Base Peak / Ezine
Rock art coloured with snake urine
Date: Aug 1, 2010
Author: Steve Down
Animal urine has been used to prepare white pigments for rock art by African tribesman, say French researchers, who used Tof-SIMS to compare the profiles of pigments from a painted stone and snake urine.
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Oiling the wheels
Date: Jul 15, 2010
Author:
The importance of olive oil to the world economy has been underlined by two studies to detect its adulteration, one by lower quality olive oils and one by hazelnut oil. Both methods rely on mass spectrometry but take two very different approaches.
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Environmental analysis by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry
Date: Jul 12, 2010
Author:
The numerous ways in which inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry has been used for the analysis of environmental samples since it was commercially introduced in 1983 have been reviewed.
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Toxic twin towers legacy
Date: Jul 1, 2010
Author:
Following the collapse of the World Trade Center in 2001, state employees working in the vicinity of the ruins were exposed to polychlorinated pollutants from the dust and smoke, with PCDFs constituting the most critical dioxin-like compounds, an analysis of their plasma has shown.
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A bit of TLC for MS
Date: Jun 15, 2010
Author: Steve Down
TLC has been coupled with mass spectrometry using an atmospheric pressure thermal desorption probe held in slight contact with the moving plate. The desorbed substances were drawn into the ionisation region for a choice of electrospray ionisation or APCI with rapid switching.
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A perspective on MALDI alternatives - total solvent-free analysis and ETD of highly charged ions by laserspray ionization
Date: Jun 14, 2010
Author:
Progress in the author's lab in developing methods for total solvent-free analysis by mass spectrometry consisting of solvent-free ionization followed by solvent-free gas-phase separation is described, including a novel MALDI laserspray ionization source.
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Deceptive non-alcoholic beers
Date: Jun 1, 2010
Author: Steve Down
Participants in alcohol abstinence maintenance programs should avoid non-alcoholic beers because they produce the conventional alcohol markers ethyl glucuronide and ethyl sulphate in their urine, say European researchers.
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Lung cancer blowout
Date: May 15, 2010
Author: Steve Down
The levels of certain aldehydes in the breath are indicative of lung cancer, say researchers in Germany, who measured their levels by GC/MS following SPME on-fibre derivatisation. The findings may lead to a non-invasive test for lung malignancies.
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Development of a high sensitivity bioanalytical method for alprazolam using ultra-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry
Date: May 10, 2010
Author:
A rapid assay for the benzodiazepine alprazolam in rat plasma using sub-2 µm particle LC and tandem quadrupole mass spectrometry gave a limit of quantification using SPE of 1.0 pg/mL.
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Feather duster
Date: May 1, 2010
Author: Steve Down
The feathers of the endangered California condor hold a history of exposure to lead along their length, in a similar manner to drugs of abuse in hair, say US researchers, so that they can be used for long-term monitoring of lead exposure in the wild.
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