Resilient polymeric materials such as silicone elastomers are currently used for maxillofacial prostheses construction but the strength of these materials and their clinical performance need to be optimized with the addition of reinforcing fillers. This study investigates the effect of zirconia nanopowder addition on tear strength, tensile strength, elongation at break, Shore A hardness, surface roughness and cytotoxicity of VST-50 maxillofacial silicone. Silicone base was mixed with different amounts (1%, 2% and 3%) of zirconia nanopowder using a vacuum mixer. Silicone without filler was used as control for comparison. Scanning Electron Microscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy were utilized to assess the efficiency of high-shear vacuum mixing as filler dispersion method and the surface topography, respectively. Both SEM and AFM images showed that the zirconia nanopowder were distributed fairly well within the polymer. Statistically, highly significant increase in tear strength, tensile strength and hardness with non-significant decrease in elongation at break and non-significant increase in surface roughness were seen with 1% and 2% groups. Whereas with 3% group, there was significant improvement in tear strength, tensile strength and hardness but there was significant undesirable decrease in elongation and increase in roughness. Cytotoxicity test revealed that the addition of zirconia nanopowder was nontoxic to Rat Embryonic Fibroblast (REF) cells and there was non-significant change in the cell viability of all study groups after 24- and 72-hours incubation periods. In conclusion, the addition of 2% by weight nano zirconia to VST-50 maxillofacial silicone could be beneficial in enhancing its performance.
Background: Gingival crevice fluid (GCF) is a mixture of substances derived from serum, leukocytes, and structural cells of periodontium and oral bacteria. These substances possess a great potential for serving as indicators of periodontal disease and healing after therapy the main purpose of this study was to find if there is a difference in albumin concentration between healthy and diseased periodontal tissues and to compare between diseased group according to pocket depth Materials and methods: total sample composed of 60 pockets found in 35 patients all of them had no history of any systemic disease, The samples were divided in to three main group that include two diseased groups divided according to the depth of the periodontal pocket
... Show MorePorous asphalt paving is a modern design method that differs from the usual asphalt pavements' traditional designs. The difference is that the design structure of porous pavements allows the free passage of fluids through their layers, which controls or reduces the amount of runoff or water accumulated in the area by allowing the flow of rain and surface runoff. The cross-structure of this type of paving works as a suitable method for managing rainwater and representing groundwater recharge. The overall benefits of porous asphalt pavements include environmental services and safety features, including controlling the build-up of contaminated metals on the road surface, rainwater management, resistance to slipping ac
... Show MoreTitanium-dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles suspended in water, and ethanol based fluids have been prepared using one step method and characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and UV–visible spectrophotometer. The TiO2 nanoparticles were added to base fluids with different volume concentrations from 0.1% to1.5% by dispersing the synthesized nanoparticles in deionized water and ethanol solutions. The effective thermal conductivity, viscosity and pH of prepared nanofluids at different temperatures from 15 to 30 oC were carried out and investigated. It was observed that the thermal conductivity, pH, and viscosity of nanofluids increases with the increase in TiO2 nanoparticle volume fraction
... Show MoreResearchers need to understand the differences between parametric and nonparametric regression models and how they work with available information about the relationship between response and explanatory variables and the distribution of random errors. This paper proposes a new nonparametric regression function for the kernel and employs it with the Nadaraya-Watson kernel estimator method and the Gaussian kernel function. The proposed kernel function (AMS) is then compared to the Gaussian kernel and the traditional parametric method, the ordinary least squares method (OLS). The objective of this study is to examine the effectiveness of nonparametric regression and identify the best-performing model when employing the Nadaraya-Watson
... Show MoreObjective: The aim of this study is to evaluate anemia among lactating women and their children less than 2 years of
age.
Methodology: The study was done on (148) lactating mothers and their children under 2 years of age in the primary
health care center at AL-Salam Quarter/Baghdad from l/10/2009 to 15/10/2010.
Result: This study recommends that there is a significant relationship between anemic mothers and their children. The
study also revealed that there is (77.8%) from nursing mothers in the age groups (25-29) who suffered from anemia,
while (23.1%) for the age group (20-24) did not have anemia
Recommendation: We encourage the use of breast milk or iron-fortified infant formula only for any milk-based part
of
The aim of this study is to synthesize an easy, non-toxic and eco-friendly method. Silver nanoparticles which were synthesized by leaf extract of mint were characterized by UV-Visible Spectroscopy which appears UVVisible spectrum of demonstrated a peak 448 nm corresponding to surface Plasmon resonance of silver nanoparticles, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR); functional groups involved in the silver nanoparticles synthesis were identified, the presence of silver nanoparticles was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) analysis clearly illustrated that the shape of silver nanoparticles was spherical and the size of the silver nanoparticles has been measured as 55- 85 nm. Evaluation of its antimic
... Show MoreThe aim of this study is to evaluate in-vitro activity of Cefamandol (Cfm) and Ceftazidime (Cfz), in combination with Clavulanic acid (CA) against ten complicated multiresistant uropathogenic E.coli .One hundred clinical strains were isolated from patients with chronic urinary tract infections (UTIs), these isolates were identified by the Api identification systems. The antimicrobial susceptibility tests were determined by Kirby-Bauer method, all of them were sensitive to Imipenem (Imp). Ten strains were chosen for the present study, they were resistant to Ampicillin (Amp), Amoxicillin (Amo), Carbenicillin (Cb), Ticarcillin (Tic), Azlocillin (Azl), Amoxicillin\ Potassium Clavulanate {Augmentin(Amc)}, (Amo\CA), Ticarcillin\ Potas
... Show MorePyrolysis of virgin polyethylene plastics was studied in order to produce hydrocarbon liquid fuel. The pyrolysis process carried out for low and high-density polyethylene plastics in open system batch reactor in temperature range of 370 to 450°C.
Thermo-gravimetric analysis of the virgin plastics showed that the degradation ranges were between 326 and 495 °C. The results showed that the optimum temperature range of pyrolysis of polyethylene plastics that gives highest liquid yield (with specific gravity between 0.7844 and 0.7865) was 390 to 410 °C with reaction time of about 35 minutes. Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy gave a quite evidence that the produced hydrocarbon liquid fuel consisted ma
... Show MoreThe research aims to evaluate the radioactivity in elected samples of cereals and legume which are wide human consumption in Iraq using Nuclear Track Detectors (NTDs) model CN-85.
The samples were prepared scientifically according to references in this field. After 150 days of exposure, the detector were collected and chemically treated according to scientific sources (etching chemical), nuclear effects have been calculated using the optical microscope.
Radon (222Rn) concentration and uranium (238U) were calculated in unit Bq/m3 and (ppm), the results indicate that the highest concentration of radon and uranium was in yellow corn where the concentration of radon was 137.17×102 Bq/m3 and uranium concentration 2.63 (ppm). The lowest