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State-of-the-art methods for non-invasive detection of the Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection have been considered. A reported global tendency towards a non-decreasing prevalence of H. pylori worldwide could be co-influenced by the functional limitations of urea breath tests (UBTs), currently preferred for the non-invasive recognition of H. pylori in a clinical setting. Namely, the UBTs can demonstrate false-positive or false-negative results. Within this context, limitations of conventional clinically exploited H. pylori tests have been discussed to justify the existing need for the development of a new generation of breath tests for the detection of H. pylori and the differentiation of pathogenic and non-pathogenic strains of the bacterium. This paper presents the results of a pilot clinical study aimed at evaluating the development and diagnostic potential of a new method based on the detection of the non-urease products of H. pylori vital activity in exhaled gas. The characteristics of breath of adolescents with H. pylori-positive and H. pylori-negative functional dyspepsia, together with a consideration of the cytotoxin-associated gene A (CagA) status of H. pylori-positive subjects, have been determined for the first time using innovative point-contact nanosensor devices based on salts of the organic conductor tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ). The clinical and diagnostic relevance of the response curves of the point-contact sensors was assessed. It was found that the recovery time of the point-contact sensors has a diagnostic value for differentiation of the H. pylori-associated peptic ulcer disease. The diagnostically significant elongation of the recovery time was even more pronounced in patients infected with CagA-positive H. pylori strains compared to the CagA-negative patients. Taking into account the operation of the point-contact sensors in the real-time mode, the obtained results are essential prerequisites for the development of a fast and portable breath test for non-invasive detection of cytotoxic CagA strains of H. pylori infection. The relaxation time of the point-contact nanosensors could be selected as a diagnostic criterion for non-invasive determination of H. pylori-associated destructive lesions of the gastroduodenal area in adolescents, using the point-contact spectroscopic concept of breath analysis. This can subsequently be implemented into a 'test-and-treat' approach for the management of uninvestigated dyspepsia in populations with a high prevalence of H. pylori (according to the Maastricht III and IV Consensus recommendations).

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Theoretical and practical results of the treatment of water and aqueous solutions by lowtemperature nonequilibrium contact plasma are considered. It is shown that the liquid medium in the process of plasma treatment or thereafter undergoes significant structural and physical-chemical transformations, the use of which opens up new horizons in the modernization or improvement of technological processes to replace out-of-dated or obsolete ones.