Sam Shepard is considered as one of the modern American playwrights who combined the individual and the social in his plays to draw an image of a postmodern American society, and American family in particular by focusing on uniquely American aspects of culture. He is concerned with the individual in America rather than the institution. Shepard investigates, in almost all of his plays, the functions and dysfunctions of his characters, as well as the connections of individuals within the context of the family system and other social structures. The majority of his plays center on the struggle and conflict that occurs between father and son, husband and wife, and brother and brother as they strive for supremacy or for survival in a fra

Background: Recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) is one of the most common oral mucosa diseases characterized by recurrent, shallow, round or oval painful oral ulcers surrounded by inflammatory erythematous halos, the condition is chronic and self-limiting in immunocompetent patients. Aim of the study: to investigate the serum vitamin D levels in Iraqi female patients with RAS and the relationship between vitamin D levels and the severity of RAS. In this cross sectional study 30 female patients with idiopathic RAS, and 30 age and sex matched healthy controls were included, the severity of RAS is assessed by the number of oral aphthous ulcers in each attack and the frequency of attacks. Serum 25(OH) D levels were determined by the Enzy

Ex-situ bioremediation of 2,4-D herbicide-contaminated soil was studied using a slurry bioreactor operate at aerobic conditions. The performance of the slurry bioreactor was tested for three types of soil (sand, sandy loam and clay) contaminated with different concentration of 2,4-D, 200,300and500mg/kg soil. Sewage sludge was used as an inexpensive source of microorganisms which is available in large quantities in wastewater treatment plants. The results show that all biodegradation experiments demonstrated a significant decreases in 2,4-D concentration in the tested soils. The degradation efficiency in the slurry bioreactor decreases as the initial concentration of 2,4-D in the soils increases.A 100 % removal was achieved at initial con

Naproxen is non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, which has antipyretic and anti-inflammatory effect. It is extensively bound to plasma albumin, and exhibits gastric toxicity, so it may be more efficient to deliver the drug in its sustained release dosage form and adequate blood level is achieved. Three liquid formulations with in situ gelling properties have been assessed for their potential for the oral sustained delivery of naproxen . The formulations were dilute solutions of: (a) pectin; (b) gellan gum and; (c) sodium alginate, all containing complexed calcium ion that form gels when these ions are released in the acidic environment of the stomach . The viscosity of the sols and drug release were measured, and was found to be depende

Titanium dioxide nanotubes were synthesized by anodizing Ti sheets in the ethylene glycol solution and were covered in Pt nanoparticles onto the surface of TiO₂NTs using electrodeposition method from using five derivatives of Mannich base Pt complexes which have been used as precursor of platinum. The mean size, shape, elemental composition of the titanium dioxide nanotubes and platinum deposited on the template were evaluated by different techniques such as field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD), and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) technique. From all these analyses, the TiO₂NTs prepared and Ptnanoparticles deposited on it were ide

Background: Maxillary sinusitis can arise after sinus floor elevation surgery and should be treated immediately to prevent further complications which included dental implants failure, graft lost, and oro-antral fistula. This is the first systematic review to assess the incidence, causes, and treatment of sinusitis after sinus lift surgery. Materials and methods: An electronic search included MEDLINE (PUBMED) data base site was carried out for articles involving development of sinusitis after sinus lift surgery from September 1997 up to April, 8, 2017. The search was done and reviewed by two independent authors. Results: The total results of electronic search were (182) abstracts and articles, the extracted articles which involved develo

         Certain cyclic amine derivatives of metronidazole via acetate spacer were prepared. Cyclic amines used are piperidine and piperazine to improve the physicochemical properties and reduce some of metronidazole side effects. This is believed to be done by modification of its structural features to get prodrugs with improved properties over that of metronidazole. The present work includes esterification of metronidazole with choroacetic acid, N-alkylation of the cyclic amines by the halogenated ester and characterization of their structures by spectral(UV and IR) and elemental(CHN)analysis.The melting points, degree of solubilities and partition coefficients were also determined. Both metronid

Objective: The objective of the study was to test the hypothesis, that umbilical cord blood crude serum applied topically with its high concentration of growth factors may promote an early healing for animal models with burn injury.

Methods:  Fresh human umbilical cord blood UCBS was collected and screened for transmitted diseases such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV. Mice and rabbits were scalded by boiling water and chemical burning by NaOH, then treated with UCBS. In comparison with a Cetrimide treated group and a control group (without treatment). The UCBS was subjected to microbial testing to demonstrate the presence or absence of extraneous viable contaminating microorganisms.