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.
This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of 6 isolates of Pseudomonas fluorescens and Trichoderma harzianum and there combination against Fusarium tomato wilt disease caused by Fusarium oxysporum F.sp. Lycopersisi under green house condition .The isolates of bacteria (B3) and Trichoderma (T1) were found to be highly effective in reducing the disease incidence to 13.3% , 21% respectively , compared to control treatment (40%).Furthermore, disease severity was reduced to 28 and 30% respectively in comparison to control (90%) .Colonization of the roots (cfu /g fresh root weight )by the two isolates whether alon or together was extremely high . The combination treatment had a high ability in reducing disease incidenece and sev
... Show MoreThe study included isolation and diagnosis of fungi that infect Foeniculum vulgare Mill planted in the Department of Drugs and Medicinal Plants, Pharmacy College - University of Baghdad, different symptoms such as wilting and yellowing, stunting on the plants were observed fungi: Alternaria alternata, Rhizoctonia solani, Phoma herbarum and Fusarium oxysporum, The disease incidence ranging between 5-10%. Studied the effect of Foeniculum vulgare plant seeds extract against Alternaria alternata, Rhizoctonia solani, Phoma herbarum and Fusarium oxysporum,where tested the concentrations 0,2.5 and 5% of alcoholic extract of fennel seeds showed ef
... Show MoreWater is a resource and a crucial aspect of living and surviving. In Iraq, the Tigris River is one of the most critical water sources. The present study aimed to provide an insight analysis of some water quality parameters including the microbial content of drinkable tap water and river water. Ten Water samples (T1- T10) in triplicate were collected from sampling sites -Site I (Tap water) from home water taps, supplied by the Water Filtration Station/ Al Karama Project/ Al-Karkh> 10 from Site II (R1- R10)River water from Tigris River (around or near the Water Filtration Station/ Al Karama Project) every week (from September to half of November 2022), then were immediately placed in sterile bottles and transported to Microbiolo
... Show MoreThis article examines the usage features of the phraseological units in Russian political discourse and the peculiarities of the phraseological units’ usage by politicians in their speeches. The main focus is on the expressive and pragmatic functions of using phraseological units in political texts due to their evaluative and expressive nature. The present article also examines the structural and stylistic changes of the phraseological units in political discourse. Moreover, the work provides examples from the speeches of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation S.V. Lavrov. As a result, the author comes to the conclusion that phraseological units make it possible to establish a contact be
... Show MoreBackground: Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is inflammation of the sacroiliac joints and spine, associated with clinical symptoms such as pain and stiffness in the vertebral column, after which, in a considerable number of individuals, new bone growth occurs. Objective: The current research study attempted to find out whether the presence of SNPs in TNF receptor [TNFRSF1A (rs767455), TNFRSF1B (rs1061622)] encoding genes could influence patients' outcomes to etanercept in a specimen of Iraqi AS patients. Patients and methods: Sixty patients with established AS receiving only etanercept were selected to be enrolled in this research with a mean age of 40.75 ± 8.67 years, 51 patients of them were males and only 9 patients were females. Patients we
... Show MoreThis paper is interested in certain subclasses of univalent and bi-univalent functions concerning to shell- like curves connected with k-Fibonacci numbers involving modified Sigmoid activation function θ(t)=2/(1+e^(-t) ) ,t ≥0 in unit disk |z|<1 . For estimating of the initial coefficients |c_2 | , |c_3 |, Fekete-Szego ̈ inequality and the second Hankel determinant have been investigated for the functions in our classes.
The icon and the symbol represent the constituents of the communication process, through their intellectual and philosophical concepts that have been addressed by the current research that it has touched upon their importance in conveying the design idea for the recipient and showing the specificity of each one of them in the communication process. The research problem has been limited by the following question: what are the communication roles that the symbol and the icon present for the user in designing the industrial product?
The research objective is to reveal the theoretical visualization that describes the icon and the symbol in the industrial product and its importance in the communication process through stating the of simil
Phenol is one of the worst-damaging organic pollutants, and it produces a variety of very poisonous organic intermediates, thus it is important to find efficient ways to eliminate it. One of the promising techniques is sonoelectrochemical processing. However, the type of electrodes, removal efficiency, and process cost are the biggest challenges. The main goal of the present study is to investigate the removal of phenol by a sonoelectrochemical process with different anodes, such as graphite, stainless steel, and titanium. The best anode performance was optimized by using the Taguchi approach with an L16 orthogonal array. the degradation of phenol sonoelectrochemically was investigated with three process parameters: current de
... Show MoreThe Aaliji Formation in wells (BH.52, BH.90, BH.138, and BH.188) in Bai Hassan Oil Field in Low Folded Zone northern Iraq has been studied to recognize the palaeoenvironment and sequence stratigraphic development. The formation is bounded unconformably with the underlain Shiranish Formation and the overlain Jaddala Formation. The microfacies analysis and the nature of accumulation of both planktonic and benthonic foraminifera indicate the two microfacies associations; where the first one represents deep shelf environment, which is responsible for the deposition of the Planktonic Foraminiferal Lime Wackestone Microfacies and Planktonic Foraminiferal Lime Packstone Microfacies, while the second association represents the deep-sea environme
... Show MoreObjectives: To determine Smartphone addiction among primary school students and its impacts. The samples of the study were240primary school students in derived from stratified random sampling. The questionnaire was used to collect the data. The data were then an- analyzed using correlation statistics. It also caused a negative impact on demic performance of the primary school students.
Methodology: A cross- sectional study in assessment approach in applied in order to achieve the earlier stated objectives. The study was initiated from October 1st, 2019 to April 30th, 2020. Simple random sampling (probability) sample of (240) Pupils study In primary school at Al-Rusafa first directorate schools in Baghdad City.
Results: The study re