Background: Saliva is a specific bio-fluid with important biomarkers. Analyzing any alternation in these markers could give valuable information, in relation to oral health status parameters. The aim of this study was to investigate the level of α -amylase in unstimulated whole saliva of healthy, primary school children in relation to some oral health parameters. Materials and Methods: A questionnaires consisted of demography and medical histories of participants were filled by children families. Saliva samples were collected for 5- minutes between 9:00 -11:00 AM from 114 healthy students aged 6-13 years, divided into four age groups. Flow- rate, Plaque and Gingival Index were assessed and dentition status was investigated by DMFT/dmft using WHO criteria. Salivary amylase was analyzed in unite per litter, using quantitative colorimetric amylase determination at 585nm. Results: A significant positive correlation was found between age and salivary flow-rate, (r=0.362, P < 0.001). Salivary α-amylase concentration increased significantly with age (P< 0.001). For each one year there is an increase in age, amylase level is expected to increase by 5.2 U/L. A male gender is expected to reduce salivary α -amylase level by 10.6 U/L compared to female, however the effect was not significant. Gingival index was positively, although non-significantly associated with salivary α -amylase concentration. DMFT showed a significant weak positive linear correlation with salivary amylase level (r=0.309, P<0.001), while deciduous teeth decay experience and plaque index were significantly and negatively associated with salivary amylase. Conclusion: Results emphasize the importance of salivary amylase, as a non-invasive biomarker in regulating oral and dental health status in children.
Permanent deformation (Rutting) of asphalt pavements which appears in many roads in Iraq, have caused a major impact on pavement performance by reducing the useful service life of pavement and creating services hazards for highway users. The main objective of this research is investigating the effect of some contributory factors related to permanent deformation of asphalt concrete mixture. To meet the objectives of this research, available local materials are used including asphalt binder, aggregates, mineral filler and modified asphalt binder. The Superpave mix design system was adopted with varying volumetric compositions. The Superpave Gyratory Compactor was used to compact 24 asphalt concrete cylindrical specimens. To collect t
... Show MoreReinforced concrete barriers have been commonly used in protecting the important building because the response of R.C. barriers subjected to blast loading is practically more acceptable than other materials used to build the barriers. In this study, the response of R.C. barriers was detected due to the blast effects caused by two charge weights (50 kg and 400 kg); ANSYS 14 was used to simulate the problem. A horizontal distance of 2 m between the explosive TNT charge and the front face of wall was taken. The pressure on the front face of the concrete barriers was measured at three levels. The R.C. barrier was entirely damaged when subjected to the blast effects caused by 400 kg TNT explosion bomb. However, the 50 kg TNT charge had
... Show MoreArtificial intelligence (AI) is entering many fields of life nowadays. One of these fields is biometric authentication. Palm print recognition is considered a fundamental aspect of biometric identification systems due to the inherent stability, reliability, and uniqueness of palm print features, coupled with their non-invasive nature. In this paper, we develop an approach to identify individuals from palm print image recognition using Orange software in which a hybrid of AI methods: Deep Learning (DL) and traditional Machine Learning (ML) methods are used to enhance the overall performance metrics. The system comprises of three stages: pre-processing, feature extraction, and feature classification or matching. The SqueezeNet deep le
... Show MoreArtificial intelligence (AI) is entering many fields of life nowadays. One of these fields is biometric authentication. Palm print recognition is considered a fundamental aspect of biometric identification systems due to the inherent stability, reliability, and uniqueness of palm print features, coupled with their non-invasive nature. In this paper, we develop an approach to identify individuals from palm print image recognition using Orange software in which a hybrid of AI methods: Deep Learning (DL) and traditional Machine Learning (ML) methods are used to enhance the overall performance metrics. The system comprises of three stages: pre-processing, feature extraction, and feature classification or matching. The SqueezeNet deep le
... Show MoreSalinity of soil or irrigation water is one of the most important obstacle towards crop production and productivity, especially with the increasing scarcity of fresh water in Iraq and the Arab countries. The impact of salinity will be alleviated with the increasing temperature due to global warming. The objectives of this article was to shed some light on traits more related to salinity stress tolerance in oats, and to identify genetic variation of these traits. A split-plot arrangement experiment with RCBD was applied through 2011-2013 on the farm of Dept. of Field Crops/Coll. of Agric./Univ. of Baghdad. The oats cultivars; Hamel, Pimula and Genzania were set in sub-plots, whereas water quality was set in main-plots. Water quality had two
... Show MoreRisks are confronting the foundations of buildings and structures when exposed to earthquakes which leads to high displacements that may cause the failure of the structures. This research elaborates numerically the effect of the earthquake on the vertical and lateral displacement of footing resting on the soil. The thickness of the footing and depth of soil layer below the footing was taken as (0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 m) and (10, 20 and 40m), respectively. The stiffness ratio of soil to footing was also elaborated at 0.68, 0.8, 1.0, and 1.7. The results showed an increase in the verticle displacement of footing as the duration of the earthquake increases. The increase of soil layer thickness below the footing leads to a reduction in the vertical
... Show MoreWater scarcity is one of the most important problems facing humanity in various fields such as economics, industry, agriculture, and tourism. This may push people to use low-quality water like industrial-wastewater. The application of some chemical compounds to get rid of heavy metals such as cadmium is an environmentally harmful approach. It is well-known that heavy metals as cadmium may induce harmful problems when present in water and invade to soil, plants and food chain of a human being. In this case, man will be forced to use the low quality water in irrigation. Application of natural materials instead of chemicals to remove cadmium from polluted water is an environmental friendly approach. Attention was drawn in this research wor
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