Towards accreditation of clinical biochemistry in the public sector on the island of Mauritius

Medical laboratories of the public sector as well as of the private sector on the island of Mauritius are preparing for accreditation. The clinical laboratory of the Central Health laboratory of the Ministry of Health and Quality of Life has undergone a pre-assessment by experts of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) through the aegis of a project targeted to members of the Africa Region. Several shortcomings were identified and respective corrective actions were recommended for implementation within a given time frame. In addition to ensuring the competence of the laboratory, accreditation has various positive aspects such as an increased awareness of the staff to quality and better training opportunities. The pre-assessment exercise has provided a gap analysis, which is an important aspect in the preparation towards accreditation.     

Rapid determination of panaxynol in a traditional Chinese medicine of Saposhnikovia divaricata by pressurized hot water extraction followed by liquid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

Panaxynol is a bioactive component in traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs), such as Saposhnikovia divaricata and Panax ginseng. In the work, two solvent-free sample techniques of pressurized hot water extraction (PHWE) and headspace liquid-phase microextraction (HS-LPME) were combined and developed for the determination of panaxynol in a TCM of S. divaricata. Panaxynol in the TCM samples from different growing areas was extracted by PHWE in dynamic mode, followed by extraction and concentration with HS-LPME and analysis with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The PHWE and HS-LPME parameters were optimized and the method validations were studied. Panaxynol in S. divaricata from four different growing areas was quantitatively analyzed by internal standard method. These results have shown that PHWE-LPME-GC-MS is a simple, rapid, efficient and low-cost method for the determination of panaxynol in TCMs and is a potential tool for TCM quality assessment.     

全二维液相色谱（NPLC×RPLC）接口及其应用

用内径为0．53mm的填充毛细管正相液相色谱为第一维，用4．6mm（i．d．）×50mmRP-18e整体柱反相色谱为第二维，建立了定量环一阀切换接口的全二维液相色谱系统（NPLC×RPLC）．第一维色谱分离洗脱出的组分交替存储在十通阀上的两个定量环中，同时定量环中前一个组分被转移到第二维进行反相分离．因为第一维的流动相流量仅是第二维的1／500，自然解决了流动相兼容问题．采用芳香族化合物的混合物和中药丹参正己烷提取液对该全二维液相系统的分离能力进行了评价．     

Is it safe to have a laboratory test?

A recent US Institute of Medicine report indicated that up to 98,000 deaths and more than 1 million injuries occur each year in the United States due to medical errors. These include diagnostic errors, such as an error or delay in diagnosis, failure to employ indicated tests and the use of outmoded tests. Laboratory tests provide up to 80% of the information used by physicians to make important medical decisions, therefore it is important to determine how often laboratory testing mistakes occur, whether they cause patient harm, where they are most likely to occur in the testing process, and how to prevent them from occurring. A review of the literature and a US Quality Institute Conference in 2003 indicates that errors in laboratory medicine occur most often in the pre-analytical and post-analytical steps in the testing process, but most of the quality improvement efforts focus on improving the analytical process. Measures must be developed and employed to reduce the potential for mistakes in laboratory medicine, including better indicators for the quality of laboratory service. Users of laboratory services must be linked with the laboratorys information system to assist them with decisions about test ordering, patient preparation, and test interpretation. Quality assessment efforts need to be expanded beyond external quality assessment programs to encompass the detection of non-analytical mistakes and improving communication between the users of and providers of laboratory services. The actual number of mistakes in laboratory testing is not fully recognized, because no widespread process is in place to either determine how often mistakes occur or to systematically eliminate sources of error. We also tend to focus on mistakes that result in adverse events, not the near misses that cause no observable harm. The users of laboratory services must become aware of where testing mistakes can occur and actively participate in designing processes to prevent mistakes. Most importantly, healthcare institutions need to adopt a culture of safety, which is implemented at all levels of the organization. This includes establishing closer links between providers of laboratory services and others in the healthcare delivery system. This was the theme of a 2003 Quality Institute Conference aimed at making the laboratory a key partner in patient safety. Plans to create a permanent public–private partnership, called the Institute for Quality in Laboratory Medicine, whose mission is to promote improvements in the use of laboratory tests and laboratory services are underway.Presented at the 9th Conference on Quality in the Spotlight, 18–19 March 2004, Antwerp, Belgium.     

四君子汤和四物汤微量元素含量研究

通过了解中药“四君子汤”和“四物汤”中微量元素含量的异同,研讨了微量元素和中医“气血”理论之间的关系。实验表明,“四君子汤”和“四物汤”在微量元素的含量方面,有一定的类同和差异。该现象同中医的“气血”理论有非常相像的地方。同时发现中药中的微量元素在煎煮过程中,并不是同想象的一样匀速进入药液,而是不同的元素在不同的时间段不同的批次进入药液,这也提示中药煎法理论有一定依据。由于目前做的实验还少,本实验留下很多问题和疑点,值得进一步做有关的实验和研究。     

In Vitro Determination of Dobesilate in Medicine and Human Urine with Chemiluminescence Detection

A unique flow injection chemiluminescence (CL) method for the determination of calcium dobesilate in pharmaceutical preparations and human urine is presented in this paper. The analytical reagents involved in the CL reaction, luminol and ferricyanide, were both immobilized on an anion-exchange column in an FI system. The CL signal produced by the reaction of luminol with ferricyanide (the reagents had been eluted from the column through sodium phosphate injection) decreased in the presence of dobesilate. The decreased CL intensity was linear to the dobesilate concentration in the range 0.2100.0ngmL^–1. At a flow rate of 2.0mLmin^–1, one analytical cycle can be completed in 1.5min, including sampling and washing, resulting in a throughput of 40 cycles per hour. The proposed method was applied successfully to the determination of dobesilate in pharmaceutical preparations and human urine without any pre-treatment. It was found that, after oral administration, the dobesilate concentration reached its maximum after three hours, and the dobesilate metabolism ratio in 24 hours was 57.1% in the bodies of volunteers.Received September 14, 2002; accepted March 11, 2003 Published online July 16, 2003     

天然药物及制剂中微量元素硒的测定方法概况

硒是人体必需的微量元素，具有抗肿瘤、防衰老、防辐射和增强机体免疫力等多种功能。本文就国内近年来对天然药物及其制剂中微量元素硒的分析方法概况作一综述，包括：原子吸收分光光度法、荧光分光光度法、电感耦合等离了光谱法、催化分光光度法、分光光度法、化学发光淬灭法、极谱法、中子活化分析法和色谱法等。     

Astragalus membranaceus ultrafine powder alleviates hyperuricemia by regulating the gut microbiome and reversing bile acid and adrenal hormone biosynthesis dysregulation

Ethnopharmacological relevanceMetabolic syndrome is closely related to the intestinal microbiota and disturbances in the host metabolome. Hyperuricemia (HUA), a manifestation of metabolic syndrome, can induce various cardiovascular diseases and gout, seriously affecting a patient’s quality of life. Astragalus membranaceus has a long history as a commonly used traditional Chinese medicine to treat kidney disease in China and East Asia.Materials and methodsWe compared the therapeutic effect of benzbromarone and two different doses Astragalus membranaceus ultrafine powder (AMUP) in rats with HUA. Ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometer was used to analyze the AMUP metabolism in the plasma, urine, and feces. Further, 16S ribosome RNA sequencing and feces metabolomic were performed to capture the variation of the gut microbiota and metabolites changes before and after drug administration.ResultsAMUP had a notable impact on reducing blood uric acid levels while protecting the liver and kidney. Drug metabolism analysis demonstrated that effective constituent flavonoids are distributed in the blood, whereas saponins remain in the intestine. Gut microbiota analysis showed that low-dose AMUP ameliorated HUA-induced gut dysbiosis by reducing the abundance of harmful bacteria and increasing that of some beneficial bacteria with anti-inflammatory properties, such as Clostridia, Lachnospiraceae, and Muribaculaceae. In addition, HUA-induced changes in metabolite contents in bile acid and adrenal hormone biosynthesis pathways were restored after treatment with AMUP.ConclusionLow-dose AMUP exerts remarkable therapeutic effects on HUA by regulating the gut microbiome and mediating gut metabolism pathways associated with uric acid excretion.     

Advances of Chromatography in Analysis of Complex Samples

The separation and identification of complex samples is an urgent task that analytical chemistry has to face. Chromatography, as an important analysis technique, has been widely applied to many fields, such as life science, environment, medicine, food and petrochemical engineering.Recently, with the progress of science and tech-     

化学模式识别技术评价中药厚朴质量的研究

本文对不同产地和市售的二十四种厚朴药材及饮片的萃取液进行了高效液相色谱、气相色谱及紫外光谱分析;对所得数据用主成分分析进行分类,概括出不同样品化学成分的异同,认为大叶木兰可做为厚朴的代用品,而在陕西安康购得的样品不应做厚朴使用,后者经生药学鉴定为厚朴伪品凹叶木兰。化学模式识别技术可为寻找药材的代用品、评价中药质量及鉴定伪劣药材提供依据。