Sildenafil, tadalafil, and vardenafil are phosphodiesterase type 5 enzyme (PDE-5) inhibitors used for the treatment of male erectile dysfunction. This present study aims to investigate 55 herbal products indicated for men’s sexual health from the Malaysian market for adulteration of PDE-5 inhibitors and analogues. The screening and identification of 20 PDE-5 inhibitors and analogues in herbal products of various forms (powder, capsules, tablets, and pastels) were conducted using gas chromatography–electron impact-mass spectrometer (GC-EI-MS). The analysis has shown that 19 herbal products were adulterated with PDE-5 inhibitors and analogues. Unique ion fragmentations and the presence of molecular ion serve as potential markers, and the limit of detection (LOD) was 0.1-5.0 µg/g. Ten PDE-5 inhibitors and analogues were randomly selected and successfully validated for simultaneous quantification, whereby the limit of quantitation (LOQ) was 5.0–50.0 µg/g with recoveries at 86.1-118.9%. The developed method of GC-EI-MS was shown to be simple, throughput, economical and had sufficient sensitivity to screen, identify and quantify PDE-5 inhibitors and analogues in herbal matrices.
Background: Cigarette smoking (CS) is a periodontal disease risk factor, affecting clinical parameters such as bleeding on probing (BOP), plaque index (PI), gingival index (GI) and proinflammatory cytokines level. This study examines the impact electronic cigarette use on proinflammatory cytokines and periodontal parameters. Methods: In this non-randomized study, ninety participants diagnosed with gingivitis were assigned into three groups. examined the effect of oral hygiene instructions on periodontal parameters and inflammatory biomarkers. Thirty CS (n=30) vaping electronic-cigarettes (e-cig) (n=29), and non-smoker (NS) (n=31) was included. Clinical parameters including PI, BOP, and GI were recorded at baseline and after 3 weeks
... Show MoreIn present work an investigation for precise hole drilling via continuous wave (CW) CO2 laser at 150 W maximum output power and wavelength 10.6 μm was achieved with the assistance of computerized numerical controlled (CNC) machine and assist gases. The drilling process was done for thin sheets (0.1 – 0.3 mm) of two types of metals; stainless steel (sst) 321H, steel 33 (st). Changing light and process parameters such as laser power, exposure time and gas pressure was important for getting the optimum results. The obtained results were supported with computational results using the COMSOL 3.5a software code.
Churning of employees from organizations is a serious problem. Turnover or churn of employees within an organization needs to be solved since it has negative impact on the organization. Manual detection of employee churn is quite difficult, so machine learning (ML) algorithms have been frequently used for employee churn detection as well as employee categorization according to turnover. Using Machine learning, only one study looks into the categorization of employees up to date. A novel multi-criterion decision-making approach (MCDM) coupled with DE-PARETO principle has been proposed to categorize employees. This is referred to as SNEC scheme. An AHP-TOPSIS DE-PARETO PRINCIPLE model (AHPTOPDE) has been designed that uses 2-stage MCDM s
... Show MoreThe university course timetable problem (UCTP) is typically a combinatorial optimization problem. Manually achieving a useful timetable requires many days of effort, and the results are still unsatisfactory. unsatisfactory. Various states of art methods (heuristic, meta-heuristic) are used to satisfactorily solve UCTP. However, these approaches typically represent the instance-specific solutions. The hyper-heuristic framework adequately addresses this complex problem. This research proposed Particle Swarm Optimizer-based Hyper Heuristic (HH PSO) to solve UCTP efficiently. PSO is used as a higher-level method that selects low-level heuristics (LLH) sequence which further generates an optimal solution. The proposed a
... Show MoreA theoretical study to design a conformal microstrip antennas was introduced in this work. Conformal microstrip antennas define antennas which can be conformed to a certain shape or to any curved surface. It is used in high-speed trains, aircraft, defense and navigation systems, landing gear and various communications systems, as well as in body wearable. Conformal antennas have some advantages such as a wider-angle coverage compared to flat antennas and low radar cross-sectional (RCS) and they are suitable for using in Radome. The main disadvantage of these antennas is the narrow bandwidth. The FDTD method is extremely useful in simulating complicated structures because it allows for direct integration of Maxwell's equations depending o
... Show MoreElectrical Discharge Machining (EDM) is a widespread Nontraditional Machining (NTM) processes for manufacturing of a complicated geometry or very hard metals parts that are difficult to machine by traditional machining operations. Electrical discharge machining is a material removal (MR) process characterized by using electrical discharge erosion. This paper discusses the optimal parameters of EDM on high-speed steel (HSS) AISI M2 as a workpiece using copper and brass as an electrode. The input parameters used for experimental work are current (10, 24 and 42 A), pulse on time (100, 150 and 200 µs), and pulse off time (4, 12 and 25 µs) that have effect on the material removal rate (MRR), electrode wear rate (EWR) and wear ratio (WR). A
... Show MoreIn spite of increasing clinical cases which caused by enteroviruses transferred by water and no documents about entericviruses in the Iraqi water standards. The use of coliphages as an indicator of enteroviruses and fecal pollution were suggested two procedures were applied . The first is Two-Step Enrichment Method and the second is Single Agar Layer Method. Both methods gives good results in Identification of coliphages through testing fifty different water samples (Tap water, Surface water and Bottled water) the study shows the presence of coliphages in fourteen samples.