Fast liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for the simultaneous determination of phytocannabinoids in oily based preparations.

The reported method aims to be a powerful aid for the simultaneous determination of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), cannabidiol (CBD), cannabinol (CBN), cannabigerol (CBG), tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA), cannabidiolic acid (CBDA), and tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV) in oily based preparations. The chromatographic separation was carried out using an Hypersil Gold PFP (50 × 2.1 mm, 1.9 µm) column, using H2O + 2 mM ammonium formate + 0.2 % formic acid (M1) and Methanol + 2 mM ammonium formate + 0.2 % formic acid (M2) as mobile phases. The flow rate was set 0.4 mL/min. Specifically, this method was validated in terms of linearity, limit of detections and quantifications (LODs and LOQs), accuracy (precision and trueness, both intra and interday), selectivity, and matrix effects. This procedure allowed quantifying seven phytocannabinoids in less than 10 min. The validated method shows a good linearity within the range 0.25-1000 ng/mL, while precision and trueness (intra- and inter-day) were below <13.25 % and 7.59 %, respectively. Regarding the matrix effect, the method satisfies all the requirements, except for the THC and THCV, where it reaches about 120 %. This element does not affect the method performances as it has been observed that this value is constant and reproducible and therefore does not involve errors in the quantitative analysis. The method was tested and applied on more 70 different oily based preparations. Furthermore, starting from four different cannabis cultivar (FM2, Bedrolite, Bedrocan, and Bediol), it allowed to evaluate the reproducibility of the magistrali preparations. The real samples, in fact, derive from different local pharmacies, and were analyzed by the accredited UNI CEI EN ISO/IEC 17025:2018, Pharmatoxicology Laboratory (ACCREDIA, lab n. 2274 ASLPE, accreditation number 1822 L), accordingly to the current regulations.

THE TOP-IMPLART PROTON LINEAR ACCELERATOR: INTERIM CHARACTERISTICS OF THE 35 MEV BEAM.

In the framework of the Italian TOP-IMPLART project (Regione Lazio), ENEA-Frascati, ISS and IFO are developing and constructing the first proton linear accelerator based on an actively scanned beam for tumor radiotherapy with final energy of 150 MeV. An important feature of this accelerator is modularity: an exploitable beam can be delivered at any stage of its construction, which allows for immediate characterization and virtually continuous improvement of its performance. Currently, a sequence of 3 GHz accelerating modules combined with a commercial injector operating at 425 MHz delivers protons up to 35 MeV. Several dosimetry systems were used to obtain preliminary characteristics of the 35-MeV beam in terms of stability and homogeneity. Short-term stability and homogeneity better than 3% and 2.6%, respectively, were demonstrated; for stability an improvement with respect to the respective value obtained for the previous 27 MeV beam.