Direct measurement of pregnanediol 3-glucuronide (PDG) in dried urine spots by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry to detect ovulation.

Background: Non-invasive self-testing using an objective chemical method to detect ovulation is valuable for women planning conception, practising contraception or undergoing infertility investigations or treatment.

Methods: Based on luteal phase secretion of progesterone (P) and excretion of its major metabolite, pregnanediol glucuronide (PDG), we developed a novel direct liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LCMS) method to measure PDG and other steroid glucuronides in urine and in dried urine spots (DUS) without deconjugation or derivatization. Urine PDG by LCMS and immunoassay (P3G) and P by immunoassay with and without adjustment for creatinine were evaluated in daily first void urine samples from 10 women through a single menstrual cycle in which ovulation was confirmed by serial transvaginal ultrasound.

A national survey of marine biotoxins in wild-caught abalone in Australia.

The first national survey of Australian wild-caught abalone was conducted between September 2012 and December 2013. The aim of the survey was to determine the presence of paralytic shellfish toxins (PSTs), amnesic shellfish toxins (ASTs), and diarrhetic shellfish toxins (DSTs) in wild-caught abalone at levels above the current Codex marine biotoxin limits during the 2013 fishing season. Abalone (n = 190) were collected from 68 abalone-fishing blocks for which the combined annual harvest accounts for 80 % of Australian production.