The aim: to evaluate combined microscopy techniques for determining the morphological and optical properties of methadone hydrochloride (MDN) crystals. Materials and methods: MDN crystal formation was optimized using a closed container method and crystals were characterized using polarized light microscope (PLM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and confocal microscopy (CM). SEM and CM were used to determine MDN crystal thickness and study its relationship with crystal retardation colours using the Michel-Levy Birefringence approach. Results: Dimensions (mean±SD) of diamond shaped MDN crystals were confirmed using SEM and CM. Crystals were 46.4±15.2 Vs 32.0±8.3 µm long, 28.03±8.2 Vs 20.85±5.5 µm wide, and 6.62±2.9 Vs 9.6±4.6 µm thick, respectively. There were significant differences between SEM and CM thickness measurements (U=1283, p<0.05), as the SEM exhibited thinner diamond crystals. The combined use of PLM and Michel-Levy chart enabled the observation of a predominantly yellow coloured MDN crystal, mean thickness at (428 nm) mean retardation value. Conclusion: The SEM was superior and successfully determined MDN crystal dimensions for the first time, whilst the CM results were affected by the Rhodamine dye staining process used for visualisation. The qualitative analysis of the crystallinity status of methadone hydrochloride optimally achieved using a combination of PLM and SEM techniques
Hypertension is a major health problem throughout the world because of its high prevalence and its association with increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. It is defined as systolic blood pressure ≥ 140 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure ≥ 90 mmHg. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy, safety and cardiovascular disease risk lowering ability, of three antihypertensive drug regimens.
A retrospective study was carried out on 66 hypertensive patients, divided in to three groups based on their antihypertensive drug regimens (ACE inhibitors, β-blockers treated and combination antihypertensive therapy, the combination therapy consist of two or more of the following antihypertensive drugs ACE inhibitor di
... Show MoreWith the increasing demands to use remote sensing approaches, such as aerial photography, satellite imagery, and LiDAR in archaeological applications, there is still a limited number of studies assessing the differences between remote sensing methods in extracting new archaeological finds. Therefore, this work aims to critically compare two types of fine-scale remotely sensed data: LiDAR and an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) derived Structure from Motion (SfM) photogrammetry. To achieve this, aerial imagery and airborne LiDAR datasets of Chun Castle were acquired, processed, analyzed, and interpreted. Chun Castle is one of the most remarkable ancient sites in Cornwall County (Southwest England) that had not been surveyed and explored
... Show MoreObjectives To determine the prevalence of oral lesions by age and gender among the pediatric population in Iraq. Materials and methods A review of the archives of the oral pathology department of Baghdad University from, 1970 Materials and Methods: A review of the archives of the oral pathology department of Baghdad University from 1970 to 2013 for all biopsies from children aged 0–15 years old. Results A total of 1286 child specimens represented 11.98% of all biopsied lesions. The pyogenic granuloma was the most frequent lesion in children, and the periapical cyst was the most frequent lesion from an odontogenic origin. The incidence of malignant lesions was higher in the 0–3 age group than other groups. Conclusions The majority of les
... Show MoreNewspaper headlines are described as compressed and ambiguous pieces of discourse that represent the bodies of the articles. Their main function is to provide the readers with an informative message they would have no prior idea about. Ifantidou (2009) claims that the function of a headline is to get the readers’ attention rather than providing information because it does not have to represent the whole of the article it refers to. This paper aims at examining this hypothesis in relation to scientific news headlines reported by a number of news agencies. The paper follows Halliday (1967) information structure theory by applying it on ten selected headlines; each two headlines represent one scientific discovery reported by different new
... Show MoreCleaning is one of the services provided by the state and its ad hoc institutions. Every developed country is clean due to the good planning and attention given to the staff of all municipalities and service institutions. Beside, the attention paid to this sector is considered one of the windows to maintain the states’ aesthetics. If janirtos stop disposing of all the discarded wastes, the result will be having big piles of waste, affecting accordingly the health and safety of its citizens and the aesthetics of the areas. The janitors and those responsible for them are tha staff that the state must take care of because of their importance to the state in general and to the province in particular. The importance of the research
... Show MoreThe aim of this scientific paper is to highlight the effective role of women working in economic development, especially those working in the entrepreneurial sector, which we see as encouraging at the macro-economic level and at the personal level, by highlighting their potential to help them enter the private labour market, value them and empower their role in the economic arena in order to win this bet to become productive and effective workers at all levels.
Through this paper, we will try to highlight the role of Algerian women's contribution to economic development through access to the world of entrepreneurship, and we will also try to find statistics on their success levels at the local and interna
... Show MoreVitamin D receptor (VDR) is a nuclear transcription factor that controls gene expression. Its impaired expression was found to be related to different diseases. VDR also acts as a regulator of different pathways including differentiation, inflammation, calcium and phosphate absorption, etc. but there is no sufficient knowledge about the regulation of the gene itself. Therefore, a better understanding of the genetic and epigenetic factors regulating the VDR may facilitate the improvement of strategies for the prevention and treatment of diseases associated with dysregulation of VDR. In the present investigation, a set of databases and methods were used to identify putative functional elements in the VDR locus. Histone modifications, CpG I
... Show More