This study sought to determine malformation caused by Ochratoxin-A (OTA) on mouse embryos. Twenty adult female white Swiss mice (mus msculus) were divided into four groups, with five females per group, and with one male placed with two females in a cage. Avaginal plug was observed in the early morning and the day of mating was considered as day of pregnancy followed by the first day of pregnancy. Three sub lethal concentrations of OTA were applied to the respective groups (other than the control), 1mg/kg, 2mg/kg and 4mg/kg. The animals were given 0.1 ml per 10 gm body weight per concentration of OTA once a day during days 7-14 of pregnancy. The control group animals were given distilled water. The pregnant mice were dissected, and the embryos were extracted in order to identify the effects of the OTA. Number of parameters were studied including, difference in body weight of the mice before mating and after the end of the experiment, the weights and lengths of embryo, as well as a study of embryo malformation. The study shows no significant differences in the mean body weight of the pregnant mice in the 1 mg/kg group, compared to control group. A significant (P<0.01) decrease in the body weight of the treated mice was observed in the 2mg/kg and the 4mg/kg groups. As for the weight of the embryos, there was a significant (P<0.01) decrease in the body weight of the embryos in the mothers treated with OTA in the 1 mg/kg and 2 mg/kg treatment groups. The embryos of the 4mg/kg group of pregnant mice could not be recorded since they had been resorbed into their mothers uteri. Similarly, the results of the study showed a significant difference in the mean length of the embryos bodies in the 1mg/kg and 2mg/kg groups, compared with the non-treated control group. Many malformations induced in the embryos in those groups where it was possible to examine the embryos 1mg/kg and 2mg/kg compared to control mouse embryos, included loss of tail, lack of eyes, cleft lip and exencephaly, as well as spina bifida, curvature of the trunk and there were also reduction defects of the limbs. The study concluded that OTA have teratogenic effects on mice embryos
The adsorption of Malonic acid, Succinic acid, Adipic acid, and Azelaic acid from their aqueous solutions on zinc oxide surface were investigated. The adsorption efficiency was investigated using various factors such as adsorbent amount, contact time, initial concentration, and temperature. Optimum conditions for acids removal from its aqueous solutions were found to be adsorbent dose (0.2 g), equilibrium contact time (40 minutes), initial acids concentration (0.005 M). Variation of temperature as a function of adsorption efficiency showed that increasing the temperature would result in decreasing the adsorption ability. Kinetic modeling by applying the pseudo-second order model can provide a better fit of the data with a greater correla
... Show MoreTraffic management at road intersections is a complex requirement that has been an important topic of research and discussion. Solutions have been primarily focused on using vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs). Key issues in VANETs are high mobility, restriction of road setup, frequent topology variations, failed network links, and timely communication of data, which make the routing of packets to a particular destination problematic. To address these issues, a new dependable routing algorithm is proposed, which utilizes a wireless communication system between vehicles in urban vehicular networks. This routing is position-based, known as the maximum distance on-demand routing algorithm (MDORA). It aims to find an optimal route on a hop-by-ho
... Show MoreIn this work, a chemical optical fiber sensor based on Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) was designed and implemented using plastic optical fiber. The sensor is used for estimating refractive indices and concentrations of various chemical materials (methanol, distilled water, ethanol, kerosene) as well as for evaluating the performance parameters such as sensitivity, signal to noise ratio, resolution and the figure of merit of the fabricated sensor. It was found that the value of the sensitivity of the optical fiber-based SPR sensor, with 40 nm thick and 10 mm long Au metal film of exposed sensing region, was 3μm/RIU, while the SNR was 0.24, the figure of merit was 20, and the resolution was 0.00066. The sort of optical fiber utilized i
... Show MorePurpose: The research aims to estimate models representing phenomena that follow the logic of circular (angular) data, accounting for the 24-hour periodicity in measurement. Theoretical framework: The regression model is developed to account for the periodic nature of the circular scale, considering the periodicity in the dependent variable y, the explanatory variables x, or both. Design/methodology/approach: Two estimation methods were applied: a parametric model, represented by the Simple Circular Regression (SCR) model, and a nonparametric model, represented by the Nadaraya-Watson Circular Regression (NW) model. The analysis used real data from 50 patients at Al-Kindi Teaching Hospital in Baghdad. Findings: The Mean Circular Erro
... Show MoreDue to the importance of the extraction process in many engineering and medical industries, in addition to great interest in medicinal plants, in this research, microwave-assisted extraction has been applied to extract some active compounds from Rosmarinus officinalis leaves. The optimal extraction conditions were then determined by calculating the ratio and extraction efficiency. The process has also been described through kinetic study by applying five kinetic models, the Hyperbolic diffusion model, Power low model, the First order reaction model, Elovich's model, and Fick's second law diffusion model and determining their compatibility with the studies operation, and determining the kinetic constants for each model. The result
... Show MoreAn eco-epidemiological system incorporating a vertically transmitted infectious disease is proposed and investigated. Micheal-Mentence type of harvesting is utilized to study the harvesting effort imposed on the predator. All the properties of the solution of the system are discussed. The dynamical behaviour of the system, involving local stability, global stability, and local bifurcation, is investigated. The work is finalized with the numerical simulation to observe the global behaviour of the solution.
Given the paucity and toxicity of available drugs for leishmaniasis, coupled with the advent of drug resistance, the discovery of new therapies for this neglected tropical disease is recognised as being of the utmost urgency. As such antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have been proposed as promising compounds against the causative Leishmania species, insect vector-borne protozoan parasites. Here the AMP temporins A, B and 1Sa have been synthesised and screened for activity against Leishmania mexicana insect stage promastigotes and mammalian stage amastigotes, a significant cause of human cutaneous disease. In contrast to previous studies with other species the activity of these AMPs against L. mexicana amastigotes was low. This suggests that ama
... Show MoreVascular patterns were seen to be a probable identification characteristic of the biometric system. Since then, many studies have investigated and proposed different techniques which exploited this feature and used it for the identification and verification purposes. The conventional biometric features like the iris, fingerprints and face recognition have been thoroughly investigated, however, during the past few years, finger vein patterns have been recognized as a reliable biometric feature. This study discusses the application of the vein biometric system. Though the vein pattern can be a very appealing topic of research, there are many challenges in this field and some improvements need to be carried out. Here, the researchers reviewed
... Show Moreيعد هذا النص أحد النصوص المسمارية المصادرة التي بحوزة المتحف العراقي، ويحمل الرقم المتحفي (235869)، قياساته )12،7x 6x 2،5سم). يتضمن مدخولات كميات من الشعير،أرخ النص الى عصر أور الثالثة (2012-2004 ق.م) و يعود الى السنة الثالثة من حكم الملك أبي-سين (2028-2004 ق.م)،أن الشخصية الرئيسة في هذا النص هو)با-اَ-كا مسمن الماشية( من مدينة أري-ساكرك، ومقارنته مع النصوص المسمارية المنشورة التي تعود الى أرشيفه يبلغ عددها (196) نصاً تضمنت نشاطاته م
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