Background: Obesity is a serious public health concern that has reached epidemic proportions; the prevalence, as well as the severity of obesity in adolescents is increasing at an alarming rate. A close relationship was found between weight status and dental caries. Thus this research aimed to assess the prevalence and severity of dental caries among overweight adolescent females in relation to physicochemical characteristics of stimulated whole saliva in comparison with normal weight adolescent females. Materials and methods: The total sample involved for nutritional status assessment is composed of 2678 females aged 13-15 years. This was performed using Body Mass Index specific for age and gender according to CDC growth chart (2000). The diagnosis and recording of dental caries was by using Decay, Missing, Filled surface index (DMFs); and according to the criteria of Manji et al (1989). Salivary samples were collected from 30 overweight females and their control under standardized conditions and then analyzed for measuring salivary flow rate and viscosity, in addition to estimation essential elements (zinc, copper, calcium, iron, and total protein). Results: The caries experience among the overweight females was lower than that among the normal weight with non significant difference. Salivary analysis demonstrated that the salivary flow rate was non significantly higher among overweight females. The viscosity of saliva was having an equal value among both groups. The data analysis of salivary elements found that the zinc and copper concentrations were highly significant higher among the overweight females than that among the normal weight. The opposite result found concerning salivary calcium level with also highly significant difference; while the iron and total protein were non significantly lower among the overweight females. DMFs and its grades correlated negatively weak with salivary flow rate among overweight females; while concerning salivary viscosity, the correlation was direct weak with DMFs. Salivary copper, calcium and total protein showed an inverse correlation with dental caries. Conclusion: The results of the current research revealed that overweight affect the caries experience. Several of salivary factors that found to be higher among the overweight females might play a role in protection of teeth from dental caries.
Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) causes up to 40% mortality in humans and is difficult to treat. ARDS is also one of the major triggers of mortality associated with coronavirus-induced disease (COVID-19). We used a mouse model of ARDS induced by Staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB), which triggers 100% mortality, to investigate the mechanisms through which Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) attenuates ARDS. SEB was used to trigger ARDS in C3H mice. These mice were treated with THC and analyzed for survival, ARDS, cytokine storm, and metabolome. Additionally, cells isolated from the lungs were used to perform single-cell RNA sequencing and transcriptome analysis. A database analysis of human COVID-19 patients was also performed t
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Since cancer is becoming a leading cause of death worldwide, efforts should be concentrated on understanding its underlying biological alterations that would be utilized in disease management, especially prevention strategies. Within this context, multiple bodies of evidence have highlighted leptin’s practical and promising role, a peptide hormone extracted from adipose and fatty tissues with other adipokines, in promoting the proliferation, migration, and metastatic invasion of breast carcinoma cells. Excessive blood leptin levels and hyperleptinemia increase body fat content and stimulate appetite. Also, high leptin level is believed to be associated with several conditions, including overeating, emotional stress, inflammation, obesity,
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In this study, from a total of 856 mastitis cases in lactating ewes, only 34 Streptococcus agalactiae isolates showed various types of resistance to three types of antibiotics (Penicillin, Erythromycin and Tetracycline). St. agalactiae isolates were identified according to the standard methods, including a new suggested technique called specific Chromogenic agar. It was found that antibiotic bacterial resistance was clearly identified by using MIC-microplate assay (dilution method). Also, by real-time PCR technique, it was determined that there were three antibiotics genes resistance ( pbp2b, tetO and mefA ). The high percentage of isolate carried of a single gene which was the Tetracycline (20.59%) followed by percentage Penicillin was
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True random number generators are essential components for communications to be conconfidentially secured. In this paper a new method is proposed to generate random sequences of numbers based on the difference of the arrival times of photons detected in a coincidence window between two single-photon counting modules
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Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the Benson Relaxation Technique (BRT) in reducing pain during femoral artery sheath removal after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Methods and Materials: A randomized controlled trial was conducted at three cardiac centers in Iraq. A total of 58 patients undergoing therapeutic PCI were randomly assigned into two groups: intervention (n=27) and control (n=31). The intervention group received BRT for 10 minutes before and after sheath removal. Pain was assessed using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) immediately after the procedure. Demographic data and clinical variables were collected. Data were analyzed using SPSS v26 and non-parametric tests (Mann-Whitney U, Krus
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