Background: Psychological stress is considered the major etiological factor precipitating myofacial pain and temporomandibular disorders.It is known that stress induce various adaptational responses of physiologic systems. The process includes increase in the activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis which promotes cortisol secretion. Salivary cortisol has been used as a measure of free circulating cortisol levels.The use of salivary biomarkers has gained increased popularity since collecting samples is non-invasive and painless. The aim of thisstudy was to evaluate the level of cortisol in saliva among sample of university students having myofacial pain, during the final exam period and whether this finding could have a significant value as a symptomatic psychobiological marker. Materials and Methods: Ninety eight (98) university students were enrolled in this study. Fifty(50) were with myofacial pain (symptomatic) and forty eight (48) were without myofacial pain (asymptomatic) as a control group.Each student with myofacial pain was examined according to Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders. Saliva sample were collected from each subject before final examination and three months later for biochemical analysis of cortisolusing ELISA test. Results: A highly significant difference in salivary cortisol level between the two periods for both the study and control groups, and a non-significant difference between the two groups in before examination period. A negative association has been observed between the level of salivary cortisol and severity of pain and a highly significant improvement of pain between the final examination periods and three months later. Conclusions: Dental students perceived a higher level of stress prior to the final exam was associated with raised salivary cortisol levels which could be considered as a useful non-invasive biomarker for measuring acute stress.
This study was carried out to find out the effect of germination of broad beans and chickpeas seeds for different periods on their antinutritional factors content ( Trypsin inhibitor and Phytic acid ) and the chemical constituents of germination seeds compared with the control samples (ungerminated seeds) . The results indicated asignificant increase (P<0.05) in crude protein content as germination period proceeded.The highest values of 28.0% and 24.0% were reached on the sixth and fourth day for germinated broad beans and chickpeas respectively, The intial values were 25.6% and 23.5% for control samples, respectively. The content of raffinose,stachyose and verbascose were reduced as germination period proceeded, Stachyose and verbascose we
... Show MoreInSb alloy was prepared then InSb:Bi films have been prepared successfully by thermal evaporation technique on glass substrate at Ts=423K. The variation of activation energies(Ea1,Ea2)of d.c conductivity with annealing temperature (303, 373, 423, 473, 523 and 573)K were measured, it is found that its values increases with increasing annealing temperature. To show the type of the films, the Hall and thermoelectric power were measured. The activation energy of the thermoelectric power is much smaller than for d.c conductivity and increases with increasing annealing temperature .The mobility and carrier concentration has been measured also.
Background: The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of surface treatments of zirconia (grinding and sandblast with 50μm, 100 μm) on shear bond strength between zirconia core and veneering ceramic. Material and methods: Twenty-eight presintered Y-TZP ceramic specimens (IPS e.max ZirCAD, Ivoclar vivadent) were fabricated and sintered according to manufacturer’s instructions. The core specimens were divided randomly in to 4 groups, group 1: no surface treatment, group2: zirconia specimens were ground with silicon carbide paper up to1200 grit under water cooling, group3: zirconia specimens were ground and sandblast with 100 μm alumina, group 4: zirconia specimens were ground and sandblast with 50 μm alumina. Surfa
... Show MoreCeramic to metal joining technique, which was used in this investigation includes the use of active filler alloy as a sandwich between the alumina and kovar alloy for brazing. High purity powdered metals of silver, copper, and additives of titanium were used to prepare the active filler alloy, through compacting the mixed powders and alloying in a furnace with argon atmosphere at the temperature of 800oC for 10 minutes. To use it as an active filler metal, it has been modified to a proper thickness. Two groups of alumina were prepared with different sintering temperatures (1450oC and 1650oC) and each group was tested under atmospheric pressure, vacuum furnace pressure of 2*10-4 torr and vacuum furnace pressure of 2*10-6 torr. All the pro
... Show MoreThe effect of considering the third dimension in mass concrete members on its cracking behavior is investigated in this study. The investigation includes thermal and structural analyses of mass concrete structures. From thermal analysis, the actual temperature distribution throughout the mass concrete body was obtained due to the generation of heat as a result of cement hydration in addition to the ambient circumstances. This was performed via solving the differential equations of heat conduction and convection using the finite element method. The finite element method was also implemented in the structural analysis adopting the concept of initial strain problem. Drying shrinkage volume changes were calculated using the procedure suggested
... Show MoreUnsaturated soil can raise many geotechnical problems upon wetting and drying resulting in swelling upon wetting and collapsing (shrinkage) in drying and changing in the soil shear strength. The classical principles of saturated soil are often not suitable in explaining these phenomena. In this study, expansive soil (bentonite and sand) were tested in different water contents and dry unit weight chosen from the compaction curve to examine the effect of water content change on soil properties (swelling pressure, expansion index, shear strength (soil cohesion) and soil suction by the filter paper method). The physical properties of these soils were studied by conducting series of tests in laboratory. Fitting methods
... Show MoreTraffic loading and environmental factors are among the most serious variables that cause the spoilage of flexible pavements and lead to a decrease in their design life. The objective of this study is to investigate the influence of axle load raise and the change in resilient modulus on the flexible pavement design life. Locally, Highway geometric design code for Iraqi building code has assign certain admissible maximum load limits per every axle truck type that should not be overrun. In this paper nine different axle truck loads (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16) tons, single axle with dual tire and, and two different resilient moduli of asphalt pavement were chosen. The evaluation was carried out assuming high temperature to represent
... Show MoreIn this work, a ceramic model has obtained from Iraqi bentonite as a base material with limited additions of alumina and silica. The selected material can bear temperatures higher than the bearing temperature of bentonite as it achieved tolerance temperatures (1300°C) based on X-ray diffraction patterns. It was found that the addition of alumina and silica led to the occurrence of basic phases such as mullite, quartz, cordierite and feldspar in percentages that depended on the percentage of addition in the mixture and the firing temperature, which was (1000-1300)°C.
Research and Development Programs Effectiveness in the Central Library of Baghdad University