There are many sources of pollutants in water, including agriculture, industry, transportation and incineration.1 Water has also been used for many years as a media of waste discharge.2 Water pollutants can be transported over long distances, may be found in remote areas and can even be found in the water many years after the substance has been banned.1 The level of pollutants present in water bodies is most commonly judged against set environmental quality standards (EQSs) that vary among different countries. 

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The level of pollutants present in water bodies is most commonly judged against set environmental quality standards (EQSs) that vary among different countries.

Monitoring Water Framework Directive Priority Substances in Wastewater

Banned substance use in sports still remains a controversial and highly publicized subject. A team of scientists from the Italian Sports Medicine Federation in Rome, Italy, has developed a screening procedure specifically designed for the detection of saccharides and polyalcohols in human urine, focusing specifically on dextran, hydroxyethyl starch and mannitol.1

With chromatographic conditions optimized, good linearity (R2 0.990–0.995), reproducibility of relative retention times (CV% lower than 1) and relative abundances of characteristic ion transitions (CV% lower than 10) were obtained. The lower limits of detection and quantification were in the range of 30–100 µg/mL.

The method was also used to establish a range of reference urinary concentrations and 600 doping control samples alongside 30 samples from volunteers not using any medication were examined.

The hydrolysis products isomaltose and maltose hydroxyl-ethylated, which were used as specific markers for the detection of dextran and hydroxyethyl starch, were not detected in urine. However, mannitol was present in all urines at a concentration range of 30–1200 µg/mL. As mannitol is present in other sources such as fruit, food and drug products, the results were less clear cut, however, the study concluded that this is a good starting point to fix a threshold value for doping control purposes.

1 Francesco Botrè et al, Drug Testing and Analysis, 3, 896–905 (2011).

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Banned substance use in sports still remains a controversial and highly publicized subject. A team of scientists from the Italian Sports Medicine Federation in Rome, Italy, has developed a screening procedure specifically designed for the detection of saccharides and polyalcohols in human urine, focusing specifically on dextran, hydroxyethyl starch and mannitol.

Doping diagnosis

Incognito laments the lack of knowledge of some analytical scientists and calls for more opportunities for professional development in 2012.

2012 - The Year We Stopped Haemorrhaging Knowledge...

A team of scientists has conducted an experiment using capillary-scale ion chromatography with suppressed conductivity detection to analyse gunshot residues, sweat and latent human fingerprints.

Smoking fingers

The 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award has been awarded to Professor Milos V. Novotny, Indiana University, Indiana, USA. Sponsored by LCGC Europe and presented on 2 February 2012 at the HTC-12 Conference in Bruges, Belgium, the award recognizes outstanding achievements in hyphenated techniques in chromatography and distinguished service to the international chromatographic community.

Professor Novotny’s research interests include separation science and structural analysis of biological molecules, proteomics and glycobiology, and chemical communication in mammals. He was a member of the Viking 1975 science team and designed the miniaturized gas chromatographic column to search for organic molecules on the surface of Mars. More recently, his group has also been known for identification of disease biomarkers through glycomics and glycoproteomics. He has written over 500 journal articles, reviews, books and patents and has received around 40 awards, medals and other distinctions.

Dr Hernan Cortes, Chairman, Lifetime Achievement Award in Chromatography selection committee, commented, “It is an honour and a pleasure to recognize such a distinguished scientist as Professor Novotny with the Lifetime Achievement Award in Chromatography. His scientific contributions, originality, individual qualities and prolific discoveries are a model to be pursued by scientists worldwide.”

The 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award has been awarded to Professor Milos V. Novotny, Indiana University, Indiana, USA.

LCGC Lifetime Achievement Award

A recent discovery in the Atai mountains of southern Siberia has presented some of the oldest known evidence of dog domestication.1

The 33 000-year-old dog skull was found in a cave and was remarkably well-preserved. Skull, mandibles and teeth were present and it was possible to conduct a complete morphological description.

The team used an accelerator mass spectrometer to confirm the age of the skull by measuring the amount of radioactive carbon in a sample. They performed the experiment in three independent laboratories, which resulted in highly compatible ages, with an average of 33 000 years.

Together with a discovery in Belgium, this is the earliest incipient dog from Western Europe. Prior to this, practically all well-documented remains of early domestic dog come from the late Glacial and early Holocene periods (around 14 000–9 000 calendar years ago), with few found prior to the Last Glacial Maximum (around 26 500–19 000 years ago). The find in Belgium also helps to support the idea that dog domestication was multi-regional and had no single place of origin, as DNA data has suggested in the past.

1. Johannes van der Plicht et al., PLoS ONE, 6(7), e22821 (2011).

A recent discovery in the Atai mountains of southern Siberia has presented some of the oldest known evidence of dog domestication.

Man's best friend

Pittcon is returning to the sunny city of Orlando, the fourth largest airport destination in the United States. Florida is rapidly becoming the “innovation hub of the Americas.” The state’s biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device sectors continue to grow, making Florida the epicentre of some of the most exciting research, promising discoveries and successful commercialization of final products in the world.

Pittcon is returning to the sunny city of Orlando, the fourth largest airport destination in the United States.