Program and book of abstracts 1st conference

October 17 th – 20 th , 2022, Congress Centre of Slovak Academy of Sciences, Smolenice castle, Slovakia

LeBaron Tyler W.

Dr. Tyler W. LeBaron is an adjunct instructor of exercise physiology and chemistry at Southern Utah University. He serves as the executive director of the science based nonprofit Molecular Hydrogen Institute where he helps promote the education, research, and awareness of hydrogen gas a medical gas. He graduated with his bachelor’s in biochemistry, a master’s in exercise and sports conditioning, and completed his doctorate in animal physiology with a focus on molecular hydrogen for cardio and cerebrovascular diseases. His topics of interest include molecular hydrogen, ROS signaling, nitric oxide, mitochondria, exercise, and longevity. When not doing research or teaching, he is often found

training and competing in running, and recently as a competitive arm wrestler. ORP SHOULD NOT BE USED TO ESTIMATE OR COMPARE CONCENTRATIONS OF AQUEOUS H 2 : AN IN-SILICO AND EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS Tyler W. LeBaron 1, 2, 3* , Randy Sharpe 4 1 Centre of Experimental Medicine, Institute for Heart Research, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovak Republic 2 Molecular Hydrogen Institute, Enoch, Utah, USA. 3 Department of Kinesiology and Outdoor Recreation, Southern Utah University, Utah, USA 4 H 2 Analytics, Henderson, NV, USA BACKGROUND: Oxidation reduction potential (ORP) is often used to characterize H 2 water. Some H 2 meters use the Nernst equation to calculate the concentration of H 2 based on the ORP. OBJECTIVES: This study evaluated the accuracy of this method using an in-silico approach based on the Nernst equation, and experimental analysis. METHODS: An excel-based computational program was developed to model changes in ORP andORP-basedH 2 values as a functionof pH, H 2 , and temperature. Experimentally, wemeasured the ORP and H 2 with an ORP-based meter of waters at varying pHs and temperatures with different levels of dissolved H 2 as determined by gas chromatography. RESULTS: The in-silico analysis shows that a one unit increase in pH (e.g., 7-8) influences the ORP by as much as increasing the H 2 concentration by 100 times (e.g., 1 to 100 mg/L). Similarly, at a 1.57 mg/L H 2 concentration (pH 7), every ∆T of 20°C changes the ORP by ≈ 30 mV. Experimentally, the deviations from the true value were even greater than predicted, specifically the greater the deviation from pH 7, the greater the associated errors. To measure H 2 within 0.1 mg/L, ORPmeters need tohave an accuracy of about 0.8mV. However, ORPmeters have an error range of at least ±10 mV, which corresponds to a potential error in measured H2 concentration of nearly 2 mg/L (≈125% error). CONCLUSIONS: These results show that pH, temperature, and the intrinsic ORP errors can individually influence the ORP greater than the entire contribution of dissolved H 2 . This can result in a water sample with a greater negativeORP than another despite having significantly less H 2 . Therefore, excluding the possibility of other reductive redox couples, a negative ORP reading can only confirm that some level of dissolved H 2 is in the water. Accordingly, ORP and ORP basedH 2 meters are not recommended for testing or comparing the concentration of H 2 inwater.

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