An apparatus for determining operating parameters for degassing and/or deodorizing plastic particles comprises at least one test chamber for degassing and/or deodorizing a test quantity of plastic particles, wherein each test chamber has a filling opening for filling the test quantity, a withdrawal opening for withdrawing bulk material, a vent opening for venting the test chamber, wherein a pressurized gas line for feeding pressurized gas and a heating element and/or a steam line for feeding steam and a steam generator are connected to a feed opening of the test chamber.

The invention relates to a device and a method for cancer detection and screening, based on analysis of Volatile Organic Compounds emitted by certain cancerous tumors. The device and method provide high sensitivity and specificity analyses. The sample to be analysed may be e.g. blood or blood plasma. In one aspect, the invention is directed towards detection of or screening for gynaecological cancers, e.g. ovarian cancer. Particularly, the device comprises the following parts: a sample holder for a fluid or solid body sample; an air inlet; a detector tube comprising 4×4-16×4 sensors; optionally an individual potentiometer connected to each sensor of the detector tube; an analogue to digital signal converter; four control cards; a computer-based program for the registration and statistical calculation of results; and an electricity source.

Embodiments herein include a method for detecting a health condition of a subject. The method can include obtaining a biological sample from the subject and placing it into a container having a headspace surrounding the biological sample. The method can include contacting a gas from the headspace with a chemical sensor element, the chemical sensor element including one or more discrete graphene varactors. The method can include sensing and storing capacitance of the discrete graphene varactors to obtain a sample data set. Other embodiments are also included herein.

The invention relates to a closing element for closing a container for samples for analysis, particularly biological samples. The invention also relates to an assembly of a container and a closing element connected to the container. The invention also relates to a device for analysing samples, particularly biological samples, by making use of an assembly according to the invention. In addition, the invention relates to a method for analysing samples, particularly biological samples, by making use of an assembly according to the invention.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure describe systems and methods for testing samples (e.g., biological samples, environmental samples, food samples etc.) for microbial contamination. For example, some embodiments describe an adapter assembly with a means to penetrate a septum of a collection vessel and permit gaseous communication between a headspace of the collection vessel and a sensor. In some embodiments, the gases in the headspace of the collection vessel can exit the collection vessel without contaminating the environment outside the system or allowing sample contamination. In some embodiments, the adapter assembly includes a membrane configured to prevent liquid in the collection vessel from contacting the sensor. In some embodiments, the adapter assembly can be used to access media inside the collection vessel for subculturing or aliquotting for another diagnostic process such as molecular diagnostics.

A method for extracting and detecting volatile organic compounds includes steps as follows. At least one effervescent tablet is provided, wherein the effervescent tablet is produced by mixing an acidic compound and an alkaline compound homogeneously. An extraction and detection apparatus is provided, wherein the extraction and detection apparatus includes an extraction chamber, an injection tube and a detection instrument. An extraction step is performed, wherein a liquid matrix is put into the extraction chamber, and the effervescent tablet is added into the liquid matrix to generate bubbles, the volatile organic compounds are extracted from the liquid matrix by the bubbles, and the bubbles enter into the headspace of the extraction chamber. A detection step is performed, wherein the volatile organic compounds extracted during the extraction step are transferred to the detection instrument via the injection tube so as to detect the volatile organic compounds.

A closure device for gas-tightly closing the opening of a vial which in use contains a liquid or solid material and sufficient headspace volume for performing off-line or automated headspace microextraction under vacuum conditions. The closure device allows for the air-evacuation of the sample container through a cavity with a seal in the presence or absence of the sample and maintains the low-pressure conditions for extended times and during handling of low or high-capacity extracting units. The methods are for off-line or automated headspace microextraction under vacuum conditions, so that the extracting unit with analytes can be conveniently analyzed by means of an analytical instrumentation such as gas chromatography, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, liquid chromatography, and/or liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.

A sample extraction device and a desorption device for use in gas chromatography (GC), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS), liquid chromatography (LC), and/or liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LCMS) are disclosed. In some examples, the sample extraction device includes a lower chamber holding a sorbent. The sample extraction device can extract sample headspace gas from a sample vial by placing the sorbent inside the vial and creating a vacuum to increase recovery of low volatility compounds, for example. Once the sample has been collected, the sample extraction device can be inserted into a desorption device. The desorption device can control the flow of a carrier fluid (e.g., a liquid or a gas) through the sorbent containing the sample and into a pre-column and/or a primary column of a chemical analysis device for performing GC, GCMS, LC, LCMS, and/or some other chemical analysis process.

Disclosed herein are a group of gastric cancer VOC markers in saliva and an application thereof in the preparation of a diagnostic reagent of gastric cancer. The markers are a combination of compounds selected from the group consisting of acetaldehyde, 2-methylbutyraldehyde, isopropanol, hexanal, n-butanol, cineole, nonanal, menthone, 2-ethylhexanol, menthol, anethole and dodecanol. The diagnostic reagent is used for detecting the contents of the marker in a saliva sample of a subject to perform the diagnosis of gastric cancer.

The floating-type contamination measurement apparatus according to embodiments of the present invention can provide a body part; a buoyancy providing part, which is received to the body part and provides buoyancy to the body part; and a measurement part, which is received to the body part and measures the level of contamination in a closed space.