Objective Advantageous properties of silicone elastomer made it one of the favorable materials in maxillofacial prosthesis construction, but these properties may change after months of usage or after pigments addition. This study aimed to define the optimum concentration for a mixture of two types of intrinsic pigments that added to VST-50 maxillofacial silicone material and study their effects on mechanical properties before and after artificial aging. Methods After the pilot study was conducted, 0.1% by weight of rayon flocking and 0. 2% by weight of burnt sienna intrinsic pigment concentration was selected because of improvement in tested mechanical properties of VST-50 maxillofacial silicone. A total of one hundred and eighty samples we

New nanotechnology-based approaches are increasingly being investigated for enhanced oil recovery (EOR), with a particular focus on heavy oil reservoirs. Typically, the addition of a polymer to an injection fluid advances the sweep efficiency and mobility ratio of the fluid and leads to a higher crude oil recovery rate. However, harsh reservoir conditions, including high formation salinity and temperature, can limit the performance of such polymer fluids. Recently, nanofluids, that is, dispersions of nanoparticles (NPs) in a base fluid, have been recommended as EOR fluids; however, such nanofluids are unstable, even under ambient conditions. In this work, a combination of ZrO2 NPs and the polyacrylamide (PAM) polymer (ZrO2 NPs–PAM) was us

This study investigates the influence of silver oxide (Ag₂O) nanoparticles on the gas-sensing properties of carbon nanotube (CNT) and poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) composite films. The goal is to enhance the sensitivity and stability of CNT/P3HT-based gas sensors for nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) detection. CNTs and P3HT are composited at various mass ratios, followed by integrating Ag₂O nanoparticles to improve gas interaction and electronic properties. Structural and morphological analyses, including x-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, ascertain the successful incorporation of Ag₂O into the composites and reveal its role in impr

The wastewater arising from pulp and paper mills is highly polluted and has to be treated before discharged into rivers. Coagulation-flocculation process using natural polymers has grown rapidly in wastewater treatment. In this work, the performance of alum and Polyaluminum Chloride (PACl) when used alone and when coupled with Fenugreek mucilage on the treatment of pulp and paper mill wastewater were studied. The experiments were carried out in jar tests with alum, PACl and Fenugreek mucilage dosages range of 50-2000 mg/L, rapid mixing at 200 rpm for 2 min, followed by slow mixing at 40 rpm for 15 min and settling time of 30 min. The effectiveness of Fenugreek mucilage was measured by the reduction of turbidity and Chemical Oxygen Demand

This work studies the role of serum apelin-36 and Glutathione S-transferases (GST) activity in association with the hormonal, metabolic profiles and their link to the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in healthy and patients' ladies with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). A total of fifty-four (PCOS) patients and thirty-one healthy woman as a control have been studied. The PCOS patients were subdivided on the basis of body-mass-index (BMI), into 2-subgroups (the first group was obese-PCOS with BMI ≥ 30 and the second group was non-obese PCOS MBI<30). Fasting-insulin-levels and Lipid-profile, Homeostatic-model assessment-of-insulin-resistance (HOMA-IR), follicle-stimulating-hormone (FSH), luteinizing-hormone (LH), testosterone and

Microbiological contamination by fungi impacts the quality and safety of wheat grain storage. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of cold plasma in restricting the growth of the fungus, Aspergillus niger, which was isolated from wheat grains. A dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) operating at atmospheric pressure generated cold plasma that was used to treat the fungus, and the impact of this treatment was investigated at various periods  1, 2, 4, 6, and 15 minutes. The results revealed a highly significant decrease in the growth and number of spores of Aspergillus niger compared to the controls. This study revealed an efficient technique for enhancing wheat grain storage that could be a foundation for further large-scale studies.

            Diabetes mellitus caused by insulin resistance is prompted by obesity. Neuropeptide Nesfatin-1 was identified in several organs, including the central nervous system and pancreatic islet cells. Nesfatin-1 peptide appears to be involved in hypothalamic circuits that energy homeostasis and control food intake. Adiponectin is a plasma collagen-like protein produced by adipocytes that have been linked to the development of insulin resistance (IR), diabetes mellitus type 2 (DMT2), and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Resistin was first identified as an adipose tissue–specific hormone that was linked to obesity and diabetes.  The aim of this study was to estimate the relationship between human serum nesfatin-1, adiponect

Nuclear structure of ^29-34Mg isotopes toward neutron dripline have been investigated using shell model with Skyrme-Hartree–Fock calculations. In particular nuclear densities for proton, neutron, mass and charge densities with their corresponding rms radii, neutron skin thicknesses and inelastic electron scattering form factors are calculated for positive low-lying states. The deduced results are discussed for the transverse form factor and compared with the available experimental data. It has been confirmed that the combining shell model with Hartree-Fock mean field method with Skyrme interaction can accommodate very well the nuclear excitation properties and can reach a highly descriptive and predictive power when investiga

This study was conducted on the effect of the sedimentary source (the sediments coming from both the Iraqi-Iranian borderline and the Tigris river) on the optical and textural features, especially sphericity and roundness of feldspar minerals (potassium and plagioclase types) in soils of the southern part of the alluvial plain. Eight pedons were selected to represent the study area, five of them represented sediments coming from the borderline, which included pedons of (Badra, Taj Al-Din, Al-Shihabi, Jassan, and Galati), while two of them represent the sediments of the Tigris River (Essaouira, Al-Dabouni), the pedon of Ali Al-Gharbi was represented the mixing area of sediments of all the floods coming from the borderline and the sediments o