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A British nanotech firm has previewed a mobile phone prototype that detects diseases by analysing the breath exhaled by users.

Using a Nokia phone, Applied Nanodetectors Ltd placed a nanotech chip inside that is laced with sensors that can instantly identify CO2, NOx (nitric oxide) and NH3 (ammonia) gases. According to previously released data, the nanochip detector is made out of carbon nanotubes.

One way this app could help people in danger, on the road, is if they were having an asthmatic attack. A quick blow onto a nanochip detector on a phone would help determine, through simple green/red UI symbols or text, if they were suffering from this condition. Medical research says that when a person is having an asthmatic attack, nitric oxide builds up in the lungs.

The idea follows that if and when an affected user blows into the phone and a diagnosis is confirmed, an email to the user's doctor is sent immediately.

The company is claiming that future versions of the technology will be able to detect everything from lung cancer to food poisoning, and even diabetes.

According to a report from the 2009 International Nanotechnology Exhibition and Conference in Japan, the sensor correctly detects the composition and presence of excessive gas densities (in the parts-per-billion range) and matches it to a disease database in the phone. The process is similar to that found in other phone prototypes that determine the level of alcohol toxicity in breath.

The firm's managing director Dr. Victor Higgs has compared the tech favourably to the detailed process of fingerprint matching. During an earlier iteration of the tech, he mentioned that the sensor application would be "ten thousand times more sensitive" than the breathalyser used by police to detect alcohol.

There are already a few gadgets out there that detect blood alcohol content (BAC). Among them is the GPS navigation gadget from NDrive, as well as pro breathalysers that use infrared spectroscopy.

At the moment, Applied Nanodetectors has not disclosed a figure about how much it would add to a phone's cost when it eventually becomes available.

At the conference, it was also noted that despite Nokia's early involvement, the firstApplied Nanodetectors nano-disease detector phone will probably come from a deal with a Japanese company in a few years.


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