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.
AbstractIn the field of construction materials the glass reinforced mortar and Styrene Butadiene mortar are modern composite materials. This study experimentally investigated the effect of addition of randomly dispersed glass fibers and layered glass fibers on density and compressive strength of mortar with and without the presence of Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR). Mixtures of 1:2 cement/sand ratio and 0.5 water/cement ratio were prepared for making mortar. The glass fibers were added by two manners, layers and random with weight percentages of (0.54, 0.76, 1.1 and 1.42). The specimens were divided into two series: glass-fiber reinforced mortar without SBR and glass-fiber reinforced mortar with 7% SBR of mixture water. All s
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Background: Toxoplasmosis is a very common infection caused by the obligate intracellular protozoan parasite. This parasite is called Toxoplasma gondii widely distributed around the world . Toxoplasma gondii can be vertically transmitted to the fetus during pregnancy and may cause wide range of clinical manifestations in the offspring.
Objective: To determine seroprevalence Immunoglobulin G (IgG) and Immunoglobulin M (IgM ) to toxoplasma gondii among pregnant women and to identify the risk factors.
Type of the study: A cross-sectional study.
Methods: A total of 110 blood samples of pregnant women were collected from
... Show MoreBackground: Recurrent Aphthous Stomatitis (RAS) is the most common painful oral mucosal disease, affecting approximately 20% of the population. RAS presents with a wide spectrum of severity ranging from a minor nuisance to complete debility. Many of factors thought to have been involved in its etiology; that might have at the same time a direct or indirect impact upon oxidant/antioxidant system and trigger free radicals production. The aim of this study was to determine the possible association of oxidant/total antioxidant status and recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS). Subjects, materials and methods: The study consisted of thirty patients with recurrent aphthous stomatitis and thirty healthy controls from which saliva and blood samples we
... Show MoreThe current study was conducted to evaluate the effect a mixture of threespecies of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (Glomus etunicatum, G. leptotichum andRhizophagus intraradices) double and triple mixture and organic matter by usingplastic pots in the greenhouse at some mycorrhiza and physiological limitationscharacteristics in tomato plant after four and eight weeks of cultivation. Theresults of the determinants mycorrhiza significant increase the percentage ofmycorrhizal frequency F% dry weight of roots mycorrhiza (g.plant-1) andorganic matter in all mycorrhiza single, double and triple mixture after four andeight weeks cultivation treatments. The highest percentage of mycorrhizalfrequency and increase the dry weight of the root in the trea
... Show MoreDevelopment of improved methods for the synthesis of metal oxide nanoparticles are of high priority for the advancement of material science and technology. Herein, the biosynthesis of ZnO using hydrahelix of beta vulgaris and the seed of abrus precatorius as an aqueaus extracts adduced respectivily as stablizer and reductant reagent. The support are characterized by spectroscopic methods ( Ft-IR, Uv-vis ).The FTIR confirmed the presence of ZnO band. The Uv-visible showed absorption peak at corresponds to the ZnO nanostructures. X-ray diffraction, scaning electron microscopy (SEM), dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) techniques are taken to investigation the size, structure and composition of synthesised ZnO nanocrystals. The XRD pattern mat
... Show MoreThis research sheds light on those discrepancies in the use of ornaments, adornment and perfumes, as well as the art of cosmetics, in two important civilizations, namely, the Mesopotamian civilization as the earlier civilization, and the civilization of Yemen, which represents the first Arab civilization. Through the foregoing, our research includes two topics, the first topic included the history of the use of decorations, ornaments and perfumes in the civilization of Mesopotamia, while the second topic included the study of ornaments, adornment and cosmetic art in the ancient civilization of Yemen. And then the research came out with a number of conclusions that the researcher considers very important to highlight the differences and f
... Show MoreAn experiment was conducted using pots (capacity of 4 kg soil/pot) in the glasshouse of Biology Dept. College of Education (Ibn Al-Haitham) University of Baghdad during 2008-2009 growing season, in order to determine the effect of different levels of urea fertilizer (Zero, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4 gm/4 kg soil in pot) these equal to (Zero, 100,200,400 kg/ha) and different levels of superphosphate fertilizer (Zero, 0.1, 0.2 gm/4kg soil in pot), these equal to (Zero, 100,200 kg/ha) on some morphological and physiological characteristics of fenugreek plant. This experiment was conducted using Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with three replications and the experiment included (36) pots. Results indicated clear increase in all studied characteristics wi
... Show MoreStaphylococcus aureus is one of the common causative agents of infections, from asymptomatic carriers to healthy individuals. It can colonize anterior nares of carriers with a high capability to resist different antibiotics. Students are susceptible to bacterial infection due to some factors, including poor health habits and surrounding school conditions. This study screened the rate of vancomycin- and methicillin- resistant Staphylococcus aureus nose carriers among secondary students in rural and urban schools and its association with some sociodemographic factors. The study sample included 300 male/female students aged 15-20 years from 12 schools of rural and urban areas during the period from November 2020 till May 2021. It was fo
... Show MoreThe relationship of hyperuricemia to kidney disease, diabetes, hypertension and the risk of cardiovascular diseases remain controversial. The aim of this study is to evaluate the use of uric acid (UA) levels to find the higher risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in patients with end stage renal disease that have diabetic nephropathy (DN), nephropathy with hypertension (NH) and patients with both diabetic nephropathy with hypertension (DNH). This study deals with 115 patients with end-stage renal disease under hemodialysis sub-grouped into 35 patients with (DN), 40 patients with (NH), and 40 patients with (DNH). Some biochemical parameters were determined in the serum of all participants such as HbA1c, fasting blood glucose (FBG), UA, urea,
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