Application and uses of electronic noses for clinical diagnosis on urine samples: A review

The electronic nose is able to provide useful information through the analysis of the volatile organic compounds in body fluids, such as exhaled breath, urine and blood. This paper focuses on the review of electronic nose studies and applications in the specific field of medical diagnostics based on the analysis of the gaseous headspace of human urine, in order to provide a broad overview of the state of the art and thus enhance future developments in this field. The research in this field is rather recent and still in progress, and there are several aspects that need to be investigated more into depth, not only to develop and improve specific electronic noses for different diseases, but also with the aim to discover and analyse the connections between specific diseases and the body fluids odour. Further research is needed to improve the results obtained up to now; the development of new sensors and data processing methods should lead to greater diagnostic accuracy thus making the electronic nose an effective tool for early detection of different kinds of diseases, ranging from infections to tumours or exposure to toxic agents

Inorganic film formers. Material and use

The paper aims to get in evidence some aspect of the synthesis and the use of sol-gel materials as film formers. Silica molecules modified with hydrocarbon chains carrying halogen atoms (F), aromatic function (C6H4;5) achieve a very impressive variety of applications. While the silica chemistry has been studied by long time, the sol-gel process get a new vitality from the better understanding of the microscopic structural changes induced by the different organic modified silica compound (chemical changes), by the addition of functional molecules and by the choice of solvents for the reactions and the application of the material before the use. From this point of view is very imperative to establish the kinetic of the hydrolysis and condensation reaction. The understanding of the possibility to use silica organically modified polymer as film formers is a interesting field where chemistry, material science, technology of the application and industrial constraints get together. The paper is the first from a study devoted to design sol-gel pigmented formulations for metal surface and we try to organise the enormous number of information on the sol-gel dispersion

PRE-COATING BY HYBRID INORGANIC/ORGANIC FILMS.

Hybrid inorganic-organic coating obtained by the sol gel chemistry is a promising technique for the achievement of homogeneous films with improved mechanical properties. The research developed in the protective optical film sector has been training for many industrial applications e.g. the metal corrosion protection through thin film used like a primer or shop primer deposition. Selecting proper wet-reaction parameters and application, the organic/inorganic precursors and additives to promote adhesion firstly, metal substrates can be thin coated. The deposition can be performed by the usual spray technique, dip-coating, or the more recently developed electrochemistry. Formulations can be studied starting from the chemical and physical aspects to satisfy many different objectives

Temperature effect on H2S diffusion through nalophan™

The Hydrogen sulphide (H2S) loss, an odorous molecule of small dimensions, through NalophanTM bags has been studied. The diffusion coefficient of H2S through the Nalophan™ film was evaluated using the Fick's law, and it turned out to be equal to 7.55E-12 (m2/s) at a temperature of 23°C and a relative humidity of 60%. This D coefficient entails a reduction of 17% of H2S into 30 hours of storage time. Moreover, the role of humidity on diffusion speed was evaluated by storing the Nalophan™ bags at relative humidity condition of 20% and temperature of 23°C. In this condition, the loss percentage of H2S (%) after 30 h turns out to be equal to about 23%. The results show that the diffusion phenomena are affected by the relative humidity storage condition: by decreasing the relative humidity of storage condition it is observed a weak increase of H2S (%) loss. Also the sampling at high temperature (i.e 75°C or 130°C) was evaluated by heating the filled Nalophan™ bags for 5 minute respectively at 75°C and 130°C and then by storing the Nalophan™ bags at relative humidity condition of 20% or 60% and temperature of 23°C. The results show a loss percentage of H2S after the heat treatment (i.e 75°C or 130°C) of the film not negligible in a range of 30-36%. This behaviour could be attributed to the proximity of the glass transition temperature of the Nalophan™