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Shimadzu LabSolutions Postrun software isn’t always the easiest to use, and the funky translations from the Japanese version don’t help. After a few years using it, I’m sharing what I’ve learned in a quick guide to some of the most important and commonly-used functions for any analyst.

1. Extracted Ion Chromatograms (EICs)

Often, you’ll want to get a trace of when a specific ion’s m/z is seen over time. Basically, you’ll want to extract a chromatogram (signal over time) for a specific ion from all the data. This is in contrast to a Total Ion Chromatogram (TIC), which sums up the total number of counts for all ions with any m/z, and displays it over time. The TIC lets you know when there’s a peak, but it can be misleading if you’re using a dirty column, have impurities from the vials/septa/mobile phases that fly well, etc, and it may obscure small peaks that you are interested in if they are low abundance or don’t ionize well.

Under MS Data, just click “Data View Parameters” in the top left of the sidebar. From there, just type in the desired m/z values. “Event” refers to the polarity — for positive mode, it’s “1” on our system, and “2” for negative. Feel free to get a bunch of EICs for everything you’re interested in using either polarity, and look for many adducts like [M+H]+, [M+Na]+, etc.

If you have many samples you analyzed, select the rows of the MS Data View Parameters window, copy (ctrl-C), and you can paste them into the MS Data View Parameters window of your other data files.

EICs will be displayed below the TICs in the Chromatogram View. If you save the data file, they’ll still be there when you reopen it (i.e., it saves your “MS Data View Parameters” settings).

2. Quick data export with TICs, EICs with peak heights, and mass spectra

LabSolutions has a powerful (yet clunky) report editor that lets you generate whatever report you want, complete with chromatograms, mass spectra, methods info, annotations, etc. However, often you just want to get a quick export of chromatograms and a mass spectrum if you’re just characterizing a compound. For an LC-MS analysis, you may also want some EICs and peak heights (areas are harder — see next section). To get this done without having to click around in the report editor, you simply use the “Print Graph Image” command. This can quickly export a PDF that will have the chromatograms you have displayed, and the mass spectra you have up (one positive, one negative). The mass spectra will be from the positive and negative scans taken at the time where the vertical line is positioned on the chromatograms (controlled by double-clicking, or clicking the Scan < or > buttons.

Here’s an example report that it’ll generate and let you Save As with a single click. Note that it gives a peak height for each EIC. Peak height should be fine for quantification, though it is not considered as sensitive as integrating the peak area (see part 3).

If you use the actual report editor, you can customize everything more. Some key options in this editor to know about are that when you double-click on a mass spectrum:

• “Not thin out” check box and threshold (relative abundance in % I think) lets you label more peaks. Often 6-7% is a good threshold.
• Feel free to customize the fonts and angles.
• You can select the m/z range to zoom in peaks of interest, and pick the rt when you want to show spectra.

3. Peak area

Integrating peak areas in LabSolutions is possible, but pretty clunky. However, it can give you more sensitivity than peak height for quantitative analysis.

Here’s how to do it:

1. In the bottom right (Method View), go into the compound table and type the name and m/z for the compound(s) of interest

2. Click the “integration” tab. I think you have to pick the compound you want, then move to the area to the left (Results View), click the “Compound” tab, and right-click to perform “Peak integration for All IDs”

3. You can also try the “Peak Table” tab on the left and toggling back-and-forth between “View” and “Edit” on the far right, and possibly changing peak width in the settings in the “integration” tab. But be sure you are using consistent integration parameters for all samples.

Once you have your data, I think you have to copy/paste or type it into its final destination (spreadsheet, etc).

I hope these tips help you in your research!

YetiCold or YetiWallet is a great way to store your bitcoin on your own. There is a great video walkthrough about how to do the wallet creation, and the instructions within Yeti guide you through this process pretty clearly. However, after that, you’re instructed to erase your entire machine, and it’s up to you to get your wallet back afterwards! I was a little nervous about doing this, and didn’t want to start sending coins to this wallet until I could be sure I knew how to get the wallet back after wiping the machine. So I decided to test it. I deleted my wallet, and tried recovering it.

This is how to get your wallet back using 3 of your 7 seeds. It also has a bit more explanation about how the 3 of 7 multisig wallet is set up, how wallet files work in Bitcoin Core, and what all the text at the bottom of each seed file is.

Bitcoin core keeps your wallet in a file called Wallet.dat in the hidden .bitcoin folder in your home directory. This wallet file has to be present for you to use your wallet and spend your coins. While it is gone (i.e., after you wipe your machine), you can still receive coins at a previous address generated with the wallet. The blockchain will remember that those coins are there for you. But what happens when you want to regenerate/recover the wallet so you can spend them?

Remember that YetiCold generates your seven seeds, and an additional file called “Descriptor.txt.” Descriptor.txt contains a very long string of letters and numbers that explains how all the seeds fit together so that 3 of the 7 can be used to regernate the wallet. This string from Descriptor.txt is copied at the end of each seed. So that way, each seed carries the instructions about how it fits together with the other seeds. Basically, to recover a wallet, you just load up a seed into YetiCold so it can pull the descriptor out of it. Then, you load up three seeds in succession. It will then rescan for a few minutes, and you’ll then have your wallet back. Here’s how it’s done:

Run YetiCold. This can be accomplished by opening Terminal, and running the following commands to enter the directory where YetiCold is stored, then starting it using Python3 to run initialize.py, specifically with the YetiLevelTwo version:

cd yeticold

python3 initialize.py YetiLevelTwo

YetiCold will open. From here, you just need to go to “Recover Wallet.”

You now need to download the blockchain and have your computer validate it. This will take at least overnight (with an SSD), and may take several days (with an HDD). YetiCold will wait around until this is complete. You can do this ahead-of-time so it’s ready without compromising security.

Next, Yeti will ask you to load up a seed (any seed!) so it can pull the descriptor. Just browse for the file (on your CD, or copied onto a device — careful!)

Finally, you’ll have to import any 3 of your seven seeds similarly. Put each CD in and browse to it and it’ll load them up. Each phrase will turn green once it’s validated.

After that, you’ll hit next. It’ll rescan for a few minutes, and then you’ll have your wallet recovered. If your blockchain is synced, it’ll know what your balance is (with all the coins received).

If you’re like me, you’re busy, and can always use a little bit of extra money in your pocket and your bank account. You also realize that exercise is an essential part of your life, and you need to do it to stay healthy, keep up your energy, and strengthen your immune system. Unfortunately, it can cost you some time and money to work out.

I found some ways to make a few bucks while getting a great workout in, defraying the cost of any exercise equipment and putting a few extra greenbacks in your pocket.

Cardio: bicycle Doordash or Postmates, or on-foot Postmates.

Sign up for Doordash (referral link: https://drd.sh/Eq8BJ2/). If you have a decent bicycle and are close to an urban area with bicycle-friendly streets, all you need to do is put the bag on your handlebars and let the deliveries roll. Generally, you can pull upwards of $20/hour, often significantly more if you pick a busy time with “peak pay” bonuses, a holiday, or a day with a bit of rain or drizzle (if you can stomach it). While you may have to wait around at restaurants, you’ll quickly figure out which restaurants “have it together” and the best times to do it in your area (generally lunch or dinner hour).

Unlike using a car, you won’t have expensive maintenance, gas, wear-and-tear, and insurance eating into your profit (which puts a lot of Doordash drivers in the red!).

It may also be worth checking out Postmates, which has both a bicycle option and an on-foot option for very busy cities.

Weights/other home workouts with frequent <1 min breaks: You’ll only earn ≤ $0.37 per workout with this one, but it’s better than nothing!

1. Sign up for Swagbucks: link (this is a platform that lets you play videos, take surveys, etc. to earn a bit of extra cash).
2. Complete all the videos on this reddit post. There are a bunch where you click (between sets), leave it open for 30 s or so, and you get one “SwagBuck” or $0.01, then start over between sets.

Bonus: Also run videos from https://hideout.co/ in the background — no constant clicking required (just a click every 3 h or so). The points can be cashed out to SwagBucks, or for even more points, cash them in on Gain.gg (this site also lets you convert them to cryptocurrency — a nice BlockChain Beast move!).

Conclusion: Use Doordash to get some cardio in, learn all the hot restaurants in town, and leave a smile on hungry people’s faces, and hit a few Swagbucks videos between sets when you’re lifting weights or doing body-weight exercises or something else at home that has frequent, short breaks. Next thing you know, you’ll add another “0” to your bank account!

If you have a Coinbase account, you also have a Coinbase Pro account. You can sign up here: https://www.coinbase.com/join/wesalo_i.

While Coinbase Pro looks a bit more intimidating and is harder to use, it’s pretty intuitive once you get the hang of it. The advantages are that you will pay way less for the same coin. This is because Coinbase has:

• Much higher fees.
• Markups on price when you’re buying and markdowns when you’re selling. This is called a “spread,” because they are spreading about a percent between the actual market price and the price they are giving you.

Don’t believe me? Here’s a buy order for ANKR set up on Coinbase (left) and Coinbase Pro (right) the other day.

For your $50, Coinbase will give you 318.4 ANKR tokens, but Pro will give you 332. Over 4% less! This is because you are facing a $2 fee vs $0.25 fee, and they are charging $0.1508 per coin vs $0.14991 per coin on Coinbase and Coinbase Pro, respectively!

What if you want to sell? Well, here’s a Tezos (XTZ) sale from today. If I sell the same amount of Tezos, I can get $150.96 from Coinbase, or $153.93 from Pro — 2% more from Pro! This is because the fee is $3 on Coinbase vs $0.77 on Pro, and coin is being sold for $4.61 on Coinbase and $4.6394 on Pro for a nearly 3-cent spread.

The last advantage I’ll mention with Pro is being able to put in Limit orders. Limit orders let you set a price, unlike Market where you take what you can get. With market, you are hoping that the price doesn’t suddenly jump up when you click the button. Limit orders let you set the price a bit below where it’s currently being bought, or a bit above where it’s currently being sold. Depending on how much higher/lower you go, it’ll generally “jitter” up or down to your limit pretty quickly, and you’ll get your order filled on your terms. You can also set up these orders as a “set it and forget it” buy or sell, so the exchange will automatically buy or sell once it hits your price target.

For a few coins that earn interest, however, only Coinbase pays interest. These include XTZ, USDC, and ATOM. So after you buy these (preferably on Coinbase Pro), use Withdraw to instantly move them to Coinbase for free. Note that you can generally get higher interest yields on other platforms.

All in all, if you are one of the very many people who trades on Coinbase, you should simply move over to Coinbase Pro for your trading. You already have an account if you’re signed up for Coinbase — just go to pro.coinbase.com. And here’s a referral link to sign up for Coinbase if you’re interested: https://www.coinbase.com/join/wesalo_i

New coins coming to Coinbase Pro: ANKR, CRV, and STORJ
ANKR, CRV, and STORJ will be dropping soon. These three coins posted large 24-hour gains already: 56%, 24%, and 83%, respectively, diminishing my enthusiasm for them, though a further pump once trading opens on Coinbase Pro is likely. Coinbase Pro is the second-largest exchange by volume (about 9% of total crypto trading) and brings in lots of capital from the American market. So when trading starts, the market cap of these altcoins can grow significantly.

All three of these are fairly popular ERC-20 tokens running on the Ethereum blockchain. Curve DAO is a stalwart DeFi token with a lot of old-timey-looking liquidity pools. ANKR is a solution to make web3/blockchain development easy and accessible, and allow for staking. Storj is a decentralized cloud storage platform (similar to Filecoin, which has made huge gains recently but might be scammier). I don’t know a ton about these projects, but if Coinbase Pro thinks they’re worth a listing, they’re certainly worth checking out!

To get in early (before the crowd), you can use one of the following exchanges:

• KuCoin: ANKR, CRV
• Uniswap: all of the above (essentially all ERC-20 tokens — watch the gas fees!)
• Kraken: STORJ, CRV
• Binance: all 3; Binance US has STORJ (the selection for US users is always much lower 😦 ).
• Gemini: STORJ, CRV

These are somewhat exciting listings, and it’s important to get into projects early if you want to achieve big returns. That said, many projects are flops, and all three of these projects have lots of competition from similar projects in the space.

Miami Heat partnering with FTX Exchange:
In other crypto-related news, this is interesting:

Uniswap v3:
Famed DeFi platform and decentralized ERC-20 exchange Uniswap remains one of the most popular platforms. It is a real gas-guzzler, often responsible for 30-40% of Ethereum transactions. This exchange won many hearts and minds when it famously airdropped $1,400 worth of its token (now worth $10k) to its early users — the original stimulus check!

Now Uniswap is announcing v3 features: https://twitter.com/Uniswap/status/1374407380520239109

They added significant customization for liquidity providers, allowing them to target a certain price range. Additional features include:

Flexible fee tiers: choose between 5bps, 30bps, or 100bps

Advanced oracles: return TWAPs in one transaction

Range Orders: LPs can sell for another along a smooth curve, similar to a fee earning limit order

It is exciting to see continued development in the space. However, users are still frustrated with the high gas fees for transactions. This is more of an Ethereum problem than a Uniswap problem. However, exchange aggregators like 1Inch and novel “2nd-layer” solutions like Loopring are aiming to help solve it. Alternative blockchains to Ethereum, like PolkaDot and the more controversial Binance Smart Chain (BSC; centralized) and Cardano (ADA; centralized and rather unproductive), are also hoping to supplant Ethereum. Ethereum, however, has a long head-start, and their top position is really theirs to lose. Either way, Uniswap’s token dropped about 7% in value today to $30, which is a key psychological barrier. Only time will tell if it pumps on the hype of their announcement, or if it tanks due to disappointment with the perceived failure to address the high gas fees.

Chrome, despite its market dominance, is slow, chews up RAM, battery, and CPU like nothing else, and sells your data to goodness-knows-who behind the scenes. Try something else! This is what we use at MedSchoolBeast to get the job done!

Best browser for ad blocking and privacy: Epic Browser. Never watch a YouTube ad again! Epic blocks all of them, and has great privacy features. It’s built on Chromium, so it has a familiar interface, modern features, and generally displays most sites well.

Best browser for earning back some cryptocurrency: Brave Browser. Former Mozilla CEO Brandon Eich has started this project, and gives you crypto back in the form of Basic Attention Tokens (BAT) to reward you for browsing. It does a great job blocking trackers and keeping sites speedy.

Best search engine: Unfortunately, it is hard to beat Google for complex searches requiring a good algorithm. However, they are a monopoly, and I like to give the little guys a chance. I like using

• Presearch to earn a little bit of their cryptocurrency every time. This is a cool crypto project that is in development. You get paid a bit every time you search. The coin has steadily gone up in value several times over the past few months. They are developing “keyword advertising” by letting someone stake their coins to advertise when a particular keyword is searched.
• Swagbucks to earn ~$0.06 a day on a random search (then I switch to Presearch).
• DuckDuckGo (a.k.a. Duck.com): an upstart challenger to Google! Results are getting better by the day.