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.
A new concrete rheometer is introduced including its innovation, actual design, working rules,
calibration, and reliability. A modified design of Tattersall two-point device is created. Some of
components are purchased from local and foreign markets, while other components and the
manufacturing process are locally fabricated. The matching viscosity method of determining the mixer
viscometer constants is demonstrated and followed to relate torque and rotational speed to yield stress
and viscosity (Bingham parameters). The calibration procedures and its calculation are explained.
Water is used as a Newtonian fluid, while; cement paste (cement + water) with w/c ratio equal to
(0.442) is used as a non-Newtonian fluid. Th
Multiple drilling problems are being faced continuously while drilling wells in the southern Iraqi oil fields. Many of which are handled poorly and inefficiently which yields longer non-productive time due to the lack of knowledge about the source of these problems. This study aims to investigate the Basra oil fields formations from Faris to Mishrif, diagnose the potential problems, and present the optimum treatment for each problem.
Gathering of field data and previous studies on the subject, in addition to the field experience of drilling supervisors were all the information bases of this study. Southern Iraqi oil fields were studied and analyzed care
A field-pilot scale slow sand filter (SSF) was constructed at Al-Rustamiya Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) in Baghdad city to investigate the removal efficiency in terms of Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD5), Chemical oxygen demand (COD), Total Suspended Solids (TSS) and Chloride concentrations for achieving better secondary effluent quality from this treatment plant. The SSF was designed at a 0.2 m/h filtration rate with filter area 1 m2 and total filter depth of 2.3 m. A filter sand media 0.35 mm in size and 1 m depth was supported by 0.2 m layer of gravel of size 5 mm. The secondary effluent from Al-Rustamiya STP was used as the influent to the slow sand filter. The results showed that the removal of BOD5, COD, TSS, and Chloride were
... Show MoreIn this study, we have created a new Arabic dataset annotated according to Ekman’s basic emotions (Anger, Disgust, Fear, Happiness, Sadness and Surprise). This dataset is composed from Facebook posts written in the Iraqi dialect. We evaluated the quality of this dataset using four external judges which resulted in an average inter-annotation agreement of 0.751. Then we explored six different supervised machine learning methods to test the new dataset. We used Weka standard classifiers ZeroR, J48, Naïve Bayes, Multinomial Naïve Bayes for Text, and SMO. We also used a further compression-based classifier called PPM not included in Weka. Our study reveals that the PPM classifier significantly outperforms other classifiers such as SVM and N
... Show MoreIn this study an experimental work was done to study the possibility of using aluminum rubbish material as a coagulant to remove the colloidal particles from oily wastewater by dissolving this rubbish in sodium hydroxide solution. The experiments were carried out on simulated oily wastewater that was prepared at different oil concentrations and hardness levels (50, 250, 500, and 1000) ppm oil for (2000, 2500, 3000, and 3500) ppm CaCo3 respectively. The initial turbidity values were (203, 290, 770, and 1306) NTU, while the minimum values of turbidity that have been gained from the experiments in NTU units were (1.67, 1.95, 2.10, and 4.01) at best sodium aluminate dosages in milliliters (12, 20, 24, and 28) for
... Show MorePsoriasis is a common chronic skin condition characterized by infiltration of inflammatory cells into the epidermis and altered keratinocyte differentiation.
In this work, psoriasis was induced by an imiquimod 5% cream, an immune response modifier that can induce psoriasis-like skin inflammation when applied topically in mice. Guggulsterone prepared as a suspension and has been orally given to mice before imiquimod application. The results of the current study showed that guggulsterone suspension can significantly reduce psoriasis area and severity index in (guggul suspension+imiquimod group as compared with both control group and (vehicle suspension+imiquimod ) group.