The aim of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of diode laser (λ=940 nm) in the management of gingival hyperpigmentation compared to the conventional bur method. Materials and methods: Eighteen patients with gingival hyperpigmentation were selected for the study with an age between 12-37 years old. The site of treatment was the upper gingiva using diode laser for the right half and the conventional method for the left half. All patients were re-evaluated after the following intervals: 3 days, 7 days, 1 month and 6 months post-operation. Pain and functions were re-evaluated in each visit for a period of 1 day, 3 days and 1 week post-operation. Laser parameters included 1.5 W in continuous mode with an initiated tip (400 μm) placed in

Erratum for Organic acid concentration thresholds for ageing of carbonate minerals: Implications for CO2 trapping/storage.

Biosorption of lead, chromium, and cadmium ions from aqueous solution by dead anaerobic biomass (DAB) was studied in single, binary, and ternary systems with initial concentration of 50 mg/l. The metal-DAB affinity was the same for all systems. The main biosorption mechanisms were complexation and physical adsorption of metallic cations onto natural active functional groups on the cell wall matrix of the DAB. It was found that biosorption of the metallic cations onto DAB cell wall component was a surface process. The main functional groups involved in the metallic cation biosorption were apparently carboxyl, amino, hydroxyle, sulfhydryl, and sulfonate. These groups were part of the DAB cell wall structural polymers. Hydroxyle groups (–O

Background: The demand for esthetic orthodontic appliances is increasing; so the esthetic orthodontic archwires were introduced. Among them, Teflon and Epoxy coated stainless steel archwires. The amount of force available from the archwire depends on the structural properties and susceptibility to corrosion. All metallic alloys are changed during immersion in artificial saliva, chlorhexidine mouthwash andtoothpaste, but their behaviors differ from one type to another. They corrode at different rates, which lead to decrease the amount of force applied to the teeth. This in vitro study was designed to evaluate the corrosion pits in stainless steel archwires coated with Teflon and with Epoxy in dry and after immersion in artificial saliva, chl

ABSTRACT Backgrounds: Maxillary canine impaction is complicated and time consuming to treat, for being highly diverse in inclination and location; it may be a companied by root resorption of the neighboring teeth. CBCT has been used for its' diagnostic reliability in localization of impacted canine and revealing its' serious local complications. Objectives: Localization of maxillary impacted canine using cone beam computed tomography for assessment of angulation, distance from occlusal plane, alveolar width and proximity to adjacent teeth. Subjects and Methods: The study sample was 33 subjects 16 females and 17 males attended to Al-Wasitti general hospital in Baghdad city-Oral and maxillofacial radiology department for CBCT scan investigati

Background: Chronic kidney disease is a gradual loss of kidney function with diabetes and hypertension as the leading cause. Chronic kidney disease is one of these systemic diseases that can affect salivary contents. Aims: This study aimed to assess salivary immunoglobulin A, interleukin-6 and C- reactive protein in chronic kidney disease patients on hemodialysis and those on conservative treatment in comparison with control subjects. Materials and methods: Ninety subjects were included in this study divided into three groups: 30 patients with chronic kidney disease on hemodialysis for at least 6 months ago; 30 patients with chronic kidney disease on conservative treatment and 30 healthy control subjects. Secretory immunoglobulin A, inte

In this work, electrochemical process was presented to polymerized eugenol on Gr.2 and Gr.5 titanium alloys before and after treated by Micro Arc Oxidation (MAO), where Gr.2 is commercial pure titanium and Gr.5 is Ti-6Al-4V dental alloys. The deposited layers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The adhesion strength of polymeric thin-film was estimation by using pull-off adhesion test and the result was the adhesion strength of PE was (1.23 MPa) on Gr.2 before MAO and increase to (1.98 MPa) on Gr.2 after MAO treatment. The corrosion behavior of Gr.2 and Gr.5 alloy in artificial saliva environment at

This paper investigates the performance evaluation of two state feedback controllers, Pole Placement (PP) and Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR). The two controllers are designed for a Mass-Spring-Damper (MSD) system found in numerous applications to stabilize the MSD system performance and minimize the position tracking error of the system output. The state space model of the MSD system is first developed. Then, two meta-heuristic optimizations, Simulated Annealing (SA) optimization and Ant Colony (AC) optimization are utilized to optimize feedback gains matrix K of the PP and the weighting matrices Q and R of the LQR to make the MSD system reach stabilization and reduce the oscillation of the response. The Matlab softwar

Abstract: Thorough assessment of the Maxillary,Sinus is very important. Recently 3-dimensional imagewith Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) is very dependable in Maxillary Sinus diagnosis. The aim of this study is to: shade light on the role of (CBCT) diagnosis of the maxillary sinus anatomical variation and pathological finding among smokers and nonsmokers prior to maxillary sinus lift techniques. Materials and Method: In this study 60 males with age ranged between 20-50 years old, referred for (CBCT) assessment of maxillary sinus in the Specialist Health Center of AL-Sadder city. The scanning were performed using Kodak 9500 (CBCT), the KV was 90, mA10 and scanning time 10 s. Voxel size 0.3mm with( DICOM ) software on a multiplaner re

Laboratory studies were conducted at the biological control unit, college of Agriculture, University of Baghdad to evaluate some biological aspects of the predator Chilocorus bipustulatus (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), which is considered one of the most important predators on many insect pests, especially the scale insect, Parlatoria blanchardi, (Homoptera: Diaspididae) on date palms. The results showed that biological parameters of the predator were varied according to different degree of temperature. Egg incubation period was significantly different and reached to 7.5 and 5.44 day at 25 and 30°C respectively, Fertility was the same 100% at both temperature degrees. Larval growth periods were 17.41 and 16.12 day as well as the mortality du