Applied Nanodetectors (United Kingdom)

<title>Abstract</title> How will climate change affect the composition of the seabed? Ongoing climate change impacts nearly every area of our oceans. While coastal impacts of flooding and erosion are well studied, less attention has been paid to the impact of increased storminess and regional sea level rise on the seafloor, its sediments, and the benthic habitats which rely on it. Making use of a set of 3D hydrodynamic and wave models, and CMIP5 climate projections, we investigate and quantify the drivers of seafloor stresses. Our study maps the potential for grain size mobilisation in current and future projections, highlighting areas where seabed composition is likely to change in future. Sea level rise not only alters absolute water depth but also modifies current stresses by shifting the phase and magnitude of the tides. Rising sea levels also reduce exposure of the seabed to ocean waves. However, increased storm intensity in a warming world will lead to more frequent periodic disturbance of an otherwise increasingly immobile seabed. These predicted changes and their expected impact on the benthic environment are discussed in the context of the increasing anthropogenic activity in the marine environment and the associated challenges in marine spatial management.

Background:Asthma presents significant diagnostic and therapeutic challenges, impacting millions and posing a substantial burden on healthcare systems, particularly in the United Kingdom, where it afflicts roughly 5.4 million individuals. Severe asthma, incurring over 50% of total expenditures, tends to lead to frequent exacerbations and preventable emergency admissions. Traditional diagnostic methods, primarily based on clinical history, can result in delays and misdiagnoses, culpable for over 1,200 deaths annually, 90% of which are considered preventable with timely intervention.Objective:To address this issue, we developed Exhale-Dx™, a point-of-care breath test platform that provides a non-invasive, user-friendly solution for asthma diagnosis and monitoring. Exhale-Dx™ captures volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in exhaled breath, reflecting real-time metabolic and inflammatory markers of lung function. By analyzing these personalized breath signatures, clinicians and patients can detect exacerbations up to three days in advance, thus facilitating early and targeted interventions to reduce emergency care utilization. The system integrates capnographic waveforms, asthma control scores, and clinical lung function data, offering a comprehensive diagnostic profile.Methods:Using Exhale-Dx™ data, we developed the Asthma Diagnostic Enhanced Neural Architecture (ADENA), an advanced deep neural network that leverages VOC biomarkers and lung function data to enhance diagnostic precision.Results:ADENA achieved exceptional performance, delivering 98.7% accuracy, an F1 score of 0.98, and a low mean squared error of 0.065. The deconvolution analysis further confirmed the model’s ability to detect significant physiological differences between asthmatic and non-asthmatic profiles.Conclusion:Our findings showed that VOC analysis combined with advanced neural networks could accurately distinguish asthmatic profiles, highlighting their potential for early, non-invasive interventions in respiratory health diagnostics.