Background: Chronic cigarette smoking is one of the major risk factors for coronary artery disease. However, it has additional cardiac adverse effects independent of coronary atherosclerosis. Patient and Methods: After informed consent and perm- ission from the review board of the hospital, 80 healthy subjects who were classified as smokers or non-smokers were included in the study. They were examined by standard echocardiography protocol which was followed by two-dimensional speckle tracking to assess the functions of the right ventricle. Results: The tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) was significantly reduced in smokers as compared to non-smokers (P < 0.05). The tricuspid flow peak late diastolic velocity (A wave) was sig

Higher education is important because it creates and develops human capital and provides qualified human cadres, which requires restructuring government spending so that an increase in funding allocated to education is brought about. During the period 1990-2020, government spending was weak on educational institutions in Iraq, which led to a decline in The role of these institutions in the economic development of the country. The highest percentage of spending on higher education of GDP was 0.47% in 2007 and the lowest was 0.01% in 2005. The number of public universities reached 35, and the number of private universities and colleges reached 64 universities and private colleges in 2020. This was accompanied by an increase in the number of s

Most of the studies conducted in the past decades focused on the effect of interest rates and exchange rates on domestic investment under the assumption that the independent variables have the same effect on the dependent variable, but there were limited studies that investigated the unequal effects of changes in interest rates and exchange rates, both positive and negative, on domestic investment.  This study used a nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model to assess the unequal effects of the real interest rate and real exchange rate variables on domestic investment in Egypt for the period 1976 - 2020.  The results revealed that positive and negative shocks for both exchange rates have unequal effects on

Background: The miswak is a teeth cleaning twig made from a twig of the Salvadora persica tree (known as arak in Arabic).A traditional alternative to the modern toothbrush, it has a long, well-documented history and is reputed for its medicinal benefits. It also features prominently in Islamic hygienical jurisprudence. Materials and methods: Twenty maxillary first premolars were treated with the selected solutions which included siwak water extract (5%, 10%) and sodium fluoride 0.05% for 2minutes once daily for 20 days interval, deionized water was used as control negative. Then the concentration of the dissolved calcium ion in the etching solution of 2N HCL was measured. Results: The least amount of the dissolved calcium ion was registere

This study experimentally investigated Free-Fall Gravity Drainage (FFGD) under combination-drive conditions in a two-dimensional Hele-Shaw model representing a water-drive reservoir. An initially high gravity potential from the oil column enabled early oil drainage before aquifer support became dominant. Three water-drive strengths were tested, demonstrating that a stronger aquifer (1.15 psig) accelerated oil recovery to approximately 75% of the original oil in place (OOIP) within 60 minutes, resulting in a final recovery of 79.5%. However, this was accompanied by rapid water breakthrough after 2.5 minutes and high-water cuts exceeding 90%. In contrast, a weaker aquifer (0.725 psig) stabilized the oil–water contact, delaying w