2026 · Biological research for nursing · paywalled
Evaluating Sex Differences in Biomarkers of Chronic Pain Among Active-Duty Personnel: An Exploratory Analysis of a Pragmatic Clinical Trial With a SMART Design
Shimada et al.
The finding, in our words
In active-duty service members undergoing chronic pain treatment, longitudinal changes in non-invasive biomarkers including salivary cortisol and urinary 8-OHdG were evaluated alongside patient-reported outcomes to investigate sex-specific response differences.
A paraphrase to the Library’s standard, never the abstract. The source is one link away and is always the authority.
The study found that a heat-treated probiotic formulation did not significantly improve sleep scores in the full cohort but did modulate endocrine markers, showing up-regulated nocturnal melatonin and improved daytime orexin levels, with a tendency toward reduced nocturnal salivary cortisol. Benefits were more pronounced in participants with higher baseline insomnia severity, suggesting the intervention may be most useful for symptomatic populations.
A US survey of 3,400 adults aged 62 to 90 collected up to 15 biomeasures at home, including saliva, dried blood spots and urine, with Salivette and Oragene among the devices used, which shows that several patient-centric sampling methods can run together in home-based research.
Jaszczak et al., The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences (paywalled) · source ↗
This study used home self-collected saliva samples to successfully monitor cytokines and cortisol in mothers and infants, finding that a community singing intervention significantly reduced salivary interleukin-6 levels in mothers with postnatal depression.
Kirkpatrick et al., Brain, behavior, and immunity (paywalled) · source ↗
Wearable biochemical monitoring requires a complete measurement chain that integrates quality-controlled biofluid sampling, sensor fusion and metadata capture to convert raw sensor outputs into clinically valid digital biomarkers.
Salivary cortisol is suitable as an adjunctive measure in decentralised monitoring, with lateral-flow assays providing rapid low-cost discrete measurements and wearable platforms enabling higher-frequency collection but facing biofouling and calibration challenges. Suitability requires validation in authentic saliva against reference methods, not merely low detection limits.