CO2 storage as hydrates in porous media is a promising method for storing carbon dioxide (CO2). However, the sluggish formation kinetics of hydrates urge the need to focus on the use of additives (promoters) to accelerate hydrate kinetics. This study investigates the effect of amino acid solutions in brine on CO2 hydrate formation and dissociation kinetics in quartz sand particles QS-2 (0.6-0.8 mm) with 38% porosity. The amino acids l-methionine (l-meth), l-isoleucine (l-iso), and l-threonine (l-threo) were studied at 0.2 wt% using an autoclave hydrate reactor at 4 MPa and 274.15 K in the presence and absence of salt (3.3 wt% NaCl) in 100% water saturation. The hydrate dissociation kinetics was studied at a temperature of 277.15 K. These conditions represent the normal seabed temperature range in Malaysia and hence were used for testing CO2 hydrate formation and dissociation kinetics in quartz sand in this study. Further, CO2 hydrate formation and dissociation experiments were conducted with sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) and brine systems as standards for comparison. The findings reveal the best kinetics for l-meth exhibiting the highest CO2 hydrate storage capacity. l-meth recorded a gas-to-hydrate conversion ratio of about 93% at 0.2 wt% in quartz sand with brine. Moreover, l-meth exhibited the lowest hydrate dissociation rate compared to l-iso and l-threo systems, thereby enhancing CO2 hydrate stability in quartz sand. Comparatively, l-meth enhanced the storage capacity by 36% and reduced the induction time by more than 50% compared to conventional promoter SDS in quartz sand with brine, suggesting it to be favorable for CO2 storage applications. CO2 hydrate nucleation time was predicted in quartz sand with and without the best-studied amino acid l-meth system with high prediction accuracy and an absolute average deviation of 2.4 hours. The findings of this study substantiate the influence of amino acids in promoting the storage capacity of CO2 in sediments as hydrates.
Drug-drug interactions (DDIs) may result in the alteration of therapeutic response. Sometimes they may increase the untoward effects of many drugs. Hospitalized cardiac patients need more attention regarding drug-drug interactions due to complexity of their disease and therapeutic regimen. This research was performed to find out types, prevalence and association between various predictors of potential drug-drug interactions (pDDIs) in the Department of Cardiology and to report common interactions. This study was performed in the hospitalized cardiac patients at Ayub Teaching Hospital, Abbottabad, Pakistan. Patient charts of 2342 patients were assessed for pDDIs using Micromedex® Drug Information. Logistic regression was applied to find predictors of pDDIs. The main outcome measure in the study was the association of the potential drug-drug interactions with various factors such as age, gender, polypharmacy, and hospital stay of the patients. We identified 53 interacting-combinations that were present in total 5109 pDDIs with median number of 02 pDDIs per patient. Overall, 91.6% patients had at least one pDDI; 86.3% were having at least one major pDDI, and 84.5% patients had at least one moderate pDDI. Among 5109 identified pDDIs, most were of moderate (55%) or major severity (45%); established (24.2%), theoretical (18.8%) or probable (57%) type of scientific evidence. Top 10 common pDDIs included 3 major and 7 moderate interactions. Results obtained by multivariate logistic regression revealed a significant association of the occurrence of pDDIs in patient with age of 60 years or more (p
In the present study, zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles were prepared using ZnCl2.2H2O as a precursor, via green route using leaf extract of Rhazya stricta as capping and reducing agent. The prepared ZnO nanoparticles were examined using UV-visible spectrophotometer (UV-Vis), Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction spectrometer (XRD), and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The UV-Vis absorption spectrum at 355 nm showed an absorption peak, which indicates the formation of ZnO NPs. The FT-IR spectra analysis was performed to identify the potential biomolecule of the as-prepared ZnO NPs. The FT-IR spectra showed peaks at 3455, 1438, 883, and 671 cm-1 in the region of 4000-500 cm-1, which indicates -OH, NH, C-H, and M-O groups, respectively. The SEM images showed aggregation of ZnO nanoparticles with an average size of 70-90 nm. The XRD study indicated that the ZnO NPs were crystalline in nature with hexagonal wurtzite structure and broad peaks were observed at 2 theta positions 31.8°, 34.44°, 36.29°, 47.57°, 56.61°, 67.96°, and 69.07°. The synthesized ZnO NPs were found to be good antiplasmodial with a 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) value of 3.41 μg/mL. It is concluded from the current study that the ZnO NPs exhibited noble antiplasmodial activity, and for the improvement of antiplasmodial medications, it might be used after further in vivo studies.