SCH: EXP: Canine-Inspired Smart Sensor for Detecting Hypoglycemia from Human Breath

糖尿病是一种全球性和全国性的流行病。在美国，十分之一的医疗保健费用直接用于糖尿病。1型糖尿病患者，特别是儿童和老年人，可能会出现血糖突然下降，也就是说，他们可能会变得低血糖。如果它仍然不被识别，这可能是非常危险的。导致低血糖的代谢过程在人体呼吸和汗液中产生气味。具体的气味并不为医学界所知，但受过训练的糖尿病警报犬可以从患者呼吸中的气味中识别出低血糖的发作。该奖项支持识别人类呼吸中低血糖气味的基础研究，以及开发能够检测气味并向患者，护理人员和家庭成员传达健康信息的非侵入性手持式智能传感器。智能设备的开发将改善1型糖尿病患者的健康监测选择，最终降低医疗成本，改善患者及其护理人员的生活方式。这项研究将为研究生和本科生提供跨学科的研究经验。此外，该项目将支持代表性不足的群体的参与，并为印第安纳州和美国的K-12学生和教师提供教育推广计划。导致低血糖的代谢过程会导致人类呼吸中产生特定的挥发性有机化合物。目前医学界还没有使用这一事实来监测糖尿病或跟踪低血糖的发作。然而，受过训练的糖尿病警报犬能够识别这些化合物并识别低血糖的发作。在此之后，本提案的目的是开发一种新型智能设备，能够检测与低血糖相关的人体呼吸中的挥发性有机化合物分布。这将分三个步骤完成。首先，识别低血糖特征呼吸曲线，这将通过对糖尿病警报犬的测试来验证。第二，开发能够检测所识别化合物的纳米传感器阵列。第三，将纳米传感器阵列并入便携式智能设备中。呼吸中挥发性有机化合物的监测挑战了现有的思维方式，即葡萄糖是低血糖症唯一有用的代谢标志物。这项工作还将帮助研究人员了解与低血糖相关的代谢途径。此外，将开发的直观和安全的移动的应用程序界面将有效地传达相关的医疗保健信息。

Diabetes is a global and national epidemic. One in ten healthcare dollars in the U.S. is spent on costs directly attributable to diabetes. Persons with Type-1 diabetes, especially children and the elderly, can experience sudden drops in blood sugar, that is, they can become hypoglycemic. This can be very dangerous if it remains unrecognized. The metabolic processes that lead to hypoglycemia generate odorants in human breath and perspiration. The specific odorants are not known by the medical community, but trained diabetes alert dogs can recognize the onset of hypoglycemia from odorants in a patient's breath. This award supports the basic research to identify the odorants of hypoglycemia in human breath and the development of a noninvasive hand-held smart sensor able to detect the odorants and communicate health information to patients, caregivers, and family members. Development of the smart device will improve health-monitoring options for persons with Type-1 diabetes, ultimately leading to decreased healthcare costs and improved lifestyles for the patients and their caregivers. This research will provide interdisciplinary research experiences to graduate and undergraduate students. In addition, this project will support participation of underrepresented groups and educational outreach programs for K-12 students and teachers across Indiana and the U.S.The metabolic processes that lead to hypoglycemia cause the production of specific volatile organic compounds in human breath. This fact is not currently used by the medical community to monitor diabetes or track the onset of hypoglycemia. However, trained diabetes alert dogs are able to identify these compounds and recognize the onset of hypoglycemia. Following this, the objective of this proposal is to develop a novel smart device able to detect the volatile organic compound profile in human breath that correlates with hypoglycemia. This will be accomplished in three steps. First, the identification of the hypoglycemic-signature breath profile, which will be validated by testing with diabetes alert dogs. Second, the development of a nanosensor array capable of detecting the identified compounds. Third, the incorporation of the nanosensor array into a portable smart device. The monitoring of volatile organic compounds in breath challenges the existing way of thinking that glucose is the only useful metabolic marker of hypoglycemia. This work will also aid researchers in understanding metabolic pathways associated with hypoglycemia. Moreover, the intuitive and secure mobile application interface that will be developed will effectively communicate relevant healthcare information.