This study was conducted on species composition, morphology, ecological characteristics, biotope distribution, ecological groups, biodiversity indicators and zoogeography of leeches and gastropods distributed in the lower Ak-Buura River. According to the results, it was found that 7 species of leeches belonging to 4 families and 6 genera and 10 species of fresh-water gastropods belonging to 3 families and 6 genera live in the lower Ak-Buura River. In the river, it was observed that leeches are mainly distributed in muddy biotopes, and gastropods are widespread in muddy, stony and sandy biotopes with a lot of plants. Biodiversity indices of leeches and gastropods in the Ak-Buura River were analyzed using the Shannon index. As a result, it

The current study involves placing 135 boreholes drilled to a depth of 10 m below the existing ground level. Three standard penetration tests (SPT) are performed at depths of 1.5, 6, and 9.5 m for each borehole. To produce thematic maps with coordinates and depths for the bearing capacity variation of the soil, a numerical analysis was conducted using MATLAB software. Despite several-order interpolation polynomials being used to estimate the bearing capacity of soil, the first-order polynomial was the best among the other trials due to its simplicity and fast calculations. Additionally, the root mean squared error (RMSE) was almost the same for the all of the tried models. The results of the study can be summarized by the production

Due to economic reasons or need for environmental conservatism or also preserve the natural resources; there has been an increasing shift towards the use of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) materials in the pavement construction industry. Therefore, use the Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) has been enormously increased in pavement construction and has been become common practice in many countries. Nevertheless, this is a relatively new concept in Iraq, and has to be remarked that is not used RAP in the production of HMA and this valuable material is mostly degraded. For this purpose, the reclaimed materials were collected from deteriorated pavement segments. The components of asphalt mixtures consist of: two asphalt penetration grades (40-5

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurodegenerative disorder with various clinical types. Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is significantly elevated in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of MS patients compared with that of healthy controls. The aim of this study is to evaluate serum levels of GFAP in relation to disease activity in relapsing-remitting MS patients and to compare them with those of healthy controls. Method: This study involved 58 MS patients of relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) type, 22 in an active stage of the disease and 36 in remission, and 50 healthy individuals as age- and sex-matched controls. Blood samples were taken from the patients at the MS Clinic of the Baghdad Teaching Hospital, and the serum levels of GFAP were determ

Influence of metal nanoparticles synthesized by microorganisms upon soil-borne microscopic fungus Aspergillus terreus K-8 was studied. It was established that the metal nanoparticles synthesized by microorganisms affect the enzymatic activity of the studied culture. Silver nanoparticles lead to a decrease in cellulase activity and completely suppress the amylase activity of the fungus, while copper nanoparticles completely inhibit the activity of both the cellulase complex and amylase. The obtained results imply that the large-scale use of silver and copper nanoparticles may disrupt biological processes in the soil and cause change in the physiological and biochemical state of soil-borne microorganisms as well.

Cysteine-cysteine chemokine ligand 5 (CCL5) is known to play an important role with immunoregulatory and inflammatory activities in the formation of granuloma during infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. About 90 subjects, involving 50 patients with pulmonary TB and 40 apparently healthy individuals (as a control group) were collected from primary health care center\AL-Sadur city sector/ Baghdad City/ Iraq, and at specialized chest and respiratory diseases center in Wassit City /Iraq during the period from January 2019 to May 2019. The study was carried out to investigate serum level of CCL-5 of both patients and control by using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and to determine the association between CCL5 genotypes with pul

Background: Computerized tomography scan can show the detailed anatomy of the nose and paranasal sinuses. The sphenoid sinus is a very important corridor for the skull base because of its central position. This sinus has a great range of variation and can put structures around at risk during surgery. This study aims to examine the variation of the sphenoid sinus, and its relation to other structures around it, in this sample of Iraqi patients. Materials and Methods: CT scans of 122 patients, were obtained, and submitted for examination and measurements, during the period between September 2020 and September 2021. Observation of The sphenoid sinus pneumatization pattern, clival extension, Onodi cell, and lateral pneumatization of SS.

The biomarker significance of three chemokines (CXCL8, CXCL10 and CXCL16) was evaluated in sera of 45 breast cancer (BC) and 28 benign breast lesion (BBL) patients, as well as 20 control women. Clinical stage and tumor expression of estrogen (ER), progesterone (PgR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER-2) receptors were considered in this evaluation. The results demonstrated that CXCL8, CXCL10 and CXCL16 showed a significant increased median in BC and BBL patients compared to control (CXCL8: 47.3 and 25.7 vs. 15.0; CXCL10: 37.6 and 30.7 vs. 13.1; CXCL16; 27.9 and 25.2 vs. 19.2 pg/ml, respectively). The increased levels of CXCL8 and CXCL16 were more pronounced in triple-negative and HER-2 positive p

This study focuses on the use of an optimum amount of Sodium Polyacrylate (SP) for designing cement slurry with the high performance of rheological properties and displacement efficiency. A laboratory study has been carried out on the cement slurry which prepared with SP as superabsorbent polymer. SP has been providing an internal water source that helps in the hydration process, and curing and ultimately increases the cement strength. Also improves the cement performance by improving the cement stability. Several batches were prepared to determine the proper amount of SP to add it in the cement slurry. Also, we studied its effect on cement density, amount of free water in order to observe the rheological properties, and thickening time.