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.
The object of this research is to reveal the neotectonics of Al-Thirthar, Al-Habbaniya, and Al-Razzazah depressions by using remote sensing data. The age of the exposed rocks ranges from Early Miocene to Holocene. The depressions represent the west margin of the Mesopotamia Zone along its boundary with Al-Salman Zone. The lineament map contains three major groups of lineaments. Two of them are trending east-west and northeast-southwest parallel to the transversal fault systems of Iraq territory. The third group is trending northwest-southeast. The lineament groups reveal the tectonic and structural effects to the extension and the shape of the depressions. The intersection of the lineaments divided the area into small fragments which con
... Show MoreA novel demountable shear connector for precast steel-concrete composite bridges is presented. The connector uses high-strength steel bolts, which are fastened to the top flange of the steel beam with the aid of a special locking nut configuration that prevents bolts from slipping within their holes. Moreover, the connector promotes accelerated construction and overcomes the typical construction tolerance issues of precast structures. Most importantly, the connector allows bridge disassembly. Therefore, it can address different bridge deterioration scenarios with minimum disturbance to traffic flow including the following: (1) precast deck panels can be rapidly uplifted and replaced; (2) connectors can be rapidly removed and replaced; and (
... Show More15 sediment samples were collected; 8 samples from the eastern bank, and 7 samples from the western bank of Al-Wind River in Diyala governorate to assess the sediment pollution in some trace elements such as Fe, Ni, Cd, Zr, Zn and Cu in addition to some oxides such as Al2O3, CaO, Na2O and K2O to find the effect of anthropogenic pollution and the industrial production on the sediment closed especially Naftkhana by using some geochemical pollution indices such as: geoaccumulation factor (I-geo), enrichment factor (EF),contamination factor (CF), pollution loud index (PLI) and to evaluate the degree of weathering by Applying the Chemical Index of Alteration (CIA)in both banks of Al-Wind River. The
... Show MoreThe road network in the Baranan mountain, near Dararash village, connecting Sulaymaniyah city with Qaradagh town, plays a major role in socio- economic activities of Qaradagh town and its surrounding villages. Any type of slope failure in the area may cause breaking up in traffic, loss of lives, and injuries.
For assessing the stability of rock slopes in the area, seven stations (rock-cut slopes) were selected along the road and evaluated by kinematic analysis, using DIPS v6.008 software and slope mass rating system (SMRTool - v205 software).
The kinematic analysis revealed that planar and wedge sliding may occur in stations no.2, 5, 6, and 7, flexural toppling
... Show MoreThe disposal of textile effluents to the surface water bodies represents the critical issue especially these effluents can have negative impacts on such bodies due to the presence of dyes in their composition. Biological remediation methods like constructed wetlands are more cost-effective and environmental friendly technique in comparison with traditional methods. The ability of vertical subsurface flow constructed wetlands units for treating of simulated wastewater polluted with Congo red dye has been studied in this work. The units were packed with waterworks sludge bed that either be unplanted or planted with Phragmites australis and Typha domingensis. The efficacy of present units was evaluated by monitoring of DO, Temperature, COD
... Show MoreIn the present investigation, the synthesis of copper nanoparticles from green tea was attempted and investigated for its capacity to adsorb drugs (Ciprofloxacin). The copper nanoparticles (Cu-NPs) were characterized by different techniques of analysis such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images, atomic force microscope (AFM), blumenauer-emmer-teller (BET), fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and zeta potentials techniques. Cu-NPs lie in the mesoporous material category with a diameter in the range of 2-50 nm. The aqueous solution was investigated for the removal of ciprofloxacin (CIP) with green tea-synthesized Cu-NPs. The results showed that ciprofloxacin efficiency depe
... Show MoreDyes are extensively water-soluble and toxic chemicals. The disposing of wastewater rich with such chemicals has severely impacted surface water quality (rivers and lakes). In the current study, an anionic dye, methyl orange, were extracted from wastewater fluids using bulk liquid membranes supplemented with an anionic carrier (Aliquat 336 (QCI)). Parameters including solvent type (carbon tetrachloride and chloroform), membrane stirring speed (100-250 rpm), mixing speed of both phases (50-100 rpm), The feed pH (2-12) and implemented temperature (35-60 °C) were thoroughly analyzed to determine the effect of such variables on extraction effectiveness. Furthermore, the effect of methyl orange (10-50 ppm) in the feed stage and NaOH (0
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