Abstract Aim: Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder which affects communication and social interaction of children. It is a heterogeneous disease with various clinical presentations. Some genes are involved in its pathogenesis. It has been suggested that environmental exposure to lead can increase the risk of autism. The aim of our study was to compare blood lead levels among autistic and non-autistic children. Material and Method: This retrospective study included 107 children (60 with autism and 47 without autism) referred from the different Iraqi provinces, in the years 2015, 2016 and 2017, to the poisoning consultation center in Baghdad. Data collection including age, gender, residence, referral source, family history and blood lead levels was taken from their medical records. Results: No significant differences were noticed between the prevalence of autism and both of age (P=0.843) and gender (P=0.699). The majority of children have no family history of autism (85%). Mean blood lead level for all participants was 16.01 μg/dl. The statistically significant difference in lead level was found between autistic and non-autistic children (17.38± 1.86 μg/dl in autism group versus 14.27± 1.57 μg/dl in non-autism group) with a P value of 0.001. Discussion: Mean blood lead level was high in all participants, compared to the international values, which might indicate a high level of lead exposure in Iraqi children due to environmental pollution. Autistic children have higher lead levels than non-autistic ones and this might explain the role of lead in the etiology of autism.
The current research aims to identify the occupational stresses of doctors who are working in governmental hospitals according to the variables of gender and career ranking. The researcher adopted a scale to measure the occupational stress of (1088) doctors (561 males and 527 females) working in governmental hospitals. The results have shown that doctors have a high level of professional stress, but there is no significant difference between doctors in terms of gender. However, there were significant differences in favor of novice residents.
The research aims at identifying the level of imaginative thinking skills in mathematics among fourth scientific grade students.For this purpose, the researcher adopted the descriptive (survey) approach, as an imaginative thinking test was built and applied to the research sample that consists of (301) students from fourth scientific grade students who are distributed to secondary and Preparatory schools,they are Al-Furat Preparatory, Al-Hindiya Preparatory school and Al-Rajiba Preparatory school , who are affiliated to the Al-Hindiya Education Department of the General Directorate in the Holy Karbala Governorate for the academic year (2021-2022). The imaginative thinking test consisted of (36) items of four alternatives multiple-choice obj
... Show MoreThe present work reports on the performance of three types of nanofiltration membranes in the removal of highly polluting and toxic lead (Pb2+) and cadmium (Cd2+) from single and binary salt aqueous solutions simulating real wastewaters. The effect of the operating variables (pH (5.5-6.5), types of NF membrane and initial ions concentration (10-250 ppm)) on the separation process and water flux was investigated. It was observed that the rejection efficiency increased with increasing pH of solution and decreasing the initial metal ions concentrations. While the flux decreased with increasing pH of solution and increasing initial metal ions concentrations. The maximum rejection of lead and cadmium ion
... Show MoreIn this study, composite materials consisting of Activated Carbon (AC) and Zeolite were prepared for application in the removal of methylene blue and lead from an aqueous solution. The optimum synthesis method involves the use of metakaolinization and zeolitization, in the presence of activated carbon from kaolin, to form Zeolite. First, Kaolin was thermally activated into amorphous kaolin (metakaolinization); then the resultant metakaolin was attacked by alkaline, transforming it into crystalline zeolite (zeolitization). Using nitrogen adsorption and SEM techniques, the examination and characterization of composite materials confirmed the presence of a homogenous distribution of Zeolite throughout the activated carbon.
... Show MoreTransient mixed convection heat transfer in a confined porous medium heated at periodic sinusoidal heat flux is investigated numerically in the present paper. The Poisson-type pressure equation, resulted from the substituting of the momentum Darcy equation in the continuity equation, was discretized by using finite volume technique. The energy equation was solved by a fully implicit control volume-based finite difference formulation for the diffusion terms with the use of the quadratic upstream interpolation for convective kinetics scheme to discretize the convective terms and the temperature values at the control volume faces. The numerical study covers a range of the hydrostatic pressure sinusoidal amplitude range and
... Show MoreTransient mixed convection heat transfer in a confined porous medium heated at periodic sinusoidal heat flux is investigated numerically in the present paper. The Poisson-type pressure equation, resulted from the substituting of the momentum Darcy equation in the continuity equation, was discretized by using finite volume technique. The energy equation was solved by a fully implicit control volume-based finite difference formulation for the diffusion terms with the use of the quadratic upstream interpolation for convective kinetics scheme to discretize the convective terms and the temperature values at the control volume faces. The numerical study covers a range of the hydrostatic pressure head , , , , and ), sinusoidal amplitude range of
... Show MoreThe air flow pattern in a co-current pilot plant spray dryer fitted with a rotary disk atomizer was determined experimentally and modelled numerically using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) (ANSYS Fluent ) software. The CFD simulation used a three dimensions system, Reynolds-Average Navier-Stokes equations (RANS), closed via the RNG k −ε turbulence model. Measurements were carried out at a rotation of the atomizer (3000 rpm) and when there is no rotation using a drying air at 25 oC and air velocity at the inlet of 5 m/s without swirl. The air flow pattern was predicted experimentally using cotton tufts and digital anemometer. The CFD simulation predicted a downward central flowing air core surrounded by a slow
... Show MoreA mathematical eco-epidemiological model consisting of harvested prey–predator system involving fear and disease in the prey population is formulated and studied. The prey population is supposed to be separated into two groups: susceptible and infected. The susceptible prey grows logistically, whereas the infected prey cannot reproduce and instead competes for the environment’s carrying capacity. Furthermore, the disease is transferred through contact from infected to susceptible individuals, and there is no inherited transmission. The existence, positivity, and boundedness of the model’s solution are discussed. The local stability analysis is carried out. The persistence requirements are established. The global behavior of th
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