Optimization and validation of organochlorine compounds in adipose tissue by SPE‐gas chromatography

Scientific evidence has shown an association between organochlorine compounds (OCC) exposure and human health hazards. Concerning this, OCC detection in human adipose samples has to be considered a public health priority. This study evaluated the efficacy of various solid‐phase extraction (SPE) and cleanup methods for OCC determination in human adipose tissue. Octadecylsilyl endcapped (C₁₈‐E), benzenesulfonic acid modified silica cation exchanger (SA), poly(styrene‐divinylbenzene (EN) and EN/RP₁₈ SPE sorbents were evaluated. The relative sample cleanup provided by these SPE columns was evaluated using gas chromatography with electron capture detection (GC–ECD). The C₁₈‐E columns with strong homogenization were found to provide the most effective cleanup, removing the greatest amount of interfering substance, and simultaneously ensuring good analyte recoveries higher than 70%. Recoveries > 70% with standard deviations (SD) < 15% were obtained for all compounds under the selected conditions. Method detection limits were in the 0.003–0.009 mg/kg range. The positive samples were confirmed by gas chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (GC‐MS/MS). The highest percentage found of the OCC in real samples corresponded to HCB, o,p′‐DDT and methoxychlor, which were detected in 80 and 95% of samples analyzed respectively. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Intrinsic Crosslinking and Gel-Breaking Rheokinetics of CMHEC/CTAB Systems

The intrinsic rheokinetics of carboxymethyl hydroxyethyl cellulose and cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CMHEC/CTAB) synergistic fracturing fluid in static crosslinking and gel-breaking processes were studied in this work. Microrheological properties including solid–liquid balance (SLB) and elasticity index (EI) during the static crosslinking and gel-breaking processes were obtained. The effects of temperature on the crosslinking process, concentration of gel-breaker (ammonium persulfate), and temperature on the gel-breaking process were investigated. The novel intrinsic crosslinking and gel-breaking rheokinetics equations were established, respectively. The results show that the crosslinking process can be divided into two stages, and the intrinsic crosslinking rheokinetics equation can well describe EI curves during the static crosslinking process at different temperatures. The EI curves during the gel-breaking process can be well described by the intrinsic gel-breaking rheokinetics equation. The parameters for these two rheokinetics equations are well-defined and reasonable.     

Synthesis,structure and property of diorganotin N‐[(3‐methoxy‐2‐oxyphenyl)methylene]tyrosinates

Five new diorganotin N‐[(3‐methoxy‐2‐oxyphenyl)methylene] tyrosinates, R₂Sn[2‐O‐3‐MeOC₆H₃CH=NCH (CH₂C₆H₄OH‐4)COO] (R = Me, 1 ; Et, 2 ; Bu, 3 ; Cy, 4 ; Ph, 5 ), have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, IR, NMR (¹H, ¹³C and ¹¹⁹Sn) spectra, and the X‐ray single crystal diffraction. In non‐coordinated solvent, complexes 1 – 5 have penta‐coordinated tin atom. In the solid state, 1 – 3 are centrosymmetric dimmers in which each tin atom is seven‐coordinated in a distorted pentagonal bipyramid, and 4 displays discrete molecular structure with distorted trigonal bipyramidal geometry, and the tin atom of 5 is hexa‐coordinated and possess the distorted octahedral geometry with a coordinational methanol molecule. The intermolecular O‐H???O hydrogen bonds in 1 – 4 link molecules into the different one‐dimensional supramolecular chain with R₂² (30) or R₂² (20) macrocycles, and the molecules of 5 are joined into a two‐dimensional supramolecular network containing R₄⁴ (24) and R₄⁴ (28) two macrocycles. Bioassay results against human tumour cell HeLa indicated that 3 ‐ 5 belonged to the efficient cytostatic agents and the activity decreased in the order 4 > 3 > 5 > 2 > 1. The fluorescence determinations show the complexes may be explored for potential luminescent materials.     

Preparation of 4-sulfonylcalix[6]arene modified Fe<Subscript>3</Subscript>O<Subscript>4</Subscript> as adsorbent for adsorption of U(VI) from aqueous solution

The 4-sulfonylcalix[6]arene modified Fe₃O₄ (MFS) was characterized by FT-IR, SEM, VSM, TGA, etc., which showed that its saturation magnetization was 64.99 emu g^?1 with the particle size 10–40 nm. The maximum adsorption efficiency by MFS for 2.5 mg L^?1 U(VI) solution amounted to 94.39%, which was higher than that by Fe₃O₄ (65.22%) under its optimum adsorption conditions. The adsorption of MFS and Fe₃O₄ were both followed the pseudo-second order model and the Langmuir isotherm model. The Gibbs free energy change and enthalpy change revealed that the adsorption of U(VI) by MFS was a spontaneous and endothermic process.     

Using random forest to classify T-cell epitopes based on amino acid properties and molecular features

T-lymphocyte (T-cell) is a very important component in human immune system. T-cell epitopes can be used for the accurately monitoring the immune responses which activation by major histocompatibility complex (MHC), and rationally designing vaccines. Therefore, accurate prediction of T-cell epitopes is crucial for vaccine development and clinical immunology. In current study, two types peptide features, i.e., amino acid properties and chemical molecular features were used for the T-cell epitopes peptide representation. Based on these features, random forest (RF) algorithm, a powerful machine learning algorithm, was used to classify T-cell epitopes and non-T-cell epitopes. The classification accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, Matthews correlation coefficient (MCC), and area under the curve (AUC) values for proposed method are 97.54%, 97.22%, 97.60%, 0.9193, and 0.9868, respectively. These results indicate that current method based on the combined features and RF is effective for T-cell epitopes prediction.     

Improved λ/4 phase-shifted DFB semiconductor laser with spatial hole burning compensation using grating chirp

A λ/4 phase-shifted distributed feedback (DFB) semiconductor laser with a preformed chirped grating used to compensate the spatial hole burning (SHB) induced index change is proposed and analyzed. It shows that compared with the three phase shifted DFB laser which is known for its good performance to eliminate SHB, the proposed SHB compensated laser has better single longitudinal mode property, narrower spectral linewidth and better dynamic characteristics.