China-Israel team designs wearable device for real-time diabetes care

JERUSALEM, July 22 (Xinhua) -- Chinese and Israeli scientists have developed a painless wearable device that monitors blood sugar and adjusts diabetes medication in real time, the Israel Institute of Technology (Technion) said Tuesday in a statement.

The breakthrough, made with collaboration between Technion and Sun Yat-sen University, a public university in China's Guangzhou, and published in Nature Communications, uses microneedles to track glucose and metformin drug levels under the skin, according to the statement.

Unlike finger-prick tests, the patch connects to a smartphone app that analyzes data and provides personalized treatment alerts. Testing showed it matches traditional methods' accuracy while detecting previously missed fluctuations. The system also models how factors like age and weight affect drug response, read the statement.

Researchers highlight the new technology's potential to prevent dangerous complications like lactic acidosis by optimizing doses. Initial trials on diabetic mice proved successful, with plans to adapt the technology for heart disease and epilepsy management, read the statement.