Accurate, Rapid Quantification of Cholesterol

描述（由申请人提供）：心脏病和中风是美国第一和第三大死亡原因，占所有死亡人数的40%以上，每年约95万人。统计数据显示，约有6100万美国人（占美国人口的四分之一）患有某种形式的心血管疾病，这是导致成年劳动者过早、永久性残疾的主要原因。根据疾病控制和预防中心的数据，2003年心脏病和中风的费用为3510亿美元；主要原因是脂肪和胆固醇在动脉壁的沉积（动脉粥样硬化）。许多研究表明，高血胆固醇是冠心病的主要危险因素。这个提议的假设和动机是，通过一个足够简单和足够低成本的家庭护理使用的系统来准确和同时测量各种胆固醇成分的方法将代表医疗保健的重大改进。目前，复杂的胆固醇监测系统相当昂贵，而实际负担得起的（低于8000美元）家庭护理胆固醇监测仪不能提供全面的结果。该提案寻求对开发一种设备所需的基础科学和工程的支持，该设备可以快速，准确地量化总胆固醇，高密度脂蛋白（HDL），低密度脂蛋白（LDL）和甘油三酯，这些通常用于指示发生冠心病的风险。该技术基于磁弹性传感器，这是一种由带状非晶铁磁合金制成的无线无源磁性传感器平台。当暴露于激发磁场时，传感器振动，产生二次磁通量，可以用磁线圈远程检测。由于质量负载会阻碍传感器的振动并改变其共振频率和振幅，因此可以通过使用与胆固醇基团反应的吸收涂层来使传感器功能化，或使用暴露于特定胆固醇基团时在传感器表面诱导沉淀的溶液来实现胆固醇监测。具体目标包括{1}传感器阵列的开发，响应LDL，总胆固醇和甘油三酯；{2}开发传感器读取器，用于同时监测多个传感器元件，以及将传感器响应转换为LDL， HDL，总胆固醇和甘油三酯水平的算法；{3}的设计和原型制造的一次性墨盒容纳传感器阵列。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Heart disease and stroke are the first and third leading causes of death in the United States, accounting for more than 40% of all deaths, or about 950,000 each year. Statistics have shown that about 61 million Americans, or one-fourth of the population, have some form of cardiovascular disease, which is a leading cause of premature, permanent disability among working adults. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2003 the cost of heart disease and stroke was $351 billion; the major cause being deposition of fat and cholesterol at the artery wall (atherosclerosis). Many studies have demonstrated that high blood cholesterol is a major risk factor for coronary heart disease. It is the hypothesis, and motivation of this proposal that a method for accurately and simultaneously measuring the various cholesterol components via a system simple enough and low cost enough for home-care use would represent a significant improvement in health care. Currently, sophisticated cholesterol monitoring systems are quite expensive, while realistically affordable (less than $8000) homecare cholesterol monitors do not provide comprehensive results. This proposal seeks support for the underlying science and engineering necessary for development of a device that can rapidly, and accurately, quantify total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and triglycerides that are commonly used to indicate the risk of developing coronary heart disease. The technology is based on the magnetoelastic sensor, a wireless, passive magnetism-based sensor platform made of a ribbon-shaped amorphous ferromagnetic alloy. When exposed to an excitation magnetic field, the sensor vibrates, generating a secondary magnetic flux that can be remotely detected with a magnetic coil. Since a mass load hinders the vibration of the sensor and alters its resonance frequency and amplitude, cholesterol monitoring can be realized by functionalizing the sensor with an absorbing coating that reacts to a cholesterol group, or using a solution that induces precipitation on the sensor surface when exposed to a particular cholesterol group. Specific objectives include {1} development of a sensor array that responds to LDL, total cholesterol and triglycerides; {2} development of a sensor reader for simultaneously monitoring multiple sensor elements, as well as an algorithm to translate sensor responses into LDL, HDL, total cholesterol and triglyceride levels; {3} design and prototype fabrication of a disposable cartridge that holds the sensor array.