Background: Because of the demands for aesthetic orthodontic appliances have increased, aesthetic archwires have been widely used to meet patient's aesthetic needs. The color stability of aesthetic archwires is clinically important, any staining or discoloration will affect patient’s acceptance and satisfaction. This study was designed to evaluate the color stability of different types of aesthetic archwires after immersion into different types of mouth washes. Materials and methods: Four brands of nickel titanium coated aesthetic arch wires: Epoxy coated (Orthotechnology and G&H) and Teflon coated (Dany and Hubit) were evaluated after 1 week, 3 weeks and 6 weeks of immersion into two types of mouthwashes (Listerine with alcohol and Listerine without alcohol). Color change measurements were performed by using spectrophotometer VITA Easyshade Compact according to the commission Internationale de I’Eclairage L*a*b* color space system. Results: The results of this study showed that there were highly significant differences in color change values among all brands of aesthetic archwires at various immersion media. On the other hand, a significant difference was found between Dany and Orthotechnology aesthetic archwires at 1 week immersion in distilled water. Listerine with alcohol mouthwash produced more color changes of aesthetic archwires and color change value increases with the time of immersion. Conclusions: All brands of aesthetic archwires showed different degrees of color changes but most of these changes were not visible or clinically acceptable.
Two types of monofloral Malaysian honey (Gelam and Nenas) were analyzed to determine their antioxidant activities and total phenolic and flavonoid contents, with and without gamma irradiation. Our results showed that both types of honey can scavenge free radicals and exhibit high antioxidant-reducing power; however, Gelam honey exhibited higher antioxidant activity (p < 0.05) than Nenas honey, which is in good correlation (r = 0.9899) with its phenolic contents. Interestingly, we also noted that both irradiated honeys have higher antioxidant activities and total phenolic and flavonoid contents compared to nonirradiated honeys by Folin-Ciocalteu and UV-spectrophotometry methods, respectively. However, HPLC analysis for phenolic co
... Show MoreThis study illustrates in vitro effect of cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) on the treatment of Leishmania. In addition, the study evaluated the effect of drug treatment (pentostam) and the combination treatment of pentostan and CAP at different doses and incubation time 24 h in order to assess the most effective treatment. The duration of the cold plasma doses was 1 min, 2 min and 3 min, while the pentostam doses were 2.5 µg/ml and 5 µg/ml. The combinations therapies included combining the three cold plasma doses with the pentostam doses to test 6 combinations of treated in vitro. The maximum growth inhibition was given by combination treated 46% and 44% for donovani and tropica leishamnia respectively; these results give an indi
... Show MoreThe parasite was isolated from a stool sample, cultivated and maintained in vitro using Locke-egg medium (LEM) and Liver infusion agar medium (LIAM) . The culture was maintained for up to 21 months, and the best time to maintain the parasite was every 48 hours, although the growth in the culture media continued for 13 days without a maintenance. Additionally, no cyst formation was observed during cultivation of parasite in the two culture media. Although, was observe young cyst formed in LEM media were deletion of maintained. The diagnosis of bacteria growth in the culture media, bacterial content (Escherichia coli) was an dominance and essential requirement for a successful cultivation of Entamoeba histolytica in the two culture media.
Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are of potential interest because of their effective antibacterial and antiviral activities. Capping agents are used for exhibiting a better antibacterial activity than uncapped Ag NPs. There are very few reports that have shown the usage of AgNPs for in-vivo antibacterial therapy. Citrate-capped silver nanoparticles were synthesized chemically by citrate reduction method; the size of Cit-AgNPs was determined by an atomic force microscope (AFM) and was between 15-90 nm. Acinetobacter baumannii (A. baumannii) isolates were the only sensitive species to Cit-AgNPs. MICs and MBC of Cit-AgNPs were determined by using A. baumannii. The results showed an additive effect of Cit-AgNPs. Four mice groups were infected with
... Show MoreDrilling deviated wells is a frequently used approach in the oil and gas industry to increase the productivity of wells in reservoirs with a small thickness. Drilling these wells has been a challenge due to the low rate of penetration (ROP) and severe wellbore instability issues. The objective of this research is to reach a better drilling performance by reducing drilling time and increasing wellbore stability.
In this work, the first step was to develop a model that predicts the ROP for deviated wells by applying Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs). In the modeling, azimuth (AZI) and inclination (INC) of the wellbore trajectory, controllable drilling parameters, unconfined compressive strength (UCS), formation
... Show MoreThe grasping stability of robotic manipulators is crucial to enable autonomous manipulation in an environment where robots are facing obstacles in their route, where abrupt changes in the robot’s speed are induced. These speed variations will produce forces affecting the robotic manipulator, hence its grasping stability. In this research, the grasping stability of a robotic manipulator that functions according to a frictional self-locking mechanism is investigated statically and dynamically. Both theoretical and experimental results showed that the grasped object size, weight, and its orientation inside the gripper have a great effect on grasping stability. Both the theoretical and experimental results indicated that the grasping object p
... Show MoreBanking reforms in many countries have focused on the efficiency enhance of the banking sector, including Iraq, in terms of indicative steps based on recommendations, policies and standards developed by international organizations, foremost of which are Basel III. In this paper, it has tried to highlight the reforms in Basel III and the impact of these reforms on the stability of the banking system in Iraq. As the research derives its importance from the idea that the sound banking system consists of a group of banks capable of employing their assets and obligations efficiently in financial intermediation and enjoying financial solvency. The stability of the banking system is an important factor in achieving the leading role of t
... Show MoreA pioneering idea for increasing the thermal performance of heat transfer fluids was to use ultrafine solid particles suspended in the base fluid. Nanofluids, synthesized by mixing solid nanometer sized particles at low concentrations with the base fluid, were used as a new heat transfer fluid and developed a remarkable effect on the thermophysical properties and heat transfer coefficient. For any nanofluid to be usable in heat transfer applications, the main concern is its long-term stability. The aim of this research is to investigate the effect of using four different surfactants (sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS), sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), cetyl trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), and gum Arabic (GA)), each with three different
... Show MoreDrilling deviated wells is a frequently used approach in the oil and gas industry to increase the productivity of wells in reservoirs with a small thickness. Drilling these wells has been a challenge due to the low rate of penetration (ROP) and severe wellbore instability issues. The objective of this research is to reach a better drilling performance by reducing drilling time and increasing wellbore stability.
In this work, the first step was to develop a model that predicts the ROP for deviated wells by applying Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs). In the modeling, azimuth (AZI) and inclination (INC) of the wellbore trajectory, controllable drilling parameters, unconfined compressive strength (UCS), formation
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