Food and lifestyle impact on breath VOCs using portable mass spectrometer - pilot study across European countries

In the modern world, many people are changing old dietary and lifestyle habits to improve the quality of their living - to treat or just prevent possible diseases. The main goal of this pilot study was to assess the food and lifestyle impact on exhaled breath VOCs in various population groups. It was done by employing a recently validated portable membrane-inlet mass spectrometer - MIMS. Thus, the obtained results would also represent the additional confirmation for the employment of the new instrument in the breath analysis. The pilot study involved 151 participants across Europe, including people with overweight, obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, people with poor-quality diet and professional athletes. Exhaled breath acetone, ethanol, isoprene, and n-pentane levels were determined in samples before the meal, and 120 min after the meal. Obtained basal ppbv values were mainly in accordance with previously reported, which confirms that MIMS instrument can be used in the breath analysis. Also, for people who have poor-quality diet and professional athletes, these were the first reported findings for the listed breath VOCs. Combining the quantified levels along with the information about the participants' lifestyle habits collected via questionnaire, an assessment of the food and lifestyle impact was obtained. Notable alteration in examined VOC levels upon meal consumption was detected in more than 70 % of all participants, with exception for isoprene, which was affected in about half of participants. Lifestyle parameters impact was examined using ANOVA on ranks test. Statistically significant differences in basal breath VOC levels were observed among all examined population groups. Also, n-pentane and ethanol levels significantly differed in people of different ages, as well as acetone levels in people with different physical activity habits. These findings are promising for further, more focused research using MIMS technique in breath analysis.

Linking Antimicrobial Potential of Natural Products Derived from Aquatic Organisms and Microbes Involved in Alzheimer's Disease - A Review

The following review is oriented towards microbes linked to Alzheimer's disease (AD) and antimicrobial effect of compounds and extracts derived from aquatic organisms against specific bacteria, fungi and viruses which were found previously in patients suffering from AD. Major group of microbes linked to AD include bacteria: Chlamydia pneumoniae, Helicobacter pylori, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Fusobacterium nucleatum, Prevotella intermedia, Actinomyces naeslundii, spirochete group; fungi: Candida sp., Cryptococcus sp., Saccharomyces sp., Malassezia sp., Botrytis sp., and viruses: herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), Human cytomegalovirus (CMV), hepatitis C virus (HCV). In the light of that fact, this review is the first to link antimicrobial potential of aquatic organisms against these sorts of microbes. This literature review might serve as a starting platform to develop novel supportive therapy for patients suffering from AD and to possibly prevent escalation of the disease in patients already having high-risk factors for AD occurrence.

QSAR analysis of antitumor active amides and quinolones from thiophene series

QSAR models for predicting antitumor activity of heterocyclic amides and quinolones from benzo[b]thiophene-, thieno[3,2-b]thiophene- and thieno[2,3-b], thiophene series against MiaPaCa-2 and MCF-7 cells were built. Complete dataset consisted of 59 compounds and several QSAR models with different predictive ability were derived. Beside standard approaches for building QSAR models, the approach based on a small dataset of 10 compounds selected regarding the results of principal component analysis was tested. The latter approach was shown as successful and can be useful for planning future experiments in order to speed up and simplify the search for new drug candidates. Based on the derived QSAR models, the most important properties for compound's antitumor activity against MiaPaCa-2 and MCF-7 cells were identified. Volume, sum of the hydrophobic surfaces and presence of the group that can be easily ionized in the pH range from 4 to 9, were found to be highly important for successful antitumor activity of the examined heterocyclic amides and quinolones. New compounds, with potentially higher biological activity against MiaPaCa-2 and MCF-7 cells, were proposed. Their activities were predicted using the derived QSAR models and the proposed compounds were shown as promising antitumor candidates.

Acidity constants of cefetamet, cefotaxime and ceftriaxone; the effect of the substituent at C3 position

Ionization constants of three cephalosporin antibiotics, cefetamet (CEF), cefotaxime (CFX) and ceftriaxone (CFTR) are determined using pH-potentiometric titrations at I=0.1 M (NaCl) and t=25 degrees C. Cefetamet and cefotaxime have three ionization groups: carboxylic, amide and aminothiazole. Besides those three, ceftriaxone possesses an hydroxytriazinone group as new and additional ionization center. In acid medium two overlapping acid-base processes are occurring with acidity constants being: pK1 2.93 (COOH) and pK2 3.07 (aminothiazole) for cefetamet, and pK1 2.21 (COOH) and pK2 3.15 (aminothiazole) for cefotaxime. In the case of ceftriaxone the situation is even more complicated, three overlapping processes coexist with pK1 2.37 (COOH), pK2 3.03 (aminothiazole) and pK3 4.21 (hydroxytriazinone). Protolysis of amide group is happening in the alkaline medium as completely separated process from those in acid medium. The acidity constants which correspond to amide group are pK3 10.65 (CEF), pK3 10.87 (CFX) and pK4 10.74 (CFTR). The influence of the C3 substituent on the dissociation process of the neighboring ionization group, particularly carboxylic group, was considered. The differences in acidity of CEF, CFX and CFTR (pK1: 2.93, 2.21 and 2.37, respectively) are likely to be caused by the stereoelectronic properties of substituents in the beta-position to the carboxylic group due to the combined inductive, hyperconjugative and resonance effects.

Spectrophotometric and HPLC determination of fleroxacin in tablets

The paper describes and compares spectrophotometric and HPLC determination of fleroxacin in commercial tablets. The optimum conditions for spectrophotometric assay were found to be at pH < 3.5 (0.1 M HCl) at a wave length of 286 nm. HPLC analysis was carried out on a Beckman ODS 5 microns column in a pH 3 phosphoric acid solution (detector wave length 254 nm).

Voltammetric methods for analytical determination of fleroxacin in quinodis tablets

The direct current (dc) and differential pulse (dp) polarographic reduction of fleroxacin was done in a wide pH range from 2.48 to 13.00. The appropriate buffer choice was made for its dp polarographic determination in a range from 1.845 to 16.926 microg /ml, at pH 8.50. The adsorptive properties of fleroxacin were investigated in order to achieve an increase in sensitivity and a possibility of fleroxacin determination by applying the adsorptive stripping voltammetric method. The adsorptive processes at the hanging mercury drop electrode were investigated in Britton-Robinson and borate buffers. Adsorptive preconcentration followed by differential-pulse cathodic stripping showed one wave at approximately - 1.1 V being the most sensitive for analytical determination of fleroxacin. Two linear ranges were obtained, the first one from 18.465 to 258.51 ng/ml, and the second one from 3.693 to 18.465 ng/ml.