Patients are not able to call for help during a generalized tonic-clonic epileptic seizure. Our objective was to develop a robust generic algorithm for automatic detection of tonic-clonic seizures, based on surface electromyography (sEMG) signals suitable for a portable device. Twenty-two seizures were analyzed from 11 consecutive patients. Our method is based on a high-pass filtering with a cutoff at 150 Hz, and monitoring a count of zero crossings with a hysteresis of ±50 μV . Based on data from one sEMG electrode (on the deltoid muscle), we achieved a sensitivity of 100% with a mean detection latency of 13.7 s, while the rate of false detection was limited to 1 false alarm per 24 h. The overall performance of the presented generic algorithm is adequate for clinical implementation.

Sealing of the flow channel is an important aspect during integration of microfluidic channels and optical waveguides. The uneven topography of many waveguide-fabrication techniques will lead to leakage of the fluid channels. Planarization methods such as chemical mechanical polishing or the etch-back technique are possible, but troublesome. We present a simple but efficient alternative: By means of changing the waveguide layout, bonding pads are formed along the microfluidic channels. With the same height as the waveguide, they effectively prevent leakage and hermetically seal the channels during bonding. Negligible influence on light propagation is found when 10-mum-wide bonding pads are used. Fabricated microsystems with application in absorbance measurements and flow cytometry are presented.

Abstract-We present a wearable health system (WHS) for non-invasive and wireless monitoring of physiological signals. The system is made as an electronic patch where sensors, low power electronics, and radio communication are integrated in an adhesive material of hydrocolloid polymer making it a sticking patch. The patch is made with a reusable part and a disposable part which contains the adhesive material and the battery. This part is changed once every week. The patch has a size of 88 mm by 60 mm and a thickness of 5 mm. It is made for attachment on truncus or the greater muscle groups. The patch is demonstrated in two applications: Monitoring of electromyography (EMG) and arterial oxygen saturation by pulse oximetry (SpO2). The pulse oximetry sensor is made of a concentric backside Silicon photodiode with a hole in the middle for the two light sources. This makes it suitable for reflectance pulse oximetry. For the EMG application three standard dry silver electrodes are used separated by 10 mm.

Chronic stress detection is an important factor in predicting and reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease. This work is a pilot study with a focus on developing a method for detecting short-term psychophysiological changes through heart rate variability (HRV) features. The purpose of this pilot study is to establish and to gain insight on a set of features that could be used to detect psychophysiological changes that occur during chronic stress. This study elicited four different types of arousal by images, sounds, mental tasks and rest, and classified them using linear and non-linear HRV features from electrocardiograms (ECG) acquired by the wireless wearable ePatch® recorder. The highest recognition rates were acquired for the neutral stage (90%), the acute stress stage (80%) and the baseline stage (80%) by sample entropy, detrended fluctuation analysis and normalized high frequency features. Standardizing non-linear HRV features for each subject was found to be an important factor for the improvement of the classification results.

The polymer SU-8 is becoming widely used for all kinds of micromechanical and microfluidic devices, not only as a photoresist but also as the constitutional material of the devices. Many of these polymeric devices need to include a microfluidic system as well as electrical connection from the electrodes on the SU-8 chip to a printed circuit board. Here, we present two different methods of electrically connecting an SU-8 chip, which contains a microfluidic network and free-hanging mechanical parts. The tested electrical interconnection techniques are flip chip bonding using underfill or flip chip bonding using an anisotropic conductive film (ACF). These are both widely used in the Si industry and might also be used for the large scale interconnection of SU-8 chips. The SU-8 chip, to which the interconnections are made, has a microfluidic channel with integrated micrometer-sized cantilevers that can be used for label-free biochemical detection. All the bonding tests are compared with results obtained using similar Si chips. It is found that it is significantly more complicated to interconnect SU-8 than Si cantilever chips primarily due to the softness of SU-8.