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Urinary Volatile Organic Compound Testing in Fast-Track Patients with Suspected Colorectal Cancer (2022)
Journal Article
Boulind, C. E., Gould, O., Costello, B. D. L., Allison, J., White, P., Ewings, P., …Francis, N. K. (2022). Urinary Volatile Organic Compound Testing in Fast-Track Patients with Suspected Colorectal Cancer. Cancers, 14(9), 2127. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14092127

Colorectal symptoms are common but only infrequently represent serious pathology, including colorectal cancer (CRC). A large number of invasive tests are presently performed for reassurance. We investigated the feasibility of urinary volatile organic... Read More about Urinary Volatile Organic Compound Testing in Fast-Track Patients with Suspected Colorectal Cancer.

Investigation of urinary volatile organic compounds as novel diagnostic and surveillance biomarkers of bladder cancer (2022)
Journal Article
Lett, L., George, M., Slater, R., De Lacy Costello, B., Ratcliffe, N., García-Fiñana, M., …Probert, C. (2022). Investigation of urinary volatile organic compounds as novel diagnostic and surveillance biomarkers of bladder cancer. British Journal of Cancer, 127(2), 329-336. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-022-01785-8

Background: The diagnosis and surveillance of urothelial bladder cancer (UBC) require cystoscopy. There is a need for biomarkers to reduce the frequency of cystoscopy in surveillance; urinary volatile organic compound (VOC) analysis could fulfil this... Read More about Investigation of urinary volatile organic compounds as novel diagnostic and surveillance biomarkers of bladder cancer.

Application of a solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry/metal oxide sensor system for detection of antibiotic susceptibility in urinary tract infection-causing Escherichia coli – A proof of principle study (2021)
Journal Article
Drabińska, N., Hewett, K., White, P., Avison, M., Persad, R., Ratcliffe, N., & de Lacy Costello, B. (2021). Application of a solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry/metal oxide sensor system for detection of antibiotic susceptibility in urinary tract infection-causing Escherichia coli – A proof of principle study. Advances in Medical Sciences, 67(1), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advms.2021.09.001

Purpose: Antibiotic resistance is widespread throughout the world and represents a serious health concern. There is an urgent need for the development of novel tools for rapidly distinguishing antibiotic resistant bacteria from susceptible strains. P... Read More about Application of a solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry/metal oxide sensor system for detection of antibiotic susceptibility in urinary tract infection-causing Escherichia coli – A proof of principle study.

Rare earth doped metal oxide sensor for the multimodal detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) (2020)
Journal Article
Fois, M., Cox, T., Ratcliffe, N., & de Lacy Costello, B. (2021). Rare earth doped metal oxide sensor for the multimodal detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 330, Article 129264. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.snb.2020.129264

Heated metal oxide sensors have been widely studied for their ability to give a reversible change in the electrical resistance following the interaction with a volatile compound. Another feature is their inherent cataluminescence (CTL) properties whe... Read More about Rare earth doped metal oxide sensor for the multimodal detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

Towards the identification of antibiotic-resistant bacteria causing urinary tract infections using volatile organic compounds analysis—a pilot study (2020)
Journal Article
Hewett, K., Drabinska, N., White, P., Avison, M., Persad, R., Ratcliffe, N., & de Lacy Costello, B. (2020). Towards the identification of antibiotic-resistant bacteria causing urinary tract infections using volatile organic compounds analysis—a pilot study. Antibiotics, 9(11), 797. https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics9110797

Antibiotic resistance is an unprecedented threat to modern medicine. The analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from bacteria potentially offers a rapid way to determine antibiotic susceptibility in bacteria. This study aimed to find the optim... Read More about Towards the identification of antibiotic-resistant bacteria causing urinary tract infections using volatile organic compounds analysis—a pilot study.

Sniffing out resistance – Rapid identification of urinary tract infection-causing bacteria and their antibiotic susceptibility using volatile metabolite profiles (2019)
Journal Article
Smart, A., de Lacy Costello, B., White, P., Avison, M., Batty, C., Turner, C., …Ratcliffe, N. (2019). Sniffing out resistance – Rapid identification of urinary tract infection-causing bacteria and their antibiotic susceptibility using volatile metabolite profiles. Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis, 167, 59-65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpba.2019.01.044

© 2019 Elsevier B.V. Antibiotic resistance is set to be an unprecedented threat to modern medicine. ‘Sniffing’ bacteria potentially offers a rapid way to determine susceptibility. A successful proof-of-principle study is described, using thermal deso... Read More about Sniffing out resistance – Rapid identification of urinary tract infection-causing bacteria and their antibiotic susceptibility using volatile metabolite profiles.

Gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) quantification of metabolites in stool using13 C labelled compounds (2018)
Journal Article
Gould, O., Costello, B. D. L., Smart, A., Jones, P., Macmaster, A., Ransley, K., & Ratcliffe, N. (2018). Gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) quantification of metabolites in stool using13 C labelled compounds. Metabolites, 8(4), 75. https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo8040075

© 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. It has become increasingly important to qualitatively and quantitatively assess the volatile metabolites in a range of bodily fluids for use in monitoring health. There has been relatively lit... Read More about Gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) quantification of metabolites in stool using13 C labelled compounds.

Assessment of a combined gas chromatography mass spectrometer sensor system for detecting biologically relevant volatile compounds (2017)
Journal Article
Gould, O., Ratcliffe, N. M., De Lacy Costello, B., Wieczorek, T., & Persad, R. (2018). Assessment of a combined gas chromatography mass spectrometer sensor system for detecting biologically relevant volatile compounds. Journal of Breath Research, 12(1), 016009. https://doi.org/10.1088/1752-7163/aa8efe

© 2017 IOP Publishing Ltd. There have been a number of studies in which metal oxide sensors (MOS) have replaced conventional analytical detectors in gas chromatography systems. However, despite the use of these instruments in a range of applications... Read More about Assessment of a combined gas chromatography mass spectrometer sensor system for detecting biologically relevant volatile compounds.

Irritable bowel syndrome and active inflammatory bowel disease diagnosed by faecal gas analysis (2016)
Journal Article
Aggio, R. B., White, P., Jayasena, H., de Lacy Costello, B., Ratcliffe, N. M., & Probert, C. S. (2017). Irritable bowel syndrome and active inflammatory bowel disease diagnosed by faecal gas analysis. Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics, 45(1), 82-90. https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.13822

© 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Background: Inflammatory bowel disease and irritable bowel syndrome may present in a similar manner. Measuring faecal calprotectin concentration is often recommended to rule out inflammatory bowel disease, however, ther... Read More about Irritable bowel syndrome and active inflammatory bowel disease diagnosed by faecal gas analysis.

The hydrolysis of geminal ethers: A kinetic appraisal of orthoesters and ketals (2016)
Journal Article
Lam, J. K., Repetto, S. L., Repetto, S., Costello, J. F., Butts, C. P., Lam, J. K. W., & Ratcliffe, N. M. (2016). The hydrolysis of geminal ethers: A kinetic appraisal of orthoesters and ketals. Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry, 12, 1467-1475. https://doi.org/10.3762/bjoc.12.143

© 2016 Repetto et al. A novel approach to protecting jet fuel against the effects of water contamination is predicated upon the coupling of the rapid hydrolysis reactions of lipophilic cyclic geminal ethers, with the concomitant production of a hydro... Read More about The hydrolysis of geminal ethers: A kinetic appraisal of orthoesters and ketals.

The use of a gas chromatography-sensor system combined with advanced statistical methods, towards the diagnosis of urological malignancies (2016)
Journal Article
Aggio, R. B. M., De Lacy Costello, B., White, P., Khalid, T., Ratcliffe, N. M., Persad, R., & Probert, C. S. J. (2016). The use of a gas chromatography-sensor system combined with advanced statistical methods, towards the diagnosis of urological malignancies. Journal of Breath Research, 10(1), https://doi.org/10.1088/1752-7155/10/1/017106

© 2016 IOP Publishing Ltd. Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers. Serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is used to aid the selection of men undergoing biopsies. Its use remains controversial. We propose a GC-sensor algorithm system for cl... Read More about The use of a gas chromatography-sensor system combined with advanced statistical methods, towards the diagnosis of urological malignancies.

Investigation of faecal volatile organic metabolites as novel diagnostic biomarkers in inflammatory bowel disease (2016)
Journal Article
Ahmed, I., Greenwood, R., Costello, B., Ratcliffe, N., & Probert, C. S. (2016). Investigation of faecal volatile organic metabolites as novel diagnostic biomarkers in inflammatory bowel disease. Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics, 43(5), 596-611. https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.13522

© 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Background The aetiology of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) remains poorly understood. Recent evidence suggests an important role of gut microbial dysbiosis in IBD, and this may be associated with changes in faecal vo... Read More about Investigation of faecal volatile organic metabolites as novel diagnostic biomarkers in inflammatory bowel disease.

Urinary volatile organic compounds for the detection of prostate cancer (2015)
Journal Article
Khalid, T., Aggio, R., White, P., De Lacy Costello, B., Persad, R., Al-Kateb, H., …Ratcliffe, N. (2015). Urinary volatile organic compounds for the detection of prostate cancer. PLoS ONE, 10(11), e0143283. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0143283

© 2015 Khalid et al.This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are cred... Read More about Urinary volatile organic compounds for the detection of prostate cancer.

A stereospecific one-pot synthesis of β-chloro esters via the BiCl<inf>3</inf> catalysed O-acylative cleavage of crowded epoxides (2015)
Journal Article
Repetto, S. L., Costello, J. F., Lam, J., Ratcliffe, N. M., & Repetto, S. (2015). A stereospecific one-pot synthesis of β-chloro esters via the BiCl<inf>3</inf> catalysed O-acylative cleavage of crowded epoxides. Journal of Chemical Research, 39(6), 324-325. https://doi.org/10.3184/174751915X14322191328257

© 2015, Science Reviews 2000 Ltd. All rights reserved. A simple, one-pot procedure is described for the stereospecific preparation of β-chloro esters from the corresponding crowded epoxide.

The use of a gas chromatograph coupled to a metal oxide sensor for rapid assessment of stool samples from irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease patients (2014)
Journal Article
Vaughan, K., Shepherd, S. F., McGuire, N. D., de Lacy Costello, B., Ewen, R. J., Jayasena, D. H., …Ratcliffe, N. M. (2014). The use of a gas chromatograph coupled to a metal oxide sensor for rapid assessment of stool samples from irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease patients. Journal of Breath Research, 8(2), https://doi.org/10.1088/1752-7155/8/2/026001

There is much clinical interest in the development of a low-cost and reliable test for diagnosing inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), two very distinct diseases that can present with similar symptoms. The assessment o... Read More about The use of a gas chromatograph coupled to a metal oxide sensor for rapid assessment of stool samples from irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease patients.

Towards point of care testing for C. difficile infection by volatile profiling, using the combination of a short multi-capillary gas chromatography column with metal oxide sensor detection (2014)
Journal Article
Vaughan, K., Probert, C. S., Garner, C. E., McGuire, N. D., Ewen, R. J., de Lacy Costello, B., & Ratcliffe, N. M. (2014). Towards point of care testing for C. difficile infection by volatile profiling, using the combination of a short multi-capillary gas chromatography column with metal oxide sensor detection. Measurement Science and Technology, 25(6), https://doi.org/10.1088/0957-0233/25/6/065108

Rapid volatile profiling of stool sample headspace was achieved using a combination of short multi-capillary chromatography column (SMCC), highly sensitive heated metal oxide semiconductor sensor and artificial neural network software. For direct ana... Read More about Towards point of care testing for C. difficile infection by volatile profiling, using the combination of a short multi-capillary gas chromatography column with metal oxide sensor detection.

Breath volatile analysis from patients diagnosed with harmful drinking, cirrhosis and hepatic encephalopathy: A pilot study (2013)
Journal Article
Ratcliffe, N. M., Costello, B. D. L., Khalid, T. Y., de Lacy Costello, B., Ewen, R., White, P., …Probert, C. S. (2013). Breath volatile analysis from patients diagnosed with harmful drinking, cirrhosis and hepatic encephalopathy: A pilot study. Metabolomics, 9(5), 938-948. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11306-013-0510-4

Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a neuropsychiatric state potentially complicating cirrhosis following the accumulation of toxic compounds that cross the blood-brain barrier and affect brain function; the compounds may undergo alveolar gas exchange and... Read More about Breath volatile analysis from patients diagnosed with harmful drinking, cirrhosis and hepatic encephalopathy: A pilot study.

An investigation of volatile organic compounds from the saliva of healthy individuals using headspace-trap/GC-MS (2013)
Journal Article
Ratcliffe, N., De Lacy Costello, B., Al-Kateb, H., de Lacy Costello, B., & Ratcliffe, N. M. (2013). An investigation of volatile organic compounds from the saliva of healthy individuals using headspace-trap/GC-MS. Journal of Breath Research, 7(3), https://doi.org/10.1088/1752-7155/7/3/036004

Analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from saliva, to aid disease diagnoses, has received little attention. This work aims to address the paucity of information on saliva volatiles and includes a database of newly identified compounds whilst... Read More about An investigation of volatile organic compounds from the saliva of healthy individuals using headspace-trap/GC-MS.

The Development of Novel Fuel Dehydrating Icing Inhibitors (2013)
Journal Article
Lam, J. K., de Lacy Costello, B., Repetto, S. L., Repetto, S., Costello, J. F., de Lacy Costello, B., …Lam, J. (2013). The Development of Novel Fuel Dehydrating Icing Inhibitors. SAE International Journal of Fuels and Lubricants, 6(3), 553-563. https://doi.org/10.4271/2013-01-2169

Dissolved water is a normal component of jet fuel which is vapourised during combustion; however, free water is a contaminant that can starve engines, freeze to form ice crystals capable of blocking fuel feeds, support microbial growth, and contribut... Read More about The Development of Novel Fuel Dehydrating Icing Inhibitors.

A Pilot Study Combining a GC-Sensor Device with a Statistical Model for the Identification of Bladder Cancer from Urine Headspace (2013)
Journal Article
Ratcliffe, N., Probert, C. S., Ewen, R., Khalid, T., White, P., De Lacy Costello, B., …Ratcliffe, N. M. (2013). A Pilot Study Combining a GC-Sensor Device with a Statistical Model for the Identification of Bladder Cancer from Urine Headspace. PLoS ONE, 8(7), https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0069602

There is a need to reduce the number of cystoscopies on patients with haematuria. Presently there are no reliable biomarkers to screen for bladder cancer. In this paper, we evaluate a new simple in-house fabricated, GC-sensor device in the diagnosis... Read More about A Pilot Study Combining a GC-Sensor Device with a Statistical Model for the Identification of Bladder Cancer from Urine Headspace.