Background: Palmoplantar psoriasis is a therapeutically challenging condition that can significantly impact patient quality of life as it directly affects activities. However, despite this impact, few clinical studies address treatment. Herbs and their extracts have been used for treatment of skin disease for centuries. One of the most popular herbs in our society is black cumin or seed of blessing oil (Nigella Sativa); this plant had diverse clinically useful activity.
Patients and Methods: This study was conducted in the Department of Dermatology and Venereology in Baghdad Teaching Hospital, Iraq during the period between January and October 2003. In this singleblind randomly controlled therapeutic study, thirty patients were enrolled, their ages ranged from 22-65 years. There were 18` females and 12 males. The patients were divided into 2 groups; group A (20 patient) instructed to use nigella sativa 10% ointment twice daily for 3 months, while group B (10 patient) used a control ointment(Vaseline) . Statistical analyses were carried out by computer using ttest, and chi-square when needed.
Results: twenty-four patients completed the study. In group A (18 patients), we noted a significantly reduction of the thickness and fissuring of the skin of the affected part which was also become very soft after 3 months of therapy. The response of patients to treatment was good in 50%, moderate in 27.8% and mild response in 22.2%. The satisfaction of patients with treatment was full in 61.1%, partial in 27.8%, and no satisfaction in 11.1%. In group B (6 patients), the lesions showed no significant reduction after 3 months and the response of patients to treatment was good in 16.6%, moderate in 33.4%, and mild response in 50%. The satisfaction of patients with treatment in this group was full in 16.6%, partial in 50%, and no satisfaction in 33.4%. The difference in outcome after 12 weeks between the 2 study groups was statistically significant.
Conclusion: The ointment of the black cumin is considered as a very good remedy for the palmoplantar psoriasis. This remedy is considered to be very safe, cheap and easy to prepare with no serious side effects as compared to the previous ointments for this type of psoriasis.
Artificial lift techniques are a highly effective solution to aid the deterioration of the production especially for mature oil fields, gas lift is one of the oldest and most applied artificial lift methods especially for large oil fields, the gas that is required for injection is quite scarce and expensive resource, optimally allocating the injection rate in each well is a high importance task and not easily applicable. Conventional methods faced some major problems in solving this problem in a network with large number of wells, multi-constrains, multi-objectives, and limited amount of gas. This paper focuses on utilizing the Genetic Algorithm (GA) as a gas lift optimization algorit
Abstract This study investigated the treatment of textile wastewater contaminated with Acid Black 210 dye (AB210) using zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) through adsorption and photocatalytic techniques. ZnO NPs were synthesized using a green synthesis process involving eucalyptus leaves as reducing and capping agents. The synthesized ZnO NPs were characterized using UV-Vis spectroscopy, SEM, EDAX, XRD, BET, Zeta potential, and FTIR techniques. The BET analysis revealed a specific surface area and total pore volume of 26.318 m2/g. SEM images confirmed the crystalline and spherical nature of the particles, with a particle size of 73.4 nm. A photoreactor was designed to facilitate the photo-degradation process. The study investigated the inf
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Black paint laser peening (bPLP) technique is currently applied for many engineering materials , especially for aluminum alloys due to high improvement in fatigue life and strength . Constant and variable bending fatigue tests have been performed at RT and stress ratio R= -1 . The results of the present work observed that the significance of the surface work hardening which generated high negative residual stresses in bPLP specimens .The fatigue life improvement factor (FLIF) for bPLP constant fatigue behavior was from 2.543 to 3.3 compared to untreated fatigue and the increase in fatigue strength at 107 cycle was 21% . The bPLP cumulative fatigue life behav
... Show MoreA newly derivative of oxazolidin-5- one namely [2-(2-biphenyl-4-yl-imidazo [1,2-a] pyridine-3-yl)-3-(4-nitro-phenyl)-oxazolidin-5-one (BIPNO5)] was examined as an corrosion inhibitor for carbon steel surface. Quantum mechanical method of Density Functional Theory (DFT) with (B3LYP (6-311++G (2d, 2p)) level of theory was used to calculate the minimize structure, physical properties and inhibition chemical parameters, in vacuum and two solvents (DMSO and H2O), all at equilibrium geometry. The results indicated that the new derivative could adsorb on the surface of carbon steel through the heteroatom, showing that the new inhibitor has good corrosion inhibition performance.
A new method for construction ion-selective electrode (ISE) by heating reaction of methyl orange with ammonium reineckate using PVC as plasticizer for determination methyl orange and determination Amitriptyline Hydrochloried drug by formation ion-pair on electrode surface . The characteristics of the electrode and it response as following : internal solution 10-4M , pH (2.5-5) ,temperature (20-30) and response time 2 sec. Calibration response for methyl orange over the concentrationrange 10-3 -10-9 M with R=0.9989 , RSD%=0.1052, D.O.L=0.315X10-9 MEre%=(-0.877- -2.76) , Rec%.=(97.230 -101.711) .
Crystalline silicon (c-Si) has low optical absorption due to its high surface reflection of incident light. Nanotexturing of c-Si which produces black silicon (b-Si) offers a promising solution. In this work, effect of H2O2 concentrations towards surface morphological and optical properties of b-Si fabricated by two-step silver-assisted wet chemical etching (Ag-based two-step MACE) for potential photovoltaic (PV) applications is presented. The method involves a 30 s deposition of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) in an aqueous solution of AgNO3:HF (5:6) and an optimized etching in HF:H2O2:DI H2O solution under 0.62 M, 1.85 M, 2.47 M, and 3.7 M concentrations of H2O<
... Show MoreObjective: The goal of this research is to load Doxorubicin (DOX) on silver nanoparticles coupled with folic acid and test their anticancer properties against breast cancer. Methods: Chitosan-Capped silver nanoparticles (CS-AgNPs) were manufactured and loaded with folic acid as well as an anticancer drug, Doxorubicin, to form CS-AgNPs-DOX-FA conjugate. AFM, FTIR, and SEM techniques were used to characterize the samples. The produced multifunctional nano-formulation served as an intrinsic drug delivery system, allowing for effective loading and targeting of chemotherapeutics on the Breast cancer (AMJ 13) cell line. Flowcytometry was used to assess therapy efficacy by measuring apoptotic induction. Results: DOX and CS-Ag
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Pilot-scale dead end microfiltration membranes were carried out to determine the feasibility of the process for treating the oily wastewater which discharge from some Iraqi factories such as power station of south of Baghdad and the general company of petrochemical industries. Polypropylene membranes (cylindrical shape) with different pore diameters (1 and 5 micron) were used to conduct the study on micromembrane process. The variables studied are oil concentration (100 – 1000 ppm), feed flow rate (20 – 40 l/h), operating temperature (31 – 50°C) and time (0 – 3 h). It was found that the flux increases with increasing feed flow rate, temperature and pore size of membrane, and decreases with increasing oil concentration and operating
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