Creatinine determination in urine samples by batchwise kinetic procedure and flow injection analysis using the Jaffé reaction: chemometric study

The classical Jaffé reaction for the determination of creatinine in urine samples is tested. A comparative study of the main analytical characteristics focussed to minimize the bias error and improve the precision, for the batchwise and flow injection (FI) methods is realized. Also, the effect of the albumin concentration in the determination of creatinine has been studied. Different analytical signals were studied. Absorbance increments at different times permit to estimate the creatinine concentration free from bias error in urine by the batchwise method using the calibration graph obtained with creatinine standards and no measurement of the blank solution is needed. The lineal interval was 0.92–50 mg l⁻¹ and seven samples can be processed per hour by an operator. No previous treatment of the urine sample is necessary. The FI method provides also good results. The lineal interval was 30–100 mg l⁻¹ and the sample rate was around 20 samples per hour. If increased albumin levels are detected in the urine, standard addition method or the calibration graphs with standards in presence of albumin are needed in order to obtain accurate results when FI method is employed. The obtained accuracy of the both methods allows its application as diagnostic tool to establish the urinary creatinine levels.     

Prediction and observation of isostructurality induced by solvent incorporation in multicomponent crystals

The crystal structures of two pharmaceutical molecules-carbamazepine and its 10,11-dihydro derivative-with acetic acid have been successfully predicted by computational methods. While the crystalline structure of the former was known a priori, no structural information was available for the latter. Possible crystal structures were generated in silico before any experimental work was performed. Although the crystal structures of the pure drug molecules are very different, incorporation of acetic acid in their crystal lattices results in isomorphic products.     

Search for a fourth-generation quark more massive than the Z0 boson in p&pmacr; collisions at radicals = 1.8 TeV

We present the results of a search for pair production of a fourth-generation charge -1 / 3 quark (b(')) in sqrt[s] = 1.8 TeV p&pmacr; collisions using 88 pb(-1) of data obtained with the Collider Detector at Fermilab. We assume that both quarks decay via the flavor-changing neutral current process b(')-->bZ(0) and that the b(') mass is greater than m(Z)+m(b). We studied the decay mode b(')b(');-->Z(0)Z(0)b&bmacr; where one Z0 decays into e(+)e(-) or &mgr;(+)&mgr;(-) and the other decays hadronically, giving a signature of two leptons plus jets. An upper limit on the sigma(p&pmacr;-->b(')b(');)x[B(b(')-->bZ(0))](2) is established as a function of the b(') mass. We exclude at 95% confidence level a b(') quark with mass between 100 and 199 GeV/c(2) for B(b(')-->bZ(0)) = 100%.     

X-Ray waveguiding studies of ordering phenomena in confined fluids

We have determined the structure of a colloidal fluid confined in a gap between two walls by making use of the waveguiding properties of the gap at x-ray wavelengths. The method is based on an analysis of the coupling of waveguide modes induced by the density variations in the confined fluid. Studies on suspensions confined within gaps of a few hundred nanometers showed strongly selective mode coupling effects, indicative of an ordering of the colloidal particles in layers parallel to the confining walls.     

Direct measurement of the W boson width in p&pmacr; collisions at radicals = 1.8 TeV

This Letter describes a direct measurement of the W boson total decay width, gamma(W), using the Collider Detector at Fermilab. The measurement uses an integrated luminosity of 90 pb(-1), collected during the 1994-1995 run of the Fermilab Tevatron p&pmacr; collider. The width is determined by normalizing predicted signal and background distributions to 49 844 W-->enu candidates and 21 806 W-->&mgr;nu candidates in the transverse-mass region M(T)<200 GeV and then fitting the predicted shape to the 438 electron events and 196 muon events in the high- M(T) region, 100相似文献