1
|
Di Gioia C, Santonico M, Zompanti A, Sabatini A, Grasso S, Ursini F, Pedone C, Galdi F, Antonelli Incalzi R, Pennazza G. Detecting Dementia by Saliva Analysis: A Fingerprinting Unobtrusive Method Based on a Fast and Cheap Sensor System. J Alzheimers Dis 2023; 95:1067-1075. [PMID: 37638437 DOI: 10.3233/jad-230330] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/29/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Recent studies have shown that oxidative stress plays a relevant role in Alzheimer's disease (AD), and in the pathogenesis of vascular dementia (VaD). New diagnostic methods look for biological samples with non-invasive sampling methods. Among these, saliva shows an increase in oxidative stress products, thus a corresponding reduction in antioxidant products were found in dementia cases compared to healthy controls. Compounds identified in saliva include some hydrocarbons whose production has been related to the presence of reactive oxygen species. OBJECTIVE The hypothesis is that the voltammetric analysis performed on saliva could be a useful test for diagnosing dementia, potentially discriminating between AD and VaD. METHODS A single-center observational study was conducted on patients referred to the dementia clinic in the Neurology area and healthy controls recruited in the Orthopedics area of the Campus Bio-Medico Hospital in Rome. The study was aimed at evaluating the discriminative properties of salivary voltammetric analysis between healthy subjects and patients with dementia and, as a secondary outcome, between AD and VaD. A total of 69 subjects were enrolled, including 29 healthy controls, 20 patients with AD, and 20 patients with VaD. The degree of cognitive impairment was classified on the basis of the Mini-Mental State Examination score. RESULTS The results obtained are promising, with an accuracy of 79.7%, a sensitivity of 82.5%, and a specificity of 75.8%, in the discrimination of dementia versus controls. CONCLUSIONS The methods tested demonstrate to be relevant in the discrimination between dementia and controls. A confirmatory study is already running.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Claudia Di Gioia
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, Research Unit of Geriatrics, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Roma, Italy
| | - Marco Santonico
- Department of Science and Technology for Sustainable Development and One Health, Unit of Electronics for Sensor Systems, Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Alessandro Zompanti
- Department of Engineering, Unit of Electronics for Sensor Systems, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Rome, Italy
| | - Anna Sabatini
- Department of Engineering, Unit of Computational Systems and Bioinformatics, Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Simone Grasso
- Department of Science and Technology for Sustainable Development and One Health, Unit of Electronics for Sensor Systems, Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Francesca Ursini
- Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Campus Bio-Medico, Operative Research Unit of Neurology, Roma, Italy
| | - Claudio Pedone
- Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Campus Bio-Medico, Operative Research Unit of Geriatrics, Roma, Italy
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, Research Unit of Geriatrics, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Roma, Italy
| | - Flavia Galdi
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, Research Unit of Geriatrics, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Roma, Italy
| | - Raffaele Antonelli Incalzi
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, Research Unit of Geriatrics, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Roma, Italy
- Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Campus Bio-Medico, Operative Research Unit of Internal Medicine, Roma, Italy
| | - Giorgio Pennazza
- Department of Engineering, Unit of Electronics for Sensor Systems, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Rome, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Trongtorsak A, Kittipibul V, Antala D, Meng Q, Puwanant S. Heart Failure-Related Ascites With Low Serum-Ascites Albumin Gradient: Diagnostic Clues From Triphasic Abdominal Computed Tomography. Cureus 2022; 14:e21251. [PMID: 35178310 PMCID: PMC8842280 DOI: 10.7759/cureus.21251] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Serum-ascites albumin gradient (SAAG) is an initial and useful measure to differentiate causes of ascites. High gradient ascites (SAAG >1.1 g/dL) is one of the important features of heart failure. Low gradient ascites in heart failure is relatively rare and needs additional workups to rule out other serious causes, such as malignancy and infection. We herein report a case of a 42-year-old female with low-SAAG ascites from worsening congestive heart failure, which was confirmed to be portal hypertension-originated by triphasic abdominal computed tomography.
Collapse
|
3
|
Comparative analysis of volatile organic compounds of breath and urine for distinguishing patients with liver cirrhosis from healthy controls by using electronic nose and voltammetric electronic tongue. Anal Chim Acta 2021; 1184:339028. [PMID: 34625262 DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2021.339028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2021] [Revised: 08/30/2021] [Accepted: 09/01/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Advanced stage detection of liver cirrhosis (LCi) would lead to high mortality rates in patients. Therefore, accurate and non-invasive tools for its early detection are highly needed using human emanations that may reflect this disease. Human breath, along with urine and blood, has long been one of the three main biological media for assessing human health and environmental exposure. The primary objective of this study was to explore the potential of using volatile organic compounds (VOCs) assay of exhaled breath and urine samples for the diagnosis of patients with LCi and healthy controls (HC). For this purpose, we used a hybrid electronic nose (E-nose) combining two sensor families, consisting of an array of five commercial chemical gas sensors and six interdigitated chemical gas sensors based on pristine or metal-doped WO3 nanowires for sensing volatile gases in exhaled breath. A voltammetric electronic tongue (VE-tongue), composed of five working electrodes, was dedicated to the analysis of urinary VOCs using cyclic voltammetry as a measurement technique. 54 patients were recruited for this study, comprising 22 patients with LCi, and 32 HC. The two-sensing systems coupled with pattern recognition methods, namely Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA), were trained to classify data clusters associated with the health status of the two groups. The diagnostic performances of the E-nose and VE-tongue systems were studied by using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) method. The use of the E-nose or the VE-tongue separately, trained with these appropriate classifiers, showed a slight overlap indicating no clear discrimination between LCi patients and HC. To improve the performance of both electronic sensing devices, an emerging strategy, namely a multi-sensor data fusion technique, was proposed as a second aim to overcome this shortcoming. The data fusion approach of the two systems, at a medium level of abstraction, has demonstrated the ability to assess human health and disease status using non-invasive screening tools based on exhaled breath and urinary VOC analysis. This suggests that exhaled breath as well as urinary VOCs are specific to a disease state and could potentially be used as diagnostic methods.
Collapse
|
4
|
De Vincentis A, Santonico M, Del Chierico F, Altomare A, Marigliano B, Laudisio A, Reddel S, Grasso S, Zompanti A, Pennazza G, Putignani L, Guarino MPL, Cicala M, Antonelli Incalzi R. Gut Microbiota and Related Electronic Multisensorial System Changes in Subjects With Symptomatic Uncomplicated Diverticular Disease Undergoing Rifaximin Therapy. Front Med (Lausanne) 2021; 8:655474. [PMID: 34350192 PMCID: PMC8326398 DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2021.655474] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2021] [Accepted: 06/11/2021] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Background: Intestinal dysbiosis might play a pathogenetic role in subjects with symptomatic uncomplicated diverticular disease (SUDD), but the effect of rifaximin therapy has been scantly explored with regard to gut microbiota variations in patients with SUDD. Aims: To verify to which extent rifaximin treatment affects the gut microbiota and whether an electronic multisensorial assessment of stools and breath has the potential for detecting these changes. Methods: Breath and stool samples were collected from consecutive patients with SUDD before and after a 7 days' therapy with rifaximin. Stool microbiota was assessed, and the electronic multisensorial assessment was carried out by means of the BIONOTE electronic (e-)tongue in stools and (e-)nose in breath. Results: Forty-three subjects (female 60%, median age 66 years) were included, and 20 (47%) reported clinical improvement after rifaximin therapy. Alpha and beta diversity of stool microbiota did not significantly change after treatment, while a significant variation of selected taxa was shown (i.e., Citrobacter, Coprococcus, Anaerotruncus, Blautia, Eggerthella lenta, Dehalobacterium, SMB53, and Haemophilus parainfluenzae). Overall, the electronic multisensorial system suboptimally mirrored microbiota changes, but it was able to efficiently predict patients' clinical improvement after rifaximin with accuracies ranging from 0.81 to 0.98. Conclusions: In patients with SUDD, rifaximin administration is associated with significant variation of selected taxa. While inaccurate in predicting gut microbiota change, an electronic multisensorial system, made up of e-tongue and e-nose, was able to predict clinical improvement, thus potentially qualifying as an easy and cheap tool to forecast subjects taking most likely benefit from rifaximin therapy.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Marco Santonico
- Unit of Electronics for Sensor Systems, Department of Science and Technology for Humans and the Environment, University Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Rome, Italy
| | - Federica Del Chierico
- Multimodal Laboratory Medicine Research Area, Unit of Human Microbiome, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico, Rome, Italy
| | - Annamaria Altomare
- Unit of Gastroenterology, University Campus Bio Medico of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | | | - Alice Laudisio
- Unit of Geriatrics, University Campus Bio Medico of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Sofia Reddel
- Multimodal Laboratory Medicine Research Area, Unit of Human Microbiome, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico, Rome, Italy
| | - Simone Grasso
- Unit of Electronics for Sensor Systems, Department of Science and Technology for Humans and the Environment, University Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Rome, Italy
| | - Alessandro Zompanti
- Unit of Electronics for Sensor Systems, Department of Engineering, University Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Rome, Italy
| | - Giorgio Pennazza
- Unit of Electronics for Sensor Systems, Department of Engineering, University Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Rome, Italy
| | - Lorenza Putignani
- Multimodal Laboratory Medicine Research Area, Unit of Human Microbiome, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico, Rome, Italy.,Department of Diagnostic and Laboratory Medicine, Unit of Microbiology and Diagnostic Immunology, Unit of Parasitology and Multimodal Laboratory Medicine Research Area, Unit of Human Microbiome, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico, Rome, Italy
| | | | - Michele Cicala
- Unit of Gastroenterology, University Campus Bio Medico of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | | |
Collapse
|
5
|
Design of an Innovative Methodology for Cerebrospinal Fluid Analysis: Preliminary Results. SENSORS 2021; 21:s21113767. [PMID: 34071694 PMCID: PMC8198196 DOI: 10.3390/s21113767] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2021] [Revised: 05/25/2021] [Accepted: 05/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis supports diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases (NDs), however a number of issues limits its potentialities in clinical practice. Here, a newly developed technique for fluid voltammetry, relying on a simple sensor (BIOsensor-based multisensorial system for mimicking Nose, Tongue and Eyes, BIONOTE), was used to test the applicability for CSF analysis. BIONOTE was initially calibrated on an artificial CSF-like solution and then applied on human CSF, either immediately after collection or after refrigerated storage. Following optimization, it was used to evaluate 11 CSF samples correlating the electrochemical dataset with CSF routine parameters and biomarkers of neurodegeneration. Multivariate data analysis was performed for model elaboration and calibration using principal component analysis and partial least squares discriminant analysis. BIONOTE presented a high capacity to predict both physiological and pathological constituents of artificial CSF. It differentiated distinct fresh human CSF samples well but lost accuracy after refrigerated storage. The electrochemical analysis-derived data correlated with either CSF routine cytochemical indexes or a biomarker of neurodegeneration. BIONOTE resulted as being a reliable system for electrochemical analysis of CSF. The CSF fingerprint provided by the sensor has shown itself to be sensitive to CSF modification, thus it is potentially representative of CSF alteration. This result opens the way to its testing in further study addressed at assessing the clinical relevance of the methodology. Because of its advantages due to the ease and rapidity of the methodology, a validation study is now required to translate the technique into clinical practice and improve diagnostic workup of NDs.
Collapse
|