COVID‐19 sniffer dog experimental training: Which protocol and which implications for reliable sidentification?
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Abstract
The introduction of trained sniffer dogs for COVID‐19 detection could be an opportunity, as previously described for other diseases. Dogs could be trained to detect volatile organic compounds (VOCs), the whiff of COVID‐19. Dogs involved in the study were three, one male and two females from different breeds, Black German Shepherd, German Shepherd, and Dutch Shepherd. The training was performed using sweat samples from SARS‐CoV2 positive patients and from SARS‐Cov2 free patients admitted at the University Hospital Campus Bio‐medico of Rome. Gauze with sweat was collected in a glass jar with a metal top and put in metal boxes used for dog training. The dog training protocol was performed in two phases: the olfactory conditioning and the olfactory discrimination research. The training planning was focused on the switch moment for the sniffer dog, the moment when the dog was able to identify VOCs specific for COVID‐19. At this time, the dog was able to identify VOCs specific for COVID‐19 with significant reliability, in terms of the number of correct versus incorrect ( p < 0.0001) reporting. In conclusion, this protocol could provide a useful tool for sniffer dogs' training and their introduction in a mass screening context. It could be cheaper and faster than a conventional testing method.
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SciScore for 10.1101/2021.06.02.21257981: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Ethics IRB: The study was approved by the Local Ethic Committee of University campus Bio-Medico of Rome (PAR 17.21 OSS) The dogs training plan was divided in two steps: first step of “specific conditioning” to Covid-19 VOCs, consisting in the association of the odour reserch and consequent reporting.
Consent: Sweat samples are collected by patients with the assistance of the healthcare staff (physician or nusery) instructing them about the procedure, after informed consent has been recovered.Sex as a biological variable Security company (Italy) one male and two females from three different breeds: Black German Shepherd, German Shepherd and Dutch Shepherd. Randomization The different boxes were … SciScore for 10.1101/2021.06.02.21257981: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Ethics IRB: The study was approved by the Local Ethic Committee of University campus Bio-Medico of Rome (PAR 17.21 OSS) The dogs training plan was divided in two steps: first step of “specific conditioning” to Covid-19 VOCs, consisting in the association of the odour reserch and consequent reporting.
Consent: Sweat samples are collected by patients with the assistance of the healthcare staff (physician or nusery) instructing them about the procedure, after informed consent has been recovered.Sex as a biological variable Security company (Italy) one male and two females from three different breeds: Black German Shepherd, German Shepherd and Dutch Shepherd. Randomization The different boxes were randomly positioned in a line-up from a minimum of four possibilities upwards. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Table 2: Resources
No key resources detected.
Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.
Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.
Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.
Results from rtransparent:- Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- No protocol registration statement was detected.
Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.
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