Background: We aimed to investigate the accuracy of salivary matrix metalloproteinases (MMP)-8 and -9, and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase (TIMP)-1 in diagnosing periodontitis and in distinguishing periodontitis stages (S)1 to S3. Methods: This study was a case–control study that included patients with periodontitis S1 to S3 and subjects with healthy periodontia (controls). Saliva was collected, and then, clinical parameters were recorded, including plaque index, bleeding on probing, probing pocket depth, and clinical attachment level. Diagnosis was confirmed by assessing the alveolar bone level using radiography. Salivary biomarkers were assayed using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results: A total of 45 patients (15 for each stage) and 18 healthy subjects as controls were included. The levels of all salivary biomarkers and clinical parameters were significantly higher in periodontitis subjects than in the controls. The ROC curve showed that MMP-8, MMP-9, TIMP-1, MMP-8/TIMP-1, and MMP-9/TIMP-1 had statistically significant diagnostic accuracy, with areas under the curve (AUCs) of 0.892, 0.844, 0.920, 0.986, and 1.000, respectively, when distinguishing periodontitis from the controls. Similarly, these biomarkers showed significant diagnostic accuracy in the differentiation of S1 periodontitis from the controls (AUC range from 0.902 to 1.000). Conclusions: This study suggested that salivary biomarkers exhibited high diagnostic accuracy in distinguishing periodontal health from periodontitis in general as well as S1 periodontitis. Furthermore, TIMP-1 could differentiate S1 from S3.
The rapid increase in the number of older people with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other forms of dementia represents one of the major challenges to the health and social care systems. Early detection of AD makes it possible for patients to access appropriate services and to benefit from new treatments and therapies, as and when they become available. The onset of AD starts many years before the clinical symptoms become clear. A biomarker that can measure the brain changes in this period would be useful for early diagnosis of AD. Potentially, the electroencephalogram (EEG) can play a valuable role in early detection of AD. Damage in the brain due to AD leads to changes in the information processing activity of the brain and the EEG which ca
... Show MoreThe issue of increasing the range covered by a wireless sensor network with restricted sensors is addressed utilizing improved CS employing the PSO algorithm and opposition-based learning (ICS-PSO-OBL). At first, the iteration is carried out by updating the old solution dimension by dimension to achieve independent updating across the dimensions in the high-dimensional optimization problem. The PSO operator is then incorporated to lessen the preference random walk stage's imbalance between exploration and exploitation ability. Exceptional individuals are selected from the population using OBL to boost the chance of finding the optimal solution based on the fitness value. The ICS-PSO-OBL is used to maximize coverage in WSN by converting r
... Show MoreThe influence of an aortic aneurysm on blood flow waveforms is well established, but how to exploit this link for diagnostic purposes still remains challenging. This work uses a combination of experimental and computational modelling to study how aneurysms of various size affect the waveforms. Experimental studies are carried out on fusiform-type aneurysm models, and a comparison of results with those from a one-dimensional fluid–structure interaction model shows close agreement. Further mathematical analysis of these results allows the definition of several indicators that characterize the impact of an aneurysm on waveforms. These indicators are then further studied in a computational model of a systemic blood flow network. This demonstr
... Show MoreWhen searching for an answer to the following question: What are the reasons for the reluctance of female physical education teachers in secondary schools to referee sports competitions according to the variable of years of service? It was found that the research aimed to reveal the differences between the opinions of the research sample of physical education teachers in secondary schools (girls) about refereeing sports competitions according to the variable of years of service. To achieve the research goal, it is assumed that there are significant differences between the average opinions of the research sample of female teachers and their reluctance and the reasons for the differences in the practice of refereeing sports competitions accor
... Show MoreThe examination of gills of the common carp Cyprinus carpio revealed the presence of two species of the family Trichodinidae belonging to the genus Dipartiella (Raabe, 1959) Stein, 1961 namely D. indiana Saha and Bandyopadhyay, 2017 and D. kazubski Mitra and Bandyopadhyay, 2009 for the first time in Iraq from Al-Graiat location on the Tigris River at Baghdad city. This also represents the first record of the genus Dipartiella from fishes of Iraq. The descriptions and measurements of these two parasite species as well as their illustrations were given.
The Dagum Regression Model, introduced to address limitations in traditional econometric models, provides enhanced flexibility for analyzing data characterized by heavy tails and asymmetry, which is common in income and wealth distributions. This paper develops and applies the Dagum model, demonstrating its advantages over other distributions such as the Log-Normal and Gamma distributions. The model's parameters are estimated using Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) and the Method of Moments (MoM). A simulation study evaluates both methods' performance across various sample sizes, showing that MoM tends to offer more robust and precise estimates, particularly in small samples. These findings provide valuable insights into the ana
... Show MoreThe study of the characteristics of the heritage fabric is one of the important things in studies of conservation and rehabilitative use. There are three main elements of rehabilitation and they are considered the basis for achieving the rehabilitation process and these elements are (development, sustainability, participation) and that the first item addressed in the research is heritage and urban fabric in heritage areas where characteristics have been studied And a problem, while the second term is rehabilitation, where the concept of rehabilitation, the types and causes of the process of rehabilitation and the benefits and qualifications that affect the urban fabric that are represented (social, economic, religious and political) were
... Show MoreEstimating multivariate location and scatter with both affine equivariance and positive break down has always been difficult. Awell-known estimator which satisfies both properties is the Minimum volume Ellipsoid Estimator (MVE) Computing the exact (MVE) is often not feasible, so one usually resorts to an approximate Algorithm. In the regression setup, algorithm for positive-break down estimators like Least Median of squares typically recomputed the intercept at each step, to improve the result. This approach is called intercept adjustment. In this paper we show that a similar technique, called location adjustment, Can be applied to the (MVE). For this purpose we use the Minimum Volume Ball (MVB). In order
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