Bethany Degg

Vinyl flooring in the home could be a key source of phthalates ingested and inhaled by children, according to a new study. The work was performed as part of an ongoing project by the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health (CCCEH) at Columbia University in New York, USA, and followed a cohort of women and children living in New York city to investigate the impact of phthalate exposure on the health of children.

Detecting estrogens at trace concentrations in biological fluids is key to understanding their role in the induction - and treatment - of disease. Researchers from the University of Texas Arlington, USA, have developed a method using restricted access-media (RAM) that enables the detection of trace levels of estrogen's using LC–MS–MS without liquid–liquid extraction (LLE) or solid-phase extraction (SPE).

Pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) entering water supplies have been widely studied, but there is little information on the activity of these compounds in swimming pool water. Researchers have applied a PPCP analysis method previously developed for the detection of 32 PPCPs in wastewater to survey indoor swimming pools in the USA.

Ten aldehydes have been discovered in simulated interstellar ice that could be the precursor to comets and other extraterrestrial bodies.

Spring Scream is one of the largest music festivals held in Taiwan, and is reported to be associated with drug abuse and addiction.

A new study published in the Journal of Chromatography A presents a sensitive method for the quantification of apidaecins, a type of antimicrobial peptide that play an important role the immune response of honey bees to pathogens. The method was developed using reversed-phase nanoliquid chromatography coupled with high resolution mass spectrometry (LC–MS) to determine apidaecins in hemolymph or body parts from individual honey bees.

Scientists at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (Kjeller, Norway) are working in collaboration with the University of Oslo (Oslo, Norway) to develop new methods to detect the illicit use of nerve agents. In a recent study published in the journal Analytical Chemistry, the team presented a novel method for the quantification of nerve agent metabolites in human serum and urine by combining salting-out assisted liquid–liquid extraction (SALLE) and on-line solid-phase extraction–liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (SPE–LC–MS–MS).

A new study published in the Journal of Chromatography A presents metabolite profiling of tea (Camella sinensis) harvested from the Bulang Mountains in Yunnan, China, using multidimensional gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC×GC–MS) to determine the impact of seasonal changes.

A new study published in the journal Analytical Chemistry presents a drug metabolism strategy based on microsome mesoporous organosilica nanoreactors coupled with high performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (HPLC–MS) to screen for potential drug toxicity.

The 3rd African Liquid Chromatography Workshop was held on 6–10 October 2014 in Nairobi, Kenya, at the ChromAfrica Training Centre.

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is one of the most common neurodenerative disorders worldwide. It is a progressive disorder characterized by gradual loss of mental ability associated with the death of brain cells, and is diagnosed using a combination of physical, neurological, and laboratory tests. Although there are no curative treatments available, early treatment can reduce the rate of the disease progression. Scientists from the University of Huelva and the Neurological Service from the Hospital Juan Ramon Jim?nez in Spain, began collaborating four years ago to develop new strategies to identify biomarkers that could be used to speed up diagnosis of the disease. In a new study published in the journal Electrophoresis, the team present a metabolomics approach based on ultrafiltration followed by capillary electrophoresis coupled with mass spectrometry (CE–ESI–MS) for the fingerprinting of polar metabolites in blood serum.

The production of new drugs continues to increase, placing pressure on analytical scientists to develop new bioanalytical methods to characterize and ensure quality control and safety. Bethany Degg of The Column spoke to Lucie Novakova of Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, about the development, optimization, and challenges of bioanalytical methods as well as future emerging research areas.

Researchers from CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Flagship in Hobart, Australia, have published a new approach to monitoring plastic exposure in live birds. Featured in the journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution, the study describes the sampling of preen oil collected from seabirds using a simple swabbing method for gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC–MS) analysis.1

A new study published in the journal Analytical Chemistry by scientists from the University of California Davis, the National Marine Mammal Foundation, and the Chicago Zoological Society in the USA presents a novel breath analysis method for Atlantic bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) that could be used to monitor and assess the health of wild marine mammal populations.

A study published in the journal Analytical Chemistry presents the application of a foodomics approach – combining transciptomics with metabolomics – to determine the anticancer mechanism of action of polyphenols contained in Rosmarinus officinalis L., commonly known as rosemary.1

A new study to be published in the journal Food Chemistry proposes 10 compounds that could be used to determine the authenticity of handmade sea salt opposed to industrial sea salt.

A simple dansylation metabolite assay (DMA) for sample normalization that is similar to the bicinchoninic acid (BCA) protein assay widely used in proteomics has been presented in the journal Analytical Chemistry. The DMA assay is performed following sample extraction to determine the total metabolite concentration, which can then be used to determine the volume of sample needed to ensure that all samples contain the same concentration of metabolites.

Researchers from the Institute of Food Chemistry at Westfälische Wilhelms‑Universität Münster in Germany have developed an optimized high performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (HPLC–MS–MS) method using multiple reaction mode (MRM) and MRM3 for detecting horse and pork in highly processed food.

Scientists from CEITEC Masaryk University are collaborating with clinicians from the Department of Respiratory Diseases and TB at the University Hospital Brno (Brno, Czech Republic) to improve the diagnosis of cystic fibrosis, specifically in newborn babies. In a new study published in the Journal of Chromatography A, a new "skin wipe" sweat sampling method is presented that reduces the time required for sampling to under a minute and utilizes capillary electrophoresis (CE) to simultaneously determine chloride, sodium, and potassium ions in sweat samples.

Scientists in Vietnam have performed high-resolution gas chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRGC–HRMS) analysis of breast milk to determine the level of dioxin and furan exposure around the Da Nang Agent Orange hotspot in Vietnam. Agent Orange contamination is associated with elevated and persistent levels of dioxins and furans in the environment and are associated with the occurrence of birth defects among other side effects.

Waterpipes have been used to smoke tobacco and other substances for more than four centuries, and are widely believed to be less harmful than cigarettes. In a new study published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC–MS–MS) was performed to show that waterpipe smoke can contain potentially harmful microbial compounds.

A team of scientists based in the Czech Republic has developed a micellular electrokinetic chromatography method coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (MEKC–ESI–MS–MS) that uses salts of perfluorocarboylic acid as the volatile background electrolyte (BGE). The method was applied to the determination of 12 drugs from the class of synthetic cathinones in urine samples. According to the paper published in the Journal of Chromatography A, the BGE used to form micelles did not affect the electron ionization efficiency of MS. (1)

Saliva is becoming ever more commonly used in drug testing over urine or blood samples because of its ease of collection. As such, existing testing methods are being adapted for application to accommodate a change in sample matrix. In a new study published in the Journal of Chromatography A, scientists from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (Maryland, USA) and the University of Maryland Baltimore (Maryland, USA) present the use of precolumn derivatization using N(?)-(2,4-dinitro-5-fluorophenyl)-l-alaninamide (Marfey?s reagent) prior to liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS) analysis for the quantitation of chiral amphetamines in plasma and saliva.1

A new study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry highlights the potential use of rosemary and oregano in the management of Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Researchers from the University of Western Australia's Centre for Forensic Science have collaborated with the University of Turin's Department of Chemistry in Italy to develop a gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) method to analyze levels of methamphetamine (MA) in blowflies (Calliphora vomitoria L.).

Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS) analysis has been performed on urine and cord blood samples from expectant mothers to explore the exposure to the antimicrobial agents triclosan (TCS) and tricarban (TCC). The agents have received increasing attention over recent years, with concerns being raised over lack of efficacy and potential toxicity to the environment, as well as human health.

Great advances have been made in the field of miniaturization of mass spectrometers, opening up the potential to save time by performing analysis in the field; however, sample preparation has yet to catch up. A new study published in the journal Analytical Chemistry demonstrates the application of microfluidics integrated with a miniature mass spectrometer for the detection of illicit drugs in dried urine samples, which can simultaneously analyze four samples in under 15 min.

Scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated the application of PLOT-cryoadsorption (PLOT–cryo) coupled to gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) for the analysis of ignitable liquid (IL) residues in fire debris.

Thirty percent of approved drugs will be based on recombinant monoclonal antibody (rMab) drugs over the next 10 years. Glycosylation, the convalent addition of carbohydrates to proteins, can influence properties of rMab drugs and has to be closely monitored during drug development and production. Scientists from the University of California (California, USA) have developed a new liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS) N-glycan library based on eight commercially available recombinant monoclonal antibodies, for the rapid identification of glycosylated structures.