Background: The microorganisms can impend the life of health care professional and particularly the dental practitioners. They can be transmitted by different ways like airborne and droplet transmission. The current study was carried out to identify whether the arch wires that received from the manufactures are free from microbial contamination and to determine the bacterial species attached to the arch wires. Materials and Methods: This study involved eighty samples, consisted of two types of arch wires (nitinol and stainless-steel) from four companies (3M, G&H, Jiscop, OrthoTechnology). These wires inserted in a plane tube that contains 10 -ml of (Tris [tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane] and EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid) tris-EDTA and brain heart infusion (BHI) broth. A 0.1 ml was withdrawn from the tube and spread on agar plates. The control groups consist of 16 plane tube (8 tubes with tris-EDTA and other 8 tubes with (BHI). Results: Microbial sampling yielded growth from 5 of the 80 arch wires. The predominant bacteria that isolated were Bacillus spp. No growth was recovered from 75 of the samples and from controls. The bacteria were isolated by BHI reagent and no growth was observed by tris-EDTA reagent with statistically significant difference (P<0.05). The Bacillus spp. found only in the G&H and Jiscop companies, however, no statistically significant difference was found among them (P>0.05). With regard to the presence and distribution of bacteria according to the types of wires, the present results clarified that cases of contamination with Bacillus spp. were found in the nitinol arch wires with statistically significant difference (P<0.05). Conclusions: The results of the current study revealed low count of bacterial contamination in the two types of companies (G&H and Jiscop). Not all materials that received from the manufactures are free from contamination and an effective sterilization regimen is needed to avoid cross-contamination.
Background: Known as suxamethonium or succinylcholine, is a medication used to cause short-term paralysis as part of general anesthesia. The duration of operation is one of the important factors accounting to the success of the operation. Simple safe available drug can change the plan of anesthesia.
Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess adding Lidocaine three minutes intravenously before induction of general anesthesia on the duration of optimum prolongation the action of Suxamethonium . With other group with regular meth
... Show MoreBackground: Mitral regurgitation (MR) is the most commonly encountered valve lesion in modern clinical practice. Severe mitral regurgitation may cause systolic dysfunction. Left ventricular ejection fraction may not be an accurate measurement of LV function in patients with mitral insufficiency. Myocardial performance index (MPI) is a simple non invasive measure of myocardial function. Methods: The study involved 50 patients with valvular mitral regurgitation and 50 healthy subjects as a control group. Transthoracic echocardiography was carried out for all patients and control group. The echocardiographic measurements included left ventricular end diastolic and end systolic dimensions, left atrial diameter, ejection fraction (EF), and myoca
... Show MoreBackground: Lateral cephalometric radiography is commonly used as a standard tool in orthodontic assessment and treatment planning. This study aimed to determine the tongue and surrounding space area in a sample of Iraqi adults with class I dental and skeletal pattern. Materials and methods: The study included thirty healthy subjects (15 males and 15 females) with an age ranged between 23-34 years and class I dental and skeletal pattern with no history of any sleep related disorders. The assessed cephalometric measurement included length and height of the tongue and position of hyoid bone from cervical line. Descriptive statistics were obtained for the data. Genders difference was evaluated by independent sample t-test. Results: There wer
... Show MoreAim: To evaluation the effect of Lactobacillus acidophilus on Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) serotype O157:H7 with detection of some virulence factors. Methods: Two hundred and fifty specimens (stool) from children under five years for both sexes were collected from some hospitals. All isolates were diagnosed according to morphological characteristics, biochemical tests. Monoplex pattern of PCR was used also for detection different genes in (7) Escherichia coli )O157:H7 (isolates; include 16SrRNA, eae, lifA, Stx1,Stx2 that encoded for ribosomal RNA, intimin, lymphocyte inhibitory factor, shiga toxins. Three types of probiotics strains were obtained, Lactobacillus fermentum, Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus acidophilus (A
... Show MoreIntroduction: A Pap test can detect pre-cancerous and cancerous cells in the vagina and uterine cervix. Cervical cancer is the easiest gynecologic cancer to be prevented and diagnosed using regular screening tests and follow-up. This study aimed to estimate the cytological changes and the precancerous lesions using Pap smear test and visual inspection of the cervices of Iraqi women, and also to determine the possible relationship of this cancer with patients’ demographic characteristics. Methods: The study included 140 women aged (18-67) years old referred to the National Cancer Research Center (NCRC), Baghdad, Iraq, during the period 2011-2016. Both visual inspections of the uterine cervix and Papanicolaou smear screening were performed
... Show MoreAlthough many technological improvements are occurring in power production worldwide, power plants in third world countries are still using old technologies that are causing thermal pollution to the water bodies. Power facilities that dump hot water into water bodies are damaging aquatic life. In the study, the impact of the Al Dora thermal power plant on a nearby stretch of Tigris River in Baghdad city was assessed by measuring the temperature of the disposed of hot water in various cross-sections of the selected stretch of Tigris River, including measuring the thermal mixing length. The measurements were conducted in winter, spring, and summer. For field measurements, it was found that the impact of recovery distances
... Show MoreObjective: The aim of the present study is to assess the practices of nurses towards standard precautions at Azady
Teaching Hospital in the City of Kirkuk.
Methodology: A descriptive study, which uses the assessment approach and it was conducted on nurses from January
18th, 2009 to September 30th, 2009, using non-probability sampling a purposive sample of (37) subject (male and
female nurses) who worked at surgical wards in Azady Teaching Hospital in Kirkuk city was selected. Two study
instruments were utilized for proper data collection [questionnaire and observational checklist]; a questionnaire was
developed for the purpose of the study. It was comprised of two parts which included the nurses' demographic
characte
In this study, gamma-ray spectrometry with an HPGe detector was used to measure the specific activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K in soil samples collected from IT1 oil reservoirs in Kirkuk city, northeast Iraq. The “spectral line Gp” gamma analysis software package was used to analyze the spectral data. 226Ra specific activity varies from 9 0.34 Bq.kg-1 to 17 0.47 Bq.kg-1. 232Th specific activity varies from 6.2 0.08 Bq.kg-1 to 18 0.2 Bq.kg-1. 40K specific activity varies from 25 0.19 Bq.kg-1 to 118 0.41 Bq.kg-1. The radiological hazard due to the radiation emitted from natural r
... Show MoreThe objective of this study is to evaluate the level of parathyroid hormone, Co enzyme Q and total antioxidant status in serum’s women with fibromyalgia syndrome firstly, then to demonstrate if these biochemical markers affected by age and obesity.
This study was performed at Rheumatology and Rehabilitation Consultation Unit in Baghdad Teaching Hospital. Venous blood sample were drawn from (59) female with FMS and (30) control (without FMS). The serum was obtained after on standing in order to coagulate then centrifuged. The mean age± SD of FMS group was (42.22±15.34) years and for control was (40.7±18.22) years. Those participants were subdivided into four different groups acc
... Show MoreBackground: Occupational exposure to hazardous drugs occurs in all aspects of anticancer drug handling. Proper recommendations and guidelines should be applied to control and reduce exposure. Objective: To assess pharmacists' knowledge and practice regarding the safe handling of anticancer drugs. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at seven major hospitals in Baghdad City, Iraq, from December 2023 to February 2024. A pre-designed questionnaire was given to pharmacists who handled anticancer drugs in chemotherapy units. The questionnaire comprises sociodemographic data, knowledge of the safe handling of cytotoxic drugs and thoughts about exposure and risk, practices for safely handling cytotoxic drugs, and challenges for s
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