Biomedical engineer Chloe Turell said the patches will advise when someone's hydration reaches dangerously low levels."This is a really big deal in some applications such as workplace health and safety where workers are exposed to some pretty rough environmental conditions," Turell said.Volunteers at the Queensland University of Technology will wear the sensors and be monitored while performing physical activity in high temperatures.
The sensors use microscopic electrodes that are invisible to the naked eye to penetrate just the outer skin layer and measure biomarkers without the pain you'd get from traditional methods like needles.Biomedical engineer Chloe Turell said the patches will advise when someone's hydration reaches dangerously low levels.
Development of the technology is surging ahead thanks to a $30m funding boost from the Queensland Government two years ago.Dehydration becomes a bigger issue as patients pass the age of 50, because the sensors in the body that tell them to drink start to deteriorate. "About half of the things that go wrong for people in aged care settings are directly attributed to poorly managed hydration," WearOptimo Founder and CEO Professor Mark Kendall said.
"If you're 3 per cent dehydrated, it has the same effect on your brain function as being over the blood alcohol limit."How Aussie inventions changed the world