The invention pertains to the use of a specific biomarker of elastin degradation (desmosine) that measures the extent and progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In addition to potentially serving as a screening procedure for COPD, it provides a real-time measure of COPD drug efficacy and may therefore supersede the use of less sensitive tests such as pulmonary function studies and computed tomography. Equally important, the current invention constitutes a marked improvement for measuring desmosine in tissues and body fluids by greatly shortening the time for detection of this molecule in liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS) assays that are the gold standard for such measurements. Unlike previous methods, the invention allows for the use of LC-MS-MS without modification, so the method can be applied to any laboratory that uses this equipment for other measurements. This would include forensic facilities that need to determine if undiagnosed COPD played a role in the loss of life.

The present invention discloses an anti-aging Chinese herb extract, an extraction method and a use thereof. The ginseng-Astragalus membranaceus extract of the present invention comprises 20 to 30% of astragaloside, 1 to 5% of ginsenoside Rg1, 2 to 6% of ginsenoside Re, 0.2 to 0.5% of ginsenoside Rb1. There are 17 characteristic peaks in high-performance liquid chromatography fingerprints of the extract. The extract can effectively improve activity of telomerase, delay cell aging, and can be applied to preparation of an anti-aging product.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for diagnosing solid cancers comprising lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, bile duct cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, gastric cancer, brain tumors, kidney cancer, liver cancer, and cervical cancer. More specifically, the apparatus comprises: a concentration measurement unit for measuring the concentration of each of acyl-carnitine (AC), nudifloramide (2PY), and lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) from a biological sample; a pre-processing unit for pre-processing the measured concentrations; and a diagnosis unit for determining the diagnosis information of cancer through linear discriminant analysis using the pre-processed concentrations.

A method for analyzing single cells by mass spectrometry includes the steps of providing a plurality of cells in a liquid medium and placing the cells and liquid medium in a single cell isolation and ejection system. Liquid medium containing a single cell is released from the single cell isolation and ejection system. The liquid medium and single cell are captured in a capture probe containing a flowing capture probe solvent. The cell is lysed by a lysis inducer in the capture probe to disperse single cell components into the medium. The lysed single cell components are transported to a mass spectrometer, where the lysed single cell components entering the mass spectrometer are spatially and temporally separated from any dispersed components of another single cell from the sample entering the mass spectrometer. Mass spectrometry is conducted on the lysed single-cell components. A system for analyzing single cells by mass spectrometry is also disclosed.

The present disclosure discusses a method of separating a sample (e.g., pharmaceutical drug, genotoxic impurity, biomarker, and/or biological metabolite) including coating a metallic flow path of a chromatographic system; injecting the sample into the chromatographic system; flowing the sample through the chromatographic system; separating the sample; and analyzing the separated sample using mass spectroscopy. In some examples, the coating applied to the surfaces defining the flow path is non-binding with respect to the sample—and the separated sample. Consequently, the sample does not bind to the low-binding surface of the coating of the flow path. The applied coating can increase the chromatographic peak area for the sample of the chromatographic system.

The present disclosure relates to methods of modifying complex extracts such that components or mixtures of components are selectively removed or added, thus providing a complex mixture that does not naturally occur with a refined or a tuned therapeutic or nutraceutical effect. In various aspects, the complex extract can be an extract obtained from one or more plants, e.g., an extract obtained from green tea leaves. The present disclosure pertains to compositions obtained by the disclosed methods, nutraceutical compositions comprising same, pharmaceutical compositions comprising same, and methods of treating various conditions, including physiological dysfunctions associated with elevated reactive oxygen species and/or inflammatory molecule, e.g., TNFα, expression using same. This abstract is intended as a scanning tool for purposes of searching in the particular art and is not intended to be limiting of the present disclosure.

The present disclosure provides for a universal lipid quantitative standard (ULQS) comprising a plurality of isotopically labeled lipid standards that can be used with any analytical mass spectrometry techniques known in the art. The ULQS includes at least one isotopically labeled lipid species from one or more of the following lipid classes: i) phospholipids; ii) lysophospholipids; iii) cholesterol esters; iv) triacylglycerols; v) diacylglycerols; vi) ceramides; and vii) sphingomyelins.

The present invention relates to a method for providing information for the preemptive diagnosis of colorectal cancer with non-invasive biospecimens, wherein the excellent quantification of carcinogenic PhIP and MeIQx is achieved in terms of yields, when a biological sample, such as urine, is hydrolyzed with strong alkali reagents and then prepared through a specific liquid-liquid extraction, as compared to when the sample is prepared with other hydrolysis methods or extraction.

Use of a N,N,N-trimethyl-5-aminopentanoic acid antagonist in the preparation of a medicament for treating fatty liver or heart failure and a system for diagnosing fatty liver or heart failure. New treatment regimens are provided for fatty liver or heart failure. By antagonizing TMAVA, the levels of triglyceride and free fatty acids in the plasma and liver of a patient can be reduced, and at the same time, the inhibition effect of TMAVA on the activity of γ-isopropylbetaine hydroxylase can also be eliminated, and the weakening of free fatty acid mitochondrial β-oxidation caused by the decrease of endogenous carnitine synthesis is avoided. It is thus determined that reducing the ectopic accumulation of fatty acids in the liver and heart is clearly effective in treating fatty liver or heart failure.

Disclosed are a tea type differentiation method and system, belonging to the technical field of detection. The method comprises: building a differentiation function by using ionic strengths of 20 compounds as evaluation indexes to discriminate tea types. According to the disclosure, the tea types are discriminated by using relative abundance of 20 compounds in tea, problems in sensory differentiation can be solved, the tea is classified more objectively and scientifically, and the reliability and accuracy of differentiation results are improved. By using three algorithms, the feasibility and accuracy of using 20 discovered compounds for tea type differentiation in a combined manner are validated.