{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,12]],"date-time":"2025-10-12T02:49:42Z","timestamp":1760237382059,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,5,7]],"date-time":"2020-05-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1588809600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100010665","name":"H2020 Marie Sk\u0142odowska-Curie Actions","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["645758"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["645758"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100010665","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Here we present a proof-of-concept study showing the potential of a chemical gas sensors system to identify the patients with alveolar echinococcosis disease through exhaled breath analysis. The sensors system employed comprised an array of three commercial gas sensors and a custom gas sensor based on WO3 nanowires doped with gold nanoparticles, optimized for the measurement of common breath volatile organic compounds. The measurement setup was designed for the concomitant measurement of both sensors DC resistance and AC fluctuations during breath samples exposure. Discriminant Function Analysis classification models were built with features extracted from sensors responses, and the discrimination of alveolar echinococcosis was estimated through bootstrap validation. The commercial sensor that detects gases such as alkane derivatives and ethanol, associated with lipid peroxidation and intestinal gut flora, provided the best classification (63.4% success rate, 66.3% sensitivity and 54.6% specificity) when sensors\u2019 responses were individually analyzed, while the model built with the AC features extracted from the responses of the cross-reactive sensors array yielded 90.2% classification success rate, 93.6% sensitivity and 79.4% specificity. This result paves the way for the development of a noninvasive, easy to use, fast and inexpensive diagnostic test for alveolar echinococcosis diagnosis at an early stage, when curative treatment can be applied to the patients.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s20092666","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,5,8]],"date-time":"2020-05-08T03:45:20Z","timestamp":1588909520000},"page":"2666","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Assessment of Electronic Sensing Techniques for the Rapid Identification of Alveolar Echinococcosis through Exhaled Breath Analysis"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"20","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4674-5318","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andrzej","family":"Kwiatkowski","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Metrology and Optoelectronics, Faculty of Electronics, Telecommunications and Informatics, Gda\u0144sk University of Technology, 80233 Gda\u0144sk, Poland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Tomasz","family":"Chludzi\u0144ski","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Metrology and Optoelectronics, Faculty of Electronics, Telecommunications and Informatics, Gda\u0144sk University of Technology, 80233 Gda\u0144sk, Poland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Tarik","family":"Saidi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Sensor Electronic &amp; Instrumentation Group, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Physics, Moulay Isma\u00efl University of Meknes, B.P. 11201, Zitoune, Meknes 50050, Morocco"},{"name":"Biotechnology Agroalimentary and Biomedical Analysis Group, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Biology, Moulay Isma\u00efl University of Meknes, B.P. 11201, Zitoune, Meknes 50050, Morocco"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2553-946X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tesfalem Geremariam","family":"Welearegay","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Electronics, Electrical and Automatic Engineering, Rovira i Virgili University, 43007 Tarragona, Spain"},{"name":"The \u00c5ngstr\u00f6m Laboratory, Division of Solid State Physics, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Uppsala University, 75121 Uppsala, Sweden"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Aylen Lisset","family":"Jaimes-Mogoll\u00f3n","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"GISM Group, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, University of Pamplona, Pamplona 543050, Colombia"},{"name":"Department of Chemical Engineering, Complutense University of Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Nezha","family":"El Bari","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Biotechnology Agroalimentary and Biomedical Analysis Group, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Biology, Moulay Isma\u00efl University of Meknes, B.P. 11201, Zitoune, Meknes 50050, Morocco"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Sebastian","family":"Borys","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University Centre of Maritime and Tropical Medicine, 81519 Gdynia-Redlowo, Poland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Benachir","family":"Bouchikhi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Sensor Electronic &amp; Instrumentation Group, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Physics, Moulay Isma\u00efl University of Meknes, B.P. 11201, Zitoune, Meknes 50050, Morocco"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1459-4199","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Janusz","family":"Smulko","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Metrology and Optoelectronics, Faculty of Electronics, Telecommunications and Informatics, Gda\u0144sk University of Technology, 80233 Gda\u0144sk, Poland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Radu","family":"Ionescu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The \u00c5ngstr\u00f6m Laboratory, Division of Solid State Physics, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Uppsala University, 75121 Uppsala, Sweden"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,5,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"World Health Organisation (2020, March 31). Echinococcosis. Available online: https:\/\/www.who.int\/news-room\/fact-sheets\/detail\/echinococcosis."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"315","DOI":"10.1016\/bs.apar.2016.11.001","article-title":"Global distribution of alveolar and cystic echinococcosis","volume":"95","author":"Deplazes","year":"2017","journal-title":"Adv. Parasitol."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"407","DOI":"10.1016\/j.pt.2015.06.001","article-title":"Threat of alveolar echinococcosis to public health\u2014A challenge for Europe","volume":"31","author":"Gottstein","year":"2015","journal-title":"Trends Parasitol."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1119","DOI":"10.3201\/eid2406.161641","article-title":"Intense focus of alveolar echinococcosis, South Kyrgyzstan","volume":"24","author":"Bebezov","year":"2018","journal-title":"Emerg. Infect. Dis."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1169","DOI":"10.4254\/wjh.v8.i28.1169","article-title":"Current status of diagnosis and treatment of hepatic echinococcosis","volume":"8","author":"Mihmanli","year":"2016","journal-title":"World J. Hepatol."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"25","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cccn.2004.04.023","article-title":"Diagnostic potential of breath analysis-focus on volatile organic compounds","volume":"347","author":"Miekisch","year":"2004","journal-title":"Clin. Chim. Acta"},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"687","DOI":"10.1021\/cn2000603","article-title":"Detection of multiple sclerosis from exhaled breath using bilayers of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and single-wall carbon nanotubes","volume":"2","author":"Ionescu","year":"2011","journal-title":"ACS Chem. Neurosci."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"291","DOI":"10.1177\/194589240101500501","article-title":"Medical applications of electronic nose technology: Review of current status","volume":"15","author":"Thaler","year":"2001","journal-title":"Am. J. Rhinol."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.trac.2011.09.013","article-title":"A review of breath analysis for diagnosis of human health","volume":"33","author":"Kim","year":"2012","journal-title":"Trends Anal. Chem."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"112","DOI":"10.1021\/acsnano.6b04930","article-title":"Diagnosis and classification of 17 diseases from 1404 subjects via pattern analysis of exhaled molecules","volume":"11","author":"Nakhleh","year":"2017","journal-title":"ACS Nano"},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2753","DOI":"10.1109\/TBME.2010.2055864","article-title":"A novel breath analysis system based on electronic olfaction","volume":"57","author":"Guo","year":"2010","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.aca.2014.03.014","article-title":"Solid-state gas sensors for breath analysis: A review","volume":"824","author":"Paolesse","year":"2014","journal-title":"Anal. Chim. Acta"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"66","DOI":"10.1021\/ar400070m","article-title":"Sensors for breath testing: From nanomaterials to comprehensive disease detection","volume":"47","author":"Konvalina","year":"2014","journal-title":"Acc. Chem. Res."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"9","DOI":"10.1016\/j.talanta.2016.06.063","article-title":"Fluctuation-enhanced sensing with organically functionalized gold nanoparticle gas sensors targeting biomedical applications","volume":"160","author":"Lentka","year":"2016","journal-title":"Talanta"},{"key":"ref_15","first-page":"101","article-title":"Diagnosis of human echinococcosis via exhaled breath analysis: A promise for rapid diagnosis of infectious diseases caused by helminths","volume":"219","author":"Welearegay","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Infect. Dis."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1719","DOI":"10.1016\/j.snb.2018.07.098","article-title":"Exhaled breath gas sensing using pristine and functionalized WO3 nanowire sensors enhanced by UV-light irradiation","volume":"273","author":"Saidi","year":"2018","journal-title":"Sens. Actuators B Chem."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.actatropica.2009.11.001","article-title":"Expert consensus for the diagnosis and treatment of cystic and alveolar echinococcosis in humans","volume":"114","author":"Brunetti","year":"2010","journal-title":"Acta Trop."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Sinues, P.M.-L., Kohler, M., and Zenobi, R. (2013). Human breath analysis may support the existence of individual metabolic phenotypes. PLoS ONE, 8.","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0059909"},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"55","DOI":"10.1016\/S0925-4005(00)00586-4","article-title":"Extracting information from noise spectra of chemical sensors: Single sensor electronic noses and tongues","volume":"71","author":"Kish","year":"2000","journal-title":"Sens. Actuators B Chem."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1237","DOI":"10.1039\/b205009a","article-title":"Quantitative analysis of NO2 in the presence of CO using a single tungsten oxide semiconductor sensor and dynamic signal processing","volume":"127","author":"Ionescu","year":"2002","journal-title":"Analyst"},{"key":"ref_21","unstructured":"Dziedzic, A., Kolek, A., and Licznerski, B. (1999, January 18\u201320). Noise and nonlinearity of gas sensors\u2014Preliminary results. Proceedings of the 22nd International Spring Seminar on Electronics Technology, Dresden-Freital, Germany."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2294","DOI":"10.1021\/nl3001293","article-title":"Selective gas sensing with a single pristine graphene transistor","volume":"12","author":"Rumyantsev","year":"2012","journal-title":"Nano Lett."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"549","DOI":"10.1038\/nnano.2013.144","article-title":"Low-frequency 1\/f noise in graphene devices","volume":"8","author":"Balandin","year":"2013","journal-title":"Nat. Nanotechnol."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"451","DOI":"10.1016\/j.snb.2005.05.033","article-title":"Adsorption\u2013desorption noise in gas sensors: Modelling using Langmuir and Wolkenstein models for adsorption","volume":"114","author":"Gomri","year":"2006","journal-title":"Sens. Actuators B Chem."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"359","DOI":"10.1142\/S0219477510000277","article-title":"Hazardous gases detection by fluctuation-enhanced gas sensing","volume":"9","author":"Kotarski","year":"2010","journal-title":"Fluct. Noise Lett."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"157","DOI":"10.1016\/j.gene.2003.10.027","article-title":"Functional expression and characterization of Echinococcus granulosus thioredoxin peroxidase suggests a role in protection against oxidative damage","volume":"326","author":"Li","year":"2004","journal-title":"Gene"},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"49","DOI":"10.1016\/0166-6851(96)02578-9","article-title":"Molecular cloning, expression and characterization of a recombinant glutathione S-transferase from Echinococcus multilocularis","volume":"77","author":"Liebau","year":"1996","journal-title":"Mol. Biochem. Parasitol."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Lee, S.C., San Tang, M., Lim, Y.A., Choy, S.H., Kurtz, Z.D., Cox, L.M., Gundra, U.M., Cho, I., Bonneau, R., and Blaser, M.J. (2014). Helminth colonization is associated with increased diversity of the gut microbiota. PLoS Negl. Trop. Dis., 8.","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pntd.0002880"},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"21","DOI":"10.1080\/10408347.2011.521729","article-title":"Breath ammonia analysis: Clinical application and measurement","volume":"41","author":"Hibbard","year":"2011","journal-title":"Crit. Rev. Anal. Chem."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"300","DOI":"10.1016\/j.snb.2014.02.043","article-title":"The stability, sensitivity and response transients of ZnO, SnO2 and WO3 sensors under acetone, toluene and H2S environments","volume":"197","author":"Lee","year":"2014","journal-title":"Sens. Actuators B Chem."}],"container-title":["Sensors"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/20\/9\/2666\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T09:26:23Z","timestamp":1760174783000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/20\/9\/2666"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2020,5,7]]},"references-count":30,"journal-issue":{"issue":"9","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,5]]}},"alternative-id":["s20092666"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/s20092666","relation":{},"ISSN":["1424-8220"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"1424-8220"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2020,5,7]]}}}