In this study, the genus Xylocopa Latreille, 1802 (Hymenoptera: Apidae) was revised. There were 4 species registered in our investigations: X. hottentotta Smith, 1854; X. olivieri Lepeletier, 1841; X. pubescens Spinola, 1838 and X. valga Gerstäcker, 1872, the first species was described as being found for the first time for the insect fauna of Iraq, which were obtained from Solanum melogena L. flowers. Key to the species was constructed and supported by figures of the main diagnostic characters and some morphological features, illustrated and compared with other species, which are recorded in the current survey.

Background: Assessment of function of the right side of the heart in cases of left ventricular dysfunction has been widely studied but the sensitive and specific echocardiographic parameter to be tested is still a matter of controversy. Right ventricular function is related to left ventricular function by ventricular independence so function of both should be assessed carefully. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of left ventricular systolic dysfunction on right ventricular systolic and diastolic functions and pulmonary pressure using conventional and tissue Doppler echocardiography. Patients and Methods: Sixty patients (39 males and 21 females) with heart failure due to left ventricular systolic dysfunction

      Detecting protein complexes in protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks is a challenging problem in computational biology. To uncover a PPI network into a complex structure, different meta-heuristic algorithms have been proposed in the literature. Unfortunately, many of such methods, including evolutionary algorithms (EAs), are based solely on the topological information of the network rather than on biological information. Despite the effectiveness of EAs over heuristic methods, more inherent biological properties of proteins are rarely investigated and exploited in these approaches. In this paper, we proposed an EA with a new mutation operator for complex detection problems. The proposed mutation operator is formulate

Objectives: To assess the performance of a novel resin-modified glass-ionomer cement (pRMGIC) bonded to various tooth tissues after two-time intervals. Methods: 192 sound human molars were randomly assigned to 3 groups (n = 64): sound enamel, demineralised enamel, sound dentine. Sixty-four teeth with natural carious lesions including caries-affected dentine (CAD) were selected. All substrates were prepared, conditioned and restored with pRMGIC (30% ethylene glycol methacrylate phosphate (EGMP, experimental), Fuji II LC (control), Fuji IX, and Filtek™ Supreme with Scotchbond ™ Universal Adhesive. Shear bond strength (SBS) was determined after 24 h and three months storage in SBF at 37C. The debonded surfaces were examined using stereomi

A fixed firefighting system is a key component of fire safeguarding and reducing fire danger. It is installed as a permanent component in a structure to protect the entire or a portion of the building and its contents. The study aims to review the previous studies that deal with the evaluation of fire safety measures and their use in resolving problems associated with fire threats in buildings. For this reason, a number of previous studies in this field were reviewed compared with the NFPA code. The findings revealed that regulatory developments over the last several decades had created an atmosphere conducive to innovation. This has resulted in a growth in the number of fixed firefighting system types now obtainable. Th

ABSTRACT : Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is one of the most common inflammatory neurodegenerative diseases linked with dementia, it is characterized by the deposition of amyloid beta-peptide (Ab) in the brain. The present study aims to innovate a biochemical relationship between AD and interleukin 38 (IL-38) as an anti-inflammatory cytokine, expose novel mechanisms and concepts regarding other biochemical parameters studied previously or recently in AD patients and also examine the biochemical action of memantine (10 mg daily) on AD patients. Sixty (60) diagnosed AD patients participated in the present study and classified into four (4) groups: G3 were composed of (15) newly diagnosed males (52-78) years / without treatment, G4 composed of (15

A simple straightforward mathematical method has been developed to cluster grid nodes on a boundary segment of an arbitrary geometry that can be fitted by a relevant polynomial. The method of solution is accomplished in two steps. At the first step, the length of the boundary segment is evaluated by using the mean value theorem, then grids are clustered as desired, using relevant linear clustering functions. At the second step, as the coordinates cell nodes have been computed and the incremental distance between each two nodes has been evaluated, the original coordinate of each node is then computed utilizing the same fitted polynomial with the mean value theorem but reversibly.

The method is utilized to predict

One of the most popular and legally recognized behavioral biometrics is the individual's signature, which is used for verification and identification in many different industries, including business, law, and finance. The purpose of the signature verification method is to distinguish genuine from forged signatures, a task complicated by cultural and personal variances. Analysis, comparison, and evaluation of handwriting features are performed in forensic handwriting analysis to establish whether or not the writing was produced by a known writer. In contrast to other languages, Arabic makes use of diacritics, ligatures, and overlaps that are unique to it. Due to the absence of dynamic information in the writing of Arabic signatures,