Patent ID: 9535144
Date: 2017-01-03
CPC Classifications: G01N,G01R,G16B

Claim:
1. A method of determining a measure of trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) in an in vitro biosample, the method comprising: generating, using a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer, a proton NMR spectrum for a biosample; defining, using one or more processors, a TMAO peak region in which a TMAO peak is expected to be located, the TMAO peak region being defined to be between about 3.2 and 3.4 ppm; detecting, using the one or more processors, a reference peak region in which reference peak in the NMR spectrum is located, the reference peak region being defined based on a reference NMR spectrum generated using a reference sample, the reference peak being pH-stable; detecting, using the one or more processors, a calibration peak region in which a pH sensitive calibration peak in the NMR spectrum is located, a location of the calibration peak region being dependent on a pH of the biosample; calculating, using the one or more processors, a distance between the reference peak region and the calibration peak region; evaluating, using the one or more processors, data from the proton NMR spectrum within the TMAO peak region of between about 3.2 ppm and about 3.4 ppm to identify a TMAO peak within the TMAO peak region, the identification of the TMAO peak being based on the distance between the reference peak region and the calibration peak region; determining, using the one or more processors, a TMAO metric based on an amplitude of the TMAO peak and a relationship between TMAO peak amplitudes and TMAO metrics, the relationship being substantially linear so as to detect TMAO in a range of about 1 μM and about 50 μM; and generating, using the one or more processors, an electronic report based on the TMAO metric.