New menstrual pad device tracks period blood for signs of disease
Scientists have unveiled a new device that can be incorporated into menstrual pads and may someday be helpful for screening for diseases like ovarian cancer.
The light-weight device looks for disease biomarkers — in this case, measurable levels of specific proteins — in menstrual blood. It includes a paper test strip that changes color when it's exposed to biomarkers of interest.
"We imagine this tool to be potentially useful for women at increased risk for cancer," said Inge Herrmann, a professor and leader of the Nanoparticle Systems Engineering Lab at ETH Zurich. She told Live Science that she hopes that the technology may "provide users with an additional monitoring tool" that's cost effective.
Herrmann and her colleagues authored a study about the device that was published in May in the journal Advanced Science. It has so far been tested with blood from healthy volunteers, so it needs further testing before it can be rolled out as a screening tool.
The device, which measures about an inch squared (2 by 2 centimeters) and is encased in a soft silicone, sits at the bottom of the menstrual pad. The silicone encases the test strip that changes color when exposed to specific proteins. If a biomarker is present, either a line or a circle appears within about 15 minutes of exposure; the darker the color, the more protein is present.
The researchers say these results can be read by eye, but they have also developed an app that uses a machine learning-driven image analysis to interpret the test. The pad the device is embedded in can be worn for as long as a regular menstrual pads, and as for the device itself, "you can't feel it," Herrmann said.
Related: New blood test detects ovarian cancer years before conventional methods
The researchers made their initial prototype sensitive to three biomarkers: C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of inflammation; carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), a "tumor maker" associated with various cancers; and cancer antigen-125 (CA-125), which is specifically associated with ovarian cancer.
Blood tests exist for all three of these biomarkers: CRP tests monitor inflammation in the body. CEA tests are used to assess how advanced a cancer is or whether treatment is working, but are not used for screening. CA-125 tests can be used to screen for ovarian cancer in people at high risk of the disease, but aren't used for people at average risk because high concentrations can be due to other conditions, including endometriosis.
One draw of the new device is that it would be easy for patients to use and less invasive than these existing blood tests, said Dr. Paul Blumenthal, a professor emeritus in obstetrics and gynecology at Stanford University. Blumenthal was not involved in the new study but has conducted similar research on the clinical potential of menstrual blood.
To test the device, the researchers ran tests with venous blood and menstrual blood donated by volunteers to see if it detected similar biomarker concentrations in both types of blood. This included tests in which the scientists "spiked" blood samples with the biomarkers of interest, so they knew exactly how much should be in there.
They compared the device's findings with the expected concentrations and also checked its work by assessing those concentrations with clinical chemistry. "There was always good agreement" among these assessments, Herrmann said.
Additionally, they had volunteers wear the device while on their periods. These individuals reported that, in terms of comfort and wearability, there was "no difference compared to a commercially available sanitary pad."
Blumenthal says such a tool has clinical potential.
Considering ovarian cancer as an example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that there's "no reliable way to screen for ovarian cancer in women who do not have any symptoms." And early symptoms of the disease are similar to those seen during a typical menstrual cycle, such as bloating and lower back pain.
Blumenthal suggested that monitoring CA-125 regularly over time could be a promising way to watch for the disease. "Year after year, let's just say I'm measuring your CA-125, and it's pretty normal," he said. "And one year it sneaks above your level — maybe that's the first indication [that] something is not right."
Related: Scientists invent 1st 'vagina-on-a-chip'
Herrmann also sees the technology as a potential screening tool — a sort of "early warning" detection system particularly for women at a higher genetic risk of cancer.
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That said, one possible issue with the device is that excess blood could get onto the test strip and make its results unreadable, Herrmann said. She also noted that this technology comes with a risk of creating "a lot of stress for users, when an app tells them that there's some deviation, and that they might come to the conclusion that it's cancer." That's a concern that should be taken into account with all tech intended to be used for self-monitoring, she noted.
The next step is for researchers to recruit people to use the pad in "real world" conditions and investigate whether it really can provide a medical benefit, Herrmann said. They're now looking to recruit about 100 people for the next round of testing. Depending on how the lab's upcoming research goes and how the product is ultimately regulated, Herrmann believes that it could be available in about three years.
This article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to offer medical advice.
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Did 'primordial' black holes born right after the Big Bang help our universe's 1st stars form?
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. New research suggests that primordial black holes created during the Big Bang could have played a major role in forming the universe's first stars. The findings could help to assess how suitable primordial black holes are as candidates for dark matter, the universe's most mysterious "stuff." But the study team isn't sure yet whether these black holes helped star formation, acting as "cosmic midwives" by ferrying matter to sites of stellar birth, or if they acted to suppress starbirth! The role primordial black holes played in the formation of so-called "Population III (POP III) stars" ( a confusing name for the first generation of stars) all depends on what masses these hypothetical original black holes have. "We investigated how primordial black holes — ancient black holes that may have formed in the very early universe — could have influenced the birth of the first stars," team member Stefano Profumo of the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC) told "Using advanced computer simulations, we found that, depending on their mass and abundance, these black holes could either speed up or delay the formation of the first stars." Profumo added that, in some cases, primordial black holes likely acted like "cosmic seeds," helping matter clump together earlier than expected. However, in other scenarios, Profumo and colleagues found that these black holes could have disrupted gas clouds, actually preventing stars from forming promptly. Primordial black holes: Friend or foe to star formation? Primordial black holes are thought to have formed as a result of density fluctuations in matter in the early universe. 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"This could explain how some of the earliest galaxies we now see — thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) — managed to form so surprisingly fast after the Big Bang." However, primordial black holes must have a certain mass to play a positive role in star birth, according to the team's simulations, which were performed using a software package called GIZMO, running the hydrodynamics of the universe's initial gas and dust. "To boost early star formation in the way we observed, the black holes would need to be quite massive — about a thousand to ten thousand times the mass of our sun," Profumo said. "At those sizes, and in the right numbers, they'd have a noticeable effect on how quickly the first stars formed." More massive primordial black holes would do this by causing density fluctuations in matter to increase. 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"The effects we studied would show up during what's called the cosmic dawn — roughly 100 to 200 million years after the Big Bang. In some of our most extreme scenarios, star formation could start as early as 15 million years after the Big Bang — much earlier than traditional models suggest," Profumo said. "If telescopes like JWST or future instruments can find galaxies or stars forming very, very early in the universe, that would support the idea that something like primordial black holes helped cosmic structures form faster than usual." Related Stories: — A 'primordial' black hole may zoom through our solar system every decade — Primordial black holes may flood the universe. Could one hit Earth? — Tiny black holes left over from the Big Bang may be prime dark matter suspects The next step for the team is to move beyond the assumption that all primordial black holes would have the same masses. "Most theories suggest a mix of masses, and we want to model that more realistically," Profumo said. "We're also planning to improve the physical modeling of star formation, and to simulate larger patches of the early universe to understand how primordial black holes might have influenced not just the first stars but also the formation of early galaxies." The team's research is available as a preprint on the paper repository arXiv. Solve the daily Crossword
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5 reasons why you're having trouble sleeping this summer — and how to fix it fast
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Everybody loves the summer — except of course when they're lying awake in bed in the middle of the night, unable to drop off in the seasonal heat. Summer can be a literal hotspot for insomnia, and while rising temperatures are a major factor in this, there are other reasons why you may not be catching the ZZZs you need in the summer months. Sadly not even the best mattress can guarantee uninterrupted sleep in the summer, and while upgrading to one of the best cooling mattresses can make a difference, there are more factors than heat to consider when you're trying to combat summer insomnia. To help you get your slumber back on track for the rest of the summer, here are the top five reasons why you're probably being kept awake at night — and what you can do to improve matters. Let's get started! Sealy Posturepedic® Elite Hybrid: There's nothing worse than finally being able to fall asleep, only to wake up in the morning with nagging Bed Aches™. Remove this struggle from your life with the all-new Posturepedic® Elite Hybrid mattress from Sealy®. The exclusive PrecisionFit™ Coils help keep your spine naturally aligned so you can fall asleep easier and wake up feeling more Deal 5 reasons why you can't sleep in the summer, and what to do about them 1. Warmer temperatures There's no getting away from the fact that hotter nights mean worse sleep. A comprehensive 2022 study examined data from sleep-tracking wristbands across 68 countries worldwide, cross-referencing with local meteorological data, and found that the hotter it gets, the longer it takes you to get to sleep. Your bedroom temperature is a major factor in how well you sleep, with a 2020 study concluding that 65 to 70°F (18 to 21°C) is the ideal temperature range for comfortable sleep, which explains why summer nights can be so hard to sleep through. What to do about it: There are plenty of things you can do to bring temperatures down in your bedroom to achieve better sleep. A cooling mattress might seem the obvious solution, but less extreme measures include keeping your bedroom cool and dark during the daytime so that heat can't build up – the 'caveman method' is an effective technique – or simply investing in some cooling bedding made with lower thread count fabric and natural materials. Find more tips in our guide to how to sleep cool during a heatwave. 2. Longer daylight hours Longer days and lighter evenings are generally a lovely thing, but all that daylight can have an impact on when you fall asleep. Daylight inhibits the production of melatonin – the sleepy hormone – which means that during the longest days of the year you'll find it harder to go to sleep at your normal bedtime, and you'll likely wake up earlier than usual too, robbing you of sleep at both ends of the day. What to do about it: The good news is that we're past the summer solstice, so the nights are getting longer and you should be starting to sleep longer, too. But if you're still not getting enough sleep, you can look into getting blackout curtains for your bedroom or just a sleep mask to block out unwanted light. You can also try to increase your melatonin levels by taking time to relax and destress as part of your bedtime routine, getting outside in the sun in the mornings to give your circadian rhythms a jolt, and avoiding screens before bed. 3. Allergies Summer can mean plenty of pollen in the atmosphere, and if you suffer from allergies then you're much more likely to be affected by insomnia. Allergens can make your nasal passages swell up, making it harder to breathe through your nose, which can disrupt your sleep and also cause snoring. What to do about it: If pollen's getting into your bedroom and keeping you awake, we're afraid that you might have to shut your bedroom window, which might not be a welcome prospect when temperatures are high. However if you follow an approach such as the caveman method detailed above, that can keep things more comfortable in your bedroom. If allergies are a big problem for you, ensure you vacuum your bedroom and wash your bedding regularly – although you should avoid drying it outside if possible. 4. More socializing Warm summer evenings bring with them lots of opportunities to socialize with friends, but that can play havoc with your sleep in more ways than one. Dr. Chelsea Perry has explained to us that people tend to be more lax with their sleep schedule during the summer, which can throw off your circadian rhythm and make it harder to fall asleep and stay asleep. Plus, if you're enjoying a balmy evening of drinks with friends, drinking too close to bedtime can affect your sleep. You might fall asleep faster, but all that alcohol can disrupt REM sleep and, as Dr. Leah Kaylor has explained to us, it can cause cortisol to be released in the night, waking you up and making it harder to get back to sleep. What to do about it: It's never too late to fix your sleep schedule. Dr. Hana Patel of Time4Sleep recommends finding your natural sleeping hours during summer and adjusting your sleep schedule to fit. "Let yourself wake up naturally as much as possible," she suggests. What do you do if you've had a little too much to drink before bedtime, though? The glib answer is not to drink too much, but should you find yourself having had one (or two) too many, the sensible approach is not to tumble straight into bed when you get home, but to take time to wind down and hydrate properly before you hit the hay. 5. Summer holidays The thought of a summer getaway can be the thing that keeps you going for the rest of the year, but summer holidays – and travel in general – can be a major cause of insomnia. Crossing time zones can disrupt your circadian rhythm and in turn lead to jet lag, and if you're getting up early to catch a long and potentially restless flight, that can add to the potential sleepless nights when you're supposed to be having a relaxing time. Throw in the excitement of being in a new place along with the likelihood of exotic food and plenty of drink, and you're looking at a recipe for insomnia. What to do about it: You can reduce the potential impact of travel on your sleep by trying to arrange your flights so that you won't have to get up super-early or stay awake for a lot longer than usual. Obviously that it's always feasible, but you can make life easier when you arrive by following many of the tips above: try to maintain a regular sleep schedule, keep your bedroom dark and cool, and avoid overdoing it on alcohol. One final tip from Dr. Donald Grant at Independent Pharmacy is to go easy on spicy food: "Eating spicy foods such as chilli, may raise body temperatures, making it even more difficult to fall asleep in summer," he tells us as part of his tips for sleeping better during summer.
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After testing 9 methods to fall asleep fast I've found 3 that actually work
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. As the Sleep Features Editor for Tom's Guide, my job is to research, test and learn about new ways to improve our sleep. And as you can imagine, I'm not complaining. In fact, my sleep has never been better because I've found what works for me. But everyone is different. What sends some people snoozing keeps me awake and alert and vice versa. So the only way to figure out how to fall asleep fast is trial and error. (Obviously good sleep hygiene helps, too, as does choosing the best mattress for your sleep needs.) To help you on your way, I've compiled a list of nine fall asleep fast methods I've tried and picked out the three that work best for me. I'll also be choosing three that I warn against even trying, to save you some time on your quest for better sleep. Let's dive in. Sealy Posturepedic® Elite Hybrid: What's the point of getting a new mattress if it's going to almost immediately lose its shape and stop being as effective? All of the technology in Sealy Posturepedic® is rigorously tested to exceed industry standards. The DuraFlex coil edge helps your mattress keep its shape and deliver years of quality Deal The 9 methods I've tried to fall asleep quickly Nine methods might sound excessive, but trust me, if I'm lying awake for over 30 minutes, I need a solution. Normal sleep latency (the time it takes to fall asleep) sits between 10 and 20 minutes depending on the person. If you're way above that or way below it, it might be cause for concern, but a little deviation is normal night-to-night. These are the methods I've used to try to cut my sleep latency down to just 10 minutes: Cognitive shuffling: This refers to purposely scrambling your thoughts so your brain eventually switches off, letting you fall asleep. It's a visualization method that involves thinking of random, unrelated objects and imagining them. ASMR: Standing for autonomous sensory meridian response, ASMR refers to the tingling sensation you get when listening to certain 'satisfying' sounds. Some claim this reduces anxiety and stress and helps them sleep. Mouth tape: Taping your mouth during sleep helps you only breathe through your nose during the night. This is said to help people fall asleep fast and stay asleep throughout the night. Blocking out stimulus: Ambient light and sound can be a major distraction when trying to fall asleep. A blackout sleep mask and noise-reducing earplugs can create a quiet, calm and peaceful environment, helping you fall asleep fast. Breathing exercises: Breathing in a certain way can help stimulate the vagus nerve, which then helps to stimulate our parasympathetic nervous system (responsible for rest and digest instead of fight or flight). This helps relax the body and mind, making it easier to fall asleep. Progressive muscle relaxation: This method focuses on releasing tension from the muscles, aiding in relaxation and stress relief. By working through each muscle from your feet up to your head, tensing it and then relaxing it while slow breathing, the mind and body can relax. Cricket feet: Repetitive movement can help us relax, and this method involved rubbing your feet together (like a cricket) to relieve stress and tension in bed and fall asleep fast. Egyptian method: A summer-specific sleep hack, the Egyptian method involves sleeping under a damp towel to help you cool off on hot nights and lower the body temperature enough to fall asleep. Warm bath: Moving from a warm bath or shower to a cooler bedroom leads to a natural drop in core body temperature, which is a key signal to our bodies that it's time for sleep. The 3 fall asleep quick hacks that actually work for me As you probably figured out while reading about those methods, some did not work for me. But these are the three I swear by and use most nights... 1. Cognitive shuffling I was a little skeptical when I tried cognitive shuffling for the first time. How effective could imagining random objects be? Turns out, very. And that's because the method was developed by scientist, Dr. Luc P. Beaudoin, based on the way our brain works as we naturally fall asleep. We all know the feeling right before we drop off where our thoughts stop making sense, and cognitive shuffling aims to replicate that feeling. By thinking of random objects and visualizing them, then quickly moving on to another that's unrelated, you'll scramble your thoughts. Eventually, the area of your brain that tries to determine meaning and rationality from your thoughts will 'switch off', which is a signifier that it's safe and appropriate to fall asleep. When I gave this method a go, I was asleep within 10 minutes. Initially, I found it a little difficult to think of completely unrelated objects so quickly, so I decided to work through the alphabet, thinking of as many objects beginning with 'A' as possible, before moving on to 'B' and so forth. It's easy, simple and requires no advanced tech. Why not try it tonight? 2. Blocking out noise and light I'm well-versed in earplugs for sleep. Living in a city center and sleeping next to a snoring husband means without them, I can say goodbye to uninterrupted sleep. However, I hadn't tried the combination of a blackout sleep mask and earplugs. When I first tried both, I initially felt a little vulnerable. With my husband next to me, I was fine. But I'd be hesitant to try this method if was home alone, simply because of how unaware you are of your surroundings. The sleep mask I used was a padded, silk mask that wrapped all around my head, covering my ears too. Not one bit of light seeped through and I was extremely comfortable. The complete sensory deprivation was a bizarre sensation that I had to become used to, but I quickly relaxed into it and fell asleep fast. Now, whenever I'm struggling to sleep, my sleep mask and earplugs are the first thing I reach for. Not only do they help me drift off quickly, they also help me stay asleep throughout the night. 3. Taking a warm bath before bed A nighttime routine might not sound like fun, but it can actually be very beneficial for your sleep. Maintaining positive habits before bed and indicating to your mind and body that it's time to wind down can make falling asleep fast, easier. I love my wind-down routine, and a key element of it is a warm, relaxing bath almost every night. The warm water relaxes my body and releases any tension from my muscles, and after adding a few drops of lavender essential oil, the scented steam helps my mind relax, too. But there's also a more scientific reason why this method is so effective. In the evening, our core body temperature drops which help us fall asleep fast and stay asleep throughout the night. And while a warm bath might sound like the opposite thing you should be doing to drop your body temperature, it's actually very effective. The process of moving from a warm bathroom to a cooler bedroom leads to the drop in temperature. This, combined with my relaxed state of mind, means I drop off to sleep almost instantly after crawling under the covers. The fall asleep fast hacks I don't recommend I mentioned earlier that some of the hacks I tried didn't work. These are three I'd suggest you avoid if you're serious about getting good sleep. 1. Mouth taping What I first thought was just a silly trend, I now think mouth taping is a dangerous one worth avoiding altogether. Mouth tape companies are advertising this 'method' as an easy way to improve both your sleep and your health. The adhesive tape simply sticks over your mouth making it impossible to open and breathe through your mouth. When I tried it, I immediately felt my panic and stress levels increase. If you have any kind of congestion you'll quite quickly realize you can't breathe properly. That's just one of the dangers. Another major danger is the risk of vomiting. As you can imagine, this was not conducive to relaxing and falling asleep quickly. My advice? Don't bother trying it. 2. The Egyptian method During a recent heatwave, I was desperate for a method that would help me cool down at night and fall asleep. That's when I stumbled across the Egyptian sleep method. It seemed simple enough, requiring only a damp towel. After soaking my towel in cold water, I wrung it out and left it to dry a little until it was just damp. I then removed my usual lightweight blanket and used the damp towel instead. It felt cold and slimy against my skin, making me squirm. I eventually got used to the feeling but every time I moved I felt this slimy, wet texture that woke me up again. Aside from this, introducing anything wet to your bed is generally not a good idea. Materials like memory foam and latex can absorb water, damaging it and occasionally leading to mattress mold growth. While I did cool down, it wasn't worth the hassle and I certainly didn't fall asleep fast! If you're struggling in the heat, take a look at our tips on how to sleep better in summer. 3. Cricket feet Now there's nothing inherently harmful or dangerous about this sleep method, but I'd advise you to give it a miss anyway. Most of us rub our feet together or wriggle around in bed before we fall asleep, it's a natural response to getting comfortable. And this 'method' adds nothing more. If anything, actively thinking about rubbing my feet together was too stimulating for me to fall asleep quickly. There's also very little science backing up this method. I'd generally advise to skip it and try a hack that's more likely to work.
