Comprehensive Quality Control Research Articles

SnpQT: flexible, reproducible, and comprehensive quality control and imputation of genomic data.

Quality control of genomic data is an essential but complicated multi-step procedure, often requiring separate installation and expert familiarity with a combination of different bioinformatics tools. Dependency hell and reproducibility are recurrent challenges. Existing semi-automated or automated solutions lack comprehensive quality checks, flexible workflow architecture, and user control. To address these challenges, we have developed snpQT: a scalable, stand-alone software pipeline using nextflow and BioContainers, for comprehensive, reproducible and interactive quality control of human genomic data. snpQT offers some 36 discrete quality filters or correction steps in a complete standardised pipeline, producing graphical reports to demonstrate the state of data before and after each quality control procedure. This includes human genome build conversion, population stratification against data from the 1,000 Genomes Project, automated population outlier removal, and built-in imputation with its own pre- and post- quality controls. Common input formats are used, and a synthetic dataset and comprehensive online tutorial are provided for testing, educational purposes, and demonstration. The snpQT pipeline is designed to run with minimal user input and coding experience; quality control steps are implemented with default thresholds which can be modified by the user, and workflows can be flexibly combined in custom combinations. snpQT is open source and freely available at https://github.com/nebfield/snpQT. A comprehensive online tutorial and installation guide is provided through to GWAS (https://snpqt.readthedocs.io/en/latest/), introducing snpQT using a synthetic demonstration dataset and a real-world Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis SNP-array dataset.

Identification and direct determination of fatty acids profile in oleic acid by HPLC-CAD and MS-IT-TOF

Oleic acid is a pharmaceutical excipient and has been widely used in many dosage forms. It remains unclear in terms of the fatty acids (FAs) profile. In this study, a sensitive and direct method based on high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with charged aerosol detector (HPLC-CAD) was developed to study the compositions of oleic acid. The chromatographic conditions were optimized to achieve good separation and high sensitivity. The components of oleic acid were identified by ion trap/time of flight mass spectrometry (MS-IT-TOF). Twenty-seven FAs were identified based on the exact mass-to-charge ratio and fragments, among which 13 FAs were confirmed with the reference standards. Nine FAs in the oleic acid samples including oleic acid, linolenic acid, myristic acid, palmitoleic acid, linoleic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, arachidic acid and behenic acid were simultaneously determined by the developed HPLC-CAD, which showed good linearity with r2>0.999. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) of 9 FAs were 0.006−0.1 μg mL−1 and 0.032−0.22 μg mL−1, respectively. The components with concentration level not less than 0.03 % (referring to the sample concentration of 1.0 mg mL−1) can be quantified. The mean recovery values of 9 FAs ranged from 96.5%–103.6% at three concentration levels of 80 %, 100 % and 120 %. The repeatability and intermediate precision were less than 5.0 % for oleic acid and components with concentration levels more than 0.05 %. In contrast to the conventional pre-column derivatization gas chromatography (GC), HPLC-CAD could unbiasedly and directly detect more components, especially the FAs with long carbon chains. Overall, the developed novel HPLC-CAD method can ameliorate the deficiency of the indirect GC method recorded in current pharmacopeias, thus having great potential for the comprehensive understanding and quality control of oleic acid.

Development of Carnivac-Cov vaccine against coronavirus infection (COVID-19) in carnivores

Development of specific protection in susceptible carnivores against COVID-19 caused by zoonotic agent is of great importance for maintaining epidemic and veterinary favourable situation in the Russian Federation and prevention of new coronavirus infection spread in humans. Development of inactivated adsorbed whole-virion vaccine (Carnivac-Cov) against coronavirus infection (COVID-19) for carnivores intended for specific disease prevention in fur animals and pet animals (cats and dogs) and tests of the vaccine for its safety and effectiveness are described in the paper. The vaccine was developed and tested at the FGBI “ARRIAH” (Vladimir) subordinated to the Rosselkhoznadzor in accordance with the Russian Federation legislation requirements. Clinical trials were carried out on fur farms, in veterinary clinics and animal shelters. More than 330 animals (fur animals, cats, dogs) were involved in the preclinical and clinical trials. The trials have demonstrated that the vaccine is safe for target animals. Carnivac-Cov vaccine administered twice intramuscularly at the dose of 1.0 cm3 induces anti-SARS-CoV-2 immune response 14 days after the second administration that lasts for at least 6 months. The vaccine transportation, storage and application do not require any specific protective equipment. The vaccine can be used on fur farms and in veterinary clinics without limitations. Carnivac-Cov is the first tool for specific COVID-19 prevention in animals. The vaccine has successfully passed comprehensive quality control and is registered in the Russian Federation.

NUCOME: A comprehensive database of nucleosome organization referenced landscapes in mammalian genomes

BackgroundNucleosome organization is involved in many regulatory activities in various organisms. However, studies integrating nucleosome organization in mammalian genomes are very limited mainly due to the lack of comprehensive data quality control (QC) assessment and uneven data quality of public data sets.ResultsThe NUCOME is a database focused on filtering qualified nucleosome organization referenced landscapes covering various cell types in human and mouse based on QC metrics. The filtering strategy guarantees the quality of nucleosome organization referenced landscapes and exempts users from redundant data set selection and processing. The NUCOME database provides standardized, qualified data source and informative nucleosome organization features at a whole-genome scale and on the level of individual loci.ConclusionsThe NUCOME provides valuable data resources for integrative analyses focus on nucleosome organization. The NUCOME is freely available at http://compbio-zhanglab.org/NUCOME.

Measuring and evaluating education quality of future public administration employees at private university in the Slovak Republic

The private School of Economics and Management of Public Administration in Bratislava educates experts for public administration in Slovakia through bachelor and master study programs. The high percentage of graduates employed in governing bodies and municipalities proves the high quality of theoretical and practical level of education. The scientific and pedagogical personnel and particulary the ingenious and comprehensive education quality control system has its share in achieving distinct results. The authors of this article present a well-established system of education quality. They analyze and evaluate the system of quality measuring and evaluating using internal tools and procedures. The article pays special attention to the external form of quality measurement and evaluation through independent international institution Trendence. Criteria and areas of evaluation are assessed throughout the university, Slovakia, and Europe, which is presented by more than 1,000 higher education institutions.

Extreme precipitation trends in northeast Algeria using a high‐resolution gridded daily dataset

AbstractThis work presents a study of variability and trends of extreme precipitation events in northeast Algeria using a high‐resolution gridded dataset. To this end, 10 extreme precipitation indices were computed over a daily gridded precipitation dataset with a spatial resolution of 1x1 km from 33 series of weather observatories, covering the period from 1970 to 2010. The processes involving the reconstruction of the missing data and gridding were applied based on the approach of creating reference values (RV), allowing for a comprehensive quality control of the original data while reporting and deleting suspicious values that do not correspond to the natural spatial and temporal distribution of daily precipitation. These RV were used to complete a reconstructed dataset without missing values, based on the cleaned data series. Then, it was used to create the high‐resolution gridded dataset over northeast Algeria. In view of the obtained results, a general increasing gradient of the extreme precipitation indices from south to north was noted, particularly at the coast and at high‐altitude regions. Furthermore, upward trends in extreme intensity and frequency precipitation indices, such as PRCPTOT, SDII, RX1day, RX5day, R10mm, R20mm, CWD, R95p, and R99p were observed, except for the consecutive dry days (CDD) index, which showed a remarkable decrease. However, most of the estimated trends were not statistically significant at .05 levels.

CfDNApipe: a comprehensive quality control and analysis pipeline for cell-free DNA high-throughput sequencing data.

MotivationCell-free DNA (cfDNA) is gaining substantial attention from both biological and clinical fields as a promising marker for liquid biopsy. Many aspects of disease-related features have been discovered from cfDNA high-throughput sequencing (HTS) data. However, there is still a lack of integrative and systematic tools for cfDNA HTS data analysis and quality control (QC).ResultsHere, we propose cfDNApipe, an easy-to-use and systematic python package for cfDNA whole-genome sequencing (WGS) and whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS) data analysis. It covers the entire analysis pipeline for the cfDNA data, including raw sequencing data processing, QC and sophisticated statistical analysis such as detecting copy number variations (CNVs), differentially methylated regions and DNA fragment size alterations. cfDNApipe provides one-command-line-execution pipelines and flexible application programming interfaces for customized analysis.Availability and implementation https://xwanglabthu.github.io/cfDNApipe/.Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Fingerprint and multi-component quantitative analyses for quality evaluation of Rhizoma coptidis steamed with rice wine

Purpose: To establish a method for the simultaneous determination of multi-components of Rhizoma coptidis steamed with rice wine (RCRW), and to provide a reference for assessing its standard of quality.
 Method: Chromatographic separation was performed on a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) system to determine the characteristic fingerprint of RCRW. The mobile phase consisted of acetonitrile (A) and 0.1 % trifluoroacetic acid (B), with gradients of B as follows: 15 - 20 % from 0 – 30 min; 20 - 25 % from 30 - 50 min; 25 - 35 % for 50 - 60 min, and 35 % for 60 - 70 min.
 Results: In the multiple reaction monitoring mode, eight components of RCRW were isolated by HPLCphoto-diode array (PDA) method. A fingerprint of the RCRW was established and 8 peaks were calibrated. The method was further validated in terms of linearity (R2 > 0.9993), precision (relative standard deviation, RSD < 1.51 %); repeatability (RSD < 2.98 %) and stability (RSD < 1.93 %). Mean recovery rate ranged from 96.2 to 103.8 %, while RSD values ranged from 0.92 to 2.88 %.
 Conclusion: These results show that HPLC-PDA method is accurate and feasible, and that they provide a reference for further comprehensive and effective quality control of RCRW.

Spatial Characteristics of Precipitation in the Greater Sydney Metropolitan Area as Revealed by the Daily Precipitation Concentration Index

In this study; the spatial distribution of the Daily Precipitation Concentration Index (DPCI) has been analyzed inside the Greater Sydney Metropolitan Area (GSMA). Accordingly, the rainfall database from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology archive was utilized after comprehensive quality control. The compiled data contains a set of 41 rainfall stations indicating consistent daily precipitation series from 1950 to 2015. In the analysis of the DPCI across GSMA the techniques of Moran’s Spatial Autocorrelation has been applied. In addition, a cross-covariance method was applied to assess the spatial interdependency between vector-based datasets after performing an Ordinary Kriging interpolation. The results identify four well-recognized intense rainfall development zones: the south coast and topographic areas of the Illawarra district characterized by Tasman Sea coastal regions with DPCI values ranging from 0.61 to 0.63, the western highlands of the Blue Mountains, with values between 0.60 and 0.62, the inland regions, with lowest rainfall concentrations between 0.55 and 0.59, and lastly the districts located inside the GSMA with DPCI ranging 0.60 to 0.61. Such spatial distribution has revealed the rainstorm and severe thunderstorm activity in the area. This study applies the present models to identify the nature and mechanisms underlying the distribution of torrential rains over space within the metropolis of Sydney, and to monitor any changes in the spatial pattern under the warming climate.

Shifted excitation Raman difference spectroscopy as enabling technique for the analysis of animal feedstuff

AbstractTo achieve the best performance and health in farm animals, high‐quality pellets should be applied for feeding. Raw materials used for pellet production can have a significant influence on the nutritive and physical characteristics of the final product. A comprehensive quality control of raw materials and pellets is therefore essential. Optical inspection techniques show great promise as they enable fast, simple, and non‐destructive analysis. This study demonstrates the potential of shifted excitation Raman difference spectroscopy (SERDS) for inspection of intact feed pellets and their constituents. SERDS combines the ability of conventional Raman spectroscopy to obtain chemically specific information from the sample with efficient fluorescence background rejection capabilities. The latter is an essential prerequisite for the application to highly fluorescent natural samples, for example, feedstuffs. A custom dual‐wavelength diode laser with two slightly shifted emission wavelengths (785.2 and 784.6 nm) as required for SERDS is used as excitation light source. Results demonstrate that Raman signals can efficiently be separated from unwanted background contributions allowing for qualitative spatially resolved analysis of chicken feed pellets. Individual constituents present at levels down to 10 g/kg were successfully detected by means of their characteristic spectral signature. This highlights the large potential of SERDS and could pave the way for future inspection of raw materials and pellets at selected points along the process chain.

Characterization of Recombinant Adeno-Associated Viruses (rAAVs) for Gene Therapy Using Orthogonal Techniques.

Viruses are increasingly used as vectors for delivery of genetic material for gene therapy and vaccine applications. Recombinant adeno-associated viruses (rAAVs) are a class of viral vector that is being investigated intensively in the development of gene therapies. To develop efficient rAAV therapies produced through controlled and economical manufacturing processes, multiple challenges need to be addressed starting from viral capsid design through identification of optimal process and formulation conditions to comprehensive quality control. Addressing these challenges requires fit-for-purpose analytics for extensive characterization of rAAV samples including measurements of capsid or particle titer, percentage of full rAAV particles, particle size, aggregate formation, thermal stability, genome release, and capsid charge, all of which may impact critical quality attributes of the final product. Importantly, there is a need for rapid analytical solutions not relying on the use of dedicated reagents and costly reference standards. In this study, we evaluate the capabilities of dynamic light scattering, multiangle dynamic light scattering, and SEC–MALS for analyses of rAAV5 samples in a broad range of viral concentrations (titers) at different levels of genome loading, sample heterogeneity, and sample conditions. The study shows that DLS and MADLS® can be used to determine the size of full and empty rAAV5 (27 ± 0.3 and 33 ± 0.4 nm, respectively). A linear range for rAAV5 size and titer determination with MADLS was established to be 4.4 × 1011–8.7 × 1013 cp/mL for the nominally full rAAV5 samples and 3.4 × 1011–7 × 1013 cp/mL for the nominally empty rAAV5 samples with 3–8% and 10–37% CV for the full and empty rAAV5 samples, respectively. The structural stability and viral load release were also inferred from a combination of DLS, SEC–MALS, and DSC. The structural characteristics of the rAAV5 start to change from 40 °C onward, with increasing aggregation observed. With this study, we explored and demonstrated the applicability and value of orthogonal and complementary label-free technologies for enhanced serotype-independent characterization of key properties and stability profiles of rAAV5 samples.

Quality control and measures of China National Birth Cohort

Birth cohort is an effective method to explore the relationship between various prepregnant and pregnant exposures and the health of fetuses, infants and young children. It is a long construction period to build a birth cohort and the quality of research may be affected by many factors. This paper reviews the quality assurance and quality control measures in the process of China National Birth Cohort (CNBC), and summarizes the construction experience. We aim to provide experience for related cohort studies, which could improve the quality of cohort studies through removing the impact of related factors. CNBC adopted a series of measures to ensure the quality of research in the top-level design of quality assurance, including screening research center, developing member management system, formulating standard operating procedures and training staff by it. In terms of quality control, it includes real-time, timely and timing quality control for the process of data generation, full-cycle quality control for biological sample collection, processing, storage and comprehensive three-dimensional quality control for staff training, supervision and quantitative assessment.

Screening the Q-markers of TCMs from RA rat plasma using UHPLC-QTOF/MS technique for the comprehensive evaluation of Wu-Wei-Wen-Tong Capsule.

The appropriate selection of quality marker (Q-marker) for performing the comprehensive quality evaluation of traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) has much more significance. Wu-Wei-Wen-Tong Capsule (WWWTC), a TCMs prescription, is mainly utilized to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in China. However, the comprehensive quality control for WWWTC has not been achieved because of lacking system analysis for the Q-marker. In this study, a dual wavelength, 203 and 270 nm, was selected based on the feature of 15 Q-markers, and a reliable UHPLC-UV fingerprinting approach was established, achieving the comprehensive quality evaluation of WWWTC. First, we identified 91 prototypes in rat plasma after administering a set amount of WWWTC by using UHPLC-QTOF/MS technique and selected them as the candidate Q-markers. Next, based on the "five principles" of Q-marker selection, 15 absorbed components among them including coumarin, cinnamic acid, cinnamaldehyde, cinnamic alcohol, and 2-methoxycinnamaldehyde derived from Monarch medicine of Cmnamomi Mmulus; epimedin C, icariin, baohuoside I, and anhydroicaritin derived from Monarch medicine Epimedii Folium; germacrone, the sesquiterpene compound in Minister medicine Rhizoma Wenyujin Concisum; pachymic acid, the tetracyclic triterpenoid acids in Assistant medicine Poria; baicalin, baicalein, wogonin, and wogonoside in Guide medicine Scutellariae Radix, respectively, were seriously chosen as the Q-markers, indicating preferable pharmacological effect on RA, characterization of transitivity and traceability as well as measurable components in WWWTC. The effective and meaningful strategy displayed a unique perspective for the exploration of Q-markers in the quality evaluation and further ensured efficacy and safety of the TCMs.

Inspection of Electronics Components for Cryogenic Temperature Operations

AbstractElectronics operating at cryogenic temperatures play a critical role in future science experiments and space exploration programs. The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) uses a cold electronics system for data taking. Specifically, it utilizes custom-designed Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs). The main challenge is that these circuits will be immersed in liquid Argon and that they need to function for 20+ years without any access. Ensuring quality is critical, and issues may arise due to thermal stress, packaging, and manufacturing-related defects: if undetected, these could lead to long-term reliability and performance problems. This paper reports an investigation into non-destructive evaluation techniques to assess their potential use in a comprehensive quality control process during prototyping, testing, and commissioning of the DUNE cold electronics system. Scanning acoustic microscopy (SAM) was used to investigate permanent structural changes in the ASICs associated with thermal cycling between room and cryogenic temperatures. Data are assessed using a correlation analysis, which can detect even minimal changes happening inside the ASICs.

Computer-Aided Rapid Establishment of Fingerprint of Xiaojin Capsule by HPLC.

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formulas have a significant clinical efficacy, and the fingerprint technology has been widely accepted to fully reveal the quality of TCM. Whereas, it is a great challenge to establish the fingerprint chromatogram which can fully reflect every single herb material in a short time. In this study, we used Xiaojin capsule (XJC) as a case and developed a rapid fingerprint method based on increasing the column temperature and flow rate simultaneously combined with computer-aided. First, the elution gradient was optimized based on the retention parameters and peak shape parameters of the four linear gradients, and then, the column temperature and flow rate were increased simultaneously to shorten the analysis time. Next, the standard fingerprint chromatogram of XJC, which can reflect every herb material, was generated. Finally, quality markers were screened through unsupervised cluster analysis and supervised orthogonal partial least squares discrimination analysis. Combining computer-aided with increasing column temperature and flow rate simultaneously can develop the rapid method for establishing HPLC fingerprint of XJC, which can fully reflect every single herb material and provide comprehensive quality control. The strategy for establishing HPLC fingerprint of TCM formula could be applied to other traditional Chinese medicine formulas and herbal medicine.

GWASinspector: comprehensive quality control of genome-wide association study results.

SummaryQuality control (QC) of genome wide association study (GWAS) result files has become increasingly difficult due to advances in genomic technology. The main challenges include continuous increases in the number of polymorphic genetic variants contained in recent GWASs and reference panels, the rising number of cohorts participating in a GWAS consortium, and inclusion of new variant types. Here, we present GWASinspector, a flexible R package for comprehensive QC of GWAS results. This package is compatible with recent imputation reference panels, handles insertion/deletion and multi-allelic variants, provides extensive QC reports and efficiently processes big data files. Reference panels covering three human genome builds (NCBI36, GRCh37 and GRCh38) are available. GWASinspector has a user friendly design and allows easy set-up of the QC pipeline through a configuration file. In addition to checking and reporting on individual files, it can be used in preparation of a meta-analysis by testing for systemic differences between studies and generating cleaned, harmonized GWAS files. Comparison with existing GWAS QC tools shows that the main advantages of GWASinspector are its ability to more effectively deal with insertion/deletion and multi-allelic variants and its relatively low memory use.Availability and implementationOur package is available at The Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN): https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=GWASinspector. Reference datasets and a detailed tutorial can be found at the package website at http://gwasinspector.com/.Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Characterization of encapsulated energetic materials for trace explosives aids for scent (TEAS)

ABSTRACT Encapsulation is proposed as a safer way of handling energetic materials. Different encapsulation methods for explosives, such as solvent evaporation, spray coating and supercritical carbon dioxide assisted encapsulation, were explored. Explosive training aids, where energetic materials, such as triacetone triperoxide (TATP), erythritol tetranitrate (ETN) and trinitrotoluene (TNT), are encapsulated in a polymer matrix were developed, followed by comprehensive quality control testing, including differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis-infrared spectroscopy (TGA-IR), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) and sensitivity testing, and finally field approved by canine units trained on the pure explosive.

Determination of N-nitrosodimethylamine in Ranitidine Dosage Forms by ESI-LC-MS/MS; Applications for Routine Laboratory Testing.

A practical high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry method was developed for the analysis of N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) characterized as an impurity, in combination with reports of the carcinogen found in ranitidine samples. After simple extraction of ranitidine samples, all compounds were analyzed with a high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Sensitivity was enhanced by employing the ten-way valve switching technology, which was examined to allow NDMA to enter the mass spectrometry and cut out the ranitidine samples extremely. A good linear relationship was observed within 3-100 ng·mL−1 (r = 0.9992). The validated approach was effectively used to evaluate the NDMA contents in ranitidine samples in circulation, which revealed a difference among 21 batches. Quantitative determination of NDMA was within the scope of 3.38-57.05 ng·mL-1. Moreover, the contamination levels of NDMA in seven batches of products from six manufacturers were listed to exceed the acceptable daily intake. The sensitive method was verified to be appropriate to determine NDMA, even with low contents of NDMA in ranitidine products; the analysis of the selected samples reveals that some samples exceeded the national limit requirements. Therefore, it is worthwhile to conduct comprehensive quality control of the other drugs containing NDMA.

Quality Control Assessment of Diagnostic X-Ray Units in Zanzibar, Tanzania

Regular execution of quality control (QC) tests in medical diagnostic X-ray units is primarily important to provide high-quality images and proper diagnoses with least hazard. The performance criteria in diagnostic radiology in Zanzibar Islands, Tanzania were followed in accordance with the QC guidelines, and the values of the measured parameters were compared with the tolerance limits. The study was designed to perform QC tests on the diagnostic X-ray units in governmental and private hospitals. In this study six QC tests (beam alignment, beam collimation, kV reproducibility, half-value layer (HVL), mAs linearity and kV accuracy) were carried out by using beam alignment tool and Unfors non-invasive X-ray test device (Xi R/F&MAM detector). The measured parameters were conducted in two periods, from 2017 to 2018 (14 X-ray units were considered) and from 2019 to 2020 (16 X-ray units were considered). In both periods, the QC test results indicated that 100% of the X-ray units had acceptable HVL≥ 2.3 mm Al at 80 kVp. In the first period (2017−2018), the QC results showed that 78.57% and 85.71% had acceptable beam alignment (≤3% of the focus to image distance) and beam collimation (≤ ± 2 cm). Of the X-ray units evaluated, 85.71% had tolerable kV reproducibility of 5%, and 71.43% had mAs linearity within the tolerance limit of 10%, whereas 85.71% had acceptable kV accuracy within the tolerance limit of 5%. In the second period (2019−2020), the tolerance limits of X-ray units exceeded by 8.04% for kV reproducibility, 8.04% for kV accuracy, 16.07% for mAs linearity, 8.93% for beam alignment and 8.04% for beam collimation. The exceeded tolerance limits could be attributed to the new X-ray units which have full support of service agreements signed during the second period and increase of the compliances with the Tanzania Atomic Energy Act. No 7 of 2003 and its regulations. Results obtained highlight the need to regularly carry out comprehensive QC tests together with routine equipment maintenance.

A Proposed Quality Control Standard Mixture and Its Uses for Evaluating Nontargeted and Suspect Screening LC/HR-MS Method Performance

Nontargeted (NTA) and suspect screening analyses (SSA) aim to detect and identify unknown compounds of interest from a given sample. The complexity and diversity of NTA and SSA methodologies necessitate the use of a comprehensive quality control standard mixture to determine if methods are fit for purpose, but to our knowledge, such a standard has not been developed that can be used by multiple disciplines, nor is one readily available. This work describes the development and analysis of a proposed nontargeted standard/quality control mixture for NTA and SSA applications using liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization-high resolution-mass spectrometry. Considerations in its development included achieving diversity of compounds with respect to elemental composition, molecular weight, retention time, and ionization in positive and/or negative ion modes, which resulted in the inclusion of 89 compounds. The utility of the standard mixture was applied on our own NTA and SSA workflows where sample preparation efficiency and potential sources of error due to instrumental and data processing methods were evaluated. Some areas in need of improvement were identified, such as hydrophilic compound detection and molecular formula generation for compounds containing fluorine. However, our overall methodology was found to be fit for purpose and we were able to establish thresholds to increase reliability and throughput of reported results.