An-Najah National University

About: An-Najah National University is a education organization based out in Nablus, Palestinian Territory. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Adsorption. The organization has 1857 authors who have published 2607 publications receiving 68226 citations. The organization is also known as: An Najah National University.

Substandard and falsified medical products: bibliometric analysis and mapping of scientific research.

Abstract: Objective Substandard and falsified (SF) medical products are a global public health threat. The presence and spread of SF drugs negatively affect (1) patients' safety and health outcomes, (2) national economy, (3) public trust in the healthcare system, and (4) the international fight against serious health challenges such as malaria and antimicrobial resistance. The objective of the current study was to investigate and provide a snapshot analysis of the evolution and developmental patterns of global research publications on SF products. Methods A bibliometric approach was adopted using terms such as fake, falsified, counterfeit, substandard, and others. No language restriction was made. The study period was from 1900 up to 2020. The search strategy was validated and implemented using Scopus database. Results The search strategy retrieved 978 documents authored by 2861 researchers from 100 different countries and published in 421 different journals. The retrieved documents received 11,237 citations (11.5 citations per document) with an H-index of 53. The 978 documents retrieved from Scopus were published from 1961 to 2020, giving an average of 16.6 publications per year. The present study indicated that research on SF medical products: (a) has experienced a steep growth from 2001 to 2012 followed by a steady-state growth; (b) was disseminated in a wide range of journals, mainly in the fields of the pharmaceutical industry, analytical chemistry, public health, infectious diseases, and internal medicine; (c) was published by scholars with diverse and distant geographical backgrounds; (d) was mainly produced in the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany; (d) has fragmented research networks and a limited number of researchers per network; (e) has limited cross-country collaboration except for that between the US and the UK in one hand and countries in the Mekong region in the other hand; (f) emphasized on medications related to malaria and sexual stimulants; and (g) received relatively inadequate funding. Conclusions Research on SF medical products is important and should remain a priority to ensure good quality of medications. Research activity in the field needs to be encouraged in world regions such as Africa and the Middle East where drug regulations are unsatisfactory and cross-border trade of illegal medications is common.

Compliance of scored tablet halves produced by Palestinian Pharmaceutical Companies with the new European Pharmacopoeia requirements.

Abstract: The aim of this study was to evaluate the weight uniformity of commonly divided tablets produced by Palestinian Pharmaceutical Companies and to evaluate the importance of both patient- and formulation-related variables on the splitting results. Eighty-four volunteers were enrolled in this study; their age, gender and occupation were documented in order, and the effect of these variables on the tablet splitting results was evaluated. Each volunteer was asked to divide six scored tablets of each product tested and was given clear instructions on how to conduct the splitting process. The split units were individually weighed and the RSD for each product was calculated as instructed in the European Pharmacopoeia (Ph. Eur. 5.5). Only one scored tablet product passed the Ph. Eur. test of mass uniformity, while the remaining 13 products failed; this indicates that the splitting of these tablet products is not a reliable means for the provision of accurate doses to patients. Age, gender and occupation of volunteers were not found to be predictive of any variability noted in the splitting results. The only factors that were suspected to be linked to passing the splitting test, as per the European Pharmacopoeia, were the shape, friability and hardness of the tablets. As a result of this study, we believe that the practice of dividing tablets, which should provide therapeutic and economic benefits for the patient, may potentially cause significant problems, especially in drugs with low therapeutic indices. Tablets produced by Palestinian Pharmaceutical Companies should comply with the new Ph. Eur. splitting regulations to reduce this potential for complications.

Experimental and computational modeling studies on silica-embedded NiO/MgO nanoparticles for adsorptive removal of organic pollutants from wastewater

Abstract: Achieving affordable and clean water is one of the greatest global challenges of this century. This is due to the enormous upsurge in the world's population, yet at the same time, the scarcity of fresh water. Far more than that, some regions are awash in fresh water while other regions are afflicted by drought. Accordingly, new technological approaches should be brought to the forefront to tackle the water problem. Hence, this study presents three types of newly in-house prepared silica-embedded NiO and/or MgO nanoparticles, namely; SiO2–NiO, SiO2–MgO, and SiO2–(Ni0.5Mg0.5)O. The properties of these nanoparticles were characterized using XRD, BET, HRTEM, CO2-TPD, and IR spectroscopy. These nanoparticles are applied for the first time to adsorptive removal of different cationic and anionic model organic molecules with different functionalities, namely: methylene blue (MB), neutral red (NR), and acid red 27 (AR27), mimicking pollutants existing in wastewater effluents. It has been found that on a normalized surface area basis, the number of cationic model molecules adsorbed per nm2 of the SiO2–(Ni0.5Mg0.5)O nanoparticles were the highest suggesting the possible synergistic effect between Ni and Mg in the mixed oxide, however, SiO2–NiO showed the highest uptake for the anionic case due to its stability in aqueous solutions. The experimental adsorption isotherms fit well to the Sips model for MB and AR27 indicating a heterogeneous adsorption system. However, a multilayer adsorption behavior was obtained for NR which has been described by the BET model. Computational modeling and DFT calculations of the interaction between the model molecules and the surfaces of the prepared nanoparticles were carried out to get more mechanistic insights into their adsorptive behaviors. The results showed that the adsorbed molecules tend to lie flat on the surface of the materials except for NR which tends to be adsorbed slightly tilted when compared with the others. Additionally, molecular dynamics simulation was performed to gain additional insights into the adsorption behavior of NR in the presence of water. The evolved profile of total energy of the system as a function of simulation time emphasized the eccentric BET adsorption behavior of NR onto these novel nanoparticles.

Measurement of ZZ production in the ℓℓνν final state with the ATLAS detector in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV

Abstract: This paper presents a measurement of ZZ production with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The measurement is carried out in the final state with two charged leptons and two neutrinos ...