Background: Saliva plays an important role in oral health. Several salivary proteins are involved in the antimicrobial defence mechanism and are able to eliminate or inhibit bacterial growth in the oral cavity. Secretory IgA (SIgA) is one of the principal antibodies present in saliva, could help oral immunity by preventing microbial adherence, neutralizing enzymes and toxins. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between salivary Streptococcus Mutans (SM) count and S IgA in stimulated whole saliva in children with primary dentition compared to those with permanent teeth in relation to some oral hygiene parameters. Material and methods: Stimulated whole saliva was collected from 50 children (25 with primary dentation and 25 with permanent teeth). Salivary flow rate and pH was measured. Oral hygiene index (OHI) and gingival inflammation was assessed using classical method. S IgA level was measured using an immunoassay kit and SM count was determined by culture media. Results: Mean salivary flow rate, pH and S IgA were significantly higher among children with permanent teeth compared to those with primary dentition. Compared to primary dentition, permanent dentition was associated with a significantly reduced mean plaque index, increased mean gingival index and reduced mean salivary SM count. Although plaque index showed a statistically significant positive correlation with SM count, gingival index showed a weak negative correlation with bacterial count. S IgA, PH and flow rate showed a statistically significant moderately strong negative correlation with bacterial count. Conclusion: This study showed a clear correlation between count of SM in stimulated whole saliva and both SIgA and plaque index.
Background: Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is a rare congenital condition that results in bone fragility, recurrent fractures, and various extra-skeletal manifestations. Currently, intravenous bisphosphonate is the mainstay of medical treatment in OI. Objective: To identify the effect of current management strategies on Iraqi children diagnosed with OI. Methods: A retrospective study enrolled OI patients who were registered in Central Child Teaching Hospital, Baghdad, Iraq, from January 2015 to December 2022. We enrolled confirmed OI cases (either clinically and/or radiologically) who received cyclic pamidronate therapy for at least 3 cycles. They neither received other types of bisphosphonates nor underwent surgical intervention. Res
... Show MoreToxoplasma gondii is an opportunistic parasite in immune-compromised persons. The prevalence of toxoplasmosis in psoriasis patients is investigated. In addition, the treatment effect on psoriasis patients infected with toxoplasmosis through evaluating Tumor Necrosis Factor-α (TNF-α) cytokine levels is studied. Blood samples were collected from 130 individuals who involved 60 control samples and 70 samples with psoriasis. They attended Medical City Hospital in Baghdad province from October 2017 - February 2018. Then, the anti- T. gondii antibodies (IgM and IgG) and TNF- α in the sera were determined via the enzyme linked immune-sorbent assay. The highe
... Show MoreIn this paper, some commonly used hierarchical cluster techniques have been compared. A comparison was made between the agglomerative hierarchical clustering technique and the k-means technique, which includes the k-mean technique, the variant K-means technique, and the bisecting K-means, although the hierarchical cluster technique is considered to be one of the best clustering methods. It has a limited usage due to the time complexity. The results, which are calculated based on the analysis of the characteristics of the cluster algorithms and the nature of the data, showed that the bisecting K-means technique is the best compared to the rest of the other methods used.
This paper presents the results of the slope failure analyses from fracture distributions and their relation to tectonic activity; the analytical results have indicated that the phenomena of plane failure, wedge failure and toppling failure can occur at almost of the survey sites within the study area.
The statistical data show that the fracture orientation mainly develop in the E-W, N-S and NW-SE due to the influence of tectonic activity. The occurrence of them together with the rock slope surface orientation has formed plane failure on the slope surface of the 3B highway in the E-W direction and the types of wedge failure and toppling failure on the slope surface of the highw
... Show MoreThis research aims to identify the following :
- The reading willingness skill to kindergarten children.
- There is no statistical significance difference between average scores of reading willingness skill of the sample individuals as a whole, and the hypothetical average of the scale.
- The difference in reading willingness skill to kindergarten children according to gender variable (male & female).
- There is no statistical significance difference between average scores of reading willingness skill for kindergarten children according to gender variable (male & female).
To achieve the research goals, the researc
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