Electronic nose applications in environmental monitoring are nowadays of great interest, because of the instruments' proven capability of recognizing and discriminating between a variety of different gases and odors using just a small number of sensors. Such applications in the environmental field include analysis of parameters relating to environmental quality, process control, and verification of efficiency of odor control systems. This article reviews the findings of recent scientific studies in this field, with particular focus on the abovementioned applications. In general, these studies prove that electronic noses are mostly suitable for the different applications reported, especially if the instruments are specifically developed and fine-tuned. As a general rule, literature studies also discuss the critical aspects connected with the different possible uses, as well as research regarding the development of effective solutions. However, currently the main limit to the diffusion of electronic noses as environmental monitoring tools is their complexity and the lack of specific regulation for their standardization, as their use entails a large number of degrees of freedom, regarding for instance the training and the data processing procedures.
Prostate cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death among men. It is an asymptomatic and slow growing tumour, which starts occurring in young men, but can be detected only around the age of 40–50. Although its long latency period and potential curability make prostate cancer a perfect candidate for screening programs, the current procedure lacks in specificity. Researchers are rising to the challenge of developing innovative tools able of detecting the disease during its early stage that is the most curable. In recent years, the interest in characterisation of biological fluids aimed at the identification of tumour-specific compounds has increased significantly, since cell neoplastic transformation causes metabolic alterations leading to volatile organic compounds release. In the scientific literature, different approaches have been proposed. Many studies focus on the identification of a cancer-characteristic “odour fingerprint” emanated from biological samples through the application of sensorial or senso-instrumental analyses, others suggest a chemical characterisation of biological fluids with the aim of identifying prostate cancer (PCa)-specific biomarkers. This paper focuses on the review of literary studies in the field of prostate cancer diagnosis, in order to provide an overview of innovative methods based on the analysis of urine, thereby comparing them with the traditional diagnostic procedures.
Exhaustive odour impact assessment should involve the evaluation of the impact of odours directly on citizens. For this purpose it might be useful to have an instrument capable of continuously monitoring ambient air quality, detecting the presence of odours and also recognizing their provenance. This paper discusses the laboratory and field tests conducted in order to evaluate the performance of a new electronic nose, specifically developed for monitoring environmental odours. The laboratory tests proved the instrument was able to discriminate between the different pure substances being tested, and to estimate the odour concentrations giving correlation indexes (R2) of 0.99 and errors below 15%. Finally, the experimental monitoring tests conducted in the field, allowed us to verify the effectiveness of this electronic nose for the continuous detection of odours in ambient air, proving its stability to variable atmospheric conditions and its capability to detect odour peaks.
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