EXPRESS: Landmark Publications in Analytical Atomic Spectrometry: Fundamentals and Instrumentation Development.

The almost-two-centuries history of spectrochemical analysis has generated a body of literature so vast that it has become nearly intractable for experts, much less for those wishing to enter the field. Authoritative, focused reviews help to address this problem but become so granular that the overall directions of the field are lost. This broader perspective can be provided partially by general overviews but then the thinking, experimental details, theoretical underpinnings and instrumental innovations of the original work must be sacrificed.

Wireless Data Acquisition of Transient Signals for Mobile Spectrometry Applications.

Wireless data acquisition using smartphones or handhelds offers increased mobility, it provides reduced size and weight, it has low electrical power requirements, and (in some cases) it has an ability to access the internet. Thus, it is well suited for mobile spectrometry applications using miniaturized, field-portable spectrometers, or detectors for chemical analysis in the field (i.e.

Battery-operated, argon-hydrogen microplasma on hybrid, postage stamp-sized plastic-quartz chips for elemental analysis of liquid microsamples using a portable optical emission spectrometer.

A battery-operated, atmospheric pressure, self-igniting, planar geometry Ar-H(2) microplasma for elemental analysis of liquid microsamples is described. The inexpensive microplasma device (MPD) fabricated for this work was a hybrid plastic-quartz structure that was formed on chips with an area (roughly) equal to that of a small-sized postage stamp (MPD footprint, 12.5-mm width by 38-mm length).

Nonamyloid aggregates arising from mature copper/zinc superoxide dismutases resemble those observed in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Protein aggregation is a hallmark of many diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) where aggregation of copper/zinc superoxide dismutase (SOD1) is implicated in pathogenesis. We report here that fully metallated (holo) SOD1 under physiologically relevant solution conditions can undergo changes in metallation and/or dimerization over time and form aggregates that do not exhibit classical characteristics of amyloid. The relevance of the observed aggregation to disease is demonstrated by structural and tinctorial analyses, including the novel observation of binding of an anti-SOD1 antibody that specifically recognizes aggregates in ALS patients and mice models.

Helium-hydrogen microplasma device (MPD) on postage-stamp-size plastic-quartz chips.

A new design of a miniaturized, atmospheric-pressure, low-power (e.g., battery-operated), self-igniting, planar-geometry microplasma device (MPD) for use with liquid microsamples is described.

Micromachined, planar-geometry, atmospheric-pressure, battery-operated microplasma devices (MPDs) on chips for analysis of microsamples of liquids, solids, or gases by optical-emission spectrometry.

Because of their desirable characteristics, for example small size, lightness, low power and gas consumption, and potential for portability, miniaturized plasma sources are receiving significant attention in the scientific literature. To take advantage of these characteristics we micromachined and fabricated new, planar-geometry, self-igniting, atmospheric-pressure microplasma devices (MPDs) on chips. These microplasmas required such low power for their operation they could be operated from a re-chargeable battery (of the type used in cordless power-tools).

Purification and characterization of an iron-containing alcohol dehydrogenase in extremely thermophilic bacterium Thermotoga hypogea.

Thermotoga hypogea is an extremely thermophilic anaerobic bacterium capable of growing at 90 degrees C. It uses carbohydrates and peptides as carbon and energy sources to produce acetate, CO(2), H(2), L-alanine and ethanol as end products. Alcohol dehydrogenase activity was found to be present in the soluble fraction of T.

68Zn isotope exchange experiments reveal an unusual kinetic lability of the metal ions in the di-zinc form of IMP-1 metallo-beta-lactamase.

The apparently paradoxical behaviour of facile exchange (kinetic lability) of tightly bound (thermodynamic stability) zinc ions in the enzyme IMP-1 metallo-beta-lactamase with Zn-68 and cadmium ions, as indicated by in-torch vaporization inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ITV-ICP-MS) and electrospray-ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), is consistent with the involvement of a third metal ion in promoting Lewis acid/base type exchange processes.

Simultaneous determination of the Cd and Zn total body burden of individual, nearly microscopic, nanoliter-volume aquatic organisms ( Hyalella azteca) by rhenium-cup in-torch vaporization (ITV) sample introduction and axially viewed ICP-AES.

The Cd and Zn total body burden of individual, up to 7-day-old aquatic organisms (Hyalella azteca benthic amphipod) with an average volume of approximately 100 nL was determined simultaneously by using rhenium-cup (Re-cup) in-torch vaporization (ITV) sample introduction and an axially viewed inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) system. The direct elemental analysis capabilities of this system (i.e.