There is a global shortage of health care providers needed to address all levels of primary and specialty care.  The recent COVID-19 pandemic also highlights the importance and added value of health professionals with specialty training in infectious diseases.  In the United States, advanced practice providers (APPs) are being engaged to meet the expanding demand for generalist and specialist patient care.  The history and development of advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) and physician assistants (PAs), are discussed as collaborative healthcare providers to promote better understanding of the ways they can be incorporated into a healthcare system.  An example of how APPs are utilized to provide both inpatient and outpatient

Background: Dental implants provide a unique treatment modality for the replacement of lost dentition .This is accomplished by the insertion of relatively inert material (a biomaterial) into the soft and hard tissue of the jaws, there by providing support and retention for dental prostheses. Low level laser therapy (LLLT) is an effective tool used to prompt bone repair and modeling post surgery; this has referred to the biostimulation effect of LLLT. The aims of this study were to evaluate the immmunohistochemical expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and transforming growth factor -beta (TGF-β) in experimental and control groups with mechanical test. Materials and Methods: Thirty two adult New Zealand white rabbits use

A total of 48 experiments were conducted to investigate the impact of slit weir dimensions and locations on the maximum scour depth and scour area created upstream. The slit weir model was a 110 mm slit opening, and it was installed at the end of the working section in a laboratory flume. The flume was 10.0 m long, 30 cm wide, 30 cm deep, and almost middle. It includes a 2 m working section with a mobile bed with 110 mm in thickness. In the mobile bed, two types of nonuniform sand (with a geometric standard deviation of 1.58 and 1.6) were tested separately. The weir dimensions and location were changed with flow rates. Then dimensions of the slit weir were changed from 60 x 110 mm to 60 x 70 mm (width x height), while th

Background: Vitamin D improves innate immunity by enhancing the expression of antimicrobial peptides. The antimicrobial action of cathelicidin is widespread and effective against cariogenic bacteria. This research aimed to investigate the effect of vitamin D deficiency on the level of salivary cathelicidin concerning dental caries experience.

Subjects and Methods: A case-control study was carried out, and the sample was composed of 80 females; the study group involved 40 females with a serum vitamin D concentration of less than 10 ng/ml. In addition to the control group involving 40 females wh

Primary and secondary response loss , often mediated by the development of anti-drug antibodies (ADAs), limit treatment efficacy. Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) is important in optimizing infliximab therapy by correlating drug level with clinical outcomes. This study aimed to find the relationship between infliximab level, ADA presence, and clinical activity in Iraqi Crohn's disease (CD) patients. This cross-sectional study included adult Crohn's disease patients receiving maintenance infliximab (IFX) treatment. Data on demographics and clinical characteristics were collected. Infliximab level and ADA were measured using ELISA. Forty-three patients were included. Patients in remission had significantly higher infliximab levels and lower

Introduction and Aim: Klebsiella pneumoniae is a Gram-negative bacterium responsible for a wide range of infections, including respiratory tract infections (RTIs). This research was aimed to study the antibacterial and anti-biofilm effect of AgNPs produced by Gram positive and negative bacteria on RTIs associated with K. pneumoniae.   Materials and Methods: The biofilm formation of K.  pneumoniae was determined by tube method qualitatively from select bacterial species characterized by UV-Visible spectroscopy. The antibacterial susceptibility of the bacteria AgNPs was tested for their antibacterial and antibiofilm activity on a clinical isolate of K. pneumoniae.   Results: K. pneumoniae isolated from RTIs were strong biofilm prod