Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease. It is one of the major causes of disability in developed and developing countries. Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) as part of immune system has a role in the disease process.Objectives: To investigate whether there is an association between HLA class II-DRB and OA.Methods: A case control study with 26 patients with osteoarthritis and 22 apparently healthy obese control persons matching in ethnicity were enrolled in this study during the period between October 2012 till March 2013. Direct interview was done with each patient and HLA typing was done by molecular method using Sequence Specific Primer (PCR-SSP) method using One Lambda Kit-USA. Results: The results showed that fem

A new bio-electrochemical system was proposed for simultaneous removal of organic matters and salinity from actual domestic wastewater and synthetically prepared saline water, respectively. The performance of a three-chambered microbial osmotic fuel cell (MOFC) provided with forward osmosis (FO) membrane and cation exchange membrane (CEM) was evaluated with respect to the chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal from wastewater, electricity generation, and desalination of saline water. The MOFC wasinoculated with activated sludge and fueled with actual domestic wastewater. Results revealed that maximum removal efficiency of COD from wastewater, TDS removal efficiency from saline water, power density, and current density were

This study was conducted to investigate thyroid function and Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) in (Chronic kidney disease) CKD patients by evaluating their levels in CKD patients, 50 patients were diagnosed to have CKD stage-5, their ages ranged between 20-50 years (25 males and 25 females) who attended the Nephrology and Transplant Center in Medical City of Baghdad- Iraq, they were recruited from April 2018 to July 2018 and were enrolled into the study. The control group consisted of 20 healthy individuals, their ages ranged between 20-48 years (10 males and 10 females). The study showed non-significant (p>0.05) increase in AMH level in CKD patients compared to the control group. On the other hand, TSH was recorded a highly significant (

The dependable and efficient identification of Qin seal script characters is pivotal in the discovery, preservation, and inheritance of the distinctive cultural values embodied by these artifacts. This paper uses image histograms of oriented gradients (HOG) features and an SVM model to discuss a character recognition model for identifying partial and blurred Qin seal script characters. The model achieves accurate recognition on a small, imbalanced dataset. Firstly, a dataset of Qin seal script image samples is established, and Gaussian filtering is employed to remove image noise. Subsequently, the gamma transformation algorithm adjusts the image brightness and enhances the contrast between font structures and image backgrounds. After a s

The study included the investigation of fungi which associated with heavy animal's leather (Cows and Buffalos) and light (Sheep’s and Goats )through different processing stages (raw hides ,dehairing ,pickling,chrome tanned and stainning or finished stages)there were 10 genera and 25 species in addition to sterile fungi associated with animal leathers which included Alternaria ,Aspergillus,Cladosporium,Fusarium, Mucor , Penicillium , Rhizopus , and Trichoderma .Aspergillus and Penicillium have observed in all leather samples and different processing stages, and that the first time isolate two genera Helminthosporium , Stemphylium form leather for staining stage.

Complexes of some metal ions with 2-thiotolylurea were prepared in ethanolic medium using (1:1) (Metal : Ligand) ratio yielded series of neutral complexes as the general formula [M(L)Cl2]. The prepared complexes were identified by atomic absorption FT.IR, UV-Visble spectra, molar conductivity and magnetic properties. From the above data the tetrahedral structure was suggested for all complexes.

Abstract-Industrial and urban development has resulted in the spread of plastic waste and the increase in the emissions of carbon dioxide resulting from the cement manufacturing process. The current research aims to produce green (environmentally friendly) concrete by using plastic waste as coarse aggregates in different proportions (10% and 20%) and nano silica sand powder as an alternative to cement in different proportions (5% and 10% by weight). The results showed that compressive strength decreased by 12.10% and 19.23% for 10% and 20% plastic waste replacement and increased by 12.89% and 20.39% for 5% and 10% silica sand replacement respectively at 28 days. Flexural strength decreased by 12.95% and 19.64% for 10% and 20% plastic waste

The importance of Public Relations activity has increased during the last half of the last century as a specialized and modern administrative function in most institutions. It has, moreover, become an integral part of activities of those institutions of various types, due to its pivotal role in building its reputation and drawing a good mental image among its audiences, as well as its influential and basic role in maintaining communication and the communication between its members at its various levels and their job tasks to ensure the greatest amount of understanding and to enhance trust between them. This is why public relations activity has become indispensable in all institutions, and without it, it is difficult to achieve any coordi