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.
Ag2O (Silver Oxide) is an important p-type (in chasm to most oxides which were n-type), with a high conductivity semiconductor. From the optical absorbance data, the energy gap value of the Ag2O thin films was 1.93 eV, where this value substantially depends on the production method, vacuum evaporation of silver, and optical properties of Ag2O thin films are also affected by the precipitation conditions. The n-type and p-type silicon substrates were used with porous silicon wafers to precipitate ±125 nm, as thick Ag2O thin film by thermal evaporation techniques in vacuum and via rapid thermal oxidation of 400oC and oxidation time 95 s, then characterized by measurement of
... Show MoreThe zeolite's textural properties have a significant effect on zeolite's effectiveness in the different industrial processes. This research aimed to study the textual properties of the NaX and FeX zeolites using the nitrogen adsorption-desorption technique at a constant low temperature. According to the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, the adsorption-desorption isotherm showed that the studied materials were mixed kinds I/II isotherms and H3 type hysteresis. The Brunauer-Emmett-Teller isotherm was the best model to describe the nitrogen adsorption-desorption better than the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. The obtained adsorption capacity and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area values for NaX were greater than FeX. Ac
... Show MoreHartree-Fock (HF) method relies in the calculations of nonlinear optical properties (NLO) for benzoic acid molecule. Also, another theoretical study is conducted by using the TD-DFT Density Functional Theory through B3LYP/High Base Set 6-311++G (2d,2p) on Gaussian program09. Moreover, an experimental study has been done to obtain the electrons spectrum for benzoic acid with and without ethanol. While the experimental study is done by using UV/VIS. spectrophotometer. Energy gap values of electronic transition between HOMO and LUMO is obtained from theoretical and experimental results. Consequently, the theoretical result for determining the energy gap calculated from EHOMO-LUMO wasvery close to the results of UV / VIS. spectrum. A theoretica
... Show MoreThis study tries to clear the correlation and association between asthma, obesity and leptin levels. Also it will work to indicate the main risk factors which play role in the elevation of leptin level within asthmatic patients. This is a case control study conducted on (38) asthmatic patients and (20) healthy control who were closely similar by age, gender and BMI. The main statistical tests used were student t test, linear regression test and correlation test. Significance was set at P < 0.05. Sampling method used for this study was convenience sampling method. The main results of this study show a significant association and positive correlation between age (old age ≥ 40 ye
... Show MoreNew Schiff base and their Mn(II),Co(II),Ni(II), Cu(II) and Hg(II) complexes formed by the condensation of O-phathaldehyde and ethylene diamine (2:1) to give ligand (L1) in the first step ,then the ligand (L1) with 2- aminophenol (1:2) to give ligand (L2) were prepared by classic addition through microwave method . These compounds (Ligands and complexes) have been diagnosed electronic spectra, FT-IR,1H-&13C-NMR (only ligand), magnetic susceptibility, elemental microanalysis and molar conductance measurements. Analytical values displayed that all the complexes appeared (metal: ligand) (1:1) ratio with the six chelation. All the compounds appear a high activity versus four types of bacteria such as; (Escherichia coli), (Sta
... Show MoreThe clinical spectrum of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL), an intracellular parasitic pathogen, ranges from a single sore healing to chronic crusty lesions with a manifestation of treatment resistance. The complicated interaction between Leishmania bodies and the early immune response, including innate and adaptive mechanisms, determines the evolution of nodules. This study examined the levels of the chemoattractant interleukin 8 (IL-8), pro-inflammatory nitric oxide (NO), and immunoregulatory macrophage inhibitory factor (MIF) in the serum of subjects recently diagnosed with cutaneous leishmaniasis, in parallel with patients being monitored during consecutive sodium stibogluconate (Pentostam) treatment. A total of 161 serum samples of newly di
... Show MoreThe general objective of the research is to better understand changes in land cover and their impact on climatic factors by measuring changes in land cover for the Baghdad city for the period 1999-2021 and evaluating changes in land cover and measuring changes in climatic factors (relative humidity and evaporation). This study from 1999 to 2021 and in two different seasons: the April of the growing season and August the dry season. When using the supervised classification method to determine the differences, the results showed remarkable changes, the study showed the spatial variations in LC from 1999 to 2021 as follows: increase in the vegetation and water bodies during April and decrease this in August while the soil and built up decreas
... Show MoreBreast cancer is the commonest cause of cancer related death in women worldwide. Amplification or over-expression of the ERBB2 (HER/neu) gene occurs in approximately 15-30% of breast cancer cases and it is strongly associated with an increased disease recurrence and a poor prognosis. Determination of HER2/neu status is crucial in the treatment plan as that positive cases will respond to trastuzumab therapy. It has been used to test for HER2/neu by immunohistochemistry as a first step and then to study only the equivocal positive cases (score 2+) by in situ hybridization technique. The aim of our study is to compare between immunohistochemistry and silver in situ hybridization (SISH) in assessment of human epidermal growth factor (HER2/neu)
... Show MoreRheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common inflammatory disease that associated with increased morbidity and mortality due to accelerated atherosclerosis. Rosuvastatin is a unique hydroxy methyl glutaryl Co A (HMGCoA) reductase inhibitor that has anti inflammatory effects.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of rosuvastatin as adjuvant therapy to methotrexate (MTX) on lipid profile and its possible cardioprotective effect in RA patients. A double blinded placebo controlled clinical trial with 8 weeks follow up periods at which 40 patients with active RA using MTX were randomized into 2 groups to receive either rosuvastatin 10mg or placebo as adjuvant therapy to MTX. In addition to twenty healthy subjects as control group.
... Show MoreThis research is devoted to the effect of investigation of the ZnO content on the structural and electrical properties of (NiO)1-x (ZnO)x films prepared by pulsed laser precipitation on the glass substrate at room temperature. Thin-film (NiO)1-x (ZnO)x sediments were deposited with different composition ratios where x = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 and 1.0 with a thickness of n150nm. The diffraction pattern for X-ray analysis reveals that the structure of the prepared thin films is identical with the cubic phase and hexadecimal stage of x = 0 and 0.1, respectively while the structure is mixed with the remaining x