Heavy metal (HM) pollution has long been a significant source of environmental deterioration and a problem for the safety of food. Iraqis prefer rice over any other food, and since heavy metals have a direct impact on health, their traces in rice have drawn particular attention. Before cooking rice, it is usual in Iraq to wash and soak it. Some 55 varieties of imported and local rice were sampled from Erbil city markets in 2022 with the aim of determining the concentration of As, Cd, Cr, Ni and Pb before and after soaking. Standard procedure of acid digestions was applied on the raw and soaked samples. The solutions were analyzed using ICPE-9820 Shimadzu. The mean concentrations of As, Cd, Cr, Ni and Pb (in mg/kg) in the rice samples before soaking was 0.655, 0.170, 0.160, 0.387, 0.489, respectively and after soaking 0.421, 0.109, 0.115, 0.124 and 0.336, respectively. The concentration of As and Pb was found to be beyond the optimum level of 0.2 mg/kg codex standards for rice; whereas Cd and Cr were within the proposed level of codex standards. Moreover, local rice showed higher concentration of (Cd and Cr), whereas (AS and Pb) concentration in imported rice was higher. Further, results validated that rice soaking can decrease levels of As, Cd, Cr, Ni and Pb (32.5%, 40.2%, 27.9%, 61.6% and 31.3%, respectively). These findings suggest that soaking as a kitchen practice has efficiency to evaporate metals and has a great influence on the reduction of toxic heavy metals and thus reduces exposure to toxic metals in rice
Biodiesel can be prepared from various types of vegetable oils or animal fats with the aid of a catalyst.
Calcium oxide (CaO) is one of the prospective heterogeneous catalysts for biodiesel synthesis. Modification
of CaO by impregnation on silica (SiO2) can improve the performance of CaO as catalyst. Egg shells and rice
husks as biomass waste can be used as raw materials for the preparation of the silica modified CaO catalyst.
The present study was directed to synthesize and characterize CaO impregnated SiO2 catalyst from biomass
waste and apply it as catalyst in biodiesel synthesis. The catalyst was synthesized by wet impregnation
method and characterized by x-ray diffraction, x-ray fluorescence, nitr
Objective(s): To determine the prevalence of ADHD among elementary school pupils; identify the association between pupil's level of ADHD and age, etc., and investigate the differences in pupils ADHD based on gender, and grade.
Methodology: A descriptive study was conducted on elementary school pupils. The study started from the period of 16th of September 2019 to the 1st of October 2020. A cluster sample of 800 pupils was selected. The questionnaire was constructed and developed and include two parts: the first part includes the pupil's general information and the second part includes scale of ADHD prevalence.
Results: The results of the present study indicated that 38(4.
... Show MoreThis study aims to design unified electronic information system to manage students attendance in Lebanese French university/Erbil, as a system that simplifies the process of entering and counting the students absence, and generate absence reports to expel students who passed the acceptable limit of being absent, and by that we can replace the traditional way of using papers to count absence, with a complete electronically system for managing students attendance, in a way that makes the results accurate and unchangeable by the students.
In order to achieve the study's objectives, we designed an information syst
... Show MoreThree types of medical commercial creams Silvazine, Cinolon Tar and Hydroquinon Domina were incorporated in this study. The medical creams were taken directly and placed uniformly on the glass slide. Each type of pharmaceutical was weighed at 1 mg and dispersed on an area of 1x1 cm. This process ensures same thickness for all samples. The creams were analyzed by using double-beam UV/visible spectrophotometer Metertech SP8001. The absorption spectrum for each of samples was measured against wavelength range of 300–700 nm.
Abstract:
Objective (s): This study aims to assess nurses' knowledge and practice regarding physiotherapy protocol at intensive care units
Methodology: descriptive cross-sectional study design executed at the ICU in the city hospitals of AL- for the time of 13th October/ 2021 to 7th April /2022. Questionnaire filled by 75 nurses who work in ICU who had chosen by non-probability (purposive) selection collected the data. Then the researcher used an observational checklist to evaluate nurses’ practice. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and SPSS.
Results: the study found a deficit in nurses’ knowledge and pra
... Show MoreIn this study, the results of the uranium concentrations and specific activity in 10 rice samples are described using a solid-state track detector (CR-39). Samples were collected from various local Iraqi markets with different origins (Iraq, India, America, and Thailand). Our findings found that the results of uranium concentration in all studied samples are ranging from (0.55 ± 0.28 to 1.74 ± 0.31) ppm with a weighted average of (1.24 ± 0.99) ppm. Also, results demonstrate that the specific activity values of the studied samples swing between values of (6.88 ± 3.52 and 21.49 ± 3.85) Bq/Kg. The obtained results of the studied rice samples are indicated that it is less than the acceptable limit of those studies established by ma
... Show MoreObjectives: This study aimed to evaluate the performance of staff nurses at primary health care centers in Baghdad city and to compare them with their demographic characteristics of age, gender and education.
Methodology: A descriptive design was carried out at Baghdad City’s primary health care centers from January 2nd 2019 to May 1st 2020. An instrument was developed for the purpose of the study. A non-probability, multi-stage purposive sample of (52) staff nurses was recruited from nurses working at primary health care centers in Baghdad City. The instrument is used to evaluate staff nurses’ performance which includes (62) items. These items are divided to (13) main domains related to evaluation of work quantity, work quality,
In this study, gamma-ray spectrometry with an HPGe detector was used to measure the specific activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K in soil samples collected from IT1 oil reservoirs in Kirkuk city, northeast Iraq. The “spectral line Gp” gamma analysis software package was used to analyze the spectral data. 226Ra specific activity varies from 9 0.34 Bq.kg-1 to 17 0.47 Bq.kg-1. 232Th specific activity varies from 6.2 0.08 Bq.kg-1 to 18 0.2 Bq.kg-1. 40K specific activity varies from 25 0.19 Bq.kg-1 to 118 0.41 Bq.kg-1. The radiological hazard due to the radiation emitted from natural r
... Show MoreBioaccumulation of heavy metals in the terrestrial invertebrates in Al-Jadriyia district Baghdad- Iraq were investigated. Forth terrestrial invertebrates snails, slug, isopods, and diplopods , were selected for this study. The results showed that all invertebrate groups have the ability in accumulate considerable amounts of heavy metals. Higher levels of zinc and copper were observed in the isopods specimens, it's about ( 60.50±0.58 ) and ( 96.00±0.58 ) ppm respectively , while higher levels of lead were observed in the diplopods specimens ,it's about ( 23.00±1.15 ) ppm ,but the higher levels of both iron and cadmium were observed in snail specimens , it's about ( 590.00±1.15 ) and ( 9.50±1.15 ) ppm respectively .but the
... Show MoreThe present study examines the extraction of lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd) and nickel (Ni) from a contaminated soil by washing process. Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid disodium salt (Na2EDTA) and hydrochloric acid (HCl) solution were used as extractants. Soil washing is one of the most suitable in-situ/ ex-situ remediation method in removing heavy metals. Soil was artificially contaminated with 500 mg/kg (Pb , Cd and Ni ). A set of batch experiments were carried out at different conditions of extractant concentration , contact time, pH and agitation speed. The results showed that the maximum removal efficiencies of (Cd, Pb and Ni ) were (97, 88 and 24 )&nbs
... Show More