Design of a Biologically-Inspired Chemical Sensor

Author(s):  
Jacquelyn K. S. Nagel

Sensors are an integral part of many engineered products and systems. Biological inspiration has the potential to improve current sensor designs as well as inspire innovative ones. Mimicking nature offers more than just the observable aspects that conjure up engineering solutions performing similar functions, but also less obvious strategic and sustainable aspects. This paper presents the design of an innovative, biologically-inspired chemical sensor that performs “up-front” processing through mechanical filtering. Functional representation and abstraction were used to place the biological system information in an engineering context, and facilitate the bioinspired design process. Inspiration from the physiology (function) of the guard cell coupled with the morphology (form) and physiology of tropomyosin resulted in multiple concept variants for the chemical sensor. The chemical sensor conceptual designs are provided along with detailed descriptions. Applications of the sensor design include environmental monitoring of harmful gases, and a non-invasive approach to detect illnesses including diabetes, liver disease, and cancer on the breath.

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. e001174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth I Zheng ◽  
Wen-Yue Liu ◽  
Xiao-Yan Pan ◽  
Hong-Lei Ma ◽  
Pei-Wu Zhu ◽  
...  

Background and aimImaging-confirmed non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) with normal alanine aminotransferase (nALT) levels is infrequently the subject for further evaluation. Early diagnosis of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is needed to prevent disease progression. Thus, we tested the clinical utility of serum Golgi protein 73 (GP73) levels and developed a new non-invasive score to diagnose NASH in patients with biopsy-confirmed NAFLD and persistent nALT levels.MethodsSerum GP73 and cytokeratin-18 M30 fragments (CK18-M30) levels were measured in 345 patients with biopsy-proven NAFLD. We developed a new score, named G-NASH model (by incorporating serum GP73), and combined it with serum CK18-M30 measurement in a sequential non-invasive approach to accurately identify NASH among patients with NAFLD and persistent nALT levels.Results105 (30.4%) patients had persistent nALT, 53 of whom had histologically confirmed NASH. Both serum GP73 and CK18-M30 levels alone had poor diagnostic accuracy in identifying NASH (55.2% and 51.6%, respectively) in these patients. Conversely, G-NASH model performed better than other established non-invasive scoring systems, and by using our proposed sequential non-invasive approach 82.9% of patients with NASH were correctly identified.ConclusionsNASH is highly prevalent in patients with NAFLD with persistent nALT levels. The G-NASH model accurately identifies NASH in this patient group.


2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramesh P. Arasaradnam ◽  
Michael McFarlane ◽  
Emma Daulton ◽  
Erik Westenbrink ◽  
Nicola O’Connell ◽  
...  

Background & Aims: Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) is the commonest cause of chronic liver disease in the western world. Current diagnostic methods including Fibroscan have limitations, thus there is a need for more robust non-invasive screening methods. The gut microbiome is altered in several gastrointestinal and hepatic disorders resulting in altered, unique gut fermentation patterns, detectable by analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in urine, breath and faeces. We performed a proof of principle pilot study to determine if progressive fatty liver disease produced an altered urinary VOC pattern; specifically NAFLD and Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH).Methods: 34 patients were recruited: 8 NASH cirrhotics (NASH-C); 7 non-cirrhotic NASH; 4 NAFLD and 15 controls. Urine was collected and stored frozen. For assay, the samples were defrosted and aliquoted into vials, which were heated to 40±0.1°C and the headspace analyzed by FAIMS (Field Asymmetric Ion Mobility Spectroscopy). A previously used data processing pipeline employing a Random Forrest classification algorithm and using a 10 fold cross validation method was applied.Results: Urinary VOC results demonstrated sensitivity of 0.58 (0.33 - 0.88), but specificity of 0.93 (0.68 - 1.00) and an Area Under Curve (AUC) 0.73 (0.55 -0.90) to distinguish between liver disease and controls. However, NASH/NASH-C was separated from the NAFLD/controls with a sensitivity of 0.73 (0.45 - 0.92), specificity of 0.79 (0.54 - 0.94) and AUC of 0.79 (0.64 - 0.95), respectively.Conclusions: This pilot study suggests that urinary VOCs detection may offer the potential for early non-invasive characterisation of liver disease using 'smell prints' to distinguish between NASH and NAFLD.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (32) ◽  
pp. 3915-3927 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Ballestri ◽  
Claudio Tana ◽  
Maria Di Girolamo ◽  
Maria Cristina Fontana ◽  
Mariano Capitelli ◽  
...  

: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) embraces histopathological entities ranging from the relatively benign simple steatosis to the progressive form nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), which is associated with fibrosis and an increased risk of progression to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. NAFLD is the most common liver disease and is associated with extrahepatic comorbidities including a major cardiovascular disease burden. : The non-invasive diagnosis of NAFLD and the identification of subjects at risk of progressive liver disease and cardio-metabolic complications are key in implementing personalized treatment schedules and follow-up strategies. : In this review, we highlight the potential role of ultrasound semiquantitative scores for detecting and assessing steatosis severity, progression of NAFLD, and cardio-metabolic risk. : Ultrasonographic scores of fatty liver severity act as sensors of cardio-metabolic health and may assist in selecting patients to submit to second-line non-invasive imaging techniques and/or liver biopsy.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Levente Kovács ◽  
Fruzsina Luca Kézér ◽  
Szilárd Bodó ◽  
Ferenc Ruff ◽  
Rupert Palme ◽  
...  

AbstractThe intensity and the magnitude of saliva cortisol responses were investigated during the first 48 h following birth in newborn dairy calves which underwent normal (eutocic, EUT, n = 88) and difficult (dystocic, DYS, n = 70) calvings. The effects of parity and body condition of the dam, the duration of parturition, the time spent licking the calf, the sex and birth weight of the calf were also analyzed. Neonatal salivary cortisol concentrations were influenced neither by factors related to the dam (parity, body condition) nor the calf (sex, birth weight). The duration of parturition and the time spent licking the calf also had no effect on salivary cortisol levels. Salivary cortisol concentrations increased rapidly after delivery in both groups to reach their peak levels at 45 and 60 min after delivery in EUT and DYS calves, respectively supporting that the birth process means considerable stress for calves and the immediate postnatal period also appears to be stressful for newborn calves. DYS calves exhibited higher salivary cortisol concentrations compared to EUT ones for 0 (P = 0.022), 15 (P = 0.016), 30 (P = 0.007), 45 (P = 0.003), 60 (P = 0.001) and 120 min (P = 0.001), and for 24 h (P = 0.040), respectively. Peak levels of salivary cortisol and the cortisol release into saliva calculated as AUC were higher in DYS than in EUT calves for the 48-h of the sampling period (P = 0.009 and P = 0.003, respectively). The greater magnitude of saliva cortisol levels in DYS calves compared to EUT ones suggest that difficult parturition means severe stress for bovine neonates and salivary cortisol could be an opportunity for non-invasive assessment of stress during the early neonatal period in cattle.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ola G Behairy ◽  
Soha A El‐Gendy ◽  
Dalia Y Ibrahim ◽  
Amira I Mansour ◽  
Ola S El‐Shimi

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