Background: Cigarette smoking is an important risk factor that has a clear strong association with the prevalence and severity of chronic periodontitis (CP). Salivary biochemical parameters may be affected by both smoking and CP together. Materials and methods: Eighty systematically healthy male patients were included in this study. They were grouped based on their periodontal and smoking status. Unstimulated whole saliva (UWS) was collected from all subject. Salivary flow rate (FR) was measured during sample collection. Parameters such as salivary pH, total protein (TP), albumin (Alb), total fucose (TF), protein bound fucose (PBF) and C-reactive protein (CRP) were estimated. Results: Salivary flow rate was not altered regarding to smoking

Contours extraction from two dimensional echocardiographic images has been a challenge in digital image processing. This is essentially due to the heavy noise, poor quality of these images and some artifacts like papillary muscles, intra-cavity structures as chordate, and valves that can interfere with the endocardial border tracking. In this paper, we will present a technique to extract the contours of heart boundaries from a sequence of echocardiographic images, where it started with pre-processing to reduce noise and produce better image quality. By pre-processing the images, the unclear edges are avoided, and we can get an accurate detection of both heart boundary and movement of heart valves.

Abstract

 One of the major components in an automobile engine is the throttle valve part. It is used to keep up with emissions and fuel efficiency low. Design a control system to the throttle valve is newly common requirement trend in automotive technology. The non-smoothness nonlinearity in throttle valve model are due to the friction model and the nonlinear spring, the uncertainty in system parameters and non-satisfying the matching condition are the main obstacles when designing a throttle plate controller.

In this work, the theory of the Integral Sliding Mode Control (ISMC) is utilized to design a robust controller for the Electronic Throttle Valve (ETV) system. From the first in

Background:  Postdate pregnancy is that pregnancy, which goes beyond 40 weeks gestation being calculated from the first day of the last menstrual period and  first trimester ultrasound. It occurs in approximately 10% of singleton pregnancies. Perinatal and maternal complications of such pregnancies have always been underestimated.

Methods: A prospective case-control study of (600) pregnant women fulfilling the inclusion criteria( included: Gestational age range between (37 - 42 completed  weeks), history of  regular menstrual cycles and  known date of the last menstrual period and/or with early pregnancy ultrasound and a singleton pregnancy with vertex presentation ), div

     Because of inhalation of the volatile substances and unintended ingestion, the risk of health problems for fuelling employees exposed to gasoline vapours in gas stations is increased. Therefore, the goal of the study was to compare the oxidative stress state of healthy volunteers, who served as the control group, to Iraqi male fuelling staff, who served as the exposed groups. The levels of total oxidant status (TOS), total antioxidant status (TAS) and oxidative stress index (OSI), malondialdehyde (MDA), Uric acid (UA), and total peroxidase activity were measured.  A total of 102 subjects divided into three groups according to the duration of fuel vapours exposure: 25 exposed for 1-10 years (G1), 50 exposed for 11-19 years (G2)

Breast cancer (BC) is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women. The metabolism of iron is closely regulated by hepcidin which exerts its action by interacting with a ferroportin.

 The aim of the present study was to assess the alterations in the levels of some serum biomarkers that have a role in iron homeostasis (hepcidin and ferroportin) in addition to hematological parameters (hemoglobin, leukocyte and platelets count) in different stages of BC.

This study included 66 women with BC. The patients were categorized as follows : group 1 includes :22 patients with stage I disease ,group 2 includes: 22 patients with stage II disease ,and group 3 include: 22 patients with stage III disease .Group 4 includes :22 appare

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common disease and it accounts for over 10% of all hospital medical admission. Cigarette smoking is the most important risk factor. Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PHT) is a common complication of COPD and the increase in pulmonary artery pressure is often mild to moderate. The presence of pulmonary arterial pressure and its severity is readily and reliably determined by transthoracic echocardiography in majority of COPD patients.
Patients and Methods: This study included 55 patients with mean age 65.6 ±8.2 years .The mean duration of symptoms was 18 ±10 months. 32 patients (58%) were current smoker, 18 patients (33%) were exsmoker and 5 pat

Background: Joint hypermobility  was first mentioned by Hippocrates as an isolated feature, when he described the Celts' Incapacity to Pull a Bowstring or Throw a Dart, Due to The Slackness of Their Limbs

Objective: to determine the prevalence of mitral valve prolapse(MVP)in patients with benign hypermobility syndrome (BJHS).

Type of the study: Cross –sectional study.

Methods: Ninety patients with BJHS were included in this study. Full cardiological assessment was done for all of them,  which  include clinical examination, electrocardiography and echocardiography. Cardiac assessment was done for another sixty age and sex matched (

      The monocyte chemo-attractant protein-1 (MCP-1) is one of the pro-inflammatory cytokines. It controls the passage and infiltration of monocytes, macrophages, natural killers, and T cells into the sites of inflammation. The aim of this study is to inspect the role of MCP-1 in maternal metabolic, physiological changes and pregnancy complications like gestational diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, and hypertension to develop pharmaceutical strategies for these complications. This study included ninety Iraqi women divided into three groups: thirty pregnant women in their first trimester as the P1 group; thirty pregnant women in their third trimester as the P2 group; and thirty healthy non-pregnant women as the control or C group. Se