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.
Vitamin D is one of several nutrients essential for calcium metabolism. Body weight status and magnesium may influence vitamin D activity. To determine whether salivary vitamin D, magnesium, and calcium levels are associated with body weight status and dental caries severity in children, this cross‐sectional research was conducted.
The sample consisted of 180 boys aged 6–8 years. According to their body mass index (BMI), children were assigned to three groups of 60 boys (normal weight, overweight, and obese). Moreover,
An increasing interest is emerging in identifying natural products to overcome drug resistance in cancer patients. In this context, the present study was conducted to investigate the cytotoxic effects of neem plant (Azadirachta indica) oil in three different biological models (breast cancer cell lines, Allium cepa root tip, and mice vital organs). The cytotoxic potential of the neem oil was evaluated with two human cell lines (MCF7 and MDA-MB231) and an Allum cepa root tip bioassay. Histopathological analysis was conducted on the neem oil-treated and untreated control mice. The results revealed an anti-proliferative effect for neem oil on both estrogen receptor-positive (MCF7) and estrogen receptor-negative (MDA-MB231) breast cancer cell li
... Show MoreToni Morrison (1931-), the first African-American winner of Noble Prize in literature (1993) and the winner of the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, regards herself as the historian of African-American people. She does not think of her writings as literature but as a sacred book dedicated to explore the interior lives of blacks. She creates history by disregarding European standards and the white man's view of African- Americans. She adopts her people's point of view, invests their heritage, voices their pains and uses their vernacular. She even writes to a black audience. She establishes the black novel by depicting the blackness of American literature. In choos
... Show MoreThe research explores the confessional aspect in Audre Lorde's poem" Who Said It Was Simple ". Lorde depicts her personality under the stress of race, sex and sexuality. She discloses her own bitter experience concerning racism, sexism and sexuality in her poem to revive the retrospective truth of the Afro-Americans' life in the USA. This publicly manifestation of her personality and tribulation throughthe language ofpoetry has been regarded as the hallmark of confessional poetry.
This study investigates the influence of asymmetric involute teeth profiles for helical gears on the bending stress. Theoretically, bending stress has been estimated in spur involute gears which have symmetric teeth profile by based on the Lewis, 1892 equation. Later, this equation is developed by, Abdullah, 2012. to determine the effect of an asymmetric tooth profile for the spur gear on the bending stress. And then these equations are applied with stress concentration factor once for symmetric and once other for asymmetric teeth profile. In this paper, the bending stresses for various types of helical gear with various types of asymmetric teeth profile are calculated numerically for defined the stress concentration fac
... Show MoreThe researcher aims at focusing on the participations of children journalism in supplying the educational values for them. The researcher uses the survey method in addition to the method of content analysis through analyzing the content of two journals (Majalati and The Mezmar). Both of them deal with children issues.
The researcher concludes that the two journals focus on literary arts in a way which surpasses the journalistic arts. Furthermore, the two journals have concerned with showing the positive values as well as insuring the necessity of rectifying the wrong behaviors. Finally, the researcher recommends that it is necessary to improve the employees who work with children j
... Show MoreSchizophrenia (ZP) is a common devastating cognitive disorder; however, the etiology of its incidence remains largely unclear yet. Although some evidence blames both environ ment and genetic factor as main drivers of ZP, but the clear mechanism of their effect elusive till now. Of interest, severe anemia conditions can lead to hypoxia in CNS which disturbs the normal structures and functions of some area in the brain resulting in abnormalities in the neurons communications and decrease synaptic plasticity. Additionally, modulation of cytoskeleton constituents is thought to participate to ZP development. Recently, it has been revealed that iron deficiency, which is the main cause of anemia, has a significant impact on the cytoskeleton
... Show MoreObjectives: To study the spectrum and classification of ATP7B variants in Iraqi children with Wilson disease by direct gene sequencing with clinical correlation. Methods: Fifty-five unrelated children with a clinical diagnosis of Wilson disease (WD) were recruited. Deoxyribonucleic acid was extracted from peripheral blood samples, and variants in the ATP7B gene were identified using next-generation sequencing. Results: Seventy-six deleterious variants were detected in 97 out of 110 alleles of the ATP7B gene. Thirty (54.5%) patients had 2 disease-causing variants (15 homozygous and 15 compound heterozygous). Twelve (21.8%) patients had one disease-causing variant and one variant of uncertain significance (VUS) with potential pathogenicity. T
... Show MoreDuring pregnancy, high blood pressure disorder is the most common medical complication in pregnancy. It is the foremost cause of maternal mortality and perinatal diseases. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) affects the growth of vascular endothelial cells, existence, and multiplying, which are known to be expressed in the human placenta. This study aimed to identify the expression VEGF in the placenta of hypertension and normotensive women. In this study, a cross-sectional study from november 2019 to February 2020. A total of 100 placentae involved 50 hypertensive cases and 50 normotensive groups were assessed. VEGF-A expression in two placentas groups was evaluated by immunohistochemistry techniques. Strong and moderate VEGF
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