Second-order calibration of excitation-emission matrix fluorescence spectra for determination of glutathione in human plasma

A rapid non-separative spectroflourimetric method based on the second-order calibration of the excitation-emission data matrix was proposed for the determination of glutathione (GSH) in human plasma. In the phosphate buffer solution of pH 8.0 GSH reacts with ortho-phthaldehyde (OPA) to yield a fluorescent adduct with maximum fluorescence intensity at about 420 nm. To handle the interfering effects of the OPA adducts with aminothiols other than GSH in plasma as well as intrinsic fluorescence of human plasma, parallel factor (PARAFAC) analysis as an efficient three-way calibration method was employed. In addition, to model the indirect interfering effect of the plasma matrix, PARAFAC was coupled with standard addition method. The two-component PARAFAC modeling of the excitation-emission matrix fluorescence spectra accurately resolved the excitation and emission spectra of GSH, plasma (or plasma constituents). The concentration-related PARAFAC score of GSH represented a linear correlation with the concentration of added GSH, similar to that is obtained in simple standard addition method. Using this standard addition curve, the GSH level in plasma was found to be 6.10 ± 1.37 μmol L⁻¹. The accuracy of the method was investigated by analysis of the plasma samples spiked with 1.0 μmol L⁻¹ of GSH and a recovery of 97.5% was obtained.     

Simultaneous kinetic spectrophotometric determination of Cu(II), Co(II) and Ni(II) using partial least squares (PLS) regression

A partial least squares (PLS-1) calibration model based on kinetic—spectrophotometric measurement, for the simultaneous determination of Cu(II), Ni(II) and Co(II) ions is described. The method was based on the difference in the rate of the reaction between Co(II), Ni(II) and Cu(II) ions with 1-(2-pyridylazo)2-naphthol in a pH 5.8 buffer solution and in micellar media at 25°C. The absorption kinetic profiles of the solutions were monitored by measuring the absorbance at 570 nm at 2 s intervals during the time range of 0–10 min after initiation of the reaction. The experimental calibration matrix for the partial least squares (PLS-1) model was designed with 30 samples. The cross-validation method was used for selecting the number of factors. The results showed that simultaneous determination could be performed in the range 0.1-2 μg mL⁻¹ for each cation. The proposed method was successfully applied to the simultaneous determination of Cu(II), Ni(II) and Co(II) ions in water and in synthetic alloy samples.      

Hopf algebras of primitive Lie pseudogroups and Hopf cyclic cohomology

We associate to each infinite primitive Lie pseudogroup a Hopf algebra of ‘transverse symmetries,’ by refining a procedure due to Connes and the first author in the case of the general pseudogroup. The affiliated Hopf algebra can be viewed as a ‘quantum group’ counterpart of the infinite-dimensional primitive Lie algebra of the pseudogroup. It is first constructed via its action on the étale groupoid associated to the pseudogroup, and then realized as a bicrossed product of a universal enveloping algebra by a Hopf algebra of regular functions on a formal group. The bicrossed product structure allows to express its Hopf cyclic cohomology in terms of a bicocyclic bicomplex analogous to the Chevalley-Eilenberg complex. As an application, we compute the relative Hopf cyclic cohomology modulo the linear isotropy for the Hopf algebra of the general pseudogroup, and find explicit cocycle representatives for the universal Chern classes in Hopf cyclic cohomology. As another application, we determine all Hopf cyclic cohomology groups for the Hopf algebra associated to the pseudogroup of local diffeomorphisms of the line.     

Determination of Dioxins in Blood Using Nano-baskets Doped in Emulsion Liquid Membranes

Extraction of dioxins from blood samples was carried out by inclusion-facilitated emulsion liquid membrane process. The novelty of this work is the application of nano-baskets of calixarene and emulsion liquid membranes in the selective and efficient preconcentration of dioxin. For this aim, four derivatives of p-tert-calix[4]arene bearing different sulfonamide moieties were synthesized and their inclusion-extraction parameters were optimized including the calixarene's scaffold and concentration(as the carrier/demulsifier), the diluent type in membrane, the phase and the treat ratio, mixing speed, and initial solute concentration. Determinations were followed by a gas chromatograph and the results reveal that under the optimized operating conditions, the preconcentration of dioxins was improved and the method achieved lower limit of detections(LODs). Under optimal conditions, the figures of merits were determined to be LOD 1.0 pg/L, dynamic range 0.6―112.0 pg/L, RSD 5.5%(n=5), and the maximum enrichment factor and recovery were determined to be 3.3 and 99%, respectively.     

Determination of hydrate inhibitor in crude oil by nanoextraction-gas chromatography

This work focused on the quantitation of methanol as a hydrate inhibitor in crude oil. The novelty is nanoextraction of a polar compound from a complex non-polar matrix and selection of the proper fiber with maximum selectivity, loading percent, and lifetime. This approach not only does not require specific instrumentation, such as multiple columns and selective detectors, but also has eliminated the use of organic solvent and avoids the insertion of water inside the GC columns. The objective is optimization of extraction conditions, GC adjustments, and data processing. Experiments were conducted on the real sample of Iranian offshore crude oil by a carboxen/PDMS fiber via GC equipped with a cross-linked polyethylene glycol column and flame ionization detector. The results revealed that this fiber adsorbed the alcohols among other light non-polar compounds of crude oil. Moreover, the interference effects of ethanol were solved by proper selection of the thermal program. The LOD, LOQ, and linear range of this approach were determined to be 3.9, 12.9, and 14-229 ppm for methanol, respectively. Using the standard calibration and the standard addition methods, the relative errors of 1.6-7.2 and 5.3-14.0% were determined.     

Three-dimensional photon counting integral imaging using moving array lens technique

In this Letter, we present three-dimensional (3D) photon counting integral imaging using the moving array-lens technique (MALT) to improve the visualization of a reconstructed 3D scene. In 3D scene reconstruction of photon counting integral imaging, various techniques such as maximum likelihood estimation may be used. However, the visual quality depends on the number of scene photons or detector pixels activated by photons. We show that MALT may improve the viewing resolution of integral imaging for reconstructed 3D scene under photon-starved conditions.     

Essential normality for certain finite linear combinations of linear-fractional composition operators on the Hardy space H 2

In 1999 Nina Zorboska and in 2003 P. S.Bourdon, D. Levi, S.K.Narayan and J.H. Shapiro investigated the essentially normal composition operator ${C_\varphi }$ , when φ is a linear-fractional self-map of D. In this paper first, we investigate the essential normality problem for the operator T _w ${C_\varphi }$ on the Hardy space H ², where w is a bounded measurable function on ?D which is continuous at each point of F(φ), φ ∈ S(2), and T _w is the Toeplitz operator with symbol w. Then we use these results and characterize the essentially normal finite linear combinations of certain linear-fractional composition operators on H ².     

Activity Coefficient Determinations of KCl in the KCl + Formamide + Water Mixed Solvent System Based on Potentiometric Measurements at 298.2 K

In this work mean activity coefficient measurements for KCl in the KCl + formamide + water system, using the potentiometric method, are reported. The electromotive force measurements were performed on a galvanic cell of the type Ag | AgCl | KCl (m), formamide (w%), H₂O (1−w)% | K-ISE, in solvent mixtures containing w=(0,10,20,30, and 40)% mass percent of formamide over ionic strengths ranging from 0.0010 to 3.9578 mol⋅kg⁻¹. Modeling of the activity coefficients of this ternary system was based on an extended Debye–Hückel equation and the Pitzer ion-interaction model. The resulting values of the mean activity coefficients, the osmotic coefficients and the excess Gibbs energy, together with Pitzer ion-interaction parameters (β ⁽⁰⁾, β ⁽¹⁾ and C ^ϕ ) and Debye–Hückel parameters (a, c and d), are reported for the investigated system.