Flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer (FAAS) was used in this study to determine the concentrations of heavy metals such as Ca, Fe, Mn, Cd, Co, Cr, Ni, Cu, Pb and Zn in some food additives of Iraq. The order of metal contents in food additives was found to be Ca ˃ Mn ˃ Fe ˃ Cu ˃ Zn ˃ Pb ˃ Cr ˃ Ni ˃ Co ˃ Cd. The concentration level of each metal was compared with that recommended by food agriculture organisation (FAO) and world health organisation (WHO). Calibration curves were linear for all standard solutions of heavy metals in the range starting from 0.02-0.4 mg/kg for Cd to 11-100 mg/kg for Ca. The correlation coefficients values (R2) of calibrations were investigated and ranged from 0.9971 for Cr to 0.9999 for Ca. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were found to be in highest value for Ca (1.6569 mg/kg and 5.5232 mg/kg), while they were found to be in lowest values for Cd (0.0150 mg/kg and 0.0499 mg/kg).
Previous studies in Euro-American countries have shown that patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection have increased levels of neuropsychiatric symptoms. While chronic hepatitis C virus infection has been reported in Arab countries such as Iraq, there is little studies about the neuropsychological burden associated with chronic hepatitis C among patients in the Arab region. The aim of the current study was to measure the prevalence and level of severity of depression, anxiety and stress among a sample of chronic hepatitis C patients in AL-Najaf province /Iraq. The current study was cross-sectional study carried out on (110) already diagnosed chronic viral hepatitis C patients who attended the Gastroenterology and Hepatology
... Show MoreMyriophyllum spicatum distribution in Al-Burgga marsh, Hor Al-Hammar was described in relation to some of the physical-chemical properties for its habitat (water depth, light penetration, water temperature, water salinity, pH, dissolved oxygen, Ca+2, Mg+2, reactive NO2=, reactive NO3-1, and reactive PO4-3) during 2011, seasonally. CANOCO ordination program (CCA) was used to analyse the data. Its vegetation cover percentage was with its peak at summer, its value was 90 %, while the lowest value was 20 % in winter. Statistically, Positive relationships for WT, sal., Ca+2, Mg+2, reactive NO2=, reactive NO3-1, and reactive PO4-3 with the vegetation cover percentage were observed. While, negative relationships for WD, pH, and DO with the ve
... Show MoreThe Red Palm Weevil (RPW), Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier, 1790) is a devastating invasive pest of palm trees, invading the Iraqi date palm tree in 2015 for the first time in Safwan county, Basrah province. The Red Palm weevil has been categorized as a quarantine pest of date palm trees worldwide. In this study, a five years monitoring program has been achieved by scouting the invasive pest RPW population in Safwan county by using visual sampling and Pheromone baited traps.
The results indicated that the number of infested palms, increased from 12 trees in 2015 to 111 in 16 orchards in 2016. The number of the infested palms was minimized to 3 trees in the county in 2019 due to the management protocol of the Ministry of Agriculture
The research dealt with the analysis of the relations between the GDP of the agricultural sector in Iraq, oil prices, the exchange rate and the GDP both on the short term and long term. The research adopted data analysis for the period from 1980-2019 using the ARDL model. the results indicate the existence of long-term relationships between oil prices and the prices of each agricultural commodity at a significance level of 5%. Also, oil prices have a negative consequence on agricultural production in Iraq, and the Iraqi economy is a rentier economy that depends mainly on oil as a source of income and budget financing.
Background: Cholera has been recognized as a killer disease since earliest time. The disease is caused by infection of the small intestine by Vibrio cholerae O1 and O1391 which is characterized by severe dehydrating diarrheal condition and is one disease in modern times that is epidemic, endemic and pandemic in nature. Objective: This study was carried out to detect and isolate V. cholerae from patients suffered from watery diarrhea, which may cause severe complications such as dehydration, shock followed by death. Materials and methods: stool specimens were collected from 308 patients with watery diarrhea. These samples were tested with many criteria such as TCBS agar, gram stain, biochemical tests and VITEK-2 system to improve the isolati
... Show MoreCoronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an acute disease that affects the respiratory system which initially appeared in Wuhan, China. In Feb 2019 the sickness began to spread swiftly throughout the entire planet, causing significant health, social, and economic problems. Time series is an important statistical method used to study and analyze a particular phenomenon, identify its pattern and factors, and use it to predict future values. The main focus of the research is to shed light on the study of SARIMA, NARNN, and hybrid models, expecting that the series comprises both linear and non-linear compounds, and that the ARIMA model can deal with the linear component and the NARNN model can deal with the non-linear component. The models
... Show MoreThe study attempts to assess water quality in Abu-Zirig Marsh which used epiphytic Diatom community for assessing water quality. Many of Diatom indices {Trophic diatom index (TDI), Diatom index (DI), Generic diatom index (GDI) have been used to give qualitative information about the status of the freshwater ecosystem(good, moderate, high pollution). In this study, the epiphytic diatoms on both host aquatic plants Phragmites australis and Typha domengensis were collected from Abu-Zirig Marsh within Thi-Qar Province at three sites in Autumn, 2018 and winter, 2019. Epiphytic diatoms were Identified by the preparation of permanent slides method, some species of epiphytic diatom showed dominance such as Cyclotella menegh
... Show MoreOil pollution of the soil due to a leakage in oil tubes, transportation of products, or during oil excavations can change the soil physical and mechanical, chemical, and biological properties. Consequently, the soil may or may not be eligible for engineering construction projects and it may need a significant treatment. Therefore, it is required to have a better understanding of the general behavior and the corresponding geotechnical properties upon pollution particularly for those areas associated with oil explorations and industry like Thi-Qar Governorate. Fine and coarse soils from two sites at the University of Thi-Qar are artificially contaminated with oil products ranging from 0% to 10% of their dry weight. Testing programs have been
... Show MoreIn recent years, the consideration of natural products as anti-inflammatory and antioxidative treatments has more interested worldwide. Moreover, natural products are easily obtained and are relatively safe the Royal jelly (RJ) is one of them. The current study was carried to evaluate the effects of pregabalin (PGB) on physiological activity of sperms, reproductive hormones assay and some biochemical analysis. Forty (40) male albino rats (10-weeks-old) were divided into four groups (10 rats each): G1 (treated with PGB drug, 150 mg/kg B.wt (Lyrica-Pfizer-Pharmaceutical Industries), G2 (treated with RJ 1g/kg), G3 (treated with PGB drug and RJ together), and G4 control treated with norma