In this study the recently developed technique of thermal desorption electrospray ionization/mass spectrometry (TD–ESI/MS) was applied to the rapid analysis of multiple controlled substances. With the reallocation of mass spectral resources [from a standard ESI source coupled with liquid chromatography (LC) to an ambient TD–ESI source], this direct-analysis technique allows the identification of a wider range of illicit drugs through a dual-working mode (pretreatment-free qualitative screening/conventional quantitative confirmation). Through 60-MRM (multiple reaction monitoring) analysis—in which the MS/MS process was programmed to sequentially scan 60 precursor ion/product ion transitions and, thereby, identify 30 compounds (two precursor/product ion transitions per compound)—of a four-component (drug) standard, the signal intensity ratios of each drug transition were comparable with those obtained through 8-MRM analysis, demonstrating the selectivity of TD–ESI/MS for the detection of multiple drugs. The consecutive analyses of tablets containing different active components occurred with no cross-contamination or interference from sample to sample, demonstrating the reliability of the TD–ESI/MS technique for rapid sampling (two samples min −1 ). The active ingredients in seized drug materials could be detected even when they represented less than 2 mg g −1 of the total sample weight, demonstrating the sensitivity of TD–ESI/MS. Combining the ability to rapidly identify multiple drugs with the “plug-and-play” design of the interchangeable ion source, TD–ESI/MS has great potential for use as a pretreatment-free qualitative screening tool for laboratories currently using LC–MS/MS techniques to analyze illicit drugs.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance characteristics of three fecal occult blood tests (FOBTs): the chemical o-toluidine test, the immunochemical OC-Hemodia test, and the immunochromatographic Quick Chaser Occult Blood (QCOB) test, which detect human hemoglobin and transferrin simultaneously in cases of upper gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding. Included were 48 FOBT specimens in 48 consecutive admission cases of upper GI bleeding (endoscopy confirmed). We excluded those fecal specimens with an obvious tarry and bloody appearance. The QCOB test revealed the highest positive rates of 33/48 (68.8%), and significantly higher positive rates than that of the OC-Hemodia test and o-toluidine test (p < 0.025 and < 0.01, respectively). In the patient group with upper GI bleeding due to gastric and duodenal ulcers, the QCOB test had higher positive rates (68.6%) than did the o-toluidine test (34.3%) (p < 0.01). There was no fecal specimen that was positive for the o-toluidine test or OC-Hemodia test and was negative for the QCOB test. Our results reveal that the QCOB test has significantly higher positive rates of fecal occult blood than either the OC-Hemodia test or o-toluidine test. The QCOB test is better than the other two tests for detecting occult blood in patients with upper GI bleeding.

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Ultrasound-assisted hollow fiber liquid-phase microextraction coupled with FAAS has been developed to preconcentrate and determine ultra-trace amounts of Co and Ni ions in human urine.

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