The present study was set to demonstrate the prevalence of toxoplasmosis infection and its effects on patients with systemic  lupus erythematosus (SLE) through determining their serum levels of anti-dsDNA and IL-18 antibodies. For this purpose, the sera from 132 SLE and/or toxoplasmosis patients and 30 healthy women, were collected. The study sample was divided into four groups of SLE, toxoplasmosis, SLE coinfected with toxoplasmosis, and healthy control. Anti-Toxoplasma IgG antibodies were examined for all the samples using ELISA kit. The results showed a high mean level of anti-Toxoplasma IgG among SLE patients coinfected with toxoplasmosis (104.8792±12.31585pg/ml) in comparison to that in toxoplasmosis patients (91.1705±12.577

The present research aims to study the effect of friction stir welding (FSW) parameters on temperature distribution and tensile strength of aluminum 6061-T6. Rotational and traverse speeds used were (500,1000,1400 rpm) and (14,40,112 mm/min) respectively. Results of mechanical tests showed that using 500rpm and 14mm/min speed give the best strength. A three- dimensional fully coupled thermal-stress finite element model via ANSYS software has been developed. The Rate dependent Johnson-Cook relation was utilized for elasto-plastic work deformations. Heat-transfer is formulated using a moving heat source, and later used the transient temperature outputs from the thermal analysis to determine equivalent stresses in the welde

Ifosfamide (IFO), an alkylating chemotherapy agent, is known for its association with neurotoxicity and encephalopathy. This trial was designed to evaluate the protective action of daidzein (DZN) against IFO-induced neurotoxicity in male rats by determining the difference in certain inflammatory and apoptotic markers in the brain tissue of rats. Twenty-eight Wistar rats, weighing 120-150 g, were divided into four groups of seven rats: Group 1 (Control) received no treatment; Group 2 was orally administered DZN (100 mg/kg/day) for seven days; Group 3 received a single intraperitoneal (IP) dose of IFO (500 mg/kg); Group 4 received oral DZN (100 mg/kg/day) for one week prior to a single IP dose of IFO on the seventh day. Twenty-four hours post

The aim of this study is to compare the effects of three methods: problem-based learning (PBL), PBL with lecture method, and conventional teaching on the understanding of thermodynamics, group work and self-directed learning skills among physics undergraduates. The actual sample size comprises of 122 students, who were selected randomly from the Physics Department, College of Education in Iraq, for academic year 2011-2012. In this study, the pre and posttest were done and the instruments were administered to the students for data collection. Inferential statistics were employed to analyze data. The independent variables were the PBL, the PBL with lecture method, and the conventional teaching. Dependent variables of statistical analysis were

The current study examines the combined impacts of ultrasonic waves and nano silica (NS) on reducing the viscosity Sharqy Baghdad heavy crude oil with an API gravity of 20.32. NS of an average particle size of 59.93 nm and 563.23 m²/g surface area were produced utilizing the sol-gel technique from Iraqi sand. The XRD analysis indicates the existence of an amorphous silica, the SEM analysis showed that NS tends to agglomerate, and the FTIR spectra exhibited the presence of siloxane and silanol groups. In addition, the TGA analysis demonstrated a total weight loss of 15.62%, validating the thermal stability of the NS. The experiments included a study of the impact of ultrasonic power, exposure time, duty cycle, temperature, and the c

A study of the effects of the discharge (sputtering) currents (60-75 mA) and the thickness of copper target (0.037, 0.055 and 0.085 mm) on the prepared samples was performed. These samples were deposited with pure copper on a glass substrate using dc magnetron sputtering with a magnetic flux density of 150 gauss at the center. The effects of these two parameters were studied on the height, diameter, and size of the deposition copper grains as well as the roughness of surface samples using atomic force microscopy (AFM).The results of this study showed that it is possible to control the specifications of copper grains by changing the discharge currents and the thickness of the target material. The increase in discharge curre

Progesterone is highly used in pregnant women as therapeutic agent to maintain and support pregnancy. To explore the effects of progesterone usage allover gestation till 7days postnatally on mice offspring ovaries development and anogenital distance. Ten pregnant mice were equally divide into control group that was injected with sesame oil which is used as a solvent for progesterone and treated group that is daily intraperitoneally injected with progesterone (dissolved in sesame oil 1: 10) at dose 10.2 mg/kg (the equivalent human dose) all through gestation till7day postnatal then sacrificed and measuring the anogenital distance (the distance between anus and genital papilla). Histological slides were prepared, and Diameters of the ovary, p

The olive tree, has been used it is important plant for the time being some of their parts on a large scale in the treatment of gastrointestinal disorders and stimulate circulation . Moreover, it is used as antibacterial material and also to address some of the respiratory system, diabetes, food preservation osteoporosis. This study involved the collection of olive leaves from different areas in Baghdad / Iraq. These leaves have been harvested, wash it, then dried and crushed, where the study aimed to identify the active ingredients and chemical elements in the olive leaf as well as its effect on the action of GOT enzyme .The study showed that the aqueous extracts (cold and hot) of the olive leaves powder are acidic in nature pH values

In this work, the effects of solvent properties on the characteristics of absorption and fluorescence for two laser dyes was studied. Dyes used in this work include Coumarin 5400 and DCM, while the solvents include ethanol, methanol, acetone, propanol and chloroform. Coumarin 5400 dye shows sharp fluorescence peaks in the green band of visible region while the DCM dye shows relatively wide band within 590-630 nm. Therefore, the selection of any dye for random gain medium applications should be performed after determining the most appropriate solvent as the optimum fluorescence characteristics are obtained.