Tag Archives: Université Laval

A t-shirt that monitors your breathing in real time

This May 18, 2017 news item on Nanowerk features research at the Université Laval (Québec, Canada), Note: A link has been removed,

Researchers at Université Laval’s Faculty of Science and Engineering and its Center for Optics, Photonics, and Lasers have created a smart T-shirt that monitors the wearer’s respiratory rate in real time.

This innovation, the details of which are published in the latest edition of Sensors (“Wearable Contactless Respiration Sensor Based on Multi-Material Fibers Integrated into Textile”), paves the way for manufacturing clothing that could be used to diagnose respiratory illnesses or monitor people suffering from asthma, sleep apnea, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

A May 18, 2017 Université Laval press release, which originated the news item, provides a little more detail about the work,

Unlike other methods of measuring respiratory rate, the smart T-shirt works without any wires, electrodes, or sensors attached to the user’s body, explains Younès Messaddeq, the professor who led the team that developed the technology. “The T-shirt is really comfortable and doesn’t inhibit the subject’s natural movements. Our tests show that the data captured by the shirt is reliable, whether the user is lying down, sitting, standing, or moving around.”

The key to the smart T-shirt is an antenna sewn in at chest level that’s made of a hollow optical fiber coated with a thin layer of silver on its inner surface. The fiber’s exterior surface is covered in a polymer that protects it against the environment. “The antenna does double?duty, sensing and transmitting the signals created by respiratory movements,” adds Professor Messaddeq, who also holds the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Photonic Innovations. “The data can be sent to the user’s smartphone or a nearby computer.”

As the wearer breathes in, the smart fiber senses the increase in both thorax circumference and the volume of air in the lungs, explains Messaddeq. “These changes modify some of the resonant frequency of the antenna. That’s why the T-shirt doesn’t need to be tight or in direct contact with the wearer’s skin. The oscillations that occur with each breath are enough for the fiber to sense the user’s respiratory rate.”

To assess the durability of their invention, the researchers put a T-shirt equipped with an antenna through the wash—literally. “After 20 washes, the antenna had withstood the water and detergent and was still in good working condition,” says Messaddeq.

Protoype of the spiral antenna integrated into a cotton shirt. Inset: SEM images of the multi-material fiber structure. (© MDPI) (click on image to enlarge) Courtesy: Université Laval

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Wearable Contactless Respiration Sensor Based on Multi-Material Fibers Integrated into Textile by Philippe Guay, Stepan Gorgutsa, Sophie LaRochelle, and Younes Messaddeq. Sensors 2017, 17(5), 1050; doi:10.3390/s17051050 (This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomedical Sensors and Systems 2017) Published: 6 May 2017

This article is open access.

Quebecol, a maple syrup-based molecule, could be used as an anti-inflammatory

I think this is the first time I’ve had any research from Université Laval (Québec; Laval University) and it seems fitting that it would involve maple syrup. From a Dec. 22, 2015 Université Laval news release on EurekAlert,

Arthritis and other inflammatory diseases could someday be treated with medication containing a molecule from maple syrup. Université Laval researchers demonstrated in a recent study that quebecol, a molecule found in maple syrup, has interesting properties for fighting the body’s inflammatory response.

Discovered in 2011, quebecol is the result of chemical reactions during the syrup-making process that transform the naturally occurring polyphenols in maple sap. After successfully synthesizing quebecol and its derivatives, Université Laval researchers under the supervision of Normand Voyer, a chemist with the Faculty of Science and Engineering, evaluated its anti-inflammatory properties. They called on colleague Daniel Grenier of the Faculty of Dentistry, who developed an in vitro model for determining the anti-inflammatory potential of natural molecules. “We take blood cells called macrophages and put them with bacterial toxins,” explained Professor Grenier. “Macrophages usually react by triggering an inflammatory response. But if the culture medium contains an anti-inflammatory molecule, this response is blocked.”

The researchers carried out tests that showed quebecol curbs the inflammatory response of macrophages, and some derivatives are even more effective than the original molecule. “The most powerful derivative has a simpler structure and is easier to synthesize than quebecol,” said Normand Voyer. “This paves the way for a whole new class of anti-inflammatory agents, inspired by quebecol, that could compensate for the low efficacy of certain treatments while reducing the risk of side effects.”

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Anti-inflammatory properties of quebecol and its derivatives by Sébastien Cardinal, Jabrane Azelmat, Daniel Grenier, Normand Voyer. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters         doi:10.1016/j.bmcl.2015.11.096 Available online 27 November 2015

This paper is behind a paywall.