This article comprehensively examines the history, diagnosis, genetics, diversity, and treatment of SARS-CoV-2. It details the emergence of coronaviruses over the past 50 years, including the coronavirus from 2019 and its subsequent mutations, along with updated information about this virus. This review explains the development and nomenclature of coronaviruses, their cellular invasion through glycoprotein spikes binding to ACE-2 receptors, and the mechanism of cell entry via endocytosis. Diagnosis methods for COVID-19, including nucleic acid amplification, serology, and imaging techniques like chest X-ray and CT scan tests, are discussed. Treatment approaches for COVID-19 are outlined, emphasizing healthcare, antiviral medications like Remdesivir, immunotherapy using convalescent plasma, and adjuvant therapies such as anticoagulants and vitamins. Moreover, this review includes mutated coronaviruses, such as the Delta variant and the Omicron variant, and their influence on vaccine efficacy. This review covers the characteristics and impact of variants such as B.1.1.7, B. 1.35.1, P.1, Delta, Delta plus, and Omicron, addressing their mutations that affect virus transmission and vaccine efficacy, with a brief overview of four WHO-approved vaccines and their effectiveness against potential new variants.
Excessive intake of fluoride, mainly through drinking water is a serious health hazard affecting humans worldwide. In this study, the defluoridation capacities of locally available raw waste beef bones have been estimated. Several experimental parameters including contact time, pH, bone dose, fluoride initial concentration, bone grains size, agitation rate, and the effect of co-existence of anions in actual samples of wastewater were studied for fluoride removal from aqueous solutions. Results indicated excellent fluoride removal effeciency up to 99.7% at fluoride initial concentration of 10 mg F/L and 120 min contact time. Maximum fluoride uptake was obtained at neutral pH range 6-7. Fluoride removal kinetic was well described by the ps
... Show MoreThe effect of heat treatment using different annealing temperatures on optical properties of bulk heterojunction blend (BHJ) Alq3: C60 thin films which are fabricated by the spin coating technique were investigated in this study. The films have been coated on a glass substrate with speed of 2000 rpm for one min and treated with different annealing temperature (373, 423 and 473) K under vacuum. The optical properties and the chemical bonds structure of blends as-deposited and heat treated have been studied by UV-Vis spectroscopic and Fourier Transform-Infra Red (FTIR) measurements respectively. The results of UV visible show that the optical energy gap decreasing with increasing the annealing temperature for the ratio (100:1) while decrea
... Show MoreThe performance of a batch undivided electrochemical reactor with a rotating cylinder electrode of woven-wire (60 mesh size), stainless steel 316, is examined for the removal of copper from synthetic solution of o.5 M sodium chloride containing 125 ppm at pH ≈ 3.5. The effect of total applied current, rotation speed on the figures of merit of the reactor is analyzed. For an applied current of 300 mA at 100 rpm, the copper concentration decreased from 125 to mg l-1 after 60 min of electrolysis with a specific energy consumption of 1.75 kWh kg-1 and a normalized space velocity of 1.62 h-1. The change in concentration was higher when the total applied currents were increased because of the turbulence
... Show MoreThe removal of boron from aqueous solution was carried out by electrocoagulation (EC) using magnesium electrodes as anode and stainless steel electrodes as cathode. Several operating parameters on the removal efficiency of boron were investigated, such as initial pH, current density, initial boron ion concentration, NaCl concentration, spacing between electrodes, electrode material, and presence of carbonate concentration. The optimum removal efficiency of 91. 5 % was achieved at a current density of 3 mA/cm² and pH = 7 using (Mg/St. St. ) electrodes, within 45 min of operating time. The concentration of NaCl was o. 1 g/l with a 0.5cm spacing between the electrodes. First and second order rate equation were applied to study adsorp
... Show MoreIn this study, a packed bed was used to remove pathogenic bacteria from synthetic contaminated water. Two types of packing material substrates, sand and zeolite, were used. These substrates were coated with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), which were prepared by decomposition of Ag ions from AgNO3 solution. The prepared coated packings were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The packed column consisted of a PVC cylinder of 2 cm diameter and 20 cm in length. The column was packed with silver nanoparticlecoated substrates (sand or zeolite) at a depth of 10 cm. Four types of bacteria were studied: Escherichia coli, Shigella dysenteriae, Pseudomonas aerugi
... Show MoreThe present study is an attempt to throw light on the nature of the US policy regarding the Middle East region as portrayed by AI-Sabah, Al-Mashriq and Tariq Al-Shaab papers over a period of three months from 1st of July to 30th of September 2013.
In writing this study, a number of goals have been set by the researcher. These goals may include but in no way limited to the nature of the US image as carried by the above three papers, the nature of the topics tackled by them and the nature of the Arab countries which received more and extensive coverage than others.
A qualitative research approach is proposed for the study. This approach has allowed the researcher to arrive at definite answers for the possible questions rais
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In this study, modified organic solvent (organosolv) method was applied to remove high lignin content in the date palm fronds (type Al-Zahdi) which was taken from the Iraqi gardens. In modified organosolv, lignocellulosic material is fractionated into its constituents (lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose). In this process, solvent (organic)-water is brought into contact with the lignocellulosic biomass at high temperature, using stainless steel reactor (digester). Therefor; most of hemicellulose will remove from the biomass, while the solid residue (mainly cellulose) can be used in various industrial fields. Three variables were studied in this process: temperature, ratio of ethano
... Show MoreThe pretreatment process can be considered one of the important processes in wastewater treatment, especially coagulation process to decrease the strength of many pollutants. This paper focused on using powdered date seeds as natural coagulant in addition to chemical coagulants (alum and ferric chloride) to find the optimum dosage of each coagulant that makes efficient removal of turbidity and chemical oxygen demand (COD) from domestic wastewater as a pretreatment process, then finding the optimum combined dosages of date seeds with alum, date seeds with ferric chloride that make efficient removal for both pollutants. Concerning turbidity, the optimum dosage for date seeds, alum and ferric chloride were 40 mg/l (79%), 70
... Show MoreThe aim of the research is the detection of heavy metals using (Inductively coupled Plasma ICP) for samples in Tigris river at intakes of water treatment plants Baghdad (Sharq dejla, Al-Wathba, Al-Wahda, and Al-Dora) and samples at Tigris banks near (Al-Adhamya, Al-Shuhda bridge and al-Jadrya).
All the recorded results were fitted with Iraqi standers No. 25 in 1967 for all samples with heavy metals (arsenic Ar, Cadmium Cd, Chromium Cr, Zinc Zn, Lead Pb, Copper Cu, Nickel Ni, Manganese Mn, Ferrous Fe) where all concentration were lower than standard values except Cadmium (0.01- 0.014) in plants intakes and (0.027- 0.048) in river samples while the standard value is (0.005).
Other tests such as chemical oxygen demand and oil &
In recent years, the search for economic and environmentally friendly alternatives has become a global necessity to achieve sustainability and preserve raw materials. From this concept, natural bitumen (NB) derived from sulphur springs is now one of the most promising alternative energy resources for many applications, especially in asphalt pavement construction. Its low price and abundance characterise NB since sulphur springs produce thousands of tonnes of NB annually and are used in very limited fields. Two main objectives were adopted for this work. The first objective is to examine the virgin NB properties from five sulphur springs and compare them with petroleum asphalt. The second objective is to enhance NB properties by appl
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