[Health Determinants of Rural Elderly Populations with Different Living Arrangements: a Multilevel Model].

OBJECTIVE: To determine the health and its determinants of rural elderly populations in a city in Sichuan province. METHODS: Data were extracted from a 2015 household survey, containing 7 280 rural participants aged over 60 years. The prevalence of two-week morbidity and chronic conditions were compared among those with different living arrangements. Multilevel models were established to determine the family and individual factors associated with the health status of the respondents. RESULTS: Most respondents (57.0%) lived with a spouse, compared with 15.4% who lived alone. Those who lived alone had higher prevalence of two-week morbidity (48.0%) and chronic conditions (70.0%). The multilevel model indicated a familial clustering effect. Living arrangements and household income were associated with the prevalence of two-week morbidity and chronic conditions, after controlling for variations in age, depression, smoking, drinking, and exercise at the individual level. CONCLUSIONS: The rural elderly people who live alone have poor health status. Household income, age, depression, smoking, drinking and physical exercise are associated with two-week morbidity and chronic conditions.

Carbon nanotube-based self-adhesive polymer electrodes for wireless long-term recording of electrocardiogram signals.

In this study, the concept of polymer electrodes integrated with a wireless electrocardiogram (ECG) system was described. Polymer electrodes for long-term ECG measurements were fabricated by loading high content of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in polydimethylsiloxane. Silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) were added to increase the flexibility of the polymer and the conductivity of the electrode. An ECG electrode patch was fabricated by integrating the electrodes with an adhesive polydimethylsiloxane (aPDMS) layer. Holes in the electrode filled with aPDMS can enable robust contact between the electrode and skin, reducing motion artifacts. A wireless ECG measurement system was developed and adapted to the polymer electrodes. The polymer electrodes combined with the measurement system were successfully applied in wireless, long-term recording of ECG signals. An eleven-day continuous test showed that the ECG signal did not degrade over time. The results of attach/detach tests demonstrated that the ECG signal was affected by motion artifacts after six attach/detach cycles. The electrodes produced are flexible and exhibit good ECG performance, and therefore can be used in wearable medical monitoring systems. The approach proposed in this study holds significant promise for commercial application in medical fields.

A novel method of fabricating carbon nanotubes-polydimethylsiloxane composite electrodes for electrocardiography.

Polymer-based flexible electrodes are receiving much attention in medical applications due to their good wearing comfort. The current fabrication methods of such electrodes are not widely applied. In this study, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and conductive additives of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were employed to fabricate composite electrodes for electrocardiography (ECG). A three-step dispersion process consisting of ultrasonication, stirring, and in situ polymerization was developed to yield homogenous CNTs-PDMS mixtures. The CNTs-PDMS mixtures were used to fabricate CNTs-PDMS composite electrodes by replica technology. The influence of ultrasonication time and CNT concentration on polymer electrode performance was evaluated by impedance and ECG measurements. The signal amplitude of the electrodes prepared using an ultrasonication time of 12 h and CNT content of 5 wt% was comparable to that of commercial Ag/AgCl electrodes. The polymer electrodes were easily fabricated by conventional manufacturing techniques, indicating a potential advantage of reduced cost for mass production.

Determination of heavy metal ions by microchip capillary electrophoresis coupled with contactless conductivity detection.

An integrated detection circuitry based on a lock-in amplifier was designed for contactless conductivity determination of heavy metals. Combined with a simple-structure electrophoresis microchip, the detection system is successfully utilized for the separation and determination of various heavy metals. The influences of the running buffer and detection conditions on the response of the detector have been investigated. Six millimole 2-morpholinoethanesulfonic acid + histidine were selected as buffer for its stable baseline and high sensitivity. The best signals were recorded with a frequency of 38 kHz and 20 V(pp). The results showed that Mn(2+), Cd(2+), Co(2+), and Cu(2+) can be successfully separated and detected within 100 s by our system. The detection limits for five heavy metals (Mn(2+), Pb(2+), Cd(2+), Co(2+), and Cu(2+)) were determined to range from about 0.7 to 5.4 µM. This microchip system performs a crucial step toward the realization of a simple, inexpensive, and portable analytical device for metal analysis.

A simplified poly(dimethylsiloxane) capillary electrophoresis microchip integrated with a low-noise contactless conductivity detector.

A contactless conductivity detector integrated into a poly(dimethylsiloxane) microchip for electrophoresis is presented. It adopted the simplest configuration of electrodes commonly used in this detection mode for capillary electrophoresis microchips. Although the chip is based on a simple and effective design, it is able to obtain low detection levels due to the low noise of the detection circuit. A circuit based on a lock-in amplifier was designed on printed circuit boards to read out the signal. The property of the detection cell was studied by applying excitation signals of different frequencies and different amplitudes. It was found that the best detection limit could be achieved with a frequency of 50 kHz and amplitude of 20 V. The performance of the detector was demonstrated by successfully separating and detecting several inorganic ions and also a mixture of heavy metal ions. An average detection limit of 0.4 µM was obtained for inorganic cations. This value is significantly improved compared to similar microchip-based detectors. The presented detector could be promising for mass production due to its properties, such as simple construction, high degree of integration, high performance and low cost.