Iraqi Journal of Science

In the present investigation, the synthesis of copper nanoparticles from green tea was attempted and investigated for its capacity to adsorb drugs (Ciprofloxacin). The copper nanoparticles (Cu-NPs) were characterized by different techniques of analysis such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images, atomic force microscope (AFM), blumenauer-emmer-teller (BET), fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and zeta potentials techniques. Cu-NPs lie in the mesoporous material category with a diameter in the range of 2-50 nm. The aqueous solution was investigated for the removal of ciprofloxacin (CIP) with green tea-synthesized Cu-NPs. The results showed that ciprofloxacin efficiency depends on initial pH (2.5-10), CIP (2mg/L-15mg / L) dose, temperature (20 ° C-50 ° C); time (0-180 min) and Cu-NP dose (0.1g /L-1g /L). Spherical nanoparticles with an average size of 47nm and a surface area of 1.6562m2/g were synthesized. The batch experiment showed that 92% of CIP 0.01 mg/L were removed at a maximum adsorbent dose of 0.75 g/L, pH 4, 180 min, and an initial 1:1 rate (w / w) of CIP: Cu-NPs. Kinetic adsorption models and ciprofloxacin removal mechanisms were examined. The kinetic analysis showed that adsorption is a physical adsorption system with activation energy of 0.8409 kJ.mol-1. A pseudo-first-order model is preferred for the kinetic removal after the physically diffusing process due to the low activation energy of 13.221kJ.mol-1. On the other hand, Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin, and Dubinin isotherm models were also studied; the equilibrium data were best fitted with Langmuir and Dubinin isotherm models with maximum adsorption capacity of 5.5279, and 1.1069 mg/g, respectively. The thermodynamic values of ΔG0 were -0.0166, -0.0691, -4.1084, and -0.7014 kJ/mol at 20, 30, 40, and 50 ° C, respectively. The values of ΔH0 and ΔS0 were 18.8603 kJ/mol and 0.0652kJ/mol.k, respectively. These values showed spontaneous and endothermic sorption. The presence of the CIP concentration in aqueous media was identified by UV-analysis.

Every laboratory needs to establish its own community-based reference intervals for the achievement of the optimal and true diagnosis in the clinical practice. However, such vital experimentations are not been conducted sufficiently in Halabja city and Kurdistan region of Iraq as a whole. This study is an attempt to introduce for the first time a set of reference intervals of lipid profile variables that are based on the healthy and asymptomatic adult population of Halabja using international standards. The methodology recruited for this purpose is based on the IFCC, CLSI, and WHO’s standards, in which the study population was subjected to strict exclusion criteria for the sake of higher accuracy in the results. The reference intervals are computed as the 95th percentile of the lipid profile variable values. The results are broken down based on the gender and age groups. All of the estimated intervals fall perfectly in the internationally known reference intervals. Even so, the outcome values are similar and sometimes higher than the currently used intervals by the laboratories and physicians for the diagnosis purposes. The out-turns from the study encourage us to demand the healthcare providers to reconsider the currently approved reference intervals for the lipid profile test (TC, TG, HDL-C, LDL-C, and VLDL-C) in the clinical practice and consider the results of this study for further diagnostic purposes.