Rapid identification of herbal toxins using electrospray laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry for emergency care.

The unintentional ingestion of toxic compounds in herbs is not uncommon in many parts of the world. To provide timely and life-saving care in the emergency department, it is essential to develop a point-of-care analytical method that can rapidly identify these toxins in herbs. Since electrospray laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry (ELDI/MS) has been successfully used to characterize non-volatile chemical compounds without sample preparation, it was used to identify toxic herbal compounds in this study. The herbal toxins were collected either by sweeping a metallic probe across the surface of a freshly cut herb section or by directly sampling extracts of ground herbal powder. The analytes on the probe were then desorbed, ionized and detected using ELDI/MS, wherein analysis of the herbal toxins was completed within 30 s. This approach allows for the rapid morphological recognition of herbs and early point-of-care identification of herbal toxins for emergency management and is promising in providing important toxicological information to ensure appropriate medical treatment.

Impact of antimalarial (AM) on serum lipids in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Dyslipidemia is a common disorder in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients. It is still inconclusive whether antimalarial drugs could affect the serum lipids in SLE patients, therefore we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of available data to address this issue. METHODS: We comprehensively searched the databases of PubMed, EMBASE and Cochrane Library from date of inception to Sep 2018 for both randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies. Review Manager 5.3 software was used for analysis. We performed meta-analysis using random-effects model and weighted the mean difference (WMD) and its 95% confidence interval (CI). The Q test was used to assess the presence of heterogeneity and the I index was used to quantify the extent of heterogeneity. RESULTS: In total, 8 studies met our selection criteria including 2 RCTs, 2 cohort studies, and 4 case-control studies. There were 717 patients (336 patients in CQ (chloroquine) or HCQ (hydroxychloroquine) group, and 381 patients in control group (SLE patients without the therapy of AM)). Compared with the control group, TC, TG, LDL-C, VLDL-C were associated with a significant decrease, respectively (WMD = -21.40 mg/dL, 95% CI -27.62 to -15.18, P < .00001), (WMD = -29.07 mg/dL, 95% CI -45.28 to -12.86, P = .0004), (WMD = -16.25 mg/dL, 95% CI -28.82 to -3.68, P = .01), (WMD = -6.41 mg/dL, 95% CI -12.39 to 0.44, P = .04), however the change of HDL-C did not reach statistically significance (WMD = 4.42 mg/dL, 95% CI -1.21 to 10.06, P = .12). CONCLUSIONS: CQ or HCQ can infect the serum lipids in SLE patients. However, these results should be interpreted with cautions since lacking sufficient RCTs.

Functionalized Allyl Aryl Ether Synthesis from Benzoic Acids Using a Dearomatization and Decarboxylative Allylation Approach.

A strategy toward the preparation of substituted allyl aryl ethers from benzoic acids via a dearomatization and decarboxylative allylation (DcA) reaction is presented. The benzoic acids undergo a dearomatization to give alkylated 2,5-cyclohexadienyl ketoesters which are subjected to a palladium-catalyzed DcA reaction, providing a variety of functionalized allyl aryl ethers. In addition, the combination of a resonance stabilized DcA reaction with a Claisen rearrangement for the synthesis of multisubstituted phenols and applying to dihydroplicatin B derivative synthesis is also presented.

High-throughput screening of phthalate-containing objects in the kindergartens by ambient mass spectrometry.

High-throughput screening of plastic products in children's living environment is necessary to identify phthalate-containing objects for the concern of public health and safety. A novel strategy of probe collecting technique combined with ambient mass spectrometry was developed to carry out the large-scale sample analysis. Analytes from the surface of approximately 500 objects each in two kindergartens in Taiwan were collected using the same number of the metallic probes. After being delivered to laboratory, the analytes on the probes were analyzed with thermal desorption-electrospray ionization/mass spectrometry (TD-ESI/MS). As sample pretreatment was unnecessary, the analysis of phthalates on a probe was completed within 30 s enabling high-throughput screening of a large number of objects. All procedure including sampling and TD-ESI/MS analysis together with report writing for a kindergarten was completed in one day. A reasonable relative standard deviation (<15.6%) was obtained from replicate analyses of phthalate standards. Single-point calibration was used to perform semi-quantitative analysis, and results were validated by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS). It was found that 20-40% of the objects in two kindergartens contained greater than low-level (>2 ng) of phthalates and 40-60% of the objects in the kindergartens contained more than one kind of phthalate.