Background. Alopecia areata (AA) is a common form of noncicatricial hair loss of unknown cause, affecting 0.1-0.2% of the general population. Most evidence supports the hypothesis that it is disease of the hair follicle of autoimmune nature mediated by T-cells, with important cytokine role. Objective of the Study. The objective of this study is to study the association and changes in serum levels of interleukin-15 (IL-15) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in patients with AA in relation to the type, activity, and disease duration. Patients and Methods. Thirty-eight patients with AA and 22 individuals without the disease as controls were enrolled in this case-controlled study conducted in the Department of Dermatology in the Al-K

Background: Medical-surgical nurses are responsible of providing competent care to clients with a wide-array of acute and chronic health problems. This challenging task requires arming nurses with advanced competencies of health literacy to effectively educate their clients. However, evidence about medical-surgical nurse’s health literacy-related knowledge and experience is limited.  Purposes: This study aimed to determine the level of the health literacy-related knowledge and experience among medical-surgical nurses.Design: A descriptive-cross-sectional study was conducted among a total sample of 177 nurses who were practicing in medical-surgical wards in teaching hospitals in Iraq. A convenience sampling method was used to sele

Recording an Electromyogram (EMG) signal is essential for diagnostic procedures like muscle health assessment and motor neurons control. The EMG signals have been used as a source of control for powered prosthetics to support people to accomplish their activities of daily living (ADLs). This work deals with studying different types of hand grips and finding their relationship with EMG activity. Five subjects carried out four functional movements (fine pinch, tripod grip and grip with the middle and thumb finger, as well as the power grip). Hand dynamometer has been used to record the EMG activity from three muscles namely; Flexor Carpi Radialis (FCR), Flexor Digitorum Superficialis (FDS), and Abductor Pollicis Brevis (ABP) with different le

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),G

A New Spectrophotometric Methods are improved for determination Metronidazole (MTZ) and Metronidazolebenzoate (MTZB) depending on1STand 2nd derivative spectrum of the two drugs by using ethanol as a solvent. Many techniques were proportionated with concentration (peak high to base line, peak to peak and peak area). The linearity of the methodsranged between(1-25µg.ml-1) is obtained. The results were precise and accurate throw RSD% were between (0.041-0.751%) and (0.0331-0.452%), Rec% values between (97.78, 101.87%) and (98.033-102.39%) while the LOD between (0.051-0.231 µg.ml-1) and (0.074-1.04 µg.ml-1) and LOQ between (0.170-0.770µg.ml-1) and (0.074-0.313 µg.ml-1) of (MTZ) and of (MTZB) respectively. These Methods were successfully ap

Several new derivatives of 1, 2, 4-triazoles linked to phthalimide moiety were synthesized through following multisteps. The first step involved preparation of 2, 2-diphthalimidyl ethanoic acid [2] via reaction of two moles of phthalimide with dichloroacetic acid. Treatment of the resulted imide with ethanol in the second step afforded 2, 2-diphthalimidyl ester [3] which inturn was introduced in reaction with hydrazine hydrate in the third step, producing the corresponding hydrazide derivative [4]. The synthesized hydazide was introduced in different synthetic paths including treatment with carbon disulfide in alkaline solution then with hydrazine hydrate to afford the new 1, 2, 4-triazole [10]. Reaction of compound [10] with different alde

Condensation of 1,2- dibromo ethane with para hydroxy benzoic acid gave 1,2-Ethane-bis- 4-oxybenzoic [1]. This Compound was converted with the thionyl chloride to give 1,2-Ethane-bis- 4-oxybenzoyl chloride [2]. Reaction of compound [2] with thiosemicarbizades gave 1,2-Ethanebis[4-oxybenzoyl-thiosemicarbazide] [3] and opteined 1,2-Ethane-bis[3-mercapto-5-phenoxy- 1,2,4-triazole] [4] from treatment compound [3] with NaOH (4%) .The new compounds 1,2- Ethane-bis[3-(substituted thioacyl)-4-(substituted acyl)-5 phenoxy-1,2,4-triazole] [5a-d] and 1,2- Ethane-bis[3-(substituted alkylthio)-5 phenoxy-1,2,4-trizole] [5e-f] derived from compound [4] were synthesized and characterized by physical and spectral data. All the compounds [4], [5a-d] and [5e-

The present study deals with the application of an a bundant low cost biosorbent sunflower shell for metal ions removal. Lead, Cadmium and Zinc were chosen as model sorbates. The influences of initial pH, sorbent dosage, contact time, temperature and initial metal ions concentration on the removal efficiency were examined. The single ion equilibrium sorption data were fitted to the non-competitive Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. The Freundlich model represents the equilibrium data better than the Langmuir model. In single, binary and ternary component systems,Pb⁺² ions was the most favorable component rather than Cd⁺² and Zn⁺² ions. The biosorption kinetics for the three metal ions followed the p