Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39990597›Full record

ArticleAdvanced functional materials2024

Sensing Mucus Physiological Property In Situ by Wireless Millimeter-Scale Soft Robots.

Boyang Xiao, Yilan Xu, Steven Edwards, Lohit Balakumar, Xiaoguang Dong

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Advanced functional materials, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
10citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

10 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Soft Artificial Ciliary Brush with Integrated Haptic Feedback for Efficient Airway Mucus Cleaning.Advanced intelligent systems (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2026
    Article
  2. Review
  3. Article
  4. A Multimodal Amphibious Robot Driven by Soft Electrohydraulic Flippers.Cyborg and bionic systems (Washington, D.C.) · 2025
    Article
  5. Article
  6. Sensory artificial cilia for in situ monitoring of airway physiological properties.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024
    Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Boyang XiaoDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37240, USA.
Yilan XuDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37240, USA.
Steven EdwardsDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN37240, USA.
Lohit BalakumarDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37240, USA.
Xiaoguang DongDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37240, USA.

Funding

Wirelessly Actuated Ciliary Stent for Minimally Invasive Treatment of Cilia DysfunctionR21EB035200 · NIBIB · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY · PI Xiaoguang Dong · 2024 to 2026
$617k
NIBIB NIH HHS R21 EB035200
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The physiological property of mucus is an important biomarker for monitoring the human health conditions and helping understand disease development, as mucus property such as viscosity is highly correlated with inflammation and other diseases. However, it remains challenging to sense mucus viscosity using pure medical imaging. Collecting and analyzing mucus sample in vitro using flexible endoscopes and capsule endoscope robots is also challenging due to their difficulty of accessing very confined, tortuous, and small spaces, and the sample may not reflect the real mucus property. Here a novel method is proposed to enable sensing mucus viscosity in situ by wireless miniature sensors actuated by magnetic fields and tracked by medical imaging. These miniature viscosity sensors can be delivered with minimal invasion using a novel sensor delivery mechanism by controlling a magnetically actuated millimeter-scale soft climbing robot. As the soft robot can access confined and narrow spaces, and reliably deploy the sensor on soft tissue surfaces, multiple sensors can be delivered on soft biological tissues to sense biofluid viscosity spatiotemporally. The proposed minimally invasive robotic delivery and viscosity sensing method thus paves the way toward sensing biofluid properties deep inside the body for future disease monitoring and early diagnosis functions.

Indexed as

gastrointestinal tract mucusmagnetic actuationminiature soft robotminimally invasivesensing

Identifiers

PMID39990597
PMCPMC11845219

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.