Determination of an Aspergillus fumigatus-Specific Immunoglobulin G Reference Range in an Adult Omani Population

Objectives: The presence of abnormally high levels of Aspergillus fumigatus-specific immunoglobulin (Ig) G antibodies can serve as a diagnostic criterion for severe conditions like allergic bronchopulmonary and chronic pulmonary aspergillosis. This study aimed to determine a reference range of A. fumigatus-specific IgG levels within a healthy adult Omani population. Methods: This study took place during November 2015 at the Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Muscat, Oman. The sera of 125 healthy Omani blood donors were tested for A. fumigatus-specific IgG levels using an automated fluorescence enzyme immunoassay. Results: Initially, the data were not normally distributed; however, log transformation and the exclusion of four outliers resulted in an acceptable Gaussian distribution. The reference range was 2.0–68.7 mgA/L at the 2.5th and 97.5th percentiles, respectively, with 90% confidence intervals of 2.0–3.0 mgA/L and 48.0–76.0 mgA/L, respectively. Conclusion: The A. fumigatus-specific IgG reference range within a healthy adult Omani population was comparable to those reported in other populations

Kinetics of Electrocatalytic Oxygen Reduction Reaction Over an Activated Glassy Carbon Electrode in an Alkaline Medium

Hydrogen peroxide is a promising substitute for fossil fuels because it produces non-hazardous by-products. In this work, a glassy carbon GC was anodized in sulphuric acid at +1.8 V to prepare the working electrode. It was utilized to investigate the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in a basic medium containing 0.1 M NaOH as a supporting electrolyte. The objective of this investigation was to synthesize hydrogen peroxide. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), linear polarization, cyclic voltammetry (CV), and rotating disk electrode voltammetry (RDE) were performed for characterization and investigation of the catalytic properties. The RDE analysis confirmed that oxygen reduction reactions followed two electrons’ process at an activated GC electrode. Hence, the prepared electrode generated hydrogen peroxide from molecular oxygen at a potential of around −0.35 V vs. Ag/AgCl (sat. KCl), significantly lower than the pristine GC surface. The transfer coefficient, standard reduction potential, and standard rate constant were estimated to be 0.75, −0.27 V, and 9.5 × 10−3 cm s−1, resectively