Coronavirus 2 is the cause of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which leads to severe acute respiratory illness. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) have been linked to leukocyte infiltration and chemokine activation during inflammatory responses. Tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinase (TIMP) family are thought to dampen the proinflammatory effects of these MMPs. The molecular pathways of lung fibrosis are mediated by MMPs and TIMPs. In this study, we sought to investigate the probable link between MMPs, specifically MMP-3, TIMP-2, and COVID-19. The study included 58 COVID-19 patients and 30 apparently healthy individuals matched in terms of age and sex. Multiplex real- time PCR was used to detect the ORF1ab, E, and N genes of

In the present study, the physical characteristics of elastomer (EL) blend with natural polymers such as polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), Dexrin (D), Arabic gum (AG), and corn starch (CS) based on high-density fiberboard wood adhesives were investigated. The EL blends were prepared by dissolving AG, D, PVA, and CS in deionized water at 70 °C for 1 h under magnetic stirring continuously until the solution was clear, and blends were made with a weight of 60/40 (w/w); then were cast into a mold with a 20 cm diameter and left at room temperature for 24 h to ensure complete water removal and drying of the samples. The prepared EL and EL blend structures, adhesion strengths, roughness, wettings, and dielectric strengths, were investigated. The modifi

Dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) is one of the photochemical electric cells, which consists of the photoelectrode, the dye, the electrolyte, and the counter electrode. The advantage of DSSC is the low cost of the solar energy conversion into electricity because of inexpensive materials and the relative ease of the fabrication processes. In this study was selected solvent dye resolve to know most efficient in terms of conversion efficiency. A dye solution of water or ethanol and maxing in which eosin – y dissolves behaves like a colloid and explores the effect of sintering temperature of TiO2 films on the efficiency of dye sensitized solar cells. A study conducted on several samples at different temperatures. Exemplary efficiency of the

The aim of this paper is to compare between classical and fuzzy filters for removing different types of noise in gray scale images. The processing used consists of three steps. First, different types of noise are added to the original image to produce a noisy image (with different noise ratios). Second, classical and fuzzy filters are used to filter the noisy image. Finally, comparing between resulting images depending on a quantitative measure called Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) to determine the best filter in each case.
The image used in this paper is a 512 * 512 pixel and the size of all filters is a square window of size 3*3. Results indicate that fuzzy filters achieve varying successes in noise reduction in image compared to

A pseudo-slug flow is a type of intermittent flow characterized by short, frothy, chaotic slugs that have a structure velocity lower than the mixture velocity and are not fully formed. It is essential to accurately estimate the transition from conventional slug (SL) flow to pseudo-slug (PSL) flow, and from SL to churn (CH), by precisely predicting the pressure losses. Recent research has showed that PSL and CH flows comprise a significant portion of the conventional flow pattern maps. This is particularly true in wellbores and pipelines with highly deviated large-diameter gas-condensate wellbores and pipelines. Several theoretical and experimental works studied the behavior of PSL and CH flows; however, few models have been suggested to pre

The present investigation aims to determine the effects of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) on biotransformation and antioxidant genes and the protective effects of curcumin, present in turmeric (Curcuma longa) powder (TMP). Specifically, the study included four groups of albino mice were fed for 30 days on diet Group I: Control, Group II: animals fed on the conventional basal diet supplemented with 0.5% food grade TMP that supplied 74 mg/kg total curcuminoids. Group III contained animals reared on conventional basal diet supplemented with 1.0 ppm AFB1 supplied by ground aflatoxin culture material (760 ppm AFB1). Finally, Group IV comprised of albino mice fed with basal diet supplemented with 1.0 ppm AFB1 and 0.5% TMP that supplied 74 mg/kg of the

Background: The displacement of artificial teeth during complete denture construction presents major processing errors in the occlusal vertical dimension which were verified at the previous trial denture stage. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of delay in processing after final flask closure and tension application on the vertical acrylic and porcelain teeth displacement of complete dentures constructed from heat cured acrylic and the results were compared with the conventional processing method. Materials and methods: forty samples of identical maxillary complete dentures were constructed from heat polymerized acrylic resin. These samples were subdivided into the following experimental subgroups in which each subgroup contai

Several observations have showed the synergistic effect of nutrients elements and phytoestrogens on bone resorption elimination. Zn is one of the trace elements found to increase the stimulatory effect of phytoestrogens including genestein, coumestrol and daidzein on bone formation; however the synergistic modulation of Zn, genestein, coumestrol and daidzein on proinflammatory-producing T-cells and receptor  activator of NFκB ligand (RANKL) expression that implicated in osteoclast formation is still open area to debate. This study found that Zn enhanced the inhibitory effect of genistein, daidzein and coumestrol on TNF-α expression; however the same effect was shown with daidzein on IL-1β expression while there is no furthe