Impact of an external radiation field on handheld XRF measurements for nuclear forensics applications

X-ray fluorescence (XRF) is an attractive technique for nuclear forensics applications. We evaluated a handheld XRF device by applying an external radiation field (10 mR/h–17 R/h) using two types of radiography sources: a ⁶⁰Co radiography camera for high-energy gamma emissions and an ¹⁹²Ir radiography camera for several low-energy gamma (0.604, 0.468, and 0.317 MeV) and decay daughter X-ray emissions. External radiation tests proved that radiation, in general, has a significant effect on the dead time or background at dose rates over 1 R/h for both the ¹⁹²Ir and ⁶⁰Co sources.     

Metal Oxide Assisted Preparation of Core–Shell Beads with Dense Metal–Organic Framework Coatings for the Enhanced Extraction of Organic Pollutants

Dense and homogeneous metal–organic framework (MOF) coatings on functional bead surfaces are easily prepared by using intermediate sacrificial metal oxide coatings containing the metal precursor of the MOF. Polystyrene (PS) beads are coated with a ZnO layer to give ZnO@PS core–shell beads. The ZnO@PS beads are reactive in the presence of 2‐methylimidazole to transform part of the ZnO coating into a porous zeolitic imidazolate framework‐8 (ZIF‐8) external shell positioned above the internal ZnO precursor shell. The obtained ZIF‐8@ZnO@PS beads can be easily packed in column format for flow‐through applications, such as the solid‐phase extraction of trace priority‐listed environmental pollutants. The prepared material shows an excellent permeance to flow when packed as a column to give high enrichment factors, facile regeneration, and excellent reusability for the extraction of the pollutant bisphenol A. It also shows an outstanding performance for the simultaneous enrichment of mixtures of endocrine disrupting chemicals (bisphenol A, 4‐tert‐octylphenol and 4‐n‐nonylphenol), facilitating their analysis when present at very low levels (<1 μg L^?1) in drinking waters. For the extraction of the pollutant bisphenol A, the prepared ZIF‐8@ZnO@PS beads also show a superior extraction and preconcentration capacity to that of the PS beads used as precursors and the composite materials obtained by the direct growth of ZIF‐8 on the surface of the PS beads in the absence of metal oxide intermediate coatings.     

Validation of chromatographic methods: evaluation of detection and quantification limits in the determination of impurities in omeprazole

To guarantee that an analytical procedure gives reliable, exact and interpretable information about a sample, it must be validated. Two ambiguous parameters are detection limit and quantification limit. The determination of these limits is still of great concern and there are still a variety of procedures described in the current literature. The fundamental objective of the present work is to apply the different recommendations suggested by official guidelines for the quantitative determination of omeprazole and its impurities (omeprazole sulphone and 5-hydroxy-omeprazole) in capsules and tablets using high performance liquid chromatography with UV detection. The importance of calibration linearity in the context of the quantification limit is considered, since one of the approaches, the estimated concentrations of this limit, are deduced from the regression line. The values of the detection limit and the quantification limit obtained show that, in chromatographic analyses, the best method is that based on the use of the parameters obtained from the analytical curve, which are statistically reliable. It was shown that smaller values of the detection limit and the quantification limit were obtained by the visual approach and by the method using the signal-to-noise ratio. However, these values may reflect a subjective evaluation, prone to error and large variations. This was confirmed by showing that these methods result in values that fall outside the linear range of the method.     

Synthesis and Structure of a 1,3-alternate-Thiacalix[4]arene diamide Derivative

A novel receptor possessing two complexation sites and bearing 1,3-alternate conformation based on thiacalix[4]arene, confirmed by single crystal X-ray analysis, was prepared. The tetrathiacalix[4]arene diamide shows strong intramolecular hydrogen bonding. The binding behavior towards K⁺ and halides has been examined by ¹H NMR titration experiments.     

Novel feature extraction technique for fuzzy relational clustering of a flexible dopamine reuptake inhibitor

This paper describes a novel clustering methodology for classifying over 700 conformations of a flexible analogue of GBR 12909, a dopamine reuptake inhibitor that has completed phase I clinical trials as a treatment for cocaine abuse. The major aspect of the clustering methodology includes an efficient data-conditioning scheme where a systematic feature extraction procedure based on the structural properties of the molecule was used to reduce the associated feature space. This allowed region-specific clustering that focused on individual pharmacophore elements of the molecule. For clustering of the reduced feature set, the fuzzy clustering partitional method was utilized. Due to the relational nature of the feature data, fuzzy relational clustering was employed, and it successfully detected natural groups defined by rotational minima around N(sp(3))-C(sp(3)), O(sp(3))-C(sp(3)), and C(sp(3))-C(sp(2)) bonds. The proposed clustering methodology also employed several cluster validity measures, which corroborated the partitions produced by the clustering technique and agreed with the results of hierarchical clustering using the XCluster program. Representative structures which exhibited a reasonable spread of energies and showed good spatial coverage of the conformational space were identified for use as putative bioactive conformations in a future Comparative Molecular Field Analysis of GBR 12909 analogues. The clustering methodology developed here is capable of handling other computational chemistry problems, and the feature extraction technique can be easily generalized to other molecules.     

Preparation of vinylphenols from 2- and 4-hydroxybenzaldehydes

A straightforward, high-yielding procedure has been developed for the manufacture of substituted vinylphenols from 2- and 4-hydroxybenzaldehydes utilising classical Knoevenagel condensation reaction conditions.     

Development and Validation of a High-Performance Thin-Layer Chromatographic Method,with Densitometry,for Quantitative Analysis of Tizoxanide (a Metabolite of Nitazoxanide) in Human Plasma

JPC – Journal of Planar Chromatography – Modern TLC - A new simple, rapid, and selective high-performance thin-layer chromatographic (HPTLC) method with metronidazole as the internal...     

Influence of water in the lamellar rearrangement of internal wool lipids

Small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) was applied to a new lipid model arrangement, which was achieved by concentrating or diluting internal wool lipid liposome suspensions in varying water concentrations. The influence of the water content in the lamellar structure of the internal wool lipids is compared with the lamellar structure of phosphatidylcholine bilayers present in the membranes of the living cells. The high increase in the lamellar distances with the water content indicates that large amounts of water can be retained in the lipid wool membrane in contrast to the case of phosphatidylcholine liposomes. A transition temperature between 40 and 50 degrees C tends to eliminate the ordered lamellar structure when more than 60% of water is present in the bilayer structure. This could account for the increase in the permeability of the wool fibres when these are soaked in water at temperatures exceeding 40 degrees C.     

Production of high melt strength polypropylene by gamma irradiation

High melt strength polypropylene (HMS-PP) has been recently developed and introduced in the market by the major international producers of polypropylene. Therefore, BRASKEM, the leading Brazilian PP producer, together with EMBRARAD, the leading Brazilian gamma irradiator, and the IPEN (Institute of Nuclear Energy and Research) worked to develop a national technology for the production of HMS-PP. One of the effective approaches to improve melt strength and extensibility is to add chain branches onto polypropylene backbone using gamma radiation. Branching and grafting result from the radical combinations during irradiation process. Crosslinking and main chain scission in the polymer structure are also obtained during this process. In this work, gamma irradiation technique was used to induce chemical changes in commercial polypropylene with two different monomers, Tri-allyl-isocyanurate (TAIC) and Tri-methylolpropane-trimethacrylate (TMPTMA), with concentration ranging from 1.5 to 5.0 mmol/100 g of polypropylene. These samples were irradiated with a ⁶⁰Co source at dose of 20 kGy. It used two different methods of HMS-PP processing. The crosslinking of modified polymers was studied by measuring gel content melt flow rate and rheological properties like melt strength and drawability. It was observed that the reaction method and the monomer type have influenced the properties. However, the concentration variation of monomer has no effect.     

Effectiveness of Photodynamic Therapy in Elimination of HPV‐16 and HPV‐18 Associated with CIN I in Mexican Women

This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of photodynamic therapy (PDT), using δ‐aminolevulinic acid (5‐ALA), in the elimination of premalignant cervical lesions in Mexican patients with human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and/or cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). Thirty women diagnosed with CIN I and/or positive for HPV participated in the study. Topical 6% 5‐ALA in gel form was applied to the uterine cervix; after 4 h, the lesion area was irradiated with a light dose of 200 J cm^?2 at 635 nm. This procedure was performed three times at 48‐h intervals. Clinical follow‐up was performed at 3, 6, and 12 months after the initial PDT administration, by colposcopy, cervical cytology, histopathological analysis, polymerase chain reaction, and hybrid capture. Of HPV‐infected patients without evidence of CIN I, 80% cleared the infection, while HPV associated with CIN I was eliminated in 83% of patients (P < 0.05). At 12 months, CIN I had regressed in 57% of patients, although this response was not statistically significant. PDT using 6% 5‐ALA is concluded to be effective in eliminating HPV infection associated or not with CIN I.