Speciation analysis has become an invaluable tool in human health risk assessment, environmental monitoring or food quality control. Another step is to develop reliable multielemental speciation ...methodologies, to reduce costs, waste and time needed for the analysis. Separation and detection of species of several elements in a single analytical run can be accomplished by high performance liquid chromatography hyphenated to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (HPLC/ICP-MS). Our review assembles articles concerning multielemental speciation determination of: As, Se, Cr, Sb, I, Br, Pb, Hg, V, Mo, Te, Tl, Cd and W in environmental, biological, food and clinical samples analyzed with HPLC/ICP-MS. It addresses the procedures in terms of following issues: sample collection and pretreatment, selection of optimal conditions for elements species separation by HPLC and determination using ICP-MS as well as metrological approach. The presented work is the first review article concerning multielemental speciation analysis by advanced hyphenated technique HPLC/ICP-MS.
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•Why is speciation analysis needed?.•First review article on multielemental speciation analysis.•Application of advanced hyphenated technique HPLC/ICP-MS.•Details on analytical procedures for multielemental speciation analysis.•Multielemental speciation in environmental, biological, food and clinical samples.
The article categorises the attitudes of multinational corporations that do business in Russia (and Ukraine) in response to the war between the two countries from the perspective of the importance of ...their stakeholders. It also identifies the dimensions of responsibility to which the entity is committed. Eight types of strategies and four possible motives for the decision to adopt them are identified. Then, based on stakeholder theory, the companies’ likely prioritisation of their primary interest groups in Russia and Ukraine is identified, and the dimensions of corporate responsibility that they perceive as key are identified. The analysis allows us to illustrate the background and consequences of the different strategies for the main stakeholders and indicate the firms’ priorities and who has an impact on shaping their goals.
Cel artykułu/hipoteza: Celem artykułu jest identyfikacja i ocena potencjalnych skutków nowej regulacji: "wakacji kredytowych", uchwalonych przez polski sejm w czerwcu 2022 r., z punktu widzenia ...kluczowych interesariuszy: aktualnych złotowych kredytobiorców hipotecznych, pozostałych klientów (i potencjalnych klientów) banków, banki, ich właścicieli, instytucje sieci bezpieczeństwa finansowego oraz całą gospodarkę i pośrednio społeczeństwo. Artykuł dowodzi tezy, że analizowane przepisy nie spełniają warunków dobrej regulacji, a w szczególności naruszona jest zasada efektywności i sprawiedliwości norm.
Metodyka: W artykule zastosowano podejście pozytywnej ekonomicznej analizy prawa, wykorzystując metodę dedukcyjną.
Wyniki/Rezultaty badania: Przeprowadzona analiza regulacji wprowadzających „wakacje kredytowe” w Polsce w latach 2022-2023 prowadzi do wniosku, że w krótkim okresie jedynymi beneficjentami nowych przepisów będzie część kredytobiorców (osoby z aktywnymi umowami złotowych kredytów hipotecznych) oraz regulatorzy. Negatywne konsekwencje analizowanych przepisów obciążą pozostałych klientów, same banki i ich właścicieli oraz gospodarkę. Pewne negatywne konsekwencje mogą dotknąć kredytobiorców w dłuższym terminie. Pośrednim długofalowym efektem przepisów zwiększających ochronę wybranej grupy klientów może być zaburzenie rozwoju świadomości finansowej społeczeństwa, co utrudni samodzielne, odpowiedzialne zarządzanie finansami osobistymi, ale – co istotniejsze - także zwiększenie oczekiwań na rozszerzenie tej ochrony, zakłócającej procesy wolnorynkowe. Przeprowadzona analiza doprowadziła do wniosku, że regulacja nie spełnia postulatu sprawiedliwej i efektywnej, jej łączne konsekwencje mogą być niebezpieczne nie tylko dla banków i ich właścicieli, ale także dla klientów, a łącznie - dla całej polskiej gospodarki.
At the base of the food pyramid is vegetables, which should be consumed most often of all food products, especially in raw and unprocessed form. Vegetables and mushrooms are rich sources of bioactive ...compounds that can fulfill various functions in plants, starting from protection against herbivores and being natural insecticides to pro-health functions in human nutrition. Many of these compounds contain sulfur in their structure. From the point of view of food producers, it is extremely important to know that some of them have flavor properties. Volatile sulfur compounds are often potent odorants, and in many vegetables, belonging mainly to Brassicaeae and Allium (Amaryllidaceae), sulfur compounds determine their specific flavor. Interestingly, some of the pathways that form volatile sulfur compounds in vegetables are also found in selected edible mushrooms. The most important odor-active organosulfur compounds can be divided into isothiocyanates, nitriles, epithionitriles, thiols, sulfides, and polysulfides, as well as others, such as sulfur containing carbonyl compounds and esters, R-L-cysteine sulfoxides, and finally heterocyclic sulfur compounds found in shiitake mushrooms or truffles. This review paper summarizes their precursors and biosynthesis, as well as their sensory properties and changes in selected technological processes.
Drug delivery systems are molecular platforms in which an active compound is packed into or loaded on a biocompatible nanoparticle. Such a solution improves the activity of the applied drug or ...decreases its side effects. Dendrimers are promising molecular platforms for drug delivery due to their unique properties. These macromolecules are known for their defined size, shape, and molecular weight, as well as their monodispersity, the presence of the void space, tailorable structure, internalization by cells, selectivity toward cells and intracellular components, protection of guest molecules, and controllable release of the cargo. Dendrimers were tested as carriers of various molecules and, simultaneously, their toxicity was examined using different cell lines. It was discovered that, in general, dendrimer cytotoxicity depended on the generation, the number of surface groups, and the nature of terminal moieties (anionic, neutral, or cationic). Higher cytotoxicity occurred for higher-generation dendrimers and for dendrimers with positive charges on the surface. In order to decrease the cytotoxicity of dendrimers, scientists started to introduce different chemical modifications on the periphery of the nanomolecule. Dendrimers grafted with polyethylene glycol (PEG), acetyl groups, carbohydrates, and other moieties did not affect cell viability, or did so only slightly, while still maintaining other advantageous properties. Dendrimers clearly have great potential for wide utilization as drug and gene carriers. Moreover, some dendrimers have biological properties per se, being anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, or toxic to cancer cells without affecting normal cells. Therefore, intrinsic cytotoxicity is a comprehensive problem and should be considered individually depending on the potential destination of the nanoparticle.
Cold-pressed plant oils are of high interest to consumers due to their unique and interesting flavors. As they are usually only pressed at low temperatures and filtered, without further processing ...stages (as refining), they preserve their character that originates from the plant the oil was extracted from. Coriander cold pressed oil is gaining popularity as a novel product, obtained from its fruits/seeds; due to the high amount of terpenes, it has very characteristic flavor. A novel, vacuum-assisted sorbent extraction (VASE) method was used to extract terpenes from coriander cold pressed oil. Optimal parameters were determined. The profile of compounds extracted using VASE was compared with that of classic hydrodistillation method. Moreover, 17 monoterpene hydrocarbons and alcohols were identified with β-linalool as the main compound, followed by α-pinene, γ-terpinene, camphor, sylvestrene, β-pinene, and o-cymene. Differences were noted between profiles of terpenes after hydrodistillation and VASE extraction. For 8 out of 17 terpenes, VASE was used for their quantitative analysis. Regarding simplicity of the method, small sample requirement (200 mg) and short extraction time (5 min), VASE combined with GC/MS is well suited for characterization of terpenes in such matrix as plant oils.
This review presents an outline of the application of the most popular sorbent-based methods in food analysis. Solid-phase extraction (SPE) is discussed based on the analyses of lipids, mycotoxins, ...pesticide residues, processing contaminants and flavor compounds, whereas solid-phase microextraction (SPME) is discussed having volatile and flavor compounds but also processing contaminants in mind. Apart from these two most popular methods, other techniques, such as stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE), molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs), high-capacity sorbent extraction (HCSE), and needle-trap devices (NTD), are outlined. Additionally, novel forms of sorbent-based extraction methods such as thin-film solid-phase microextraction (TF-SPME) are presented. The utility and challenges related to these techniques are discussed in this review. Finally, the directions and need for future studies are addressed.
Analytical procedure dedicated for multielemental determination of toxic species: As(III), As(V), Cr(VI), Sb(III) and Sb(V) in drinking water samples using high performance liquid chromatography ...hyphenated to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (HPLC/ICP-DRC-MS) technique was developed. Optimization of the detection and separation conditions was conducted. Dynamic reaction cell (DRC) with oxygen as a reaction gas was involved in the experiments. Obtained analytical signals for species separation were symmetrical, as studied by anion-exchange chromatography. Applied mobile phase consisted of 3 mM of EDTANa2 and 36 mM of ammonium nitrate. Full separation of species in the form of the following forms: H3AsO3, H2AsO4−, SbO2−, Sb(OH)6−, CrO42− was achieved in 15 min with use of gradient elution program. Detailed validation of analytical procedure proved the reliability of analytical measurements. The procedure was characterized by high precision in the range from 1.7% to 2.4%. Detection limits (LD) were 0.067 μg L−1, 0.068 μg L−1, 0.098 μg L−1, 0.083 μg L−1 and 0.038 μg L−1 for As(III), As(V), Cr(VI), Sb(III) and Sb(V), respectively. Obtained recoveries confirmed the lack of interferences' influence on analytical signals as their values were in the range of 91%–110%. The applicability of the proposed procedure was tested on drinking water samples characterized by mineralization up to 650 mg L−1.
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•Multielemental determination of As(III), As(V), Cr(VI), Sb(III) and Sb(V) species.•Anion-exchange HPLC coupled to ICP-DRC-MS.•Full separation with use of gradient elution program in 15 min.•Detailed analytical procedure validation.•Application to drinking water samples characterized by low mineralization.
The glucosinolates which are specialized plant metabolites of
vegetables are prone to hydrolysis catalyzed by an endogenous enzyme myrosinase (thioglycoside hydrolase, thioglucosidase) that exists in ...Brassica plant tissue causing volatile isothiocyanates release. Currently existing literature data on the inactivation of myrosinase is insufficient in particular for use in the analysis of volatile and odor compounds in vegetables rich in glucosinolates. In this study, the impact of different metal salts in effective inactivation of enzyme activity was investigated by solid-phase microextraction (SPME) and GC/MS system in aqueous samples and kohlrabi matrix. A saturated solution of calcium chloride which is commonly used to stop enzyme activity in plant tissue inactivates the myrosinase-glucosinolate system. However, even without the participation of myrosinase, it changes the reaction pathway towards nitrile formation. The model experiment shows that optimum efficiency in inhibition of the enzyme system shows iron(III) ions, silver ions, and anhydride sodium sulfate resulting in no volatile products derived from glucosinolates. However, in the kohlrabi matrix, the strongest enzyme inhibition effect was observed for silver salt resulting in no volatile products, also both anhydrous Na
SO
and saturated CaCl
solution seem to be useful inhibitors in flavor studies.
In this paper, we present novel well-defined unimolecular micelles constructed a on poly(furfuryl glycidyl ether) core and highly hydrophilic poly(glyceryl glycerol ether) shell, PFGE-b-PGGE. The ...copolymer was synthesized via anionic ring-opening polymerization of furfuryl glycidyl ether and (1,2-isopropylidene glyceryl) glycidyl ether, respectively. MTT assay revealed that the copolymer is non-cytotoxic against human cervical cancer endothelial (HeLa) cells. The copolymer thanks to furan moieties in its core is capable of encapsulation of nifuratel, a hydrophobic nitrofuran derivative, which is a drug applied in the gynaecology therapies that shows a broad antimicroorganism spectrum. The study shows high loading capacity of the copolymer, i.e., 146 mg of nifuratel per 1 g of copolymer. The load unimolecular micelles were characterized using DLS and TEM microscopy and compared with the reference glyceryl glycerol ether homopolymer sample. The presence of numerous 1,2-diol moieties in the shell of PFGE-b-PGG macromolecules enabled the formation of reversible cross-links with 2-acrylamidephenylboronic acid-based polyacrylamide. The obtained hydrogels were both injectable and self-healable, which was confirmed with a rheological study.
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