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 paper presents a neural synchronization into intensive study in order to address challenges preventing from adopting it as an alternative key exchange algorithm. The results obtained from the implementation of neural synchronization with this proposed system address two challenges: namely the verification of establishing the synchronization between the two neural networks, and the public initiation of the input vector for each party. Solutions are presented and mathematical model is developed and presented, and as this proposed system focuses on stream cipher; a system of LFSRs (linear feedback shift registers) has been used with a balanced memory to generate the key. The initializations of these LFSRs are neural weights after achiev
... Show MoreProduced water is accompanied with the production of oil and gas especially at the fields producing by water drive or water injection. The quantity of these waters is expected to be more complicated problem with an increasing in water cut which is expected to be 3-8 barrels water/produced barrel oil.Produced water may contain many constituents based on what is present in the subsurface at a particular location. Produced water contains dissolved solids and hydrocarbons (dissolved and suspended) and oxygen depletion. The most common dissolved solid is salt with concentrations range between a few parts per thousand to hundreds parts per thousand. In addition to salt, many produced waters also contain high levels of heavy metals like zinc, bari
... Show MoreIn recent years, data centre (DC) networks have improved their rapid exchanging abilities. Software-defined networking (SDN) is presented to alternate the impression of conventional networks by segregating the control plane from the SDN data plane. The SDN presented overcomes the limitations of traditional DC networks caused by the rapidly incrementing amounts of apps, websites, data storage needs, etc. Software-defined networking data centres (SDN-DC), based on the open-flow (OF) protocol, are used to achieve superior behaviour for executing traffic load-balancing (LB) jobs. The LB function divides the traffic-flow demands between the end devices to avoid links congestion. In short, SDN is proposed to manage more operative configur
... Show MoreSolid waste is a major issue in today's world. Which can be a contributing factor to pollution and the spread of vector-borne diseases. Because of its complicated nonlinear processes, this problem is difficult to model and optimize using traditional methods. In this study, a mathematical model was developed to optimize the cost of solid waste recycling and management. In the optimization phase, the salp swarm algorithm (SSA) is utilized to determine the level of discarded solid waste and reclaimed solid waste. An optimization technique SSA is a new method of finding the ideal solution for a mathematical relationship based on leaders and followers. It takes a lot of random solutions, as well as their outward or inward fluctuations, t
... Show MoreThe practice by the administration of human resources on effectiveness of organization crisis as two knowledge fields , it were be until now as center for many studies, but the collect it, study of relation between them ,and The role of practices by the administration of human resources on effectiveness of organization crisis administration were considered a new study and first according to the available and showing studies at this field .
The problem of this research was specified by answer for the question that deal for size of consciousness at the ministry of interior for import of&nbs
... Show MoreThe researcher attempts to diagnose the level of the effect of strategic thinking skills (intuition, meditation, creativity) of the managers in the Ministry of Health in Iraq and some of its institutions in the formulation of human resources management: (selection, training, incentivence , performance appraisal (Recognizing the importance of the subjects studied, and because of the importance of the expected results of th
... Show MoreThe aim of the research is to know the level of time management application and its impact on the performance of the job, a survey search in the general company for communication and information technology and provide recommendations that help employees to optimize the use of time and improve performance, which is an important element in controlling the various functions of the company. In order to achieve the objectives of the research, the questionnaire was based on two main variables and distributed to a random sample of (44) employees in the company out of (308) employees, thus the proportion of the sample (14%). After collecting the samples from the sample, there are (6) incomplete forms that have been retri
... Show MoreThe research aims to identify the availability of some basic competencies that are required to be available to workers in digital agricultural Extension from the point of view of senior management, middle management, and, employees with Post-graduate education degrees, represented by the following: Transition to digital agricultural Extension for sustainable and smart family farms, benefiting from international expertise and experiences in applying for Digital agricultural Extension, preparing and implementing Extension messages through platforms, factors affecting the effectiveness of digital agricultural Extension and its platforms, following up and evaluating the activities and programs of the digital Extension platform. The research pop
... Show MoreThe identity of the cultural identity of the party (the ego and the other) during a series of questions subject to the transformations of history and the process of culture, the search of identity and its characteristics within the novel discourse calls to address the cultural impact communication discourse aims to reveal the functional and intellectual benefits that contributed to the formation of cultural identity, and stand at the most important manifestations And the secretions that mimic a world remains part of it present in the imagination of the producer of the text is moving in accordance with the holistic perception of the world embedded between the lines of the trial.The question of identity as an intellectual dimension in orde
... Show MoreObjectives: The study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the educational program on nurses’ knowledge towards nursing management for patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), as well as to find out the relationship between nurses' knowledge and some of their demographic characteristics (age, gender, level of education, and years of experience in cardiac units).
Methodology: A Quasi-experimental as one group (pre and post test) study was conducted at the Heart Center in Al-Diwaniyah city for the period from December 7, 2019 to February 23, 2020. A sample of (40) nurses working in the heart center was chosen from different nursing addresses. The sample covered one gro
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