SpectraX: A Straightforward Tool for Principal Component Analysis-Based Spectral Analysis.

The analysis of complex spectra is an important component of direct/ambient mass spectrometry (MS) applications such as natural product screening. Unlike chromatography-based metabolomics or proteomics approaches, which rely on software and algorithms, the work of spectral screening is mostly performed manually in the initial stages of research and relies heavily on the experience of the analyst. As a result, throughput and spectral screening reliability are problematic when dealing with large amounts of data. Here, we present SpectraX, a MATLAB-based application, which can analyze MS spectra and quickly locate m/z features from them. Principal component analysis (PCA) is used to analyze the data set, and scoring plots are presented to help in understanding the clustering of data. The algorithm uses mass to charge (m/z) features to produce a list of potential natural products.

Place of radiotherapy for treatment of metastatic cervical, vaginal and endometrial uterine cancer.

Beyond classical palliative-intent irradiation schemes, there are increasing data suggesting a benefit for intensive locoregional treatments in metastatic gynecological cancers. Such approach aims at avoiding local symptoms related to tumor progression, but may also improve survival outcome by shrinking tumor burden to a microscopic state. This strategy is rarely considered upfront (in highly selected patients with very limited oligometastatic disease), but rather after systemic treatment. In case of tumor response (especially if complete response) of the metastatic sites, pelvic±para-aortic radiotherapy can be considered in combination with a brachytherapy boost to obtain long-term local control, in particular in cervical or vaginal cancer patients. Such approach seems particularly relevant when there is isolated persistence or progression of macroscopic disease within the pelvis. In parallel, there is also an increasing place for radiotherapy of oligo-metastatic sites. We review the literature on the place of radiotherapy in the management of cancers of the cervix and metastatic endometrial cancer.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza: Unprecedented outbreaks in Canadian wildlife and domestic poultry.

Canada experienced a wave of HPAI H5N1 outbreaks in the spring of 2022 with millions of wild and farmed birds being infected. Seabird mortalities in Canada have been particularly severe on the Atlantic Coast over the summer of 2022. Over 7 million birds have been culled in Canada, and outbreaks continue to profoundly affect commercial bird farms across the world. This new H5N1 virus can and has infected multiple mammalian species, including skunks, foxes, bears, mink, seals, porpoises, sea lions, and dolphins. Viruses with mammalian adaptations such as the mutations PB2-E627K, E627V, and D701N were found in the brain of various carnivores in Europe and Canada. To date this specific clade of H5N1 virus has been identified in less than 10 humans. At the ground level, awareness should be raised among frontline practitioners most likely to encounter patients with HPAI.

Le Canada a vécu un vague d'éclosions de grippe aviaire de souche H5N1 hautement pathogène au printemps 2022 lorsque des millions d'oiseaux sauvages et d'oiseaux d'élevage ont été infectés. La mortalité des oiseaux marins au Canada a été particulièrement marquée sur la côte Atlantique pendant l'été 2022. Plus de sept millions d'oiseaux ont été abattus au Canada, et les éclosions continuent de nuire profondément aux élevages commerciaux d'oiseaux dans le monde. Ce nouveau virus H5N1 peut infecter de multiples espèces de mammifères, y compris des mouffettes, des renards, des ours, des visons, des phoques, des marsouins, des otaries et des dauphins. Les virus adaptés aux mammifères et porteurs des mutations PB2-E627K, E627V et D701N, ont été observés dans le cerveau de divers carnivores de l'Europe et du Canada. Jusqu'à présent, ce clade du virus H5N1 a été dépisté chez moins de dix humains. Sur le terrain, il est important de sensibiliser les praticiens de première ligne qui sont plus susceptibles de voir des patients atteints de la grippe aviaire de souche hautement pathogène.

Scale up of anaesthesia services in underserved rural Tanzania.

BACKGROUND: Because of critical shortage of physician anaesthesiologists, the government of Tanzania adopted a task shifting strategy for provision of anaesthesia services. This paper describes the results of an operational study designed to increase the number of anaesthesia providers for emergency obstetric surgeries in order to reduce maternal and perinatal mortality in underserved rural Tanzania. METHODS: In 2016 a before-after cohort study was conducted in seven health centres in rural Tanzania. Five health centres received an intervention and two were selected to track secular trends (control group). Ten associate clinicians, i.e. assistant medical officers, clinical officers, and nurse midwives, from five health centres were trained in anaesthesia skills for emergency obstetric surgeries for three months followed by quarterly supportive supervision, mentoring and teleconsultation to reinforce skills. Primary and secondary outcome measures included Caesarean delivery (CD) rate, quality and safety of anaesthesia, and uptake of the educational program for anaesthesia. RESULTS: Out of the 2,179 CDs performed in the intervention facilities from 2016 to 2019, two women died from complications of anaesthesia. The risk of death from anaesthetic complications was 0.9 per 1000 CD (95% CI 0.1-3.3. The risk of death was not established in the control group because of inadequate documentation and records keeping. The proportion of CD performed under spinal anaesthesia in intervention facilities doubled from 28% (60/214 with 95% CI 22-35) at baseline (July 2014 - June 2016) to 57% (558/971 with 95% CI of 54-61) in year three (July 2018 - June 2019), while in the control group increased by only 40% from 19% (92/475 with 95% CI of 16-23) at baseline and 27% (68/251 with 95% CI of 22-33) in year three. In 2020I, this educational training program was then adopted by the government with minor content changes and increasing duration of training to six months. CONCLUSIONS: This three month educational training program for associate clinicians in anaesthesia, complemented by supportive supervision, can increase the CD rate to one that fills the "unmet need" and the proportion of operations performed under spinal anaesthesia, the gold standard technique for CD. The program can be used to meet the urgent demand for anaesthesia services in other underserved areas in Africa.

Streptomyces genus as a source of probiotics and its potential for its use in health.

The effect of a probiotic on gut microbiota depends not only on the species of microorganism but specifically on the strain. In human beings, as in other animals, specific probiotics have been associated with numerous beneficial properties, which include weight modulation (gain or loss), immune modulation, and prevention of many disorders such as lactose intolerance, cardiovascular diseases, and antibiotic-associated diarrhoea. Streptomyces are an essential group of soil bacteria in the Actinomycetes family. They are related to producing a wide range of secondary metabolites known for their beneficial effects on human health. However, according to the human microbiome analysis, a lower prevalence of Streptomyces genus exists than in other non-human microbiomes. This difference can be associated with current lifestyles. In this article, we review the benefits associated with different compounds produced by Streptomyces, with a particular focus on the production of exopolysaccharides, antibiotics, and other secondary metabolites and the potential innovative use of Streptomyces spp. as probiotics.

Impact of an intensive multimodal educative program on behavioral disorders of polyhandicapped patients: A randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Hospitalized children and young adults with polyhandicap (PLH) often present with behavioral and relational disorders that are mainly related to their difficulties in communicating and interacting with their environments. Educational support is rarely provided to these patients. An intensive multimodal educative program could help in reducing behavioral disorders and in improving the quality of life of healthcare workers, including nurses and auxiliary nurses. METHODS: A multicenter, randomized controlled trial compared the impact of the usual practice of an educative program (1 h a week) to a multimodal intensive educative program (5 h a week) at 12 months. Patients aged 3-25 with PLH defined by the combination of five criteria (motor deficiency, severe-to-profound mental impairment, daily life dependence, restricted mobility, onset of cerebral lesion at younger than 3 years, and at least one behavioral disorder per week [withdrawn behavior, unexplained crying, teeth grinding, self-injury, aggression, stereotypy, or merycism]) were included. The primary outcome was the evolution of the predominant behavioral disorder between study inclusion and 12 months. Healthcare workers completed questionnaires about chronic stress, coping strategies, and quality of life at study inclusion and at 12 months. RESULTS: Overall, 60 patients were included. Despite a tendency toward reduced teeth grinding, withdrawn and self-injury behaviors, the intervention was not significantly effective: The median duration of continuous behavioral disorders (stereotypy, unexplained crying, withdrawn behavior, and teeth grinding) did not differ between groups. The median frequency of the discontinuous behavioral disorders (self-injury) did not differ between groups. Considering each disorder separately, there was a decrease in teeth grinding, self-injury, and autistic-like traits in the intervention group, although it did not reach statistical significance. This study also suggested decreased depersonalization feelings by healthcare workers. CONCLUSION: Although the study did not show a significant reduction in behavioral disorders in patients with PLH, these results encourage further evaluation of educational management, particularly in regard to patients with self-injury and with withdrawn and teeth-grinding behaviors.

Rapid Mass Spectrometric Calibration and Standard Addition Using Hydrophobic/Hydrophilic Patterned Surfaces and Discontinuous Dewetting.

The rapid calibration chip (RCC) is a device that uses the fast and reproducible wetting behavior of hydrophilic/hydrophobic patterned surfaces to confine a series of differently sized droplets on a substrate to obtain a calibration curve. Multiple series of droplets can be formed within seconds by dipping an RCC into a calibration solution. No pipetting, sequential droplet deposition, or advanced equipment is required. The performance and reproducibility of RCCs were evaluated with an electrospray ionization triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer equipped with a liquid microjunction-surface sampling probe (LMJ-SSP) that allows for fast sampling of surfaces. Using circular hydrophilic areas with diameters ranging from 0.25 to 2.00 mm, liquid volumes of 4.6-70.6 nL could be deposited. Furthermore, the use of a second hydrophobic/hydrophilic patterned transfer chip can be used to add internal standard solutions to each calibration spot of the RCC, allowing to transfer a liquid volume of 22.5 nL.

Maternal dietary omega-3 deficiency worsens the deleterious effects of prenatal inflammation on the gut-brain axis in the offspring across lifetime.

Maternal immune activation (MIA) and poor maternal nutritional habits are risk factors for the occurrence of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD). Human studies show the deleterious impact of prenatal inflammation and low n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) intake on neurodevelopment with long-lasting consequences on behavior. However, the mechanisms linking maternal nutritional status to MIA are still unclear, despite their relevance to the etiology of NDD. We demonstrate here that low maternal n-3 PUFA intake worsens MIA-induced early gut dysfunction, including modification of gut microbiota composition and higher local inflammatory reactivity. These deficits correlate with alterations of microglia-neuron crosstalk pathways and have long-lasting effects, both at transcriptional and behavioral levels. This work highlights the perinatal period as a critical time window, especially regarding the role of the gut-brain axis in neurodevelopment, elucidating the link between MIA, poor nutritional habits, and NDD.

Recent update on lactic acid bacteria producing riboflavin and folates: application for food fortification and treatment of intestinal inflammation.

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB), widely used as starter cultures for the fermentation of a large variety of food, can improve the safety, shelf life, nutritional value and overall quality of the fermented products. In this regard, the selection of strains delivering health-promoting compounds is now the main objective of many researchers. Although most LAB are auxotrophic for several vitamins, it is known that certain strains have the capability to synthesize B-group vitamins. This is an important property since humans cannot synthesize most vitamins, and these could be obtained by consuming LAB fermented foods. This review discusses the use of LAB as an alternative to fortification by the chemical synthesis to increase riboflavin and folate concentrations in food. Moreover, it provides an overview of the recent applications of vitamin-producing LAB with anti-inflammatory/antioxidant activities against gastrointestinal tract inflammation. This review shows the potential uses of riboflavin and folates producing LAB for the biofortification of food, as therapeutics against intestinal pathologies and to complement anti-inflammatory/anti-neoplastic treatments.

Evaluation of vitamin-producing and immunomodulatory lactic acid bacteria as a potential co-adjuvant for cancer therapy in a mouse model.

AIMS: To evaluate a mixture of selected lactic acid bacteria (LAB) (a riboflavin-producer, a folate-producer and an immunomodulatory strain) as co-adjuvant for 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) chemotherapy in cell culture and using a 4T1 cell animal model of breast cancer. METHODS AND RESULTS: The viability of Caco-2 cells exposed to 5-FU and/or LAB was analysed. Mice bearing breast tumour were treated with 5-FU and/or LAB. Tumour growth was measured. Intestinal mucositis (IM) was evaluated in small intestine; haematological parameters and plasma cytokines were determined. The bacterial mixture did not negatively affect the cytotoxic activity of 5-FU on Caco-2 cells. The LAB mixture attenuated the IM and prevented blood cell decreases associated with 5-FU treatment. Mice that received 5-FU and LAB mixture decreased tumour growth and showed modulation of systemic cytokines modified by both tumour growth and 5-FU treatment. The LAB mixture by itself delayed tumour growth. CONCLUSIONS: The mixture of selected LAB was able to reduce the side-effects associated with chemotherapy without affecting its primary anti-tumour activity. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: This bacterial mixture could prevent the interruption of conventional oncologic therapies by reducing undesirable side-effects. In addition, this blend would provide essential nutrients (vitamins) to oncology patients.

Extended Crossover from a Fermi Liquid to a Quasiantiferromagnet in the Half-Filled 2D Hubbard Model.

The ground state of the Hubbard model with nearest-neighbor hopping on the square lattice at half filling is known to be that of an antiferromagnetic (AFM) band insulator for any on-site repulsion. At finite temperature, the absence of long-range order makes the question of how the interaction-driven insulator is realized nontrivial. We address this problem with controlled accuracy in the thermodynamic limit using self-energy diagrammatic determinant Monte Carlo and dynamical cluster approximation methods and show that development of long-range AFM correlations drives an extended crossover from Fermi liquid to insulating behavior in the parameter regime that precludes a metal-to-insulator transition. The intermediate crossover state is best described as a non-Fermi liquid with a partially gapped Fermi surface.

[Association between psychiatric comorbidities and hospital length of stay in post-emergency internal medicine patients]. / Association des comorbidités psychiatriques avec la durée de séjour des patients en médecine interne d'aval des urgences.

INTRODUCTION: Patients with psychiatric disorders suffer from a higher rate of somatic disorders than those without psychiatric disorder, often inappropriately managed. Our study aimed to describe patients with psychiatric comorbidity in post-emergency internal medicine units and to compare their length of hospital stay to patients without psychiatric disease. METHODS: This French cross sectional study used the data warehouse of the greater Paris hospitals. It included, all patients hospitalized through the emergency department in 9 internal medicine departments during the year 2017. Psychiatric disorders and the burden of somatic disorders (Charlson score) were determined through diagnostic coding. Charlson score and hospital length of stay were compared between patients with and without psychiatric comorbidity. RESULTS: In total, 8981 hospital stays (8001 patients) were included, 1867 (21%) with psychiatric comorbidity. After adjusting for age, gender, hospital and main diagnosis, the Charlson score was on average 0.68 higher in the psychiatric comorbidity group (P<0.001) and the length of hospital stay was 30% higher after further adjustment on the Charlson score (P<0.001). These differences were consistent for each main diagnosis. CONCLUSION: Patients with psychiatric comorbidity are frequent in post-emergency internal medicine wards. They experience longer hospital stays, only partly related with a higher burden of somatic disorders. Special attention should be paid to this vulnerable population.

Validation of the Seegene RV15 multiplex PCR for the detection of influenza A subtypes and influenza B lineages during national influenza surveillance in hospitalized adults.

Background. The Serious Outcomes Surveillance Network of the Canadian Immunization Research Network (CIRN SOS) has been performing active influenza surveillance since 2009 (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01517191). Influenza A and B viruses are identified and characterized using real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and multiplex testing has been performed on a subset of patients to identify other respiratory virus aetiologies. Since both methods can identify influenza A and B, a direct comparison was performed.Methods. Validated real-time RT-PCRs from the World Health Organization (WHO) to identify influenza A and B viruses, characterize influenza A viruses into the H1N1 or H3N2 subtypes and describe influenza B viruses belonging to the Yamagata or Victoria lineages. In a subset of patients, the Seeplex RV15 One-Step ACE Detection assay (RV15) kit was also used for the detection of other respiratory viruses.Results. In total, 1111 nasopharyngeal swabs were tested by RV15 and real-time RT-PCRs for influenza A and B identification and characterization. For influenza A, RV15 showed 98.0 % sensitivity, 100 % specificity and 99.7 % accuracy. The performance characteristics of RV15 were similar for influenza A subtypes H1N1 and H3N2. For influenza B, RV15 had 99.2 % sensitivity, 100 % specificity and 99.8 % accuracy, with similar assay performance being shown for both the Yamagata and Victoria lineages.Conclusions. Overall, the detection of circulating subtypes of influenza A and lineages of influenza B by RV15 was similar to detection by real-time RT-PCR. Multiplex testing with RV15 allows for a more comprehensive respiratory virus surveillance in hospitalized adults, without significantly compromising the reliability of influenza A or B virus detection.

A method to prioritize the surveillance of chemicals in food commodities to access international market and its application to four countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The purpose of this study was to propose an approach to predict the distribution of chemicals in food in developing countries to assess consumer risk and access to the international market with a limited number of laboratory analyses. The first step consists of identifying the GEMS/Food Contaminants database and the chemical/food combination relevant for a particular country. The identification of critical chemical/food combination should be used to prioritize the analysis to be performed in a total diet study (TDS). The second step consists of modelling a distribution model based on the mean concentration generated from TDS associated with the variability observed in a larger dataset consisting of individual food contamination data from the GEMS food database. The simulated distributions may provide information regarding how to establish food safety standards and to assess the potential for accessing international market in the context of a value chain. This method is illustrated by case studies from the recent Regional TDS (RTDS) conducted in Sub Saharan Africa. We concluded that further work is needed to gain experience and to fully validate this approach. However, organized data sharing and developing harmonized methods for data analysis are key roles for international organizations, such as FAO, WHO, and WTO. Finally, it is important to remember that such a data-driven approach still requires significant investments in terms of human resources and analytical capacity.

Comparison of two automated methods for detection and differentiation of herpes simplex virus in clinical specimens.

BACKGROUND: The Aptima Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) 1&2 Assay recently received Health Canada approved for detection and differentiation of HSV-1 and HSV-2 from anogenital sites. This assay uses target capture, transcription mediated amplification, and real-time detection of messenger RNA (mRNA) produced in host cells during active HSV infection. To evaluate its performance, the Aptima assay was compared to another Health Canada approved assay, the BD ProbeTec Herpes Simplex Viruses HSV 1&2 Qx Amplified DNA Assay, which uses strand displacement amplification technology. METHODS: As recommended by the manufacturers, the Aptima and ProbeTec assays were performed on the Panther and Viper instruments, respectively. Analytical sensitivity and specificity were assessed using 10-fold serial dilution of viruses in viral universal transport media (UTM), and nucleic acids extracted and concentrated from other viruses including all members of the Herpesviridae family. The clinical sensitivity and specificity were assessed retrospectively using 60 archived specimens, and prospectively using 158 swabs in UTM. Discrepant results were resolved with real-time PCR using the Altona Diagnostics RealStar alpha Herpes assay. RESULTS: Both the Aptima and ProbeTec assays showed excellent analytical and clinical specificity. However, the Aptima HSV assay failed to detect HSV in specimens with low viral loads, resulting in reduced sensitivity for HSV-2 during the retrospective evaluation at 85.0%, and for HSV-1 at 85.0% during the prospective evaluation. CONCLUSIONS: This study compared the Aptima and ProbeTec HSV assays and demonstrated that detection of HSV mRNA using the Aptima HSV assay was less sensitive in both retrospective and prospective analyses.

The Impact of Prior Season Vaccination on Subsequent Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness to Prevent Influenza-related Hospitalizations Over 4 Influenza Seasons in Canada.

BACKGROUND: Recent studies have demonstrated the possibility of negative associations between prior influenza vaccines and subsequent influenza vaccine effectiveness (VE), depending on season and strain. We investigated this association over 4 consecutive influenza seasons (2011-2012 through 2014-2015) in Canada. METHODS: Using a matched test-negative design, laboratory-confirmed influenza cases and matched test-negative controls admitted to hospitals were enrolled. Patients were stratified into 4 groups according to influenza vaccine history (not vaccinated current and prior season [referent], vaccinated prior season only, vaccinated current season only, and vaccinated both current and prior season). Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate VE; prior vaccine impact was assessed each season for overall effect and effect stratified by age (<65 years, ≥65 years) and type/subtype (A/H1N1, A/H3N2, influenza B). RESULTS: Overall, mainly nonsignificant associations were observed. Trends of nonsignificant decreased VE among patients repeatedly vaccinated in both prior and current season relative to the current season only were observed in the A/H3N2-dominant seasons of 2012-2013 and 2014-2015. Conversely, in 2011-2012, during which B viruses circulated, and in 2013-2014, when A/H1N1 circulated, being vaccinated in both seasons tended to result in a high VE in the current season against the dominant circulating subtype. CONCLUSIONS: Prior vaccine impact on subsequent VE among Canadian inpatients was mainly nonsignificant. Even in circumstances where we observed a trend of negative impact, being repeatedly vaccinated was still more effective than not receiving the current season's vaccine. These findings favor continuation of annual influenza vaccination recommendations, particularly in older adults. CLINICAL TRIALS REGISTRATION: NCT01517191.

Early detection of cognitive impairments with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment in patients with uncomplicated and complicated mild traumatic brain injury.

OBJECTIVES: The Montreal Cognitive Assessement (MoCA) is a brief and standardized cognitive screening tool that has been used with several clinical populations. The aim of this study was to screen the early cognitive status of patients following mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) with the MoCA. METHODS: The MoCA was administered within the first 2 weeks post-injury to 42 patients with uncomplicated mTBI, 92 patients with complicated mTBI and 50 healthy controls. RESULTS: Patients with complicated mTBI had a significantly lower performance (more impairments) on the total score of the MoCA than both the group with uncomplicated mTBI and the control group. Also, the group with uncomplicated mTBI had a significantly lower performance than controls. Moreover, age, education and TBI severity had a significant effect on the MoCA total score where younger, more educated and patients with less severe (higher GCS score) mTBI performed significantly better. CONCLUSIONS: The MoCA may be clinically useful to acutely screen cognition following mTBI.

Folate-producing lactic acid bacteria reduce inflammation in mice with induced intestinal mucositis.

AIM: To evaluate two folate-producing strains, Streptococcus (Strep.) thermophilus CRL 808 and Strep. thermophilus CRL 415, against chemically induced mucositis in mice. METHODS AND RESULTS: In vitro assays with Caco-2 cells were performed to evaluate the effect of the bacteria in the presence of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). For in vivo studies, mice were daily injected with 5-FU to induce intestinal mucositis (IM) and orally administered with folate-producing strains during 6 days. Clinical symptoms, histological parameters and cytokine profiles were assessed. The results showed that Strep. thermophilus CRL 808 increased the cytotoxicity of 5-FU against Caco-2 cells. Administration of this strain in mice with chemically induced IM resulted in a reduction in diarrhoea score and restoration of the intestinal architecture. Cytokine analysis showed that the anti-inflammatory effect by the bacterium is not associated with an immune mechanism. Regarding Strep. thermophilus CRL 415, no improvements were observed in any of the parameters evaluated. CONCLUSION: The administration of the folate-producing Strep. thermophilus CRL 808 has the potential to prevent IM induced by 5-FU in mice. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: Folate-producing LAB could be used in chemotherapy patients to reduce the symptoms of IM, improve their nutritional status and increase the effectiveness of 5-FU.

Increasing the folate content of tuber based foods using potentially probiotic lactic acid bacteria.

It is known that certain lactic acid bacterial (LAB) strains can produce folates, a B-group vitamin that cannot be synthesized by humans and must be exogenously obtained. The aim of this study was to select folate-producing LAB and evaluate their probiotic characteristics in order to obtain a tuber-based food with elevated folate content. Several LAB strains were isolated from a traditional Andean fermented potato product tocosh and cultured in folate-free culture medium. Five folate-producing strains (29-138 ng/mL) were selected to ferment three Andean tubers (potato S. tuberosum spp. andigena, oca Oxalis tuberosa and papalisa Ullucus tuberosus). Sterile purees were inoculated and samples were collected at 0, 6 and 24 h of fermentation and after 28 days of cold storage. Cell growth, pH and total folate were determined. All selected strains were able to grow and produce folates in the substrates and two Lactobacillus sakei strains, CRL 2209 and CRL 2210, produced the highest folate concentrations (730-1484 ng/g after 24 h fermentation). These strains were selected to ferment potato substrates supplemented with amaranth (Amaranthus caudathus) and chia (Salvia hispanica) flour to increase the nutritional value. This addition increased folate synthesis in 89-95%. Furthermore, the ability to survive under simulated gastrointestinal conditions was evaluated and cell counts of the 5 strains remained above the recommended for a probiotic candidate (8.0 log CFU/mL). In conclusion, the selected LAB could be considered potentially probiotic strains and could be used to produce novel tuber based products with elevated folate concentrations. These products could also be used as novel food matrixes for the delivery of probiotic microorganisms.

Solvent effects on differentiation of mouse brain tissue using laser microdissection 'cut and drop' sampling with direct mass spectral analysis.

RATIONALE: Laser microdissection-liquid vortex capture/electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (LMD-LVC/ESI-MS) has potential for on-line classification of tissue but an investigation into what analytical conditions provide best spectral differentiation has not been conducted. The effects of solvent, ionization polarity, and spectral acquisition parameters on differentiation of mouse brain tissue regions are described. METHODS: Individual 40 × 40 µm microdissections from cortex, white, grey, granular, and nucleus regions of mouse brain tissue were analyzed using different capture/ESI solvents, in positive and negative ion mode ESI, using time-of-flight (TOF)-MS and sequential window acquisitions of all theoretical spectra (SWATH)-MS (a permutation of tandem-MS), and combinations thereof. Principal component analysis-linear discriminant analysis (PCA-LDA), applied to each mass spectral dataset, was used to determine the accuracy of differentiation of mouse brain tissue regions. RESULTS: Mass spectral differences associated with capture/ESI solvent composition manifested as altered relative distributions of ions rather than the presence or absence of unique ions. In negative ion mode ESI, 80/20 (v/v) methanol/water yielded spectra with low signal/noise ratios relative to other solvents. PCA-LDA models acquired using 90/10 (v/v) methanol/chloroform differentiated tissue regions with 100% accuracy while data collected using methanol misclassified some samples. The combination of SWATH-MS and TOF-MS data improved differentiation accuracy. CONCLUSIONS: Combined TOF-MS and SWATH-MS data differentiated white, grey, granular, and nucleus mouse tissue regions with greater accuracy than when solely using TOF-MS data. Using 90/10 (v/v) methanol/chloroform, tissue regions were perfectly differentiated. These results will guide future studies looking to utilize the potential of LMD-LVC/ESI-MS for tissue and disease differentiation.