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Metformin is indicated as the first line treatment in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The objectives of this study were to assess electrolytes and glycosylated haemoglobin (Hb1Ac) in patients with T2DM using metformin for long term therapy and also to demonstrate compliance with the guidelines regarding renal impairment. This study has been conducted in Al-Nassiriya Province. It was carried out on sixty patients (with T2DM for 5 years, age: 50-60 years). We found that 43% of physicians use creatinine levels as a test for follow up while the others use urea and/ or glomerular filtration rate (GFR). Only 57.2% of physicians follow the guidelines by doing the test every three months. The results showed high potassium and low sodium levels in patients treated with metformin only compared with other oral hypoglycaemic agents (OHAs). However, both were still within the normal level and statistically insignificant (P > 0.005). Calcium readings were high in patients treated with metformin compared with other OHAs and were statistically significant (P < 0.005), but still within the upper normal level. HbA1c was low (7.33%) in patients treated with metformin combined with other OHAs compared with HbA1c in patients treated with metformin only which was 9.48% and was statistically significant (P < 0.005). We need more clinical studies about electrolytes association with metformin. HbA1c should be taken in consideration when treating type 2 diabetes with metformin as initial therapy alone or in combination with other OHAs and /or withdrawn from metformin.

The present work describes the synthesis of copper oxide nanoparticles (CuONPs) via a solution process with the aim of applying the nano-adsorbent for the reduction of methylene blue (MB) dye in alkaline media. These NPs were characterized via Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), X-ray diffraction, high-resolution Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and ultra violet UV-visible spectroscopy to confirm their morphology and crystalline and optical properties in order to design an adsorption-degradation process. The photocatalytic CuONPs exhibited dynamic properties, great adsorption affinity during the chemisorption process, and operated at various modes with a strong interaction between the adsorbent and the adsorptive species, and equilibrium isotherm, kinetic isotherm, and thermodynamic activities in the presence of UV light. All basic quantities, such as concentration, pH, adsorbent dose, time, and temperature, were determined by an optimization process. The best-fitted adsorption Langmuir model (R2 = 0.9988) and performance, including adsorption capacity (350.87 mg/g), photocatalytic efficiency (90.74%), and degradation rate constant (Ks = 2.23 ×10−2 min−1), illustrate good feasibility with respect to sorption-reduction reactions but followed a pseudo-second-order kinetic on the adsorbent surface, reaching an equilibrium point in 80 min. The thermodynamic analysis suggests that the adsorption reaction is spontaneous and endothermic in nature. The thermodynamic parameters such as enthalpy (∆H°), entropy (∆S°), and Gibbs free energy (∆G°) give effective results to support a chemical reduction reaction at 303 K temperature. The equilibrium isotherm and kinetic and thermodynamic models with error function analysis explore the potential, acceptability, accuracy, access to adsorbents, and novelty of an unrivaled-sorption system.

The protein quality of tollo flour evaluated by various biological methods, including digestibility, is reported. The product contained 91.52% crude protein and 69.86% true protein, the difference being non-protein nitrogen, mainly urea. Due to this reason the biological evaluations were carried out with different shark flour concentrations and evaluated at different lengths of time with each method. Diets containing 0, 3, 6, 9 and 12% shark flour were prepared and evaluated by the PER, NPR, and NGI methods. Casein was used as reference protein. The protein digestibility was 91.2%, not corrected for non-protein nitrogen. On this same basis, PER and NPR--at a protein level of 9.97% in the diet--were 2.58 and 2.05, respectively. The casein control diet gave a PER of 2.93 and an NPR of 4.52. NGI was calculated by using the non-protein diet, or without it, with values of 3.32 and 2.95, respectively. As expected, all values corrected for non-protein nitrogen were higher for protein digestibility. The differences were significant at the 5% level. Apparently, urea influenced negatively the biological evaluations. It can be concluded, therefore, that the tollo shark meat is of excellent quality.