Validated spectrofluorimetric method for the determination of tamsulosin in spiked human urine,pure and pharmaceutical preparations

A novel, sensitive and selective spectrofluorimetric method was developed for the determination of tamsulosin in spiked human urine and pharmaceutical preparations. The proposed method is based on the reaction of tamsulosin with 1‐dimethylaminonaphthalene‐5‐sulfonyl chloride in carbonate buffer pH 10.5 to yield a highly fluorescent derivative. The described method was validated and the analytical parameters of linearity, limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ), accuracy, precision, recovery and robustness were evaluated. The proposed method showed a linear dependence of the fluorescence intensity on drug concentration over the range 1.22 × 10^‐7 to 7.35 × 10^‐6 M. LOD and LOQ were calculated as 1.07 × 10^‐7 and 3.23 × 10^‐7 M, respectively. The proposed method was successfully applied for the determination of tamsulosin in pharmaceutical preparations and the obtained results were in good agreement with those obtained using the reference method. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stability of Prussian Blue in Soils of a Former Manufactured Gas Plant Site

Soil contamination with iron-cyanide complexes is a common problem at former manufactured gas plant (MGP) sites. Dissolution of the cyanide, from Prussian Blue (ferric ferrocyanide), creates an environmental hazard, whereas the risk of groundwater contamination depends on the stability of dissolved iron–cyanide complexes. Lack of a standard leaching method to determine the water-soluble (plant-available) cyanide fraction generates potential limitations for implementing remediation strategies like phytoremediation. Applicability of neutral solution extraction to determine the water-soluble cyanide fraction and the stability of Prussian Blue in surface and near-surface soils of an MGP site in Cottbus, undersaturated and unsaturated water conditions, was studied in column leaching and batch extraction experiments. MGP soils used in the long-term tests varied according to the pH (5.0–7.7) and the total cyanide content (40–1718 mg kg^?1). Column leaching, after four months of percolation, still yielded effluent concentrations exceeding the German drinking water limit (> 50 μg L^?1) and the solubility of Prussian Blue reported in the literature (< 1 mg L^?1) from both alkaline and acidic soils. Long-term (1344 h) extraction of MGP soils with distilled water was sufficient to dissolve 97% of the total cyanide from the slightly alkaline soils and up to 78% from the acidic soils. Both experiments revealed that dissolution of ferric ferrocyanide under circum-neutral pH and oxic water conditions is a function of time, where the released amount is dependent on the soil pH and total cyanide content. Unexpectedly high and continuous solubility of Prussian Blue, both in acidic and slightly alkaline MGP soils, implies the need to introduce an additional cyanide fraction (“readily soluble fraction”) to improve and specify cyanide leaching methods. Long-term extraction of cyanide-contaminated soil in neutral solution seems to be a promising approach to evaluate the potential hazard of groundwater pollution at the MGP sites.     

Development and testing of a genetic marker‐based pedigree reconstruction system ‘PR‐genie’ incorporating size‐class data

For wildlife populations, it is often difficult to determine biological parameters that indicate breeding patterns and population mixing, but knowledge of these parameters is essential for effective management. A pedigree encodes the relationship between individuals and can provide insight into the dynamics of a population over its recent history. Here, we present a method for the reconstruction of pedigrees for wild populations of animals that live long enough to breed multiple times over their lifetime and that have complex or unknown generational structures. Reconstruction was based on microsatellite genotype data along with ancillary biological information: sex and observed body size class as an indicator of relative age of individuals within the population. Using body size‐class data to infer relative age has not been considered previously in wildlife genealogy and provides a marked improvement in accuracy of pedigree reconstruction. Body size‐class data are particularly useful for wild populations because it is much easier to collect noninvasively than absolute age data. This new pedigree reconstruction system, PR‐genie, performs reconstruction using maximum likelihood with optimization driven by the cross‐entropy method. We demonstrated pedigree reconstruction performance on simulated populations (comparing reconstructed pedigrees to known true pedigrees) over a wide range of population parameters and under assortative and intergenerational mating schema. Reconstruction accuracy increased with the presence of size‐class data and as the amount and quality of genetic data increased. We provide recommendations as to the amount and quality of data necessary to provide insight into detailed familial relationships in a wildlife population using this pedigree reconstruction technique.     

小鼠腹腔水液体积检测方法建立及肾阳虚模型小鼠水负荷的评价

目的 建立小鼠腹腔水液体积的检测方法并评价肾阳虚模型小鼠的水负荷状况.方法选取正常小鼠12 只,根据＂阿基米德原理＂改进实验方法测量小鼠的腹腔水液体积,对其腹腔水液体积测量的稳定性进行评价;选取正常小鼠5 只,利用小鼠腹腔水液检测方法对其进行线性关系考察;将SPF 级昆明种雄性小鼠30 只,随机分为正常组和肾阳虚模型组,肾阳虚模型组上午按0.08 mg/10 g 腹腔注射苯甲酸雌二醇注射,正常组腹腔注射相同剂量的大豆油,下午两组均腹腔注射1 mL 的生理盐水造成水负荷,连续15 d.结果该测量方法的稳定性和线性关系考察均取得了良好的效果;与正常组相比,造模后体重显著性降低（P ＜0.01）,肛温显著性降低（P ＜0.01）,趾温差异无显著性（P ＞0.05）;自主活动明显减少（P ＜0.05）;游泳时间明显降低（P ＜0.01）,综合评价说明肾阳虚造模成功;肾阳虚模型组的腹腔水液测量体积整体表现出下降的趋势,腹水指数显著高于正常组（P ＜0.05）.结论该检测方法可以快速、准确的测量出小鼠腹腔水液测量体积和腹水指数的变化,可以能较客观地评价中医证候的特点,为中医证候症状描述进一步提供实验数据支持.     

线栓法制备大鼠局灶性脑缺血模型手术操作的研究进展

线栓法大鼠大脑中动脉阻塞模型被普遍认为是标准的大鼠局灶性脑缺血动物模型。该模型在制备过程中,易受到多重因素的影响,其中手术操作对模型的成功制作起着关键作用。文章从大鼠颈部主要动脉的解剖位置、手术切口位置的选择、手术左右侧别的选择,以及插线位置的选择进行了综述。     

代谢组学信息获取与数据预处理瓶颈问题探讨

经过近15 年的快速发展,代谢组学已逐步成熟并渗透到生命科学和医学研究领域的各个层面。随着认识的不断深入,各种影响代谢组学研究的细节因素和技术瓶颈逐步被揭示。从生物样品采集与制备、原始数据采集、数据预处理和方法学验证等方面系统探讨了影响代谢组学研究的主要瓶颈问题,以期推动代谢组学研究的精细化和规范化发展。     

Generating fibre orientation maps in human heart models using Poisson interpolation

Smoothly varying muscle fibre orientations in the heart are critical to its electrical and mechanical function. From detailed histological studies and diffusion tensor imaging, we now know that fibre orientations in humans vary gradually from approximately ? 70° in the outer wall to +80° in the inner wall. However, the creation of fibre orientation maps for computational analyses remains one of the most challenging problems in cardiac electrophysiology and cardiac mechanics. Here, we show that Poisson interpolation generates smoothly varying vector fields that satisfy a set of user-defined constraints in arbitrary domains. Specifically, we enforce the Poisson interpolation in the weak sense using a standard linear finite element algorithm for scalar-valued second-order boundary value problems and introduce the feature to be interpolated as a global unknown. User-defined constraints are then simply enforced in the strong sense as Dirichlet boundary conditions. We demonstrate that the proposed concept is capable of generating smoothly varying fibre orientations, quickly, efficiently and robustly, both in a generic bi-ventricular model and in a patient-specific human heart. Sensitivity analyses demonstrate that the underlying algorithm is conceptually able to handle both arbitrarily and uniformly distributed user-defined constraints; however, the quality of the interpolation is best for uniformly distributed constraints. We anticipate our algorithm to be immediately transformative to experimental and clinical settings, in which it will allow us to quickly and reliably create smooth interpolations of arbitrary fields from data-sets, which are sparse but uniformly distributed.     

Three-dimensional pore-scale modelling of dentinal infiltration

Dentine is the fundamental substrate of restorative dentistry, and its properties and characteristics are the key determinants of restorative processes. In contemporary restorative techniques, bonding to Dentine is created by the impregnation of the demineralised dentine by blends of resin monomers. In this paper, a numerical model of dentinal infiltration is proposed. The aim is to follow the resin front and to point out the optimal parameter set. The main tool is a level set technique to follow the evolving interface. It is coupled with the Navier–Stokes equation where capillary effect gives rise to the appearance of a new term in the variational approach than discretised by finite elements. Using an appropriate geometry representing demineralised dentine, the moving front is observed. First, a simulation of porosimetry test is achieved in order to validate the model. The two expected pore sizes are detected and the simulation also points out limitations of mercury intrusion porosimetry test in an educational way. Then a wetting fluid (representing the dental resin) is numerically infiltrated. In the dentinal porous network, capillarity is taken into account in our model by including a capillary term. A crucial conclusion is drawn from this study: resin application time by practitioners is sufficient if, in the infiltration process, the wetting phase is the resin.     

Ecological Risk Assessment of Provincial Land-Use Overall Planning in China

The method evaluating the ecological risk for provincial land-use overall planning is introduced so as to construct an environment-friendly land-use pattern. The ecological risk degree is determined by risk source intensity and ecological vulnerability degree. In order to quantify them, the calculation process, classification standard, and acceptability analysis are established. With an example, it evaluates the ecological risk of land-use overall planning in Sichuan Province. The results show: (1) the implementation of planning can reduce the potential ecological risk effectively, and the whole ecological risk level is on the decline during the planning period; (2) the spatial difference of ecological risk is significant. However, the basic pattern of ecological risks, which is higher in the east and lower in the west, has not changed after the planning implementation, and the higher risk areas mainly distribute in the economically developed and densely populated areas; (3) according to the spatiotemporal characteristics, the emphasis of ecological risk prevention and control can be identified, and some countermeasures can be suggested in order to decrease the potential adverse effects. The method proposed in the article can provide decision basis for provincial land-use overall planning, and is helpful to ecological risk analysis of other planning.     

Three new species from the subfamily Phyllocoptinae (Acari,Trombidiformes, Eriophyidae) in Iran

Three new eriophyid species (Phyllocoptinae), Shevtchenkella denticulata sp. n., Notallus pestehae sp. n. and Echinacrus ruthenicus sp. n., were described from Eryngium thyrsoideum Boiss. (Apiaceae), Pistacia vera L. (Anacardiaceae) and Lycium ruthenicum Murray (Solanaceae), respectively. All the three new species were collected from southwest of the East Azerbaijan province, Iran in 2011. It is the first record of an eriophyoid mite collected from E. thyrsoideum and L. ruthenicum and the first record of Notallus from Anacardiaceae plant family.