No abstract

Metals in particulate matter (PM) are considered a driving factor for many pathologies. Despite the hazards associated with particulate metals, personal exposures for at-risk workers are rarely assessed due to the cost and effort associated with monitoring. As a result, routine exposure assessments are performed for only a small fraction of the exposed workforce. The objective of this research was to evaluate a relatively new technology, microfluidic paper-based analytical devices (µPADs), for measuring the metals content in welding fumes. Fumes from three common welding techniques (shielded metal arc, metal inert gas, and tungsten inert gas welding) were sampled in two welding shops. Concentrations of acid-extractable Fe, Cu, Ni, and Cr were measured and independently verified using inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES). Results from the µPAD sensors agreed well with ICP-OES analysis; the two methods gave statistically similar results in >80% of the samples analyzed. Analytical costs for the µPAD technique were ~50 times lower than market-rate costs with ICP-OES. Further, the µPAD method was capable of providing same-day results (as opposed several weeks for ICP laboratory analysis). Results of this work suggest that µPAD sensors are a viable, yet inexpensive alternative to traditional analytic methods for transition metals in welding fume PM. These sensors have potential to enable substantially higher levels of hazard surveillance for a given resource cost, especially in resource-limited environments.

An electrokinetic platform was developed for extracting small-molecule pharmaceuticals from ad ried blood spot. Through the exclusion of liquid reagents and use of low field strength (6 Vcm À1 ), the electroextraction of adrug from ad ried blood spot, deposited on ap olymer inclusion membrane (PIM), could be realised while in transit in the mail. In transit sample preparation provides ap otential solution to in situ sample degradation and maya ccelerate the workflow upon arrival of ap atient sample at the analytical facility.T he electroextraction method was enabled through our discovery of the use of 15-20 mmt hin PIMs as electrophoretic separation medium in absence of liquid reagents.Here,aPIM consisting of cellulose triacetate as polymer base,2 -nitrophenyl octyl ether as plasticizer and 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide as carrier was used. The PIM, was packaged with two 12 Vb atteries to supply the separation voltage.Ablood spot containing berberine chloride was deposited and dried before the applying the separation potential, allowing for the electroextraction while the packaged device was shipped in internal mail. Upon arrival in the analytical laboratory,t he PIM was analysed using af luorescence microscope with photon multiplier tube,quantifying the berberine extracted away from the sample matrix. This platform represents an ew opportunity for processing clinical samples during transport to the laboratory,s aving time and manual handling to accelerate the time to result.Personalised medicine,which aims to treat every patient as an individual has been shown to be highly effective with diabetes,b ut expanding the analytical target range is one of the most important challenges of the forthcoming century. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] Aholistic approach to personalised medicine requires ability to detect and quantify as ignificant and diverse range of pharmaceuticals and their metabolites.T he golden standard for point-of-collection testing is the use of immunoassays, however, these frequently suffer from high cross-reactivity given the structural similarity of many pharmaceuticals and their metabolites,h ence few have been accepted for drug monitoring. [9][10][11] Despite recent achievements in Lab on aC hip devices for Point of Care diagnostics, [12,13] significant advances in chemical resolution and sensitivity are required before their widespread use for routine monitoring of pharmaceuticals and their metabolites.Assuch, the capability to detect and quantify as ignificant and diverse range of pharmaceuticals and their metabolites can be anticipated to remain with centralised laboratories commonly using high resolution analytical instrumentation, [14] and this requires the blood and/or urine sample to be sent off for analysis.U pon arrival at the laboratory,t he sample is processed by wetchemistry techniques-manual or with automated instrumentation-and analysed by any number of instruments,with the sample preparation typically the most time-and labourintensive process.The data is th...

An electrokinetic platform was developed for extracting small molecule pharmaceuticals from a dried blood spot. Through the exclusion of liquid reagents and use of low field strength (6 V/cm), the electroextraction of a drug from a dried blood spot, deposited on a polymer inclusion membrane (PIM), could be realised while in transit in the mail. In transit sample preparation provides a potential solution to in-situ sample degradation and may accelerate the workflow upon arrival of a patient sample at the analytical facility. The electroextraction method was enabled through our discovery of the use of 15-20 µm thin PIMs as electrophoretic separation medium in absence of liquid reagents. Here, a PIM consisting of cellulose triacetate as polymer base, 2-nitrophenyl octyl ether as plasticizer and 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide as carrier was used. The PIM, was packaged with two 12 V batteries to supply the separation voltage. A blood spot containing berberine chloride was deposited and dried before the applying the separation