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Detection of Mycotoxins in Nuts
Mykotoxins are natural metabolism products of moulds which have a toxic effect on humans and animals. Just like microorganisms which generate antibiotics, moulds which generate mycotoxins have spread all over the world. Aflatoxins are the most toxic form of mycotoxins. Some types of food show an increased risk of aflatoxin release due to fungal infestation: dried fruit, spices, nuts (peanuts, hazelnuts, pistachios) and grain (wheat, corn). Mycotoxins need certain conditions of temperature an...
Examining the Benefits of High Resolution Mass Spectrometry for High Throughput Screening of Priority Mycotoxins in Food Samples
Mycotoxins are a group of toxic metabolites produced naturally by certain species of fungi. They contaminate food and feed products and pose a potential threat to human and animal health through ingestion. Most Asian and Australasian countries are located in the tropics and subtropics, where there is increased growth of fungi due to the high temperatures and humidity. As a result, these areas face serious mycotoxin contamination issues. In response, regulatory bodies in the region have introd...
Application of exact mass ms in bioanalysis discovery quantitation with uplc and xevo qtof ms
The quantification of candidate pharmaceuticals and/or their metabolites in biological fluids plays a key role in drug discovery. The information generated is used to determine key pharmacokinetics parameters such as clearance, half-life, Tmax, and bioavailability. During discovery ADME studies the metabolic fate of the molecule is determined as well as its pharmacokinetics. Currently this involves using two analytical instruments: one to provide the quantitative information and one for the q...
Facing the Challenges in Bio-Pharmaceutical Production: Developments in Ion Exchange Media to Bring Down Cost of Goods
As the bio-pharmaceutical industry matures, terms like ‘cost of goods’ are becoming more and more important. Up to now, strain optimisation for high productivity and upstream purification were the bottleneck for most bio-processes. However, with the progress made in recent years, titers in fermentation processes have increased significantly. Obviously, this increased volumetric productivity will help reducing the cost of goods, but it also has an impact on the downstream processin...
Distillation – Automatic and Fast
Rotary evaporators have a long established place when it comes to sample preparation in the laboratory. A new system promises significantly improved results with features such as an integrated solvent library and the use of volume controlled distillation processes. Rotary evaporators were developed around 50 years ago to allow safe, automatic distillation. Things have come a long way since then, particularly in the area of automation. With its new system, the RV 10 control, IKA brings us a hi...
Antibiotic Resistance - Nanotech to the Rescue: Nanomechanical detection of drug-target interactions
Drug resistance has evolved from being an infrequent and manageable occurrence in the treatment of microbial infections, to a healthcare problem on a global scale. The last five years has seen a meteoric rise in the cases of life-threatening infections by mutated forms of common bacteria, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE). Eradication of such multi-drug resistant (MDR) strains is proving difficult since there are not enough...
Reducing Hospital Acquired Infections in Canada’s Most Impoverished Neighbourhood Providence Health Care, Vancouver, Receives Special Infection Control Award
The judges of the Oxoid Infection Control Team of the Year Awards were pleased, this year, to make a special award to the infection control team at Providence Health Care in Vancouver, Canada, for the work that they have undertaken in reducing levels of nosocomial infections in the face of challenges associated with drug users and homeless persons in the local community. Providence Health Care (PHC) is Canada’s largest, faith-based health care organisation, operating 14 facili...
Out on a LIM: How Data Loss Protection Technology Could Breathe New Life into Legacy LIMS
Drug discovery is perhaps one of the most data sensitive processes in the world. From finding the drug target, to identifying potential drugs, sample validation, concept testing and ultimately launch, data has to be repeatedly logged, revised, checked and analysed in the laboratory. Advances in biotech and genomic technology mean this flow of information is no longer linear; instead, stages of this process are occurring simultaneously, creating a massive data mountain. Laboratory Information...
Hunt Biobank - One of the Largest Population-Based Health Studies in the World
It has long been recognised that lifestyle factors, environmental factors and physical mental status all have a significant bearing upon human health, implicating that much of what a person is exposed to throughout their life can impact upon their future wellbeing. The Nord-Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT) is striving to develop a clear picture of human health by undertaking a vast medical research initiative to gain invaluable insight into the major causes of the most common diseases. T...
Determination of well-to-well crosstalk in microplates used for luminescence measurements
The use of luminescence assays and reagents in drug discovery has increased significantly over the past ten years due to a combination of ease of use, very high specificity of assays and good sensitivity at low levels of screened compounds. Modern photometric instruments are able to accurately count very low levels of photon emissions from luminescence substrates and this has led to an increasing focus on the optical cross talk inherent in the design of SBS/ANSI standard microplate...
Rapid Genetic Testing for Warfarin Dosing on an ESE-Quant TS Reader An Example for Future Point-of-Care Solutions to Personalised Medicine
Improved speed and accuracy of medical assessment tools combined with reduced cost and easy operation are important factors in Point-of-Care testing. In the future such tests should be carried out directly at the physician’s office or even at home by patients monitoring their health conditions. Therefore portable test systems working directly from crude samples will render obsolete the need for sending specimen to clinical laboratories. Enabling the physician to assess a medical condit...
Evolution not revolution but interesting all the same
Report on the 57th ASMS Conference, Philadelphia, Pa, USA May 31st - June 4th and the 18th IMSC, Bremen, Germany, September 1st - 4th 2009. Once every 3 years both of the major meetings aimed at the mass spectrometry community are held. Not necessarily a bad situation but in days of reduced funds available both for practicising scientists and commercial activists it could lead to a choice of which to attend, however both organising committees have taken a pragmatic view on this and focussed...
Making an HPLC Calibration work (Part 2)
Preparation of Calibration Standards It is normal to make up a master standard, and then prepare a series of dilutions to cover the required calibration range. Care must be taken here. Any mistakes, and all subsequent results will be incorrect. PREPARATION OF THE MASTER STANDARD. • Use a volume and weight which can be measured really precisely without difficulty. Using too low a mass of sample in too small a volume builds in a minimum error level into the calibration which is comp...
CD-R Patent Protection: Brand Characterisation to Identify Counterfeit Goods using Simplified Mass Spectrometry
CD-R discs are composed of layers of polycarbonate, a burnable dye, a reflective layer, and a protective coating. The type of burnable dye used by manufacturers is often patented with premium disc brands using dyes and other additives that give the best performance, while being stable to atmospheric conditions, such as light and humidity. Cheaper products often use less stable dye components, which can change over time, leading to possible data degradation. This burnable dye is sometimes mixe...
New Approach to Genomic Data Analysis Helps to Unravel the Mystery of the Human Eye
The vast amount of data that is produced by gene expression studies poses a serious challenge for scientists studying human biology, says Carl-Johan Ivarsson from Qlucore. However, new software in this area is now helping researchers to perform sophisticated data analysis on proteomic, genomic and microarray data, without the need for specialist biostatisticians
Air Disinfector Helps Fight Viral Disease
The infection prevention and control programme at Hereford Hospitals NHS Trust is showing excellent progress this year and technology company Inov8 Science is delighted that some of this success is being attributed to the AD (Air Disinfection) unit. Emulating the natural disinfection properties of the open air (The Open Air Factor) the AD emits a constant low level stream of hydroxyl radicals that attack airborne bacteria and viruses. Measuring less than 41 x 20cm, the AD is a small device...
Steaming Ahead in Veterinary Medicine
As far as medical facilities go, it doesn’t get much better than this. 12 world class specialists, six operating theatres with positive pressure ventilation, an intensive care facility, 13 consulting rooms, airconditioned quarters for 100 patients, isolation facilities, treatment rooms, incubators, oxygen therapy chambers, high specification monitoring equipment, a decontamination unit, and the best diagnostic imaging department in its field in the UK. And if the intended patients w...
Increased Sensitivity, Improved Resolution and Faster Analysis Times For Compendial Methods
Determination of Impurities and Related Substances Using Newly Developed 2.6 μm Core-Shell Kinetex™ LC Columns Presently, HPLC methods for the determination of impurities and related substances of drug products specified in monographs by the various Pharmacopoeial agencies typically employ LC columns packed with fully-porous 3 or 5 micron spherical silica chromatographic media. Due to the performance limitations of fully-porous 3 and 5 micron spherical silica chromatographic media...
A Level Playing Field for EBSD Analysis of Crystalline Materials
Electron BackScatter Diffraction (EBSD) is a rapidly growing addition to the battery of techniques routinely employed by scanning electron microscope users, producing an electron backscattering pattern (EBSP) that relates exactly to the crystal structure and orientation of the sample under examination. Although the first EBSP was published by Nishikawa and Kikuchi in 1928, many would correlate its growing popularity with the rise of the scanning electron microscope (SEM) since its commercia...
Exploring the Feasibility of Employing Supercritical Fluid Chromatography (SFC)-UV-MS for Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Fat Soluble Vitamins in Dietary Supplements
Vitamins are biologically active compounds required for an organism’s normal health and growth. While the required dose of vitamins is typically obtained through a balanced diet, additional vitamins, if necessary, can be obtained through various dietary supplements. The level of vitamins in food or supplements may be as low as a few micrograms per 100 g. Vitamins are also often accompanied by an excess of compounds with similar chemical properties. With increased regulation for suppl...
Developing a New High Definition Standard for Image Analysis
One of the biggest beneficiaries of the parallel development of high power computers and digital cameras has been particle metrology. The resultant image analysis technique is now one of the highest resolution methods available today.
Fifteen years in the Asian market – Lab Asia
Lab Asia, launched in 1994, extended the portfolio of International Labmate Ltd (ILM) and set about with a clear purpose to produce a no nonsense product orientated journal to be distributed free of charge to South Asia and Australia. Advertisers were able to enter markets that had been previously inaccessible and readers were exposed to products that they had not read about before. The two 1994 launch year issues followed an A4 format consisting almost solely of advertisement cards wi...
WHICH IS THE BEST CONTAINMENT EQUIPMENT FOR THE LABORATORY?
Many systems offer chemical or biological protection for personnel, environment and product. These systems are generically referred as safety barriers and, according to the risk level of the product to be handled, one or more safety barriers should be used.
Modern Chiral Separations using HPLC and SFC for Method Development and Prep Purification
This article discusses factors important to operating a fast (high throughput) and efficient HPLC/SFC method development and prep purification laboratory. Discussion will include procedures for quickly developing separation methods and purifying pharmaceutical candidates as well as the systems, instruments, columns, and solvents we use to develop methods and purify samples in one week. Select examples will be presented.
What Hair Reveals - Processing Human Hair in a Retsch Mixer Mill
The detection of illegal drugs and pharmaceuticals plays a role in various fields, for example in forensic science, road traffic accidents, in competitive sports or at the workplace. Chemical substances can be detected in blood, saliva, urine and in hair. Hair has the great advantage of storing the substances for a long period, which means that detection is still possible several months after consumption of the drug. In addition to the detection of drugs, hair samples are also used for DNA a...
The Importance of Reliable and Efficient Sample Preparation in the Development of a Novel Forensic Method to Detect Diclofenac Residues in Vultures and Livestock Animals
INTRODUCTION Diclofenac (Figure 1) is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) that is extensively used to treat pain and reduce inflammation in humans and animals. Other commonly encountered NSAIDs include ibuprofen and aspirin. First introduced as an analgesic and antiinflammatory agent for humans in the 1970s, it was in widespread use in veterinary medicine by the 1980s [1]. Diclofenac was registered for veterinary use on the Indian subcontinent in the mid to late 1990s [2,3]. H...
Potentiometric Determination of the Acid Number of Oils and Fats
In the context of process and quality control, the demand for pH measurements and titrations in non-aqueous media is increasing – primarily in the foodstuff and pharmaceutical sector. In accordance with DIN 19260 the pH value can be defined in aqueous media only, a pH measurement is not possible in non-aqueous solutions from the outset or can only be conducted at substantial equipment and scientific cost. Instead, the acid number can be used for the characterisation of free, organic aci...
Making an HPLC Calibration work (Part 1)
Calibration of an HPLC method is necessary to give quantitative results. However there is more than type of calibration available, and each has its merits and limitations. The aim is to select the most appropriate one, and then to avoid the myriad of small pitfalls, because no-one wants almost the right answer! FIVE TYPES OF CALIBRATION 1. External Standard Calibration This involves analysing a series of standards covering the concentration range of interest. For example: Level 1 - 4...
Current Role of LC-MS/MS in Sports Drug Testing
Chromatographic and Mass Spectrometric techniques have become an invaluable tool in the continuing fight against illegal doping in sport. The great majority of current assays employed in this field rely on the power of identification obtained from retention times and (product ion) mass spectra derived from hundreds of target analytes. The inventive nature of cheating athletes and the growing pool of drugs and therapeutics have necessitated the need for comprehensive, sensitive and specific de...
Bringing Advanced Imaging In-Lab - Complex Microscopy Simplified
As pivotal techniques that provide significant advances to the world of science, fluorescence and confocal microscopy facilitate a wide range of complex imaging tasks. A variety of advanced microscopy systems have been successfully developed for the imaging of live as well as fixed cells and tissue samples. With uses in both medical and biological sciences, these microscopy systems are comprised of a series of components, which must all be optimised in order to produce a clear, highresolutio...
Biogenic Fuels and Renewable Energies – A Challenge for Elemental Analysis?
Renewable raw materials are becoming increasingly important. This is not only because of the knowledge that natural resources such as crude oil, natural gas and coal will become more scarce over the next few decades, but also as a result of environmental protection (CO2 emission). With the use of biogenic materials for the production of fuels and combustibles, their content of harmful substances is particularly important. The most important of these substances are nitrogen, sulphur and chlori...
Accurate Analysis of Low Levels of Mercury in Fish Using Vapour Generation AA
Mercury is a toxic environmental pollutant that can be deadly to humans. It is found in three different forms: the metallic element, inorganic salts and organic compounds. Elemental mercury can be released into the atmosphere by natural occurrences such as volcanic eruptions, but the majority is produced by human activities. It has been estimated that coal fired power plants, waste incineration, metal processing and cement production produce approximately 75% of the 5,500 tons of mercury th...
An Important International Event for the Chemical Sector
The chemical world has an important appointment from 25 - 27 November 2009 at fieramilano, Rho: CHEM-MED. The fair responds to the needs and demands of companies, universities and centres of technical innovation of the sector, which have, for some time now, been requesting an important event of this kind in Italy, one of the leading companies in Europe. Italy is the third producer of chemicals in Europe, after Germany and France. In this country, chemicals, with production worth more than...
The Automation of High Capacity, High Throughput, Static Headspace ? GC-MS
Headspace sampling is an established technique for quantitation of volatile organic compounds in various types of samples. Since only gas phase material is injected into the GC-MS, static headspace sampling methods tend to be robust and reliable ? this makes static headspace methods well suited to high throughput applications where large numbers of samples need to be analysed routinely. Careful optimisation of both chromatographic and mass spectrometer parameters enables very short...
Electronic Interaction Chromatography (EIC) - A Much Underutilised Tool.
One of the least publicised areas of separation science is that of the application to clinical biochemistry. Many practitioners are based either in academia, or in hospitals yet the degree of knowledge these scientists require is just as much, if not more so, than many in the Big Pharma workplace. The molecular structure of the compounds encountered frequently in this area is often complex and can include several functionalities, which means the development new methods can be very demandin...
The Major Symposium on the Topic of ?Preparative Chromatography? to be Held in Europe this year ? Registration Now Open.
Once again the 5th in the series known as ?Big Prep?, the highly successful and well respected symposium on the subject of Preparative Chromatography, will be held at the GlaxoSmithKline Medicines Research Centre at Stevenage, UK on the 17/18th September. The two-day symposium and exhibition will be reviewing the field of preparative separation science and its application to the purification of potential drugs. From nano-scale laboratory isolations to industrial process scale production, this...
Droplet Size Analysis in the Development of Enhanced Water Mist Fire Suppression Systems
Developing fire suppression systems that meet the requirements of specific firefighting applications is an important goal. For certain fires, applying water in a fine spray or mist can be particularly effective, reducing water usage and minimizing equipment damage. In situations requiring fuel isolation, the use of foams is particularly advantageous. A system combining the benefits offered by water mists with those of fuel isolation is one of the aims of current research. This targets diffi...
Growing Bacteria Under Cleanroom Conditions
Hygiene is the top priority when testing drinking water for Legionnaire?s disease. For German hospitals, nursing homes and homes for the elderly, swimming baths and other public institutions, regular tests by certified laboratories of drinking water for Legionnaire?s disease are prescribed. A part of the water samples taken in the Nuremberg conurbation arrive at the team led by Peter Daum in the Municipal Water Treatment and Environmental Analysis Laboratory Nuremberg, Germany. INCREASED MEA...
The City Beneath the Soil: Mapping a Roman Town with Caesium Vapour Magnetometry
A team of scientists from the University of Nottingham and the University of East Anglia (UK), describe procedures and instruments used to accurately record positional data of subsurface features of a former Roman site in Caistor St. Edmund, Norfolk. The site?s protected status means that any excavation must be limited and targeted on specific areas and research questions. The geophysical survey would enable the project to identify such areas. To date, the project has surveyed more than 30 h...
Imaging Dynamic Processes in Cells and Tissues
Live cell imaging has been around in one form or another for many years, but recently, interest in the technique has really grown. To cover all aspects of live cell imaging would be a huge task and well beyond the scope of this article. However, this overview will give a brief introduction to the possibilities and more specialised areas will be looked at in future articles. Developments in three main areas are driving the revolution in live cell imaging. Molecular technology, microscope tec...
Demonstrating Integrity
Recent changes to hygiene regulations has increased the prominence of laboratory testing procedures in the food industry. UKAS explains the benefits of undertaking certification and accreditation procedures as laboratory services strive to remain competitive. ?All laboratories want to distinguish themselves from their competitors, especially with new customers where it is often difficult to establish a proven track record?
Investigating the Performance and Discussing the Suitability of FTIR for TOC Emissions Monitoring
Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is becoming increasingly used for emission monitoring applications for a range of inorganic gases. However, where TOC monitoring is also required generally a flame ionisation detector (FID) is used. The standard reference method (SRM) [2] is based on the use of flame ionisation detection. Whilst there are no technical issues in using FTIR and FID in tandem there are the practicalities and cost of the transportation and set-up of two anal...
Standards Compliant Hot Air Sterilisation at 180?C ? a Reliable Method for Contamination Control in CO2-Incubators
Microbial contamination, caused by bacteria, bacterial spores, viruses, mycetozoa, yeast or other microorganisms, frequently presents a major risk in cell culture experiments. Since this contamination does not necessarily occur together with the overgrowth of the cultivated cell type, it is often detected too late. Changes in host cell morphology and even genetic changes such as chromosomal aberration and translocation, can, for instance, be caused by mycoplasma infection. In extr...
Cool Analysis of So Much Hot Air
Discovering unexpected compounds in the stack emissions of a process plant requires a degree of detective work, supported by the best in infra-red spectrometers and the most powerful of spectroscopic software. The monitoring and control of industrial emissions has been high on the environmental agenda for almost 50 years, since the first large-scale programmes to measure sulphur dioxide and \'black smoke\' were set up in 1961. Since then, air quality in the UK has greatly improved...
Assured Sterilisation
In the past it was generally assumed that a load that went through a sterilisation cycle would come out completely sterile. However, advances in validation processes and ever more demanding loads have proved that validation is now an essential part of Microbiology Lab practice. Just because the steriliser has finished its cycle, it cannot be assumed that sterilisation has been achieved in every part of the load. With laboratories sterilising what could potentially be harmful loads,...
Wireless Temperature Control - New \'WirelessTEMP\' Products Increase Ease of Use and Flexibility in Laboratories
Many tests in research laboratories involve substantial logistical and financial efforts. Sophisticated and expensive research materials and equipment are often required. Ideally results are obtained quickly and without error. Therefore the process should be monitored completely. It is not convenient to have to abort an experiment or batch process due to variations in the process parameters because of a lack of monitoring capabilities. For many applications a temperature control un...
Professional Ion Chromatography used to Assay the Anion Profile of Cement
The 850 Professional Ion Chromatography (IC) range from Metrohm can be used to determine any conductive anion and cation in a variety of different everyday products. Concrete has many uses in life and IC is a technique that enables the concentration of fluoride, chloride, sulfate and phosphate of the materials being fed into the kiln (kiln feed, coal, alternative fuels etc) to be determined quickly and accurately before they are used to prevent further problems arising with the ceme...
NanoKTN: Linking Ideas and Supply Chains
The Nanotechnology Knowledge Transfer Network (NanoKTN) was set up by the Technology Strategy Board to promote and facilitate knowledge exchange, support the growth of UK capabilities, raise awareness of nanotechnology and provide thought leadership and input to the UK policy and strategy. The NanoKTN has divided its activities into four themes: materials, metrology, manufacturing and processing, and bionano and nanomedicine. Focus groups have been built around these themes that...
Coming in From the Cold for Reliable Stability Storage
As an aspect of their daily lives, research scientists are used to weighing up the pros and cons of temperature-controlled climates. But there?s an extra climate they have to take into consideration these days - the financial one. Could the outsourcing of stability storage solutions be their salvation? The frosty state of the current economic situation is causing many a purchasing manager to scrutinise his capital expenditure budget with a particularly wary eye. Credit crunch. Cash...
Stem Cell Promise - Research Brings Autograft Revolution Closer
Stem cells have shown the promise to revolutionise the treatment of many diseases, as noted by George Wolff in his book ?The Biotech Investor\'s Bible?: ?? The damaged brains of Alzheimer\'s disease patients may be restored. Severed spinal cords may be rejoined. Damaged organs may be rebuilt. Stem cells provide hope that this dream will become a reality.? Professor Anthony Hollander, the ARC Professor of Rheumatology & Tissue Engineering in the Department of Cellular & Molecul...