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.
This paper proposes a self organizing fuzzy controller as an enhancement level of the fuzzy controller. The adjustment mechanism provides explicit adaptation to tune and update the position of the output membership functions of the fuzzy controller. Simulation results show that this controller is capable of controlling a non-linear time varying system so that the performance of the system improves so as to reach the desired state in a less number of samples.
This paper presents a fuzzy logic controller for a two-tank level control system, which is a process with a dead time. The fuzzy controller is a proportional-integral (PI-like) fuzzy controller which is suitable for steady state behavior of the system. Transient behavior of the system was improved without the need for a derivative action by suitable change in the rule base of the controller. Simulation results showed the step response of the two-tank level control system when this controller was used to control this plant and the effect of the dead time on the response of the system.
A QR code is a type of barcode that can hold more information than the familiar kind scanned at checkouts around the world. The “QR” stands for “Quick Response”, a reference to the speed at which the large amounts of information they contain can be decoded by scanners. They are being widely used for advertising campaigns, linking to company websites, contest sign-up pages and online menus. In this paper, we propose an efficient module to extract QR code from background and solve problem of rotation in case of inaccurate image taken from mobile camera.
This research provides a new method to study praise poetry that can be used as a course to teach English and Arabic to students in the College of Education. This research answers two questions: Is it possible to examine praise poetry as a tagmeme? Is this analysis of great help in teaching English and Arabic to students in the College of Education? The data that will be chosen for the purpose of analysis are two of Shakespeare's sonnets and two of AL Mulik's poems. The sonnets selected for this purpose are 17 and 18. AL Mulik's poems selected for the same purpose are 8 and 9. Each line in both English and Arabic data is numbered by the researcher herself. Then, those lines are grouped into sentences to facilitat
... Show MoreThe need to exchange large amounts of real-time data is constantly increasing in wireless communication. While traditional radio transceivers are not cost-effective and their components should be integrated, software-defined radio (SDR) ones have opened up a new class of wireless technologies with high security. This study aims to design an SDR transceiver was built using one type of modulation, which is 16 QAM, and adding a security subsystem using one type of chaos map, which is a logistic map, because it is a very simple nonlinear dynamical equations that generate a random key and EXCLUSIVE OR with the originally transmitted data to protect data through the transmission. At th
... Show MoreThe content of Furocoumarin derivatives (Psoralens) of Ruta Chalepensis L. (Whole plant) was studied by simple extraction with petroleum ether (b.p. 60-80Co). The results indicated that the plant contains a total of about (0.015%).
Investigation of these compounds by thin layer chromatography (TLC) revealed the presence of at least four compounds of which methoxsalen (8-methoxypsoralen) was isolated. It was identified and authenticated with a standard by spectral method, IR, NMR, Mass spectra and HPLC.This plant could be considered as a good source for supplying this compound, which is widely used in dermatological preparations.
We introduce a new class of harmonici multivalent functions define by generalized Rucheweyh derivative operator. We also obtain several interesting propertiesi such as sharp coefficienit estimates, distortioni bound, extreme points, Hadamardi product and other several results. Derivative; extreme points.
Background: Nursing interventions tailored to the smoking triggers in patients with non-communicable chronic diseases are essential. However, these interventions are scant due to the nature of factors associated with smoking cessation and the poor understanding of the effect of nurse-led intervention in Iraq.Purpose: This study aimed to determine the dominant smoking triggers and examine the effects of a tailored nursing intervention on smoking behavior in patients with non-communicable chronic diseases.Methods: Convenience samples of 128 patients with non-communicable chronic diseases, male and female patients, who were 18-70 years old, were recruited in this quasi-experimental, randomized comparative trial in the outpatient clinic
... Show MoreLandfill and incineration are the most common and widely used methods to dispose of solid wastes; both of these techniques are considered the main sources of pollution in the world due to the harmful toxic emissions that are considered an environmental problem. Because of the large areas used by landfills, they are not always considered an economical method. With the increase in the production of solid materials, solid wastes increase the pressure on incinerators and landfills, making the environmental pollution hazard more serious. Instead, these waste materials can be used in some other applications. One of the most important of these applications is asphalt pavements, which are the most used types of pavements in the
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