• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.41-51
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• 2020

Microbes influence many aspects of human life from the environment to health, yet evaluating their biological processes at the chemical level can be problematic. Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) enables direct evaluation of microbial chemical processes at the atomic to molecular levels without destruction of valuable two-dimensional information. MSI is a label-free method that allows multiplex spatiotemporal visualization of atomic- or molecular-level information of microbial and microberelated samples. As a result, microbial MSI has become an important field for both mass spectrometrists and microbiologists. In this review, basic techniques for microbial MSI, such as ionization methods and analyzers, are explored. In addition, we discuss practical applications of microbial MSI and various data-processing techniques.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.12-15
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• 2014

Thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) was used to determine the concentration and isotope ratio of uranium contained in samples of soil and groundwater collected from Korea. Quantification of uranium in ground water samples was performed by isotope dilution mass spectrometry. A series of chemical treatment processes, including chemical separation using extraction chromatography, was applied to the soil samples to extract the uranium. No treatments other than filtration were applied to the groundwater samples. Isotopic analyses by TIMS showed that the isotope ratios of uranium in both the soil and water samples were indistinguishable from those of naturally abundant uranium. The concentration of uranium in the groundwater samples was within the U.S. acceptable standards for drinking water. These results demonstrate the utility of TIMS for monitoring uranium in environmental samples with high analytical reliability.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.117-122
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• 2019

This study demonstrated the sensitivity of electron capture dissociation mass spectrometry (ECD-MS) to probe subtle conformational changes in gaseous melittin ions induced by the substitution of an amino acid. ECD-MS was performed for triply and quadruply-protonated melittin and its variants obtained by a single amino acid substitution, namely, D-Pro14, Pro14Ala, and Leu13Ala. Although native triply-protonted melittin showed only a few peptide backbone cleavage products, the D-Pro14 and Pro14Ala variants exhibited extensive backbone fragments, suggesting the occurrence of a significant structural or conformational change induced by a single amino acid substitution at Pro14. On the contrary, the substitution at Leu13, namely Leu13Ala (+3), did not cause significant changes in the ECD backbone fragmentation pattern. Thus, the sensitivity of ECD-MS is demonstrated to be good enough to probe the aforementioned conformational change in melittin.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.104-109
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• 2023

Anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) are used illegally to enhance muscle development and increase strength and power. In this study, a reliable, and sensitive quantitative method was developed and validated using heptafluorobutyric acid anhydride (HFPA) derivatives for the simultaneous detection of prohibited AAS (testosterone [TS], boldenone [BD], 5α-estrane-3β,17α-diol [EAD]) using gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). For processing the samples, solid phase extraction, methanolic hydrolysis, and liquid-liquid extraction were used. For detection using mass spectrometry, the multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode was used with the electron ionization (EI) positive mode. The method was evaluated for selectivity, linearity, lower limit of quantification, intra- and inter-day precision, accuracy, and stability. The results showed that the method was accurate and reproducible for the quantitation of the three steroids. The developed method was finally applied to the analysis of a suspect gelding urine sample received from the Asian Quality Assurance Program (AQAP).

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.26-39
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• 2024

Gold nanostructures (Au NSs) are useful and interesting matrices for mass spectrometric analysis of various biomolecules based on organic matrix-free laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LDI-TOF-MS). Au NSs provide high efficiency and versatility in LDI-TOF-MS analysis based on their well-established synthesis and surface functionalization, large surface area, high laser absorption capacity, and photothermal conversion efficiency. Therefore, Au NSs based LDI-TOF-MS can be a facile, functional, and efficient analytical method for important small biomolecules owing to its simple preparation, rapid analysis, salt-tolerance, signal reproducibility, and quantitative analysis. This review chronologically summarizes the important advance of Au NSs-based LDI-TOF-MS platforms in terms of in-depth mechanism, signal enhancement, quantitative analysis, and disease diagnosis.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.31-40
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• 2016

The analysis of nuclear materials and environmental samples is an important issue in nuclear safeguards and nuclear forensics. An analysis technique for safeguard samples has been developed for the detection of undeclared nuclear activities and verification of declared nuclear activities, while nuclear forensics has been developed to trace the origins and intended use of illicitly trafficked nuclear or radioactive materials. In these two analytical techniques, mass spectrometry has played an important role in determining the isotope ratio of various nuclides, contents of trace elements, and production dates. These two techniques typically use similar analytical instruments, but the analytical procedure and the interpretation of analytical results differ depending on the analytical purpose. The isotopic ratio of the samples is considered the most important result in an environmental sample analysis, while age dating and impurity analysis may also be important for nuclear forensics. In this review, important aspects of these techniques are compared and the role of mass spectrometry, along with recent progress in related technologies, are discussed.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.63-67
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• 2012

The need of heavy and unconventional crude oil as an energy source is increasing day by day, so does the importance of petroleomics: the pursuit of detailed knowledge of heavy crude oil. Crude oil needs techniques with ultra-high resolving capabilities to resolve its complex characteristics. Therefore, ultra-high resolution mass spectrometry represented by Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) has been successfully applied to the study of heavy and unconventional crude oils. The analysis of crude oil with high resolution mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) has pushed analysis to the limits of instrumental and methodological capabilities. Each high-resolution mass spectrum of crude oil may routinely contain over 50,000 peaks. To visualize and effectively study the large amount of data sets is not trivial. Therefore, data processing and visualization methods such as Kendrick mass defect and van Krevelen analyses and statistical analyses have played an important role. In this regard, it will not be an overstatement to say that the success of FT-ICR MS to the study of crude oil has been critically dependent on data processing methods. Therefore, this review offers introduction to peotroleomic data interpretation methods.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.8-11
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• 2011

Two types of glycerolipids [monoacylglycerols (MAG) and cyclitols] were isolated by reversed phase high-performance liquid chromatography from the methanol extracts of a marine sponge, and analyzed by fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry (FAB-MS) in positive-ion mode. FAB mass spectra of these compounds yielded protonated molecules $[M + H]^+$ and abundant sodiated molecules $[M + Na]^+$ from a mixture of 3-nitrobenzyl alcohol and NaI. The structures of these compounds were elucidated by FAB-collisional-induced dissociation (CID)-tandem mass spectrometry. We carried out collision-indused dissociation (CID) of these lipids in B/E-linked scan mode. The CID B/E-linked scan of $[M + H]^+$ and $[M + Na]^+$ precursor ions resulted in the formation of numerous characteristic product ions through a series of dissociative processes. The product ions formed by charge-remote fragmentation (CRF) provided important information for the identification of the acyl chain structure substituted at the glycerol backbone. Some of the product the ions were diagnostic for the presence of a glycerol backbone or acyl chain structure.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.415-420
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• 2013

A determination method for $^{237}Np$ in spent nuclear fuel samples was developed using an isotope dilution method with $^{239}Np$ as a spike. In this method, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was taken for the $^{237}Np$ instead of the previously used alpha spectrometry. $^{237}Np$ and $^{239}Np$ were measured by ICP-MS and gamma spectrometry, respectively. The recovery yield of $^{237}Np$ in synthetic samples was $95.9{\pm}9.7$% (1S, n=4). The $^{237}Np$ contents in the spent fuel samples were 0.15, 0.25, and $1.06{\mu}g/mgU$ and these values were compared with those from ORIGEN-2 code. A fairly good agreement between the measurements (m) and calculations (c) was obtained, giving ratios (m/c) of 0.93, 1.12 and 1.25 for the three PWR spent fuel samples with burnups of 16.7, 19.0, and 55.9 GWd/MtU, respectively.

• Journal of Wellbeing Management and Applied Psychology
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.37-46
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• 2022

Purpose: This study examines the history of the evolution of MS analysis and intends to consider the future direction of technological development through the difference from the latest technology, SIFT-MS. Research design, data and methodology: A method of analysis will be described in detail at the below by SIFT-MS (Selected Ion Flow Mass Spectrometry), which is a technology developed by a company called SIFT Technologies. Results: The initial concept of mass spectrometry was begun in the late 1890s, and it continues to evolve even after the 21st century through the ripening stage of the 20th century. The development process of mass spectrometry by year has been described in detail in the Main text. Conclusions: Mass spectrometry, qualitative and quantitative analysis of substances plays a very important role in the research and medical fields. The development of these analytical methods is expected to continue in the future, and faster and more accurate qualitative analysis and mass spectrometry will be developed than the level currently reached. In addition, it is expected that hardware and software will be configured so that non-analysis experts can handle it easily, and it will be used as a technology that is more closely related to our lives.