An illegal hormone used to promote milk production could soon be easy to detect in dairy herds, thanks to scientists in the Netherlands.

The hormone – recombinant bovine somatotropin (rbST) – is licensed in some countries, but, despite having no influence on human health, its use is banned in Europe due to concerns over the health and welfare of treated animals.

The direct detection of rbST is hindered by its similarity to the natural growth hormone produced by the animals, bST. Its blood serum concentration fluctuates significantly, and both bST and rbST are present at low concentrations. Measurements by methods such as liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry also suffer from a small detection window because of the short half-life of rbST in the blood.

The hormone recombinant bovine somatotropin is licensed in some countries, but its use is banned in EuropeT

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Multiplex flow cytometric immunoassay for serum biomarker profiling of recombinant bovine somatotropin

Nathalie Gabriëlle Esther Smits, Susann Ludwig, Grisha Van der Veer, Monique Bremer and Michel W F Nielen
Analyst, 2012, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/C2AN35226E

A team working in the UK have demonstrated that spatially offset Raman spectroscopy (SORS) using short wave infrared can detect chemicals through physical barriers such as containers, which is a step forward in detection and security.

The performance of SORS compared to conventional Raman (CR) spectroscopy to detect the sub-surface layer beneath a barrier is better because of its ability to suppress fluorescence and Raman scattering from the target container. However, there is still a problem with the fluorescence of the target chemical beneath, as this can mask the useful Raman signature that can be used to identify the contents.

Schematic diagram of experimental configuration used for 1064nm SORS measurements

To read the full article visit Chemistry World.

Short-wave infrared excited spatially offset Raman spectroscopy (SORS) for through-barrier detection

Rebecca J. Hopkins ,  Suzanne H. Pelfrey and Neil C. Shand
Analyst, 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2AN35681C

Thomson Reuters has just released the 2011 Journal Citation Reports ^® and we have great news for Analyst.

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*The IF provides an indication of the average number of citations per paper. Produced annually, IFs are calculated by dividing the number of citations in a year, by the number of citeable articles published in the preceding two years.

2011 Journal Citation Reports ®, (Thomson Reuters, 2012).