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.
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This paper proposes a self organizing fuzzy controller as an enhancement level of the fuzzy controller. The adjustment mechanism provides explicit adaptation to tune and update the position of the output membership functions of the fuzzy controller. Simulation results show that this controller is capable of controlling a non-linear time varying system so that the performance of the system improves so as to reach the desired state in a less number of samples.
In this article, we aim to define a universal set consisting of the subscripts of the fuzzy differential equation (5) except the two elements and , subsets of that universal set are defined according to certain conditions. Then, we use the constructed universal set with its subsets for suggesting an analytical method which facilitates solving fuzzy initial value problems of any order by using the strongly generalized H-differentiability. Also, valid sets with graphs for solutions of fuzzy initial value problems of higher orders are found.
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Objective: An efficient solution for stabilization is the mobilization of the joints for the arthrokinematics affected by the positional defect of the CAI (i.e. chronic ankle instability). This study put to comparison the impacts of ankle dorsi flexion range of motion (DFROM) as well as dynamic balance ability (DBA) in the patients who have CAI using PJM (i.e. passive joint mobilization), a technique typically been used in previous works, and active joint mobilization (AJM), a technique which could have a greater impact on cortical excitability with the spontaneous movement. Design: rehabilitation program to treat recurrent ankle. Methods: A total of 10 players from the Iraqi clubs Muay Thai team were registered, 5 from each of
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In this research, a factorial experiment (4*4) was studied, applied in a completely random block design, with a size of observations, where the design of experiments is used to study the effect of transactions on experimental units and thus obtain data representing experiment observations that The difference in the application of these transactions under different environmental and experimental conditions It causes noise that affects the observation value and thus an increase in the mean square error of the experiment, and to reduce this noise, multiple wavelet reduction was used as a filter for the observations by suggesting an improved threshold that takes into account the different transformation levels based on the logarithm of the b
... Show MoreCorpus linguistics is a methodology in studying language through corpus-based research. It differs from a traditional approach in studying a language (prescriptive approach) in its insistence on the systematic study of authentic examples of language in use (descriptive approach).A “corpus” is a large body of machine-readable structurally collected naturally occurring linguistic data, either written texts or a transcription of recorded speech, which can be used as a starting-point of linguistic description or as a means of verifying hypotheses about a language. In the past decade, interest has grown tremendously in the use of language corpora for language education. The ways in which corpora have been employed in language pedago
... Show MoreBackground: Nursing interventions tailored to the smoking triggers in patients with non-communicable chronic diseases are essential. However, these interventions are scant due to the nature of factors associated with smoking cessation and the poor understanding of the effect of nurse-led intervention in Iraq.Purpose: This study aimed to determine the dominant smoking triggers and examine the effects of a tailored nursing intervention on smoking behavior in patients with non-communicable chronic diseases.Methods: Convenience samples of 128 patients with non-communicable chronic diseases, male and female patients, who were 18-70 years old, were recruited in this quasi-experimental, randomized comparative trial in the outpatient clinic
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Abstract
The research aims to build a training program to develop some executive functions for kindergarten children. To achieve this goal, the two researchers built the program according to the following steps:
1. Determining the general objective of the program.
2. Determining the behavioral objectives of the program.
3. Determining the included content in the program.
4. Implementing the content of the activities of the program.
5. Evaluating the Program.
The program included (12) training activities, the training activities included several items: the title of the activity, the time of implementation of the activity, the general objective of the activity, the procedural behavioral objective, the means and tools u