The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is caused by the transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which was first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, China. The outbreak was declared as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern in January 2020 and a pandemic in March 2020. In this study, a complete statistical analysis for SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in entire Iraq, as well as for each governorate separately, is performed for the first time. The study covers a period that starts from the beginning of the pandemic, in the 24th of February 2020, until the 16th of July 2020. It was clear that, although the average number of the reported infection cases was low during February and March, the average infection rate (R0) was >1 (1.3- 2.1), indicating a high spreading rate. During April, when there was a complete lockdown, there was a slight decrease in the RO when the lockdown was lifted, the RO and the number of new cases started to increase rapidly until the 16th of July, when the average number of new cases for every 6 days reached 2281. The cumulative average number of new cases for every six days since the beginning of the pandemic in Iraq on 16 July was 598.4 ±862.4 (Mean± SD). The higher standard deviation than mean value (SD > mean) for most of the analyzes indicates that the official statistics are not reliable. This may be due to the need to conduct further studies as well as the presence of several cases that were not officially reported. In addition, the overall six-day average RO for entire Iraq was 1.4±0.5, with unstable values after the start of the pandemic and absence of monitoring at any time. On the other hand, this study reflects the variations in average RO, average new cases, average recovery rates, average death rates for every 6 days between the Iraqi provinces. Bagdad reported the highest average number of new cases; Babil and Salah aldin reported the highest RO values (2.8± 7.6, 2.5±7.7, respectively). Erbil and Kurkuk reported the highest average recovery rates (372.3± 1340.8, 158±433%, respectively). Babil and Dhiqar reported the highest average death rates (12.2± 63.3, 10.0± 25.8%, respectively), although Duhock did not record any deaths at the time of the study. The data require the attention of the Ministry of Health and Environment to fill in performance holes, as demonstrated by an out-of-control pandemic in Iraq.
Objective. This study aimed to evaluate the orthodontic bond strength and enamel-preserving ability of a hydroxyapatite nanoparticles-containingself-etch system following exposure to various ageing methods. Materials and Methods. Hydroxyapatite nanoparticles (nHAp) were incorporated into an orthodontic self-etch primer (SEP, Transbond™ plus) in three different concentrations (5%, 7%, and 9% wt) and tested versus the plain SEP (control) for shear bond strength (SBS), adhesive remnant index (ARI) scores, and enamel damage in range-finding experiments using premolar teeth. The best-performing formulation was further exposed to the following four artificial ageing methods: initial debonding, 24 h water storage, one-month water stora
... Show MoreA multistep synthesis was established for the preparation of a new vanillic acid-1, 2, 4-1triazole-3-thiol conjugate (
The neutrophil/ lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR) have the potential to be inflammatory markers that reflect the activity of many inflammatory diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the NLR and PLR as potential markers of disease activity in patients with ankylosing spondylitis.
The study involved 132 patients with ankylosing spondylitis and 81 healthy controls matched in terms of age and gender. Their sociodemographic data, disease activity scores using the Bath Ankylosing
This investigation reports application of a mesoporous nanomaterial based on dicationic ionic liquid bonded to amorphous silica, namely nano-N,N,N′,N′-tetramethyl-N-(silican-propyl)-N′-sulfo-ethane-1,2-diaminium chloride (nano-[TSPSED][Cl]2), as an extremely effectual and recoverable catalyst for the generation of bis(pyrazolyl)methanes and pyrazolopyranopyrimidines in solvent-free conditions. In both synthetic protocols, the performance of this catalyst was very useful and general and presented attractive features including short reaction times with high yields, reasonable turnover frequency and turnover number values, easy workup, high performance under mild conditions, recoverability and reusability in 5 consecutive runs without lo
... Show MoreRice is a major staple food for more than two thirds of the world population. Pathogenesis-related proteins-10 (PR10) have a range of 154 to 163 amino acid with molecular weight ~ 17 kDa. They are acidic and generally intracellular and cytosolic proteins accumulate in plants in response to biotic and abiotic stresses. In the present study, a PR10 gene and its corresponding protein were characterized in O. sativa, O. barthii, O. glaberrima, O. glumipatula, O. meridionalis, O. nivara, O. rufipogon and O. punctata. The results revealed a narrow range of variation at both DNA and protein levels in all examined species except O. glumipatula. The latter showed a relatively
... Show MoreBacteriocin is an important antimicrobial peptide that can be used in industrial and medical fields due to its characteristics of antibacterial, food preservation and anticancer activities. Fifty isolates of Bacillus sp were collected from different soil samples which were already recognized via morphological and biochemical identification process. The isolates were screened for bacteriocin production effective against Staphylococcus spp in order to select the highest producing isolate. The isolate NK16 showed the maximum bacteriocin production (80 AU/ml) which was further characterized as Bacillus subtilis NK 16 through using API identification system (API 20E and API 50CHB). Then, next step was to detect the optimal conditions for maximum
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