Assessing the effects of sunlight and water on asphalt binder and pavement leachability related to the environment.

Extensive global research conducted over 30 years explores asphalt leachability and stormwater runoff. Asphalt's widespread usage in construction materials underscores the importance of understanding its environmental consequences. This study aims to assess the influence of sunlight exposure on water quality, particularly regarding the release of hazardous organic compounds such as polycyclic aromatic compounds. We investigated the effect of concurrent versus sequential exposure to water and sunlight, and dark versus light trials utilizing thin films of asphalt binder as well as old and freshly prepared pavement cores for analysis. Initial laboratory experiments reveal significant water-soluble species when thin asphalt films are exposed to solar simulation while underwater. However, simulating environmental conditions found in roadways by exposing the asphalt binder to solar simulation followed by water immersion leads to a substantial decrease in compound formation. Leachate water from 17-year-old asphalt and 15-year-old concrete pavements exhibits complex compound compositions associated with atmospheric and/or vehicular deposition, posing challenges in deconvoluting their origins. Light and dark trials conducted on freshly prepared asphalt pavement under environmental conditions of sunlight and rain demonstrate minimal runoff variation, with semi-volatile organic compound levels resembling the background. Future investigations will focus on applying insights gained from this study to analyze larger sample sets, with an emphasis on inherent hazardous compound variations.

Gold Nanoparticle Labels and Heterogeneous Immunoassays: The Case for the Inverted Substrate.

This paper examines how the difference in the spatial orientation of the capture substrate influences the analytical sensitivity and limits of detection for immunoassays that use gold nanoparticle labels (AuNPs) and rely on diffusion in quiet solution in the antigen capture and labeling steps. Ideally, the accumulation of both reactants should follow a dependence governed by the rate in which diffusion delivers reactants to the capture surface. In other words, the accumulation of reactants should increase with the square root of the incubation time, i.e., t1/2. The work herein shows, however, that this expectation is only obeyed when the capture substrate is oriented to direct the gravity-induced sedimentation of the AuNP labels away from the substrate. Using an assay for human IgG, the results show that circumventing the sedimentation of the gold nanoparticle labels by substrate inversion enables the dependence of the labeling step on diffusion, reduces nonspecific label adsorption, and improves the estimated detection limit by ∼30×. High-density maps of the signal across the two types of substrates also demonstrate that inversion in the labeling step results in a more uniform distribution of AuNP labels across the surface, which translates to a greater measurement reproducibility. These results, which are supported by model simulations via the Mason-Weaver sedimentation-diffusion equation, and their potential implications when using other nanoparticle labels and related materials in diagnostic tests and other applications, are briefly discussed.

Detection of the tuberculosis antigenic marker mannose-capped lipoarabinomannan in pretreated serum by surface-enhanced Raman scattering.

The ability to detect tuberculosis (TB) continues to be a global health care priority. This paper describes the development and preliminary assessment of the clinical accuracy of a heterogeneous immunoassay that integrates a serum pretreatment process with readout by surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) for the low-level detection of mannose-capped lipoarabinomannan (ManLAM). ManLAM is a major virulence factor in the infectious pathology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) that has been found in the serum and other body fluids of infected patients. The effectiveness of ManLAM as a TB diagnostic marker, however, remains unproven for reasons not yet well understood. As reported herein, we have found that (1) ManLAM complexes with proteins and possibly other components in serum; (2) these complexes have a strongly detrimental impact on the ability to detect ManLAM using an immunoassay; (3) a simple pretreatment step can disrupt this complexation; and (4) disruption by pretreatment improves detection by 250×. We also describe the results from a preliminary assessment on the utility of serum pretreatment by running immunoassays on archived specimens from 24 TB-positive patients and 10 healthy controls. ManLAM was measurable in 21 of the 24 TB-positive specimens, but not in any of the 10 control specimens. These findings, albeit for a very small specimen set, translate to a clinical sensitivity of 87.5% and a clinical specificity of 100%. Together, these results both provide much needed evidence for the clinical utility of ManLAM as a TB marker, and demonstrate the potential utility of our overall approach to serve as a new strategy for the development of diagnostic tests for this disease.

Importance of specimen pretreatment for the low-level detection of mycobacterial lipoarabinomannan in human serum.

Patient care and prevention of disease outbreaks rely heavily on the performance of diagnostic tests. These tests are typically carried out in serum, urine, and other complex sample matrices, but are often plagued by a number of matrix effects such as nonspecific adsorption and complexation with circulating proteins. This paper demonstrates the importance of sample pretreatment to overcome matrix effects, enabling the low-level detection of a disease marker for tuberculosis (TB). The impact of pretreatment is illustrated by detecting a cell wall component unique to mycobacteria, lipoarabinomannan (LAM). LAM is a major virulence factor in the infectious pathology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) and has been successfully detected in the body fluids of TB-infected individuals; however, its clinical sensitivity - identifying patients with active infection - remains problematic. This and the companion paper show that the detection of LAM in an immunoassay is plagued by its complexation with proteins and other components in serum. Herein, we present the procedures and results from an investigation of several different pretreatment schemes designed to disrupt complexation and thereby improve detection. These sample pretreatment studies, aimed at determining the optimal conditions for complex disruption, were carried out by using a LAM simulant derived from the nonpathogenic M. smegmatis, a mycobacterium often used as a model for Mtb. We have found that a perchloric acid-based pretreatment step improves the ability to detect this simulant by ∼1500× with respect to that in untreated serum. This paper describes the approach to pretreatment, how pretreatment improves the detection of the LAM simulant in human serum, and the results from a preliminary investigation to identify possible contributors to complexation by fractionating serum according to molecular weight. The companion paper applies this pretreatment approach to assays of TB patient samples.

Advantages and limitations of nanoparticle labeling for early diagnosis of infection.

INTRODUCTION: Nanoparticle-based disease diagnostics harness a range of unique physical and chemical phenomena for the detection of biomarkers at exceedingly low levels. This capability potentially enables the diagnosis of disease earlier in its progression and improves the likelihood of positive treatment outcomes. This review highlights recent work in this area, and then projects the next steps needed to move this emerging capability beyond the research laboratory. AREAS COVERED: This review examines the advantages and limitations of in vitro health care diagnostic tests that utilize nanoparticles (e.g. noble metal, quantum dot, and magnetic). It includes a brief overview of their unique properties, syntheses, and applicable readout strategies. This is followed by a brief synopsis of the obstacles faced when attempting to translate nanoparticle-based diagnostics from the R&D laboratory to the clinic and other arenas (i.e. the difficulties common to in vitro diagnostics), and then by a much more in-depth examination of the need to control and characterize a range of nanoparticle properties (e.g. size, shape, surface composition, and stability) when making this transition. Expert commentary: The review wraps up with a short commentary and perspective for the next five years, focusing on possible guidelines for nanoparticle characterization.

Sampling Error: Impact on the Quantitative Analysis of Nanoparticle-Based Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Immunoassays.

This paper examines the impact of the sampling error caused by the small size of the focused laser spot when using surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) as a quantitative readout tool to analyze a sandwich immunoassay. The assay consists of a thin-film gold substrate that is modified with a layer of capture monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and extrinsic Raman labels (ERLs) that consist of gold nanoparticle cores (60 nm diameter) coated with a monolayer of a Raman reporter molecule and a layer of human IgG mAbs to tag the captured antigen. The contribution of sampling error to the measurement is delineated first by constructing and analyzing an antigenic random accumulation model; this is followed by an experimental study of the analysis of an assay substrate using two different laser spot sizes. Both sets of findings indicate that the analysis with a small laser spot can lead to a sampling error (i.e., undersampling) much like that found when the size of a measured soil sample fails to accurately match that of a larger, more representative sample. That is, the smaller the laser spot size, the larger probable deviation in the accuracy of the measurement and the greater the imprecision of the measurement. Possible implications of these results with respect to the general application of SERS for quantitative measurements are also briefly discussed.

Prospects for point-of-care pathogen diagnostics using surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS).

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) has enabled the detection of pathogens and disease markers at extremely low levels. This review examines the potential impact of SERS in addressing unmet needs in pathogen diagnostics both in a traditional clinical setting and in the point of care (POC) arena. It begins by describing the strengths and weaknesses of today's diagnostics technologies in order to set a contextual stage for an overview which highlights a few of the many recent developments using SERS in biodefense, human and animal health, and monitoring food and water safety. These sections are followed by discussions of the challenges for the translation of these developments to POC settings, including the performance attributes and metrics for quantification of analytical and clinical figures of merit (e.g., limit of detection and clinical accuracy), and the pathways for large-scale test validation and the build-out of instrumentation and tests kits for POC deployment.

Confocal Raman microscopy for investigating synthesis and characterization of individual optically trapped vinyl-polymerized surfactant particles.

Small polymeric particles are increasingly employed as adsorbent materials, as molecular carriers, as delivery vehicles, and in preconcentration applications. The rational development of these materials requires in situ methods of analysis to characterize their synthesis, structure, and applications. Optical-trapping confocal Raman microscopy is a spectroscopic method capable of acquiring information at several stages of the development of such dispersed particulate materials. In the present study, an example material is developed and tested using confocal Raman microscopy for characterization at each stage of the process. Specifically, the method is used to investigate the synthesis, structure, and applications of individual polymeric surfactant particles produced by the vinyl polymerization of sodium 11-acrylamidoundecanoate (SAAU). The kinetics of polymerization can be monitored over time by measuring the loss of the acrylamide C=C functional groups using confocal Raman microscopy of particles optically trapped by the excitation laser, where, within the limits of detecting the vinyl functional group, the complete polymerization of the SAAU monomer was achieved. The polymerized SAAU particles are spherical, and they exhibit uniform access to water throughout their structure, as tested by the penetration of heavy water (D2O) and collection of spatially resolved Raman spectra from the interior of the particle. These porous particles contain hydrophobic domains that can be used to accumulate molecules for adsorption or carrier applications. This property was tested by using confocal Raman microscopy to measure the accumulation equilibria and kinetics of a model compound, dioxybenzone. The partitioning of this compound into the polymer surfactant could be determined on a quantitative basis using relative scattering cross sections of the SAAU monomer and the adsorbate. The study points out the utility of optical-trapping confocal Raman microscopy for investigating the synthesis, structure, and potential carrier applications of polymeric particle materials.