Differentiation of aspirated nasal air from room air using analysis with a differential mobility spectrometry-based electronic nose: a proof-of-concept study

Over the last few decades, breath analysis using electronic nose technology has become a topic of intense research, as it is both non-invasive and painless, and is suitable for point-of-care use. To date, however, only a few studies have examined nasal air. As the air in the oral cavity and the lungs differs from the air in the nasal cavity, it is unknown whether aspirated nasal air could be exploited with electronic nose technology. Compared to traditional electronic noses, differential mobility spectrometry uses an alternating electrical field to discriminate the different molecules of gas mixtures, providing analogous information. This study reports the collection of nasal air by aspiration and the subsequent analysis of the collected air using a differential mobility spectrometer. We collected nasal air from ten volunteers into breath collecting bags and compared them to bags of room air and the air aspirated through the device. Distance and dissimilarity metrics between the sample types were calculated and statistical significance evaluated with Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. After leave-one-day-out cross-validation, a shrinkage linear discriminant classifier was able to correctly classify 100% of the samples. The nasal air differed (p < 0.05) from the other sample types. The results show the feasibility of collecting nasal air by aspiration and subsequent analysis using differential mobility spectrometry, and thus increases the potential of the method to be used in disease detection studies.

FIELD INDUCED DISPLACEMENT REACTIONS WITH PROTON BOUND DIMERS OF ORGANOPHOSPHORUS COMPOUNDS IN A TANDEM DIFFERENTIAL MOBILITY SPECTROMETER

Endothermic displacement reactions between proton bound dimers of organophosphorus compounds (OPCs) and isopropanol (IPA) were enabled in air at ambient pressure with tandem differential mobility spectrometry (DMS). Proton bound dimers...

Field induced fragmentation spectra from reactive stage-tandem differential mobility spectrometry

A planar tandem differential mobility spectrometer was integrated with a middle reactive stage to fragment ions which were mobility selected in a first analyzer stage using characteristic compensation and separation fields.

Differential Mobility Spectrometer Particle Emission Analysis for Multiple Aviation Gas Turbine Engine Exhausts at High and Low Power Conditions and a Simulated Gas Turbine Engine Exhaust

This paper presents particulate matter (PM) size spectral measurements, analysed to determine number and mass concentration, taken using a fast response differential mobility spectrometer (DMS500). Exhaust samples from multiple commercially available large civil aviation gas turbine engines and an auxiliary power unit operating at high and low engine power conditions were studied, in addition to a simulated aviation gas turbine exhaust, which was operated to exhibit specific PM output. Results show all exhaust sources as having similar bi-modal PM size spectra with both number and mass concentrations highly dependent on the emission source and the sampling testing condition. When operating at high power levels all of the tested gas turbine emission sources, with the exception of the 2-stage combustor design, generally produced distributions of PM which exhibited larger average mean diameter particle sizes and higher number and mass concentrations.