A method for recovering a metal that uses a reduced amount of a chelating agent is described, where the method includes a complex forming step of forming, in a mixture, a complex between a metal in a sample and a chelating agent; a complex depositing step of depositing the complex in the mixture; and a metal recovering step of recovering the deposited complex from the mixture, thereby recovering the metal in the sample.

The invention relates to a method for the treatment of body fluid proteins, by which proteins from body fluids such as blood or urine are extracted by adding a certain proportion of high molecular polymer solution under low temperature condition followed by denaturation and reduction by adding a certain concentration of surfactant and tris(2-carboxyethyl) phosphine (TCEP) under a high temperature condition. Subsequently, the iodoacetic acid brushes grafted on silica microspheres called as solid-phase alkylation reagents are added into protein solution, which can react rapidly with the protein sulfhydryl group. After centrifugation, the microspheres are obtained and repeatedly washed with methanol and buffer to remove interferences such as sugars, salts, surfactants, lipids to obtain high-purity proteins, and finally protease is added to digest proteins into peptides. After centrifugation, the peptide products are obtained, and directly analyzed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) system. Compared with the traditional protein pretreatment method, the method has many advantages such as good anti-interference capability, easy operation and short pretreatment time.

The present disclosure relates to methods of determining the terpene profile of cannabis plant material, specifically through use of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Extraction methods include liquid based extraction methods, specifically hexane based liquid extraction methods, and headspace extraction methods, specifically static headspace extraction and headspace solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME). Static headspace and HS-SPME are shown to be better for monoterpene extraction, and hexane based liquid extraction for sesquiterpene extraction.

A sensitive method for quantitating curcuminoids in biological and other samples is described wherein curcuminoids in the sample are derivatized to boron difluoride curcuminoid complexes then analyzed by liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy.

Electrokinetic devices and methods are described with the purpose of collecting assayable agents from a dielectric fluid medium. Electrokinetic flow may be induced by the use of plasma generation at high voltage electrodes and consequent transport of charged particles in an electric voltage gradient. Actively growing mold releases the carbohydrate cell wall component (1.fwdarw.3)-β-D-Glucan into the air. The invention recognizes that the airborne fraction is that which affects respiratory health and selectively tests for a free form which is soluble in aqueous medium. The sample to be analysed is preferably collected by the electrokinetic propulsion method described, but any air sampling method such as filtration, impactor or impingement may be applicable.

An ultrasonic transmitter (95) and detector (e.g., integrated as an ultrasound transducer) utilized in a feedback control system automatically monitors and/or detects surface profile (e.g., shape) of the liquid-air interface and adjusts the flow rate of sampling liquid to ensure that experimental conditions remain consistent at the time of sample introduction during serial samplings. The feedback control can provide for automated adjustment of the surface profile of the liquid-air interface in accordance with changes in desired set point according to an experimental workflow (e.g., automated adjustment between an interface corresponding to a vortex sampling set point and an overflow cleaning set point). Improvements in desorption efficiency and quality of mass spectrometry data by degassing of the liquid solvent utilized within the sampling interfaces, and/or utilization in a feedback control system for generating data indicative of a surface profile of the liquid-air interface within the interface's sampling port may be realized.

A method of identifying a Mycobacterium using surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), disclosed herein, comprises disposing a sample suspected to comprise a Mycobacterium on a SERS-active substrate, detecting surface enhanced Raman signals corresponding to an alpha-mycolic acid, a methoxy-mycolic acid, and a keto-mycolic acid from the sample disposed on the SERS-active substrate, and determining one or more ratios of intensity of the surface enhanced Raman signals to identify the Mycobacterium. Disclosed herein also includes a method of detecting a mycobacterial disease using surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), the method comprising identifying a Mycobacterium according to the method described above, and determining the mycobacterial disease based on the Mycobacterium identified.

A method is implemented to determine a concentration of oil in a water sample. A specified amount of cyclohexane is added to the water sample to form a mixture. The mixture is stirred. An oil phase is extracted from the mixture. An absorbance value of the extracted oil phase is measured at a specified wavelength in the visible light spectrum. The specified wavelength is in a range of from 390 nanometers (nm) to 600 nm. The concentration of oil in the water sample is determined based on the measured absorbance value of the extracted oil phase.

Method and devices are provided for assessing tissue samples from a plurality of tissue sites in a subject using molecular analysis. In certain aspects, devices of the embodiments allow for minimally invasive collection of liquid tissue samples and delivery of the samples for mass spectrometry analysis.

Compositions of the inventive concept provide a therapeutic protein with less than 2% contamination by the therapeutic protein in denatured form. Such compositions provide enhanced specific activity and improved stability on storage and/or in serum than corresponding therapeutic protein preparations resulting from conventional isolation methods.