Distinguishing authentic and counterfeit banknotes by surface chemical composition determined using electrospray laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry

Electrospray laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry (ELDI/MS) was used to rapidly distinguish authentic banknotes from counterfeits of the US dollar and the New Taiwan dollar. The banknotes' surfaces were irradiated with a pulsed ultraviolet laser, after which the desorbed ink compounds entered an electrospray plume and formed ions via interactions with charged solvent species. Authentic banknotes were found to differ from their counterfeit equivalents in their surface chemical compositions. The detected chemical compounds included various polymers, plasticizers and inks; these results were comparable with those obtained using solvent extraction followed by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry analysis. Because of the high spatial resolution of the laser beam, ELDI/MS analysis resulted in minimal damage to the banknotes. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Muscle oxygenation measurement in humans by noninvasive optical spectroscopy and Locally Weighted Regression

We have developed a method to make real-time, continuous, noninvasive measurements of muscle oxygenation (Mox) from the surface of the skin. A key development was measurement in both the visible and near infrared (NIR) regions. Measurement of both oxygenated and deoxygenated myoglobin and hemoglobin resulted in a more accurate measurement of Mox than could be achieved with measurement of only the deoxygenated components, as in traditional near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Using the second derivative with respect to wavelength reduced the effects of scattering on the spectra and also made oxygenated and deoxygenated forms more distinguishable from each other. Selecting spectral bands where oxygenated and deoxygenated forms absorb filtered out noise and spectral features unrelated to Mox. NIR and visible bands were scaled relative to each other in order to correct for errors introduced by normalization. Multivariate Curve Resolution (MCR) was used to estimate Mox from spectra within each data set collected from healthy subjects. A Locally Weighted Regression (LWR) model was built from calibration set spectra and associated Mox values from 20 subjects using 2562 spectra. LWR and Partial Least Squares (PLS) allow accurate measurement of Mox despite variations in skin pigment or fat layer thickness in different subjects. The method estimated Mox in five healthy subjects with an RMSE of 5.4%.     

Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors: Modeling potential candidates

Alzheimer's disease is the leading cause of dementia for elderly people. The main active therapeutic is supported on the increased levels of acetylcholine in the synaptic cleft, based on reversible inhibition of the acetylcholinesterase (AChE) enzyme. This article aims to propose possible inhibitor candidates for AChE, designed from nonisoprenoid lipids of cashew (Anacardium occidentale), and based on several electronic properties. These electronic properties were obtained through B3LYP/6‐311+G(2d,p) calculation level. Principal component analysis reveals that from the set of studied molecular structures a small group is correlated with donepezil, a drug with known biological activity. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Risk evaluation of diabetes mellitus by relation of chaotic globals to HRV

This study's aim is to analyze heart rate dynamics in subjects with diabetes by measures of heart rate variability (HRV). The correlation of chaotic global parameters in the two cohorts is able to assess the probability of cardiac failure and other dynamical diseases. Adults (46) were divided into two equal groups. The autonomic evaluation consisted of measuring HRV for 30 min in supine position in absence of any physical, sensory, or pharmacological stimuli. Chaotic global parameters are able to statistically determine which series of electrocardiograph interpeak intervals in short time‐series are diabetic and which are not. The chaotic forward parameter that applies all three parameters is suggested to be the most appropriate and robust algorithm. This was decided after tests for normality; followed by one‐way analysis of variance (ANOVA1); (P < 0.09) and Kruskal–Wallis technique (P < 0.03). Principal component analysis implied two components represent 99.8% of total variance. Therefore, diabetes is a disease which reduces the chaotic response and, as such may be termed a dynamical condition such as are cardiac arrest, asthma, and epilepsy. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 20: 84–92, 2015     

Quality by Design Approach for Development of W/O Type Microemulsion-Based Transdermal Systems for Atenolol

The objective of the present investigation was to develop microemulsion-based transdermal systems of highly water soluble drug, Atenolol, by quality by design technique. Atenolol-loaded W/O microemulsions were optimized using D-optimal design with concentrations of oil, surfactants mixture, and water as independent variables, which was converted into microemulsion-based gel (MBG). The results of in vitro permeation of the optimized batch of Atenolol-loaded MBG revealed significant increase in permeability parameters as compared to its convention gel. All results suggested suitability of W/O type MEs as carriers for transdermal delivery of highly water soluble drug, Atenolol.     

MALDI质谱技术在酶活性分析中的应用

酶作为生物催化剂参与很多重要的生理过程,同时也是一类重要的生物分子。酶的活性分析对于疾病诊断和治疗具有重要意义。基质辅助激光解吸电离飞行时间质谱(MALDI-TOF MS)具有操作简单、分析速度快、灵敏度高和易于实现高通量分析的特点,已被广泛用于各种组学研究和生物分子的检测,在酶的检测和活性分析中亦发挥了重要作用。该文综述了国内外利用MALDI-TOF MS分析酶活性和进行药物筛选的策略,总结了各种方法的优缺点,提出了MALDI质谱技术在酶活性分析领域存在的问题和挑战,并对其发展前景进行了展望。     

一组新氨基酸描述子用于肽定量构效关系研究

用主成分分析从20种天然氨基酸0D～3D结构信息中收集到的共1369个描述子变量得到了一组新氨基酸描述子(SZOTT), 将其用于血管紧张素转化酶抑制剂和苦味二肽结构表征并以偏最小二乘法建立定量构效关系模型, 得复相关系数R_CU²分别为0.894和0.908, 留一法交互检验的复相关系数R_CV²分别为0.828和0.736, 估计均方根误差RMS分别为0.331和0.195. 研究结果表明, SZOTT描述子含信息量大, 操作简便, 结构表达能力强, 有望在多肽定量构效关系研究中得到进一步推广.     

卷积神经网络用于近红外光谱古筝面板木材分级

目前,我国乐器制作行业在古筝面板用木材等级的筛选上主要依赖于技师主观评判,但此法缺少科学理论的依据,效率低,客观性及出材率的提高等方面受到限制,无法满足乐器市场的大量需求。实现古筝面板用木材快速、智能化的分级工作是一个急需解决的课题。近红外光谱非常适用于测量含氢的有机物质。古筝面板木材主要化学成分的化学键均由含氢基团组成,不同等级板材的化学成分存在差异,这些差异反映在近红外光谱中,为判断木材等级提供了可能。同时卷积神经网络对非线性数据具有较强的特征提取能力,所以提出一种应用卷积神经网络模型对光谱数据进行分析的方法,进而判别木材的等级。应用了Savitzky Golay一阶、二阶微分两种预处理方法和核主成分分析、连续投影算法两种数据压缩方法,通过所设计的卷积神经网络模型以样本识别准确率和模型构建过程中的损失值作为判定指标选出最佳预处理和数据压缩方法。为了提高模型提取分析光谱数据的能力和避免过拟合现象,应用了多通道卷积核、批量归一化和early stopping策略,将通过两层卷积层提取的特征信息送入全连接层,从而充分提取剩余信息,通过Softmax函数获得板材的最终预测等级,从而确定了最终模型。最终Savitzky Golay一阶微分和核主成分分析为最佳数据处理方法,同时得出用于区分不同等级的古筝面板用木材的主要关键谱带,分别为1 163~1 243, 1 346~1 375和1 525~1 584 nm。将该模型应用于测试集样本,古筝面板用木材的等级识别准确率为95.5%。实验结果表明所提出的方法可以高效地处理光谱数据,有效识别区分不同等级的古筝面板用木材的关键特征,从而为广阔的乐器市场提供一定的技术支持。     

钙调蛋白抑制剂预测模型研究

选用30个结构多样的caM抑制剂分子作为数据集,采用多元线性回归(MLR)方法及主成分回归分析(PCA)方法对每个化合物的194个分子参数进行回归分析,分别建立了各自的最优预测模型.结果表明:多元线性回归分析方法所建模型与主成分回归所建模型相对比,发现逐步筛选法为最优建模方法?该方法所建模型统计结果良好(R2=0.952,SEE为0.289),应用于检验集时结果也比较令人满意(R2=0.941,SEP为0.295),模型表现出较强的可靠性和预测性.     

低场核磁共振结合化学计量学方法快速检测掺假核桃油

以掺假核桃油样品为低场核磁共振检测对象,利用主成分分析法(PCA)和偏最小二乘回归法(PLSR)分析处理Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill(CPMG)序列的核磁共振弛豫数据,旨在探求一种能快速检测核桃油品质的新方法。对几种常见掺假形式(掺入大豆油、玉米油、葵花油)的核桃油样品和纯核桃油样品进行检测和评价。实验结果表明:纯核桃油和掺入不同种类食用油的掺假核桃油在主成分得分图上可以得到很好的区分,且掺假样品随掺假比例在图中呈规律性分布;采用PLSR法对CPMG数据和实际掺假率进行回归,可实现对核桃油掺假水平的准确定量测定。方法快速、无损、准确,在食用油制品的品质控制及评价方面具有很大的应用潜力。