Objectives: Maxillofacial silicone is used to restore abnormalities due to congenital or acquired causes. However, the quality of silicone is far from ideal. This study was aimed at assessing the influence of the addition of cellulose nanofibers (CNFs; several nanometers wide and 2-5 micro m long) on the physical and mechanical characteristics of maxillofacial silicone elastomers. Methods: Two CNF weight percentages (0.5% and 1%) were tested, and 180 specimens were divided into one control and two experimental groups. Each group was subdivided into six subgroups. In each subgroup, ten specimens subjected to each of the following tests: tearing strength, Shore-A hardness, tensile strength, elongation percentage, surface roughness, and color

Toxoplasmosis is an infection caused by Toxoplasma gondii that leads to abortion or hydrocephalus during pregnancy.One hundered and twenty two aborted women were selected for this study. Serum samples were collected form Al-Kadhmia and Kamal Al-Samari Hospitals,and laboratories around Baghdad, and tested for specific IgG and IgM anti-toxoplasma antibodies to confirm toxoplasmosis in those women by using ELISA test.The result recorded that 51(41.8%) women had antibodies against Toxoplasma gondii, 25(59.5%) women were positive for IgG, and 17(40.5%) women were positive forIgM, while 9(17.6%)women were positive for both.

Background: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) has become the standard treatment for symptomatic cholelithiasis. Bile duct injury and accidental gallbladder perforation with spillage of bile and stone are common complications of LC. This study was carried out to assess the early complications of gallbladder perforation during LC, and identify the risk factor of that perforation.

Objectives: to evaluate the early complications which may occur after the perforation of the gallbladder during laparoscopic cholecystectomy and to determine the risk factors which are associated with the perforation of the gall bladder. 

Subjects and methods: A prospective comparative study o

After the fall of the Soviet Union, a number of Eastern Bloc countries and Soviet republics have witnessed political transition. However, Turkmenistan, as one of the former Soviet republics, succeeded to preserve the authoritarian nature of the former Soviet regime. This study seeks to answer a number of research questions, the most prominent of which are: How were the political elite in Turkmenistan able to preserve the legacy of the Soviet policy based on centralization of power and individual rule?. The study reaches a set of conclusions, the most important of which are:

1-The roots of the tyranny in Turkmenistan are du to internal and external structural factors. The most important of which are: the former Soviet policies of m

The aim of this research is to calculate mass transfer coefficient, k_d, during cathodic protection of low carbon steel in neutral seawater (3.5% W/V NaCl in distilled water with pH = 7). Two types of cathodic protection were used:

First: Sacrificial anode cathodic protection (SACP) were a pipeline of steel carrying seawater  using zinc as a sacrificial anode and with variable temperatures ranged (0 – 45^oC) and volumetric flow rate ranged (5 – 900 lit/hr). It was found that the k_d increases with increasing temperature and volumetric flow rate of seawater, where k_d ranged (0.24×10^-6 – 41.6×10^-6 m/s).

Second: Impressed current cathodic pr

A new scheme of plasma-mediated thermal coupling has been implemented which yields the temporal distributions of the thermal flux which reaches the metal surface, from which the spatial and temporal temperature profiles can be calculated. The model has shown that the temperature of evaporating surface is determined by the balance between the absorbed power and the rate of energy loss due to evaporation. When the laser power intensity range is 107 to108 W/cm2 the temperature of vapor could increase beyond the critical temperature of plasma ignition, i.e. plasma will be ignited above the metal surface. The plasma density has been analyzed at different values of vapor temperature and pressure using Boltzmann’s code for calculation of elec