Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is a potent vasoconstrictor hormone that has been identified as an important factor
responsible for the development of cardiovascular dysfunctions. ET-1 exerts its vasoconstrictor activity
through two pharmacologically distinct receptors, ETA and ETB that are found in vascular smooth muscle
cells (VSMCs) and the vasodilator activity through an ETB receptor located on endothelial cells. This study
aimed to show the impact of 1µM L-arginine (LA), 100µM tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4), and their combined
effect on ET-1 activity in both lead-treated and lead-untreated rat aortic rings. This means, investigating how
endothelial dysfunction reverses the role of nitric oxide precursor and cofactor. In this study, Rat aortic rings
have been pre-incubated with BH4, LA and their combination. Subsequently, the aortic rings were preincubated with 200µM N-Nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) and 0.5µM BQ-123. Then, the vascular
response to cumulative doses of rat ET-1 was analyzed in each of the above-mentioned groups (LA, BH4, LA
& BH4, L-NAME, BQ-123), in the presence and absence of lead acetate 1µM Pb (C2H3O2)2. ET-1 efficacy and
potency were significantly decreased in the presence of LA, BH4, and LA and BH4 combination in the untreated
group, while it significantly increased in the presence of lead. In the second trial of experiments ET-1 efficacy
markedly decreased in BQ-123- incubated cells in both lead-treated and untreated aortic rings. In the presence
of lead, the efficacy of ET-1 was raised with the use of L-NAME. In conclusion, LA and BH4 can be considered
pharmacological agents to alter the potency of ET-1-induced vasoconstriction and concomitantly lower blood
pressure.
Cohesive soils present difficulties in construction projects because it usually contains expansive clay minerals. However, the engineering properties of cohesive soils can be stabilized by using various techniques. The research aims to elaborate on the influences of using hydrated lime on the consistency, compaction, and shear strength properties of clayey soil samples from Sulaimnai city, northern Iraq. The proportions of added hydrated lime are 0%, 2.5%, 5%, 7.5% and 10% to the natural soil sample. The results yielded considerable effects of hydrated lime on the engineering properties of the treated soil sample and enhancement its strength. The soil's liquid limit, plasticity index, and optimum moisture content were de
... Show MoreVitamins k is an important fat-soluble vitamin that can be obtained from plants, bacteria and animals and is necessary for the blood clotting. It plays a key function as a cofactor in the synthesizing of blood clotting proteins in the liver; recently, the interest for its functions in extra-hepatic tissue has increased. Vitamin k deficiency is usually caused by abnormal absorption rather than in the lack of vitamin in food. Apart from its impact on clotting, chronic subclinical deficiency of vitamin K maybe a risk factor for many diseases such as osteoporosis, atherosclerosis, cancer, insulin resistance, neurodegenerative diseases and others, while current food intake guidelines be focused on the daily dose necessary to avoid blood loss.
... Show MoreSixteen species of Armored Scale insects were recorded from Baghdad city during 2001-2005. Three of these are reported here for the first time Abgrallaspis cyanophylli (Signoret, 1869), Aonidiella citrina (Craw,1870) and Chrysomphalus aonidium (Linnaeus,1758). The other thirteen species were recorded earlier Aonidiella aurantii (Maskell), Aonidiella orientalis (Newstead), Chrysomphalus dictyospermi (Morgan), Diaspidiotus ostreaeformis (Curtis), Diaspidiotu perniciosus (Comctock), Hemiberlesia lataniae (Signoret), Lepidosaphes beckii (Newman), Lepidosaphes conchiformis (Gmelin), Lepidosaphes ulmi (Linnaeus), Mercetaspis halli
... Show MoreDiscrete Krawtchouk polynomials are widely utilized in different fields for their remarkable characteristics, specifically, the localization property. Discrete orthogonal moments are utilized as a feature descriptor for images and video frames in computer vision applications. In this paper, we present a new method for computing discrete Krawtchouk polynomial coefficients swiftly and efficiently. The presented method proposes a new initial value that does not tend to be zero as the polynomial size increases. In addition, a combination of the existing recurrence relations is presented which are in the n- and x-directions. The utilized recurrence relations are developed to reduce the computational cost. The proposed method computes app
... Show MoreAs a result of the growth of economic, demographic and building activities in Iraq, that necessitates carrying out geotechnical investigations for the dune sand to study behavior of footings resting on these soils. To determine these properties and to assess the suitability of these materials for resting shallow foundation on it, an extensive laboratory testing program was carried out. Chemical tests were carried out to evaluate any possible effects of the mineralogical composition of the soil on behavior of foundation rested on dune sands.
Collapse tests were also conducted to trace any collapse potential. Loading tests were carried out for optimum water content and different shapes of footing. Loading test recommends manufacturing o
To explore the durability of some local species of wood to fungal deterioration among the
storage period, this research has conducted on three species Eufcalyptus cammaldulensis,
Juglans regia, presence of some genus of fungi; Aspergillus, Penicillium,Botryoderma,
Chaetomium, Phoma, Cladosporium and Pacilomyces in different intensities.
The two fungi Aspergillus and Penicillium appeared more dominants than others, therefore
they were chosen for the pathogenicity test. The results showed that the two species of fungi
preferred Juglans wood firstly were the size of infection was more than 10 times of any of the
other two woods. Eucalyptus showed similar response to that of Morus, but with Aspergillus
it was few bett
In this paper, a fast lossless image compression method is introduced for compressing medical images, it is based on splitting the image blocks according to its nature along with using the polynomial approximation to decompose image signal followed by applying run length coding on the residue part of the image, which represents the error caused by applying polynomial approximation. Then, Huffman coding is applied as a last stage to encode the polynomial coefficients and run length coding. The test results indicate that the suggested method can lead to promising performance.
In recent years, it has been evident that searching for alternative methods with low-price and eco-friendly features that produce high-quality adsorbents is in high demand. In the present work, Rice husk from Iraqi rice named (Amber) had been used as the primary source to produce rice husk ash (RHA) for the removal of the antibiotic metronidazole (Flagyl) from water. After optimum drying of rice husk, rice husk ash (RHA) was obtained at 600 °C using an electric oven. RHA has been investigated for properties using X-ray diffraction (XRD), porosity, and surface area (SA). The experimental work adsorption data were optimized to evaluate Langmuir and Freundlich constants. The thermodynamic parameters likely a change in Gipp's energy (ΔG),
... Show MoreAcademia Open Vol 8 No 2 (2023): December DOI: 10.21070/acopen.8.2023.8087 . Article type: (Medicine)Impact of COVID-19 on Dental Students' Psychological Health Maryam Hameed Alwan, [email protected], (1) Department of Oral Diagnosis, College of Dentistry, Baghdad University, Iraq, Iraq (1) Corresponding author Abstract This study investigates the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on dental students at Baghdad University College of Dentistry. Conducted between December 2021 and January 2022, this cross-sectional survey aligns with ethical guidelines and the Helsinki Declaration. The study utilized Cochran's equation to determine a sample size of at least 400, ensuring a 95% confidence level with a 5% margin of e
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