Purpose: To explore whether baseline matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-8 level in gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) (exposure) can predict the outcome (reduction in probing pocket depth (PPD) (outcome)) of nonsurgical periodontal therapy (NSPT) (manual or ultrasonic or both) in patients with periodontitis (population/problem) after 3 months. Methods: Six databases (PubMed, Cochrane library, ProQuest, Ovid, Scopus, EBSCO) were searched for relevant articles published until 30 July 2021. Retrieved articles were passed through a three-phase filtration process on the basis of the eligibility criteria. The primary outcome was the change in PPD after 3 months. Quality of the selected articles was assessed using Cochrane Risk of Bias tool (RoB2) and Risk of Bias In Non-Randomized Studies of Interventions (ROBINS-I) tools. Results: From 1306 articles, five were selected for analysis. The results showed high variations in the level of GCF MMP-8 level at baseline. The average amount of reduction in PPD was 1.20 and 2.30 mm for pockets with initial depth of 4–6 mm and >6 mm, respectively. Conclusion: On the basis of available evidence, it was not possible to reach a consensus on the ability of baseline GCF MMP-8 to forecast the outcome of NSPT. This could have been due to variation in clinical and laboratory techniques used. However, consistency in mean PPD reduction after 3 months was shown.
Terahertz (THz) technology, which uses radiation lying between microwave and infrared in the electromagnetic spectrum, could revolutionize digital agriculture through terahertz’s ability to assess agricultural materials accurately and non-destructively. The review discusses notable developments in THz applications to digital agriculture: real-time crop monitoring, nutrient and disease detection, soil moisture and contaminant analysis, and supply chain traceability. The developments have emerged from studies in time-domain spectroscopy, imaging, machine learning (ML), and blockchain integration. Despite the promising advances in THz agricultural applications, limitations remain, such as limited penetration depth, high system costs, and ope
... Show MoreArabic language processing with artificial intelligence has evolved significantly in the past decades, from traditional rule- and dictionary-based techniques, through statistical models to modern deep and transformer models. This review intends to present an overview of the most well-known Arabic models as well as datasets used for its training, and the main practical applications such as sentiment analysis, machine translation, speech recognition, and smart assistant. AI-based Arabic NLP has had good progress in the previous decades, from rule and dictionary-based approaches to statistical methods and deep transformative learning models nowadays. In addition to it, the most popular state-of-the-art models that are fine-tuned for the Arabi
... Show MoreDue to the importance of nanotechnology because of its features and applications in various fields, it has become the focus of attention of the world and researchers. In this study, the concept of nanotechnology and nanomaterials was identified, the most important methods of preparing them, as well as the preparation techniques and the most important devices used in their characterization.
Background: overweight and obesity are the fifth leadingrisk for global deaths. At least 2.8 million adults die eachyear as a result of being overweight or obese. Numerousstudies show that weight loss, even if only 5-10%,significantly improves dyslipidemia, hypertension, diabetesmellitus, risk for osteoarthritis and its symptoms and risk forselected cancers.Objectives: is to evaluate the effect of diet and exerciseprogram on anthropometric and biochemical status of adultobese patients.Methods: descriptive study. 124 adult obese patientsattending Al Kindy obesity research and therapy unit duringDecember 2012 were included. Measurement of Wt, heightHt and WC performed and BMI was calculated. Laboratorytest analysis, on the fasting state, w
... Show MoreVerrucae vulgares are commonly encountered. The present work is designed in an attempt to build a systematic procedure for treating warts by carbon dioxide laser regarding dose parameters, application parameters and laser safety.
Patients and Methods: The study done in the department of dermatology in Al-Najaf Teaching Hospital in Najaf, Iraq. Forty-two patients completed the study and follow up period for 3 months. Recalcitrant and extensive warts were selected to enter the study. Carbon dioxide laser in a continuous mode, in non-contact application, with 1 mm spot size was used. The patients were divided into two groups. The first group of patients consisted of 60 lesions divided to 6 equal groups, in whom we use different outputs a
To determine the expression of key epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers in gingival tissue samples collected from patients with periodontitis.
Epithelial–mesenchymal transition is a process responsible for shifting epithelial‐phenotype to mesenchymal‐phenotype leading to loss of epithelial‐barrier function. Thus, EMT could be involved as a pathogenic mechanism in periodontitis as both conditions share common promoters and signalling pathways.
Gingival tissue samples were collected fro
Epithelial‐mesenchymal transition (