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.
Matching between wind site characteristics and wind turbine characteristics for three selected sites in Iraq was carried out. Site-turbine matching for potential wind power application in Iraq has not yet been well reported on. Thus, in this study, five years’ wind speed data for sites located in Baghdad (33.34N, 44.40E), Nasiriyah (31.05N, 46.25E), and Basrah (30.50N, 47.78E) were collected. A full wind energy analysis based on the measured data, Weibull distribution function, and wind turbine characteristics was made. A code developed using MATLAB software was used to analyse the wind energy and wind turbines models. The primary objective was to achieve a standard wind turbine-site matching based on the capacity factor. Another matching
... Show Morepublishing has become a large space in the field of interactive education and modern pages have become dedicated to the service of the educational effort in this area as the research in this context of the urgent scientific necessities, especially as we consider in Iraq from the new countries in the exploitation of these new technologies and investment possibilities of the information network And the contents of different in the framework of so-called distance education Here lies the problem of research in the possibility of finding scientific solutions for the design of interactive inter active website for students of the preparatory stage in Iraq and to find out the scientific ways to find design The study, which included the problem of
... Show MoreAstragalus mesogitanus is a new recorded species for Iraqi flora, from Onobrychium genus section, was collected from Erbil district, all morphological features were described in details as well as some micromorphological character as the trichomes and were provided with dimensions and plates, section key was also updated which illustrated the importance of standard (corolla) trichomes in species identification. Keywords: Astragalus, Fabaceae, Iraq, New record, Onobrychium, Trichomes.
There are different types of corruptions such as administrative, political, economic and financial corruption. The corruption forms also varied such as bribery, nepotism and extortion. All types and forms of corruption play significant role in the all economic variables generally and on investments in particular, and the corruption used to be an intermediate means in reducing the rate of economic growth. The corruption contributes in reducing the domestic investments via pay bribery by investors to officials’ persons for supplemental contracts and tenders which finally leads to reduction in the investment efficiency. The corruption also contributes in rise of operational costs for the investment projects. In additio
... Show MoreEnvironmental factors that damage plant cells by dehydrating them, such cold, drought, and high salinity, are the most common environmental stresses that have an impact on plant growth, development, and productivity in cultivated regions around the world. Several types of plants have several drought, salinity, and cold inducible genes that make them tolerant to environmental challenges. The purpose of this study was to investigate several species in
Physicians are infrequently selected to serve in the yearlong role of Jefferson Science Fellow (JSF) as senior science advisor for the US Department of State or the United States Agency for International Development. The authors discuss the role of a JSF in promoting “science diplomacy” from the perspective of one alumnus, who sites examples of ongoing, long-term collaborative projects including one focusing on medical education reform in Iraq that would not have been possible without the JSF program. More than 3 decades of political and social unrest, terrorism, the internal displacement of millions of Iraqi citizens, the arrival of Syrian refugees, international sanctions, and the effect of fluctuating oil prices that fund education i
... Show MoreIn this research, the geotechnical properties of the soil profile in Hilla city within Babylon Governorate in the middle parts of Iraq are described. The geotechnical data at the specific sites were collected from some geotechnical investigation reports performed at some selected locations. This article is devoted to studying the distribution of soil properties (the physical and mechanical) in the horizontal and vertical directions. Moreover, a correlation between different physical and mechanical properties is performed. The correlation is executed using statistical analysis by Microsoft Excel Software (2016). From the regression results, it was found that the nature of the soil is c
The problem of poverty and deprivation constitute a humanitarian tragedy and its continuation may threaten the political achievements reached by the State. Iraq, in particular, and although he is one of the very rich countries due to availability of huge economic wealth, poverty indicators are still high. In addition, the main factor in the decline in the standard of living due to the weakness of the government's performance in the delivery of public services of water, electricity and sanitation. Thus, the guide for human development has been addressed which express the achievements that the state can be achieved both on a physical level or on the human level, so in order to put appropriate strategies and policies aimed at elimin
... Show MoreThe oil sector in Iraq suffered from several difficulties led to the decline and reduction of oil production and the deterioration of refineries and transport pipeline status in addition to the weakness of the technology side and the prevalence of financial and administrative corruption besides the high costs of rehabilitation of the oil sector and also administrative and institutional problems still ongoing.
In spite of Iraq's possession of vast oil wealth allows him to play an important role in the international energy market، he is still under the level. The production of oil doesn'<
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