TXRF spectrometry in the bioanalytical sciences: A brief review

This work describes the basic principles of Total-reflection X-Ray Fluorescence (TXRF) spectrometry and some of its most outstanding applications for investigating metal traces, mainly in biological and biomedical samples. TXRF is an analytical technique that combines the versatility of elemental analysis by X-ray energy dispersion with a low detection limit in the order of picograms of absolute mass or a few ppb (μg L⁻¹) as concentration. The microanalytical capacity of TXRF allows the study of small sample quantities. The TXRF can perform qualitative and mass ratio analyses of the elements present in a sample of only a few hundred nanograms. These properties are of great importance in the research of metal traces in biological systems, as they allow fast, precise, and accurate characterisation of the elemental fingerprint at trace level. Its successful application in studies of the coordination kinetics of new platinum-based antitumor drugs with DNA, its application in the study profile of the metal in healthy and cancerous human tissues, or even its application in the study of the processes of metal diffusion through cell membranes are just a few examples of TXRF capabilities in the biomedical sciences. This brief review's main objective is to provide an overview of the physical principles and possibilities of TXRF spectrometry. It also highlights some of the most outstanding applications that have been developed so far, mainly in the biological field, so that the reader can evaluate their potential applications.     

Cost-allocation problems for fuzzy agents in a fixed-tree network

Fuzzy Optimization and Decision Making - Cost-allocation problems in a fixed network are concerned with distributing the costs for use by a group of clients who cooperate in order to reduce such...     

Foliations on $$\mathbb {P}^2$$ P 2 with only one singular point

Geometriae Dedicata - We prove a criterion for Benjamini-Schramm convergence of periodic orbits of Lie groups. This general observation is then applied to homogeneous spaces and the space of...     

On-line Method for Montelukast Determination in Bile Salt Medium with Multivariate Optimization and Fluorescent Detection

Journal of Analytical Chemistry - The present development involved a flow injection strategy using a mini-column of multiwalled carbon nanotubes and fluorescent detection (λex of 283 nm,...     

Star-Shaped Ruthenium Complexes as Prototypes of Molecular Gears

The design and synthesis of two families of molecular-gear prototypes is reported, with the aim of assembling them into trains of gears on a surface and ultimately achieving controlled intermolecular gearing motion. These piano-stool ruthenium complexes incorporate a hydrotris(indazolyl)borate moiety as tripodal rotation axle and a pentaarylcyclopentadienyl ligand as star-shaped cogwheel, equipped with five teeth ranging from pseudo-1D aryl groups to large planar 2D paddles. A divergent synthetic approach was followed, starting from a pentakis(p-bromophenyl)cyclopentadienyl ruthenium(II) complex as key precursor or from its iodinated counterpart, obtained by copper-catalyzed aromatic Br/I exchange. Subsequent fivefold cross-coupling reactions with various partners allowed high structural diversity to be reached and yielded molecular-gear prototypes with aryl-, carbazole-, BODIPY- and porphyrin-derived teeth of increasing size and length.     

Detecting and classifying outliers in big functional data

Advances in Data Analysis and Classification - We propose two new outlier detection methods, for identifying and classifying different types of outliers in (big) functional data sets. The proposed...     

A type III porous-thermo-elastic problem with quasi-static microvoids

Meccanica - In this work we study, from the numerical point of view, a one-dimensional thermoelastic problem where the thermal law is of type III. Quasi-static microvoids are also assumed within...