Introduction: Methadone hydrochloride (MDN) is an effective pharmacological substitution treatment for opioids dependence, adopted in different countries as methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) programmes. However, MDN can exacerbate the addiction problem if it is abused and injected intravenously, and the frequent visits to the MMT centres can reduce patient compliance. The overall aim of this study is to develop a novel extended-release capsule of MDN using the sol-gel silica (SGS) technique that has the potential to counteract medication-tampering techniques and associated health risks and reduce the frequent visits to MMT centres. Methods: For MDN recrystallisation, a closed container method (CCM) and hot-stage method (HSM) were conducted, and MDN crystals were characterised using the polarised light microscope (PLM). MDN crystal thickness was determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and confocal microscopy (CM) to establish a relationship between MDN crystals thickness and their birefringence colours using the Michel-Levy Birefringence Colour Chart. The experimental series was continued to produce novel silica-based MDN formulations A and B capsules by adding MDN powder at the end and beginning of the SGS process, respectively. The silica-based MDN formulations were characterised by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), SEM, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), PLM and mean grey value (MGV) analyses. The in vitro release studies (n=3) for the silica-based MDN formulations and pure MDN capsules were conducted in a phosphate buffer solution (pH= 7.2) for 7 days. Stability studies were conducted for 1 month by keeping the silica-based MDN capsules under 25°C and 57% RH. Results: The optimal method to produce large numbers of MDN crystals was the CCM, and MDN crystals were characterised as diamond shaped with an intrinsic angle of 62o. The SEM surpassed the CM in measuring MDN crystal thickness, and Mann-Whitney U Test showed statistically significant differences between SEM and confocal thickness measurements (U= 1283, p < 0.05) as the SEM exhibited thinner diamond crystals (6.62 ± 2.9 µm) than the CM measurements (9.6 ± 4.6µm). According to the Michel-Levey birefringence colour chart (using the SEM mean thickness of MDN crystals and their retardation value of 428 nm), most of MDN crystals demonstrated a yellow colour. The FT-IR, SEM, DSC, MGV and PLM analyses of both silica-based MDN formulations revealed that MDN was successfully incorporated inside the silica network producing amorphous material (with no appearance of the melting peak of pure MDN at 233.4°C) with evidence of no physical or chemical interaction between sol-gel silica and MDN. However, the TGA analysis revealed a significantly greater amount of MDN was loaded inside the silica-based MDN formulation B compared to A (t = 2.80, p = 0.009, n=6), as 28.3 ± 0.6 mg of MDN was loaded in the former while 25.6 ± 0.7 mg in the latter. In addition, the silica-based MDN formulation B released 10% more MDN after 7 days than formulation A, and both formulations were stable when stored for 1 month under 57% RH and 25°C. Conclusion: The novel combined use of SEM and PLM techniques shows a potential for the identification of MDN in forensic science as it established a range of birefringence colours of MDN crystals. Moreover, the new silica-based MDN formulation B can help to deter MDN abuse and increase patient adherence to MMT due to its potential to sustain MDN release and reduce the frequent visits to MDN treatment centres.
In subterranean coal seam gas (CSG) reservoirs, massive amounts of small-sized coal fines are released during the production and development stages, especially during hydraulic fracturing stimulation. These coal fines inevitably cause mechanical pump failure and permeability damage due to aggregation and subsequent pore-throat blockage. This aggregation behavior is thus of key importance in CSG production and needs to be minimized. Consequently, such coal fines dispersions need to be stabilized, which can be achieved by the formulation of improved fracturing fluids. Here, we thus systematically investigated the effectiveness of two additives (ethanol, 0.5 wt % and SDBS, 0.001 and 0.01 wt %) on dispersion stability for a wide range of condit
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This study appears GIS techniqueand remote sensing data are matching with the field observation to identify the structural features such as fault segments in the urban area such as the Merawa and Shaqlawa Cities. The use of different types of data such as fault systems, drainage patterns (previously mapped), lineament, and lithological contacts with spatial resolution of 30m was combined through a process of integration and index overlay modeling technique for producing the susceptibility map of fault segments in the study area. GIS spatial overlay technique was used to determine the spatial relationships of all the criteria (factors) and subcriteria (classes) within layers (maps) to classify and map the potential ar
... Show MoreObjectives: To assess quality of health care for clients at outpatient consultancy clinics in Al-Hilla City Hospitals, and to find out significant differences between the clients' perspectives toward quality of health care dimensions and their demographic characteristics such as (residence, age, gender, level of education, and occupation ).
Methodology: A descriptive analytic study design was carried out at outpatient consultancy clinics of Al- Hilla city hospital (Al-Hilla and Al-Imam Al-Sadiq general teaching hospital) from April 10 th to June 15 th 2019. Non – probability (purposive) sample of 200 clients who were coming to the Outpatient Consultancy Clinics were selected. Data is collected through used of an assessment tools an
The current study performed in order to detect and quantify epicatechin in two tea samples of Camellia sinensis (black and green tea) by thin layer chromatography (TLC) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Extraction of epicatechin from black and green tea was done by using two different methods: maceration (cold extraction method) and decoction (hot extraction method) involved using three different solvents which are absolute ethanol, 50% aqueous ethanol and water for both extraction methods using room temperature and direct heat respectively. Crude extracts of two tea samples that obtained from two methods were fractionated by using two solvents with different polarity (chloroform and
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The need for detection and investigation of the causes of pollution of the marshes and submit a statistical study evaluated accurately and submitted to the competent authorities and to achieve this goal was used to analyze the factorial analysis and then obtained the results from this analysis from a sample selected from marsh water pollutants which they were: (Electrical Conductivity: EC, Power of Hydrogen: PH, Temperature: T, Turbidity: TU, Total Dissolved Solids: TDS, Dissolved Oxygen: DO). The size of sample (44) sites has been withdrawn and examined in the laboratories of the Iraqi Ministry of Environment. By illustrating SPSS program) the results had been obtained. The most important recommendation was to increase the pumping of addit
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The current study aims to identify university students' attitudes towards reading and its relationship to some demographic variables in the universities of the Sultanate of Oman. The study sample consisted of (1434) male and female university students from various Omani public and private universities affiliated with the Ministry of Higher Education. The study covered all (11) governorates of Oman. The researcher adopted the descriptive analytical approach. The researcher employed a scale of reading attitudes to collect the needed data. The study results showed that university students' reading attitudes recorded a high degree. The results also showed there are statistically significant differences at th
... Show MorePhotonic Crystal Fiber Interferometers (PCFIs) are widely used for sensing applications. This work presents the fabrication and study the characterization of a relative humidity sensor based on a polymer-infiltrated photonic crystal fiber that operates in a Mach- Zehnder Interferometer (MZI) reflection mode. The fabrication of the sensor only involves splicing and cleaving Photonic Crystal Fiber (PCF) with Single Mode Fiber (SMF). A stub of (LMA-10) PCF spliced to SMF (Corning-28). In the splice regions. The PCFI sensor operation based on the adsorption and desorption of water vapour at the silica-air interface within the PCF. The sensor shows a high sensitivity to RH variations from (27% RH - 95% RH), with a change in its reflected powe
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Periodontitis is a chronic inflammation affecting the tooth-supporting periodontal tissues. It is diagnosed by measuring periodontal parameters. However, documenting this data takes effort and may not discover early periodontitis. Biomarkers may help diagnose and assess periodontitis. This study aimed to evaluate the potential diagnostic of the salivary tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and receptor-activator of nuclear factor ĸ-B-ligand (RANKL) in distinguishing between periodontitis and healthy periodontium.
The
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Heat exchanger is an important device in the industry for cooling or heating process. To increase the efficiency of heat exchanger, nanofluids are used to enhance the convective heat . transfer relative to the base fluid. - Al2O3/water nanofluid is used as cold stream in the shell and double concentric tube heat exchanger counter current to the hot stream basis oil. These nanoparticles were of particle size of 40 nm and it was mixed with a base fluid (water) at volume
concentrations of 0.002% and 0.004%. The results showed that each of Nusselt number and overall heat transfer coefficient increased as nanofluid concentrations increased. The pressure drop of nanofluid increased slightly than the base fluid because