Abstract Two critical issues in forensic science are identifying body fluid traces found at crime scenes and preserving them for DNA analysis. However, the majority of current biochemical tests for body fluid identification, which are applicable at the crime scene, are presumptive and destructive to the sample. Raman Spectroscopy provides a suitable alternative to current methods as a nonde structive, confirmatory, and potentially in field method. Our laboratory has developed a chemometric model for the identification of five main body flu ids using Raman spectroscopy. This model was developed using samples ob tained from healthy donors. Thus, it is of most importance for the forensic application of the method to validate its performance for donors with diseases that might affect the biochemical composition of body fluids. In this study, the developed method was validated using peripheral blood samples acquired from donors with Celiac Disease, Sickle Cell Anemia, and Type 2 Diabetes. It was shown that the method correctly identified all samples as peripheral blood indicating that no false positives could occur because the blood traces were originated from donors suffering from the diseases.

Abstract Plastic cups commonly used by communities of Uganda lose color with time as they are used. The purpose of this study was to determine the concentrations of copper, lead and chromium in drinks placed in blue and green plastic cups from two companies (anonymized as A and B) in Uganda. New blue and green polyethylene plastic cups produced from unrecycled material were purchased from company A and company B while control cups of Luminarc white (Saudi Arabia) and porcelain white glazed (China) were purchased from shops in Mbarara city. The ash from the burnt blue and green plastic cups was digested using Aqua Regia. After a holding time of 30 and 60 minutes, milk and tea samples in the four different cups were also digested using Aqua Regia. Sample analysis for the supernatants was done in triplicates using an atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The ash of blue and green cups from company A was found to contain the highest concentration of heavy metals which ranged from 0.73 to 1.86 ppm for lead, 8.05 to 38.32 ppm of copper,and 655.80 to 756.57 ppm for chromium. For company B, the heavy metal concentrations ranged from 0.76 to 1.43 ppm, 5.51 to 22.85 ppm, and 756.67 to 815.25 ppm, respectively. The concentration of the leached metals ranged from 0.001 to 5.75 ppm for copper, 0.001 to 0.60 ppm for chromium, and 0.001 to 0.41 ppm for lead for the cup of company A. For the cup from company B, the concentration ranges for the leached metals were from 0.001 to 3.59 ppm, 0.001 to 1.08 ppm, and 0.001 to 0.29 ppm, respectively. Most of the values obtained for the leached concentrations of the metals studied were above the respective drinking water in WHO and USEPA permissible limits of 1 ppm (copper), 0.05 ppm (lead) and 0.1 ppm (chromium). The blue and green plastic cups from both companies had leached concentrations of copper, lead and chromium below the permissible limits at 25˚C, pH 6.2 (milk) and a holding time of 30 minutes. The control cups did not leach detectable amounts of copper, chromium and lead under the study conditions, hence it may be safe for holding the hot drinks at the temperatures experimented in this study.

Abstract Greywater, a type of wastewater, may be hazardous to human health and ecosystems. Greywater is a large fraction of wastewater that needs adequate attention for remediation and reuse in the agricultural sector so that a part of the water problem can be sorted out. This study aims to develop a rapid method for greywater treatment and reuse in agriculture. A microfilter consisting of sand, clay, organo-clay, charcoal, and biochar was designed and tested for greywater treatments. Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (TKN), Total Dissolved Salts (TDS), Electric Conductivity (EC), turbidity and pH values were measured before and after using the microfilter. Results showed tremendous removal efficiency of BOD, COD, TKN, by using the developed microfilter. The microfilter was also effective in treating and placing pH, EC and TDS in the acceptable range for suitable agricultural use. Using the treated greywater for irrigation in corn, tomato seedlings showed increased growth compared with the control group (plants irrigated with tap water). This microfilter treatment was economical,safe, easy to handle and easily applicable. These encouraging results suggest the application of this method in many countries for solving the water scarcity problem.

Abstract The modification of high-performance liquid chromatography parameters leads to a more effective oligonucleotide-A purification process. Using various experimental parameters such as buffer, concentration, and pH, a method for optimizing the purification of an oligonucleotide-A on a reverse-phase C18 column was created. To purify oligonucleotide-A, High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), Ultraviolet-Visible Spectrophotometry (UV-Vis), Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS), and lyophilization were used. Chromatographic data were collected with a semi-prep HPLC system, quantified with the UV-Vis technique, and validated with the LC-MS method. The most optimized parameters found to obtain the purity of 93.0% are 40 mM triethylammonium bicarbonate (TEAB) buffer with pH 7, which is approximately 6.0% higher than the reported method of which the purity is 87.0%. However, the yield under these conditions was reduced by about 5%. The worst possible optimized settings that resulted in the lowest purity (84.0%) and yield (69.0%) are 10 mM ammonium acetate (NH4CH3CO2) with pH 7.

Abstract The identification of soy sauce adulteration can avoid fraud, and protect the rights and interests of producers and consumers. Based on two measurement models (1 mm, 10 mm), the visible and near-infrared (Vis-NIR) spectroscopy combined with standard normal variate-partial least squares-discriminant analysis (SNV-PLS-DA) was used to establish the discriminant analysis models for adulterated and brewed soy sauces. Chubang soy sauce was selected as an identification brand (negative, 70). The adulteration samples (positive, 72) were prepared by mixing Chubang soy sauce and blended soy sauce with different adulteration rates. Among them, the “blended soy sauce” sample was concocted of salt water (NaCl), monosodium glutamate (C5H10NNaO5) and caramel color (C6H8O3). The rigorous calibration-prediction-validation sample design was adopted. For the case of 1 mm, five waveband models (visible, short-NIR, long-NIR, whole NIR and whole scanning regions) were established respectively; in the case of 10 mm, three waveband models (visible, short-NIR and visible-short-NIR regions) for unsaturated absorption were also established respectively. In independent validation, the models of all wavebands in the cases of 1 mm and 10 mm have achieved good discrimination effects. For the case of 1 mm, the visible model achieved the optimal validation effect, the validation recognition-accuracy rate (RARV) was 99.6%; while in the case of 10 mm, both the visible and visible-short-NIR models achieved the optimal validation effect (RARV = 100%). The detection method does not require reagents and is fast and simple, which is easy to promote the application. The results can provide valuable reference for designing small dedicated spectrometers with different measurement modals and different spectral regions.

Abstract In this study, a seed origin discrimination model for Clinacanthus nutans was developed. First, 81 C. nutans samples from three seed origin locations were collected, and their Near-Infrared (NIR) spectra were obtained. Next, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was performed on the NIR spectra of the 81 C. nutans samples. Then, MSC (multiplicative scatter correction), SNV (standard normal variate), first derivative, and second derivative pre-treatments of the C. nutans spectra were performed and combined with the Support Vector Machine (SVM) algorithm for modelling and analysis. Among these methods, first-order derivative pre-treatment achieved the best SVM model effectiveness, with a training set accuracy of 93.44% (57/61) and a test set accuracy of 85.00% (17/20). In order to further improve the discrimination accuracy of the model, three optimization algorithms Grid Search (GS), Genetic Algorithm (GA), and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) were employed to identify the best c and g parameters for the SVM model. The results demonstrated that the PSO optimization algorithm yielded the best parameters of c = 0.8343, g = 57.8741, with corresponding model training set the accuracy of 96.36% (60/61) and test set the accuracy of 95.00% (20/21). Therefore, developing a seed origin classification model for C. nutans based on NIR spectroscopy combined with chemometrics is feasible and has the advantages of being simple, rapid, and green. green.

Abstract The determination of the chemical composition of cocoa butter and the isotopic contents of the carbons (C-2, C-1 and C-3) of the glycerol contained in the cocoa butter were measured by the NMR13C from the INEPT sequence. This technique has already been applied to triglycerides of animal origin. Thus, cocoa butter is made up of nearly 66% saturated fatty acid composed mainly of stearic acid and palmitic acid. Monounsaturated fatty acids represented by oleic acid have an average content of 31% and polyunsaturated fatty acids represent less than 4%. Likewise, the isotopic contents of the glycerol of the triglycerides of cocoa butter in 13C of the carbons C-2, C-1 and C-3 were measured directly and values vary from −11‰ to −19‰ for the C-2 and from −39‰ to −41‰ for all C-1 and C-3 because of the symmetry of glycerol.

Abstract The percent ammonia nitrogen was determined in Passaic River waste water using Ion-Selective Electrode EPA Method 350.3. The intelligent ammonia sensor integrates ammonia electrode, pH electrode and Ammonia Ion electrode together to realize the in situ detection of ammonia. The test results have shown that the sensor is easy operation, low cost and no pollution. The ammonia is determined potentiometrically using an ammonia ion selective electrode and a pH/mV meter, having an expanded millivolt scale. The ammonia selective electrode uses a hydrophobic gas-permeable membrane to separate the sample solution from an electrode internal solution of ammonium chloride. Dissolved ammonia is converted to NH3 gas by raising the pH to above 11.0 with a strong base. NH3 gas diffuses the membrane and changes the internal solution pH that is sensed by the electrode. In single laboratory test results have been found 1.001 NH3-/L and 0.897 mg NH3-N/L, recoveries were 77.3% and 83.1%, respectively.

Abstract The standards of plant toxins were separated by a C18 column with gradient elution with 0.1% formic acid/water (V/V) and 0.1% formic acid/acetonitrile (V/V) as mobile phase and acquired by ion mobility-quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry (IM-QTOF MS) in positive ion mode. A database of 308 plant toxins including retention time, collision cross-section (CCS) and its fragment ions was established. Honey dissolved in water or herbal beverage was extracted by acetonitrile and purified with PSA sorbent, and then acquired by ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography IM-QTOFMS. The acquired data were processed by comparing with the database we established to confirm the target compounds. The average recoveries for samples at two levels ranged from 60.6% - 120.1%, with relative standard deviation (n= 6) less than 25%. The limit of quantitation for plant toxins ranged from 1 -20 μg/kg. The developed screening method was used in determination of honey, herbal beverage and honey flavored tea beverage samples. The results showed that berberine was detected in one honey with 1 μg/kg and caffeine was present in some beverages with the concentration from 200 and 5500 μg/kg. This method could meet the requirement for rapid screening of plant toxins in honey and herbal beverage. It can be used for the quality control of honey and herbal beverage in enterprises or quality inspection departments. It also can be used in the rapid screening of food poisoning.

Abstract This paper reviews three complex interactions between microwave energy and microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, and viruses). The first interaction comprises the detection of viruses within human blood using a 50-Ohm transmission-line vector net-analyzer (typically 0 to 10 dBm @ 2 to 8.5 GHz) where the blood is placed within a test chamber that acts as a non-50-Ohm discontinuity. The second interaction employs 1 to 6.5 W @ 8 to 26 GHz for microwave feed-horn illumination to inactivate microorganisms at an applied power density of 10 to 100 mW−2. The third interaction is within multi-mode microwave ovens, where microorganism cell membrane disruption occurs at a few 100 s of W @ 2.45 GHz and microorganism inactivation between 300 to 1800 W @ 2.45 GHz. Within the first microwave interaction, blood relaxation processes are examined. Whereas in the latter two microwave interactions, the following disruption, and inactivation mechanisms are examined: chemical cellular lysis and, microwave resonant absorption causing cell wall rupture, and thermodynamic analysis in terms of process energy budget and suspension energy density. In addition, oven-specific parameters are discussed.

Abstract Objective: Kratom is widely available and literature exploring the effects of prenatal kratom exposure is lacking. This study aims to report a validated method for the detection of mitragynine in the umbilical cord and report our observations for specimens received at a national commercial reference laboratory. Study Design: Assays were validated according to the recommen dations of ANSI/ASB. A retrospective evaluation of records at a national reference laboratory was conducted to determine prevalence and co-exposure to other substances of abuse. Result: Mitragynine was detected in 19 of 4456 specimens (0.43%) with concentrations ranging from 4 to >50 ng/g. Thirteen (13) of these specimens were positive for only mitragynine while the other 6 were also positive for either marijuana or opiates. Conclusion: Umbilical cord is a suitable specimen type for the surveillance of maternal kratom use and can be used to identify exposed neonates for further investigations into short- or longterm health consequences.

Abstract Brewery grains have a long history in animal feed. This use in animal feed nevertheless poses a problem, that of bad odors due to the sometimes too long shelf life of spent grains. The objective of this work is to recover spent grains from the BB brewery in Lomé by composting in order to stabilize them. A compost based solely on spent grains was produced after 5 months. The physico-chemical and spectroscopic characterizations at the end of the composting process revealed that the compost obtained has interesting properties with a pH = 7.01; a C/N ratio of 13.7 and a low level of heavy metals (Pb = 1.23 mg/kg, Cd = 0.04 mg/kg etc.).

Abstract Nitrogen-15 isotope-modified compounds are widely used in medicine, pharmacology, agriculture and various fields of science and their nomenclature is gradually increasing. Their widespread use depends on the availability of inexpensive and simple isotope analysis methods. The present article is an attempt to determine the nitrogen-15 isotope content directly in organic compounds without their conversion. The general principle of possibility of determination of the isotopes of nitrogen directly in organic compounds is proposed. Based on the study of mass-spectra of Carbamide Carbonyldiamide, isocyanic acid and nitrobenzene the mass peaks are selected, by which it is possible to determine the atomic fraction of the isotopes of nitrogen. The respective formulas are proposed.