Background: The daily cleaning routine of the silicone maxillofacial prostheses by the patient may cause some alteration in the materials properties. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of different disinfection procedures on some properties of silicon dioxide reinforced Cosmesil M511 HTV maxillofacial silicone. Materials and Methods: One hundred and sixty (160) specimens were prepared by mixing 5% SiO2 nano particles and 0.5% intrinsic cream color into the silicone polymer according to manufacturer's instructions. Specimens were divided into 4 groups according to the performed test (tear strength, surface hardness, surface roughness and color) with 40 specimens each. Each group was further subdivided according to the disinfection procedure conducted (control, microwave exposure, neutral soap and 4% chlorhexidine gluconate). Measurements for tear strength were done using universal testing machine. Surface hardness test was carried out with a Shore A Durometer. Surface roughness was analyzed with a portable digital Profilometer. Color change was established with a Spectrophotometer. After the initial testing, all specimens were submitted to disinfection procedure 3 times a week for 60 days. Measurements were repeated and data were statistically analyzed using one-way ANOVA followed by Fisher's LSD or Games-Howell test. Results: Spectrophotometer results showed non-significant decrease in the light absorbance of all experimental groups after disinfection, indicating a strong integration between the nano filler and the polymeric chains, which was not broken during the disinfection procedure. Highly-significant increase in Shore A hardness was recorded, while the decrease in surface roughness was highly significant in all experimental groups. Tear strength reduced significantly after disinfection in all experimental groups. Conclusion: Disinfection seemed to cause different amount of alteration in all of the tested properties of silicone. High color stability is expected in this type of maxillofacial silicone after disinfection.Although microwave exposure had increased the hardness of the material, it is considered a satisfactory disinfection procedure since it caused the least effect on the tear strength and surface roughness of the material. Therefore, microwave exposure is recommended for the disinfection of maxillofacial silicone prostheses.
Studies were conducted to evaluate the biological effects of the non-steroidal ecdysone agonist (Methoxyfenozide), on different developmental larval stages of cotton leafworm Spodoptera littoralis (Boisd.) in the laboratory. The results showed that the early larval stages were the most susceptible to Methoxyfenozide which caused 100% mortality within 4-6 days after treatment at all used concentrations, while such percentage of mortality was achieved within 6 days after treatment for late larval stages when the highest concentration was used (0.2)g (ai) /L. Several morphological deformations were noticed on pupal stage, the results showed that the highest percentage of deformations was 1
... Show MoreIn the present work, the effect of isolated dust particles (FeO) with radius of the grain 0.1μm - 0.5μm of main plasma characteristics are investigated experimentally in direct current system by using magnetic field. The present of dust particle in the air plasma did effect on Paschen minimum and on the plasma properties in low pressure region. The effect of dust particles on discharge voltage, discharge current, plasma potential, floating potential, electron density, electron temperature and Debye length was investigation by using magnetic field. The measurements of parameters are taken by four cylindrical Langmuir probes. The results show the present of dust causes decreasing in discharge voltage with increase pressure while the disc
... Show MoreThe climate changes had been recognized as one of the major factors responsible for land degradation, which has a significant impact on diverse aspects. The present study aims to estimate how the climate change can influence land degradation in the south areas of Baghdad province (Al-Rasheed, Al-Mahmudiyah, Al-Yusufiyah, Al-Madaen, and Al-Latifiyah). The Satellite Landsat-8 OLI and satellite Landsat-5 TM sensor imagery were used to extent land degradation for the period (2010-2019). ArcGIS V.10.4 was applied to manage and analysis the satellite image dataset, including the use of climate factors data from the European Center for Climate Forecasts (ECMWF) by reanalyzes and extraction datasets. To achieve work objectives, many
... Show MoreTitanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V or Gr.23) was widely used as a dental alloy. In the current study, polymerization of eugenol (PE) on Gr.23 titanium alloys was conducted by an electrochemical process before and after being treated by Micro Arc Oxidation (MAO). The formed films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The corrosion behavior of Gr.23 alloy in an artificial saliva environment at a temperature range of 293–323 K has been studied and assessed by means of electrochemical polarization and impedance spectroscopy techniques. Three cases are taken into consideration; bare Gr.23, Gr.23 coated by PE, and Gr.23 coated by PE after MAO treatment. The maxi
... Show MoreThis work describes, selenium (Se) films were deposited on clean glass substrates by dc planar magnetron sputtering technique.The dependence of sputtering deposition rate of Se film deposited on pressure and DC power has been studied. The optimum argon pressure has range (4x10-1 -8x10-2 )mbar. The optical properties such as absorption coefficient (α) was determined using the absorbance and transmission measurement from UnicoUV-2102 PC spectrophotometer, at normal incidence of light in the wavelength range of 200-850 nm. And also we calculated optical constants(refractive index (n), dielectric constant (εi,r), and Extinction coefficient (κ) for selenium films.
The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly affected the healthcare sector and the productivity of medical staff and doctors. This study employs machine learning to analyze the post-COVID-19 impact on the productivity of medical staff and doctors across various specialties. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 960 participants from different specialties between June 1, 2022, and April 5, 2023. The study collected demographic data, including age, gender, and socioeconomic status, as well as information on participants' sleeping habits and any COVID-19 complications they experienced. The findings indicate a significant decline in the productivity of medical staff and doctors, with an average reduction of 23% during the post-COVID-19 period. T
... Show MoreA simple UV spectrophotometric differential derivatization method was performed for the simultaneous quantification of three aromatic amino acids of tryptophan, the polar tyrosine and phenylalanine TRP, TYR and PHE respectively. The avoidance of the time and reagents consuming steps of sample preparation or analyze separation from its bulk of interferences made the approach environmentally benign, sustainable and green. The linear calibration curves of differential second derivative were built at the optimum wavelength for each analyze (218.9, 236.1 and 222.5 nm) for PHE, TRP and TYR respectively. Quantification for each analyze was in the concentration range of (1.0– 45, 0.1–20.0 and 1.0– 50.0 μg/ml) at replicates of (n=3) with a re
... Show MoreShallow foundations are usually used for structures with light to moderate loads where the soil underneath can carry them. In some cases, soil strength and/or other properties are not adequate and require improvement using one of the ground improvement techniques. Stone column is one of the common improvement techniques in which a column of stone is installed vertically in clayey soils. Stone columns are usually used to increase soil strength and to accelerate soil consolidation by acting as vertical drains. Many researches have been done to estimate the behavior of the improved soil. However, none of them considered the effect of stone column geometry on the behavior of the circular footing. In this research, finite ele
... Show MoreBackground: This in vitro study was carried out to evaluate the effects of various veneering dentin ceramic thicknesses and repeated firings on the color of lithium disilicate glass-ceramic (IPS e.max Press) and zirconium-oxide (IPS ZirCAD) all-ceramic systems, measured by clinical spectrophotometers (Easyshade Advance 4.0) . Materials and methods: The 72specimens cube-shaped have the dimension of about 11 mm in width, 14 mm in length, 1mm in thickness, these cores divided into 3 groups according to the type of material each group have (24)core specimens. Each group had been divided into three sub-groups (each having 8 specimens) according to veneering with dentin ceramic thicknesses: as 0.5, 1, or 2 mm (n=8). IPS e.max press and ZirCAD c
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