Discovery of novel biomarkers is critical for early diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Serum metabolite profiling of ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), unstable angina (UA) and healthy controls was performed using gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC/MS), solid-phase microextraction coupled to gas chromatography mass spectrometry (SPME-GC/MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR). Multivariate data analysis revealed a metabolic signature that could robustly discriminate STEMI patients from both healthy controls and UA patients. This panel of biomarkers consisted of 19 metabolites identified in the serum of STEMI patients. One of the most intriguing biomarkers among these metabolites is hydrogen sulfide (H2S), an endogenous gasotransmitter with profound effect on the heart. Serum H2S absolute levels were further investigated using a quantitative double-antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). This highly sensitive immunoassay confirmed the elevation of serum H2S in STEMI patients. H2S level discriminated between UA and STEMI groups, providing an initial insight into serum-free H2S bioavailability during ACS. In conclusion, the current study provides a detailed map illustrating the most predominant altered metabolic pathways and the biochemical linkages among the biomarker metabolites identified in STEMI patients. Metabolomics analysis may yield novel predictive biomarkers that will potentially allow for an earlier medical intervention.

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This work reviews the literature of chiral capillary electrokinetic chromatography from January 2016 to March 2021. This is done to explore the state-of-the-art approach and recent developments carried out in this field. The separation principle of the technique is described and supported with simple graphical illustrations, showing migration under normal and reversed polarity modes of the separation voltage. The most relevant applications of the technique for enantioseparation of drugs and other enantiomeric molecules in different fields using chiral selectors in single, dual, or multiple systems are highlighted. Measures to improve the detection sensitivity of chiral capillary electrokinetic chromatography with UV detector are discussed, and the alternative aspects are explored, besides special emphases to hyphenation compatibility to mass spectrometry. Partial filling and counter migration techniques are described. Indirect identification of the separated enantiomers and the determination of enantiomeric migration order are mentioned. The application of Quality by Design principles to facilitate method development, optimization, and validation is presented. The elucidation and explanation of chiral recognition in molecular bases are discussed with special focus on the role of molecular modeling.

The present study describes a generic strategy using capillary electrophoretic (CE) method for chiral enantioseparation of anti-Alzheimer drugs, namely, donepezil (DON), rivastigmine (RIV), and antifungal drugs, namely, ketoconazole (KET), Itraconazole (ITR), fluconazole (FLU), and sertaconazole (SRT) in which these drugs have different basic and acidic properties. Several modified cyclodextrins (CDs) were applied for enantioseparation of racemates such as highly sulfated α, γ CDs, hydroxyl propyl-β-CD, and Sulfobutyl ether-β-CD. The starting screening conditions consist of 50-mM phosphate-triethanolamine buffer at pH 2.5, an applied voltage of 15 kV, and a temperature of 25°C. The CE strategy implemented in the separation starts by screening prior to the optimization stage in which an experimental design is applied. The design of experiment (DOE) was based on a full factorial design of the crucial two factors (pH and %CD) at three levels, to make a total of nine (3 ) experiments with high, intermediate, and low values for both factors. Evaluation of the proposed strategy pointed out that best resolution was obtained at pH 2.5 for five racemates using low percentages of HS-γ-CD, while SBE-β-CD was the most successful chiral selector offering acceptable resolution for all the six racemates, with the best separation at low pH values and at higher %CD within 10-min runtime. Regression study showed that the linear model shows a significant lack of fit for all chiral selectors, anticipating that higher orders of the factors are most likely to be present in the equation with possible interactions.

The main aim of this study was to assess the vitamin D status of newly diagnosed knee osteoarthritis (OA) patients. Thirty-six post-menopausal Egyptian females of mean age 54.7 years with knee OA were recruited alongside ten healthy males of mean age 25.8 years. The body mass index of all knee OA patients was calculated, and full patient history was gathered to screen for vitamin D status altering conditions or medication. Total 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] was assessed using HPLC which permitted an individualized assessment of both forms of the vitamin's metabolite, 25(OH)D2 and 25(OH)D3. Results showed that mean 25(OH)D ± SEM concentrations were 25.0 ± 1.6 ng/mL and 35.4 ± 2.1 ng/mL for female patients and healthy male participants, respectively. Student's t test statistical comparison yielded a significant result (P = 0.001) when comparing healthy and osteoarthritic participants, and insignificant results when comparing patients of different BMI class, and the different forms of the vitamin's metabolite (P = 0.184 and 0.335, respectively). The 95 % confidence interval associated with knee OA incidence is 21.9-28.1 ng/mL, which is in the vitamin D insufficiency zone. In Conclusion, suboptimal 25(OH)D levels are associated with knee OA incidence in post-menopausal Egyptian females which further fortifies accumulating evidence.