Conductive hydrogels (CHs) for flexible bioelectronic devices have raised great attention due to their tunable mechanical performances, adhesion, anti‐swelling, and biocompatibility. This review ...summarizes the current development of conductive hydrogel‐based flexible bioelectronic devices in the aspect of classifications and applications. Firstly, the conductive hydrogels are classified into two kinds according to the types of conductivity: ionic conductive hydrogels and electronic conductive hydrogels (hydrogel based on pure conductive materials, introducing conductive micro/nano‐materials). Secondly, the applications of conductive hydrogels for bioelectronic device, like wearable devices (strain sensor, body fluid detector, serviced in extreme environment), tissue engineering (skin, heart, nerve, muscle), and other applications (bionic robot, cancer treatment), are highly illustrated. Finally, a depth outlook is given, which aims to promote the development of this field in the future.
This work reviews the recent progress of conductive hydrogels for bioelectronic devices from the aspect of classifications and typical applications. Furthermore, the current challenges and the corresponding strategies for the future development are in‐depth discussed, aiming to promote the practical application of conductive hydrogels in the fields of biomedicine and clinical medicine.
Bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS) has proven to be a promising non-invasive technique for fluid monitoring in HD patients. While current BIS-based monitoring of pre- and post-dialysis fluid status ...utilizes benchtop devices, designed for intramural use, advancements in micro-electronics have enabled the development of wearable bioimpedance systems. Wearable systems meanwhile can offer a similar frequency range for current injection as commercially available benchtop devices. This opens opportunities for unobtrusive longitudinal fluid status monitoring, including transcellular fluid shifts, with the ultimate goal of improving fluid management, thereby lowering mortality and improving quality of life for HD patients. Ultra-miniaturized wearable devices can also offer simultaneous acquisition of multiple other parameters, including hemodynamic parameters. Combination of wearable BIS and additional longitudinal multiparametric data may aid in the prevention of both hemodynamic instability as well as fluid overload. The opportunity to also acquire data during interdialytic periods using wearable devices likely will give novel pathophysiological insights and the development of smart (predicting) algorithms could contribute to personalizing dialysis schemes and ultimately to autonomous (nocturnal) home dialysis. This review provides an overview of current research regarding wearable bioimpedance, with special attention to applications in ESKD patients. Furthermore, we present an outlook on the future use of wearable bioimpedance within dialysis practice.
Careful design and preparation of drilling fluids with appropriate rheology and filtration properties, combined with operational monitoring, is essential for successful drilling operations. Field ...results reveal that most drilling-fluid problems encountered are avoidable based on prompt detection of unexpected changes in fluid rheology and filtration behavior. Drilling-fluid rheology and filtration properties are typically only checked once or twice a day, whereas other drilling-fluid properties, such as fluid density (FD), solid percentage (S%), and March funnel viscosity (MFV), tend to be monitored several times per hour. Machine learning is therefore applied to estimate rheology and filtration properties with FD, S%, and MFV as input variables. A 1160-record field dataset collected from 14 wells drilled in two oil and gas fields in southwest Iran with water-based drilling fluids is used to predict the drilling fluid’s rheological and filtration characteristics. Plastic viscosity (PV), yield point (YP), and filtrate volume (FV) are the targeted prediction objectives. Of six models tested, Multilayer extreme learning machine (MELM) hybridized with the cuckoo optimization algorithm (COA) provides the best PV, YP, and FV predictions. It achieves root mean squared error (RMSE) values of 0.6357 mL (FV), 0.6086 cP (PV), and 0.6796 lb/100 ft 2 (YP). MELM-COA generates rapid and accurate estimations of rheology and filtration properties with potential for real-time monitoring during drilling operations, without recourse to time-consuming laboratory filtration and rheological tests. This work delivers, in a novel way, accurate and reliable predictions of drilling fluid filtration properties using only the more readily available FD, MFV, and S% variables as input features.
•Hybrid machine learning (HML) models key water-based drilling-fluid (WBFs) properties.•Novel HML model configurations deliver precise WBF filtration predictions.•Fast and accurate predictions of plastic viscosity and yield point delivered in real time.•Cuckoo optimization algorithm (COA) provides the most effective HML control values.•Multi-layered extreme learning machine with COA provides the most accurate predictions.
The current practice of fluid intake and output monitoring for hospitalised patients in one local acute care tertiary hospital was unclear and inconsistent. Inaccurate fluid balance monitoring and ...poor documentation can result in poor clinical outcomes.
To provide an overview of the current practice of ordering, monitoring and documentation of patient fluid intake and output during hospitalisation.
Electronic charts of 2199 adults were reviewed for appropriateness and accuracy of monitoring and documentation of the fluid balance records. Data retrieved for each patient included: (1) Was daily fluid balance monitoring clinically indicated? (2) Was daily fluid balance monitoring prescribed by the doctors or initiated by the nurses? (3) Was the daily fluid balance documentation accurate for the entire admission?
Of the reviewed patients, 68% were on fluid balance monitoring, of whom 31% were prescribed by medical teams and 69% were nurse-initiated. Among patients who were receiving fluid balance monitoring, 78% were clinically indicated (35% prescribed by doctors), and 22% had no clinical indications (18% prescribed by doctors). Overall, documentation accuracy of the intake and output charts was 77%, with 100% accuracy in the oral and intravenous fluid intake, and 21% accuracy in the output documentation. Among the inaccurate documentation of monitoring with no quantifiable amount, 'void in toilet' was the most inaccurately documented (93.3%).
It is vital to address the current disparities in hospital practice, which include prescribing fluid balance monitoring for patients without a clinical indication and documenting incomplete or poor quality information in patients' intake and output charts. Future quality improvement and research work is needed to improve patient safety and outcomes.
A flexible wireless dielectric sensor is presented here for noninvasively monitoring the permittivity and conductivity of fluids, based on resistor-inductor-capacitor (RLC) resonant circuit and ...capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection (C
D) technique. The RLC sensor consists of one single-turn inductor and one interdigital capacitor. The resonant frequency of the device is sensitive to the surrounding environment, thanks to the electric field leaked out between the interdigital capacitor electrodes. Through the high-frequency structure simulator (HFSS) simulation, and experiments on ethanol/water solutions and NaCl solutions, it was confirmed that a fluid's permittivity and conductivity could be detected by the return loss curve (S
). With great repeatability and stability, the proposed sensor has potential for broad applications, especially in wearable low-cost smart devices.
Abstract
Background
There is a high mortality of burns especially in low- and middle-income countries which already have less developed healthcare systems. Besides, little is known about nursing ...students’ knowledge and practices towards the need to monitor fluid requirements in admitted burns patients.
Objective
To assess the knowledge and practices of nursing students regarding monitoring fluid requirements for hospitalised paediatrics and adult burn patients on the surgical ward at Mbarara regional referral hospital.
Methods
We conducted an online descriptive cross-sectional study among clinical nursing students at Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) during September and November 2021. We assessed knowledge and practices using an adapted questionnaire. Summary statistics were then used to describe the data.
Results
Thirty-seven nursing students (64.9% response rate) participated in our survey. Twenty one (56.8%) were female and had a modal age range of 20-24 years. Nineteen (51.4%) of the students were BNC (Bachelor of Nursing Completion) students, with the rest being BNS (Bachelor of Nursing). More than 75% of students correctly answered each of two out of the ten questions. More than three quarters of the students reported having done each of six out of the eleven practices surveyed.
Conclusion
Nursing students had poor knowledge and fair satisfactory practices regarding monitoring of the fluid requirements in burns patients. More similar studies are needed to survey more nursing students on this topic and to henceforth evaluate the need for periodic re-trainings and reassessment of clinical skills of nursing students.
In order to improve the accuracy of gravity anomaly data processing, this study utilizes multi-scale surface fitting techniques (MSSF) to separate the Bouguer gravity field into residual gravity ...fields and regional gravity fields at different depths. By sequentially stripping away layers, the residual gravity anomalies of the target layer are obtained as the data basis for subsequent gravity interpretation. This study selects appropriate parameters and establishes different lithology forward modeling templates based on actual geological data in the study area. The method is verified to accurately separate gravity anomalies generated by different density bodies, with accurate anomaly locations, complete shapes, and clear boundaries. It can also serve as a quantitative template for rock properties and provide theoretical references for practical cases. Additionally, the method exhibits high noise resistance, resolution, and accuracy. The practical application of the method is validated through microgravity monitoring data in carbonate reservoirs in western China and time-shifted microgravity monitoring data in tight sandstone reservoirs. The results demonstrate that the obtained residual gravity anomaly data of the target layer can effectively reflect the distribution of reservoir fluids.
Only limited comparative data exist on the benefits of fluid monitoring (FM) combined with remote monitoring (RM) regarding morbidity and mortality of heart failure (HF) patients. This prospective ...single-centre randomized pilot study aimed to estimate the influence of RM in combination with FM on HF hospitalizations as well as ventricular tachyarrhythmias and mortality.
Patients with standard indication for implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) or cardiac resynchronization therapy and defibrillator were implanted with devices capable of RM and FM, and were followed for 15 months. Subjects were randomly allocated to RM including OptiVol and predefined management of alerts (remote group), or standard in-office visits every 3 months (control group). A total of 176 patients (77% male; 66 ± 12 years; left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) 32 ± 11%; ischemic cardiomyopathy 50%; CRT device 50%; primary prevention 85%) were analysed. Cox proportional hazard analysis on the time to first HF-related hospitalization showed a hazard ratio of 1.23 0.62-2.44 (P = 0.551) favouring the control group. In the remote group, 13 patients (15%) experienced ICD shocks vs. 10 patients (11%) in the control group (P = 0.512). The average time to first ICD shock was 212 ± 173 days in the remote arm and 212 ± 143 days in the control arm (P = 0.994). The Kaplan-Meier estimate of mortality after 1 year was 8.6% (eight deaths) in the remote group vs. 4.6% in the control group (six deaths; P = 0.502).
In a single-centre randomized pilot study of RM in combination with FM, no significant influence on HF-related hospitalizations, ICD shocks, or mortality was found.
The understanding of the complex aging processes of water miscible metalworking fluids and their effect on the performance in machining processes is of high relevance for the metalworking industry. ...Nevertheless, only little knowledge is available in this context. Due to the highly dynamic interactions in the complex ecosystem “metalworking fluid”, a distinct correlating of the aging process with the performance of the fluid in metalworking processes is hardly possible. Consequences of the aging process on physical, chemical and biological properties of the fluid have been described in several research works. These consequences comprise aspects such as the decrease of the pH-value, the increase of the droplet size, the presence of bacterial cells or the modification of the metalworking fluid composition. The novel approach of the presented work aims to investigate the individual influence of isolated aging aspects on the lubricity of metalworking fluids. Therefore, selected aging aspects were artificially varied separately from each other and evaluated in tribological experiments. It could be shown that the physical presence of bacterial cells as well as extracellular polymeric substances have positive influence on the lubricating ability while the pH-value has no effect and the droplet size only a slight influence on the fluids performance. The results reveal essential knowledge for the design of future monitoring and maintenance strategies for water miscible metalworking fluids.
In commercial aircrafts, flats, slats, tail plane fins and landing gears, i.e. all kinds of safety-critical mechanical subsystems are powered by hydraulic actuators. The mechanical power produced by ...these actuators stems from pressurized hydraulic fluids, which for reasons of passenger safety need to be fire-resistant. Phosphate-esters fluids, which are widely used for this purpose, are hygroscopic in nature and therefore susceptible to thermal degradation as flight operations are carried out. The paper demonstrates that the processes of water take up and thermally stimulated hydrolysis can be monitored with the help of non-dispersive infrared systems. In addition, such systems yield valuable information about the degree of acid scavenger depletion. With the information provided by such sensor systems innovative aircraft maintenance schemes can be implemented with a high cost cutting potential.