Background: Oil refinery workers are continuously exposed to numerous hazardous materials. Petroleum contains the heavy metals as a natural constituent or as additives. These metals induce the production of ROS which associated with an oxidative damage to DNA, proteins, and lipids. This study was conducted to assess the salivary levels of heavy metals, salivary oxidative status, oral immunological activity (salivary sIgA) and assessment of the oral findings among the workers of Al-Daura oil refinery in Baghdad city. Subjects, Materials and Methods: This study was done in Al-Daura oil refinery; samples consist of 60 workers involved in refinery processes (study group) and 20 non-workers (control group). Oral examination and saliva collection was done to assess the oral findings and measurement the level of heavy metals (lead and cadmium), oxidative status (MDA and SOD) and secretary IgA. Results: salivary lead and cadmium was higher in study group (6.34 µg/dl and 0.56 µg/l) than that of control group (3.3 µg/dl and 0.34 µg/l) with highly significant difference (p<0.001). A significant increase (p<0.05) was found in salivary MDA (15.3 ng/ml) and salivary sIgA (464.36 µg/ml) and significant decrease in salivary SOD (1895.1 pg/ml) among the study group. Lead has shown significant linear correlation with MDA and IgA. A significant reverse correlation was found between heavy metals (lead and cadmium) and SOD. The oral examination revealed no oral lesions of interest. Conclusion: Workers in Al- Daura oil refinery exposed to pollution with heavy metals (Pb and Cd) which was associated with changes in the biochemical and immunological findings among the oral cavity.
This paper presents a meta-heuristic swarm based optimization technique for solving robot path planning. The natural activities of actual ants inspire which named Ant Colony Optimization. (ACO) has been proposed in this work to find the shortest and safest path for a mobile robot in different static environments with different complexities. A nonzero size for the mobile robot has been considered in the project by taking a tolerance around the obstacle to account for the actual size of the mobile robot. A new concept was added to standard Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) for further modifications. Simulations results, which carried out using MATLAB 2015(a) environment, prove that the suggested algorithm outperforms the standard version of AC
... Show MoreFunctionalized-multi wall carbon nanotubes (F-MWCNTs) and functionalized-single wall carbon nanotubes (F-SWCNTs) were well enhanced using CoO Nanoparticles. The sensor device consisted of a film of sensitive material (F-MWCNTs/CoONPs) and (F-SWCNTs/CoO NPs) deposited by drop- casting on an n-type porous silicon substrate. The two sensors perform high sensitivity to NO2 gas at room temperatures. The analysis indicated that the (F-MWCNTs/CoONPs) have a better performance than (F-SWCNTs/CoONPs). The F-SWCNTs/CoONPs gas sensor shows high sensitivity (19.1 %) at RT with response time 17 sec, while F-MWCNTs/CoONPs gas sensor show better sensitivity (39 %) at RT with response time 13 sec. The device shows a very reproducible sensor p
... Show MoreTwo samples of (Ag NPs-zeolite) nanocomposite thin films have been prepared by easy hydrothermal method for 4 hours and 8 hours inside the hydrothermal autoclave at temperatures of 100°C. The two samples were used in a photoelectrochemical cell as a photocatalyst inside a cell consisting of three electrodes: the working electrode photoanode (AgNPs-zeolite), platinum as a cathode electrode, and Ag/AgCl as a reference electrode, to study the performance of AgNPs-zeolite under dark current and 473 nm laser light for water splitting. The results show the high performance of an eight-hour sample with high crystallinity compared with a four-hour sample as a reliable photocatalyst to generate hydrogen for renewable energies.
This study includes analytical methods for the determination of the drug amoxicillin trihydrate (Amox.) in some pharmaceutical preparations using Cobalt ion (Co(II)) as complexing metal. The best conditions for complexation were: the reaction time was 20 minutes, pH=1.5 and the best temperature of reaction was 70 ËšC. Benzyl alcohol was the best solvent for extraction the complex.
Keywords: Amoxicillin, Cobalt(II), Complex, Molar ratio.
Zigbee, which has the standard IEEE 802.15.4. It is advisable method to build wireless personal area network (WPAN) which demands a low power consumption that can be produced by Zigbee technique. Our paper gives measuring efficiency of Zigbee involving the Physical Layer (PL) and Media Access Control (MAC) sub-layer , which allow a simple interaction between the sensors. We model and simulate two different scenarios, in the first one, we tested the topological characteristics and performance of the IEEE802.15.4 standard in terms of throughput, node to node delay and figure of routers for three network layouts (Star, Mesh and Cluster Tree) using OPNET simulator. The second scenario investigates the self-healing feature on a mesh
... Show MoreThe nuclear ground-state structure of some Nickel (58-66Ni) isotopes has been investigated within the framework of the mean field approach using the self-consist Hartree-Fock calculations (HF) including the effective interactions of Skyrme. The Skyrme parameterizations SKM, SKM*, SI, SIII, SKO, SKE, SLY4, SKxs15, SKxs20 and SKxs25 have been utilized with HF method to study the nuclear ground state charge, mass, neutron and proton densities with the corresponding root mean square radii, charge form factors, binding energies and neutron skin thickness. The deduced results led to specifying one set or more of Skyrme parameterizations that used to achieve the best agreement with the available experimental
... Show MoreZinc Oxide (ZnO) is considered as one of the best materials already used as a window layer in solar cells due to its antireflective capability. The ZnO/MgF2 bilayer thin film is more efficient as antireflective coating. In this work, ZnO and ZnO/MgF2 thin films were deposited on glass substrate using pulsed laser deposition and thermal evaporation deposition methods. The optical measurements indicated that ZnO thin layer has an energy gap of (3.02 eV) while ZnO/MgF2 bilayer gives rise to an increase in the energy gap. ZnO/MgF2 bilayer shows a high energy gap (3.77 eV) with low reflectance (1.1-10 %) and refractive index (1.9) leading to high transmittance, this bilayer could be a good candidate optical material to improve the performance
... Show MoreDue to the importance of egg parasitoids inthe natural and biological control of economically important insects, including egg parasitoid Pseudoligositaba bylonica Viggiani on dubas bug, the spread of the parasitoid and population distribution of parasitoid, In order to estimate the role of parasitoid as one of the biological factors in decreasing population density of dubas bug on date palm. Some aspects of the life of parasitoids were also studied, including the role of insect parasitoids in organizing the population of their families, geographical distribution and hosts range of genus Pseudoligosita, seasonal presence of parasitoid Pseudoligositaba bylonica Viggiani (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) , life studies and percentages
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