A detector system comprises a first analytical stage configured to isolate ions from a sample, a field induced fragmentation stage configured to fragment the ions, a second analytical stage configured to characterize the ions, and at least one detector. The first analytical stage and the second analytical stage each comprise a differential mobility spectrometer. The field induced fragmentation stage comprises strips configured to create an electric field therebetween. In certain embodiments, the system further comprises a port configured between the first analytical stage and the field induced fragmentation stage, configured to introduce a reagent.

The invention proposes preparing biological samples for spectrometry which contain cell structures and/or whole cells of human or animal origin (e.g. thin human and animal tissue sections) or prokaryotes (e.g. microorganisms), and which require constant relative humidity, in a temperature-controlled gas volume whose humidity is determined by a saturated substance solution, for example a suitable salt solution. The invention exploits a physico-chemical phenomenon called “deliquescence”, which manifests itself by keeping the relative humidity above the saturated substance solution constant with a high degree of precision when a specified temperature is maintained. Pure succinic acid exhibits deliquescence at approx. 99% relative humidity, for example. Since an enormous variety of deliquescent salts and other suitable substances are available, it is possible to find the suitable substance for almost any desired relative humidity, with adjustment of the temperature, where necessary.

The invention belongs to the technical field of quantitative statistical distribution analysis for micro-structures of metal materials, and relates to a method for automatic quantitative statistical distribution characterization of dendrite structures in a full view field of metal materials. According to the method based on deep learning in the present invention, dendrite structure feature maps are marked and trained to obtain a corresponding object detection model, so as to carry out automatic identification and marking of dendrite structure centers in a full view field; and in combination with an image processing method, feature parameters in the full view field such as morphology, position, number and spacing of all dendrite structures within a large range are obtained quickly, thereby achieving quantitative statistical distribution characterization of dendrite structures in the metal material. The method is accurate, automatic and efficient, involves a large amount of quantitative statistical distribution information, and is statistically more representative as compared with the traditional measurement of feature sizes of dendrite structures in a single view field.

There is provided a nucleic acid extraction method using a cartridge comprising: (a) a driving part of a nucleic acid extraction device is connected to a control rod module disposed in an inner space of the upper body of a piston and a rotation control module coupled to the lower body of the piston; (b) driving the rotation control module and the control rod module, sequentially sucking sample and reagents from the plurality of chambers separated from each other into an interior space, and discharging the mixture of the interior space into the chamber of the cartridge; and (c) driving the rotation control module and the control rod module to suck the reagent inside the master mix bead chamber of the cartridge into the interior space of the piston upper body and then discharge the mixed reagent to a nucleic acid amplification module.

A reagent for extracting immunosuppressant drugs from a whole blood sample for immunoassay includes protein denaturant, proteolytic enzyme, surfactant and pH buffer. A method and an immunoassay kit for detection of the immunosuppressant concentration in a whole blood sample uses the extraction reagent. The extraction reagent doesn't need the use of organic solvent as that in the traditional extraction methods, therefore the adverse effects of the organic solvent on the antibody activity in a detection system and the other relative defects associated to its use are obviated. The drug extraction process doesn't need centrifugation, as the processed sample can be directly applied for immunoassay. The operation for drug extraction is simple, and the detection result based on this extraction method is accurate.

A device and method for preparing a sample for solid-liquid or liquid-liquid extraction are provided. In one embodiment, a device includes a sealed container including an opening for receiving a solid sample and a reservoir. The reservoir includes a solvent or is adapted to receive a solvent. The solid sample and the solvent are mixed in the reservoir and to concentrate at least one component of the sample into the solvent within the reservoir. The concentrate is settled into a solvent layer within the container. The solvent layer is sampled via a port. A method includes introducing a solid sample to a solvent; creating a solution by mixing the solid sample with the solvent; allowing the solvent solution to settle into at least one layer; and sampling within at least one layer.

The present disclosure provides a method for detecting short-chain fatty acids in biological samples, including a derivatizing step, a loading step and a detecting step. The derivatizing step includes treating the short-chain fatty acids in the biological sample with 2-nitrophenylhydrazine for derivatizing the short-chain fatty acids into a sample to be detected. The loading step includes loading the sample onto a paper carrier. The detecting step includes analyzing the sample loaded onto the paper carrier by direct analysis in real time mass spectrometry for obtaining a detection result. The method provided by the present disclosure may complete the analysis of the biological sample within a short period of time and achieve a quantitative result comparable to that obtained by conventional chromatographic approaches.

The invention proposes preparing biological samples for spectrometry which contain cell structures and/or whole cells of human or animal origin (e.g. thin human and animal tissue sections) or prokaryotes (e.g. microorganisms), and which require constant relative humidity, in a temperature-controlled gas volume whose humidity is determined by a saturated substance solution, for example a suitable salt solution. The invention exploits a physico-chemical phenomenon called “deliquescence”, which manifests itself by keeping the relative humidity above the saturated substance solution constant with a high degree of precision when a specified temperature is maintained. Pure succinic acid exhibits deliquescence at approx. 99% relative humidity, for example. Since an enormous variety of deliquescent salts and other suitable substances are available, it is possible to find the suitable substance for almost any desired relative humidity, with adjustment of the temperature, where necessary.

Described herein are methods for evaluating polymer compositions comprising polymers modified with a polypeptide (e.g., a cell-binding polypeptide), including methods for determining polypeptide concentration.

A sample of a first aqueous liquid phase is drawn from a first one of a plurality of separation vessels in response to determining that a first separation operation in the first separation vessel has completed. First aqueous liquid phase sample data is obtained by analyzing the first aqueous liquid phase sample with at least one sensor. The first aqueous liquid phase sample data is transmitted to an external multiphase flow meter (MPFM) to calibrate, control, or optimize an operation of the MPFM. A sample of a second aqueous liquid phase is drawn from a second one of the plurality of separation vessels in response to determining that a second separation operation in the second separation vessel has completed. Second aqueous liquid phase sample data is obtained by analyzing the second aqueous liquid phase sample with the at least one sensor. The second aqueous liquid phase sample data is transmitted to the external multiphase flow meter. The first separation operation in the first separation vessel and the second separation operation in the second separation vessel are concurrent.