scholarly journals The limitations and capabilities of wipe samples analysis in control of contamination of facilities with highly toxic organic compounds

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
MD Shachneva ◽  
MA Leninskii ◽  
EI Savelieva

Wipe sampling is widely used for microbiological control purposes. Sanitary and chemical studies also include analysis of samples wiped from the work surfaces during routine and periodic working conditions safety inspections at chemical facilities. The analysis also allows assessing the toxicity and hazard of items/structures that could be in contact with highly toxic substances. This study aimed to investigate the capabilities and limitations of the surface wipe sample analysis method in control of residual contamination of equipment and building structures of a former chemical weapons destruction facilities (CWDF) with sulfur mustard and O-isobutyl-S(2-diethylaminoethyl) methylphosphonothioate (VR), as well as their degradation products. Gas chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) enabled identification of the sulfur mustard markers, high-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) allowed identifying VR markers. An assessment of the matrix influence on the results of GC-MS/MS and HPLC-MS/MS analysis was carried out. The matrix effect was established to affect the results the most in case of HPLC-MS/MS analysis: for GC-MS/MS analysis of target substances, the matrix factor averaged at 60–80%, for HPLC-MS/ MS it was less than 40%. The average percent sulfur mustard recoveries from three types of surfaces (PVC tiles, laminate and metal plates) was 9 ± 2%, 0.13 ± 0.02% and 0.10 ± 0.03%; in case of VR, the recoveries was 2.7 ± 0.5%, 11.8 ± 0.3% and 0.8 ± 0.1%, respectively. The limits of detection for sulfur mustard by GC-MS/MS and VR by HPLC-MS/MS were established at 0.001 MPL and 0.02 MPL, respectively. The developed approaches were applied to the analysis of wipe samples from the surfaces of the equipment and engineering structures of the former CWDF.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
DV Gulyaev

After elimination of the chemical weapons, it is necessary to relieve the consequences of operation of the chemical weapons destruction facilities (CWDF). This study aimed to assess the results of such relieve activities from the hygienic point of view. The assessment allows considering partial conversion of the CWDFs' infrastructure for civil purposes. At four CWDFs, the sites of contamination of equipment and infrastructural components with degradition products of organophosphorous agents (OPA) and blister agents (BA) were identified. The technologies that enabled analysis of the samples taken were high performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry, gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry, and atomic absorption spectroscopy with electrothermal atomization. The analysis revealed contamination of building structures, equipment, utility lines, waterproofing, heatinsulating, and other materials inside the CWDF process buildings, regardless of their purpose, with OPA and BA degradation products. In the absence of hygienic standards and information on their toxicity, it was impossible to assess the hazard thereof. In all the samples taken, the residual content of toxic substances was below the limit of detection of the measurement methods applied, i.e., none was found. The article presents a methodology for a stepwise hygienic assessment of the CWDF infrastructure to be converted and develops recommendations for its subsequent safe use. The conclusions state expediency of development of hygienic standards for the OPA and BA degradation products and development and certification of the relevant measurement procedures.


2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (Supplement_6) ◽  
pp. vi147-vi147
Author(s):  
Aline Paixao Becker ◽  
Erica Hlavin Bell ◽  
S Jaharul Haque ◽  
Joseph McElroy ◽  
Jessica Fleming ◽  
...  

Abstract Herein, we aimed to scrutinize tumor heterogeneity of infiltrative gliomas based on histopathological phenotypes, through proteomic profiling of formalin-fixed, paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissue. FFPE tissues are promising samples for proteomic studies, which can support the elucidation of glioma evolution and identify therapeutically vulnerable proteins and signaling pathways that drive recurrence and resistance mechanisms. We represented 2–3 adjacent, phenotypically distinct areas from 12 grade II-IV gliomas diagnosed according to the 2016 WHO classification, in a total of 35 samples (1.0mm cores), that were analyzed employing liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for label-free expression proteomics. The statistical analysis was performed using R and Qlucore™ omics explorer software. Overall, 9222 peptides were mapped to 1758 non-redundant proteins, 320 of which had a significant (p< 0.05) differential expression in glioblastomas versus lower grade gliomas (Wilcoxon test comparing average expression). Principal component analysis (PCA) of the whole set of proteins showed clustering of the samples by tumor grade and IDH status. Unsupervised hierarchical analysis of the most significantly expressed proteins (p= 0.01, FDR= 0.05) showed that IDHwt gliomas had high expression of proteins related to cell movement, DNA structure, and fatty acid metabolism throughout the samples. IDHmut gliomas largely displayed high expression of mitochondrial enzymes related to energy production and neurotransmitter metabolism, with subsets closely related to 1p19q status and histological grade. Importantly, we demonstrated that LC-MS/MS analysis of FFPE core samples is feasible and enables recognition of different proteome signatures across histopathological phenotypes within a single tumor. This is the first study, to our knowledge, exploring proteome profiles addressing histopathological heterogeneity in gliomas by LC-MS/MS analysis of FFPE samples, which warrants further validation in independent datasets including ones that utilize frozen specimens. FUNDING: R01CA108633, R01CA169368, RC2CA148190, U10CA180850-01 (NCI), Brain Tumor Funders Collaborative Grant, and the Ohio State University CCC (all to AC).


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