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.
Background: Adenoiditis is a common cause of otitis media with effusion (OME) in children & perhaps OME is one of the most common diseases leads to hearing impairment in children with subsequent impairment of speech development & learning difficulties , however, treatment remains controversial. Objectives: To evaluate if there is a significant advantage of tympanostomy tube insertion in association with adenoidectomy over adenoidectomy in association with myringotomy alone in treatment of children with OMEType of the study: This is a prospective study. Patients & methods: The study consisted from 63 children diagnosed as cases of bilateral OME & variable degrees of adenoid hypertrophy. The patients were divided randomly i
... Show MoreBackground: Several studies linked the development of steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome (SRNS) to genetic variations in the multidrug resistance 1 (MDR1) gene, though a disparity in findings was underlined among children with different ethnic origins. Objective: This study examined the relationship between MDR1 variants (rs2032582 and rs2032583) and the risk of developing SRNS in Iraqi patients with idiopathic nephrotic syndrome (INS). Methods: This case-control study included children with steroid-sensitive INS (SSNS; n=30) and SRNS (n=30) from the Babylon Hospital for Maternity and Pediatrics. Sanger sequencing was used to determine the participants’ genotypes. Results: The rs2032582 genotypes and alleles were not associated
... Show MoreGeophysics is one of the branches of Earth sciences and deals with studying the Earth's interior by studying the variation of physical properties within rock layers. Applied geophysics depends on procedures that involve the measurements of potential fields, such as the gravitational method. One of the significant oil fields in southern Iraq is represented by the Nahr Omar structure. A power spectrum analysis (SPA) technique was used to collect gravity data within the chosen oil field area in order to confirm the salt dome in the subsurface layers. The analysis of SPA resulted from six surfaces representing the gravity variation values of the depths (m)14300, 3780, 3290, 2170, 810, and 93.5. Gravity surfaces have been converted to de
... Show MoreThe main parameter that drives oil industry contract investment and set up economic feasibility study for approving field development plan is hydrocarbon reservoir potential. So a qualified experience should be deeply afforded to correctly evaluate hydrocarbons reserve by applying different techniques at each phase of field management, through collecting and using valid and representative data sources, starting from exploration phase and tune-up by development phase. Commonly, volumetric calculation is the main technique for estimate reservoir potential using available information at exploration stage which is quite few data; in most cases, this technique estimate big figure of reserve. In this study
Here, a high sensitive method for biomarker identification according to nanostructure, using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs), called Nano-ELISA, was presented. Different shapes of gold nanostructures (star and sphere; GNSs and GNPs) with a particle size of 40 nm for sphere particles were altered with a monoclonal antibody (Ab) as a detector Ab. To amplify the optical signal, gold nanostructures were employed as carriers of the signaling specific antibody against insulin growth factor binding protein- 3 (IGFBP-3). The substrate was catalytically oxidized by the Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP) conjugated gold nanostructure, and HRP also enhanced the optical signals, reflecting the amount of the targeting IGFBP-3. In comparison to t
... Show MoreIn the leaves of Olea europaea L. Olive trees an endophytic fungus was discovered. Cladosporium sp. was identified to be the fungus based on its morphological characteristics and nuclear ribosomal DNA ITS sequence analysis and was registered in NCBI as the Cladosporium genus has been registered under the number (0P939922.1) The species was not specified, and it was considered of unknown species after comparing it to global isolates. In comparison to olive leaf extract, Cladosporium sp. including total flavonoid, total phenolic, total terpenoid, and total saponins, Which were 121.9%, 198.1%, 89.13%, and 29.87 % respectively compared to its content in olive leaf extract, which was 61.54 %, 67.88 % , 17.1
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