On-Site Precise Screening of SARS-CoV-2 Systems Using a Channel-Wise Attention-Based PLS-1D-CNN Model with Limited Infrared Signatures

TL;DR

A methodology that integrates attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) with the adaptive iteratively reweighted penalized least squares (airPLS) preprocessing algorithm and a channel-wise attention-based partial least squares one-dimensional convolutional neural network (PLS-1D-CNN) model, enabling accurate screening of infected individuals within 10 minutes is presented.

Abstract

During the early stages of respiratory virus outbreaks, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the efficient utilize of limited nasopharyngeal swabs for rapid and accurate screening is crucial for public health. In this study, we present a methodology that integrates attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) with the adaptive iteratively reweighted penalized least squares (airPLS) preprocessing algorithm and a channel-wise attention-based partial least squares one-dimensional convolutional neural network (PLS-1D-CNN) model, enabling accurate screening of infected individuals within 10 minutes. Two cohorts of nasopharyngeal swab samples, comprising 126 and 112 samples from suspected SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant cases, were collected at Beijing You'an Hospital for verification. Given that ATR-FTIR spectra are highly sensitive to variations in experimental conditions, which can affect their quality, we propose a biomolecular importance (BMI) evaluation method to assess signal quality across different conditions, validated by comparing BMI with PLS-GBM and PLS-RF results. For the ATR-FTIR signals in cohort 2, which exhibited a higher BMI, airPLS was utilized for signal preprocessing, followed by the application of the channel-wise attention-based PLS-1D-CNN model for screening. The experimental results demonstrate that our model outperforms recently reported methods in the field of respiratory virus spectrum detection, achieving a recognition screening accuracy of 96.48%, a sensitivity of 96.24%, a specificity of 97.14%, an F1-score of 96.12%, and an AUC of 0.99. It meets the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended criteria for an acceptable product: sensitivity of 95.00% or greater and specificity of 97.00% or greater for testing prior SARS-CoV-2 infection in moderate to high volume scenarios.

Figures (15)

• Figure 1: The primary experimental proceduces for collecting ATR-FTIR spectra of nansopharyngeal swabs.
• Figure 2: The raw ATR-FTIR spectral signals of the pharyngeal swab samples in two cohorts. (a) cohort 1. (c) cohort 2. The mean ATR-FTIR spectral signals of positive and negative nasopharyngeal swabs two cohorts, along with annotations of the main absorption peaks. (b) cohort 1. (d) cohort 2.
• Figure 3: The spectral signal in two cohorts following baseline correction using the airPLS method. (a) cohort 1. (b) cohort 2.
• Figure 4: (a) Dimensionality reduction of the original ATR-FTIR spectra using the t-SNE method for cohort 1. (b) Dimensionality reduction of airPLS baseline-corrected spectra using the t-SNE method for cohort 1. (c) Dimensionality reduction of the original spectra using the t-SNE method for cohort 2. (d) Dimensionality reduction of airPLS baseline-corrected spectra using the t-SNE method for cohort 2.
• Figure 5: The channel-wise attention-based PLS-1D-CNN model for screening of infected individuals.