中國網站品牌欄目（頻道）
美國加利福尼亞大學圣地亞哥分校一位納米工程教授及其帶領的團隊近期研發了一款舒適、耐穿、時尚，而且可能有“救命”功能的男士內褲。據介紹，這款內褲的褲腰處用帶有碳電極的墨印制了一個電子生物傳感器，隨時與皮膚接觸，用以測量血壓、心率以及其他重要的生命體征。這項研發成果是智能織物發展領域的一個突破，可以將醫療保健工作的主體從醫院治療轉移到家庭看護。據悉，這個研發項目是由美國軍方資助進行的，美國軍隊將成為這款“救命”內褲的首批受益者。除此之外，這項成果還可能用于配合個人化醫療，比如遙控監測家里的老人的心臟狀況，在可能發生中風、糖尿病和其它生理情況改變時發出警告等。
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A team of US scientists has designed some new men's briefs that may be comfortable, durable and even stylish but, unlike most underpants, may be able to save lives. |
A team of US scientists has designed some new men's briefs that may be comfortable, durable and even stylish but, unlike most underpants, may be able to save lives.
Printed on the waistband and in constant contact with the skin is an electronic biosensor, designed to measure blood pressure, heart rate and other vital signs.
The technology, developed by nano-engineering professor Joseph Wang of University of California San Diego and his team, breaks new ground in the field of intelligent textiles and is part of shift in focus in healthcare from hospital-based treatment to home-based management.
The method is similar to conventional screen-printing although the ink contains carbon electrodes.
The project is being funded by the US military with American troops likely to be the first recipients.
"This specific project involves monitoring the injury of soldiers during battlefield surgery and the goal is to develop minimally invasive sensors that can locate, in the field, and identify the type of injury," Wang told Reuters Television.
Ultimately, the biosensor that detects an injury will also be able to direct the release of drugs to relieve pain and even treat the wound.
But the technology's range of application goes beyond the military.
"We envision all the trend of personalized medicine for remote monitoring of the elderly at home, monitoring a wide range of biomedical markers, like cardiac markers, alerting for any potential stroke, diabetic changes and other changes related to other biomedical scenario," said Wang.
Wearable biosensors can also provide valuable information to athletes or even measure blood alcohol levels.
But Wang said it could be some time before these smart underpants are worn by soldiers in the field as more work is needed to ensure these monitoring systems are robust and durable enough to cope with the wearer's daily activity.
However he said there are growing needs for developing reliable, wearable healthcare monitoring systems.
"While clothing-integrated electrochemical sensors hold considerable promise for future healthcare, military or sport applications, such non-invasive textile-based sensing requires proper attention to key challenges of sample delivery to the electrode surface and of sensor calibration and interconnection," Wang's team said in a report published in The Royal Society of Chemistry journal.
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(Agencies)
（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）
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