Publications by authors named "Douglas R Toal"
Introduction: Analysis of blood for the evaluation of clinically relevant biomarkers requires precise collection and sample handling by phlebotomists and laboratory staff. An important consideration for the clinical application of metabolomics are the different anticoagulants utilized for sample collection. Most studies that have characterized differences in metabolite levels in various blood collection tubes have focused on single analytes.
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- Whole-exome sequencing has enhanced the diagnosis of genetic diseases, leading to the development of a clinical metabolomics method that uses mass spectrometry to screen for metabolic disorders by measuring hundreds of metabolites in a single sample.
- A precision study was conducted on human plasma to assess the reliability of four high-throughput metabolomics platforms, revealing a range of laboratory and inter-assay coefficient of variations (CVs) indicating good precision across samples.
- The evaluation confirms that the method is robust and reproducible for identifying key metabolites related to inborn errors of metabolism (IEMs), demonstrating its effectiveness in patient screening through consistent analytical results.
Background: Clinical practice guidelines recommend estimation of glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) using validated equations based on serum creatinine (eGFRcr), cystatin C (eGFRcys), or both (eGFRcr-cys). However, when compared with the measured GFR (mGFR), only eGFRcr-cys meets recommended performance standards. Our goal was to develop a more accurate eGFR method using a panel of metabolites without creatinine, cystatin C, or demographic variables.
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- - Metabolomics involves the untargeted analysis of small molecules in biological samples, revealing a global biochemical profile influenced by genetics, environment, and microbiomes, linking it to health outcomes.
- - The technology, used for over a decade in research, holds promise for clinical diagnostics across various fields, but its application must consider distinct challenges compared to research settings to ensure meaningful results.
- - Future advancements are needed to integrate metabolomics into clinical practice and gain recognition in the medical and regulatory fields, focusing on aspects like test design, data accuracy, and individual biochemical analysis.
Article Synopsis
- - The study identifies x11564 as a new organosulfur metabolite using mass spectrometry data analysis.
- - Its chemical structure was verified by comparing it to a synthetic version of the metabolite.
- - x11564 is related to compounds found in the methionine salvage pathway, suggesting a specific biological role.
Introduction: A major bottleneck in metabolomic studies is metabolite identification from accurate mass spectrometric data. Metabolite x17299 was identified in plasma as an unknown in a metabolomic study using a compound-centric approach where the associated ion features of the compound were used to determine the true molecular mass.
Objectives: The aim of this work is to elucidate the chemical structure of x17299, a new compound by de novo interpretation of mass spectrometric data.
LC-MS/MS method for quantitation of seven biomarkers in human plasma for the assessment of insulin resistance and impaired glucose tolerance.
J Chromatogr B Analyt Technol Biomed Life Sci
October 2016
Early detection of insulin resistance (IR) and/or impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) is crucial for delaying and preventing the progression toward type 2 diabetes. We recently developed and validated a straightforward metabolite-based test for the assessment of IR and IGT in a single LC-MS/MS method. Plasma samples were diluted with isotopically-labeled internal standards and extracted by simple protein precipitation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Multiantibiotic-resistant bacteria pose a threat to patients and place an economic burden on health care systems. Carbapenem-resistant bacilli and extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) producers drive the need to screen infected and colonized patients for patient management and infection control.
Methods: We describe a multiplex microfluidic PCR test for perianal swab samples (Acuitas(®) MDRO Gene Test, OpGen) that detects the vancomycin-resistance gene vanA plus hundreds of gene subtypes from the carbapenemase and ESBL families Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC), New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase (NDM), Verona integron-mediated metallo-β-lactamase (VIM), imipenemase metallo-β-lactamase (IMP), OXA-23, OXA-48, OXA-51, CTX-M-1, and CTX-M-2, regardless of the bacterial species harboring the antibiotic resistance.