GC-MS metabolomics-based approach for the identification of a potential VOC-biomarker panel in the urine of renal cell carcinoma patients

The analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emanating from biological samples appears as one of the most promising approaches in metabolomics for the study of diseases, namely cancer. In fact, it offers advantages, such as non-invasiveness and robustness for high-throughput applications. The purpose of this work was to study the urinary volatile metabolic profile of patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) (n = 30) and controls (n = 37) with the aim of identifying a potential specific urinary volatile pattern as a non-invasive strategy to detect RCC. Moreover, the effect of some confounding factors such as age, gender, smoking habits and body mass index was evaluated as well as the ability of urinary VOCs to discriminate RCC subtypes and stages. A headspace solid-phase microextraction/gas chromatography-mass spectrometry-based method was performed, followed by multivariate data analysis. A variable selection method was applied to reduce the impact of potential redundant and noisy chromatographic variables, and all models were validated by Monte Carlo cross-validation and permutation tests. Regarding the effect of RCC on the urine VOCs composition, a panel of 21 VOCs descriptive of RCC was defined, capable of discriminating RCC patients from controls in principal component analysis. Discriminant VOCs were further individually validated in two independent samples sets (nine RCC patients and 12 controls, seven RCC patients with diabetes mellitus type 2) by univariate statistical analysis. Two VOCs were found consistently and significantly altered between RCC and controls (2-oxopropanal and, according to identification using NIST14, 2,5,8-trimethyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydronaphthalene-1-ol), strongly suggesting enhanced potential as RCC biomarkers. Gender, smoking habits and body mass index showed negligible and age-only minimal effects on the urinary VOCs, compared to the deviations resultant from the disease. Moreover, in this cohort, the urinary volatilome did not show ability to discriminate RCC stages and histological subtypes. The results validated the value of urinary volatilome for the detection of RCC and advanced with the identification of potential RCC urinary biomarkers.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

An Animation Character Robot That Increases Sales

Performing the role of a shopping assistant is one promising application for social robots. Robot clerks can provide a richer experience for customers and increase sales; however, the scant opportunities for interaction with customers in real shopping environments is a typical drawback. We solve this problem by developing a unique networked salesclerk system that consists of a virtual agent that acts through the customer’s smartphone and a physical agent that performs as a robot salesclerk in an actual store environment. Toward this capability, in cooperation with Production I.G. Inc., an animation production company, we adopted a character named Tachikoma from “Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex” (commonly known as the S.A.C. series) when designing the appearance and features of both agents. We conducted a field test to investigate how our system contributed to the sales of Ghost in the Shell anime-themed products, and the results showed the advantages of our system for increasing sales

An Animation Character Robot That Increases Sales

Performing the role of a shopping assistant is one promising application for social robots. Robot clerks can provide a richer experience for customers and increase sales; however, the scant opportunities for interaction with customers in real shopping environments is a typical drawback. We solve this problem by developing a unique networked salesclerk system that consists of a virtual agent that acts through the customer’s smartphone and a physical agent that performs as a robot salesclerk in an actual store environment. Toward this capability, in cooperation with Production I.G. Inc., an animation production company, we adopted a character named Tachikoma from “Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex” (commonly known as the S.A.C. series) when designing the appearance and features of both agents. We conducted a field test to investigate how our system contributed to the sales of Ghost in the Shell anime-themed products, and the results showed the advantages of our system for increasing sales