Plant volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have important roles in plant adaptation to the environment and serve as infochemicals in multitrophic interactions. Global climate change factors, such as increased atmospheric carbon dioxide, ozone and temperature, could alter how insects perceive such compounds. Here we review recent research on the influence of climate change parameters on the ecologi...

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS Electronic noses can identify diseases, including head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) by the fingerprint of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in exhaled air. However, whether these VOCs originated from the malignant lesion itself remains unclear. The objective was to test for the presence and properties of VOCs directly over the vocal folds in malignant and benign ...

A method for analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from microbial cultures was established using proton transfer reaction-mass spectrometry (PTR-MS). A newly developed sampling system was coupled to a PTR-MS instrument to allow on-line monitoring of VOCs in the dynamic headspaces of microbial cultures. The novel PTR-MS method was evaluated for four reference organisms: Escherichia coli,...

Although wheeze is common in preschool children, the underlying pathophysiology has not yet been disentangled. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in exhaled breath may serve as noninvasive markers of early wheeze. We aimed to assess the feasibility of VOC collection in preschool children, and to study whether a VOC profile can differentiate between children with and without recurrent wheeze. We ...

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are liquids or solids that contain organic carbon (carbon bonded to carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, or sulfur, but not carbonate carbon as in CaCO3 nor carbide carbon as in CaC2 or CO2), which vaporize at significant rates. VOCs are probably the second-most widespread and diverse class of emissions after particulates. VOCs are a large family of compounds. Some (e.g...

BACKGROUND Epidemiological studies suggest an association between exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and adverse allergic and respiratory symptoms. However, whether VOCs exhibit a causal role as adjuvants in asthma development remains unclear. METHODS To investigate the effect of VOC exposure on the development of allergic airway inflammation Balb/c mice were exposed to VOCs emitte...

BACKGROUND Wood is a valuable material for interiors, and the psychophysiological relaxation effects of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from wood chips and essential oils have been reported. However, few studies have identified the odors in full-scale wooden environment, and also, differences in gender have not been clarified. In this study, we aimed to confirm the effects of VOCs emitted fro...

About 15% of the U.S. population get their drinking and household water from a largely unmonitored source: private residential wells. About 400,000 new wells are drilled every year. A new USGS study suggests that the water in a small percentage of domestic wells could contain unsafe levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) [EHP 115:1539–1546; Rowe et al.]. VOCs come from a wide variety of so...

Bacterial volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have been considered as sensitive and specific biomarkers for bacterial detection in human specimens and culture media. The possibility of using VOCs markers as one of the largest groups of bacterial metabolites would open a new frontier for developing more efficient techniques in the diagnosis of bacterial infections. This review will discuss the cur...

BACKGROUND Plants respond to herbivore damage with the release of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). This indirect defense can cause ecological costs when herbivores themselves use VOCs as cues to localize suitable host plants. Can VOCs reliably indicate food plant quality to herbivores? METHODOLOGY We determined the choice behavior of herbivorous beetles (Chrysomelidae: Gynandrobrotica guerr...