Ecosystems provide humans with services that include benefits from food, fresh water, climate regulation, and socio-economic assets. The Mesopotamian marshlands are among the largest wetlands in the Middle East and they provide various benefits. However, ecosystem services of the Marshlands are consistently undervalued in national economic analysis and decision making. This study focusses on the Central Marshes, the first National Park in Iraq, and is the first attempt at valuing a series of ecosystem services from a valuable natural ecosystem in Iraq. We adopted the Toolkit for Ecosystem Services Site-Based Assessment (TESSA) for the determination of biophysical and economic values of services at the site level. Data on key ecosystem services (as determined by 30 interviews with residents of the Marshes) included the trading of fish, harvested plants, water buffalo milk, and fodder were collected across six months in 2014. We valued the ecosystem services within the CM (40,000 ha) over a 6-month period to have a total value of 860,078.23 USD. This estimated total value was the sum of 86,637.25 USD from harvested plants, 551,334.80 USD from trading fish, 167, 303.70 USD from trading water buffalo milk, and 54,804.00 USD from trading fodder. The average income per individual in Iraq in 2014 was 6720 USD (World Bank data - https://data.worldbank.org/country/iraq): thus, the CM provided an average salary for 256 people. Our results provided greater understanding of the ecosystem services contributed by the Central Marshes and has highlighted the crucial role of nature in supporting sustainable well-being for humans living in the area. In addition, the results can be used to enhance local policy, to aid management plans of the National park, and to estimate lost and damage that could result from impact of climate change on the area.
Meloxicam is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug. It is practically insoluble in water. It is associated with gastrointestinal side effects at high doses on long term treatment. The aim of this investigation to formulate and evaluate gellified nanoemulsion of meloxicam as a topical dosage form to enhance meloxicam therapeutic activity and reduce systemic side effect.
The pseudo ternary phase diagrams were made, including the oil mixture which is composed of almond oil and peppermint oil at a ratio (1:2), variable surfactant mixture (S mix) which are tween 80 and ethanol at ratios of (1:1, 2:1, 3:1, and 4:1) and double distilled water. Slow dripping of double distilled water to the combination of the oil mixtu
... Show MoreBackground: Sliding mechanics is widely used during orthodontic treatment. One of the disadvantages of this mechanics is the friction generated at the bracket/archwire interface, which may reduce the amount of desired orthodontic movement obtained. The aim of the present in vitro study was to evaluate and compare the static frictional forces produced by two passive self-ligating brackets stainless-steel and hybrid and two conventional brackets stainless-steel and monocrystal ligated with stainless-steel ligature wire at two degrees of torque(zero and twenty) under dry condition. Materials and method: One hundred and sixty brackets were used in this study divided into four groups each group consisted of forty brackets these are: Two self-li
... Show More“Orodispersible Tablet†a tablet that is to be placed in oral cavity where it disperses rapidly by saliva with no need for water before swallowing. Zaltoprofen (ZLP) is one of NSAIDs which is used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis as well as to relieve inflammation and pain after surgery, injury and tooth extraction. The present study was aimed to prepare rapidly dissolved lyophilized Zaltoprofen tablet with different pharmaceutical excipients and studying the factors affecting pharmaceutical properties like (solubility, disintegration time DT, dissolution, etc.) of tablets. The lyophilized disintegrating tablets (LDTs) were prepared using Zydis technique by lyophilization an aqueous
... Show MoreEconazole nitrate (EN) is considered as the most effective agent for the treatment of all forms of dermatomycosis caused by dernatophytes. It was formulated as a topical solution in our laboratories. This study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of Econazol Nitrate in the prepared formula and compared with that of commercial brand, Pevaryl®. A total of 104 patient suffering from dermatomycoses were involved in this investigation. Both formula were applied to the affected skin region in the morning and evening from week to 16 weeks with light massage until complete healing effect was achieved. The data revealed that the percentage of cured patient treated with the prepared formula and reference formula of Ecanozol Nitrate 1% so
... Show MoreNystatin is the drug of choice for treatment of cutaneous fungal infections with main disadvantage that is the need for multiple applications to achieve complete eradication which may reduce patient compliance. Microparticles offer a solution for such issue as they are one of sustained release preparations that achieve slow release of drug over an extended period of time. The objectives of this study were to fabricate nystatin-loaded chitosan microparticles with the ultimate goal of prolonging drug release and to analyze the influence of polymer concentration on various properties of microparticles. Microparticles were prepared by chemical cross-linking method using glutaraldehyde as cross-linking agent. Five formulas, namely N1C1, N1C2,
... Show MoreA new series of N-acyl hydrazones (4a-g) derived from indole-3-propionic acid (IPA) were synthesized. These N-acyl hydrazones were prepared by the reaction of 3-(1H-indol-3-yl) propane hydrazide and aldehyde in the existence of glacial acetic acid as a catalyst. 1HNMR and FT-IR analyses were used to identify the synthesized compounds and they were in vitro evaluated as antibacterial agents against six different types of microorganisms by using well diffusion method. All the tested N-acyl hydrazones (4a-g) displayed moderate activity against the Gram-negative E.coli, comparable to that of Amoxicillin. Some of the tested N-acyl hydrazones also exhibited intermediate activity ag
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