ABSTRACT Background: work-related musculoskeletal disorders represent an important occupational health issues among dentists especially neck and low back complaints. Biomarkers of tissue damage as results of occupational physical demands could be used for detection of work related musculoskeletal disorders. Aim: The aim of this study was to assess work- related musculoskeletal disorders, physical work load index, selected salivary biomarkers (Creatine kinase and C - reactive protein) and to find the relation among them. Subjects and Methods: Study participants are consisted of 112 dentists. They were selected from college of dentistry /Baghdad University, health care center in Bagdad city. They were of both gender and aged between 40-45 years .they should fit the study criteria. Self-administered standardized Nordic questionnaires were used to evaluate musculoskeletal complaints. Physical work load was evaluated by used physical work load index. Stimulated saliva were collected from subsample (87) dentists drawn randomly from the total sample, for whom biochemical analysis (measurement of creatine kinase and C - reactive protein) were done. Results: Results showed that low back and neck complaints is the most complaint experienced by the dentists with percentages of ( 69.6% and 66.1% ), followed by the shoulder complaint (49.1% ) while the hip complaint showed the lowest percentage (13.4%).According to severity scores ,both low back and neck musculoskeletal complaints were of score 3 severity (score 3 constituted the highest percentages in both area (27.7% ,23.2%respectively) as compared to other severity scors.For shoulder complaint it was of score 2 severity (score 2 constituted the highest percentage 23.2% as compared to other severity scores, The musculoskeletal complaints(proximal ,neck, shoulder and low back) had higher mean rank values in the highest quartile of Physical work load index with non – significant differences (P<0.05). Regarding salivary creatine kinase the proximal ,total and low back complaints had higher mean rank values among dentists with highest Creatine kinase quartile , while distal manifestations ,neck and shoulder complaints had higher mean rank value in the average interquartile range of Creatine kinase with non – significant differences( P<0.05). For c- reactive protein almost all the complaints(proximal , total ,neck and shoulder) had higher mean rank values in the first lowest quartile with non – significant differences( P<0.05). Conclusions: Physical work load increase the risk of musculoskeletal disorders occurrence. Salivary creatine kinase could serve as a biomarker that reflects the underlying of musculoskeletal complaints more than C - reactive protein. Further studies that used more objective tools for assessing musculoskeletal disorders is needed.
Millions of pilgrims and visitors from numerous parts of the world flock to Karbala (one of the most prominent ideological and religious places in central Iraq) each year to visit the holy shrines in Karbala due to their sanctity. Many improvements have been made to the Two Holy Shrines (THS), the Shrines of Imam Husayn and Imam Abbas, and the area between them (ATHS), due to the high temperatures in this region and to improve pedestrian thermal comfort. Studies on improving outdoor thermal comfort in Karbala are scarce. Hence, this research aims to look into historical and current architectural changes and how they affect thermal comfort. On the hottest summer day, the ENVI-met software program was used to simulate the building des
... Show MoreBackground and objectives: This study aimed at testing the effect of plastic sleeve or barrier, used to cover the guide of the light cure unit to prevent cross-infection, on the shear bond strength and site of bond failure of stainless steel and ceramic orthodontic brackets. Materials and methods: Forty orthodontic brackets; twenty stainless steel and twenty ceramic brackets bonded to forty extracted human maxillary first premolars using light cure adhesive cured with and without the use of a protective plastic barrier on the guide. Comparing the effect of this barrier on the shear bond strength and adhesive remnant index was performed using an independent t-test and Chi-square test. Results: The protective barrier had decreased the shear b
... Show MoreAbstract
In this work, the plasma parameters (electron temperature (Te), electron density( ne), plasma frequency (fp) and Debye length (λD)) have been studied by using the spectrometer that collect the spectrum of Laser produce CdTe(X):S(1-X) plasma at X=0.5 with different energies. The results of electron temperature for CdTe range 0.758-0.768 eV also the electron density 3.648 1018 – 4.560 1018 cm-3 have been measured under vacuum reaching 2.5 10-2 mbar .Optical properties of CdTe:S were determined through the optical transmission method using ultraviolet visible spectrophotometer within the r
... Show MoreIt is often noted that disordered materials have different chemical properties to their more “ordered” cousins. Quantifying these effects in terms of thermodynamics is challenging in part because disordered materials can be difficult to characterize and are frequently relatively unstable. During the course of our experiments to understand the effects of disorder in catalysts for water oxidation we observed that many disordered manganese and cobalt oxide water oxidation catalysts directly oxidized peroxide in contrast to their more ordered analogues which catalyzed its disproportionation, that is, MnO2+2H+ +H2O2! Mn2+ +2H2O+O2(oxidation) versus H2O2!H2O+1=2 O2(disproportionation). By measuring the efficiency for one reaction over the oth
... Show MoreThe two-dimensional transient heat conduction through a thermal insulation of temperature dependent thermal properties is investigated numerically using the FVM. It is assumed that this insulating material is initially at a uniform temperature. Then, it is suddenly subjected at its inner surface with a step change in temperature and subjected at its outer surface with a natural convection boundary condition associated with a periodic change in ambient temperature and heat flux of solar radiation. Two thermal insulation materials were selected. The fully implicit time scheme is selected to represent the time discretization. The arithmetic mean thermal conductivity is chosen to be the value of the approximated thermal conductivity at the i
... Show MoreDiverting river flow during construction of a main dam involves the construction of cofferdams, and tunnels, channels or other temporary passages. Diversion channels are commonly used in wide valleys where the high flow makes tunnels or culverts uneconomic. The diversion works must form part of the overall project design since it will have a major impact on its cost, as well as on the design, construction program and overall cost of the permanent works. Construction costs contain of excavation, lining of the channel, and construction of upstream and downstream cofferdams. The optimization model was applied to obtain optimalchannel cross section, height of upstream cofferdam, and height of downstream cofferdamwith minimum construction cost
... Show MoreWitch stories are part of American popular culture, and this culture is extremely influenced by a continuing reliance on its past. The modern obsession of Americans with witches, whether real or metaphorical, is related to politics especially when it came to issues of gender politics. This article exposes a modern image of the female character seen from a male author point of view. John Updike, influenced by the changes that happened to women within second wave of feminism, attempted to write The Witches of Eastwick (1984). Actually, he presented women who did have a sort of careers. His witches are professional active and dynamic. What do witches stand for in American Culture? Why did Updike choose to write
... Show More