Poisoning with toxic substances accidently or deliberately can be life threatening and especially in some countries that lack the essential tests and facilities to identify the types and causes of these toxic substances. In Iraq, as many other countries, poisoning is one of the chronic public health problems. However, very little literature about the pattern of poisoning cases, types and age is available in Duhok Governorate. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the most common patterns of poisoning and the related age and gender in Duhok Governorate from 2016-2018, which would possibly contribute to the early diagnosis and treatment of poisoning. The present study was conducted for three years, started from 1st of January 2016 until31st of December 2018. Data were collected from Duhok General Directorate of Health database, based on the data collected from all Duhok Governorate hospitals and health care centers concerning poisoning types, patient’s age and gender. Descriptive statistic was used to analyze the data including (frequency, mean and percentage). A total of 27831 poisoned patients admitted to Duhok city and their districts health centers. Thirteen separated pattern cases of poisoning were recorded. The most common pattern of poisoning cases was food poisoning (61%) in 2016, (75%) in 2017, and dropped to 48% in 2018. In addition to other types of poisoning such as (herbals, sagwa, allergies, metals, organophosphate, rat poising and others) (11.7% in 2016, 4.8% in 2017 and 19.7% in 2018) and scorpion bites (5% in 2016, 5.7% in 2017 and 11.5% in 2018). Poisoning by drugs was the highest in 2018 (667 cases 9.6%) compared to 2017 (574 cases 5.7%) and 2016 (476 cases 4.3%). All other poisoning pattern (insect bite, soaps and other detergents, snake bits, animal’s bits and insecticide) were about or less than 1%. No recorded cases were poisoned by illegal addictive drugs during the period of study. Out of 27831 cases of poisoning, females were much prone to be poisoned than males during the three years 2018, 2017 and 2016. Females were affected by food poisoning (80%) as compared to male (70%). The age between 15-48 years old composed about 43.8% of the total cases, which is the highest % ration among other age groups. In Duhok Governorate, patterns of poisoning in the present study were the first to be documented. The study concludes that the majority of victims were female and food poisons were the most common type. It also seems that less effort is taken from the Committee of Health and Safety Issues. Our study suggests that establishment of specialist poison health centers, and raising awareness among people help effectively to resolve this public problem.
In this study, an improved process was proposed for the synthesis of structure-controlled Cu2O nanoparticles, using a simplified wet chemical method at room temperature. A chemical solution route was established to synthesize Cu2O crystals with various sizes and morphologies. The structure, morphology, and optical properties of Cu2O nanoparticles were analyzed by X-ray diffraction, SEM (scanning electron microscope), and UV-Vis spectroscopy. By adjusting the aqueous mixture solutions of NaOH and NH2OH•HCl, the synthesis of Cu2O crystals with different morphology and size could be realized. Strangely, it was found that the change in the ratio of de-ionized water and NaOH aqueous solution led to the synthesis of Cu2O crystals of differen
... Show MoreThe properties of structural and optical of pure and doped nano titanium dioxide (TiO2) films, prepared using chemical spray pyrolysis (CPS) technique, with different nanosize nickel oxide (NiO) concentrations in the range (3-9)wt% have been studied. X-Ray diffraction (XRD) technique where using to analysis the structure properties of the prepared thin films. The results revealed that the structure properties of TiO2 have polycrystalline structure with anatase phase. The parameters, energy gap, extinction coefficient, refractive index, real and imaginary parts were studied using absorbance and transmittance measurements from a computerized ultraviolet visible spectrophotometer (Shimadzu UV-1601 PC) in the wavelength
... Show MoreIn this work, pure and Ag-doped nickel oxide (NiO) thin films were deposited on glass substrates with different dopant concentrations (0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4 wt.%) by pulsed-laser deposition (PLD) technique at room temperature. These films were annealed at temperature of 450 °C. The structural and optical properties of the prepared thin films were studied. It was found that annealing process has lead to increase the transmittance of the deposited films. Also, the transmittance was found to increase with doping concentration of silver in the deposited NiO films. The optical energy gap was decreased from 3.5 to 3.2 eV as the doping concentration was increased to 0.4 %.
This article presents the results of an experimental investigation of using carbon fiber–reinforced polymer sheets to enhance the behavior of reinforced concrete deep beams with large web openings in shear spans. A set of 18 specimens were fabricated and tested up to a failure to evaluate the structural performance in terms of cracking, deformation, and load-carrying capacity. All tested specimens were with 1500-mm length, 500-mm cross-sectional deep, and 150-mm wide. Parameters that studied were opening size, opening location, and the strengthening factor. Two deep beams were implemented as control specimens without opening and without strengthening. Eight deep beams were fabricated with openings but without strengthening, while
... Show MoreIn drilling fluid program, selecting the drilling fluid that will reduce the lost time is the first objective, and will be economical regardless of its cost. The amount and type of solids in drilling fluid is the primary control of the rheological and filtration properties. Palygorskite clay (attapulgite) is an active solid that has the ability to reactive with its environment and form a gel structure within a fluid and due to its stability in the presence of brines and electrolytes this type of clay is preferred for use. The aim of this study is to improve properties of Iraqi palygorskite (PAL) by adding different chemical additives such as caustic soda NaOH and soda ash Na2CO3 with a different con
... Show MoreWater pollution as a result of contamination with dye-contaminating effluents is a severe issue for water reservoirs, which instigated the study of biodegradation of Reactive Red 195 and Reactive Blue dyes by E. coli and Bacillus sp. The effects of occupation time, solution pH, initial dyes concentrations, biomass loading, and temperature were investigated via batch-system experiments by using the Design of Experiment (DOE) for 2 levels and 5 factors response surface methodology (RSM). The operational conditions used for these factors were optimized using quadratic techniques by reducing the number of experiments. The results revealed that the two types of bacteria had a powerful effect on biodegradable dyes. The regression analysis reveale
... Show MoreSol-gel derived CuCo-oxide coatings as solar selective surfaces, synthesized onto aluminium substrates at various annealing temperatures, are analysed by correlating their structural, chemical bonding states, and surface morphological topographies. As the annealing progressed, all the coatings displayed a Cu0.56Co2.44O4 (ICSD 78-2175) phase with preferential orientation along (400) reflection plane. Rietveld refinement of X-ray diffraction (XRD) data indicate that residual stress and microstrains developed around the coating surfaces are reduced resulting in mechanically stable thin films. Enhancement of the crystallite size and preferred orientation of the surface were confirmed via XRD, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM),
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