pH sensor for indicating the pH of a sample
First Claim
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1. A vaginal secretion monitoring article for providing an indication of a person'"'"'s health, comprising:
- a body that includes an absorbent material for absorbing vaginal secretions; and
a pH sensor associated with the body for determining pH of the vaginal secretions, the sensor including a positively charged hydrophilic nylon membrane and at least one indicator dye immobilized thereto so as to prevent appreciated bleeding of the dye from the membrane upon immersion in an aqueous liquid, with the sensor being positioned with respect to the body so as to be wetted by the secretions absorbed by the absorbent material;
wherein the indicator dye changes color to correspond to the pH of the vaginal secretions and the positively charged hydrophilic nylon membrane prevents the color change from fading after drying of the membrane, thereby providing a reliable indication of the health of the person.
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Abstract
A pH sensor for the visual or optical indication of the pH of a sample. The pH sensor includes a hydrophilic, optionally intrinsically charged or neutral, synthetic membrane and at least one pH indicator dye immobilized thereto, so as to prevent appreciated bleeding of the at least one indicator dye from the synthetic membrane upon immersion in an aqueous liquid.
56 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A vaginal secretion monitoring article for providing an indication of a person'"'"'s health, comprising:
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a body that includes an absorbent material for absorbing vaginal secretions; and
a pH sensor associated with the body for determining pH of the vaginal secretions, the sensor including a positively charged hydrophilic nylon membrane and at least one indicator dye immobilized thereto so as to prevent appreciated bleeding of the dye from the membrane upon immersion in an aqueous liquid, with the sensor being positioned with respect to the body so as to be wetted by the secretions absorbed by the absorbent material;
wherein the indicator dye changes color to correspond to the pH of the vaginal secretions and the positively charged hydrophilic nylon membrane prevents the color change from fading after drying of the membrane, thereby providing a reliable indication of the health of the person. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A vaginal secretion monitoring article for providing an indication of a person'"'"'s health, comprising:
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a body that includes an absorbent material for absorbing vaginal secretions; and
a pH sensor associated with the body for determining pH of the vaginal secretions, the sensor including a positively charged hydrophilic nylon membrane and a mixture of at least two indicator dyes immobilized thereto so as to prevent appreciated bleeding of the dye from the membrane upon immersion in an aqueous liquid, with the sensor being positioned with respect to the body so as to be wetted by the secretions absorbed by the absorbent material;
wherein the indicator dye mixture is sensitive to a subtle change in pH of 0.1 pH units or less and changes color to correspond to the pH of the vaginal secretions and the positively charged hydrophilic nylon membrane prevents the color change from fading after drying of the membrane, thereby providing a reliable indication of the health of the person.
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11. A method of producing a vaginal secretion monitoring article for providing an indication of a person'"'"'s health, which comprises:
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preparing a pH sensor includes a positively charged hydrophilic nylon membrane and at least one indicator dye for determining pH of the vaginal secretions, immobilizing the dye onto the membrane so as to prevent appreciated bleeding of the dye from the membrane upon immersion in an aqueous liquid; and
associating the sensor with a body that includes an absorbent material for absorbing vaginal secretions, with the sensor being positioned with respect to the body so as to be wetted by the secretions absorbed by the absorbent material;
wherein the indicator dye changes color to correspond to the pH of the vaginal secretions and the positively charged hydrophilic nylon membrane prevents the color change from fading after drying of the membrane, thereby providing a reliable indication of the health of the person. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
providing a plurality of buffered solutions of predetermined pH values;
introducing a single, known pH indicator dye into each solution so that the solutions include different pH indicator dyes and optionally different concentrations of the specific pH indicator dyes;
combining at least two solutions that contain different pH indicator dyes to obtain a color;
optically monitoring the color of the combined solution; and
repeating the combining and optically monitoring steps until the resultant solution includes a dye mixture that is sensitive to the subtle change in pH of the vaginal secretions.
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21. The method of claim 20 wherein the subtle change in pH is less than N pH units, wherein N is selected from the group consisting of 0.5, 0.4, 0.3, 0.2, 0.1 and 0.05 pH units.
Specification