Special Issue on Human Breath Analysis IEEE Sensors Journal 2010, 10 (1)
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Special issue on Human Breath Analysis IEEE Sensors Journal 2010, 10 (1) Editorial The Future of Sensors and Instrumentation for Human Breath Analysis Davis, C. E. Frank, M. Mizaikoff, B. Oser, H. What is Normal Breath? Challenge and Opportunity Solga, S. F. Risby, T. H. Breath Analyzer for Alcolocks and Screening Devices Hok, B. Pettersson, H. Kaisdotter Andersson, A. Haasl, S. Akerlund, P. Abstract Alcolocks and alcohol screening devices are becoming commonplace, and their use is expected to grow rapidly with cost reduction and improved usability. A new breath analyzer prototype is demonstrated, with the prospects of eliminating the mouthpiece, reducing expiration time and volume, improving long-term stability, and reducing life cycle cost. Simultaneous ${hbox {CO}}_{2}$ measurements compensate for the sample dilution and unsaturated expiration. Infrared transmission spectroscopy is used for both the alcohol and ${hbox {CO}}_{2}$ measurement, yet the entire system is contained within a small handheld unit. Experimental results are reported on the device sensitivity, linearity, resolution, and influence from varying measuring distance. The correlation between early and full-time sampling was established in 60 subjects. Basic concept verification was obtained, whereas resolution and selectivity still needs to be improved. Further improvements are expected by system optimization and integration. A Novel MEMS Respiratory Flow Sensor Wei, C.-L. Lin, C.-F. Tseng, I.-T. Abstract A novel CMOS-process-compatible MEMS sensor for monitoring respiration is presented. This resistive flow sensor was manufactured by the TSMC 0.35 $mu{hbox {m}}$ CMOS/MEMS mixed-signal 2P4M Polycide process. The sensor was demonstrated to be sensitive enough to detect the respiratory flow rate, and the relationship between flow rate and sensed voltage is quite linear. If one can integrate the sensor with its sensing circuit into a single chip, the cost of a pneumotach system can be greatly reduced. Moreover, the proposed sensor is useful in both invasive and noninvasive applications. Effect of Exhalation Variables on the Current Response of an Enzymatic Breath Acetone Sensing Device Landini, B. E. Bravard, S. T. Abstract The effect of simulated breath flow rate, vapor temperature, and flow duration on the linearity and variation in the current response of an enzymatic electrochemical breath acetone sensor was examined. Variable simulated flow rate and vapor temperature only slightly increased the variation in the overall sensor current response to vapor acetone, while the response remained linear with acetone concentration. This increased variation was measured by a slightly decreased linear ${R}^{2}$ compared to simulated breath under constant control conditions. Simulated variable flow duration increased the variation in sensor response, especially for blow times less than 5 s at vapor acetone concentrations less than 1 ppm (v/v). This trend with flow duration was reflected in data produced during human breath testing. In all cases, the sensor current response remained linear with vapor acetone concentration. In a clinical test, the sensor current displayed a linear dependence on human breath acetone concentrations ranging from 0.2 to 17 ppm (v/v), as measured by gas chromatography. The linear ${R}^{2}$ across 201 direct human breath measurements was 0.949. Spirometric Measurement Postprocessing: Expiration Data Recovery Lay-Ekuakille, A. Vendramin, G. Trotta, A. Abstract Spirometry deals with finding and predicting respiratory system pathologies through instrumentation that mainly carries out measurements on the volume and the air flow expired from lungs. In many cases, during spirometric and pneumotachographic trials in hospital, there are people who are not able to begin or to complete their tests because of diverse difficulties due to presumable pathologies. Hence, these trials may be lost if they are not recovered and postprocessed in adequately, at least to display the expiration trend and step. This paper presents rapid techniques of helping physiopathologists to extract information from a noncomplete expiration curve as spirometric postprocessing. The two techniques are based on work of breath (WOB) and controlled genetic algorithm (CGA), respectively. A comparison is performed between the two techniques; the WOB is calculated by assuming classes of fixed resistance R according to the age, to the sex, to the previous pathologies, etc., while the CGA technique provides a strict monitoring of GA steps in order to reduce uncertainty of final results. 1 Enhancement of Ethanol Sensing Properties by Impregnating Platinum on Surface of ZnO Tetrapods Hongsith, N. Choopun, S. Abstract ZnO tetrapods with a cross-sectional size of about 200–1000 nm were synthesized via an oxidation reaction technique. The sensors based on ZnO tetrapods and platinum impregnated ZnO tetrapods were fabricated and investigated for ethanol sensing properties. The gas sensing properties of the sensors were investigated for ethanol concentration of 50–1000 ppm at different operating temperatures. It was found that the sensitivities of platinum impregnated ZnO tetrapod sensors were higher than that of pure ZnO tetrapod sensors. The enhancement of sensitivity due to platinum impregnation to ZnO tetrapods may be explained either by an increase of adsorbed oxygen density or an increase of reaction rate coefficient in a rate equation for an ethanol adsorption reaction on the ZnO surface. Also, the slope value of the plot between $log(S-1)$ and $log C$ suggested that adsorbed oxygen ion species at the surface of the platinum impregnated ZnO tetrapods was $O^{2-}$ which was the same as pure ZnO tetrapods. Finally, these results have an important implication for a development of ethanol sensors based on metal oxide semiconductors for alcohol breath analyzers. Enhancement of Ethanol Sensing Properties by Alloying ${rm TiO}_{2}$ With ZnO Tetrapods Santhaveesuk, T. Wongratanaphisan, D. Choopun, S. Abstract The ${rm Ti}_{x} {rm Zn}_{1-x}{rm O}$ tetrapods were synthesized using simple thermal oxidation method from Zn and ${rm TiO}_{2}$ mixture. The tetrapods exhibited single crystalline hexagonal wurtzite structure with the prefer growth direction of $[0002]$ along the legs. The sensors based on ${rm Ti}_{x} {rm Zn}_{1-x}{rm O}$ tetrapods were fabricated and investigated the ethanol sensing properties. The FE-SEM, HRTEM, SAED, XRD, and RS results suggested that ${rm Ti}_{x} {rm Zn}_{1-x}{rm O}$ alloy was formed with a slightly decrease of c-axis lattice parameter. The decrease of sensor resistance under ethanol atmosphere was observed and suggested that the ${rm Ti}_{x} {rm Zn}_{1-x}{rm O}$ tetrapods possessed n-type property of semiconductor similar to ZnO. The ${rm Ti}_{x} {rm Zn}_{1-x}{rm O}$ tetrapod sensors exhibited higher sensitivity than that of pure ZnO tetrapod sensors for entire ethanol concentration with optimum operating temperature of 300 $^{circ}{rm C}$. Thus, the enhancement of sensitivity due to alloying ${rm TiO}_{2}$ with the ZnO tetrapods was observed and maybe explained by an increase of adsorbed oxygen ions due to substitution of Ti atom into Zn atom. Also, the slope value of the plot between $log (S-1)$ and $log C$ suggested that adsorbed oxygen ion species at the surface of the ${rm Ti}_{x} {rm Zn}_{1-x}{rm O}$ tetrapods was ${rm O}^{2-}$ which was same as pure ZnO tetrapods. Finally, these results have an important implication for a development of ethanol sensors based on metal oxide semiconductors for alcohol breath analyzer. Daily Monitoring of Asthmatics by Means of Individual Devices for Exhaled Breath Temperature Measurement Popov, T. A. Kralimarkova, T. Z. Lazarova, C. T. Tzachev, C. T. Dimitrov, V. D. Gill, J. Abstract It has been suggested that inflamed airways may increase the exhaled breath temperature (EBT). We designed a simple instrument for EBT measurement and proven its precision, reproducibility and validity in asthma. Now we tested its utility as individual device to detect changes indicative of the control of asthma. We followed up 14 patients (9 female, age range 29–68 years) with uncontrolled asthma for 3 weeks after stepping up their anti- inflammatory treatment. Subjects were assessed upon inclusion in the study (visit 1, V1), after 1 (V2) and 3 weeks of treatment (V3) by visual-analogue scale (VAS), spirometry, blood and sputum eosinophils (Eos) and EBT. They also kept diaries with symptom scores (SS), peak expiratory flow (PEF) and EBT. Compared with V1, EBT decreased significantly at V2 and V3: from 35, 20 $^{circ}{rm C}$ [ $34 , 36div 35 , 56$] (median [$25div 75$ interquartile range]) to 34, 70$^{circ}{rm C}$ [$34 , 48div 34 , 95$] and 34,50 $^{circ}{rm C}$ [ $33 , 94div 34 , 91$] respectively, ${rm p}=0.017$. These changes paralleled the alteration in the other indices of asthma control. The mean weekly EBT and SS significantly decreased between week 1 and week 3 ( ${rm p}=0.035$ and 0.003 respectively), while PEF increased ( ${rm p}=0.027$). In conclusion, EBT is a useful indicator of- asthma control to be used by physicians, but also by individual subjects at home. Nanosensor and Breath Analyzer for Ammonia Detection in Exhaled Human Breath Gouma, P. Kalyanasundaram, K. Yun, X. Stanacevic, M. Wang, L. Abstract The detection and monitoring of gases in exhaled human breath up to date has been limited by the lack of appropriate materials and technologies which could rapidly and selectively identify the presence and monitor the concentration of trace levels of specific analytes-biomarkers. We present a metal oxide-based nanosensor that is highly specific to ammonia gas in breath-simulating environments at low part-per-billion concentrations. The design of a handheld breath analyzer for gas detection in exhaled human breath is described. Semiconducting ceramics are presented as suitable sensor materials for easy and affordable noninvasive diagnostics. 2 A Study on Breath Acetone in Diabetic Patients Using a Cavity Ringdown Breath Analyzer: Exploring Correlations of Breath Acetone With Blood Glucose and Glycohemoglobin A1C Wang, C.