Background: The development of orthodontic biomaterials that attract less biofilm has been a goal for decades. Adhesion and colonization of cariogenic streptococci are considered to play key roles in the development of enamel demineralization related to orthodontic materials. The aim of this study was to quantitatively evaluate the Mutans streptococci adhesion to coated orthodontic archwires (Epoxy and Teflon) and uncoated archwires (stainless steel and nickel-titanium) with respect to incubation time in the presence and absence of saliva. Material and Method: Six types of archwires stainless steel and nickel titanium with two type of coating (Epoxy, Teflon) were used in this study. Twelve specimens of each archwire were incubated in sterilized unstimulated whole saliva (for the study group) and phosphate-buffered saline (for control group) for 2 hours, then incubated with suspension of Mutans streptococci allowed to adhere for (5,90,180 minutes). Adhesion was quantitated by a microbial culture technique by treating the archwires with adhering bacteria with trypsin and enumerating the colony forming unit (CFU) counts of bacteria recovered after cultivation by using Dentocult SM kit. Results: There was significant difference among the tested archwire types in each time interval with the highest bacterial adhesion on the NiTi archwires in the absence of saliva. In the presence of saliva, the results revealed non-significant difference at 5 min. while there was significant difference at 90 min and highly significant difference at 180 min. Conclusion: The adherence of Mutans streptococci was decreased in the presence of saliva on different archwires and the extended incubation time was significantly related to increase colony forming unit of Mutans Streptococci.
Acinetobacter baumannii (A. baumannii ) is considered a critical healthcare problem for patients in intensive care units due to its high ability to be multidrug-resistant to most commercially available antibiotics. The aim of this study is to develop a colorimetric assay to quantitatively detect the target DNA of A. baumannii based on unmodified gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) from different clinical samples (burns, surgical wounds, sputum, blood and urine). A total of thirty-six A. baumannii clinical isolates were collected from five Iraqi hospitals in Erbil and Mosul provinces within the period from September 2020 to January 2021. Bacterial isolation and biochemical identification of isolates
... Show MoreThe melting duration in the photovoltaic/phase-change material (PV/PCM) system is a crucial parameter for thermal energy management such that its improvement can realize better energy management in respect to thermal storage capabilities, thermal conditions, and the lifespan of PV modules. An innovative and efficient technique for improving the melting duration is the inclusion of an exterior metal foam layer in the PV/PCM system. For detailed investigations of utilizing different metal foam configurations in terms of their convective heat transfer coefficients, the present paper proposes a newly developed mathematical model for the PV/PCM–metal foam assembly that can readily be implemented with a wide range of operating condition
... Show MoreThe predatory bush crickets Saga ephippigera Fischer Von Waldheim, 1846 is the largest Iraqi orthopterans and one of the most active and successful predators in the Kurdistan region. The nymphs and adults prey on all the stages of various species of insects. Twelve adult specimens were collected from Erbil Province during May 2018 and June 2021. Morphological structures of the adult insects were described and illustrated in details; important taxonomic characteristics of body regions with their appendages were chosen; and the results indicated the importance of morphological characteristics which confirmed the identification of this species correctly.
Nonlinear time series analysis is one of the most complex problems ; especially the nonlinear autoregressive with exogenous variable (NARX) .Then ; the problem of model identification and the correct orders determination considered the most important problem in the analysis of time series . In this paper , we proposed splines estimation method for model identification , then we used three criterions for the correct orders determination. Where ; proposed method used to estimate the additive splines for model identification , And the rank determination depends on the additive property to avoid the problem of curse dimensionally . The proposed method is one of the nonparametric methods , and the simulation results give a
... Show MoreThe possibility of using activated carbon developed from date palm seeds wastes as a permeable reactive barrier (PRB) to remove copper from polluted shallow groundwater was investigated. The activated carbon has been developed from date palm seeds by dehydrating methods using concentrated sulfuric acid. Batch tests were performed to characterize the equilibrium sorption properties of new activated carbon in copper-containing aqueous solutions, while the sandy soil (aquifer) was assumed to be inert. Under the studied conditions, the Langmuir isotherm model gives a better fit for the sorption data of copper by activated carbon than other models. At a pilot scale, One-dimensional column experiments were performed, and an integrated model ba
... Show MoreIn this research , we study the inverse Gompertz distribution (IG) and estimate the survival function of the distribution , and the survival function was evaluated using three methods (the Maximum likelihood, least squares, and percentiles estimators) and choosing the best method estimation ,as it was found that the best method for estimating the survival function is the squares-least method because it has the lowest IMSE and for all sample sizes