Fast simultaneous determination of 23 veterinary drug residues in fish,poultry, and red meat by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry

The misuses of veterinary drugs can result in the accumulation of residues in food of animal origin that can make its way to the final consumer. Herein we describe a simple method for the accurate determination of beta-lactams, quinolones, sulphonamides, and tetracyclines in fish, poultry, and red meat. No extraction cartridges were used; instead, the extraction process consisted of the addition of an organic solvents, shaking, centrifugation, and dilution. An extensive validation process demonstrated an excellent linearity (R² ≥ 0.99) for 23-drug residues. The recovery of drugs in different matrices at two concentration levels (n = 6) was in the range of 82–119%. The method was proved to be repeatable and reproducible with intra/inter-day measurements (RSDs lower than 20%). The quantification limits of drug residues were in the range of 0.8 to 45.3 ug/kg, which is well below the maximum residue limits set by most regulatory authorities. This method was successfully applied to the routine analysis of 20 fish, poultry, and red meat samples (n = 60).     

A Novel Method for Quantification of Circulating DNA in Serum by Capillary Zone Electrophoresis

In this paper, we first presented a novel method for quantification of circulating DNA in human serum based on capillary zone electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence detection (CZE-LIF). The serum was digested by proteinase to release free DNA, and then CZE-LIF system was used for the quantification of total circulating DNA. This method was successfully used to quantify the circulating DNA levels in sera from healthy individuals and certain cancer patients.We found the significantly elevated circulating DNA levels in certain prostate cancer patients. Our results demonstrated that CZE-LIF system has good linearity, excellent sensitivity (0.5 ng/mL DNA),satisfactory reproducibility (RSDs in one day and between days were both less than 5%) and reliability, and is well suitable to the quantification of the circulating DNA in human serum or plasma.     

A Validated Chiral LC Method for the Determination of Enantiomeric Purity of Pemetrexed Disodium on an Amylose-Based Chiral Stationary Phase

A simple and new isocratic normal phase chiral HPLC method has been developed for the determination of enantiomeric purity of pemetrexed disodium (l-enantiomer) in bulk drugs with a short run time of about 20 min. Chromatographic separation of l and d-enantiomers of pemetrexed disodium was achieved on an amylose based chiral stationary phase using a mobile phase consists of hexane, ethanol and trifluoro acetic acid. The resolution between the enantiomers was found to be more than 2.0. The system precision and method precision were found to be within 5% RSD for the distomer (d-enantiomer) at its specification level (i.e. not more than 1.0% w/w). The limit of detection and limit of quantification of distomer were 1.6 and 5 μg mL⁻¹, respectively for 10 μL injection volume. The percentage recovery of distomer was ranged from 90.6 to 105.7 in bulk drug samples. The test solution was found to be stable in the diluent for 48 h. The method was found to be specific for the enantiomers of pemetrexed disodium and can be conveniently used for the quantification of undesired d-enantiomer present in the bulk drug samples of pemetrexed disodium.     

Towards molecular-imprint based SPE of local anaesthetics

Summary Solidago canadensis L., Canadian goldenrod (Asteraceae) has been used in European phytotheraphy for centuries as a component of urological and antiphlogistical remedies. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with diode-array detection (DAD) and online mass spectrometry (MS) has been used for the separation and quantification of phenolics (chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, kaempferol-3-O-α-L-rutinoside (nicotiflorin), quercetin-3-O-β-D-rutinoside (rutin), quercetin-3-O-β-D-galactoside (hyperoside), quercetin-3-O-β-D-glucoside (isoquercitrin), quercetin-3-O-β-D-rhamnoside (quercitrin), kaempferol-3-O-α-L-rhamnoside (afzelin) and quercetin from Solidaginis herba. Extracts have been obtained using different technologies. Three aqueous and three alcoholic extracts were studied separately. Reversedphase high-performance liquid chromatography separation of polyphenols on octadecyl sorbent Hypersil was performed, using acetonitrile: acetic acid 2.5 v/v % as eluent in gradient elution. Our results confirm previous reports concerning the presence of several flavonoids. Quantification of the main quercetin glycosides in pharmaceuticals is also reported. Presented at Balaton Symposium '01 on High-Performance Separation Methods, Siófok, Hungary, September 2–4, 2001     

Determination of ivermectin B(1a) in animal plasma by liquid chromatography combined with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

A novel, sensitive and specific method for the quantitative determination of ivermectin B(1a) in animal plasma using liquid chromatography combined with positive electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC/ESI-MS/MS) is presented. Abamectin was used as the internal standard. Extraction of the samples was performed with a deproteinization step using acetonitrile. Chromatographic separation was achieved on a Nucleosil ODS 5 microm column, using gradient elution with 0.2% (v/v) acetic acid in water and 0.2% (v/v) acetic acid in acetonitrile. The method was validated according to the requirements defined by the European Community. Calibration curves using plasma fortified between 1 and 100 ng ml(-1) showed a good linear correlation (r > or = 0.9989, goodness-of-fit coefficient < or =8.1%). The trueness at 2 and 25 ng ml(-1) (n = 6) was +4.2 and -17.1%, respectively. The trueness and between-run precision for the analysis of quality control samples at 25 ng ml(-1) was -4.0 and 11.0%, respectively (n = 16). The limit of quantification of the method was 1.0 ng ml(-1), for which the trueness and precision also fell within acceptable limits. Using a signal-to-noise ratio of 3 : 1, the limit of detection was calculated to be 0.2 ng ml(-1). The specificity was demonstrated with respect to ivermectin B(1b).The method was successfully used for the quantitative determination of ivermectin B(1a) in plasma samples from treated bovines, demonstrating the usefulness of the developed method for application in the field of pharmacokinetics.     

Validated Chiral LC Method for the Enantiomeric Separation of β-Amino-β-(3-Methoxyphenyl) Propionic Acid

A chiral liquid chromatographic method for enantiomeric resolution of β-amino-β-(3-methoxyphenyl) propionic acid was developed and validated. The “hybrid” π-electron donor–acceptor based stationary phase (R,R) Whelk-01 was found to be enantiomerically selective for (R) and (S) enantiomers of β-amino-β-(3-methoxyphenyl) propionic acid with a resolution greater than 2.0. The effects of isopropyl alcohol and ethanol on enantioselectivity and resolution of enantiomers were evaluated. Calibration curves were linear over the range of 0.10–1.00, with a regression coefficient (r) of 0.999. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were 300 and 1,000 ng mL⁻¹ respectively for 10 μL injection volume. The percentage RSD of the peak area of six replicate injections of (S) enantiomer at LOQ concentration was 2.8. The percentage recovery of (S) enantiomer from (R) enantiomer samples ranged from 92 to 102. The test solution was observed to be stable up to 24 h after the preparation. The developed normal phase chiral LC method can be used for the enantiomeric purity evaluation of R-β-amino-β-(3-methoxyphenyl) propionic acid.     

A study for quality evaluation of Taxilli Herba from different hosts based on fingerprint-activity relationship modeling and multivariate statistical analysis

In this study, a fingerprint-activity relationship modeling between chemical fingerprints and antirheumatic activity was established, and multivariate statistical analysis was used to evaluate the quality of Taxilli Herba (TH) from different hosts. Characteristic fingerprints of 20 batches of TH samples were generated by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole-time of flight tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-Triple TOF-MS/MS), and the similarity analysis was calculated based on thirteen common characteristic peaks by hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA). Subsequently, nine efficacy markers were discovered by combining fingerprints and antirheumatic activity through grey correlation analysis (GCA) and bivariate correlation analysis (BCA). Meanwhile, the content of 5 constituents in 9 markers was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole-linear ion trap tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-QTRAP-MS/MS). The comprehensive quality of TH was assessed using multivariate statistical analysis, including principal components analysis (PCA) and technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS). The results showed that a high dose of TH extract could markedly ameliorate arthritis damage compared to other doses, with flavonoids playing an important role in the antirheumatic activity. The comprehensive quality of samples from Morus alba L. (SS) was superior to those from Liquidambar formosana Hance (FXS). The present study will demonstrate the markers associated with efficacy, and provide an applicable strategy for more comprehensive quality control and evaluation of TH.     

Third‐order sensitivity analysis for robust aerodynamic design using continuous adjoint

Robust design problems in aerodynamics are associated with the design variables, which control the shape of an aerodynamic body, and also with the so‐called environmental variables, which account for uncertainties. In this kind of problems, the set of design variables, which leads to optimal performance, taking into account possible variations in the environmental variables, is sought. One of the possible ways to solve this problem is by means of the second‐order second‐moment approach, which requires first‐order and second‐order derivatives of the objective function with respect to the environmental variables. Should the minimization problem be solved using a gradient‐based method, algorithms for the computation of up to third‐order sensitivity derivatives (twice with respect to the environmental variables and once with respect to the shape controlling design variables) must be devised. In this paper, a combination of the continuous adjoint variable method and direct differentiation to compute the third‐order sensitivities is proposed. This is shown to be the most efficient among all alternative methods provided that the environmental variables are much less than the design ones. Apart from presenting the method formulation, this paper focuses on the assessment of the so‐computed up‐to third‐order mixed derivatives through comparison with costly finite‐difference schemes. To this end, the robust design of a two‐dimensional duct is performed. Then, using the validated method, the robust design of a two‐dimensional cascade airfoil is demonstrated. Although both cases are handled as inverse design problems, the method can be extended to other objective functions or three‐dimensional problems in a straightforward manner. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Real-time quantification of Staphylococcusaureus in liquid medium using infrared thermography

We previously showed that infrared thermography (IRT) could be used to quantify viable Escherichiacoli, a representative gram-negative bacterium, in liquid growth media. Here, we evaluated the ability of IRT to enumerate a viable representative gram-positive organism, Staphylococcusaureus. We found that the energy content (EC) of the media was strongly positively correlated (r = 0.999) to measured viable counts of S.aureus ranging from 85 colony-forming units (CFU)/ml to ∼4 × 10⁸ CFU/ml. The EC of S.aureus was ∼2-fold higher than that of E.coli at comparable cell concentrations suggesting that IRT may be used to distinguish genera.     

Efficient computation of operator‐type response sensitivities for uncertainty quantification and predictive modeling: illustrative application to a spent nuclear fuel dissolver model

This work honors the 75th birthday of Professor Ionel Michael Navon by presenting original results highlighting the computational efficiency of the adjoint sensitivity analysis methodology for function‐valued operator responses by means of an illustrative paradigm dissolver model. The dissolver model analyzed in this work has been selected because of its applicability to material separations and its potential role in diversion activities associated with proliferation and international safeguards. This dissolver model comprises eight active compartments in which the 16 time‐dependent nonlinear differential equations modeling the physical and chemical processes comprise 619 scalar and time‐dependent model parameters, related to the model's equation of state and inflow conditions. The most important response for the dissolver model is the time‐dependent nitric acid in the compartment furthest away from the inlet, where measurements are available at 307 time instances over the transient's duration of 10.5 h. The sensitivities to all model parameters of the acid concentrations at each of these instances in time are computed efficiently by applying the adjoint sensitivity analysis methodology for operator‐valued responses. The uncertainties in the model parameters are propagated using the above‐mentioned sensitivities to compute the uncertainties in the computed responses. A predictive modeling formalism is subsequently used to combine the computational results with the experimental information measured in the compartment furthest from the inlet and then predict optimal values and uncertainties throughout the dissolver. This predictive modeling methodology uses the maximum entropy principle to construct an optimal approximation of the unknown a priori distribution for the a priori known mean values and uncertainties characterizing the model parameters and the computed and experimentally measured model responses. This approximate a priori distribution is subsequently combined using Bayes' theorem with the “likelihood” provided by the multi‐physics computational models. Finally, the posterior distribution is evaluated using the saddle‐point method to obtain analytical expressions for the optimally predicted values for the parameters and responses of both multi‐physics models, along with corresponding reduced uncertainties. This work shows that even though the experimental data pertains solely to the compartment furthest from the inlet (where the data were measured), the predictive modeling procedure used herein actually improves the predictions and reduces the predicted uncertainties for the entire dissolver, including the compartment furthest from the measurements, because this predictive modeling methodology combines and transmits information simultaneously over the entire phase‐space, comprising all time steps and spatial locations. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.