Toxoplasma gondii is a unique intracellular parasite, which infect a large proportion of the world population, but uncommonly causes clinically significant disease. The present study was performed to estimate the prevalence of toxoplasmosis in 400 apparently healthy blood donor males, their ages were between 18 and 57 years using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay, and to examine the effects of infection on total testosterone, free testosterone and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) levels in their sera. Seroprevalence showed 10 (2.5 %) and 121 (30 %) of them had IgM and IgG antibodies respectively. Both acute and chronic toxoplasmosis in males recorded higher significant (P < 0.05) mean concentration for total and free testosterone hormone,

The effect of air injection angle on the performance of airlift pump used for water pumping has been studied analytically and experimentally. An airlift pump of dimensions 42mm diameter and 2200 mm length with conventional and modified air injection device was considered. A modification on conventional injection device (normal air-jacket type) was carried out by changing injection angle from 90  (for conventional) to 45  and 22.5  (for modified). Continuity and one-dimensional momentum balance for the flow field with basic principle of two-phase flow and expressions of slip ratio and friction factor as function of flow rates were formulated. The analytical and experimental investigations were carried out f

Vapor-liquid equilibrium data are presented for the binary systems n-hexane - 1-propanol, benzene - 1-propanol and n-hexane – benzene at 760 mm of mercury pressure. In addition ternary data are presented at selected compositions with respect to the 1-propanol in the 1-propanol, benzene, n-hexane system at 760 mmHg. The results indicate the relative volatility of n-hexane relative to benzene increases appreciably with addition of 1-propanol.

The lead-acid battery has become so dependable in its used applications of automobile starting, emergency lighting and telecommunications, which left an impression that no further investigation is necessary or desirable. While there has been slow continuous improvements in lead-acid battery performance and mainly limited to design and material engineering. This work is mainly devoted to the properties of the active mass of the positive electrode and the acid/water ratio during the manufacturing process. A field study is carried out at the State Battery Manufacturing Company located in Baghdad, to prepare batches of lead mono-oxide with predefined quantities of liquid additives (i.e. sulfuric acid and water). Quality control and laborator

The effect of short range correlations on the inelastic Coulomb form factors for excited +2 states (1.982, 3.919, 5.250 and 8.210MeV) and +4 states (3.553, 7.114, 8.960 and 10.310 MeV) in O18 is analyzed. This effect (which depends on the correlation parameterβ) is inserted into the ground state charge density distribution through the Jastrow type correlation function. The single particle harmonic oscillator wave function is used with an oscillator size parameter .b The parameters β and b are adjusted for each excited state separately so as to reproduce the experimental root mean square charge radius of .18O The nucleusO18 is considered as an inert core of C12 with two protons and four neutrons distributed over 212521211sdp−− activ

A Laced Reinforced Concrete (LRC) structural element comprises continuously inclined shear reinforcement in the form of lacing that connects the longitudinal reinforcements on both faces of the structural element. This study conducted a theoretical investigation of LRC deep beams to predict their behavior after exposure to fire and high temperatures. Four simply supported reinforced concrete beams of 1500 mm, 200 mm, and 240 mm length, width, and depth, respectively, were considered. The specimens were identical in terms of compressive strength (  40 MPa) and steel reinforcement details. The same laced steel reinforcement ratio of 0.0035 was used. Three specimens were burned at variable durations and steady-state temperatures (one

Incremental sheet metal forming process is an advanced flexible manufacturing process to produce various 3D products without using dedicated tool as in conventional metal forming. There are a lot of process parameters that have effect on this process, studying the effect of some parameters on the strain distributions of the product over the length of deformation is the aim of this study.

In order to achieve this goal, three factors (tool forming shape, feed rate and incremental step size) are examined depending on three levels on the strain distributions over the wall of the product. Strain measurement was accomplished by using image processing technique using MATALB program. The significance of the control factors are explored u

Background:The demand for esthetic orthodontic appliances is increasing so that the esthetic orthodontic archwires were introduced. This in vitro study was designed to evaluate the surface roughness offiber-reinforced polymer composite (FRPC) archwires compared to coated nickel-titanium (NiTi) archwires immersed in artificial saliva. Materials and Methods:Three types of esthetic orthodontic archwires were used: FRPC (Dentaurum), Teflon coated NiTi (Dentaurum) and epoxy coated NiTi (Orthotechnology). They were round (0.018 inch) in cross section and cut into pieces of 15 mm in length.Forty pieces from each type were divided into four groups; one group was left at a dry condition and the other three groups were immersed in artificial saliva (