Pump-probe imaging of historical pigments used in paintings

A recently developed nonlinear optical pump-probe microscopy technique uses modulation transfer to sensitively extract excited-state dynamics of endogenous biological pigments, such as eumelanin and pheomelanin. In this work, we use this method to image and characterize several inorganic and organic pigments used in historical art. We show substantial differences in the near-IR pump-probe signatures from nominally similar pigments and suggest extensions to art restoration.     

Independent Component Analysis of Spectral Absorbance Image in Human Skin

The image of spectral absorbance in human skin is analyzed by independent component analysis. The spectral absorbance image is estimated from an image with red, green, and blue channels. The qualitative information and spatial distribution of the pigments can be extracted by the independent component analysis. It is shown that the extracted absorption characteristics of the pigments are corresponding to those of hemoglobin and melanin.     

Effect of Zn2+ and Cu2+ on free radical properties of melanin fromCladosporium cladosporioides

Effect of metal ions on free radical properties of natural melanin produced by soil fungiCladosporium cladosporioides was studied. The electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectrum of the studied melanin consists mainly of a single line of eumelanin, and only a very weak signal of pheomelanin was observed. o-Semiquinone free radicals form paramagnetic centers in melanin. Diamagnetic Zn²⁺ ions produce an increase in the free radical concentration in melanin. Quenching of melanin EPR lines was obtained for melanin and paramagnetic Cu²⁺ ion complexes. Slow spin-lattice relaxation processes are characteristic for the free radicals in melanin samples and fast spin-lattice relaxation was observed for Cu²⁺ ions. The EPR lines of copper ions saturate at higher microwave powers than the EPR lines of melanin.     

Liquid chromatography/mass spectrometric determination of trans-resveratrol in wine using a tandem solid-phase extraction method

Liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) with electrospray ionization has been successfully applied to the determination of trans-resveratrol (3,5,4'-trihydroxystilbene) in wine. Of a range of analytical conditions that were tested, optimum results were obtained by the use of reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) using a mixture of methanol and ammonium acetate as the mobile phase. The negative-ion spectrum of trans-resveratrol showed pseudo-molecular ion, [M - H](-), which was the most abundant ion, and low fragment ions corresponding to the losses of hydroxyl groups of the phenol nucleus. Enhanced selectivity for the separation between trans-resveratrol and endogenous wine constituents was afforded by sample purification with a tandem solid-phase extraction method. The approach permits detection at low concentration of trans-resveratrol. The combination of improved sample pretreatment and an isocratic chromatographic system in conjunction with internal standardization forms the basis of a new assay for the quantitation of trans-resveratrol in wine. Full-scan mass spectra were readily obtained from 8 ng of trans-resveratrol, while a limit of detection of 200 pg (signal-to-noise ratio 3) was attained in the selected ion monitoring mode. The application of LC/MS to the determination of trans-resveratrol in wines is demonstrated by the analysis of red wines. Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effect of Melanomal Proteins on Sepia Melanin Assembly

Melanins are phenol-based pigments with the potential for widespread applications, including bioelectronics and tissue engineering. The concentration-dependent structural transition of sepia melanin in water is analyzed. This biopolymer at high concentration gives the well-known nanospheres, whereas sample dilution gives unforeseen nanofibres exhibiting the structural features of mature amyloid fibrils. We propose a mechanism of pigment self-assembly dependent on the interaction of residual melanosomal protein(s) with eumelanin heteropolymer. Our results contribute to understanding the peculiar physicochemical properties of this ubiquitous pigment.     

液-液萃取与气相色谱-质谱联用测定环境样品中的单质硫

采用液-液萃取与气相色谱-质谱联用测定复杂环境基质样品中的单质硫,研究萃取溶剂、色谱柱类型及炉温升温程序对分析方法的影响。实验结果表明:二硫化碳作为萃取溶剂好于四氯化碳。采用HP-1MS柱时,炉温在270℃恒温保持10min进行分析,单质硫峰形较好。采用HP-5MS柱,单质硫峰形及丰度均优于HP-1M S柱。该分析方法的线性范围为5—200mg/L,可决系数R2为0.9980,最低定量限0.106mg/L,测定5个5mg/L硫水混合液平行样的相对标准偏差为3.179%。生物脱硫反应器出水中单质硫测定结果表明,该检测方法是可行的。     

Full utilization of a mass spectrometer using on-demand sharing with multiple LC units

The applicability of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC/MS) is often limited by throughput. The sharing of a mass spectrometer with multiple LCs significantly improves throughput; however, the reported systems have not been designed to fully utilize the MS duty cycle, and as a result to achieve maximum throughput. To fully utilize the mass spectrometer, the number of LC units that a MS will need to recruit is application dependent and could be significantly larger than the current commercial or published implementations. For the example of a single analyte, the number may approach the peak capacity to a first degree approximation. Here, the construction of a MS system that flexibly recruits any number of LC units demanded by the application is discussed, followed by the method to port a previously developed LC/MS method to the system to fully utilize a mass spectrometer. To demonstrate the performance and operation, a prototypical MS system of eight LC units was constructed. When 1-min chromatographic separations were performed in parallel on the eight LCs of the system, the average LC/MS analysis time per sample was 10.5 s when applied to the analysis of samples in 384-well plate format. This system has been successfully used to conduct large-volume biochemical assays with the analysis of a variety of molecular entities in support of drug discovery efforts. Allowing the recruitment of the number of LC units appropriate for a given application, this system has the potential to be a plug-and-play system to fully utilize a mass spectrometer. Copyright ? 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Paramagnetic centers in tumor cells

Free radical properties of different types of tumor cells were compared. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) studies were performed for human (BM, IGR and SK) and mouse (B16 and S91) melanoma cells. In contrast to melanotic melanoma IGR, BM and B16 cells, amelanotic S91 cells contained only a trace amount of melanin. No EPR signals were detected for Caco2 cells and only a very weak EPR line was measured for fibroblast cells. Melanin does not exist in these cells. The aim of this work was the application of EPR spectroscopy to the determination of the kind of melanin (eu- or pheomelanin) in melanotic tumor cells. Microwave saturation of EPR spectra of tumor cells with high and low melanin content was compared. Eumelanin was identified in human BM, IGR, SK, and B16 melanoma cells. Single asymmetrical EPR lines were detected for these samples. The EPR spectra of human BM melanoma cells had the highest intensity. Paramagnetic centers in amelanotic S91 melanoma cells were also found. Trace amounts of eumelanin free radicals and the other free radicals in cells were responsible for their very weak EPR lines. The obtained results indicate that EPR spectroscopy is a very useful technique for the identification of melanin in tumor cells. Strong differences of microwave saturation of EPR lines for cells with high and low melanin content were observed. EPR lines of tumor cells with a low melanin content did not saturate at the used range of microwave power. Saturation was observed for melanotic BM melanoma cells.     

Discrimination of carotenoid and flavonoid content in petals of pansy cultivars (Viola x wittrockiana) by FT‐Raman spectroscopy

Fourier Transform Raman spectroscopy (FT‐Raman) has been applied for the non‐destructive in‐situ analysis of pigments on differently colored flower petals of pansy cultivars (Viola x wittrockiana). The main target of the present study was to investigate how far the Raman mapping technique through FT‐Raman spectroscopy and cluster analysis of the Raman spectra is a potential method for the direct, in‐situ discrimination of flavonoids (flavonols against anthocyanins) and of carotenoids occurring in flowers, using intact and differently colored flower petal of Viola x wittrockiana for this case study. In order to get more information about the reliability of the direct in‐situ flavonoid detection by the Raman method, pigments extracts of the petals were separated by thin‐layer chromatography (TLC) and investigated by Raman spectroscopy. Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) of the Raman spectra from reference pigments (carotenoids, anthocyanins and flavonols), from areas of the flower petals, and from the TLC extracts allowed discriminating the various pigments, in particular flavonoids (flavonols against anthocyanins) and carotenoids. With a two‐dimensional Raman mapping technique, which provides a chemical image of the sample under investigation, we determined by cluster analysis the distribution of carotenoids, anthocyanins and flavonols from the outer layer of the petals, and by integrating through suitable spectral regions selected as characteristic markers for particular pigments their relative concentration could approximately be determined. We found a satisfactory correlation between the patterns seen on the visible images and the patterns on the chemical images obtained by Raman mapping. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于光谱表示和独立成分分析的混合颜料成分分析方法

在混合颜料成分分析中,反射光谱法通过计算相似性来判断基本颜料种类,容易受多种基本颜料的影响,造成分析结果不准确。将光谱表示为信号,结合独立成分分析,提出一种基于光谱表示和独立成分分析的混合颜料成分分析方法。首先,采用光谱仪获取混合颜料光谱信息,并将其表示为离散信号的形式;然后,对信号进行独立成分分析,得到基本颜料的光谱信息;随后,通过计算基本颜料光谱与已知颜料光谱的相似性,确定基本颜料种类;最后,逆用Kubelka-Munk混色公式就可以得出基本颜料的比例。我们采用蒙赛尔色卡光谱制作模拟数据,分别进行正常/扰动情况下三种色卡光谱混合信息的成分分析试验,以及从8种色卡光谱中选择若干种混合后的成分分析实验。分离出的光谱形态与已知的原始颜料光谱形态极其相似,平均相似比为97.72%,最大相似比可以达到99.95%,得出的基本颜料比例与混合时的比例基本相同。实验结果表明本方法适用于混合颜料成分分析。     

基于逆透视变换的车辆排队长度检测方法

交通路口的车辆排队长度检测是智能交通系统的重要组成部分,传统的检测方法易受背景噪声、摄像机透视效果等因素的干扰造成检测失败,而且其实现都是基于串行结构的处理器,不能用于实时处理的场合。本文设计了一种充分利用平直道路几何特征并适合FPGA实现的排队长度自动检测算法,该算法利用逆透视变换消除图像几何失真,引入公路的结构性约束有效检测了车道线;接着采用Sobel边缘算子检测出各车道的车辆轮廓,通过一种基于信息量的度量方法提取排队的队尾,从而确定了车辆排队长度,并且通过硬件化设计使得整个检测过程达到实时的处理速度。     

The use of Raman microscopy and laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry in the examination of synthetic organic pigments in modern works of art

Synthetic organic pigments are widely used in modern and contemporary works of art. They have been examined by a variety of techniques including spectroscopic methods such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman, and X‐ray powder diffraction as well as chromatographic or mass spectrometric techniques such as pyrolysis‐gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry (LDI–MS). Often, a combination of techniques has been used to examine these pigments. This paper describes use of Raman spectroscopy to create a database of colorants including two pigments not previously reported, PO1 and PO2. Then, using Raman spectroscopy in combination with LDI–MS, samples from modern works of art by artists including Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, and José de Rivera were examined in order to identify the pigments present. One finding was that Rothko used a variety of red pigments over the course of his career including PR11 which has not been previously reported in artwork, and PO2 found with its positional isomer PR1. Knowledge of the colorants serves to inform conservators about display and treatment decisions. Published 2014. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.     

Detection of sheep and goat milk adulterations by direct MALDI-TOF MS analysis of milk tryptic digests

In dairy field, one of the most common frauds is the adulteration of higher value types of milk (sheep's and goat's) with milk of lower value (cow's milk). This illegal practice has an economic advantage for milk producers and poses a threat for consumers' health because of the presence of hidden allergens as, for example, cow milk proteins, in particular, α(s1) -casein and β-lactoglobulin. The urgent need of sensitive techniques to detect this kind of fraud brought to the development of chromatographic, immunoenzymatic, electrophoretic and mass spectrometric assays. In the current work, we present a fast, reproducible and sensitive method based on the direct matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) MS analysis of milk tryptic digests for the detection of milk adulteration by evaluating specie-specific markers in the peptide profiles. Several pure raw and commercial milk samples and binary mixtures containing cows' and goats', cows' and sheep's and goats' and sheep's milk (concentrations of each milk varied from 0% to 100%) were prepared, and tryptic digests were analyzed by MALDI-TOF MS. The use of the new MALDI matrix α-cyano-4-chlorocinnamic acid allowed to detect cow and goat milk peptide markers up to 5% level of adulteration. Finally, from preliminary data, it seems that the strategy could be successfully applied also to detect similar adulterations in cheese samples. Copyright ? 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Quantitation of combinatorial libraries of small organic molecules by normal-phase HPLC with evaporative light-scattering detection

Summary The advantages of evaporative light-scattering detection over UV detection for the quantitation of combinatorial libraries composed of small organic compounds by HPLC are described. The detector's response is independent of the sample chromophore, which makes it well-suited to chromatographie analyses of mixtures of dissimilar solutes. Thus, HPLC with evaporative light-scattering detection offers the potential for reducing false positive or false negative results in screening assays, because of its ability to detect the presence of impurities that absorb poorly in the UV (e.g., those impurities originating from the polymeric support). Furthermore, the evaporative light-scattering detector exhibits a nearly equivalent response to compounds of similar structural class. Hence, rapid quantitation of compound libraries may be carried out with the use of a single external standard. For example, the quantitation errors, based on a single external standard, for a series of steroids, hydantoins, and BOC- and Fmoc-protected amino acids by normal-phase HPLC with evaporative light-scattering detection average approximately ± 10%. The application of the evaporative light-scattering detector to the quantitation of low-level sample impurities and the detector's compatibility with gradient elution are also described.     

Improved sample preparation of glyphosate and methylphosphonic acid by EPA method 6800A and time-of-flight mass spectrometry using novel solid-phase extraction

The employment of chemical weapons by rogue states and/or terrorist organizations is an ongoing concern in the United States. The quantitative analysis of nerve agents must be rapid and reliable for use in the private and public sectors. Current methods describe a tedious and time-consuming derivatization for gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography in tandem with mass spectrometry. Two solid-phase extraction (SPE) techniques for the analysis of glyphosate and methylphosphonic acid are described with the utilization of isotopically enriched analytes for quantitation via atmospheric pressure chemical ionization-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (APCI-Q-TOF-MS) that does not require derivatization. Solid-phase extraction-isotope dilution mass spectrometry (SPE-IDMS) involves pre-equilibration of a naturally occurring sample with an isotopically enriched standard. The second extraction method, i-Spike, involves loading an isotopically enriched standard onto the SPE column before the naturally occurring sample. The sample and the spike are then co-eluted from the column enabling precise and accurate quantitation via IDMS. The SPE methods in conjunction with IDMS eliminate concerns of incomplete elution, matrix and sorbent effects, and MS drift. For accurate quantitation with IDMS, the isotopic contribution of all atoms in the target molecule must be statistically taken into account. This paper describes two newly developed sample preparation techniques for the analysis of nerve agent surrogates in drinking water as well as statistical probability analysis for proper molecular IDMS. The methods described in this paper demonstrate accurate molecular IDMS using APCI-Q-TOF-MS with limits of quantitation as low as 0.400 mg/kg for glyphosate and 0.031 mg/kg for methylphosphonic acid.     

Detecting cortical lesions in multiple sclerosis at 7 T using white matter signal attenuation

Cortical lesions have recently been a focus of multiple sclerosis (MS) MR research. In this study, we present a white matter signal attenuating sequence optimized for cortical lesion detection at 7 T. The feasibility of white matter attenuation (WHAT) for cortical lesion detection was determined by scanning eight patients (four relapsing/remitting MS, four secondary progressive MS) at 7 T. WHAT showed excellent gray matter-white matter contrast, and cortical lesions were hyperintense to the surrounding cortical gray matter, The sequence was then optimized for cortical lesion detection by determining the set of sequence parameters that produced the best gray matter-cortical lesion contrast in a 10-min scan. Despite the B1 inhomogeneities common at ultra-high field strengths, WHAT with an adiabatic inversion pulse showed good cortical lesion detection and would be a valuable component of clinical MS imaging protocols.     

等离激元增强拉曼光谱食用合成色素快速检测系统设计

基于等离激元增强拉曼光谱技术,研制出适合现场分析检测的食用合成色素快速检测系统,适用于饮料、肉制品、蜜饯等食品中合成色素的快速检测。检测系统的硬件部分主要由双CPU(ARM和FPGA)主控板、样品前处理模块(含有增强粒子施加装置)、半导体激光光源、光谱数据采集模块构成;软件部分控制样品前处理模块自动运行,并可读取被测样品的拉曼谱图。利用快速检测系统对三种实际样品(蜜饯、汽水、火腿肠)中的食用合成色素胭脂红、柠檬黄、诱惑红进行检测,以验证该系统在食用合成色素检测中的性能。样品检测结果的相对标准偏差小于±5%,表明此检测系统具有良好的灵敏度和重现性,且检测时间短,能够满足食品中合成色素现场快速检测的要求。     

流动注射化学发光法对安乃近进行选择性定量测定

通过对药物中安乃近的选择性定量测定 ,提出一种新的化学发光分析法。当安乃近溶液与酸性的聚乙二醇 4 0 0及罗丹明 6G混合溶液相遇时 ,会产生强烈的化学发光信号 ,根据光信号的大小即可定量测定安乃近的含量。反应中无任何氧化剂使用 ,因此 ,很难解释光信号产生的原因 ,该反应发光机理仍在探讨之中。这种测定方法具有极高的选择性 ,无论被测物是否含有磺酸基团 ,实验中未发现任何其他药物或化学物质会产生有意义的光信号 ,所以 ,不会象其他化学发光体系存在其他物质干扰问题。另外 ,此反应具有高度的灵敏性 ,其工作曲线线性范围为 0 0 1～ 1 0 0 μg·mL-1 ,检出限为 0 0 0 3μg·mL-1 ,此为目前安乃近的所有化学发光测定法中最低的检出限值。该测定方法已成功用于针剂及片剂药物中乃安近的定量测定     

拉曼光谱结合偏最小二乘同时测定烟草中叶黄素和β-胡萝卜素含量

色素是烟草中的重要组成成分,烟草的外观质量和内在品质都与色素相关。色素主要分为绿色素、黄色素和黑色素。在生长期,烟草中的绿色素主要是叶绿素,成熟期的烟草中黄色素则主要为叶黄素和胡萝卜素,黑色素则存在于成熟的烟叶中,或在调制和发酵的过程中产生。色素的检测对于烟草原料评价和成品质量都非常重要。鉴于烟草色素基于液相色谱的传统检测方法耗时较长、样品制备过程复杂,以及拉曼光谱操作简单、测定时间短、能提供有关分子官能团信息的特点,开发了一种应用拉曼光谱同时定量检测烟草中叶黄素和β-胡萝卜素的快检方法。烟草样品的有机溶剂提取物,密封在透明玻璃瓶中,将激光聚焦于瓶内溶液样品直接测定拉曼光谱。研究发现,不同于常见的514和785 nm激发波长,在短波455 nm激光作用下,可获得更理想的拉曼信号,光谱强度较高,荧光干扰较低。对色素萃取溶剂、焦平面与光学平台间的距离等实验条件进行了优化。考虑到不同检测日期仪器操作条件的变化可对拉曼光谱产生影响,以溶剂峰为内标峰,对光谱进行归一化处理,以校正因测定条件不稳定而引起的物理干扰。为了解决荧光干扰,以及色素分子之间的拉曼光谱干扰问题,采用偏最小二乘法（PLS）建立光谱分析的多元校正模型。建模中对波长区域以及光谱预处理方法进行了优化。研究结果表明,光谱归一化处理显著降低了因物理因素产生的光谱干扰,光谱求导运算对建模影响不大,而波长选择能明显改善模型的预测能力。利用798.2～1 752.8 cm-1波段建立叶黄素的PLS定量模型时,预测效果最佳,预测集的均方根误差（RMSEP）为6.68 μg·g-1;对于β-胡萝卜素,798.2～1 752.8 cm-1组合2 254.2～2 784.5 cm-1用来建模时得到的RMSEP最小,为2.56 μg·g-1。该方法操作简便、耗时少、结果准确可靠,为烟草样本中色素的定量分析提供了一种切实有效的新途径。     

基于频域纹理消除的结构性纹理缺陷检测方法

针对金属加工表面等结构纹理表面图像缺陷检测问题,结构纹理的存在会对缺陷（比如划痕）检测带来干扰,该文开展在频率域中消除背景纹理的方法来进行缺陷检测的研究。首先基于傅里叶变换的图像复原技术,空间域图像中的结构性纹理对应傅里叶域中高能频率分量,使用最小二乘法直线拟合操作去除,并将这些能量设置为零,经傅里叶逆变换为空间域图像。在复原的图像中,原始图像中的结构纹理区域将变为近似的均匀灰度级,但其中缺陷部分将被保留下来。再使用统计过程控制来设置阈值的方法就能从复原图像中分离出缺陷。最后在一系列的结构性纹理图像上的实验证实了所提方法可行且有效。