Background: The microbial production of substances that have the potency to suppress the growth of other microorganisms is probably one of the prevalent defense strategy developed in nature, microorganisms produce a variable bunch of microbial defense systems, which include antibiotics, metabolic by-products, lytic agents, bacteriocins and others. Objective: The purpose of the present study was to isolate and identify Enterococcus faecium isolates then detecting its ability of carrying the gene responsible for enterocin production in this species. Materials and methods: Out of 50 samples from different sources (food and clinical sources) were collected for the Enterococcus faecium isolation, and the isolated bacteria Enterococ

Background: Bimaxillary protrusion is considered as one of the most important causes to seek the orthodontic treatment to get better esthetics. This study aimed to test the effect of orthodontic treatment in improvement the facial esthetics. Materials and Methods: Ten Iraqi Arab females having bimaxillary protrusion based on Class I malocclusions treated with fixed orthodontic appliance and extraction of the maxillary and mandibular 1st permanent premolars. Pre and post-treatment facial profile photographs were taken for each patients and the effect of treatment was tested in comparison with the pre-treatment photographs by using seven angular measurements. Results: After treatment, the upper and lower lip projections were decreased signifi

Background: Sprite coding is a very effective technique for clarifying the background video object. The sprite generation is an open issue because of the foreground objects which prevent the precision of camera motion estimation and blurs the created sprite. Objective: In this paper, a quick and basic static method for sprite area detection in video data is presented. Two statistical methods are applied; the mean and standard deviation of every pixel (over all group of video frame) to determine whether the pixel is a piece of the selected static sprite range or not. A binary map array is built for demonstrating the allocated sprite (as 1) while the non-sprite (as 0) pixels valued. Likewise, holes and gaps filling strategy was utilized to re

In this paper, an efficient image segmentation scheme is proposed of boundary based & geometric region features as an alternative way of utilizing statistical base only. The test results vary according to partitioning control parameters values and image details or characteristics, with preserving the segmented image edges.

Glutathione-S-transferases (GSTs) play a role in the detoxification of environmental chemicals and mutagens, such as those inhaled during tobacco smoking. There have been conflicting reports concerning GST polymorphisms as risk factors in the development of lung cancer. No studies focused on Arab populations exposed to Waterpipe (WP) tobacco smoke have been undertaken. Here Polymerase Chain Reaction-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and gene sequenc- ing were applied to analyze allelic variations in GSTP1-rs1695 and -rs1138272 amongst 123 lung cancer patients and 129 controls. The data suggest that WP smoking raised the risk of lung cancer more than three-fold (OR 3.6; 95% CI 2.1–6.0; p < 0.0001). However, there was no s

Background: Corticotomy-assisted orthodontic treatment is done to induce a state of increased tissue turnover and transient osteopenia, which is followed by a faster rate of orthodontic tooth movement. It considered as an adjunct treatment option for orthodontic treatment of adults. The aim of this Study was to elucidate the effectiveness of a new surgical approach for acceleration of maxillary canine retraction in human with laser assisted flapless corticotomy and evaluate its effect on vitality of pulp and gingival sulcus depth. Materials and methods: the sample comprised of 15 Iraqi patients (9 females and 6 males; mean age 21.7), who were required extraction for their maxillary first premolars followed by retraction of the canines as pa

Fluconazole was used to test the susceptibility of Candida albicans isolated from different clinical samples, and to detect mutations in ERG11 gene, and their relationship to fluconazole resistance. Forty-eight isolates of Candida albicans were tested for susceptibility using the disc diffusion method (M-44). ERG11 genes of six isolates were amplified (four resistant, two susceptible) and sequenced. The sequenced genes were analyzed to detect the mutations. Out of 48 isolates of Candida albicans, 4 (8%) were resistant to fluconazole. Sixteen-point mutations were detected included 13 silent mutations, and three missense mutations. The mutations of A945C (E266D) and G1609A (V488I) were found only in susceptible Candida albicans isolates, whil

Background : Coronary artery disease is theunderlying cause in approximately two thirds of
patients with systolic heart failure ;
Coronary artery angiogriphy may be useful to
define the presence ,
Anatomical characteristics ,and functional
significance of Coronary artery disease in
selected heart failure patients with or without signs
and aymptoms of Coronary artery disease.
Objectives: to verify the clinical usefulness of
coronary angiography (CA) in congestive heart
failure (CHF) patients with no history of ischemic
heart disease and to identify predictive factors for
performing coronary angiography to patients with
congestive heart failure with no obvious ischemia.
Methods :this is a cross-ses