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An HPLC-UV method was developed and validated for the determination of lumefantrine in human plasma. Lumefantrine and its internal standard halofantrine were extracted from plasma samples using protein precipitation with acetonitrile (0.2% perchloric acid) followed by solid-phase extraction with Hypersep C(8) cartridges. Chromatographic separation was performed on a Zorbax SB-CN HPLC column (3.0 x 150 mm, 3.5 microm) with water/methanol (0.1% TFA) as the mobile phases in a gradient elution mode. Detection was performed using UV/vis detector at lambda = 335 nm. The method showed to be linear over a range of 50-10,000 ng/mL with acceptable intra- and inter-day precision and accuracy. The mean recoveries were 88.2% for lumefatrine and 84.5% for the I.S. The internal standard halofantrine is readily available from commercial sources. This method was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic interaction study between a first-line antimalarial combination (artemether-lumefantrine) and antiretroviral therapy.

A new liquid chromatography (LC)-negative ion electrospray ionization (ESI(-))-tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) method with post-column addition of ammonia in methanol has been developed for the analysis of acid herbicides: 2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid, 4-chloro-o-tolyloxyacetic acid, 2-(2-methyl-4-chlorophenoxy)butyric acid, mecoprop, dichlorprop, 4-(2,4-dichlorophenoxy) butyric acid, 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxy propionic acid, dicamba and bromoxynil, along with their degradation products: 4-chloro-2-methylphenol, 2,4-dichlorophenol, 2,4,5-trichlorophenol and 3,5-dibromo-4-hydroxybenzoic acid. The samples were extracted from the surface water matrix using solid-phase extraction (SPE) with a polymeric sorbent and analyzed with LC ESI(-) with selected reaction monitoring (SRM) using a three-point confirmation approach. Chromatography was performed on a Zorbax Eclipse XDB-C18 (50 x 4.6 mm i.d., 1.8 mum) with a gradient elution using water-methanol with 2 mM ammonium acetate mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.15 mL/min. Ammonia in methanol (0.8 M) was added post-column at a flow rate of 0.05 mL/min to enhance ionization of the degradation products in the MS source. One SRM transition was used for quantitative analysis while the second SRM along with the ratio of SRM1/SRM2 within the relative standard deviation determined by standards for each individual pesticide and retention time match were used for confirmation. The standard deviation of ratio of SRM1/SRM2 obtained from standards run on the day of analysis for different phenoxyacid herbicides ranged from 3.9 to 18.5%. Limits of detection (LOD) were between 1 and 15 ng L(-1) and method detection limits (MDL) with strict criteria requiring <25% deviation of peak area from best-fit line for both SRM1 and SRM2 ranged from 5 to 10 ng L(-1) for acid ingredients (except dicamba at 30 ng L(-1)) and from 2 to 30 ng L(-1) for degradation products. The SPE-LC-ESI(-) MS/MS method permitted low nanogram-per-liter determination of pesticides and degradation products for surface water samples.

A Matlab implemented computer code for spectral resolution is presented. The code enables the user to resolve the UV-visible absorption spectrum of a mixture of up to 3 previously known components, to the individual components, thus, evaluating their quantities. The resolving procedure is based on searching the combination of the components which yields the spectrum which is the most similar (minimal RMSE) to the measured spectrum of the mixture. Examples of using the software for pK(a) value estimation and multicomponent analysis are presented and other implementations are suggested.

Two sensitive and validated methods were developed for determination of a racemic mixture citalopram and its enantiomer S-(+) escitalopram. The first method was based on direct measurement of the intrinsic fluorescence of escitalopram using sodium dodecyl sulfate as micelle enhancer. This was further applied to determine escitalopram in spiked human plasma, as well as in the presence of common and co-administrated drugs. The second method was TLC densitometric based on various chiral selectors was investigated. The optimum TLC conditions were found to be sensitive and selective for identification and quantitative determination of enantiomeric purity of escitalopram in drug substance and drug products. The method can be useful to investigate adulteration of pure isomer with the cheap racemic form.

New simple spectrofluorimetric method with enhanced sensitivity has been developed and validated for the determination of the antidepressant paroxetine (PXT) in its dosage forms and plasma. The method was based on nucleophilic substitution reaction of PXT with 4-chloro-7-nitrobenzo-2-oxa-1,3-diazole in an alkaline medium (pH 8) to form a highly fluorescent derivative that was measured at 545 nm after excitation at 490 nm. The factors affecting the reaction was carefully studied and optimized. The kinetics of the reaction was investigated, and the reaction mechanism was presented. Under the optimized conditions, linear relationship with good correlation coefficient (0.9993) was found between the fluorescence intensity and PXT concentration in the range of 80-800 ng ml(-1). The limits of detection and quantitation for the method were 25 and 77 ng ml(-1), respectively. The precision of the method was satisfactory; the values of relative standard deviations did not exceed 3%. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of PXT in its pharmaceutical tablets with good accuracy; the recovery values were 100.2 +/- 1.61%. The results obtained by the proposed method were comparable with those obtained by the official method. The proposed method is superior to the previously reported spectrofluorimetric method for determination of PXT in terms of its higher sensitivity and wider linear range. The high sensitivity of the method allowed its successful application to the analysis of PXT in spiked human plasma. The proposed method is practical and valuable for its routine application in quality control and clinical laboratories for analysis of PXT.

The aim of this study is to adopt the approach of metabolic fingerprinting through the use of Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) technique to understand changes in the chemical structure in Padina tetrastromatica (Hauck). The marine brown alga under study was grown in two different environmental conditions; in natural seawater (P. tetrastromatica (c)) and in seawater suplemented with 50 ppm of cadmium (P. tetrastromatica (t)) for a three-week period in the laboratory. The second derivative, IR specrum in the mid-infrared region (4000-400 cm(-1)) was used for discriminating and identifying various functional groups present in P. tetrastromatica (c). On exposure to Cd, P. tetrastromatica (t) accumulated 412 ppm of Cd and showed perturbation in the band structure in the mid-IR absorption region. Variation in spectral features of the IR bands of P. tetrastromatica (untreated and treated) suggests that cadmium ions bind to hydroxyl, amino, carbonyl and phosphoryl functionalities. This was attributable to the presence of the following specific bands. A band at 3666 cm(-1) in untreated P. tetrastromatica (c) while a band at 3560 cm(-1) in Cd-treated P. tetrastromatica (t) due to non bonded and bonded O-H respectively. Similarly, non bonded N-H for P. tetrastromatica (c) showed two bands at 3500 cm(-1) and 3450 cm(-1) due to the N-H stretching vibrations and a band at 1577 cm(-1) due to N-H bending vibrations, while an intense band at 3350 cm(-1) due to bonded N-H stretching vibrations and at 1571 cm(-1) due to bending vibrations was observed for Cd-treated P. tetrastromatica (t). Involvement of ester carbonyl group is characterized by the presence of a band at 1764 cm(-1) in untreated P. tetrastromatica (c) while the Cd-treated P. tetrastromatica (t) showed the band at 1760 cm(-1). The intensity of the band at 1710 cm(-1) in the control samples decreased drastically after cadmium treatment indicating carbonyl of COOH to be involved in metal chelation. A band at 1224 cm(-1) for untreated P. tetrastromatica (c) and at 1220 cm(-1) for Cd-treated P. tetrastromatica (t) is indicative of the involvement of phosphoryl group in metal binding. Several other such changes were also evident and discussed in this paper. Based on our observation, FTIR technique proves to be an efficient tool for detecting structural changes and probable binding sites induced by the presence of a metal pollutant, cadmium, in the marine environment.

This work described study protocols on the production of Palm-Based Standard Reference Materials for iodine value and slip melting point. Thirty-three laboratories collaborated in the inter-laboratory proficiency tests for characterization of iodine value, while thirty-two laboratories for characterization of slip melting point. The iodine value and slip melting point of palm oil, palm olein and palm stearin were determined in accordance to MPOB Test Methods p3.2:2004 and p4.2:2004, respectively. The consensus values and their uncertainties were based on the acceptability of statistical agreement of results obtained from collaborating laboratories. The consensus values and uncertainties for iodine values were 52.63 +/- 0.14 Wijs in palm oil, 56.77 +/- 0.12 Wijs in palm olein and 33.76 +/- 0.18 Wijs in palm stearin. For the slip melting points, the consensus values and uncertainties were 35.6 +/- 0.3 degrees C in palm oil, 22.7 +/- 0.4 degrees C in palm olein and 53.4 +/- 0.2 degrees C in palm stearin. Repeatability and reproducibility relative standard deviations were found to be good and acceptable, with values much lower than that of 10%. Stability of Palm-Based Standard Reference Materials remained stable at temperatures of -20 degrees C, 0 degrees C, 6 degrees C and 24 degrees C upon storage for one year.

A comparison of detection limits of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) in selected ion monitoring (SIM) with gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) in selected reaction monitoring (SRM) mode with both electron ionization (EI) and negative-ion chemical ionization (NCI) are presented for over 50 pesticides ranging from organochlorines (OCs), organophosphorus pesticides (OPs) and pre-emergent herbicides used in the Canadian prairies (triallate, trifluralin, ethalfluralin). The developed GC-EI/SIM, GC-NCI/SIM, and GC-NCI/SRM are suitable for the determination of pesticides in air sample extracts at concentrations <100 pg microL(-1) (<100 pg m(-3) in air). No one method could be used to analyze the range of pre-emergent herbicides, OPs, and OCs investigated. In general GC-NCI/SIM provided the lowest method detection limits (MDLs commonly 2.5-10 pg microL(-1)) along with best confirmation (<25% RSD of ion ratio), while GC-NCI/SRM is recommended for use where added selectivity or confirmation is required (such as parathion-ethyl, tokuthion, carbofenothion). GC-EI/SRM at concentration <100 pg microL(-1) was not suitable for most pesticides. GC-EI/SIM was more prone to interference issues than NCI methods, but gave good sensitivity (MDLs 1-10 pg microL(-1)) for pesticides with poor NCI response (OPs: sulfotep, phorate, aspon, ethion, and OCs: alachlor, aldrin, perthane, and DDE, DDD, DDT).

Microalbuminuria is associated with hypertension and is a strong risk factor for subsequent chronic disease, both renal and coronary heart disease (CHD), Presently there are several methods available for measurement of microalbuminuria. The aim of this study was to evaluate if the three different methods gave similar information or if one of the assays were superior to the others. Blood pressure, inflammatory markers and cardiovascular mortality and morbidity were correlated with urine albumin analysed with a point-of-care testing (POCT) instrument, nephelometric determination of albumin and albumin/creatinine ratio in elderly males. The study population consisted of 103 diabetic and 603 nondiabetic males (age 77 years) in a cross-sectional study. We analyzed urine albumin with a HemoCue Urine Albumin POCT instrument and a ProSpec nephelometer and albumin/creatinine ratio. There were strong correlations between both systolic and diastolic blood pressure and all three urine albumin methods (p < 0.0001). There were also significant correlations between the different urine albumin measurements and serum amyloid A component, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and interleukin-6. The three different urine albumin methods studied provided similar information in relation to cardiovascular disease. There was a strong correlation between systolic and diastolic blood pressure and microalbuminuria in both the whole study population and in nondiabetic males emphasizing the role of hypertension in glomerular damage. The good correlation between the studied urine albumin measurements show that all three methods can be used for monitoring urine albumin excretion.

A simple high sensitive, selective, and rapid spectrophotometric method for the determination of trace gold based on the rapid reaction of gold(III) with bis(salicylaldehyde)orthophenylenediamine (BSOPD) in aqueous and micellar media has been developed. BSOPD reacts with gold(III) in slightly acidic solution to form a 1:1 brownish-yellow complex, which has an maximum absorption peak at 490 nm in both aqueous and micellar media. The most remarkable point of this method is that the molar absorptivities of the gold-BSOPD complex form in the presence of the nonionic TritonX-100 surfactant are almost a 10 times higher than the value observed in the aqueous solution, resulting in an increase in the sensitivity and selectivity of the method. The apparent molar absorptivities were found to be 2.3 x 10(4) L mol(-1) cm(-1) and 2.5 x 10(5) L mol(-1) cm(-1) in aqueous and micellar media, respectively. The reaction is instantaneous and the maximum absorbance was obtained after 10 min at 490 nm and remains constant for over 24 h at room temperature. The linear calibration graphs were obtained for 0.1-30 mg L(-1) and 0.01-30 mg L(-1) of gold(III) in aqueous and surfactant media, respectively. The interference from over 50 cations, anions and complexing agents has been studied at 1 mg L(-1) of Au(III); most metal ions can be tolerated in considerable amounts in aqueous micellar solutions. The Sandell's sensitivity, the limit of detection and relative standard deviation (n = 9) were found to be 5 ng cm(-2), 1 ng mL(-1) and 2%, respectively in aqueous micellar solutions. Its sensitivity and selectivity are remarkably higher than that of other reagents in the literature. The proposed method was successfully used in the determination of gold in several standard reference materials (alloys and steels), environmental water samples (potable and polluted), and biological samples (blood and urine), geological, soil and complex synthetic mixtures. The results obtained agree well with those samples analyzed by atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS).