range (up to 160 μM), low detection limit (3.71 μM), and strong anti-interference capability. These results indicate that this hydrogel-based platform is well suited for future wearable biosensors and smart healthcare systems.
30 July 2026
Read appraisal →Biomedical microdevices
Automated blood group classification using a digital microfluidics chip and vision transformer-based image analysis
Identifying blood groups accurately is critical for safe medical practices, especially in emergencies, surgeries, and prenatal care. Conventional methods often depend on visual inspection of agglutination reactions, which can be error-prone, particularly when using small sample volumes. In this work, we introduce an efficient and intelligent system for blood type detection that combines digital microfluidics with advanced deep learning and antigen-based decision logic. A Vision Transformer (ViT) model was trained to recognize agglutination patterns in droplet-based blood images, followed by an automated mapping of standard ABO/Rh rules to assign the corresponding blood group based on antigen presence. The proposed system achieved 100% accuracy specifically in detecting antigen-antibody agglutination reactions, with perfect scores across precision, recall, specificity, and F1-score. Our method reduces the need for large reagent volumes and minimizes testing cost, while also improving reliability. In future work, our aim is to embed this system into a compact, microfluidics paper-based device, enabling low-cost, AI-assisted blood typing in portable point of care settings.
21 May 2026
Read appraisal →ACS applied bio materials
Next-Generation MXene-Hydrogel Hybrids: Frontiers in Biosensing and Environmental Surveillance
Hydrogels have emerged as promising soft materials for applications in sensing, energy storage, and wearable electronics due to their tunable physicochemical properties and intrinsic biocompatibility. The integration of two-dimensional transition metal carbides/nitrides (MXenes) into hydrogel matrices has enabled the development of highly conductive, flexible, and electrochemically active composites for advanced sensing platforms. MXene-hydrogel hybrids exhibit enhanced charge transport, mechanical stability, and interfacial functionality, making them particularly attractive for electrochemical sensing applications. This review provides a comprehensive overview of MXene-hydrogel composites, focusing on their design strategies, synthesis approaches, and electrochemical sensing performance. Despite these advantages, critical challenges remain, including susceptibility of MXenes to oxidation, restacking of nanosheets, limited long-term stability, and difficulties in reproducible and scalable synthesis. These limitations significantly impede their translation into practical and commercial devices. Particular emphasis is placed on identifying current bottlenecks and outlining future research directions, including the development of oxidation-resistant MXenes, advanced hybrid architectures, scalable fabrication techniques, and integration into wearable and point-of-care sensing systems. Addressing these challenges is essential for realizing the full potential of MXene-hydrogel systems in next-generation electrochemical sensing technologies.
19 May 2026
Read appraisal →Science advances
Augmenting ultrasound for continuous glucose monitoring via a wearable acoustically readable microneedle patch
Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) represents substantial advancement, yet poses a challenge in wearable health care development. Current enzymatic CGM faces limitations in stability, cost, and durability. We introduce an enzyme-free, wearable acoustically readable microneedle patch (ARMPatch) composed of glucose-responsive hydrogel. Positioned between a standard ultrasound probe and the skin, ARMPatch acts as an acoustic interface enabling CGM using conventional ultrasound. Its hydrogel microneedles minimally penetrate the epidermis, allowing interstitial fluid to trigger variable swelling of the microneedles in response to glucose fluctuations. ARMPatch delivers stable and selective glucose readings for up to 56 days. Glucose variations with millimolar resolution are obtained via ultrasound within a response time of 30 to 60 minutes. In vivo CGM in animal models for 7 days reveals a reversible correlation between microneedle swelling and glucose variations. Acting as "accessory" for standard ultrasound probes, this approach offers a minimally invasive, cost-effective, and long-lasting solution to non-enzymatic CGM, expanding the utility of ultrasound in wearable biosensing.
5 May 2026
Read appraisal →Biosensors & bioelectronics
Peptide-responsive photonic hydrogels integrated with deep learning assistance for early MMP-9 detection
Matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) is crucial for extracellular matrix remodeling, and its dysregulation is associated with inflammatory diseases and different forms of cancer. Conventional MMP-9 detection methods such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) are limited by complexity, expensive equipment, and lengthy antibody incubation times. These limitations prevent their use in point-of-care testing. An MMP-9 responsive photonic crystal (PC/PEG-M9SP) hydrogel has been developed to address these challenges. The hydrogel is synthesized from 4-arm polyethylene glycol-acrylate and an MMP-9 sensitive peptide via Michael-type addition reaction. Upon MMP-9-specific enzymatic cleavage, the hydrogel undergoes a structural reconfiguration, resulting in a distinct color shift. Integrated with a deep learning-based smartphone app, this platform enables both visual and quantitative detection within 10 min, achieving high sensitivity (10.60 nm mL/ng) and a detection limit of 0.62 ng/mL. Validation in complex biological fluids demonstrated strong concordance with ELISA, confirming the analytical reliability of the hydrogel. This system provides a rapid, portable, and cost-effective solution for accurate MMP-9 detection, with strong potential for clinical and point-of-care applications.
5 May 2026
Read appraisal →ACS sensors
Wearable Multimodal Detection System for Real-Time In Situ Analysis of Exhaled Breath Condensate
Exhaled breath condensate (EBC) analysis, a promising noninvasive respiratory monitoring method, has emerged as a pivotal technique for assessing the health status of patients with respiratory disorders and is widely used in clinical research and daily health management. However, conventional analytical methods face challenges in real-time in situ detection of physicochemical indicators and active EBC collection in a power-free way. Herein, a wearable multimodal detection system (WMDS) with efficient collection and real-time analysis of EBC is developed. Specifically, the WMDS consists of a bio-inspired collector, an electrochemical sensor (EBC analysis), a respiratory sensor (humidity and respiratory rate), a temperature sensor, and a flexible printed circuit board. The miniature-sized collector with a cactus spine-like structure can actively harvest 4.1 μL of EBC within 1 min without power consumption. Leveraging self-developed sensors and wireless data transmission circuitry, the WMDS enables real-time in situ monitoring of multimodal EBC analytes (hydrogen peroxide, nitrite, urea) and respiratory parameters (temperature, humidity, and rate). Remarkably, the WMDS exhibits dual-range detection capability covering both physiological and pathological conditions: the low-concentration range of 0-500 μmol/L is applicable for routine health monitoring and early disease screening, with detection limits (LODs) of 0.209, 0.155, and 0.573 μmol/L and sensitivities of 2.7 × 10-2, 3.4 × 10-2, and 9.0 × 10-3 μA/(μmol/L) for EBC analytes; the high-concentration range exceeding 500 μmol/L is designed for severe pathological condition detection, where LODs and sensitivities are 302.2, 278.7, 325.2 μmol/L and 1.9 × 10-2, 1.3 × 10-2, 3.9 × 10-3nA/(μmol/L) respectively. As a proof-of-concept, the WMDS is applied to on-body respiratory monitoring, validating its potential application in real-time in situ health monitoring.
26 Apr 2026
Read appraisal →ACS sensors
Self-Correction of pH-Induced Signal Variations in Methylene Blue-Labeled Aptamer Electrochemical Biosensors: Wearable Cortisol Detection in Sweat
Common electrochemical aptamer-based (E-AB) biosensors employing methylene blue (MB) redox reporters suffer from significant pH-induced signal variations. Consequently, dynamic pH fluctuations in biofluids, such as in sweat, can greatly distort the measured signal and lead to inaccurate target quantification. Here, we introduce a self-correction strategy that enables accurate analyte quantification by compensating for pH-induced signal variations in MB-based aptasensors using the Nernstian shift of the MB peak potential. The highly reproducible reversible pH dependence of the MB peak potential enables real-time monitoring of the sample pH that provides a continuously synchronized built-in compensation of the pH interference, thereby eliminating the need for external pH sensors or additional measurement steps. This precise yet simple and effective self-correction of pH effects ensures that the Square Wave Voltammetry (SWV) signal reliably reflects real-time analyte variations, as demonstrated using a cortisol MB-labeled E-AB biosensor in both in vitro and on-body settings. In vitro measurements in artificial sweat across pH 5.5-7.5 showed excellent correlation with real-time pH and cortisol changes, confirming the reliability of the peak potential-based correction. On-body measurements using an epidermal wearable patch showed cortisol changes in sweat that would have been missed without this signal-correction method. This approach is broadly applicable to other MB-labeled E-AB biosensors and biofluids, providing a robust strategy for continuous on-body monitoring.
26 Apr 2026
Read appraisal →ACS sensors
Laser-Engineered MXene Heterostructure for Wearable Ammonia Sensors
Exhaled ammonia is a vital biomarker for clinical diagnosis of hepatorenal dysfunction and metabolic disorders. However, conventional sensors are often limited by complex fabrication processes, high operating temperatures, and particularly, compromised selectivity under high-humidity conditions. To overcome these challenges, we developed a laser-assisted heterostructure engineering strategy that enables in situ construction of Schottky barrier in MXene/polyacrylonitrile (PANF) nanofiber membranes, termed as a laser-engineered MXene (LEM) sensor. The laser micropatterning technique provides three key innovations: (1) kinetically controlled deposition of MXene (Ti3C2Tx) with minimal oxidation, (2) self-aligned formation of Schottky barriers through interfacial TiO2/MXene heterojunctions, and (3) creation of hierarchical gas transport channels within the 3D nanofibrous matrix. The optimized LEM sensor exhibits outstanding sensitivity (2.5% ppm-1), a low detection limit (0.2 ppm) at room temperature (25 °C), and humidity operation stability (> 10% response at 90% relative humidity). This performance surpasses that of conventional MXene-based sensors by fivefold in sensitivity without the need for thermal activation. Mechanism studies reveal that the laser-induced heterointerface facilitates charge transfer-dominated ammonia adsorption and desorption kinetics, while the nanofibrous architecture ensures molecular accessibility to active sites. This ambient-processable and scalable fabrication method paves the way for advanced wearable breath analyzers by combining manufacturing versatility, humidity-resistant excellent selectivity, and energy-efficient operation.
26 Apr 2026
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