Determination of pyrethrin and pyrethroid pesticides in urine and water matrixes by liquid chromatography with diode array detection

The following pyrethrin and pyrethroid pesticides were determined in urine and water matrixes by liquid chromatography with diode array detection (LC-DAD): pyrethrin I, pyrethrin II, tetramethrin, baythroid, bifenthrin, fenvalerate, phenothrin, allethrin, resmethrin, cis-permethrin, and trans-permethrin. In addition, 3-phenoxybenzyl alcohol, a metabolite of various pyrethroids, was also successfully determined by the analytical method. The matrix extraction was simple, inexpensive, and fast, using only sodium chloride and acetonitrile. The acetonitrile extract was filtered and analyzed by LC-DAD. The method detection limits for the pyrethrin pesticides in 5 mL urine were determined to range from 0.002 to 0.04 microg/mL, depending on the individual pyrethrin. Recoveries from spiked tap water ranged from 77 to 96%; recoveries from urine ranged from 80 to 117%. This method is especially well-suited to clinical investigations, in which rapid analysis of forensic samples is often required.     

The genomisotopic approach: a systematic method to isolate products of orphan biosynthetic gene clusters

With the increasing number of genomes sequenced and available in the public domain, a large number of orphan gene clusters, for which the encoded natural product is unknown, have been identified. These orphan gene clusters represent a tremendous source of novel and possibly bioactive compounds. Here, we describe a "genomisotopic approach," which employs a combination of genomic sequence analysis and isotope-guided fractionation to identify unknown compounds synthesized from orphan gene clusters containing nonribosomal peptide synthetases. Analysis of the Pseudomonas fluorescens Pf-5 genome led to the identification of an orphan gene cluster predicted to code for the biosynthesis of a lipopeptide natural product. Application of the genomisotopic approach to isolate the product of this gene cluster resulted in the discovery of orfamide A, founder of a group of bioactive cyclic lipopeptides.     

Analytical isolation, separation and identification of mutagens from nonvolatile organics of drinking water

A general procedure has been developed for the concentration/fractionation of mutagenic residue organics from small, less than 50L, and large, to 1200L, volumes of drinking water obtained from a variety of sources. This procedure features concentration of the residue organics chromatographically by passage of the water through XAD-2 and XAD-7 resins in specially designed columns, details of which are given. The residue organics are eluted from the resins via organic solvents, followed by solvent removal and subsequent bioassay for mutagenicity. Then the residue organics are fractionated via a coupled bioassay/analytical fractionation method which progressively focuses to the bioactive constituents of the complex mixture of residue organics. In this report, results for the optimal operation and validation of the concentration system are given, using drinking water derived from an industrially polluted river system, a wilderness river system and a major aquifer system. The predominant type of mutagenesis observed for the residue organics isolated from these samples was direct-acting to the Salmonella tester strain, TA98, which was decreased by the addition of the metabolic activation system from the livers of rats previously treated with Arochlor 1254. Some TA100 direct-acting mutagenesis was observed for all samples. Fractionation of the residue organics indicated the mutagens to be nonpolar. Samples of residue organics collected over a period of a year from each type of drinking water showed no discernable pattern of mutagenesis versus season. The methodologies described in this paper provide a comprehensive approach for the concentration/isolation of residue organics from drinking water for studies to identify biohazardous compounds and to characterize these compounds biologically.     

A classification of all is a Prüfer domain

Let be an integral domain with quotient field . The ring of integer-valued polynomials over is defined by . It is known that if is a Prüfer domain, then is an almost Dedekind domain with all residue fields finite. This condition is necessary and sufficient if is Noetherian, but has been shown to not be sufficient if is not Noetherian. Several authors have come close to a complete characterization by imposing bounds on orders of residue fields of and on normalized values of particular elements of . In this note we give a double-boundedness condition which provides a complete charaterization of all integral domains such that is a Prüfer domain.

     

Application of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization to on-line aerosol time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectra were obtained from single biological aerosol particles using an aerosol time-of-flight mass spectrometer (ATOFMS). The inlet to the ATOFMS was coupled with an evaporation/condensation flow cell that allowed the aerosol to be coated with matrix material as the sampled stream entered the spectrometer. Mass spectra were generated from aerosol composed either of gramicidin-S or erythromycin, two small biological molecules, or from aerosolised spores of Bacillus subtilis var niger. Three different matrices were used: 3-nitrobenzyl alcohol, picolinic acid and sinapinic acid. A spectrum of gramicidin-S was generated from approximately 250 attomoles of material using a molar ratio of 3-nitrobenzyl alcohol to analyte of approximately 20:1. A single peak, located at 1224 Da, was obtained from the bacterial spores. The washing liquid and extract solution from the spores were analyzed using electrospray mass spectrometry and subsequent MS/MS product ion experiments. This independent analysis suggests that the measured species represents part of the B. subtilis peptidoglycan. The on-line addition of matrix allows quasi-real-time chemical analysis of individual, aerodynamically sized particles, with an overall system residence time of less than 5 seconds. These results suggest that a MALDI-ATOFMS can provide nearly real-time identification of biological aerosols. Copyright 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Electrodeless Arc with Radial Inflow

An energy balance analysis has been performed for a confined cylindrical arc column heated inductively by high-frequency fields. The analysis includes the convective energy transport due to a radial inflow in addition to the radiative and conductive transport considered in the Ellenbaas-Heller equation. The resulting non-linear, two-point boundary value equations were solved numerically. Calculations were performed for an argon arc operating at atmospheric pressure using experimentally determined transport properties. Temperature profiles were found to be in better agreement with measured values, when radial inflow was included. There was no indication that the arc attained some natural diameter based on a specific plasma radius to skin depth ratio.