Research in the field of English language as a foreign language (EFL) has been consistently highlighted the need for communicative competence skills among students. Accompanied by the validated positive impact of technologies on students’ skills’, this study aims to explore the strategies used by EFL students in enhancing their communicative competence using digital platforms and identify the factors of developing communicative competence using digital platforms (linguistic factors, environmental factors, psychological factors, and university-related factors). The mixed-method research design was utilized to obtain data from Iraqi undergraduate EFL students. The study was conducted in the Iraqi University in Baghdad Iraq. EFL undergradu

Mass customization under the internet of things

Background: Controversy exists concerning the presence and amount of the Bennett mandibular immediate side shift among patients and whether it is necessary to accommodate for it in adjustable articulators. The aim of this study was to register and calculate the amount of any immediate side shift (ISS) present in patients requiring full mouth rehabilitation. Materials and methods: 3- dimensional condylar movements of 50 Iraqi TMD-free patients were recorded using a stereographic fully adjustable articulator system during protrusion, left and right eccentric mandibular movements. Protrusive angles of each patient were verified to figure out the suitable fossa analog for each case. The thickness of each right and left premade fossa analog sele

The present study aims to evaluate the effects of methotrexate (MTX) with and without vitamin A (Vit. A) on some biochemical parameters and histological structure in male rabbits liver. Twenty male rabbits weighing 1250-1480 gm were divided into four equal number groups. The first group was given 2 ml distilled water as control group. The second group was given MTX (20 mg/kg), the third group was given Vit. A (5000 IU), while the fourth group was given MTX (20 mg/kg) +Vit. A (5000 IU) in alternative days. Following four weeks of treatment, lipid profile total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), [low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL)]; in addition to thyroid hormones tr

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitusand chronic periodontitis hold a close relationship that has been the focus of many researches. Currently there is an appreciation to the role of adipose tissue-derived substances "the adipokines" in immune-inflammatory responses; also, there is an interest in using the simple non-invasive saliva in diagnosing and linking oral and general health problems. The current study aims to determine the periodontal health status in the chronic periodontitis patients with and without poorly or well controlled type 2 diabetes mellitus, measure the salivary levels of two adipokines "leptin and resistin", pH and flow rate and then correlate between these clinical periodontal, biochemical and physical parameters in eac

This study has been carried out to evaluate the expression level of beta 2 microglobulin gene on patients infected by hepatitis C virus before and after treatment with interferon. The study included 117 hepatitis C patients comprising as 63 pre-treated patients, the range of age was between 20-65 year with a mean age of 48.12 ± 16.1 and 54 post-treated patients with age range was between 23-63 year with the mean of 46.1 ± 18.1. Also it was found that more than half of patients were located within third and fourth decade i.e. 30-49 year, with a percentage of 52.4% and 55.6 % for pre-treatment and post-treatment patients respectively. Moreover , regarding both groups, males are more than females with the ratio of ( 3.2:1) among p

The electrical insulation of the manufacture sulfonated phenol-formaldehyde viscous material (product) has been studied with Polyvinyl-acetate (PVA) and toluene diisocyanate (TDI) blend has been prepared by fixing percentage by weight 3:1 and mixed with different percentages by weight of the product sulfonated phenol formaldehyde viscous mass (SPF). The Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is done on (SPF) resin powder and prepared film of PVA-TDI-SPF viscous mass. The quality factor (Q), dissipation factor (D), parallel resistance (Rp), series resistance (Rs), parallel capacitance (Cp), series capacitance (Cs) and phase shift (?) are measured. The calculated maximum dielectric constant (??) is 3.49x107 at sample (1) wt.1% SPF vis

: Cigarette smoking is a lifestyle behavior that causes significant adverse health effects. Cigarette smoke contains chemicals, many of which are lead to the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which can lead to apoptosis and autophagy. To estimate the association of Cigarette smoking with the autophagy and immunity, technology of real time polymerase chain reaction (RTPCR) for gene expression of (LC3A, LC3B, LC3C, myd88) was used. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique was utilized to measurement the amount of TNF-α protein. The ratios of LC3A/LC3B and LC3B/LC3C were calculated to estimate the autophagy flux. The results indicate the expression of LC3B, LC3C and Myd88 genes in smokers is increased significantly (p

To determine the association between cigarette smoking and oxidative stress, a study was conducted in the period from January 2020 to April 2021, at College of Medicine, Al-Nahrain University, Baghdad, Iraq. The Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique was utilized for measurement the antioxidant enzymes including: Glutathione superoxide (GPX) and catalase (CAT) and the biomarker of lipid peroxidation Malondialdehyde (MDA). Also, the gene expression of Nrf2 and HO-1were determined by using RT-PCR technique. The results indicate lower level of both GPX and CAT (p ≤ 0.001) in smokers compared with non-smokers. While the result of MDA indicate higher level in smokers (p≤0.001) compared with nonsmokers. The Nrf2 and HO-1 gene exp