Rapid Determination of Diuretics in Human Urine by Gas Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry Following Microwave Assisted Derivatization

This work presents a GC–MS–MS–MS method for the direct determination of clenbuterol in human urine. The method 3 comprises a pretreatment procedure and the instrumental analysis of the derivatives performed by GC–MS (ion trap) with 3 electron impact ionization. The GC–MS analysis allows isolation and characterization of specific fragments from the 1 original (MS ) molecular structure, and in particular, those fragments originating from the precursor ion cluster (m/z5335– 2 337) characteristic of clenbuterol. The MS product fragment m/z5300 is in turn used as a further precursor fragment 3 4 giving rise to a MS spectrum specific for clenbuterol. MS fragmentation spectra were also investigated. However, further 3 4 fragmentation of MS product ions does not lead to functional MS spectra nor to any significant increase in the 3 signal-to-noise ratio. The sensitivity limit of the MS technique is lower than 0.2 mg/ l, with a linear range between 0.5 and 5 mg/ l, thus matching the basic requirements for antidoping analysis according to the guidelines of the International Olympic Committee. Due to its overall analytical performance, the method is presently being evaluated as a confirmation protocol to be followed to detect illicit clenbuterol administration to the athletes, and compared with reference GC–MS and GC–MS–MS techniques

Athlome Project Consortium: a concerted effort to discover genomic and other "omic" markers of athletic performance.

Despite numerous attempts to discover genetic variants associated with elite athletic performance, injury predisposition, and elite/world-class athletic status, there has been limited progress to date. Past reliance on candidate gene studies predominantly focusing on genotyping a limited number of single nucleotide polymorphisms or the insertion/deletion variants in small, often heterogeneous cohorts (i.e., made up of athletes of quite different sport specialties) have not generated the kind of results that could offer solid opportunities to bridge the gap between basic research in exercise sciences and deliverables in biomedicine. A retrospective view of genetic association studies with complex disease traits indicates that transition to hypothesis-free genome-wide approaches will be more fruitful. In studies of complex disease, it is well recognized that the magnitude of genetic association is often smaller than initially anticipated, and, as such, large sample sizes are required to identify the gene effects robustly. A symposium was held in Athens and on the Greek island of Santorini from 14-17 May 2015 to review the main findings in exercise genetics and genomics and to explore promising trends and possibilities. The symposium also offered a forum for the development of a position stand (the Santorini Declaration). Among the participants, many were involved in ongoing collaborative studies (e.g., ELITE, GAMES, Gene SMART, GENESIS, and POWERGENE). A consensus emerged among participants that it would be advantageous to bring together all current studies and those recently launched into one new large collaborative initiative, which was subsequently named the Athlome Project Consortium

Genome-Wide Association Study Reveals a Novel Association Between MYBPC3 Gene Polymorphism, Endurance Athlete Status, Aerobic Capacity and Steroid Metabolism

Background: The genetic predisposition to elite athletic performance has been a controversial subject due to the underpowered studies and the small effect size of identified genetic variants. The aims of this study were to investigate the association of common single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with endurance athlete status in a large cohort of elite European athletes using GWAS approach, followed by replication studies in Russian and Japanese elite athletes and functional validation using metabolomics analysis. Results: The association of 476,728 SNPs of Illumina DrugCore Gene chip and endurance athlete status was investigated in 796 European international-level athletes (645 males, 151 females) by comparing allelic frequencies between athletes specialized in sports with high (n = 662) and low/moderate (n = 134) aerobic component. Replication of results was performed by comparing the frequencies of the most significant SNPs between 242 and 168 elite Russian high and low/moderate aerobic athletes, respectively, and between 60 elite Japanese endurance athletes and 406 controls. A meta-analysis has identified rs1052373 (GG homozygotes) in Myosin Binding Protein (MYBPC3; implicated in cardiac hypertrophic myopathy) gene to be associated with endurance athlete status (P = 1.43 × 10−8, odd ratio 2.2). Homozygotes carriers of rs1052373 G allele in Russian athletes had significantly greater VO2max than carriers of the AA + AG (P = 0.005). Subsequent metabolomics analysis revealed several amino acids and lipids associated with rs1052373 G allele (1.82 × 10–05) including the testosterone precursor androstenediol (3beta,17beta) disulfate. Conclusions: This is the first report of genome-wide significant SNP and related metabolites associated with elite athlete status. Further investigations of the functional relevance of the identified SNPs and metabolites in relation to enhanced athletic performance are warranted

Veleni di guerra in tempo di pace. Armi chimiche e biologiche a fini bellici e terroristici

Una rassegna delle principali caratteristiche chimico-fisiche e tossicologiche di composti chimici di sintesi, di radionuclidi e di agenti tossici di natura biologica utilizzabili come armi a fini bellici o terroristici

Nafion membrane potential in non-isothermal systems

The electrical potential difference of non-isothermal Nafion membrane cells has been studied in presence of CsCl, KCl, and NaCl as electrolytes. The thermal electrical potential appears to be rather well described by means of already available equations based on non-equilibrium thermodynamic theories. © 1990

Detection of Poisoning Algal Toxins in Seafood: "Inhibition" Bioelectrodes for the Determination of Okadaic Acid.

MOHAMMEDIA, MOROCC

Process for detection and determination of toxic agents and related biosensor

bstract: The present invention relates to a method of detection and determination of toxic agents, characterized by the following steps: reacting at least one substrate with an enzymatic system comprising the FAc and FAl enzymes with formation of at least one product P; measuring the concentration of said at least one product P; causing an interaction of the enzymatic system with at least one toxic agent included in the compounds having an organo-phosphoric and/or organo-halogenated structure, present in the matrix submitte