Background: Chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand (CXCL9) has an important role recruiting the T-lymphocytes and immune response after infection by inducing T-cells accumulation around the areas associated with infections. However, this role is poorly known in relation with Toxoplasma gondii infection and also in association with thyroid hormones, which the present study is focused on. Methods: Eighty-seven women were included in this study for the period between September 2021 and February 2022. Blood samples of uninfected healthy pregnant, in addition to aborted and pregnant women infected with toxoplasmosis, were collected. Sera were then obtained and stored at -10°C. Toxo-latex agglutination test was done, followed by detection of IgM and IgG antibodies, which were identified in sera of cases and controls using a commercially available enzyme-linked immunoassay. Finally, an ELISA test for CXCL9 and thyroid hormones tests were performed as well. Results: CXCL9 levels showed a non-significant increase in comparison with the control group. This increase was observed during the first 5 months of abortion and pregnancy. Thyroid hormones T3 and TSH were significantly higher in the aborted and pregnant women than the control group. Whereas T4 results revealed lower levels in the same group in comparison to the control group, specifically during the first 5 months of abortion and pregnancy for most of the groups. Conclusion: Determining CXCL9 chemokine levels in female patients infected with Toxoplasma gondii might play an important role in early diagnosis of Toxoplasmosis, especially during the first 5 months of abortion or pregnancy as well as thyroid hormones levels can be influenced or affected by the parasite infection, which can provide an indicator of thyroid dysfunction in general.
A potential alternative energy resource to meet energy demands is the vast amount of gas stored in hydrate reserves. However, major challenges in terms of exploration and production surround profitable and effective exploitation of these reserves. The measurement of acoustic velocity is a useful method for exploration of gas hydrate reserves and can be an efficient method to characterize the hydrate-bearing sediments. In this study, the compressional wave velocity (P-wave velocity) of consolidated sediments (Bentheimer) with and without tetrahydrofuran hydrate-bearing pore fillings were measured using the pulse transmission method. The study has found that the P-wave velocity of consolidated sediments increase with increasing hydrate format
... Show MoreBackground: Trauma to the anterior teeth is a common injury in young children. Themaxillary incisors being the most affected. Although root fractures are rare, theydo occur and were previously and often considered hopeless and were extracted.The time between the injury and the initiation of treatment, level of the fractureline, and stage of root development are some criteria to be considered whenchoosing a treatment approach for a complicated tooth fracture. This case reportdescribes the management of a traumatized immature maxillary central incisorwith Elise class IV fracture with vertical oblique subgingival fracture of the root.Materials and method: Apexification was carried out using biodentine followed byremoval of the fracture
... Show MoreTitanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) samples were nitrided in low pressure (1.3, 3 mbar) dc-glow discharge plasmas of nitrogen. The treating time was 5, 10 and 15 hour and the temperatures range of the samples during the nitriding process was close to 800oC. The obtained microstructures of the nitride layers were studied by x-ray diffraction and optical microscopy. The ε –Ti2N, ζ-Ti3N3-x and η-Ti3N2-x.phases were formed and addition to the solid solution of nitrogen in titanium, α (Ti,N). Micro hardness measurements exhibit an increment for the Ti-alloy specimens which nitrided at 800oC for 10 and 15h.Corrosion measurements were obtained for the Ti-6Al-4V alloy in Ringer solution after plasma nitriding. The clear improving in the corrosion r
... Show MoreObjective: determine the effectiveness of an education program on youth's level of awareness towards
household waste control.
Methodology: A Quazi-experimental study was conducted. Non-probability (quota sample) of (80) young
persons is selected from Baghdad Governorate. They are divided into two equal groups of (40) subjects for the
study group which is exposed to the household waste control educational program. The remaining is the
control group which is not exposed to the educational program.
Results: The findings of the study indicated that youth of the study group have got benefits from the
implementation of the educational program towards household waste control and change has occurred to
their awareness tow
In this paper, a dynamic investigation is done for strip, rectangular and square machine foundation at the top surface of two-layer dry sand with various states (i.e., loose on medium sand and dense on medium sand). The dynamic investigation is performed numerically using finite element programming, PLAXIS 3D. The soil is expected as a versatile totally plastic material that complies with the Mohr-Coulomb yield criterion. A harmonic load is applied at the base with an amplitude of 6 kPa at a frequency of (2 and 6) Hz, and seismic is applied with acceleration – time input of earthquake hit Halabjah city north of Iraq. A parametric study is done to evaluate the influence of changing L/B ratio (Length=12,6,3 m and width=3 m), type of sand
... Show MoreThe applications of hot plasma are many and numerous applications require high values of the temperature of the electrons within the plasma region. Improving electron temperature values is one of the important processes for using this specification in plasma for being adopted in several modern applications such as nuclear fusion, plating operations and in industrial applications. In this work, theoretical computations were performed to enhance electron temperature under dense homogeneous plasma. The effect of power and duration time of pulsed Nd:YAG laser was studied on the heating of plasmas by inverse bremsstrahlung for several values for the electron density ratio. There results for these ca
... Show MoreTest results of eight reinforced concrete one way slab with lacing reinforcement are reported. The tests were designed to study the effect of the lacing reinforcement on the flexural behavior of one way slabs. The test parameters were the lacing steel ratio, flexural steel ratio and span to the effective depth ratio. One specimen had no lacing reinforcement and the remaining seven had various percentages of lacing and flexural steel ratios. All specimens were cast with normal density concrete of approximately 30 MPa compressive strength. The specimens were tested under two equal line loads applied statically at a thirds part (four point bending test) up to failure. Three percentage of lacing and flexural steel ratios wer
... Show MoreColloidal crystals (opals) made of close-packed polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) were fabricated and grown by Template-Directed methods to obtain porous materials with well-ordered periodicity and interconnected pore systems to manufacture photonic crystals. Opals were made from aqueous suspensions of monodisperse PMMA spheres with diameters between 280 and 415 nm. SEM confirmed the PMMA spheres crystallized uniformly in a face-centered cubic (FCC) array. Optical properties of synthesized pores PMMA were characterized by UV–Visible spectroscopy. It shows that the colloidal crystals possess pseudo photonic band gaps in the visible region. A combination of Bragg’s law of diffraction and Snell’s law of refraction were used to calculate t
... Show MorePolyaniline (PANI) and Ag/PANI nanocomposite thin films have prepared by microwave induced plasma. The Ag powder of average particle size of 50 nm, were used to prepare Ag/PANI nanocomposite thin films. The Ag/PANI nanocomposite thin films prepared by polymerization in plasma and characterized by UV-VIS, FTIR, AFM and SEM to study the effect of silver nanoparticles on the optical properties, morphology and structure of the thin films. The optical properties studies showed that the energy band gap of the Ag/PANI (5%wt silver) decreased from 3.6 to 3.2 eV, where the substrate location varied from 4.4 to 3.4 cm from the axis of the cylindrical plasma chamber. Also the optical energy gap decreased systematically from 3.3 to 3 eV with increas
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