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The gut capacity of shrimp larvae is minimal, and their digestion is often challenged by the inevitable fact that they tend to develop slowly during the zoea stage. Many studies approved that the digestive capacity of shrimp larvae could be improved by increasing the retention time of food in the intestine. Gut evacuation time and fullness of the gut are crucial parameters in assessing the growth of shrimp larvae, and the diet as well as environmental conditions indeed influence the activity of these parameters. Although many species of shrimps have a wide salinity tolerance, more specific research on salinity and its relation to the type of diet is necessary to find the optimum condition supporting the growth of shrimp larvae. By employing Penaeus merguiensis larvae, this study evaluates the effect of three nominal salinities (28, 32, and 36 ppt) and types of diets (Diet A: 100% live feed; Diet B: 100% FRIPPAK; Diet C: a combination of Diet A and Diet C, 50 % each) toward the fullness of gut and gut evacuation time of the newly introduced Penaeus merguiensis larvae culture. The result showed that the longest gut evacuation time and the highest percentage of gut's fullness were found in all Zoea reared with Diet A at salinity 28 and 32 ppt; Zoea-1 at 28 ppt with Diet A; Zoea-2 at 32 ppt with Diet A; Zoea-3 at 32 ppt with Diet A. Longer gut evacuation time would have an impact on the higher percentage of the fullness of gut. The higher fullness of the gut also indicates that the larvae have the best capacity to produce energy and achieve optimum growth.

In this paper, we describe the primitive ideal space of the $C^*$-algebra $C^*(mathcal G)$ associated to the ultragraph $mathcal{G}$. We investigate the structure of the closed ideals of the quotient ultragraph $ C^* $-algebra $C^*left(mathcal G/(H,S)right)$ which contain no nonzero set projections and then we characterize all non gauge-invariant primitive ideals. Our results generalize the Hong and Szyma$ acute{ mathrm { n } } $ski's description of the primitive ideal space of a graph $ C ^ * $-algebra by a simpler method.

Dopamine (DA) is a very imperative neurotransmitter in our body, since it contributes to several physiological processes in our body, for example, memory, feeling, cognition, cardiovascular diseases, and hormone secretion. Meanwhile, tyrosinase is a critical biomarker for several dangerous skin diseases, including vitiligo and melanoma cancer. Most of the reported chemiluminescent (CL) methods for monitoring DA and tyrosinase are signal-off biosensors. Herein, we introduce a new chemiluminescent "signal-on" system, lucigenin-tris(hydroxypropyl)phosphine (THPP), for the selective determination of DA and tyrosinase. THPP is well known as a versatile and highly water-soluble sulfhydryl-reducing compound that is more highly stable against air oxidation than common disulfide reductants. By employing THPP for the first time as an efficient lucigenin coreactant, the lucigenin-THPP system has shown a high CL response (approximately 16-fold) compared to the lucigenin-H 2 O 2 classical CL system. Surprisingly, DA can remarkably boost the CL intensity of the lucigenin-THPP CL system. Additionally, tyrosinase can efficiently catalyze the conversion of tyramine to DA. Therefore, lucigenin-THPP was employed as an ultrasensitive and selective signal-on CL system for the quantification of DA, tyrosinase, and THPP. The linear ranges for the quantification of DA, tyrosinase, and THPP were 50-1000 nM, 0.2-50 μg/mL, and 0.1-800 μM, respectively. LODs for DA and tyrosinase were estimated to be 24 nM and 0.18 μg/mL, respectively. Additionally, the CL system has been successfully employed for the detection of tyrosinase in human serum samples and the assay of DA in human serum samples as well as in dopamine injection ampules with excellent obtained recoveries.

This study aims to develop a novel and selective method for the detection of natamycin (E235) in yoghurt. The suggested method adopts an application of Hantzsch reaction to turn on the fluorescence behavior of natamycin (blue fluorescence), allowing its sensitive and selective determination in yoghurt samples without any overlapping at 485 nm. The originality of the research lies in the fact that this application takes place for the first time, also the detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) limits were very low (0.02 and 0.06μg mL -1 , respectively) with a linear concentration range of 0.1-1.0 μgmL -1 . Moreover, the developed method was employed for the detection of E235 in yoghurt sample with a good recoveries (98.80 ± 1.20-99.20 ± 1.15 (%), over a concentration range of 0.5-1.0 μgmL -1 , (LOD = 0.04 and LOQ = 0.12 μgmL -1 ). Furthermore, the specificity and convenient application of our intended method is an attempt to determine E235 in milk anddairy products with easily followable steps., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Monitoring antipsychotic drugs in biological fluids, such as human serum and urine, is important for ensuring the safety and efficacy of psychiatric treatments. This process helps maintain therapeutic drug levels, minimize side effects, and optimize patient well-being. Chlorpromazine (CZ) is a widely prescribed antipsychotic drug used for conditions like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and acute psychosis. Almost all existing sensing techniques for CZ are either insensitive spectrophotometric methods or involve long and complex chromatographic procedures, limiting their routine use. In this work, we introduce a facile, green, and sensitive fluorimetric strategy with high reproducibility for detecting CZ in its pure form, tablet formulation, and spiked human plasma and urine without the need for derivatization reactions. The proposed method relies on the inhibition of the intramolecular photoinduced electron transfer (PET) effect by using 2.0 M acetic acid. This approach enables the linear detection of CZ from 3.0 to 600 ng/mL with remarkably low quantitation and detection limits of 1.51 and 0.49 ng/mL, respectively. Moreover, the developed method's greenness was evaluated., (© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Lymphatic spread of colon cancer usually occurs via mesenteric vessels (superior and inferior mesenteric vessels), but inguinal lymph node (LN) metastasis from colon cancer is extremely rare with only few reported cases in the literature. A case of a 35-year-old female patient with a history of sigmoid cancer underwent sigmoidectomy and left salpingo-oopherectomy in 2016 and received adjuvant chemotherapy then presented in 2023 with metastatic left inguinal LNs and underwent left inguinal LN dissection. We reported a rare case of isolated metachronous inguinal lymph node metastasis from colon cancer with a round ligament route of spread as the hypothesized mechanism. Surgical resection with inguinal LN dissection is the preferred treatment option for isolated inguinal lymph node metastasis from colon cancer followed by adjuvant chemotherapy, yet long term follow-up data is needed to support this strategy., Competing Interests: Conflict of InterestThe authors declare no competing interests., (© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Indian Association of Surgical Oncology 2024. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.)

Mizolastine is an antihistamine drug that is commonly used for treatment of chronic urticaria and allergic rhinitis. In this study, a facile, rapid, and sustainable fluorimetric method was established for the estimation of mizolastine in pharmaceutical and biological matrices for the first time. The approach methodology relied on the direct assessment of mizolastine's intrinsic fluorescence at 313 nm after excitation at 272 nm. This intrinsic fluorescence, stemming from the benzimidazole fluorophore moiety in mizolastine structure, serves as a distinctive marker for its precise quantification in the spiked human plasma and pharmaceutical formulations with high %recovery. The method exhibits reasonable sensitivity with lower limits of detection and quantification of 5.4 and 16.6 ng mL -1 , respectively, across a concentration range of 25.0-2000.0 and 50-1000 ng mL -1 for the standard mizolastine analysis and mizolastine assay in the plasma sample, respectively. Moreover, the established method was applied to assess tablet content uniformity and mizolastine assay in plasma samples with high recoveries (98.50%-100.20%). Such applications underscore the method's potential applicability within quality control laboratories, preventing the need for sample preparation or laborious extraction steps. Finally, the method's sustainability and practicality were confirmed by applying different greenness and whiteness metrics, yielding excellent results., (© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

A newly green method for the sensitive quantification of cloperastine, a cough suppressant, in spiked human plasma and its pharmaceutical formulation was designed for the first time. The established method depends on the enhancement of the weak fluorescence of cloperastine using 50 mM sulfuric acid to impair the photoinduced electron transfer produced from the nitrogen atom of piperidine moiety in cloperastine. This full protonation in an acid medium leads to an enhancement in the fluorescence of cloperastine, permitting its linear determination from 0.2 to 5.0 µg/mL with LOD and LOQ of 0.04 and 0.13 µg/mL, respectively. Moreover, the studied drug was estimated in its pharmaceutical market formulations as well as spiked human plasma. Furthermore, the greenness of the described method was evaluated., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Chemiluminescence (CL)-based analytical methods utilize luminophores that need to be activated with an oxidizing agent to trigger CL emission. Despite its susceptibility to decomposition when exposed to external light or trace metals, hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) has been widely used to develop chemiluminescent methods due to the limited number of suitable alternatives for activating chemiluminescent luminophores. Also, analytical methods based on the well-known luminol/H 2 O 2 CL system have low sensitivity. Dissolved oxygen (DO) is a naturally abundant and environmentally benign alternative oxidant for luminol and other CL luminophores. However, DO alone is inactive and needs an efficient catalyst or a coreaction accelerator for its activation. Because of the narrow bandgap of VS 4 ( ca. 1.12 eV), it can facilitate fast electron-transfer kinetics with an acceptor molecule such as DO. Here, we introduce vanadium tetrasulfide (VS 4 ) to boost CL for the first time. Under the optimized conditions, VS 4 nanodendrite catalyzes the generation of reactive oxygen species by activating DO which subsequently reacts with luminol to generate intense CL. It enhances the CL intensity of luminol/DO by about 10,000 times. Surprisingly, hemin remarkably quenches the generated CL of luminol/DO/VS 4 nanodendrites, which is completely opposite to its typical enhancement of luminol CL. Based on the remarkable concentration-dependent quenching of the luminol/DO/VS 4 nanodendrite CL by hemin, we have developed a sensitive CL method that can selectively detect hemin in the linear concentration range of 1-250 nM and achieved a limit of detection of 0.11 nM. The practical utility of the developed method was demonstrated by the determination of hemin in a pharmaceutical drug for the treatment of acute intermittent porphyria and in human serum. This study demonstrates that VS 4 holds great promise in analytical method development.

Olopatadine (OLP) is widely utilized as an effective antihistaminic drug for alleviating ocular itching associated with allergic conjunctivitis. With its frequent usage in pharmacies, there arises a pressing need for a cost-effective, easily implementable, environmentally sustainable detection method with high sensitivity. This study presents a novel signal-on fluorimetric method for detecting OLP in both its pure form and aqueous humor. The proposed approach depends on enhancing the weak intrinsic fluorescence emission of OLP, achieving a remarkable increase of up to 680% compared to its intrinsic fluorescence. This enhancement is achieved by forming micelles around protonated OLP using an acetate buffer (pH 3.6) and incorporating a solution of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) surfactant. A strong correlation (R = 0.9996) is observed between the concentration of OLP and fluorescence intensities ranging from 1.0 to 100.0 ng mL -1 with a limit of detection of 0.22 ng mL -1 . This described method is successfully employed for quantifying OLP in both its powder form and pharmaceutical eye drops. Furthermore, it demonstrates robust performance in determining OLP in artificial aqueous humor with a percentage recovery of 99.05 ± 1.51, with minimal interference from matrix interferents. Moreover, the greenness of the described method was evaluated., (© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Assessing medication adherence through the determination of antihypertensive drugs in biological matrices holds significant importance. Amlodipine (AP), a potent antihypertensive medication extensively prescribed for hypertensive patients, is particularly noteworthy in this context. This article aims to introduce a rapid, simple, improved sensitivity, and reproducibility in detecting AP in its pure form, tablet formulation, and spiked human plasma than the other reported methods. The proposed method utilizes a fluorescence approach, relying on the inhibition of the intramolecular photoinduced electron transfer (PET) effect of the lone pair of the N-atom in the primary amino moiety of AP. This inhibition is achieved by acidifying the surrounding medium using 0.2 M acetic acid. By blocking PET, the target AP drug is sensitively detected, at [Formula: see text] 423 nm over a concentration range 25-500 ng mL - 1 showcasing an exceptionally low quantitation limit of 1.41 ng mL - 1 . Notably, this innovative technique was successfully applied to detect AP in its solid dosage form and spiked human plasma. Remarkably, matrix interference was found to be insignificant, underscoring the robustness and applicability of the established approach. The combination of speed, sensitivity, and reproducibility makes this method particularly suitable for assessing medication adherence in patients prescribed AP for hypertension., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

A green, rapid and sensitive fluorimetric method to quantify levodropropizine (LVP) in human plasma was exploited for the first time. The proposed method adopts LVP's intrinsic fluorescence in distilled water at a detecting emission of 345 nm following excitation at 240 nm. LVP displayed linearity across concentrations ranging from 50 to 1000 ng mL -1 , with a detection limit of 0.77 ng mL -1 and a quantification limit of 2.33 ng mL -1 . Thorough validation confirmed its reliability, successfully determining LVP in tablets with an average recovery of 98.64 ± 1.07 %. Furthermore, the method's applicability extended to estimate the studied drug in spiked human plasma with excellent obtained percentage recoveries (98.68 ± 1.28-100.14 ± 1.23)., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The ability to determine antihistaminic drugs in biological matrices is critical for the medication adherence assessment. Among these antihistaminic medications, cyproheptadine (CPD); that is acting as a potent first-generation antihistaminic drug that has been extensively prescribed for allergic patients. Most of the established approaches for CPD detection are not appropriate for this purpose owing to their weak sensitivity, lack of rapidity, and complicated experimental procedures. Herein, we present a very fast, highly sensitive, and reproducible approach for the detection of CPD in its pure form, tablet formulation, and spiked human plasma. The photoluminescence approach depends on hindering the intramolecular photoinduced electron transfer (PET) effect of the lone pair of the N-atom present on the piperidine ring of CPD by making the surrounding medium acidic using 1.0 M acetic acid. Based on blocking PET, the target CPD drug has been sensitively detected from 5.0 to 500 ng mL -1 with a very low detection and quantitation limit of 7.01 and 21.25 ng mL -1 , respectively. Moreover, the established approach was used for checking the tablet content uniformity testing for each tablet and spiked human plasma, and noteworthy, the matrices interference was insignificant., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A new fluorimetric sensing method for the selective and sensitive quantification of nadifloxacin (antibacterial agent, NDF) was established for the first time. The introduced method relies on blocking the photoinduced electron transfer (PET) effect of the nitrogen atom presented on the piperidine ring in NDF by fine-tuning the pH of the surrounding medium through its protonation using 0.5 M acetic acid. This protonation turns the weak fluorescence of NDF into stronger fluorescence intensity, allowing its selective and sensitive detection in its pure state as well as cream pharmaceutical formulation without any obstruction from the common excipients. The developed method has shown an NDF detection limit of 1.72 ng mL -1 and a quantification limit of 5.20 ng mL -1 ., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: The primary objective of the current study is to assess which is better for obtaining the proper femoral rotation during IMN of femoral fractures, the radiological or clinical method. The secondary objectives were to document malrotation's incidence and its effect on the hip and knee functional outcomes., Methods: Thirty-three patients with unilateral femoral shaft fractures were treated using intramedullary nails (IMN) on a usual radiolucent operative table. Intraoperative rotation adjustment was performed using a radiological method (relying on the contralateral lesser trochanter profile) in 16 patients (group A), while in 17 patients, a clinical method was used (group B). Postoperative assessment of malrotation was performed using a CT scan, and 15 degrees was the cutoff value where below is an acceptable rotation (group I) and above is true malrotation (group II). Functional assessment was performed using the Harris hip score (HHS), the Tegner Lysholm Knee Scoring Scale (TLKSS), and the Neer score., Results: The patients' mean age was 30.7 ± 9.3 years; 81.8% were males, and the left side was injured in 63.6% of patients. After a mean follow up of 18.2 ± 6.9 months, all fractures were united, and the overall mean amount of rotational difference between the fractured and the contralateral side was 14.7° ± 6.0 (3-29.4), 84.8% were in external rotation. No difference in the mean rotational deformity in group A compared to group B. Measurements were 13.9 ± 6.7 and 15.7 ± 5.5, respectively (p = 0.47). Seventeen (51.5%) patients in group I with a mean deformity of 9.8 ± 3.4 (3-14.7), while group II consisted of 16 (48.5%) patients with a mean deformity of 19.6 ± 3.7 (15.3-29.4). There was no difference in the functional scores between group I and group II; HHS was 89.4 ± 7.4 versus 87.7 ± 8.9 (p = 0.54), TLKSS was 84.6 ± 9.6 versus 80.4 ± 13.9 (p = 0.32), and Neer score was 87.9 ± 9.5 versus 83 ± 12.5 (p = 0.21) for group I and group II, respectively., Conclusion: There was no difference in malrotation incidence after unilateral femoral fractures IMN with either an intraoperative clinical or radiological method for rotational adjustment; furthermore, malrotation did not affect the functional outcomes., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Pathogenic bacteria and viruses are the main causes of infectious diseases all over the world. Early diagnosis of such infectious diseases is a critical step in management of their spread and treatment of the infection in its early stages. Therefore, the innovation of smart sensing platforms for point-of-care diagnosis of life-threatening infectious diseases such as COVID-19 is a prerequisite to isolate the patients and provide them with suitable treatment strategies. The developed diagnostic sensors should be highly sensitive, specific, ultrafast, portable, cheap, label-free, and selective. In recent years, different nanosensors have been developed for the detection of bacterial and viral pathogens. We focus here on label-free miniaturized nanosensing platforms that were efficiently applied for pathogenic detection in biological matrices. Such devices include nanopore sensors and nanostructure-integrated lab-on-a-chip sensors that are characterized by portability, simplicity, cost-effectiveness, and ultrafast analysis because they avoid the time-consuming sample preparation steps. Furthermore, nanopore-based sensors could afford single-molecule counting of viruses in biological specimens, yielding high-sensitivity and high-accuracy detection. Moreover, non-invasive nanosensors that are capable of detecting volatile organic compounds emitted from the diseased organ to the skin, urine, or exhaled breath were also reviewed. The merits and applications of all these nanosensors for analysis of pathogenic bacteria and viruses in biological matrices will be discussed in detail, emphasizing the importance of artificial intelligence in advancing specific nanosensors.

9-Mesityl-10-methylacridinium ion (Acr + -Mes) is a donor-acceptor molecule with a much longer lifetime and a higher energy electron transfer excited state than natural photosynthetic reaction centers. Unlike lucigenin with a coplanar geometry, Acr + -Mes has an orthogonal geometry. There is no π conjugation between Acr + and Mes. Due to its special electron donor-acceptor structure, it does not rely on strong alkalinity to generate an electron transfer state like lucigenin, which makes it possible to achieve chemiluminescence (CL) under weakly alkaline or neutral conditions. In this study, we report Acr + -Mes CL for the first time. Acr + -Mes generates about 400 times stronger CL intensity than lucigenin under neutral conditions (pH = 7) using KHSO 5 as the coreactant. Moreover, Co 2+ can enhance Acr + -Mes/KHSO 5 CL remarkably. Acr + -Mes/KHSO 5 CL enables Co 2+ detection with a linear range of 0.5-500 nM and a limit of detection of 28 pM (S/N = 3). This method was tested for the detection of Co 2+ in lake water, and the standard recovery rate of 96.8-107% was achieved. This study provides a new way to develop efficient CL systems in neutral solutions.

Imaging technologies based on chemiluminescence (CL) and bioluminescence (BL) have seen a tremendous growth in the past decade due to their extensive contributions to biochemical analysis and biomedical science. CL and BL imaging technologies have many advantages over commonly used imaging techniques (such as fluorescence and electrochemical systems). CL and BL proceed without an external light source, thus avoiding photobleaching, high interference of background signal, and autofluorescence. Furthermore, CL and BL analytical techniques are characterized by their low detection limit, high selectivity, short assay time, and simple instrumentation. Recently, CL-based imaging technology has been applied successfully for the determination and in vivo imaging of several significant analytes. Meanwhile, an innovative BL imaging technology has been established for the noninvasive real-time tracking of different biomolecules relying on the interaction between luciferase and its substrate. In the current review, we discuss the recent applications of CL and BL imaging approaches over the past five years. Finally, we also discuss the current state of progress and the prospects for CL and BL imaging systems., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2023 The Authors. Co-published by Nanjing University and American Chemical Society.)

Background: CD44 is an epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) surface receptor that regulates the interactivity between the cells and the extracellular matrix, thereby promoting cell migration. The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) family is a trans-membrane kinase-related protein. It regulates cell adhesion proteins, which may promote cell proliferation and invasiveness. Mesenchymal epithelial transition (MET) is another EMT receptor that stimulates cell proliferation, invasion, survival, and angiogenesis. This study aimed to evaluate the prognostic impact of CD44, EGFR expressions, and MET gene amplification in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC)., Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study, including 85 cases of EOC. CD44 and EGFR expressions were evaluated in both epithelial and stromal cells by immunohistochemistry. Tumor cells also underwent a cytogenetic analysis using fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) to detect MET gene amplification., Results: High CD44 expression in tumors was significantly associated with serous subtypes (P=0.001), peritoneal deposits (P=0.002), and advanced stage (P=0.002). EGFR high tumor expression demonstrated a significant association with lymph node metastasis (P=0.038) and the advanced stage of EOC (P=0.016). Increased copy number of the MET gene was significantly associated with partial therapy response (P=0.030).  CD44 and EGFR tumor high expression was associated with poor overall survival (OS). In addition, MET gene gain in tumors was associated with a shorter OS (P=0.000)., Conclusion: EMT biomarkers (CD44 and MET) and EGFR expression in EOC are independent prognostic factors for OS. MET gene increase copy number was detected in cases of serous neoplasm and associated with poor survival and minimal therapy response.

The ability to estimate and quantify biothiols in biological fluids is very significant for attaining a detailed understanding of biothiols-related pathological diseases. Most of the developed methods for biothiols detection are not suitable for this purpose owing to their low sensitivity, poor selectivity, and long experimental procedures. In this study, a novel and simple structure electrochemical probe has been synthesized for the first time for the selective determination of biothiols. The developed probe is based on using 2,4-dinitrobenzenesulfonyl moiety (DNBS) as a selective recognition moiety for biothiols. The electrochemical probe was successfully fabricated through a facile one-step reaction between 2,4-dinitrobenzenesulfonyl chloride (DNBS-Cl) and p -aminophenol. The successful synthesis of the probe was confirmed by using different characterization techniques such as an NMR spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry. Biothiols can selectively cleave the DNBS moiety through an aromatic nucleophilic substitution (ANS) reaction within 10 min to release p -aminophenol, which is a highly electrochemical active molecule that can be selectively detected easily by cyclic voltammetry at low potential. The probe has been employed for the quantification of cysteine, glutathione, and homocysteine with a LOD of 1.50, 3.48, and 4.67 μM, respectively. Excellent recoveries have been achieved in the range of 95.44-98.71% for the determination of the total biothiols in the human plasma sample.

Potentiometric sensors based on ion-selective membrane electrodes have continued to get great attention from the scientific community. These sensors have been employed in several applications including medicine, forensic analysis, environmental assessment, industry, agriculture, and pharmaceutical drug analysis. Indeed, these sensors possess several advantages, for example, simple design, fabrication, and manipulation, rapid response time, good selectivity, applicability to colored and turbid solutions, and possible interfacing with automated and computerized systems. On the other hand, therapeutic drug monitoring and the detection of pharmaceutical drugs in their pharmaceutical formulations and biological matrices are highly significant from a medical point of view, especially for drugs with a narrow therapeutic index, such as anticancer drugs, which can cause fatal side effects for patients. Interestingly, potentiometric sensors have been broadly employed as one of the most important electrochemical approaches for pharmaceutical drug analysis. Moreover, the breakthroughs in potentiometric sensors based on ion-selective electrodes (ISEs) make them superior to the other reported methods for pharmaceutical drug analysis in terms of many performance parameters, such as sensitivity, selectivity, low detection limit, and low cost. In this review, we try to offer a summary prologue to the applicability and merits of potentiometric sensors that have been employed for pharmaceutical drug analysis while emphasizing their application for the assay of pharmaceutical drugs in their dosage forms and the in-vivo assay of pharmaceutical drugs in different biological samples such as milk, water, plasma, and urine., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to The Japan Society for Analytical Chemistry.)

Developing new, cheap, sensitive and selective chemiluminescence (CL) systems with multiple detection properties is still a big challenge for biological and environmental applications. Here, we report a new CL system having multiple detection applications (environmental and biological). The developed lucigenin-pyrogallol system gave an enhancement (190 times) over the conventional lucigenin-H 2 O 2 CL system. Cobalt ion and tyrosinase can inhibit lucigenin-PG CL intensity. Based on these phenomena, we have developed new CL methods for the detection of pyrogallol (LOD = 0.94 μM), lucigenin (LOD = 0.42 μM), cobalt (LOD = 68 nM), and tyrosinase (LOD = 1.8 μg/mL). Furthermore, the developed system gave excellent recoveries in real samples within the range of 93.59-103.12% for the assay of pyrogallol, Co 2+ and tyrosinase in coffee, lake water, and human plasma, respectively.

A new fluorimetric procedure is described for analysis of milnacipran in its bulk, tablet dosage forms, as well as in biological human samples such as plasma and urine. The suggested method relies on the construction of a derivative with strong fluorescence called dihydropyridine derivative. This derivative resulted from the interaction of the primary amino group in the studied drug and acetylacetone/formaldehyde in McIlvaine buffer (pH 5). The fluorescent dihydropyridine derivative was measured at 470 nm. Influences of experimental variables namely pH, reagent concentration and temperature were examined and optimized. The calibration curve showed linearity over the range of 0.15-1.25 μg ml -1 of milnacipran with an R 2 value of 0.9998. The detection limit was 0.02 μg ml -1 and the determination limit was 0.07 μg ml -1 . The developed procedure was successfully used in the assay of the studied drug in Avermilan® tablets with excellent selectivity. In addition, the reaction was applied to estimate the drug in spiked human plasma and urine with mean percentage recoveries of 100.04 ± 1.61 and 99.78 ± 0.81% for urine and plasma, respectively., (© 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Aim: The dynamics of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has become of special concern to the rheumatology community. Rheumatic patients are required to engage in effective health management but their behavior is often influenced by intrinsic and extrinsic factors. This cross-sectional study aims to examine patients' experiences during the current pandemic and its implication on their health perception and behavior., Method: A patient-centered electronic survey was used, randomly sampling rheumatic patients in Saudi Arabia during March and April 2020. Questions included patients' socio-demographics, diseases, medications, COVID-19 knowledge, source of information, fear level, disease activity perception, health care utilization, medication accessibility, and therapeutic compliance (measured using a modified version of Medication Adherence Reporting Scale). Correlation and regression coefficients were used to evaluate associations among the aforementioned variables., Results: A total of 637 respondents were included. The majority were rheumatoid arthritis patients (42.7%). Patients' knowledge about COVID-19 was correlated with social media use (P = .012). Fear of COVID-19 infection correlated with healthcare facility for follow-up visits (P = .024) and fear of disease deterioration if contracting the infection correlated with patients' levels of knowledge (P = .035). Both types of fear did not correlate with patients' perceptions of disease activity. However, patients' perceptions of worsened disease activity were correlated with unplanned healthcare visits (P < .001), medication non-adherence, and difficulty accessing medication (P = .010 and .006, respectively)., Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic and surrounding public health measures could affect rheumatic patients' health management which might contribute to disease flare-up and subsequently taxing healthcare systems even further., (© 2020 Asia Pacific League of Associations for Rheumatology and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.)

In this work, a glutathione (GSH) sensing nano-platform using lucigenin as a fluorescent probe in the presence of MnO2 nanosheets was reported for the first time. Unlike the earlier fluorescent detection systems based on MnO2 nanosheets, which depend on Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) or the dynamic quenching effect (DQE), the mechanism of the quenching process of MnO2 nanosheets on lucigenin fluorescence was attributed mainly to a static quenching effect (SQE) with a minor contribution of the inner filter effect (IFE). A double exponential fluorescence decay of lucigenin was obtained in various MnO2 nanosheet concentrations as a result of their SQE and IFE. Based on this phenomenon and taking advantage of the redox reaction between GSH and MnO2 nanosheets, we have developed a switch-on sensitive fluorescent method for GSH via the recovery of the MnO2 nanosheet-quenched fluorescence of lucigenin. A good linearity range of 1.0-150.0 μM with a low limit of detection (S/N = 3) of 180.0 nM was achieved, revealing the higher sensitivity for GSH determination in comparison with the previously reported MnO2 nanosheet-based turn-on fluorescent methods. The developed fluorescent nano-platform exhibits excellent selectivity with successful application for GSH detection in human serum plasma, indicating its good practicability for GSH sensing in biological and clinical applications.

Herein, we report luminol-silicotungstic acid (STA) chemiluminescence (CL) for the first time. The luminol-STA system resulted in remarkable CL enhancement (65 times) compared with the known classical luminol-H 2 O 2 system because of the generation of the strong oxidizing agent tungsten trioxide from STA. Based on the quenching effect of uric acid, the new CL system is applied for the sensitive and selective assay of uric acid in its pure state (LOD 0.75 nM) and in real human urine with excellent recoveries in the range of 99.6-102.3%. Furthermore, this system permits the efficient detection of STA (LOD, 0.24 μM).

Women are the most ones who susceptible to a common syndrome called fibromyalgia syndrome, up to 90% of all people with fibromyalgia are women. It affects mainly muscles and soft tissue and cause for them muscle pain, sleep problems and painful tender points. Milnacipran is acting as a serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) therefore, it is recommended for the treatment of this syndrome. The widespread use of this compound in our market requires the development and validation of a simple, sensitive, cheap, fast and reproducible spectrofluorimetric method for the assay of milnacipran hydrochloride in its pure state, pharmaceutical tablets and spiked human urine and plasma. In the current work ninhydrin and phenylacetaldehyde in Teorell and Stenhagen buffer (pH 7) reacts with the amino moiety of milnacipran through a sensitive condensation reaction resulting in formation of a fluorescent product, which exhibits its fluorescence emission intensity at 465 nm after excitation at 390 nm. It is observed that, in the concentration range 0.5 to 3.0 μgmL -1 , the constructed calibration curve was linear with a good correlation coefficient (0.9998). The condensation reaction was successfully applied for the assay of the studied drug in Avermilan® tablets, spiked human urine and plasma without interference from the components of the sample matrix with average percentage recoveries of 101.73 ± 0.56 and 100.55 ± 0.64 for urine and plasma, respectively., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

One of the most commonly used drugs in treatment of schizophrenia is flupentixol dihydrochloride, therefore it is important to develop a simple, low cost and sensitive spectrofluorimetric method for the estimation of flupentixol dihydrochloride. The yellow fluorescent product that is generated from the nucleophilic substitution reaction of the free lone pair of the alcoholic hydroxyl group of the drug and 4-chloro-7-nitrobenzofurazan (NBD-Cl) in Mcllvaine buffer pH 7.0 was estimated at 510 nm (λ ex 460 nm). The variables that affect the development of the reaction product were explored and optimized. The linear range of this method was 0.5-2.5 μg ml -1 with a limit of quantitation equal to 0.29 μg ml -1 . Our method was successfully applied for the assurance of flupentixol in tablet form with average percentage recovery of 99.08 ± 1.01% without obstruction from the basic excipients exhibits. Furthermore, our strategy was extended to study the content uniformity testing of flupentixol in Fluaxnol ® tablets., (Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Our article presents the development and validation of two simple, very sensitive, and low-cost spectroscopic methods for the assay of milnacipran hydrochloride in bulk form, pharmaceutical tablets and spiked human urine and plasma. Spectroscopic methods (spectrophotometric and spectrofluorimetric techniques) were dependent on the chromogenic and fluorogenic properties of the 4-chloro-7 nitrobenzofurazan (NBD-Cl) reagent. The reaction product, resulting from the interaction between NBD-Cl and milnacipran in the presence of borate buffer pH 8.5, was measured spectrophotometrically at 465 nm and spectrofluorimetrically at 510 nm after excitation at 465 nm. The absorbance-concentration plot was rectilinear over the range of 1.5-12 μg mL -1 with a limit of quantitation 1.09 μg mL -1 , while the fluorescence-concentration plot was rectilinear over the range of 0.03-0.5 μg mL -1 with a limit of quantitation 0.02 μg mL -1 . Influential parameters affecting the development and stability of the reaction product were studied and optimized. Assurance of the cited drug in its tablets by our proposed methods was successfully completed without obstruction from the presence of the basic excipients with average percentage recoveries of 99.27 ± 1.18 and 99.44 ± 0.69 for the spectrophotometric and spectrofluorimetric methods, respectively. The spectrofluorimetric method was additionally adopted as a preliminary in vitro study for the assay of the cited drug in spiked human urine and plasma with average percentage recoveries of 101.52 ± 1.01 and 100.38 ± 1.57 for spiked urine and plasma, respectively., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Background: Empyema is a well-known disease that significantly increases the morbidity and mortality associated with pneumonia. There are a number of treatment modalities available but recently video assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) has been suggested as a reliable tool in management of empyema; particularly in early stages. The aim of this study is to assess the safety and effectiveness of using initial VATS for all surgically fit patients with early stages of empyema., Methods: Sixty-six patients with early stage empyema were prospectively studied between December 2013 and March 2016. Patients were divided into two groups: group A (28 patients) were managed conservatively without surgery for stage I (exudative) phase empyema by the chest physicians; and group B (38 patients) were managed by the thoracic surgeons by VATS for stage I (exudative) and stage II (fibrino-purulent) empyema. Comparison was made between both groups., Results: There was no statistically significant difference between the groups from the point of view of age, sex or pre-intervention comorbidities (P>0.05). Average hospital stay in group A was 22 days (7-131 days), it was 4.1 days (2-14 days) in group B (P=0.004; 95% CI: 10.3-25.5) with a resultant lower cost. Three patients (10.7%) in group A suffered from major morbidity during treatment while none in group B suffered a major postoperative morbidity (P=0.039). There were 2 mortalities (7.1%) in group A and no deaths in group B (P=0.094). During a mean follow up period of 8 months [6-14] in group A 14.3% of the patients underwent open decortication, whereas in group B, 5.3% of the patients underwent the same procedure (P=0.047)., Conclusions: Thoracoscopic management of early stages of empyema should be the golden standard of management in surgically fit patients; particularly in the fibro-exudative phase of empyema. It is an effective and safe technique that reduces hospital stay, cost, complications and avoids the need for a decortication via a thoracotomy in most cases., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

A simple and sensitive spectrofluorimetric method has been development for the assurance of quetiapine fumarate (QTF). The proposed method was utilized for measuring the fluorescence intensity of the yellow fluorescent product at 510nm (λ ex 470nm). The fluorescent product has resulted from the nucleophilic substitution reaction of QTF with 4-chloro-7-nitrobenzofurazane (NBD-Cl) in Mcllvaine buffer (pH7.0). The diverse variables influencing the development of the reaction product were deliberately changed and optimized. The linear concentration range of the proposed method was of 0.2-2.0μgml -1 .The limits of detection and quantitation were 0.05 and 0.17μgml -1 , respectively. The proposed method was applied for the assurance of QTF in its tablets without interference from basic excipients. In addition, the proposed method was used for in vitro analysis of the QTF in spiked human plasma, the percent mean recovery was (n=3) 98.82±1.484%., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A simple and sensitive spectrofluorimetric method has been developed and validated for determination of oseltamivir phosphate (OSP). The proposed method is based on condensation reaction of the primary amino group of OSP with ninhydrin and phenylacetaldehyde in buffered medium (pH 6.5). The formed yellow fluorescent product exhibits excitation and emission maxima at 390 and 460 nm, respectively. The selectivity improvement of our proposed method is based on the water insolubility of the oseltamivir carboxylic acid (OSC) the active metabolite of OSP, which contains the same primary amino group as OSP but cannot, condensed with ninhydrin and phenylacetaldehyde reagents. The different experimental parameters affecting the formation and stability of the reaction product were carefully studied and optimized. The fluorescence intensity concentration plot is rectilinear in the range of 2-15 μg ml -1 with detection and quantitation limits of 0.32 and 0.98 μg ml -1 , respectively. The proposed method was successfully applied for determination of OSP in commercial capsules, suspension and spiked human plasma with good percentage recovery. In addition, the developed procedure was extended to study the stability of OSP under different stress conditions; including acid and alkali hydrolysis, oxidation, photolysis, and thermal degradation. Furthermore, the kinetic of alkaline and acidic degradation of the cited drug were investigated. The apparent first order degradation rate constants were 0.258 and 0.318 K h -1 with half times of 2.68 and 2.17 h, for acidic and alkaline degradation, respectively.

In the present study, Diclofenac Sodium (DS) matrix tablets were prepared by direct compression method under different compression forces (5, 10, 15 and 20 KN), using ethylcellulose as matrix forming material. The produced tablets were characterized on the foundation of satisfactory tablet properties such as hardness, friability, drug content, weight variations and in vitro drug release rate. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction have been used to investigate any incompatibilities of the tablet's ingredients. Additionally, in vivo bioavailability has been investigated on beagle dogs. Data obtained revealed that, upon increasing compression force the in vitro drug release was sustained and the T(max) value was four hours (for formulations compressed at 15 and 20 kN) compared to the conventional voltarine(®) 50 tablets (T(max) value of 2 hours).

Despite the many methods available to determine the vertical dimension in edentulous patients, there is little data to evaluate their accuracy. This study introduces a method to evaluate the variations of the measured vertical dimension after complete clearance of the teeth. The ratio of the anterior to the posterior interarch distance was determined for 20 patients before and after complete extraction of upper and lower teeth; it was 2:1 and 1.5:1, respectively. Further, there was a strong association (r = .84) between the anterior and the posterior interarch distances before extraction but weak association between them after extraction (r = 0.57). The study suggests that the vertical dimension established by the most commonly used method does not approach the dimension before extraction of the teeth.