Analytical Letters

Jamila, Nargis; Hwang, In Min; Park, Yu Min; Lee, Ga Hyun; Choi, Ji Yeon; Khan, Naeem; Cho, Min Ja; Park, Kyung Su; Kim, Kyong Su

doi: 10.1080/00032719.2017.1296851pmid: N/A

We, the Editor, the Authors, and Publisher, have retracted the following article: Nargis Jamila, In Ming Hwang, Yu Min Park, Ga Hyun Lee, Ji Yeon Choi, Naeem Khan, Min Ja Cho, Kyung Su Park & Kyong Su Kim “Elemental Analysis of Crustaceans by Inductively Coupled Plasma—Mass Spectrometry and Direct Mercury Analysis.” Analytical Letters (2017), https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00032719.2017.1296851 The authors have requested the retraction of their article due to variations in the concentration of the arsenic identified at the data analysis stage, which affected the reported results of the paper and conclusion. Upon realizing this error, the authors brought the issue to the journal Editor and Publisher immediately. There are no concerns regarding research or publishing conduct and the authors have had already resubmitted an updated paper, which has been accepted and published as https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00032719.2021.1895188 We have been informed in our decision-making by our policy on publishing ethics and integrity and the COPE guidelines on retractions. The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as RETRACTED.

Tatsumi, Atsuro; Morichika, Keisuke; Krueger, Joseph; Yokota, Hiroyuki

doi: 10.1080/00032719.2022.2153365pmid: N/A

Abstract The determination of antibody binding capacity is crucial in the development of drug antibodies. Despite its widespread use, flow cytometry may only be used to evaluate single cells in solution. In addition, analyzing the antibody localization in tissue sections of animal models after drug administration, as in immunohistochemistry (IHC), is desirable. In this study, antibody-treated cells were fixed on glass slides, and their analysis was directly compared with flow cytometry. Cell-bound antibodies were quantitatively detected using a method that relies on phosphor-integrated dots (PIDs), which are highly brilliant nanoparticles applicable to immunohistochemistry. The outcomes of this approach were highly correlated with flow cytometry, suggesting that it is able to quantitatively detect cell-bound antibodies at a level comparable with flow cytometry. Therefore, this novel IHC-based technique is valuable for quantitative analysis and localization of antibodies in tissue sections of drug administration.

Miladinović, Dragoljub; Dimitrijević, Marija; Mrmošanin, Jelena; Marković, Marija; Pavlović, Aleksandra

doi: 10.1080/00032719.2022.2153366pmid: N/A

Abstract This study aimed at combined chemical and chemometric analysis of seasonal variation in trace element (TE) contents (B, Si, Cr, Mn, Ni, Cu, and Zn) in Satureja kitaibelii Wierzb. ex Heuff. (savory) and its growing soil, with emphasis on potential aspects of health promotion. The lowest contents of the studied elements in the soil, except for silicon, were recorded in the vegetative stage. In the plant, the boron content is the highest: 10.5–14.9 mg kg−1 and the chromium content is the lowest: 0.17–1.2 mg kg−1. The highest values of soil-to-plant transfer factor (TF) were recorded for five elements (except Si and Cr) in the vegetative stage. Savory can be considered an accumulator of boron. The statistical and chemometric analysis confirmed a variation in TE content of studied soil and plant samples. This study revealed that savory from Serbia to be a potential source of valuable TEs. A significant percentage of daily intake of B, Cr, and Ni, can be provided with three cups of tea per day of plants collected in the vegetative and flowering stages.

Waheed, Hiba; Zakirhussein, Alfia; Ruparelia, Ketan; Brucoli, Federico

doi: 10.1080/00032719.2022.2154356pmid: N/A

Abstract An efficient nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based method was developed to detect and quantify the presence of phthalates in plastic fragments obtained from a children’s toy and cosmetic product containers. Bis-2-ethyl hexyl phthalate (BEHP) was present at a concentration of 8.5% w/w in the plastic toy residue. This indicates levels of phthalates above the permitted threshold (e.g., <0.1% w/w) imposed by EU and USA regulations restricting the use of plasticizers in plastic toys for children aged 0 to 3 years. An added value of this method is that the tetramethylsilane (TMS) internal standard present at a concentration of 2.2 mmol/L in commercially available CDCl3 solvents may be conveniently used for the quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance (qNMR) analysis. The protocol described here is highly reproducible and may be easily applied to large scale investigations of plasticizers content into polyvinyl chloride (PVC) polymers.

Yuan, Lijuan; Xiang, Jianjun; Zhang, Li; Liao, Qiegen; Yan, Xiong; Zhang, Dawen

doi: 10.1080/00032719.2022.2154786pmid: N/A

Abstract The Cr, Mn, Cu, Se, Ni, As, Hg, Cd, Pb, Zn, and Fe levels in chicken, duck, and quail eggs from Jiangxi Province were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), and the potential risks to human health were evaluated. The levels of trace elements from Jiangxi Province were not above the Chinese national standard. The target hazard quotient (THQ) values for the elements and total THQ for a combination of trace elements were <1, suggesting the absence of health risk from trace elements. The carcinogenic risks (CRs) of As, Cd, Cr, and Pb in all egg samples were negligible or within the acceptable range. These results demonstrate that trace element levels in eggs from Jiangxi Province of China were low and not associated with human health risk. In addition, levels of Fe and Zn were higher in quail eggs (30,166 and 172,356 μg·kg−1), chicken eggs (19,919 and 13,081 μg·kg−1), and duck eggs (27,123 and 14,422 μg·kg−1), suggesting that poultry eggs are good sources of trace elements essential to human health.

Saechan, Charinrat; Thawornpan, Pongsakorn; Thanapongpichat, Supinya; Hongmanee, Sawitree; Srinoun, Kanitta; Win Tun, Aung; Tansila, Natta; Jumpathong, Watthanachai; Buncherd, Hansuk

doi: 10.1080/00032719.2022.2155179pmid: N/A

Abstract Fly ash was used as a heterogeneous Fenton catalyst to degrade methylene blue in aqueous solution. The influence off key operating parameters on the degradation efficiency, including the concentrations of hydrogen peroxide and methylene blue, catalyst dosage, and the initial pH, were studied. The optimal degradation conditions were 2 mmol/L hydrogen peroxide, 4 mg/mL of fly ash, and pH 3. Under these conditions, the degradation efficiency was approximately 93% within 4 h. The degradation of methylene blue by heterogenous Fenton process followed the pseudo-first order kinetics and the activation energy shows that the reaction is thermodynamically feasible. Fly ash demonstrated acceptable reusability after 3 successive cycles. The results in the present study indicated that fly ash is a potent cost-effective catalyst for the degradation of organic dyes in aqueous solution by a heterogeneous Fenton process.

Serim, Ecem; Ceylan, Burhan; Kepekci Tekkeli, Serife Evrim

doi: 10.1080/00032719.2022.2155180pmid: N/A

Abstract A simple, rapid, and precise high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method was developed to determine the flavonoid apigenin in cosmetic products containing chamomile extracts. A C18 column was used as stationary phase and 70:30 ethanol:water was used as mobile phase with a 1 mL/min flow rate and isocratic elution. The temperature was stabilized at 25 °C during the separation. The injection volume was 50 μL. The apigenin peak was eluted at 4.15 ± 0.4 min. The method was validated according to International Conference on Harmonisation (ICH) criteria in terms of linearity, limit of detection, limit of quantitation, selectivity, sensitivity, robustness, accuracy, and precision. The limits of detection and quantitation were 0.060 and 0.2 μg/mL respectively. The linear range was from 0.2 to 20 μg/mL. The relative standard deviation values for intraday and interday analyses were less than 1.64%. The developed procedure was applied to the analysis of various cosmetic products. It is expected that the method is suitable for routine analysis, quality control and standardization of cosmetic products for apigenin.

Wu, Rui; Ren, Guangxin; Yin, Lingling; Xie, Tian; Zhang, Xinyu; Zhang, Zhengzhu

doi: 10.1080/00032719.2022.2155833pmid: N/A

Abstract The aroma indicator is an important factor in evaluating the quality and grade of black tea and is vital in preventing fraud and reducing financial losses. A rapid method for the characterization of Congou black tea is described using an electronic nose (EN) with grey wolf optimization (GWO) and chemometrics. First, the aroma qualities of the tea were determined by the EN for 700 samples of seven grades and converted into 10 characteristic values. The GWO algorithm was used to optimize the aroma indicators of the EN sensors. Discrimination models based upon the optimized odor sensor features and partial least squares discriminant analysis, k-nearest neighbor (KNN), extreme learning machine, and support vector machine were created to assess the quality of the samples. The results showed that the KNN model constructed with the five odor sensor response values optimized by the GWO algorithm performed best with an accuracy of 97.85%. The results demonstrate that the EN is suitable for the rapid assessment of the quality and grades of Congou black tea products.

Cheng, Qi; Zhang, Ling; Lei, Lulu; Huang, Hui; Li, Yongxin

doi: 10.1080/00032719.2022.2157422pmid: N/A

Abstract Nanomaterials with natural enzyme-like activities have attracted widespread interest and hence their development is significant. Here, a copper Prussian blue analogue named Cu-HCF was prepared and its polyphenol oxidase (PPO)-like activity was investigated for the first time. Cu-HCF nanozyme showed nearly 7-fold higher substrate affinity than natural PPO and was more stable under alkaline conditions, high temperature, high salt concentrations, and long-time storage. The catalytic activity of Cu-HCF nanozyme was reduced by pyrophosphate (PPi). Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) hydrolyzed PPi to orthophosphate (Pi) and hence the PPO-like activity of Cu-HCF nanozyme was restored. A method was therefore developed for selective determination of the ALP activity. The linear range was from 1 to 50 mU/mL with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.35 mU/mL. This approach was validated in human serum samples, showing its potential in diagnostic applications.

Wang, Jun-Qiao; Zhao, Jing; Nie, Shao-Ping; Xie, Ming-Yong; Li, Shao-Ping

doi: 10.1080/00032719.2022.2157421pmid: N/A

Abstract Mass spectrometry (MS) has been developed for high-sensitivity structural determination of carbohydrates. Due to the similarity of oligosaccharide structures, there is still insufficient information about the correlation between carbohydrate chemical structure and mass spectra. A series of trisaccharides containing different glycosidic linkages (1→2, 1→3, 1→4, 1→6, 2→1 and 2→6), anomeric configuration (α and β), and monosaccharide (pentose, hexose and hexuronic acid), as well as two cyclodextrins (α- and β-cyclodextrin) were systematically investigated using matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight/time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI TOF/TOF MS) in positive and negative ion modes using super-DHB (2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid) and harmine hydrochloride as matrices, respectively. Cross-ring cleavage generated by A-types ions with neutral losses of 48, 60, 78, 90, or 120 Da were observed in the negative ion MS/MS spectra, and neutral losses of 60, 90, or 120 Da were observed in the positive ion MS/MS spectra. Glycosidic cleavages were observed in both modes. The linkage isomers were unambiguously identified by those diagnostic fragment ions with their relative intensities. Furthermore, the correlation between linkage pattern and characteristic ions successfully allowed the characterization of polysaccharides with different structural features.