Miniaturized dielectric barrier discharge-molecular emission spectrometer for determination of total sulfur dioxide in food.

SO is a type of additive widely used in the food processing industry as preservative and anti-browning, bleaching, or effective antibacterial agent. However, the SO residue can have adverse effects on human health. In this work, a low-temperature microplasma generated by dielectric barrier discharge was used for the direct, in situ excitation of the molecular emission of SO in food samples.

Mixture cytotoxicity assessment of ionic liquids and heavy metals in MCF-7 cells using mixtox.

Ionic liquids (ILs) are widely used as extractants for heavy metals. However, the effect of mixtures of ILs and heavy metals is rarely understood. In this study, we tested the cytotoxicity of four ILs, four heavy metals and their mixtures on human MCF-7 cells in 96-well microplates.

Recursive Random Forests Enable Better Predictive Performance and Model Interpretation than Variable Selection by LASSO.

Variable selection is of crucial significance in QSAR modeling since it increases the model predictive ability and reduces noise. The selection of the right variables is far more complicated than the development of predictive models. In this study, eight continuous and categorical data sets were employed to explore the applicability of two distinct variable selection methods random forests (RF) and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO).

Two-stage prediction of the effects of imidazolium and pyridinium ionic liquid mixtures on luciferase.

The predicted toxicity of mixtures of imidazolium and pyridinium ionic liquids (ILs) in the ratios of their EC50, EC10, and NOEC (no observed effect concentration) were compared to the observed toxicity of these mixtures on luciferase. The toxicities of EC50 ratio mixture can be effectively predicted by two-stage prediction (TSP) method, but were overestimated by the concentration addition (CA) model and underestimated by the independent action (IA) model. The toxicities of EC10 ratio mixtures can be basically predicted by TSP and CA, but were underestimated by IA.

Predicting synergistic toxicity of heavy metals and ionic liquids on photobacterium Q67.

Results from three mathematical approaches to predict the toxicity of uniform design mixtures of four heavy metals (HMs) including Cd(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), and Zn(II) and six ionic liquids (ILs) were compared to the observed toxicity of these mixtures on Vibrio qinghaiensis sp.-Q67. Single toxicity analysis indicated that the ILs had greater toxicity than the HMs.

Predicting mixture toxicity of seven phenolic compounds with similar and dissimilar action mechanisms to Vibrio qinghaiensis sp.nov.Q67.

The predictions of mixture toxicity for chemicals are commonly based on two models: concentration addition (CA) and independent action (IA). Whether the CA and IA can predict mixture toxicity of phenolic compounds with similar and dissimilar action mechanisms was studied. The mixture toxicity was predicted on the basis of the concentration-response data of individual compounds.

Predicting hormetic effects of ionic liquid mixtures on luciferase activity using the concentration addition model.

The concept of hormesis has generated considerable interest within the environmental and toxicological communities over the past decades. However, toxicological evaluation and prediction of hormesis in mixtures are challenging and only just unfolding. The hormetic effects of ten ionic liquids (ILs), singly and in mixtures in the ratios of their individual EC50, EC10, EC0, and ECm (maximal stimulatory effect concentration), on luciferase luminescence were determined by using microplate toxicity analysis.

Comparison between the short-term and the long-term toxicity of six triazine herbicides on photobacteria Q67.

The bioluminescence inhibition of six triazine herbicides including desmetryne (DES), simetryn (SIM), velpar (VEL), prometon (PRO), metribuzin (MET), and aminotriazine (AMI) on Vibrio qinghaiensis sp.-Q67 (Q67) was determined to investigate the effects of exposure duration on the ecotoxicological relevance of triazine herbicides. Based on the short-term microplate toxicity analysis (MTA), a long-term MTA was established to assess the impact of exposure time on the toxicities of the herbicides.

Prediction for the mixture toxicity of six organophosphorus pesticides to the luminescent bacterium Q67.

Organophosphorus (OP) pesticides are ubiquitous in the surface water as mixtures. To examine the mixture toxicity in the multi-component space, the uniform design (UD) which can explore the concentration changes with few experimental efforts was employed to design the mixtures. On the other hand, the fixed concentration ratio ray was applied into six UD mixtures and two equivalent-effect concentration mixtures to build the whole concentration-response curves to overcome the demerit of the classical "point-to-point" method.

A new predictive model for the bioconcentration factors of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) based on the molecular electronegativity distance vector (MEDV).

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are some of the most prevalent pollutants in the total environment and receive more and more concerns as a group of ubiquitous potential persistent organic pollutants. Using the variable selection and modeling based on prediction (VSMP), the molecular electronegativity distance vector (MEDV) derived directly from the molecular topological structures was employed to develop a linear model (MI) between the bioconcentration factors (BCF) and two MEDV descriptors of 58 PCBs. The MI model showed a good estimation ability with a correlation coefficient (r) of 0.