Longitudinal changes in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and sympathetic nervous system are related to the prognosis of stroke.

Background and purpose: This study sought to improve methods to identify biomarkers in the neuroendocrine system related to stroke progression to improve the accuracy of traditional tools for evaluating stroke prognosis. Methods: Seventy-four stroke patients and 237 healthy controls were prospectively included. We measured urinary epinephrine (E), noradrenaline (NE), dopamine (DA) and cortisol (F) on days 1, 3, and 5 after stroke onset and plasma F, adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), thyrotropin (TSH), prolactin (PRL), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH) and growth hormone (GH). The correlation between these hormone levels and 90-day prognosis was analyzed, their value in assessing prognosis was compared with lesion volume and National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, and their correlation with conventional clinical variables was assessed. Results: Levels of F, 24-h urinary free cortisol(UFC), E, NE, DA, and GH on days 1, 3, and 5 were significantly higher in stroke patients than in controls (P < 0.01), while ACTH and TSH decreased, gradually approaching normal within 5 days of onset. Levels of E, NE, F, and 24-h UFC were proportional to severity, and all gradually decreased within 5 days of onset in patients with a good prognosis and gradually increased or remained high in those with a poor prognosis. After adjustment for age, sex, NIHSS, or Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score, F > 13.6 µg/dL, ACTH > 22.02 pg/mL and NE > 123.5 µg/ 24 h were identified as risk factors for a poor prognosis 90 days after stroke (P < 0.05). The combination of F, ACTH, NE, white blood cell count (WBC), glucose (Glu), and hemoglobin (Hb) was significantly more accurate than lesion volume (AUC: 0.931 vs. 0.694 P = 0.019) and NIHSS score (AUC: 0.931 vs. 0.746 P = 0.034) in predicting poor prognosis of stroke 1 day after onset. Hormones and traditional clinical variables were correlated to varying degrees, with NE correlating most strongly with 24-h UFC (r = 0.54) and moderately positively with lesion volume (r = 0.40) and NIHSS score (r = 0.45). Conclusions: Stroke causes significant time-phased dynamic changes in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and sympathetic nervous system, and plasma F, ACTH, and urinary NE levels can be used to assess stroke severity and prognosis. Chinese clinical trial registry: Registration Number: ChiCTR1900024992. Registration Date: 2019/8/6.

Analysis of dissolved organic matters in Fu River of Baoding using three dimensional fluorescence excitation-emission matrix.

The fluorescence properties of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in Fu River in Baoding were investigated by three-dimensional fluorescence spectrometry. The type, distribution and origin of the DOM were estimated on basis of the position, number and intensity of fluorescence peaks in the spectra. Two types of fluorescence peaks were detected from Fu River. There are protein-like fluorescence peaks A with Ex/Em = 225-230/340 nm and soluble microbial metabolites peaks B with Ex/Em=275/340-350 nm. The protein-like fluorescence peaks and soluble microbial metabolites peaks were founded in different times and stations in Fu River. Certain correlation was observed between the fluorescence intensity of DOM and the water quality parameters of Fu River. Good correlation of different fluorescence peaks showed the same of source. The fluorescence intensity of the two types had a significant positive relationship with COD, TN, TP and NH3-N concentration, this phenomenon indicating that the fluorescence peaks can speculate the level of pollution of Fu River. These results provided a reference for the pollution control in Fu River.

Preparation of doxycycline-imprinted magnetic microspheres by inverse-emulsion suspension polymerization for magnetic dispersion extraction of tetracyclines from milk samples.

A magnetic dispersion extraction method was developed based on a molecularly imprinted magnetic microsphere (MIMM) for the selective clean-up and enrichment of tetracycline antibiotics from milk samples. The MIMMs were prepared by inverse-emulsion suspension polymerization, using doxycycline, trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate, acrylamide, methacrylic acid, and surface-modified Fe3 O4 as a template molecule, crosslinker, functional monomer, and magnetic component, respectively. Synthesis and extraction conditions were optimized for obtaining excellent affinity and high selectivity. The magnetism, covering amount, and selectivity of the magnetic microspheres were characterized by a vibrating sample magnetometer, thermogravimetric analysis, and a competitive recognition experiment. The MIMMs were applied to separate tetracycline antibiotics from milk samples by magnetic dispersion extraction, and an enrichment factor of 9.28 and a good sample clean-up were obtained. The average recoveries of four tetracycline antibiotics were obtained in the range of 74.5-93.8% with a precision of 1.2-5.2%. The LODs and LOQs of the proposed method were in the range of 7.4-19.4 and 24.7-64.7 µg/kg, respectively. The results indicated that magnetic dispersion extraction using MIMMs is a powerful tool for food-sample pretreatment with high selectivity and a simplified procedure.

[Identification of geographical origins of rice with pattern recognition technique by near infrared spectroscopy].

A rapid method was developed for discrimination of the geographical origins of rice with pattern recognition technique by near infrared spectrocopy (NIRS). A total of 119 geography signs product Xiangshui rice samples and 90 rice (Non-Xiangshui rice) samples produced from other places were analyzed by NIRS. After first derivative and smooth processing, principal component analysis (PCA) was used to reduce the dimensionality of the spectral data. Through the loading graph of the first three principal components, characteristic wave band (7 700-6 700, 5 700-4 300 cm(-1)) with max-relativity was determined. In whole wave, using agglomerative hierarchical cluster analysis and Fisher's linear discriminant, the discrimination of Xiangshui rice and Non-Xiangshui rice was all 100%. The correct rate of specific geographical origins of Non-Xiangshui rice was 91.9% by cluster analysis and 96.7% by discriminant analysis. For analysis in the characteristic wave bands, the correct rate of discriminant by cluster analysis was higher than the analysis result through the range of the whole band. Therefore, characteristic wave band has strong representativeness. The results indicate that it is feasible to discriminate the geographical origins of rice with pattern recognition technique by NIRS, and selecting characteristic wave band is one of the validated methods to improve the precision of the discrimination mode.

[Curve fitting based on genetic algorithms for quantitative resolution in overlapped fluorescence spectra].

The exponentially modified Gaussian (EMG) model-based genetic algorithm was used as a fitness function for fitting fluorescence spectrogram. The method was effective for solving the interference of fluorescent substance in the course of the multi-component quantitative analysis. As an example, the interference of endogenous fluorophores in different urines with the fluorescence of gatifloxacin (GFLX) was examined. A good eradicating efficacy was achieved by using the fitting fluorescence spectrogram. Under the optimized experimental conditions, the good linear relationship between the fluorescence intensity and GFLX concentration was obtained in the range of 0.06-3.5 microg x mL(-1) with a correlation coefficient of 0.9994. The detection limit and recovery were 0.02 microg x mL(-1) and 99.2%-109.4%, respectively, with the relative standard deviation from 1.3% to 2.7%. The proposed fitting fluorescence spectrometric method was rapid, simple and highly sensitive for the determination of GFLX in different human urine without preseparation. The recovery, selectivity, linearity, precision and accuracy of the method are convenient for routine assays and pharmacokinetic studies.

Degradation of naproxen by combination of Fenton reagent and ultrasound irradiation: optimization using response surface methodology.

A central composite factorial design methodology was employed to optimize the degradation of naproxen (NPX) by the combination of Fenton reagent and ultrasound (US) irradiation. In this study, the variables considered for the process optimization were the hydrogen peroxide, ferrous ion and NPX initial concentrations, while ultrasonic power amplitude was adjusted at 90% and initial pH was 3. An appropriate quadratic model was developed in order to plot the response surface and contour curves. Optimum dosage of Fenton reagent for NPX removal was found to be hydrogen peroxide concentration = 9.98 mmol L⁻¹, ferrous ion concentration = 4.83 mg L⁻¹ while NPX concentration was equal to 20 mg L⁻¹. A degradation efficiency of 100% was achieved within 10 min under US.

[Determination of 9 heavy metal elements in sediment by ICP-MS using microwave digestion for sample preparation].

A method for determining 9 heavy metal elements in soil and sediment was developed by using microwave digestion-ICP-MS. The mixture of HNO3-H2O2-HF was found to give the best digestion results for soil and sediment of samples. Under the optimized conditions, the samples were analyzed by ICP-MS with the triple internal standard elements Ge, In and Bi. The results showed that all their correlation coefficients were over 0.999. The national standard soil referenee material (ESS-1 GSBZ50011-88) was analyzed by the described method and the results were accorded with the reference values. The measurement precision range was from 0.48% to 5.73% in terms of relative standard deviation. The recoveries and the limits of detection were in the ranges of 98.0% to 100.7% and 0.011 to 0.328 microg x L(-1) respectively, and 11 sediment samples were determined by the proposed method. It was indicated that the method was reliable for determining heavy metal elements in soil and sediment samples.

Synthesis and application of molecularly imprinted poly(methacrylic acid)-silica hybrid composite material for selective solid-phase extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography determination of oxytetracycline residues in milk.

A novel molecularly imprinted organic-inorganic hybrid composite material (MIP-HCM) was developed based on molecular imprinting technique in combination with hybrid composite synthesis and sol-gel technology for selective solid-phase extraction (SPE) of tetracyclines residues in milk. The MIP-HCM was prepared using oxytetracycline as the template, methacrylic acid as organic functional monomer, tetraethoxysilane as inorganic precursor and methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane as the coupling agent. Synthesis conditions are optimized by changing some factors to obtain sorbent with the controllable adsorption capacity, selectivity, hardness and toughness. Binding study demonstrated that the imprinted hybrid composites showed excellent affinity and high selectivity to oxytetracycline. An enrichment factor of 18.8 along with a good sample clean-up was obtained under the optimized SPE conditions. The average recoveries of three tetracyclines antibiotics spiked milk at 0.1, 0.2 and 0.5 mg kg⁻¹ were in the range of 80.9-104.3% with the precision of 1.5-5.0%. The limits of detection and quantitation of the proposed method were in a range of 4.8-12.7 µg kg⁻¹ and 16.0-42.3 µg kg⁻¹, respectively.

Grafting of norfloxacin imprinted polymeric membranes on silica surface for the selective solid-phase extraction of fluoroquinolones in fish samples.

A high-density imprinted polymeric membrane was immobilized on a porous silica-gel support by polymerization of methacrylic acid with vinyl-silanized silica gel for the selective solid-phase extraction (SPE) of norfloxacin (NOR) in fish samples. The imprinted membranes showed high adsorption capacity (423.2 µmol g(-1)), significant selectivity (k=14.64, k'=9.61) and good site accessibility (2h) for NOR. The conditions of SPE were investigated, and water (pH=6), methanol:water (1:1, v/v) and methanol-acetic acid-trifluoroacetic acid (90:9:1, v/v) were selected as the sample solvent, the washing solution and the eluting solution, respectively. Under the optimal SPE condition, three fluoroquinolone residues in fish were separated and detected by an off-line MIP-SPE-HPLC with better clean up and enrichment. The recoveries of norfloxacin, ofloxacin and ciprofloxacin were 89.3-94.8%, 69.3-102.8% and 85-90.5%, respectively, with relative standard deviations lower than 6.5%. The limits of detection (LOD) of the proposed method (S/N=3) were in a range of 2.65-3.65 µg kg(-1), and the limits of quantification (LOQ, S/N=10) were in a range of 8.82-12.16 µg kg(-1).

[Studies on TCs-Fe(III) system separation/enrichment of trace tetracyclines antibiotic by combination ionic liquid [Hmim]PF6 solvent sublation with fluorescence spectroscopy determination].

It is the first time ionic liquid was applied to gas solvent sublation, which established a new method for separation/enrichment of tetracyclines (TCs) antibiotic based on ionic liquid gas solvent sublation. The optimizing experimental conditions were as follows: the mixture of ionic liquid 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazo lium hexafluorophosphats and ethyl acetate ([Hmim] PF6-EA, phi = 1/0.9) can be used as flotation solvent, Fe(III) ion was as trapping agent, pH of test solution was 7.6, the gas flow rate was 40 mL x min(-1), and the flotation time was 50 min. The complexes of TCs- Fe (III) were pre-concentrated in the [Hmim] PF6-EA layer and this was used to determine analytes by fluorescence method directly. The linear regression equation was F = 246.5c+4.32 (c: microg x 10 mL(-1)), and correlation coefficient was 0.999 1. Recoveries between 94.2% and 100.4% were achieved from surface water and sediment samples in ponder by using this method and the relative standard deviation of 5 microg x mL(-1) TCs for 5 parallel determinations was less than 3.2%. FTIR spectroscopy demonstrated that no chemical (bonding) interactions occurred between the ionic liquid and the complexes functional groups, and the ionic liquid was only solvent. The experimental result indicated that utilizing ionic liquid to float TCs in environmental sample is feasible.