BSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Acne vulgaris(AV)is chronic inflammatory disease of pilosebaceous unit of young people. Patients with acne with or with out scarring might differ in regard to their immunological background from those free from acne. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the problem of facial AV especially patients with scarring and to determine the frequency of associated skin diseases and to be compared with acne free control. METHODS: A cross sectional randomized controlled epidemiological study was conducted from Oct.2005-Oct. 2006.Three hundred students from Basra University; 132 (44%) males and 168 (56%) females were enrolled, their ages ranged from 18-25 (20.9±1.8) years. They were divided into: Group A those free from acne (98 individuals),Group B with non scarring facial AV (96 patients), and Group C with scarring facial AV (106 patients). History and examination were done for their acne, scarring acne and associated skin diseases. Allen and Smith grading system for AV were used, and a new invented multiparametric scoring system for scarring acne was applied. RESULTS: AV was in 98(73.24%) males and 104 (61.9%) females. Scarring was 54 (50.95%) males and 52 (49.05%) females. Greasy skin was the most common type among Group B 67 (69.8%) versus 39 (39.8%) among Group A(P=0.000029) and was more common among Group C 84(79.2%) (P=0.00000001).Family history of AV was nearly similar in A and B Groups 55(57.29%) and 56 (52.83%) respectively, while in Group A was 39 (39.79%). Family history of scarring acne was in 35(33.02 %) of Group C, 16 (16.66 %) of Group B, and 3 (3.1%) in Group A; (P=0.00000017). The age of onset was similar in A and B Groups between 15-16 years. Majority of patients in Group B had non inflammatory type or mild inflammatory (papular) 65 (67.8%) patients, most of case were mild and moderate 86 (89.58%) patients, while high percent in Group C had inflammatory type 95 (89.62%), and more than half of them had severe and very severe types upon grading 56 (52.8%). The aggravating factors were similar in A and B Groups with stress and hot weather being the leading aggravating factors. Squeezing and digging habit was in 53 (50%) in Group C versus 23 (23.95%) in Group B (P=0.00024). In most cases of scarring acne, scarring was mild and moderate 85 (80.19%), and the most common type scars was the flat hyperpigmented [50 (47.17%) and 66 (62.26%) respectively].The most common effect of scarring acne on psyche was mild discomfort and mild dysmorphophobia 75 (70.75%).Associated skin diseases were more common among Group A 31 (31. 63%) than among Group B 22 (22.91%) and least common among Group C 14 (13.20%) (P=0.0067) and they were mainly dermatitis and skin infections. CONCLUSION: AV might reflect the immunological status especially among patients with scarring. The frequency of skin diseases was much less among patients with scarring acne
This paper presents a computer simulation model of a thermally activated roof (TAR) to cool a room using cool water from a wet cooling tower. Modeling was achieved using a simplified 1-D resistance-capacitance thermal network (RC model) for an infinite slab. Heat transfer from the cooling pipe network was treated as 2-D heat flow. Only a limited number of nodes were required to obtain reliable results. The use of 6th order RC-thermal model produced a set of ordinary differential equations that were solved using MATLAB - R2012a. The computer program was written to cover all possible initial conditions, material properties, TAR system geometry and hourly solar radiation. The cool water supply was considered time
... Show MoreSemiconductor-based photocatalytic processes are widely applied as ecofriendly technology for degrading organic pollutants. Establishing photocatalytic heterojunctions with Z-type photocarriers transfer pathways is projected to be a superb strategy to enhance photocatalytic behavior. In this paper, novel and stable (0D/2D) heterojunctions of CoS-embedded boron-doped g-C3N4 (CoS/BCN) with a high rate of charges transfer/separation were assembled for degradation of malachite green dye (MG). The CoS/BCN photocatalyst achieves a photodegradation efficiency of 96.9 % within 1 h of LED illumination, which is 2.5 and 1.4-fold enhancement compared with bare g-C3N4 and BCN, respectively. Besides, the results of species-trapping trials exhibited that
... Show MoreType 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a chronic disorder that is a serious health concern all over the globe, it is linked to Interleukin-10 (IL-10) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at the promoter region. On the other hand, diabetes influences the cellular and humoral immunity predisposing the patient to a variety of opportunistic parasites one of them is Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii), which may infect any nucleated cell, including pancreatic cells. The purpose of this research was to explore the association of IL-10 genetic polymorphisms with T2DM and latent toxoplasmosis among Iraqi patients with T2DM. Fifty-five and fifty-eight venous blood samples were taken from T2DM patients and age-matched non-diabetic person
... Show MoreThe flexible joint robot manipulators provide various benefits, but also present many control challenges such as nonlinearities, strong coupling, vibration, etc. This paper proposes optimal second order integral sliding mode control (OSOISMC) for a single link flexible joint manipulator to achieve robust and smooth performance. Firstly, the integral sliding mode control is designed, which consists of a linear quadratic regulator (LQR) as a nominal control, and switching control. This control guarantees the system robustness for the entire process. Then, a nonsingularterminal sliding surface is added to give a second order integral sliding mode control (SOISMC), which reduces chartering effect and gives the finite time convergence as well. S
... Show MoreThis Book is intended to be textbook studied for undergraduate course in multivariate analysis. This book is designed to be used in semester system. In order to achieve the goals of the book, it is divided into the following chapters. Chapter One introduces matrix algebra. Chapter Two devotes to Linear Equation System Solution with quadratic forms, Characteristic roots & vectors. Chapter Three discusses Partitioned Matrices and how to get Inverse, Jacobi and Hessian matrices. Chapter Four deals with Multivariate Normal Distribution (MVN). Chapter Five concern with Joint, Marginal and Conditional Normal Distribution, independency and correlations. Many solved examples are intended in this book, in addition to a variety of unsolved relied pro
... Show MoreThis Book is intended to be textbook studied for undergraduate course in multivariate analysis. This book is designed to be used in semester system. In order to achieve the goals of the book, it is divided into the following chapters. Chapter One introduces matrix algebra. Chapter Two devotes to Linear Equation System Solution with quadratic forms, Characteristic roots & vectors. Chapter Three discusses Partitioned Matrices and how to get Inverse, Jacobi and Hessian matrices. Chapter Four deals with Multivariate Normal Distribution (MVN). Chapter Five concern with Joint, Marginal and Conditional Normal Distribution, independency and correlations. Many solved examples are intended in this book, in addition to a variety of unsolved relied pro
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This paper presents an intelligent model reference adaptive control (MRAC) utilizing a self-recurrent wavelet neural network (SRWNN) to control nonlinear systems. The proposed SRWNN is an improved version of a previously reported wavelet neural network (WNN). In particular, this improvement was achieved by adopting two modifications to the original WNN structure. These modifications include, firstly, the utilization of a specific initialization phase to improve the convergence to the optimal weight values, and secondly, the inclusion of self-feedback weights to the wavelons of the wavelet layer. Furthermore, an on-line training procedure was proposed to enhance the control per
... Show MoreThe research amid to find out the extent of Iraqi oil companies commitment to implement internal control procedures in accordance with the updated COSO framework. As the research problem was represented in the fact that many of the internal control procedures applied in the Iraqi oil companies are incompatible with most modern international frameworks for internal control, including the integrated COSO framework, issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Tradeway Committee. The research followed the quantitative approach to handling and analysing data by designing a checklist to represent the research tool for collecting data. The study population was represented in the Iraqi oil companies, while the study sample
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