This study was conducted in Baghdad, Iraq from December 2021 to May 2022. The goal was to determine the effect of Toxoplasma gondii on liver function by examining the relationship between Toxoplasma infection and hormones. One hundred and twenty male patients with Chronic liver disease (CLD) (age:14-75 years) and 120 control males (age: 24-70 years) participated in this study. Serum samples were taken from all individuals and were then analysed for anti-Toxoplasma antibodies. Hormonal tests were conducted for all participants which included (Cortisol, testosterone, prolactin, insulin, and thyroid-stimulating hormone TSH). Biochemical tests included (Prothrombin time PT, international normalized ratio INR and albumin); liver enzymes evaluated were (aspartate aminotransferase AST, alanine aminotransferase ALT, alkaline phosphatase ALP and gamma-glutamyl transferase GGT) and interleukins (Interleukin 13 IL-13 and transforming growth factor TGF). According to the anti-Toxoplasma antibodies results, 32 (26% of the control group) of the participants tested positive for anti-Toxoplasma antibodies, compared to 60 (50%) of the CLD patients. Four sub-groups were formed in response to prior results: Control-Toxoplasma positive, control-Toxoplasma negative, CLD-Toxoplasma positive and CLD-Toxoplasma negative. The seropositive status of T. gondii did not affect the following hormones: cortisol, testosterone,insulin and TSH while it was related significantly to prolactin. The results of liver enzymes showed that T. gondii positive status was significantly related to all enzymes among CLD patients except the GGT enzyme T. gondii positive status was not correlated with the other biochemical (PT, INR, and albumin) and immunological parameters (IL-13 and TGF).
The study includes collection of data about cholera disease from six health centers from nine locations with 2500km2 and a population of 750000individual. The average of infection for six centers during the 2000-2003 was recorded. There were 3007 cases of diarrhea diagnosed as cholera caused by Vibrio cholerae. The percentage of male infection was 14. 7% while for female were 13. 2%. The percentage of infection for children (less than one year) was 6.1%, it while for the age (1-5 years) was 6.9%and for the ages more than 5 years was 14.5%.The total percentage of the patients stayed in hospital was 7.7%(4.2%for male and 3.4%for female). The bacteria was isolated and identified from 7cases in the Central Laboratory for Health in Baghdad. In
... Show MoreBiomarkers to detect Alzheimer’s disease (AD) would enable patients to gain access to appropriate services and may facilitate the development of new therapies. Given the large numbers of people affected by AD, there is a need for a low-cost, easy to use method to detect AD patients. Potentially, the electroencephalogram (EEG) can play a valuable role in this, but at present no single EEG biomarker is robust enough for use in practice. This study aims to provide a methodological framework for the development of robust EEG biomarkers to detect AD with a clinically acceptable performance by exploiting the combined strengths of key biomarkers. A large number of existing and novel EEG biomarkers associated with slowing of EEG, reductio
... Show MoreModern emerged technologies impose development and fabrication of miniatur-ized parts and devices in the micro- and nano-scale. Producing micro- and nano-featured structures requires nonconventional machining processes where con-ventional machining processes such as grinding, milling and eroding have failed. New emerging processes, such laser machining processes, are still fraught with almost invincible processes. Micro-/nano-machining are the pro-cesses of producing parts, microsystems or features at a scale of a few microm-eters and less than one hundred nanometers, respectively. Precise cutting and clean material removal accompanied with a negligible heat affected zone (HAZ), which are usually the characteristics of laser ablation, have
... Show MoreIn this study multi objective optimization is utilized to optimize a turning operation to reveal the appropriate level of process features. The goal of this work is to evaluate the optimal combination of cutting parameters like feed, spindle speed, inclination angle and workpiece material to have a best surface quality Taguchi technique L9 mixed orthogonal array, has been adopted to optimize the roughness of surface. Three rods of length around (200 mm) for the three metals are used for this work. Each rod is divided into three parts with 50 mm length. For brass the optimum parametric mix for minimum Ra is A1, B1 and C3, i.e., at tool inclination angle (5), feedrate of 0.01, spindle speed of 120
... Show MoreA number of glow discharge experiments has been carried out in a relatively large-volume metallic vacuum chamber containing argon at low pressure and immersed in an inhomogeneous magnetic field generated by a solenoidal coil capable of delivering 2100G. Two Paschen curves demonstrating the dependence of the discharge voltage on sparking parameter Pd and magnetic field strength B were deduced. A graphical correlation showing the behaviour of the voltage difference from the two curves on the ratio B/Pd was constructed. Investigations showed a reduction in the nominal impedance of the discharge device of nearly 20% when B reaches a value of 525G. Plasma confinement regions were found around the internal surface of the chamber at the entranc
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This study investigated the optimization of wear behavior of AISI 4340 steel based on the Taguchi method under various testing conditions. In this paper, a neural network and the Taguchi design method have been implemented for minimizing the wear rate in 4340 steel. A back-propagation neural network (BPNN) was developed to predict the wear rate. In the development of a predictive model, wear parameters like sliding speed, applying load and sliding distance were considered as the input model variables of the AISI 4340 steel. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the significant parameter affecting the wear rate. Finally, the Taguchi approach was applied to determine
... Show MoreThe objective of drilling parameters optimization in Majnoon oilfield is to arrive for a methodology that considers the past drilling data for five directional wells at 35 degree of inclination as a baseline for new wells to be drilled. Also, to predicts drilling performance by selecting the applied drilling parameters generated the highest rate of penetration (ROP) at each section. The focal point of the optimization process is to reduce drilling time and associated cost per each well. The results of this study show that the maximum ROP could not be achieved without sufficient flow rate to cool and clean the bit in clay intervals (36" and 24") hole sections. Although the influence of combination of Weight on Bit (WOB), Round per minute
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