Specific and sensitive determination of medroxyprogesterone acetate in human serum by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

The mass fragmentographic determination of medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) in serum, using as internal standard medroxyprogesterone propionate (MPP) synthesized from MPA, is described. After addition of MPP, the sera are extracted on Sep-Pak C18 cartridges and MPA and MPP are detected as their respective 3-enol trifluoroacyl esters. Serum samples from 84 patients with breast cancer, daily receiving MPA orally, were determined showing a large variation in MPA concentrations (4-349 ng/ml). Our proposed gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric (GC-MS) method, which can be considered as a reference, was compared with a radioimmunoassay (RIA) method showing a correlation coefficient of 0.73 (n = 69; p much less than 0.001). The assay was also used to determine sequential serum levels of patients receiving a single oral dose of MPA. With only minor adjustments, the GC-MS method allows the determination of serum concentrations of related steroids such as megestrol acetate and cyproterone acetate.     

Applying min–max <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis> postmen problems to the routing of security guards

The most essential and alluring characteristic of a security estate is the estate's ability to provide 24-h security to its residents, of which the continual patrolling of roads and paths is vital. The objective of this paper is to address the lack of sufficient patrol route design procedures by presenting a tabu search algorithm capable of generating multiple patrol routes for an estate's security guards. The paper shows that the problem of designing these routes can be modelled as an Arc Routing Problem, specifically as min–max k postmen problems. The algorithm is illustrated with a real problem instance from an estate in Gauteng, South Africa. The patrol routes generated by the algorithm provide a significant improvement in the even patrolling of the road network, and a more balanced work distribution among guards. The algorithm is also tested on several benchmark problems from literature.     

Determination of megestrol acetate and cyproterone acetate in serum of patients with advanced breast cancer by high-performance liquid chromatography

A reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic method with ultraviolet detection of megestrol acetate and cyproterone acetate in human sera is described. The proposed assay is linear up to 1400 ng/ml (r = 0.999) and has a detection limit of 5 ng/ml. Recoveries of both compounds in spiked sera were ca. 95%; inter-assay coefficients of variation were 4.0 and 3.1% and intra-assay values were 1.3 and 1.4%, respectively. For validation of the method we also developed a gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric method for both steroids. The results obtained by the two methods showed good correlation: for megestrol acetate r = 0.98, n = 31, p less than 0.0001, and for cyproterone acetate r = 0.94, n = 0, p less than 0.0001. Large inter-individual differences in the serum concentrations of both substances were found in groups of patients with metastatic breast cancer receiving the same oral load of either steroid.     

Copolymerization kinetics of methyl methacrylate-styrene obtained by PLP-MALDI-ToF-MS

The combination of MALDI-ToF-MS and pulsed laser polymerization has been used to study the propagation rate coefficients for the copolymer system styrene-methyl methacrylate. For the first time, complete information regarding mode of termination, reactivity of photoinitiator-derived radicals, copolymer molecular mass, chemical composition, and copolymerization rates is obtained interrelated. The polymerizations were carried out in bulk with varying styrene concentrations at a temperature of 15.2 degrees C by an excimer pulsed laser with varying frequencies. Both chemical composition distributions and molecular weight distributions were determined by MALDI-ToF-MS. The data were fitted to the implicit penultimate unit model and have resulted in new point estimates of the monomer and radical reactivity ratios for the copolymer system styrene-methyl methacrylate: r(St) = 0.517, r(MMA) = 0.420, s(St) = 0.296, s(MMA) = 0.262. Comparison between Monte Carlo simulations and the obtained results further confirmed the very successful combination of pulsed laser copolymerization experiments with MALDI-ToF-MS. The obtained results are believed to be the most accurate and complete set of copolymerization parameters to date.     

An upper bound for the ground-state energy of an antiferromagnetic chain with next-nearest-neighbor interaction

A trial function for the ground state of the antiferromagnetic linear chain leads to an equation for an upper bound of the ground-state energy per spin. This equation is solved exactly.     

The response of the level of a liquid fluidized bed to a sudden change in the fluidizing velocity

Summary When the fluidizing velocity in a liquid fluidized bed of solid particles is suddenly changed, a discontinuity in the porosity is introduced at the bottom of the bed. This discontinuity is propagated upwards through the bed. The boundary between the old and the new porosity broadens or remains sharp depending on whether the porosity is increased or decreased. This behaviour is reflected in the way in which the bed level changes as a function of time. For a few different systems such response curves have been measured by means of a specially designed follow-up system. On the basis of the above mechanism a quantitative theory was developed for the response of the bed level to a step-wise change in the fluidizing velocity. This theory proved to give a satisfactory agreement with the observed facts.List of symbols m.k.s. units have been used for the purpose of calculation - d _p diameter of particle - h instantaneous height of the fluidized bed - n constant in eq. (2) - t time - u average velocity of the fluidized particles with respect to the wall, positive in the direction of the liquid flow - U _s settling velocity of single particle in tube; constant in eq. (2) - v average liquid velocity with respect to the wall - w() velocity of propagation of a disturbance d at a porosity - x coordinate in the direction of flow - porosity, void fraction - _p particle density - liquid velocity in region above particles, volumetric flow per unit area of empty tube - index 0 refers to the steady situation for t 0 - index 1 refers to the steady state situation state reached after t = t ₁     

Fast,high precision fingerprinting of fatty acids in milk

A rapid, precise method has been developed for the determination of the fatty acid profile of small samples of milk fat. Lipids are extracted from milk with n-hexane, triglycerides are trans-esterified with sodium methoxide, and free fatty acids are esterified with methanolic hydrochloric acid. The methyl esters are separated on a narrow-bore, 5% phenyl polydimethylsiloxane capillary column. The fatty acid profile is precise: for the various acids the coefficients of variation of peak area are between 6.7% and 9.7%, with a mean of 8.1%, and the coefficients of variation of peak percentage area are between 0.3% and 5.5% with a mean of 1.8%. The nature of the sample preparation procedure does not limit throughout.     

Rational reconstruction of frailty-based mortality models by a generalisation of Gompertz’ law of mortality

A generalisation of Gompertz’ distribution is proposed, and it is shown that continuous heterogeneous mortality models with Gamma distributed frailty have lifetime random variables distributed as the difference of two such generalised Gompertz random variables. With this result, limitations of existing frailty-based mortality models are identified. The approach taken in this paper allows the frailty distribution to be interpreted as a lifetime reduction distribution and enables application of heterogeneous survival models with a stronger relation to empirically identifiable concepts.     

The determination of the ground-state energy of an antiferromagnetic lattice by means of a renormalization procedure

An approximate value for the ground-state energy of an antiferromagnetic lattice of spins one-half is determined by means of a repeated renormalization procedure in which the lattice is divided into cells with an effective interaction. This effective interaction is determined on the basis of the spin-hamiltonian formalism.     

Monitoring the Dynamics of Concentrated Suspensions by Enhanced Backward Light Scattering

The shear-induced flocculation of kaolin-polymer flocs in a stirred tank is investigated at medium to high solids concentrations (ϕ=1−10% w/w). The evolution of the average floc size is monitored by the change in intensity of laser light scattered in the 180° direction. The measurements reflect the change in particle number concentration as flocculation proceeds. As flocculation begins, coagulation dominates and the floc size increases (total particle number decreases) and then levels off at a steady state value as fragmentation becomes significant and balances coagulation. At steady state, the measurements indicate the extent of flocculation. Increasing the shear rate increases the coagulation and fragmentation rates, resulting in smaller floc sizes at steady state. Increasing the flocculant concentration increases the steady state floc size by strengthening the bonds between primary particles to resist fragmentation. At constant shear rate and flocculant concentration, increasing the solids fraction decreases the steady state floc size indicating formation of weakly bonded flocs. Flocculant mixing was the most important factor for flocculation efficiency at high solids concentrations.