Background: The nail organ has an important functional and aesthetic importance. Nail Growth Rate (NGR) has attracted the attention of many investigators not only due to the importance of the nail apparatus but also as a tool to reflect health.
Objective: To study the effects of smoking and age on nail growth.
Patients and methods:The study was conducted at the Department of Physiology and the Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, University of Baghdad during the period from January 2011 to May 2011.
Nail growth measurement was performed by etching a T – mark on the nail plate of the right and the left thumbs with a wide bore needle. The vertical distance between the point of meeting of the T and the proximal nail fold was measured using (vernier). A second measurement was performed one month later. The difference between the 2 readings was divided by the number of days between the readings to give the NGR.
Results:The NGR was measured in a total of 106 subjects. The subjects were divided into 3 groups:
Group1 (Smoker male subjects): 23 subjects were included in this group. Their ages ranged between 20 and 59 years with a mean of 35.87 +11.72 years. Group 2 (Non-smoker male subjects): 34 subjects were included. Their ages ranged between 13 and 52 years with a mean of 31.76 + 10.16 years.Group 3 (Non-smoker female subjects): 49 subjects were included. Their ages ranged between 8 and 58 years with a mean of 27.49 +11.66 years. NGR measurement in:
Group 1:The mean growth rate in the right thumb was 95.4 + 28.8 microns/day, and for the left thumb was 96 + 34 microns/day.
Group 2:The NGR was 105.6 + 34.35, and 103.4 + 34.24 microns /day, for the right thumb and the left thumb respectively. .
Group 3: The NGR was 100 .5 + 33.52 microns/day for the right thumb and 101.6 + 31.77 microns /day for the left thumb.
Conclusion: Age was inversely correlated with nail growth in right and left thumbs in all groups. The duration of smoking and number of cigarettes was inversely related to nail growth, but it did not reach statistical significance.
In this work, carbon-doped copper oxide thin films were deposited by the reactive DC sputtering method for use as selective absorbents. The properties of the DC discharge plasma were studied, using the emission spectrum, in the presence of pure argon and by mixing it with oxygen once and carbon dioxide again to know the effect of adding these gases on the properties of the resulting plasma used in the deposition of films. The structural properties of the deposited thin films prepared with different flow ratio of carbon dioxide gas were studied using x-ray diffraction. To examine the selective absorber coatings, the reflectance within the UV-Vis spectrum was measured to calculate the percentage of energy absorbed by solar radia
... Show MoreThe current research demonstrates the ERI method's effectiveness as a supplementary engineering site investigation approach. Engineering site research is important to indicate the subsoil of proposed production sites. The benefit of the dipole-dipole array for ERI electrical resistivity imaging is that it provides informative records of subsurface geology and condition along with profiles. The dipole-dipole array was performed along with three parallel profiles at the Diyala University site to identify the buried facilities (pipes and cables) in the area. The buried electric cable embedded in a plastic tube was used for simulation to report and verify the field resistivity results. Interpretation of field facts confirmed that
... Show MoreThe adsorption study of thymol, was carried out at (25±0.1) °C, using granulated surfactant modified Iraqi Na – montmorillonite clay (initiated modified bentonite); in a down-flow packed column, the modified mineral was characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy. A linear calibration graph for thymol was obtained, which obey Beer's law in the concentration range of 5-50 mg/L at 274 nm against reagent blank. Single-factor-at-a-time approach; showed that the equilibrium time required for complete adsorption was 45 minute with flow rate (4.0drop/ mint). The adsorption of thymol increased with rising pH of the adsorbate solution, increase of solute uptake when the initial adsor
... Show MoreNon Uniform Illumination biological image often leads to diminish structures and inhomogeneous intensities of the image. Algorithm has been proposed using Morphological Operations different types of structuring elements including (dick, line, square and ball) with the same parameters of (15).To correct the non-uniform illumination and enhancement biological images, the non-uniform background illumination have been removed from image, using (contrast adjustment, histogram equalization and adaptive histogram equalization). The used basic approach to extract the statistical features values from gray level of co-occurrence matrices (GLCM) can show the typical values for features content of biological images that can be in form of shape or sp
... Show MoreThe present study was designed to investigate the possibility of exploiting the interspecies interaction of microbial cells in order to enhance the production of prodigiosin by local isolate S. marcescens S23. Prodigiosin is a promising drug owing to its characteristics of antibacterial, antifungal, immunosuppressive and anticancer activities. S. marcescens S23 was isolated from soil sample and already recognized via morphological, biochemical and molecular identification process. The first step was to detect the optimal conditions for maximum prodigiosin production using chemically defined liquid medium. The results revealed that the optimal conditions for prodigiosin production were sucrose as carbon source; peptone as nitrogen source;
... Show MoreIn the present study, an attempt has been made to experimentally investigate the flexural performance of ten simply supported reinforced concrete gable roof beams, including solid control specimen (i.e., without openings) and nine beams with web openings of different dimensions and configurations. The nine beams with openings have identical reinforcement details. All beams were monotonically loaded to failure under mid-span loading. The main variables were the number of the created openings, the total area of the created openings, and the inclination angle of the posts between openings. Of interest is the load-carrying capacity, cracking resistance and propagation, deformability, failure mode, and strain development that represent the behav
... Show MoreTernary thin films have been clearly deposit using fully computerized system of spray pyrolysis technique onto glass substrates maintained at 310±5 °C. A mixture of an aqueous solution of thiourea, tin chloride dehydrate and copper chloride was used as spraying liquid. The optimumvolumetric ratio of mixing was found to be [S/(Cu+Sn)=1] at pH =1.5, in the present work. XRD examination was revealed CTS in a monoclinic phase. Number platform speeds were employed in the spraying process. XRD peaks were described at 2? = 28.39°, 33.02°, 47.34°, and 56.39° corresponding to , , , and , respectively. The FTIR investigations were certified a numeral of the chemical bond of Cu-, Sn- and S-. The grain size was observed in the range of nanosiz
... Show MoreHysterothylacium is one of the most important nematode parasites parasitizing fish, and it's the most diverse species nematodes of marine parasites, these species attach to the intestinal wall via their mouth lips adaptation. In the present study, seven out of 56 fish specimens (12.5 %) were found to be infected by the adult worms of Greasy grouper fishes Orangespotted grouper Epinephelus coioides (Forsskål, 1775)from locations of marine coastal water, Arabian Gulf, Iraq. A new recorded of Hysterothylacium spp. collected are morphologically described, genetically and Sccaning Electron Microscope (SEM) images for new systematic observations, on dorsal labium, su
... Show MoreBackground: preparation of root canals is an important step in root canal treatment. Mechanical instrumentation of root canals cause an irregular layer of debris, known as the smear layer. As a result, several studies reported that preferring the removal of the smear layer. Objective: To study the influence of the energy (100 mJ) of Erbium, Chromium: Yttrium Scandium Gallium Garnet (Er,Cr:YSGG) laser at short pulse duration (60 μs) on smear layer removal of apical third after using Photon induced photoacoustic streaming technique. Materials and methods: Eighteen straight single-rooted mandibular premolars were used. The roots length were uniform to 14mm from the anatomic apex and
... Show More