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.
the Current research aims to identify the psychological stressors coping strategies and their relationship to the cognitive motivation among Al-Anbar University students through the following hypotheses: 1) no statistically significant differences at a level (0.05) among the sample according to the instrumental support strategy depending on the variable type and specialization, 2) No statistically significant differences at a level (0.05) among the sample in regard of coping avoiding strategy depending on the variable type and specialization, 3) There is no statistically significant difference at a level (0.05) in cognitive motivation level among Al-Anbar University students, 4) No statistically significant differences at a level (0.05)
... Show MoreBackground: Small cardamom or green cardamom is the dried fruit of the tall perennial herbaceous plant, Elettaria cardamomum Maton belonging to the family Zingiberaceae. The major use of small cardamom on world wide is for domestic culinary purpose and in medicine. This study was conducted to test the effect of small cardamom extracts on Mutans streptococci and Candida Albicans in comparison to 0.2% chlorhexidine gluconate and de-ionized water in vivo. Materials and Methods: Mutans streptococci and Candid Albicans were isolated, purified and diagnosed according to morphological characteristic and biochemical test. In this experiments, the effect of control agents and small cardamom extracts as a mouth rinses was tested on the saliva
... Show MoreA total of 48 experiments were conducted to investigate the impact of slit weir dimensions and locations on the maximum scour depth and scour area created upstream. The slit weir model was a 110 mm slit opening, and it was installed at the end of the working section in a laboratory flume. The flume was 10.0 m long, 30 cm wide, 30 cm deep, and almost middle. It includes a 2 m working section with a mobile bed with 110 mm in thickness. In the mobile bed, two types of nonuniform sand (with a geometric standard deviation of 1.58 and 1.6) were tested separately. The weir dimensions and location were changed with flow rates. Then dimensions of the slit weir were changed from 60 x 110 mm to 60 x 70 mm (width x height), while th
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This research presents a numerical study to simulate the heat transfer by forced convection as a result of fluid flow inside channel’s with one-sided semicircular sections and fully filled with porous media. The study assumes that the fluid were Laminar , Steady , Incompressible and inlet Temperature was less than Isotherm temperature of a Semicircular sections .Finite difference techniques were used to present the governing equations (Momentum, Energy and Continuity). Elliptical Grid is Generated using Poisson’s equations . The Algebraic equations were solved numerically by using (LSOR (.This research studied the effect of changing the channel shapes on fluid flow and heat transfer in two cases ,the first: cha
... Show MoreA novel Schiff base ligand [N1-benzylidenebenezene-1,2-diamine(L) = C20H16N2] was prepared through intensification of benzaldehyde (C6H5CHO) and O- amino aniline O-C6H4(NH2)2 in ethanol with 8-Hydroxyquinoline (8HQ) . Formed compounds were acquired of 1:1:2 molar proportion reactions for metal ions and ligands (L) and 2(8HQ) during reaction for MCl2 .nH2O salt products complexes conformable into the forms [M(L)(8HQ)2] ,where M = Mn(II),Co(II) and Ni(II). Whole the compounds were identified during the basis of their; FT-IR and U.V spectrum, melting point, molar conduct, identify of the percentage from the metal at the complexes via flame (AAS), C, H and N content of the Schiff base (L) and metal complexes were analysis and magnetic susceptib
... Show MoreTeachers play a critical role in planning, organizing, coordinating, monitoring, and instructing, hence the topic of leadership styles receives a lot of attention. As a result, the physical education school is regarded as the most significant component of the educational process because it has the ability to weave together the teaching and educational skills, attitudes, and capacities that its students develop. Fits into their identities through her relationship with them. Teachers play a critical role in planning, organizing, coordinating, monitoring, and instructing, hence the topic of leadership styles receives a lot of attention. As a result, the physical education school is regarded the most significant aspect in the educational proces
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<p><span>A Botnet is one of many attacks that can execute malicious tasks and develop continuously. Therefore, current research introduces a comparison framework, called BotDetectorFW, with classification and complexity improvements for the detection of Botnet attack using CICIDS2017 dataset. It is a free online dataset consist of several attacks with high-dimensions features. The process of feature selection is a significant step to obtain the least features by eliminating irrelated features and consequently reduces the detection time. This process implemented inside BotDetectorFW using two steps; data clustering and five distance measure formulas (cosine, dice, driver & kroeber, overlap, and pearson correlation
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Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is one of the principal nosocomial causative agents. This bacterium has the capability to resist wide range of antibiotics and it is responsible for many diseases like skin, nose and wounds infection. In this study, randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)-PCR was applied with ten random primers to examine the molecular diversity among methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates in the hospitals and to investigate the genetic distance between them. 90 Isolates were collected from clinical specimens from Iraqi hospitals for a total of 90 isolates. Only 10 strains (11.11%) were found to be MRSA. From these 10 primers, only 9 gave clear amplification products. 91 fragment l
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