Applications and Advances in Electronic-Nose Technologies

Electronic-nose devices have received considerable attention in the field of sensor technology during the past twenty years, largely due to the discovery of numerous applications derived from research in diverse fields of applied sciences. Recent applications of electronic nose technologies have come through advances in sensor design, material improvements, software innovations and progress in microcircuitry design and systems integration. The invention of many new e-nose sensor types and arrays, based on different detection principles and mechanisms, is closely correlated with the expansion of new applications. Electronic noses have provided a plethora of benefits to a variety of commercial industries, including the agricultural, biomedical, cosmetics, environmental, food, manufacturing, military, pharmaceutical, regulatory, and various scientific research fields. Advances have improved product attributes, uniformity, and consistency as a result of increases in quality control capabilities afforded by electronic-nose monitoring of all phases of industrial manufacturing processes. This paper is a review of the major electronic-nose technologies, developed since this specialized field was born and became prominent in the mid 1980s, and a summarization of some of the more important and useful applications that have been of greatest benefit to man

Expression and prognostic significance of kallikrein-related peptidase 8 protein levels in advanced ovarian cancer by using automated quantitative analysis

Kallikrein-related peptidases, a subgroup of the serine protease enzyme family, are considered to be important prognostic biomarkers in cancer. In this study we sought to determine the prognostic value of kallikrein-related peptidase 8 (KLK8,hK8,KLK-8) in ovarian cancer using a novel method of compartmentalised in situ protein analysis.A tissue array composed of 150 advanced stage ovarian cancers, uniformly treated with surgical debulking followed by platinum-paclitaxel combination chemotherapy,was constructed. For the evaluation of kallikrein-related peptidase 8 protein expression, we used an immunofluorescence-based method of automated in situ quantitative protein analysis (AQUA). Mean follow-up time of the cohort was 34.35 months. One hundred twenty-six of 150 cases had sufficient tissue for AQUA analysis.There were significant correlations between tumour mask KLK8 protein expression levels and clinicopathological variables, including grade (p=0.0011), residual disease (p=0.0063) and clinical response to chemotherapy(p=0.0346). In univariate survival analysis there was a significant correlation between KLK8 tumour mask expression and five years progression-free survival, meanwhile it was not associated with five-year overall survival (p =0.0694). Specifically, low KLK8 expression correlated with better outcome (top vs. bottom quartile, p=0.0319). In multivariate survival analysis, adjusting for well-characterised prognostic variables, tumour KLK8 expression level retained its prognostic significance for progression-free survival (95%Cl: 0.341-1.027, p=0.045). The possibility that KLK8 may be a suitable candidate as a diagnostic and prognostic marker warrants further investigation. © 2009 Schattauer GmbH