Urinalysis Detection System!

Timothy Flucker, Nigel Isom, Janeen Williams!

Under the guidance of Dr. Vesna Zderic, Associate Professor! Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The George Washington University

Motivation for Research

Diabetes and chronic kidney disease are a growing epidemic in America. By 2050, 1 in 3 Americans will be diagnosed with diabetes if current trends continue. In addition, statistics show that 7 million Americans have undiagnosed diabetes. Society needs an accessible, easy to use method of monitoring and identifying cases of diabetes and chronic kidney disease. Individuals who suffer from diabetes and chronic kidney disease often use urinalysis tests to evaluate and monitor their disease. Due to this unique and growing consumer market, the described design would cater specifically to diabetic and chronic kidney disease patients while improving the many faults with current dipstick models. Current models of urinalysis dipsticks require that the patient interpret the colorimetric test results. These results, however, can vary depending on the perception of the individual. If the patient incorrectly reads the color chart, they may misinterpret the severity of their condition. By using a smartphone application and a modified dipstick design, the results of the urinalysis dipstick could be measured quantitatively and more accurately. Additionally, the patient would be able to save the information gained from a urinalysis dipstick test within the mobile application and share with their doctor.

Design
Image A shows a traditional urinary dipstick. Image B shows the proposed design, with 1mm isolating ridges. The proposed design will reduce contamination and improve clarity for deciphering colorimetric data.

Research
By creating phantom urine samples, our group is able to simulate various
severity of diabetes and chronic kidney disease based on the levels of chemical components in the phantom urine. The phantom urine allows us to test the accuracy and precision of our device within the desired consumer market.
Disease Diabetic Component Glucose Ketones Chronic Kidney Albumin Disease Diabetic + Chronic Kidney Glucose Disease Ketones Normal 0 g/L 0 g/L 0 g/L Slightly Abnormal .25 g/L .2 g/L .1 g/L Extremely Abnormal 1.25 g/L 1 g/L .5 g/L Mean Abnormality 0 g/L 0 g/L 0 g/L .75 g/L .6 g/L .3 g/L

Albumin

Introduction

Hospitals and clinical research laboratories across the globe use automated urinalysis detection systems for increased accuracy, speed, and fundamentally, reduced human error. Our device will offer hospital level functionality at an over the counter convenience. The only similar device on the market uChek, is approved through iOS development but not available to Android users Similar to our competitors, we offer easily accessible technology but with the addition of improved design of the testing strip and an easy to follow directions

The novel dipstick design will be placed into a docking station which will
control for environmental factors that will effect the image acquisition. Placing an Android phone into the docking station will activate an LCD screen. This directs the user to take pictures at carefully selected intervals. Our design will eliminate surrounding environmental lighting conditions, standardize the lighting in the pictures by using the flash from the smartphone camera, and control inaccuracies that develop when accounting for the completion time of each reaction site. Images from the phone will appear within the mobile application. Using functions within the OpenCV image-processing library, the smartphone application will be used to convert the image into a usable format, as well as to identify colors within the image. The phone application will process the saved image and display the results in a graphically concise manner.

Application
Images D, E and F show an example of the mobile application. The mobile application will provide the user with a graphical representation of the urinalysis results, as well as options to save and send their test results.

Conclusion
The proposed device produces a user-friendly, accessible method of monitoring diabetes and chronic kidney disease. The need for this technology is apparent as more Americans are at risk for diabetes and more individuals acquire biotechnology in the form of mobile applications. Our device presents the Android alternative for technology prevalent in hospitals and research labs. Using the aforementioned model, our group hopes to provide a novel way to numerically process color data gathered from urinalysis dipsticks, as well as provide an error reducing method of determining urinary health.

Methods
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The redesign of the current commercial dipstick was to improve the perception of color change Former dipsticks were not isolated and excess solution contaminated other reaction sites The addition of impenetrable ridges isolates each reaction site The novel design was inspired by a comb and designed using the software Rhino The prototype was produced using rapid prototyping technology from a 3D printer

References
[1] American Diabetes Association. Fast Facts Data and Statistics about Diabetes. Accessed Feb 2014. Last Revised March 2013.

tflucker@gwmail.gwu.edu njisom13@gwmail.gwu.edu janeenw@gwmail.gwu.edu

Capstone Design, The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering 2014