Simultaneous determination of phthalates, their metabolites, alkylphenols and bisphenol A using GC-MS in urine of men with fertility problems.

A GC-MS method was successfully applied to measure simultaneously the concentrations of endocrine disrupting compounds (5 dialkyl phthalates, 9 phthalate monoesters, 3 alkylphenols and bisphenol A) in 136 male urine samples. In the present study the method was validated and concentrations of EDCs were determined. The results were compared with results from other studies. Correlations between endocrine disrupting compounds and also correlations of endocrine disrupting compounds with two semen quality parameters are presented and evaluated. Significant positive correlations were found between almost all the endocrine disrupting compounds. The parameter sum of DEHP (SUM DEHP) was positively correlated to all the endocrine disrupting compounds but negatively to two semen quality parameters. Negative correlations between the endocrine disrupting compounds and the semen quality parameters could indicate that endocrine disrupting compounds could cause reproductive problems by decreasing the semen count and quality. This research will have helped to evaluate human exposure to endocrine disrupting compounds.

Development and validation of dried blood spots technique for quantitative determination of topiramate using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

An LC-MS/MS method for determination of the anti-epileptic drug topiramate (TPM) in dried blood spot (DBS) samples was developed and validated. DBS samples were prepared by spotting 30 µL of spiked whole blood onto FTA(TM) DMPK-C cards and drying for at least 3 h. Six-millimetre punched spots were then extracted by using a mixture of methanol and water (90:10, v/v) with deuterated internal standard (topiramate-d12). The extracted samples were injected into a liquid chromatograph equipped with a tandem mass spectrometric detector. Negative ions were monitored in the selected reaction monitoring mode and transitions m/z 338.2 → 78.1 and m/z 350.3 → 78.1 were used for the quantitative evaluation of TPM and internal standard, respectively. The results obtained from validation were statistically evaluated according to the requirements of the European Medicines Agency and US Food and Drug Administration regulatory guidelines. The linearity of the method was checked within a concentration range from 10 to 2000 ng/mL. The validation results indicate that the method is accurate, precise, sensitive, selective and reproducible.

Characterization of Slovenian wines using Multidimensional data analysis from simple enological descriptors.

Determination of the product's origin is one of the primary requirements when certifying a wine's authenticity. Significant research has described the possibilities of predicting a wine's origin using efficient methods of wine components' analyses connected with multivariate data analysis. The main goal of this study was to examine the discrimination ability of simple enological descriptors for the classification of Slovenian red and white wine samples according to their varieties and geographical origins. Another task was to investigate the inter-relations available among descriptors such as relative density, content of total acids, non-volatile acids and volatile acids, ash, reducing sugars, sugar-free extract, SO2, ethanol, pH, and an important additional variable - the sensorial quality of the wine, using correlation analysis, principal component analysis (PCA), and cluster analysis (CLU). 739 red and white wine samples were scanned on a Wine Scan FT 120, from wave numbers 926 cm(-1) to 5012 cm(-1). The applied methods of linear discriminant analysis (LDA), general discriminant analysis (GDA), and artificial neural networks (ANN), demonstrated their power for authentication purposes.

Determination of topiramate in human plasma using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry.

The LC-MS/MS method for determination of the anti-epileptic drug topiramate (TPM) in human plasma was developed and validated for pharmacokinetic and bioequivalence study purposes. For quantitative determination of TPM values the method with deuterated internal standard (topiramate-d12) and liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry was used. TPM was extracted from the human plasma using the solid-phase extraction procedure on a Strata X extraction column. Negative ions were monitored in the selected reaction monitoring mode (SRM) and transitions m/z 338.2 > 78.2 and m/z 350.3 > 78.2 were used for the quantitative evaluation of TPM and the internal standard, respectively. The results obtained from validation were statistically evaluated according to the requirements of European Medicines Agency (EMA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory guidelines. The linearity of the method was checked within a concentration range from 10 to 2000 ng/mL. Successful validation confirmed that this method is precise, accurate, sensitive and therefore suitable for determination of topiramate plasma levels in pharmacokinetic and bioequivalence studies.

Multivariate analysis and chemometric characterisation of textile wastewater streams.

The aim of this work was to design a quick and reliable method for the evaluation and classification of wastewater streams into treatable and non-treatable effluents for reuse/recycling. Different chemometric methods were used for this purpose handling the enormous amount of data, and additionally to find any hidden information, which would increase our knowledge and improve the classification. The data obtained from the processes description, together with the analytical results of measured parameters' characterising the wastewater of a particular process, enabled us to build a fast-decision model for separating different textile wastewater outlets. Altogether 49 wastewater samples from the textile finishing company were analysed, and 19 different physical chemical measurements were performed for each of them. The resulting classification model was aimed at an automated decision about the choice of treatment technologies or a prediction about the reusability of wastewaters within any textile finishing or other company having similar characteristics of wastewater streams.