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 conduc

Computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) has proved to be an effective and accurate method for diagnostic prediction over the years. This article focuses on the development of an automated CAD system with the intent to perform diagnosis as accurately as possible. Deep learning methods have been able to produce impressive results on medical image datasets. This study employs deep learning methods in conjunction with meta-heuristic algorithms and supervised machine-learning algorithms to perform an accurate diagnosis. Pre-trained convolutional neural networks (CNNs) or auto-encoder are used for feature extraction, whereas feature selection is performed using an ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm. Ant colony optimization helps to search for the bes

This paper proposes a new structure of the hybrid neural controller based on the identification model for nonlinear systems. The goal of this work is to employ the structure of the Modified Elman Neural Network (MENN) model into the NARMA-L2 structure instead of Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) model in order to construct a new hybrid neural structure that can be used as an identifier model and a nonlinear controller for the SISO linear or nonlinear systems. Weight parameters of the hybrid neural structure with its serial-parallel configuration are adapted by using the Back propagation learning algorithm. The ability of the proposed hybrid neural structure for nonlinear system has achieved a fast learning with minimum number

One of the therapeutic effects of nicotine  is used as  a protective against developing ulcerative colitis . ulcerative colitis is an inflammatory disease of the bowel affecting the superficial lining mucosa in the rectum and large intestine. In this study nicotine tablets were formulated as modified release tablets targeted to the colon. All formulas were studied for drug release , effect of diluent, retardant concentration, avicel grade,and compression force, the selected formula was then further studied for drug release in 3 different pH ( coated tablets) .The kinetic study revealed acceptable shelf life  . Finally the selected formula was given to 6 patients in a pre-liminary clinical study which showed that nicotine c

Objective: Econazole nitrate (ECZ) is one of the triazole antifungal drugs with poor aqueous solubility and dissolution rate; there is a need for enhancement of solubility. Therefore; inclusion complexation with β cyclodextrin (βCD) was performed. Methods: In this study kneading method and co-evaporation method of preparation of inclusion complex between βCD and ECZ using two molar ratios of βCD. The solubility of these complexes in isotonic saline solution and distilled water was studied. Complexes prepared by kneading method were used for the preparation of different ophthalmic gel formulas using carbomer (CB) and sodium carboxymethylcellulose (sod CMC) as a gelling agent. The release profile and the rheological behaviour of the gel w

<p>Energy and memory limitations are considerable constraints of sensor nodes in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). The limited energy supplied to network nodes causes WSNs to face crucial functional limitations. Therefore, the problem of limited energy resource on sensor nodes can only be addressed by using them efficiently. In this research work, an energy-balancing routing scheme for in-network data aggregation is presented. This scheme is referred to as Energy-aware and load-Balancing Routing scheme for Data Aggregation (hereinafter referred to as EBR-DA). The EBRDA aims to provide an energy efficient multiple-hop routing to the destination on the basis of the quality of the links between the source and destination. In

Wildfire risk has globally increased during the past few years due to several factors. An efficient and fast response to wildfires is extremely important to reduce the damaging effect on humans and wildlife. This work introduces a methodology for designing an efficient machine learning system to detect wildfires using satellite imagery. A convolutional neural network (CNN) model is optimized to reduce the required computational resources. Due to the limitations of images containing fire and seasonal variations, an image augmentation process is used to develop adequate training samples for the change in the forest’s visual features and the seasonal wind direction at the study area during the fire season. The selected CNN model (Mob