Production of synthetic rutile from tin ore beneficiation byproduct through preoxidation and reductive leaching in hydrochloric acid.

This paper examines the effectiveness of the method for producing synthetic rutile from ilmenite through pre-oxidation and reductive leaching of pre-oxidized ilmenite in hydrochloric acid. Thermodynamic simulation of the pre-oxidation of ilmenite concentrate was performed to evaluate the phases formed during the process as a function of temperature. The pre-oxidation experiments were performed at different temperatures between 700 and 1000 °C in a muffle furnace for 6 h. The optimum temperature of pre-oxidation was revealed to be at 700 °C where ilmenite transformed into hematite and rutile, which is in accordance with the result of the thermodynamic simulation. Series of the leaching experiments were carried out under variations of HCl concentration (5-8 M), leaching temperature (70-100 °C), solid/liquid ratio (1/5-1/20 g/mL), ilmenite ore particle size distribution, and duration of leaching (6-12 h). Taguchi method utilizing L16 orthogonal array was adopted in the leaching step to design and reduce the required number of experiments. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated that the temperature and solid/liquid (S/L) ratio were the most influential leaching parameters for the dissolution of iron and titanium. The optimum conditions for maximising the dissolution of iron, while minimizing the dissolution of titanium were at a temperature of 80 °C, HCl of 6 M, S/L ratio of 1/20 g/mL, ore particle size distribution of 44-77 µm (-200 + 325 mesh), and leaching duration of 6 h. The leaching experiment conducted under these conditions resulted in iron extraction of 98.07% with co-extraction of titanium of 11.35%. The leach-residue contains 92.6% rutile, 2.9% hematite, and 2.5% cassiterite which can be classified as synthetic grade rutile.

Anxiety and depression in patients with haematological neoplasms in Malaysia.

BACKGROUND: It is not uncommon that anxiety and depression occur in patients with cancers, and past researches have shown that the quality of life of patients is negatively affected. This study aims to determine the prevalence of anxiety and depression of patients with haematological cancers in Malaysia and to investigate the possible association of these psychological symptoms with their quality of life. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study where patients with haematological cancers attending two major hospitals were recruited. Anxiety and depression symptoms were assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADS). Quality of life (QoL) of these patients was measured using the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer quality of life questionnaire (EORTC QLQ C30). An overall summary QoL score in combination with financial difficulty score and global health score were used for analysis. RESULTS: A total of 319 patients were recruited. Thirty-three percent of patients had anxiety symptoms, 23.5% had depression symptoms. In summary the overall score of QoL is significantly lower in patients with higher scores for depression and anxiety, (p<0.05). Patients who exhibit anxiety symptoms were more frequently female, still undergoing treatment whereas patients who had higher depression scores were older and had acute leukemias or myeloproliferative neoplasms. Patients who have depression are significantly associated with a higher financial difficulty score, p<0.05. CONCLUSION: The poor quality of life in patients who have anxiety and depression should raise awareness amongst the health professions treating them so that additional support can be provided.

Developing a competence-based addiction medicine curriculum in Indonesia: the training needs assessment.

Indonesia has one of the fastest growing, injecting drugs user-driven, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemics in Asia. Coverage of needle and syringe programs (NSPs), opioid substitution therapy (OST), and antiretroviral treatment (ART) is increasing, but is still low, whereas professional training in addiction medicine is not yet established. Urgent development and scaling-up of professional capacity in comprehensive, evidence-based addiction medicine is needed. In this article the results of the first step is presented, being the training needs assessment (TNA) and the process of further developing a national evidence- and competence-based addiction medicine curriculum in Indonesia.