Food Safety is one of the major concerns in every country regardless of the economic and social development. The frequent occurrence of food scandals in the world has led the Chinese government to implement several strategies to fortify the food supply system to a high food safety standard. This relies heavily on laboratory testing services but conventional methods for detection of food contaminants and toxicants are limited by sophisticated sample preparation procedures, long analysis time, large instruments and professional personnel to meet the increasing demands. In this review, we have incorporated most of the current and potential rapid detection methods for many notorious food contaminants and toxicants including microbial agents, toxic ions, pesticides, veterinary drugs and preservatives, as well as detection of genetically modified food genes and adulterated edible oil. Development of rapid, accurate, easyto-use and affordable testing methods could urge food handlers and the public to actively screen for food contaminants and toxicants instead of passively relying on monitoring by the government examination facility. This review also provides several recommendations including how to encourage the public to engage in the food safety management system and provide optimal education and financial assistance that may improve the current Chinese food safety control system.

Laboratory safety is one of the key aspects of university safety. In this pilot study, 91 laboratory workers in two universities in Hong Kong completed a self-administered online questionnaire on laboratory safety awareness, practice, attitude, and perception. Part of the results was compared with an International Safety Culture Survey conducted in 2012 by a Chi-square test and t test at a significance level of 0.05. For instance, the participating universities showed a higher usage of a formal risk assessment tool (p < 0.001) and more frequent safety inspections conducted by the institution’s H&S staff (p < 0.001) and laboratory personnel (p < 0.001). Other significant differences such as less agreement that the laboratory is a safe place to work (p = 0.037) and that the risk of work is high (p = 0.001) were observed in the participating universities. Moreover, the participants were able to identify the full name of GHS (83.5%) and frequently used PPE (83.5%), but fewer of them were able to identify oxidizing, health-related, and irritating GHS hazard pictograms (69%, 67%, and 71%, respectively) and checked PPE before use (59.3%). They also learned about fatal laboratory accidents from institution’s H&S staff (82.4%), were willing to actively intervene when there were unsafe conditions or behaviors to prevent accidents (78.0%), and were eager to learn more about chemical safety (85.7%). However, a few potential risks were identified on the use of an informal risk assessment tool, working alone, and working before receiving training. Overall, this study suggests the view that the laboratory safety status of the two participating universities is up to international standards, yet the safety culture and safety compliance can be further improved.

Inflammatory responses are closely related to cancer progression and several diseases. Anti-inflammatory drugs that bind to inducible enzymes can be used as biomarkers for molecular imaging. Selective targeted contrast agents are expected to improve contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) in MRI at the site of inflammation. In this work, three new Gd(3+) DO3A-amide MRI contrast agents (CAs) that conjugated to mefenamic acid (MA), a commonly used nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), through different linkers, ethylenediamine (GdL1), 2,2'-oxidiethylamine (GdL2) and 4,7,10-trioxa-1,13-tridecanediamine (GdL3) were studied. Their relaxivities were GdL1 (4.74 mM(-1) s(-1)), GdL2 (4.77 mM(-1) s(-1)), and GdL3 (4.95 mM(-1) s(-1)) at 400 MHz at 25 °C. Their serum albumin binding properties were studied by tryptophan emission-quenching experiments, with GdL1 showing a preferential binding toward HSA and BSA as compared with GdL2 and GdL3. They showed low cytotoxicities toward HeLa cells at high concentration (0.5 mM) and high cellular uptake in U87 cells as compared with GdDOTA. In vivo MRI showed increased T1-weighted contrast after intravenous injection of the agents. Moreover, T1 contrast was significantly enhanced for 1.5 h in the U87 tumor model and 2 h in the arthritis joint in adjuvant-induced arthritis (AIA) model at dosages of 0.1 and 0.03 mmol/kg, respectively. Most of the agents were cleared at 24 h post-administration in the AIA model with no observable T1 contrast. GdL1-3 showed superior retentions and intensity enhancements (IEs) at the kidney, liver, tumor, and arthritis joint to those of GdDOTA. GdL3 showed the highest relaxivity and IE at the arthritis joint and is therefore a potential candidate to be developed as MRI CAs that target inflammation.

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Four luminescent cyclometalated iridium(III) dipyridoquinoxaline complexes appended with an indole moiety [Ir(N^C) 2 (N^N)] (PF 6 ) (HN^C = 2-phenylpyridine, Hppy; (2b)) have been synthesized and characterized. Upon irradiation, all the complexes displayed moderately intense and long-lived luminescence under ambient conditions and in 77 K glass. On the basis of the photophysical data, the emission of the complexes has been assigned to an excited state of triplet metal-to-ligand charge-transfer ( 3 MLCT) ((d(Ir)  *(N^N)) character. Cyclic voltammetric studies revealed indole-based and iridium-based oxidations at ca. +1.10 V and +1.24 V vs. SCE, respectively, and ligand-based reductions at ca. 1.07 to 2.29 V vs. SCE. The interactions of the complexes with an indole-binding protein, bovine serum albumin (BSA), have been examined by emission titrations.binding, indole, iridium, luminescence, probes