Biosensors for environmental pollutants and food contaminants

This review article provides an overview of the most recent literature on biosensors for environmental pollutants and food contaminants. Due to the large number of publications, only papers published between 2000 and January 2003 were considered. Also, while not all of the published literature could be reviewed here, over 200 references are cited to provide a good overview of research undertaken in the last two years. Older publications are covered by a number of earlier review articles. This article provides an introduction into the field including specific consideration of the application areas, describes the typical biosensor assay format used, and is subsequently structured according to the biorecognition elements used (i.e., nucleic acids, enzymes, whole cells, tissue and whole organisms, antibodies and receptors, and biomimetic materials). In addition, a section on microbiosensing systems is provided. Since only very few microbiosensors with applications in environmental and food systems have been published, enabling technology is also covered in this article.Abbreviations BOD biological oxygen demand - cfu colony forming units - DNP dinitrophenol - GFP green fluorescent protein - NASBA nucleic acid sequence-based amplification - PCR polymerase chain reaction - ppt parts per trillion - QCM quartz crystal microbalance - SPR surface plasmon resonance     

Chemically-bonded stationary phases for thin-layer chromatography of metal ions

Summary A numer of bonded stationary phases were investigated for the separation of Cd²⁺, Cu²⁺, Fe³⁺, Mn²⁺, Ni²⁺, Pb²⁺, and Zn²⁺ by thin-layer chromatography. The effect of structure, surface loading, type of silica gel and mobile phase concentration was considered.     

Dynamic headspace liquid-phase microextraction of alcohols

A method was developed using dynamic headspace liquid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for extraction and determination of 9 alcohols from water samples. Four different solvents, hexyl acetate, n-octanol, o-xylene and n-decane were studied as extractants. The analytes were extracted using 0.8 microl of n-octanol from the headspace of a 2 ml sample solution. The effect of sampling volume, solvent volume, sample temperature, syringe plunger withdrawal rate and ionic strength of the solution on the extraction performance were studied. A semiautomated system including a variable speed stirring motor was used to ensure a uniform movement of syringe plunger through the barrel. The method provided a fairly good precision for all compounds (5.5-9.3%), except methanol (16.4%). Detection limits were found to be between 1 and 97 microg/l within an extraction time of approximately 9.5 min under GC-MS in full scan mode.     

Molecular dynamics simulations of conserved Hox protein hexapeptides. I. Folding behavior in water solution

Molecular dynamics simulations of hexapeptides TFDWMK and LFPWMR; the highly conserved regions of Hox proteins Hox B1 and Hox B8, respectively, are carried out starting from extended structures to investigate their conformational space in water solution. In addition, we have studied TADWMK and TADAMK, where the aromatic residues Phenylalanine and Tryptophan were successively substituted for Alanine to investigate effects from the presence/absence of aromatic amino acids and interactions between them to folding behavior. The backbone of the hexapeptides in all simulations folds to a similar conformation found in experimental studies in solution. Intramolecular, hydrophobically driven interactions between the aromatic residues and internal hydrogen bonds are found to stabilize the conformations.     

Comparison of quantitative methods for analysis of polyphasic pharmaceuticals

Adequate very sensitive quantification methods are needed for the development and are also now required for the monitoring of undesirable solid form(s) as routine tests. The pre-requisite for quantitation are selectivity, sensitivity and most important the purity of standards and their proper storage, what is a challenge for metastable forms. Several analytical techniques are available such as X-ray diffraction, spectroscopy, thermal analysis and microcalorimetry. The different steps of the validation of the analytical methods and problems to be solved are discussed. Examples illustrate the different techniques and compare their possible advantages and limits. The relative standard deviation of measurements should allow for checking the homogenization procedure of mixtures for calibration. The validation should be carried out following ICH guidelines for validation of analytical methods. Comparison of different techniques in adequate concentration range add confidence in the analytical results.     

Relationship between the molecular structure of amino acids and dipeptides and thermal sublimation effects

This paper reports on our mass spectrometric study of sublimation of glycine and DL-alanyl-glycine (Ala-gly). The sublimation enthalpy of Ala-gly has been determined by generalization of the data obtained and the results of AM1 quantum-chemical calculations. A relationship has been found between the sublimation enthalpy (ΔH _subl), heat capacity (C _P), and the sum of bond lengths (Σn _i l _i ) in 17 α-amino acid and 9 dipeptide molecules. Correlations are suggested for evaluating ΔH _subl of amino acids and peptides.     

冠心病微量元素谱的计算机模式识别

用计算机多元分析研究冠心病微量元素谱，识别冠心病患者与健康者；非线性映射法判别率男性８６．６％，女性９６．２％；ＳＩＭＣＡ差别法正确回判率男性８５．０％，女性８８．３％。     

猴头菇微量元素含量的分析

用电感耦合等离子体发射光谱仪（ICP-AES）测定了湛江市栽培的猴头茹微量元素的含量，发现其磷、硫、钙、镁、锌、铁、铜等元素的含量都比较丰富，并讨论了这些有益元素与人体健康的关系。     

Thermal Analysis of Cobalt(II) Salts with some Carboxylic Acids

The thermal analysis of CoC₂O₄·2H₂O, Co(HCOO)₂·2H₂O and Co(CH₃COO)₂·4H₂O was carried out with simultaneous TG-DTG-DTA measurements under non-isothermal conditions in air and argon atmospheres. The intermediates and the end products of decomposition were characterised by X-ray diffraction and IR and UV-VIS spectroscopy. The decomposition of the studied compounds occur in several stages. The first stage of dissociation of each compound is dehydration both in air and argon. The next stages differ in air and argon. The final product of the decomposition of each compound in air is Co₃O₄. In argon it is a mixture of Co and CoO for cobalt(II) oxalate and cobalt(II) formate but CoO for cobalt(II) acetate. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.