The common methods to detect zearalenone (ZEN) in edible oils need organic solvents to extract ZEN and then some sample purification process before detection, so, it is not convenient for...

It has been reported that flow cytometry can be used as a reference procedure to determine sperm concentrations in quality control schemes in andrology laboratories, but there are no convincing quality control data. To understand comprehensively whether flow cytometry can be used to determine sperm concentration, sperm concentrations of 85 human semen samples were detected using three different methods, namely flow cytometry, computer-assisted semen analysis (CASA) and manual counting with a cell-VU chamber. The bead concentrations of both low [(18+/-2.5)x10(6)/mL] and high [(35+/-5)x10(6)/mL] pre-calibrated standard latex bead solutions were also determined with flow cytometry. The results showed that bead concentrations of both low and high pre-calibrated standard latex bead solutions counted five times with flow cytometry were (21.37+/-0.85)x10(6)/mL and (45.95+/-1.76)x10(6)/mL, respectively. Coefficient variances (CVs) and relative errors (REs) were 4%, 15.51% and 3.84%, 31.3% for low and high latex bead solutions, respectively. The overall correlation between values measured with flow cytometry and values measured with the cell-VU chamber and the CASA system was significant. However, flow cytometry overestimated the sperm concentration by 109% compared to the results with the cell-VU chamber. Moreover, for the azoospermic samples analysed, the sperm concentration was estimated at 0.12 (range from 0.04 to 0.24)x10(6)/mL. In conclusion, the data demonstrated that flow cytometry can result in an overestimation of both bead counting and sperm concentration, suggesting that flow cytometry is an inappropriate method for sperm counting, especially in the case of azoospermia.

In this study, a rapid and sensitive immunoassay method has been established based on calibration curve implanted enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (C-ELISA) for the simultaneously quantitative determination of aflatoxin B1, deoxynivalenol and zearalenone in cereal samples, soybean and peanut. The C-ELISA avoids using the standard substances during the detection. The principle of the C-ELISA is to implant the optimized standard curve data into the matched analysis software which can make data processing more convenient and faster. The implanted calibration curve software was programmed with C plus plus. In the new immunoassay system for aflatoxin B1, deoxynivalenol and zearalenone, their linear detection ranges were from 0.03~0.81, 1.00~27.00 and 5.00~135.00 ng/g, respectively. Recovery rates from spiked samples ranged from 85% to 110% with the intra-assay coefficients of variation under 5%. Compared with HPLC method, the new method showed consistence in all the observed contents of the three mycotoxins in real samples. The new method can rapidly and reliably high throughput simultaneously screen for multiplex mycotoxins.

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Mycotoxin contamination is a serious threat to food safety and human health. The development of efficient degradation strategies targeting mycotoxins is valuable. In this paper, magnetic TiO 2 @SiO 2 hybrid photonic crystal microspheres (MHPCMs) were designed and prepared by the water-in-oil droplet method through a simple two-phase home-made microfluidic device for the degradation of deoxynivalenol (DON), the most serious mycotoxin contaminating cereals and feeding samples among natural mycotoxins. The morphologies of the synthesized microspheres were investigated by both metallurgical microscope and scanning electronic microscope (SEM), confirming that MHPCMs have a spherical shape and regular photonic crystal nanostructures. In the self-assembly system, TiO 2 and Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles were responsible to form photocatalytic sites and magnet response, respectively. The effect of the TiO 2 and Fe 3 O 4 contents in the microspheres on their morphology and photocatalytic degradation activity was studied in detail. Finally, the optimized MHPCM could degrade DON in water under the light irradiation and be recycled easily by magnet.