LCGC Europe-11-01-2005

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that each year in the United States, 76 million people get sick, 325000 are hospitalized and 5000 die from food-related illnesses. Food-borne illness is a serious public health problem. -National Library for the Environment, Food Safety Issues in the 107th Congress, 2001, Donna U. Vogt.

Once the visual problems have been eliminated as problem sources, you are left with problems related to system performance.

Because of progress in liquid chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC/TOF-MS) instrumentation, data processing and reporting, the measurement of compounds' accurate masses is becoming routine practice in screening analysis based on target databases. As such databases of monoisotopic masses can be easily updated with recent data from the literature; rapid characterization of new compounds and metabolites is possible without the need for primary reference standards. This approach has already been established in comprehensive toxicological urine screening and in analysis of drugs-of-abuse in seized street drug samples. Currently, a mass accuracy within 5 ppm can be routinely achieved, and confirmation via a numerical isotopic pattern match (SigmaFit) is provided by a new generation LC/TOF-MS instrument.

Conventional pyrolysis can cause defunctionalization of polar structural moieties carrying functional groups, which leads to biased results.

The Eighth International Symposium on Advances in Extraction Techniques (ExTech) highlights new extraction technologies for chemical and biochemical analysis in laboratory and on-site settings. Generally, the series focuses on solvent-free sample preparation including methods for rapid and selective enrichment prior to analysis and micro-sample preparation. Major emphasis will be placed on the fundamental understanding of extraction processes that result in greater selectivity and efficiency in method development and a rationalization of method selection for specific applications. On-site environmental methods and biomedical applications will be covered. The ExTech symposium series was initiated in 1999 by Professor Janusz Pawliszyn. The 2006 edition will focus especially on passive sampling methods, use of molecular imprinted polymers, biologically modified sorbents, novel coatings and sorbent material and will take place on 6–8 February at the Moat House Hotel, York.

A new combination of analytical chemistry and mathematical data analysis techniques allows the rapid identification of the species, strain and infectious phase of a potential biological terrorism agent. Coxiella burnetii causes the human disease Q fever, which can cause serious illness and even death.

Whether in industrial nations or developing countries, an international harmonized method for drug residue monitoring in animal products is needed.