Background: Asthma is one of the most common chronic respiratory diseases in the world, standing for the most frequent cause for hospitalization and emergency cases. Respiratory viruses are the most triggering cause. Aim: To assess the role of viral infections, especially COVID-19, in the pathogenesis of asthma initiation and exacerbations. Method: Electronic search was done for the manuscripts focusing on asthma as a risk factor for complications after COVID-19 infection. The outcomes were titles, materials, methods and classified studies related or not related to the review study. Three hundred publications were identified and only ten studies were selected for analysis. Seven studies were review, one retrospective, one longitudinal cohort study and one letter to the editor. Results: The included literature sources have highlighted different effect of asthma on COVID-19 progression. Asthma can be triggered by this virus and asthmatic patients with COVID-19 should not stop their treatment. Others suggest that asthma does not appear to be a significant risk factor for developing severe COVID-19 requiring hospitalization or intubation. Conclusions: Asthma is considered as comorbidity factor leading to complications and mortality in subjects infected with COVID-19.
To assess the biochemical, mechanical and structural characteristics of retained dentin after applying three novel bromelain‑contained chemomechanical caries removal (CMCR) formulations in comparison to the conventional excavation methods (hand and rotary) and a commercial papain‑contained gel (Brix 3000). Seventy‑two extracted permanent molars with natural occlusal carious lesions (score > 4 following the International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS‑II)) were randomly allocated into six groups (n = 12) according to the excavation methods: hand excavation, rotary excavation, Brix 3000, bromelain‑contained gel (F1), bromelain‑chloramine‑T (F2), and bromelain chlorhexidine gel (F3). The superficial and deepe
... Show MoreThis study aimed to find relationship between thymidine kinase-1 (TK-1) as tumor marker and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) in Iraqi children patients with thrombocytopenia and with thrombocytosis. The present study conducted 60 children patients (30 patients with idiopathic thrombocytopenia purpura (ITP) and 30 patients with thrombocytosis caused by leukemia) attending the Children Fever Hospital in the Medical City / Baghdad, and 30 healthy children as a control group. All study groups were with range ages (1-15) years, and they were diagnosed by assay of platelet count, Prothrombin Time (PT), and partial Thromboplastin Time (PTT). The results shown elevation in plasma TK-1 and TAC values in children patients with thrombocytopenia and w
... Show MoreUltrasonic Extraction method followed by gradient HPLC was carried out for the simultaneous determination of four insecticides are [imidacloprid (Imi), thiamethoxam (Thi), indoxacarb (Ind) and abamectin (Aba)] used to combat the major insect pests in Iraq, whitefly, Dubas Bug, worms fruits as well as to combat the spiders – dream respectively in eco-soil samples. The extraction recovery was in the range of 99.77 to 109.1 %. The dissipation kinetics and residual levels of these insecticides in soil sample was studied under field ecosystem. The half-life of the mix insecticides was determined. The half-life was in range of 0.38 to 4.06 days with the soil samples were brought from the Agricultural Land called Nahrawan located in th
... Show MoreIraqi calcium bentonite was activated via acidification to study its structural and electrical properties. The elemental analysis of treated bentonite was determined by using X-ray fluorescence while the unit crystal structure was studied through X-ray diffraction showing disappearance of some fundamental reflections due to the treatment processes. The surface morphology, on the other hand, was studied thoroughly by Scanning Electron microscopy SEM and Atomic Force Microscope AFM showing some fragments of montmorillonite sheets. Furthermore, the electrical properties of bentonite were studied including: The dielectric permittivity, conductivity, tangent loss factor, and impedance with range of frequency (0.1-1000 KHz) at different temperatu
... Show MoreMassive multiple-input multiple-output (massive-MIMO) is considered as the key technology to meet the huge demands of data rates in the future wireless communications networks. However, for massive-MIMO systems to realize their maximum potential gain, sufficiently accurate downlink (DL) channel state information (CSI) with low overhead to meet the short coherence time (CT) is required. Therefore, this article aims to overcome the technical challenge of DL CSI estimation in a frequency-division-duplex (FDD) massive-MIMO with short CT considering five different physical correlation models. To this end, the statistical structure of the massive-MIMO channel, which is captured by the physical correlation is exploited to find sufficiently
... Show MoreFifty snails of Paropeas achatinaceum specimens were collected and classified from four areas in Baghdad-Iraq from the period between June and July, 2017. The snails were divided into two groups (each group contain 25 snails). Two environment conditions were used in this study. Natural environment considered as control and experimental environment contains Citrus sinensis (L.) roots as snail’s source food. The comparison result between snail weights in the nature and experimental environment was not significant (0.497, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.01209–0.02309). Also, the comparison between snail weights in the nature environment and the food mean weight was significant (0.014, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.00591-0.04109), while the
... Show MoreFrom the sustainability point of view a combination of using water absorption polymer balls in concrete mix produce from Portland limestone cement (IL) is worth to be perceived. Compressive strength and drying shrinkage behavior for the mixes of concrete prepared by Ordinary Portland Cement (O.P.C) and Portland limestone cement (IL) were investigated in this research. Water absorbent polymer balls (WAPB) are innovative module in producing building materials due to the internal curing which eliminates autogenous shrinkage, enhances the strength at early age, improve the durability, give higher compressive strength at early age, and reduce the effect of insufficient external curing. Polymer balls (WAPB) had been used in the mixes of thi
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