Hongwei Chu

Mental stress has been a paramount concern worldwide, serving as a critical element for the optimal functioning and thriving of families, communities, and societies. However, the evaluation of the mental stress state in current clinical practice relies on symptom criteria associated with self-reported psychometric tools and behavioral manifestations, which raises the concerns of both accuracy issue and difficulty in identifying classifications. Continuous and quantitative assessments of mental stress-related physical/biomarkers based on wearable technologies is a very feasible way to solve the hurdle, while the implementation of such technology at clinical scales remains quite challenging and has yet to be documented. Herein, we report the collection of advances in sensing strategies, system integration, and model construction for mental health monitoring and management. A set of physical/biomarkers (cortisol, glucose, body temperature, and heart rate) are selected based on the systematic studies on the stress-correlated physiological pathways to form the marker panel. Corresponding stable and sustainable sensing systems are established upon the optimization of nanomaterials and nanostructure design. Comprehensive indicators are further generated based on algorithm bonuses for acute and chronic stress assessment. The fully integrated reusable wearable biosystem demonstrates its effectiveness in identifying, quantifying, and tracking the prognosis of stress in paradigmatic stress scenarios and clinical applications of social anxiety disorder/depression. The technology reported here presents a promising solution for customized mental stress management to facilitate the development of healthcare in psychological well-being.

Sarcopenia has been a serious concern in the context of an increasingly aging global population. Existing detection methods for sarcopenia are severely constrained by cumbersome devices, the necessity for specialized personnel, and controlled experimental environments. In this study, we developed an innovative wearable fabric system based on conductive fabric and flexible sensor array. This fabric system demonstrates remarkable pressure-sensing capabilities, with a high sensitivity of 18.8 kPa⁻¹ and extraordinary stability. It also exhibits excellent flexibility for wearable applications. By interacting with different parts of the human body, it facilitates the monitoring of various physiological activities, such as pulse dynamics, finger movements, speaking, and ambulation. Moreover, this fabric system can be seamlessly integrated into sole to track critical indicators of sarcopenia patients, such as walking speed and gait. Clinical evaluations have shown that this fabric system can effectively detect variations in indicators relevant to sarcopenia patients, proving that it offers a straightforward and promising approach for the diagnosis and assessment of sarcopenia.