Onsite Identification and Spatial Distribution of Air Pollutants Using a Drone-Based Solid-Phase Microextraction Array Coupled with Portable Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry via Continuous-Airflow Sampling.

Hazardous air pollutants can be unintentionally and intentionally released in many cases, such as industrial emissions, accidental events, and pesticide application. Under such events, the onsite operation is highly dependent on the molecular composition and spatial distribution of air pollutants in ambient air. However, it is usually difficult for people to reach hazardous and upper sites rapidly. In this work, we designed a new drone-based microextraction sampler array in which a solid-phase microextraction (SPME) fiber was mounted on drones for remote-control sampling at different spaces and was then coupled with a portable gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (PGC-MS) approach for quickly identifying hazardous air pollutants and their spatial distribution in ambient air within minutes. Acceptable analytical performances, including good sensitivity (detection limit at nanogram per liter level), reproducibility (relative standard deviation < 20%, n = 6), analytical speed (single sample within minutes), and excellent linear dynamic response (3 orders of magnitude) were obtained for direct measurement of air samples. The drone-SPME sampling mechanism of air pollutants involving an airflow adsorptive microextraction process was proposed. Overall, this drone-SPME sampling array can access hard-to-reach and dangerous environmental sites and provide air pollution distribution in different spaces, showing versatile potential applications in environmental analysis.

A review on the treatment of multiple myeloma with small molecular agents in the past five years.

Multiple myeloma is currently incurable, and the incidence rate is increasing year by year worldwide. Although in recent years the combined treatment plan based on proteasome inhibitors and immunomodulatory drugs has greatly improved the treatment effect of multiple myeloma, most patients still relapse and become resistant to current treatments. To solve this problem, scientists are committed to developing drugs with higher specificity, such as iberdomide, which is highly specific to ikaros and aiolos. This review aims to focus on the small molecular agents that are being researched/clinically used for the treatment of multiple myeloma, including the target mechanism, structure-activity relationship and application prospects of small molecular agents.

Paper-in-Facemask Device for Direct Mass Spectrometry Analysis of Human Respiratory Aerosols and Environmental Exposures via Wearable Continuous-Flow Adsorptive Sampling: A Proof-of-Concept Study.

Facemasks are considered safe and wearable devices that cover the human mouth and nose for filtering exhaled aerosols and inhaled environmental exposures; various chemical and environmental residues thus can remain in facemasks. Therefore, direct analysis of residues in facemasks can be used to investigate the wearer's health and behavior. Here, we developed a simple paper-in-facemask sampling method for adsorbing a wearer's respiratory aerosol and environmental exposures by fixing paper strips at the outside and inside surfaces of facemasks, and the paper strips were then analyzed by paper spray mass spectrometry (PSMS) for directly detecting adsorbed analytes without any sample pretreatment. The applicability of this device was demonstrated by directly analyzing exhaled aerosolized saliva, breath metabolites, and inhalable environmental exposures. The technical aspects, including sampling time, sampling position, paper property, and spray solvent, were investigated. The sampling process was revealed to involve a continuous-flow adsorptive mechanism. These findings motivated us to extend this work and build a wearable sampling device that is capable of simultaneously monitoring both exhaled and inhaled biomarkers in situ to investigate human health and environmental exposure. This work highlights that facemasks are promising platforms for aerosol collection and direct MS analysis, which is expected to be a promising method for monitoring human health, diseases, and behaviors.

Sodium Butyrate Improves Liver Glycogen Metabolism in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

Liver plays a central role in modulating blood glucose level. Our most recent findings suggested that supplementation with microbiota metabolite sodium butyrate (NaB) could ameliorate progression of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and decrease blood HbA1c in db/db mice. To further investigate the role of butyrate in homeostasis of blood glucose and glycogen metabolism, we carried out the present study. In db/db mice, we found significant hypertrophy and steatosis in hepatic lobules accompanied by reduced glycogen storage, and expression of GPR43 was significantly decreased by 59.38 ± 3.33%; NaB administration significantly increased NaB receptor G-protein coupled receptor 43 (GPR43) level and increased glycogen storage in both mice and HepG2 cells. Glucose transporter 2 (GLUT2) and sodium-glucose cotransporter 1 (SGLT1) on cell membrane were upregulated by NaB. The activation of intracellular signaling Protein kinase B (PKB), also known as AKT, was inhibited while glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3) was activated by NaB in both in vivo and in vitro studies. The present study demonstrated that microbiota metabolite NaB possessed beneficial effects on preserving blood glucose homeostasis by promoting glycogen metabolism in liver cells, and the GPR43-AKT-GSK3 signaling pathway should contribute to this effect.

Slurry sampling flow injection chemical vapor generation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry for the determination of trace Ge, As, Cd, Sb, Hg and Bi in cosmetic lotions.

A slurry sampling inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) method has been developed for the determination of Ge, As, Cd, Sb, Hg and Bi in cosmetic lotions using flow injection (FI) vapor generation (VG) as the sample introduction system. A slurry containing 2% m/v lotion, 2% m/v thiourea, 0.05% m/v L-cysteine, 0.5 µg mL(-1) Co(II), 0.1% m/v Triton X-100 and 1.2% v/v HCl was injected into a VG-ICP-MS system for the determination of Ge, As, Cd, Sb, Hg and Bi without dissolution and mineralization. Because the sensitivities of the analytes in the slurry and that of aqueous solution were quite different, an isotope dilution method and a standard addition method were used for the determination. This method has been validated by the determination of Ge, As, Cd, Sb, Hg and Bi in GBW09305 Cosmetic (Cream) reference material. The method was also applied for the determination of Ge, As, Cd, Sb, Hg and Bi in three cosmetic lotion samples obtained locally. The analysis results of the reference material agreed with the certified value and/or ETV-ICP-MS results. The detection limit estimated from the standard addition curve was 0.025, 0.1, 0.2, 0.1, 0.15, and 0.03 ng g(-1) for Ge, As, Cd, Sb, Hg and Bi, respectively, in original cosmetic lotion sample.