Base Peak / Ezine
Cocaine on currency: Higher levels associated with criminality
Date: May 1, 2013
Author: Steve Down
US scientists have analysed 17 years worth of data on the contamination of currency with cocaine to determine the levels which are statistically higher than background, so that banknotes contaminated by drug-related crime rather than general contamination during circulation can be identified.
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Polarity changes: Simultaneous positive and negative modes in DESI
Date: Apr 15, 2013
Author: Steve Down
Danish scientists have introduced a dual-mode imaging system for desorption ionisation mass spectrometry, in which images can be acquired in positive and negative mode simultaneously.
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Journal Highlight: Soft ionization mass spectroscopy: Insights into the polymerization mechanism
Date: Apr 8, 2013
Author: spectroscopyNOW
This review is focused on the use of soft ionization mass spectroscopy to characterize the products of polymerization/degradation reactions thereby yielding mechanistic information.
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Chocolate threats: Carcinogenic PAHs
Date: Apr 1, 2013
Author: Steve Down
Several polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons have been determined in chocolate by GC/MS following a specially devised SPME procedure, giving a more sensitive method than an HPLC procedure developed in 2012 by the same research group.
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Gut instinct: Stem cell reactions
Date: Apr 1, 2013
Author: David Bradley
In research funded by Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity and with support from the Fondazione Citta della Speranza, researchers have demonstrated that stem cells taken from amniotic fluid can be used to restore gut structure and function following intestinal damage in rodents. The new work published in the journal Gut uses magnetic resonance imaging and could pave the way to a new form of cell therapy that is able to reverse serious damage caused by inflammation in the intestines of babies.
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Keeping your nerve: VX in drinking water
Date: Mar 15, 2013
Author: Steve Down
The nerve agent VX has been determined in drinking water by a high-throughput LC/MS method combined with special treatment to prevent it from decomposing before analysis.
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Journal Highlight: Investigations of chemical warfare agents and toxic industrial compounds with proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry for a real-time threat monitoring scenario
Date: Mar 11, 2013
Author: spectroscopyNOW
Chemical warfare agents and toxic industrial compounds have been studied by high-resolution PTR-TOFMS to identify key product ions and their intensities with which to develop a low-resolution PTR-MS system for detecting threat agents in the atmosphere.
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Two are better than one: Dual electrosprays for desorbed samples in ambient mass spectrometry
Date: Mar 1, 2013
Author: Steve Down
A laser desorption ambient mass spectrometry system with two post-desorption sprayers gives the flexibility to carry out different procedures on the same sample during the same experiment, rapidly switching spectra.
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Safety of implantable medical devices: Antioxidant breakdown products classified
Date: Feb 15, 2013
Author: Steve Down
Components related to antioxidants that leach out of implantable medical devices, like artificial joint inserts, have been identified and measured by GC/MS to check their safety credentials.
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Journal Highlight: Early synthetic dyes – a challenge for tandem mass spectrometry
Date: Feb 11, 2013
Author: spectroscopyNOW
Early yellow synthetic dyes from silk fibres taken from the 1930 spring colour palette of the Lyon Dyers’ Guild (La Chambre Syndicale des Teinturiers) have been identified, primarily by electrospray MS/MS.
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