Conflict of interest: RCB is the Chairman of the Board of Parion Sciences. Parion Sciences is a privately held UNC spin-out company focused on developing therapies for CF. RCB reports having equity in Parion Sciences and receiving monetary compensation as board chair. BJS holds patents assigned to Duke related to the 19 F imaging technology. HCC holds patents assigned to Duke related to the 19 F imaging technology.

Modern polymer science suffers from the curse of multidimensionality. The large chemical space imposed by including combinations of monomers into a statistical copolymer overwhelms polymer synthesis and characterization technology and limits the ability to systematically study structure–property relationships. To tackle this challenge in the context of 19F magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) agents, we pursued a computer-guided materials discovery approach that combines synergistic innovations in automated flow synthesis and machine learning (ML) method development. A software-controlled, continuous polymer synthesis platform was developed to enable iterative experimental–computational cycles that resulted in the synthesis of 397 unique copolymer compositions within a six-variable compositional space. The nonintuitive design criteria identified by ML, which were accomplished by exploring <0.9% of the overall compositional space, lead to the identification of >10 copolymer compositions that outperformed state-of-the-art materials.

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Effective diagnosis of disease and itsp rogression can be aided by 19 Fm agnetic resonance imaging(MRI) techniques. Specifically,t he inherent sensitivity of the spin-lattice relaxationt ime (T 1)o f 19 Fn uclei to oxygen partial pressure makes 19 FMRI an attractive non-invasive approach to quantify tissue oxygenation in as patiotemporal manner. However,t here are only few materials with the adequate sensitivity to be used as oxygen-sensitive 19 FMRI agentsa t clinically relevant field strengths. Motivated by the limitations in current technologies, we reporth ighly fluorinated monomerst hat provide ap latform approach to realize water-soluble, partially fluorinated copolymers as 19 FMRI agents with the required sensitivityt oq uantify solution oxygenation at clinically relevant magnetic field strengths. The synthesis of as ystematic library of partially fluorinated co-polymers enabled ac omprehensive evaluationo fc opolymer structure-property relationships relevant to 19 FMRI. The highest-performing materialc ompositiond emonstrated a signal-to-noise ratio that corresponded to an apparent 19 F density of 220 mm,w hich surpasses the threshold of 126 mm 19 Fr equired for visualization on at hree Tesla clinical MRI. Furthermore, the T 1 of these high performing materials demonstrated al inear relationship with solution oxygenation, with oxygen sensitivity reaching 240 10 À5 mmHg À1 s À1. The relationships between material composition and 19 FMRI performance identified herein suggest general structureproperty criteria for the furtheri mprovement of modular, water-soluble 19 FMRI agents for quantifying oxygenation in environments relevant to medical imaging.

Mycotoxins produced by Fusarium plant pathogen species have harmful effects on humans and livestock by natural contamination in food and feed. Zearalenone, one of the well-known Fusarium mycotoxins, causes hyperestrogenism and toxicosis resulting in reproductive dysfunction in animals. This study investigated the occurrence of zearalenone in feedstuffs (compound feeds, feed ingredients) between 2009 and 2016 in South Korea to obtain information on zearalenone contamination in feeds for management. A total of 653 animal feed samples (494 compound feeds, 159 feed ingredients) produced domestically were sampled five times from 2009 to 2016 (2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016) from feed factories in South Korea. The levels of zearalenone were analyzed every year by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) after pretreatment with an immunoaffinity column showing limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) of 0.1–3 μg/kg and 0.3–8 μg/kg, respectively. Four feed samples out of 494 compound feeds exceeded the EU and South Korea commission regulations over the eight-year test period, and no feed ingredients exceeded the guidelines.