Studies from our laboratory have shown that Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), an ingredient found in marijuana plant Cannabis sativa, can attenuate acute lung injury induced by Staphylococcus enterotoxin B (SEB). In the current study, we investigated the role of THC on the metabolism of SEB-activated lymphocytes. To this end, we determined metabolic potential of SEB-activated lymphocytes treated with vehicle or THC by performing the Cell Mito Stress Test. The oxygen consumption rate (OCR) in THC-treated cells was decreased when compared to vehicle-treated group whereas the extracellular acidification rate (ECAR) was similar in both the groups. Specifically, electron transport chain inhi
Background: Lung cancer is a common disease for patients over the age of 50 years, especially males due to smoking habits. This study aimed to compare the modulation complexity score (MCS) for the advanced treatment planning techniques which the intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT). Materials and Methods: Thirty patients who had non-small lung cancerous tumors on their left side participated in this study. The range ages were 68 to 98 years, the heights were between 151 and 182cm and they having weights from 46 to 79 kg. For Each patient will create two plans dial using two different techniques, which will be Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) and Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy
... Show MoreEfficient management of treated sewage effluents protects the environment and reuse of municipal, industrial, agricultural and recreational as compensation for water shortages as a second source of water. This study was conducted to investigate the overall performance and evaluate the effluent quality from Al- Rustamiya sewage treatment plant (STP), Baghdad, Iraq by determining the effluent quality index (EQI). This assessment included daily records of major influent and effluent sewage parameters that were obtained from the municipal sewage plant laboratory recorded from January 2011 to December 2018. The result showed that the treated sewage effluent quality from STP was within the Iraqi quality standards (IQS) for disposal and t
... Show MoreThere is a great operational risk to control the day-to-day management in water treatment plants, so water companies are looking for solutions to predict how the treatment processes may be improved due to the increased pressure to remain competitive. This study focused on the mathematical modeling of water treatment processes with the primary motivation to provide tools that can be used to predict the performance of the treatment to enable better control of uncertainty and risk. This research included choosing the most important variables affecting quality standards using the correlation test. According to this test, it was found that the important parameters of raw water: Total Hardn
Brachytherapy treatment is primarily used for the certain handling kinds of cancerous tumors. Using radionuclides for the study of tumors has been studied for a very long time, but the introduction of mathematical models or radiobiological models has made treatment planning easy. Using mathematical models helps to compute the survival probabilities of irradiated tissues and cancer cells. With the expansion of using HDR-High dose rate Brachytherapy and LDR-low dose rate Brachytherapy for the treatment of cancer, it requires fractionated does treatment plan to irradiate the tumor. In this paper, authors have discussed dose calculation algorithms that are used in Brachytherapy treatment planning. Precise and less time-consuming calculations
... Show MoreA random laser is a non-conventional laser whose feedback mechanism is based on dissorder-induced light. However, random lasers occur in gain media with numerous scatterers and produce coherent laser emission without any predesigned cavity. The generation of coherent emission from multiple scattering is quite general and its basic principles are shown here using sulforhodamine B-TiO suspensions system. These suspensions were pumped with 337.1 nm pulses from N2 laser and the spectral and temporal behavior of light emitted from the pumped surface was recorded. When we pump power above a certain threshold a dramatic narrowing of the emission line width and a shortening of the emitted pulses were observed. We have experimentally found that i
... Show MoreBackground: A Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) internal derangement (TMJID) is a disruption within the internal aspects of the TMJ in which the disc is displaced from its normal functional relationship with the mandibular condyle, after which the articular portion of the temporal bone causes joint dysfunction, joint sound, malocclusion, and locking of the mouth. Conservative and invasive techniques can be used for the treatment of TMJID. A platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection is a simple, less invasive surgical procedure for the treatment of internal derangement. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of PRP injections in decreasing or eliminating pain, clicking, and limitation of mouth opening in patients with TMJID after th
... Show MoreA case–control study (80 patients with chronic hepatitis B virus [HBV] infection and 96 controls) was performed to evaluate the association of an IL12A gene variant (rs582537 A/C/G) with HBV infection. Allele G showed a signifcantly lower frequency in patients compared to controls (31.2 vs. 46.9%; probability [p]=0.009; corrected p [pc]=0.027) and was associated with a lower risk of HBV infection (odds ratio [OR]=0.49; 95% confdence interval [CI]=0.29–0.83). A similar lower risk was associated with genotypes CG (17.5 vs. 29.2; OR=0.25; 95% CI=0.08–0.81; p=0.02) and GG (10.0 vs. 16.7; OR=0.25; 95% CI=0.07–0.91; p=0.036), but the pc value was not signifcant (0.12 and 0.126, respec‑ tively). Serum IL35 levels showed signifcant difere
... Show MoreBackground: Tobacco smoking and tuberculosis (TB) are two major public health problems; Associations between smoking and tuberculosis including death from tuberculosis have been reported , A reduction in smoking could be expected to have a significant impact on TB incidence and prevalence .
Objectives: to assess the effect of smoking on tuberculosis.
Methods: This study was conducted from June 2011 to June 2012 in 200 patients, adult ( aged 17 years and more), newly diagnosed patients of pulmonary tuberculosis, at the chest and Respiratory Disease Specialized Center in Baghdad. Demographic data, presenting symptoms, data on smoking, and recurrence of disease were compared. Information on smoking status, tobacco smoking was collecte
Leishmaniasis is a transmissible infection brought about by an obligatory intracellular protozoan from the genus Leishmania. It occurs worldwide in tropical and subtropical regions and can be burdensome in resource-constrained countries. The infection ranges in severity from mild cutaneous lesions to more severe and sometimes life-threatening visceral and distorting mucocutaneous sicknesses. Importantly, cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is prevalent in the Middle East with a pooled prevalence of 12%. It imposes a significant health and socioeconomic burden