EarlyView Articles

New criterion for in situ , quick discrimination between traditionally maintained and artificially restored Japanese swords (katanas) by XRF spectroscopy

Published: Sep 10, 2013

Author(s): L. Castelli, L. Giuntini, F. Taccetti, E. Barzagli, F. Civita, C. Czelusniak, M. E. Fedi, N. Gelli, F. Grazzi, A. Mazzinghi, L. Palla, F.P. Romano, P. A. Mandò

Journal: X-Ray Spectrometry

Abstract For the first time, a quick method to discriminate between undamaged, well‐maintained katanas and worn artificially restored blades is presented. The peculiar hardening process that a Japanese katana undergoes results in creation of a tempered martensitic phase near the blade edge. After the temper, traditional polishing with stones is performed, which gives the sword its final look: the hardened ...

Study of factors affecting the results of natural water analyses by total reflection X‐ray fluorescence

Published: Sep 10, 2013

Author(s): G. V. Pashkova, A. G. Revenko, A. L. Finkelshtein

Journal: X-Ray Spectrometry

The study aims to choose the conditions for the direct analysis of different types of natural water samples by total reflection X‐Ray fluorescence spectrometry (TXRF). The effect of some factors on TXRF results was studied such as the surface density of dried water residue on the sample carrier, the dilution ratio of high‐mineralized samples with ultrapure water and the solution of the detergent Triton X‐100, the salt contents, the...

A method for organic/inorganic differentiation using an x‐ray forward/backscatter personnel scanner

Published: Sep 10, 2013

Author(s): Jack L. Glover, Lawrence T. Hudson

Journal: X-Ray Spectrometry

A method is proposed for performing organic/inorganic materials discrimination using an x‐ray forward/backscatter scanner. The method is demonstrated using a commercially available personnel security‐screening system and requires only image post processing. The method relies upon x‐ray interaction physics, and the exact registration of forward‐ and backscattered images, permitting reliable discrimination between low and high atomic number...

Evaluation of the concentration of chemical elements in suspended particulate matter inside a small bronze and iron foundry industry, using a streaker sampler and EDXRF

Published: Sep 10, 2013

Author(s): Paulo Rogério Massoni, Eduardo Almeida, José Eduardo Delfini Cançado, Virgílio Franco Nascimento Filho

Journal: X-Ray Spectrometry

The aim of this study was to determine and evaluate the temporal profiles of the concentration of chemical elements in the suspended particulate matter present inside a small bronze and an iron foundry industry. To collect the samples, we used a streaker sampler that separates particles with aerodynamic diameters smaller than 10 µm (PM10) in two fractions: fine (particles with aerodynamic diameters less than 2.5 µm; PM2.5) and coarse (between 2.5 µm...

Impacts of nutrient competition on microalgae biomass production

Published: Sep 10, 2013

Author(s): Lauren H. White, David W. Martin, Khendl K. Witt, Frank Vogt

Journal: Journal of Chemometrics

Marine microalgae cells are key environmental players as they transform inorganic nutrients dissolved in oceans into biomass. Most prominent among these inorganic compounds is bicarbonate, which originates in considerable quantities from atmospheric CO2, a potent greenhouse gas. Because microalgae cells act as a sink of anthropogenic CO2, understanding phytoplankton's carbon sequestration is a crucial link between environmental chemistry and...

Chemical fingerprint analysis and quantitative determination of steroidal compounds from Dioscorea villosa , Dioscorea species and dietary supplements using UHPLC‐ELSD

Published: Sep 10, 2013

Author(s): Bharathi Avula, Yan‐Hong Wang, Zulfiqar Ali, Troy J. Smillie, Ikhlas A. Khan

Journal: Biomedical Chromatography

ABSTRACT Ultra high‐performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) with evaporative light scattering detection was used for the quantification of steroidal saponins and diosgenin from the rhizomes or tubers of various Dioscorea species and dietary supplements that were purported to contain Dioscorea. The analysis was performed on an Acquity UPLC™ system with an UPLC™ BEH Shield RP18 column using a gradient elution with water and acetonitrile. Owing to their low...

Statistical properties of signal entropy for use in detecting changes in time series data

Published: Sep 9, 2013

Author(s): Yuri A.W. Shardt, Biao Huang

Journal: Journal of Chemometrics

Detecting changes in an underlying time series model for a system is an important task in many different fields, including econometrics, geophysics and process control. Specifically, in process control, detecting model changes is often the first step for fault detection, plant‐model mismatch assessment and data quality assessment for system identification. Signal entropy, which basically measures the amount of disorder in a given signal,...

Prevalence of use of performance enhancing drugs by fitness centre members

Published: Sep 9, 2013

Author(s): Janine H. Stubbe, Astrid M. J. Chorus, Laurence E. Frank, Olivier Hon, Peter G. M. Heijden

Journal: Drug Testing and Analysis

Studies on the use of performance enhancing drugs (PED) in fitness centres rely predominately on conventional survey methods using direct questioning. However, research indicates that direct questioning of sensitive information is characterized by under‐reporting. The aim of the present study was to contrast direct questioning of different types of PED use by Dutch fitness centre members with results obtained with the Randomized Response...

Comparison of drug concentrations between whole blood and oral fluid

Published: Sep 9, 2013

Author(s): Kaarina Langel, Hallvard Gjerde, Donata Favretto, Pirjo Lillsunde, Elisabeth Leere Øiestad, Santo Davide Ferrara, Alain G. Verstraete

Journal: Drug Testing and Analysis

The relationship of drug concentrations between oral fluid and whole blood was evaluated by studying the linear correlation of concentrations and calculating the oral fluid to blood concentration ratios (OF/B) for different substances. Paired oral fluid and whole blood samples were collected from volunteers and persons suspected of drug use in four European countries. Oral fluid samples were collected with the Saliva∙Sampler™ device. All...

Raman and IR reflection micro‐spectroscopic study of Er:YAG laser treated permanent and deciduous human teeth

Published: Sep 9, 2013

Author(s): Galia Jegova, Rositsa Titorenkova, Maya Rashkova, Boriana Mihailova

Journal: Journal of Raman Spectroscopy

Permanent and deciduous human teeth treated by a dental Er‐doped yttrium‐aluminium‐garnet pulse laser (λ = 2940 nm) as well as by classical drilling tools under conditions typical of the clinical practice were studied by ultraviolet Raman and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) reflection microspectroscopy. Enamel was analyzed by both spectroscopic methods, whereas dentine was studied only by FTIR reflection because of the high level of...

Microanalysis of clay‐based pigments in painted artworks by the means of Raman spectroscopy

Published: Sep 9, 2013

Author(s): Veronika Košařová, David Hradil, Ivan Němec, Petr Bezdička, Viktor Kanický

Journal: Journal of Raman Spectroscopy

FT Raman spectroscopy and micro‐Raman spectroscopy with lasers of three different wavelengths (1064 nm, 785 nm and 532 nm) were used for analysis of reference samples of natural clay pigments including white clay minerals (kaolinite, illite, montmorillonite), green earths (glauconite and celadonite) and red earths (natural mixtures of white clay minerals with hematite). In addition, eight micro‐samples obtained from historical paintings...

High‐resolution MRI encoding using radiofrequency phase gradients

Published: Sep 6, 2013

Author(s): Jonathan C. Sharp, Scott B. King, Qunli Deng, Vyacheslav Volotovskyy, Boguslaw Tomanek

Journal: NMR in Biomedicine

Watch a video introduction to this article. Although MRI offers highly diagnostic medical imagery, patient access to this modality worldwide is very limited when compared with X‐ray or ultrasound. One reason for this is the expense and complexity of the equipment used to generate the switched magnetic fields necessary for MRI encoding. These field gradients are also responsible for intense acoustic noise...

Simultaneous determination of three purines in Alysicarpus vaginalis (L.) DC. by hollow fiber‐based liquid‐phase microextraction combined with high‐performance liquid chromatography

Published: Sep 6, 2013

Author(s): Hongjiao Liu, Ming Lei, Xiao Liang, Zhen Jiang, Xingjie Guo

Journal: Biomedical Chromatography

ABSTRACT In this paper, a three‐phase hollow fiber liquid‐phase microextraction (HF‐LPME) method combined with high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was developed for the determination of hypoxanthine (HX), xanthine (Xan) and adenine (A) and then for the first time successfully applied to the analysis of HX, Xan and A in Alysicarpus vaginalis (L.) DC. medicinal materials. Different factors affecting the HF‐LPME procedure were...

Development of analytical methods for the quantification of metabolites of lesogaberan in a MIST investigation

Published: Sep 5, 2013

Author(s): Kristina Dunér, Pernilla Bottner, Anna‐Karin Norlén

Journal: Biomedical Chromatography

ABSTRACT Analytical methods were developed for the determination of six metabolites of lesogaberan to be used in quantitative determinations of metabolites according to the guidelines of Metabolites in Safety Testing. The γ‐amino butyric acid type B receptor agonist lesogaberan and its metabolites are small polar molecules and hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography was found to be a suitable separation mode. The samples were prepared...

Do we have an understanding on incurred sample analyses – introspection?

Published: Sep 5, 2013

Author(s): Nuggehaly R Srinivas

Journal: Biomedical Chromatography

Pharmacokinetic study of amoxicillin in human plasma by solid‐phase microextraction followed by high‐performance liquid chromatography–triple quadrupole mass spectrometry

Published: Sep 5, 2013

Author(s): Malgorzata Szultka, Rafal Krzeminski, Justyna Walczak, Marek Jackowski, Boguslaw Buszewski

Journal: Biomedical Chromatography

ABSTRACT Sensitive and selective analytical procedures based on high‐performance liquid chromatography with mass spectrometric detection were developed for the determination of amoxicillin in human plasma samples. Samples were prepared by applying in‐house manufactured molecularly imprinted solid‐phase microextraction probes. The detection of target compounds was performed in multiple reaction monitoring mode. The multiple reaction...

Coil combination of multichannel MRSI data at 7 T: MUSICAL

Published: Sep 4, 2013

Author(s): B. Strasser, M. Chmelik, S. D. Robinson, G. Hangel, S. Gruber, S. Trattnig, W. Bogner

Journal: NMR in Biomedicine

The goal of this study was to evaluate a new method of combining multi‐channel 1H MRSI data by direct use of a matching imaging scan as a reference, rather than computing sensitivity maps. Seven healthy volunteers were measured on a 7‐T MR scanner using a head coil with a 32‐channel array coil for receive‐only and a volume coil for receive/transmit. The accuracy of prediction of the phase of the 1H MRSI data with a fast imaging pre‐scan was...

Diffusion‐weighted MRI monitoring of pancreatic cancer response to radiofrequency heat‐enhanced intratumor chemotherapy

Published: Sep 4, 2013

Author(s): Tong Zhang, Feng Zhang, Yanfeng Meng, Han Wang, Thomas Le, Baojie Wei, Donghoon Lee, Patrick Willis, Baozhong Shen, Xiaoming Yang

Journal: NMR in Biomedicine

The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of using diffusion‐weighted MRI to monitor the early response of pancreatic cancers to radiofrequency heat (RFH)‐enhanced chemotherapy. Human pancreatic carcinoma cells (PANC‐1) in different groups and 24 mice with pancreatic cancer xenografts in four groups were treated with phosphate‐buffered saline (PBS) as a control, RFH at 42 °C, gemcitabine and gemcitabine plus RFH at 42 °C. One...

Quantitative profiling method for phytohormones and betaines in algae by liquid chromatography electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry

Published: Sep 4, 2013

Author(s): Xiujuan Wang, Peng Zhao, Xuemei Liu, Juanjuan Chen, Jilin Xu, Haimin Chen, Xiaojun Yan

Journal: Biomedical Chromatography

ABSTRACT A liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC‐MS/MS) method was developed for the quantitative determination of phytohormones and betaines in algae. The results showed that phytohormones and betaines were separated with high efficiency on Hypersil Gold C18 and Cnwsil SCX columns. Mass spectrometric detection was performed using positive or negative electrospray ionization in selective reaction monitoring mode (SRM)....

A validated HPLC‐MS/MS method for determination of genipin‐1‐ o ‐glucuronic acid in rat plasma after administration of genipin and its application to a pharmacokinetic study

Published: Sep 4, 2013

Author(s): Yue Ding, Yong Zhang, Tong Zhang, Ming Peng, Jian‐Sheng Tao, Guang Ji

Journal: Biomedical Chromatography

ABSTRACT A sensitive and specific method was developed and validated for the quantitation of one major metabolite of genipin in rats plasma. The major metabolite was isolated from rat bile via semi‐preparative HPLC technology and its chemical structure was identified as genipin‐1‐o‐glucuronic acid (GNP‐GLU), which was for the first time used as a standard compound for quantitative analysis in rat plasma after administration of...