No abstract

In the present work, a rapid, accurate, and sensitive method has been developed for the quantitative determination of five fluoroquinolones (enoxacin, ofloxacin, norfloxacin, ciprofloxacin, and enrofloxacin) in edible animal tissues (muscle tissue, liver, kidney, and eggs). The separation was accomplished on an Inertsil (250 x 4 mm) C8, 5 microm, analytical column, at ambient temperature within 15 min. The mobile phase consisted of a mixture of citric acid (0.4 mol L(-1))-CH3OH-CH3CN (87:9:4% v/v). UV detection at 275 nm yielded the following limits of detection: 100 pg per 20 microL injected volume for enoxacin, norfloxacin, and ciprofloxacin, 20 pg for ofloxacin, and 200 pg for enrofloxacin. Peaks in real samples were identified by means of a photodiode array detector. The method was validated in terms of intra-day (n = 8) and inter-day (n = 8) precision and accuracy. Tissue samples were purified from endogenous interference by solid-phase extraction using Oasis HLB cartridges. The solid-phase extraction protocol was optimized in terms of retention and elution. Recovery rates at fortification levels of 40, 60, and 80 ng/g ranged from 82.5% to 111.1%. The applicability of the method was examined using real samples from a chicken treated orally with the five studied fluoroquinolones.

Based on the demographic changes and the rapid increase of older population in Europe, major challenges are expected to rise, both in the economy as well as the society, whether the dominant care model for supporting elderly in living independently at home continues to rely on informal and formal caregivers' assistance. To respond to the above challenges, assistive technologies are called to develop Information and Communication Technology (ICT) services for supporting seniors to remain active and independent, for as long as possible, in their chosen home environment. The work described in this Letter is based on the Miraculous-Life project and it emphasises the identification and assessment of a set of services that an ICT system for Ageing Well should support, in an actual end-users setting. The outcome of this work may inform fellow researchers and other projects in the area of Ageing Well in: (i) understanding which ICT services can be the most valuable for end-users' Quality of Life, (ii) prioritising the development of related ICT services and (iii) facilitating better recourse allocation in order to reduce any risks associated to implementation failures of these services within their respective projects. A final trial phase is planned, aiming to validate the Miraculous Life prototype longitudinally in a naturalistic environment with a larger sample size. During this trial, it will be investigated if perceived usefulness, satisfaction and motivation could be predicted by sociodemographic variables and personality.