Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease. It is one of the major causes of disability in developed and developing countries. Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) as part of immune system has a role in the disease process.Objectives: To investigate whether there is an association between HLA class II-DRB and OA.Methods: A case control study with 26 patients with osteoarthritis and 22 apparently healthy obese control persons matching in ethnicity were enrolled in this study during the period between October 2012 till March 2013. Direct interview was done with each patient and HLA typing was done by molecular method using Sequence Specific Primer (PCR-SSP) method using One Lambda Kit-USA. Results: The results showed that fem

Infertilityis oneuof the most problemsathatufacingaadvancedunations. In the general, about halfof allacasesaof the infertility are causedby factors thaturelated toathe male partner. Propos educausesvofumalev infertility include evgeneticuand environmental factors. Blood samples from 64 infertileumen allawere living in urban its al-Fallujah city (30 azospermeiauand 34 oligospermeia) and 32 fertile men (asuthe control group) were collected. Heavy metal concentrations inusera of infertile and fertile groupswereumeasured by using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. Y- chromosomemicrodeletions were detected by using PCR techniques. Significantdifferences (P?0.05)uin the concentration ofucopper (0.0267±0.0147 and 0.0278±0.0273, for inf

Purpose: As managers can lead a set of ways to improve internal communication in public organizations, and leadership can cultivate a common understanding of goals within the organization and share the vision in preparation for its way to better performance, the purpose of the research is to assess the type and strength of the relationship between internal communication and different forms of leadership.   Theoretical framework: The study demonstrates how leaders in public organizations improve internal communication, related to employees' perceptions of public organizations' routines and performance.   Design/methodology/approach: The  study  uses the  ordinary  least  squares  (OLS) and  applied multiple  regression A sa

Objectives: In developing countries like Iraq, diarrhea was responsible for 70% of deaths among pediatrics. This study was designed to determine Iraqi mothers’ knowledge and malpractices associated with diarrhea management in pediatrics.Methods: A cross-sectional pilot study was done on a convenient sample of mothers in Baghdad – Iraq. Data collection was done using a validated questionnaire specifically designed for this study.Result: Most participants preferred to consult physicians or pharmacists about pediatrics diarrhea management. Breastfeeding was stopped by 19% of participants, whereas 35% of mothers who depend on formulated milk discontinued it. Only 30% of participants use oral rehydration solution therapy always as a

The type of video that used in this proposed hiding a secret information technique is .AVI; the proposed technique of a data hiding to embed a secret information into video frames by using Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT), Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) and Curvelet Transform (CvT). An individual pixel consists of three color components (RGB), the secret information is embedded in Red (R) color channel. On the receiver side, the secret information is extracted from received video. After extracting secret information, robustness of proposed hiding a secret information technique is measured and obtained by computing the degradation of the extracted secret information by comparing it with the original secret information via calculating the No

Soil compaction is one of the most harmful elements affecting soil structure, limiting plant growth and agricultural productivity. It is crucial to assess the degree of soil penetration resistance to discover solutions to the harmful consequences of compaction. In order to obtain the appropriate value, using soil cone penetration requires time and labor-intensive measurements. Currently, satellite technologies, electronic measurement control systems, and computer software help to measure soil penetration resistance quickly and easily within the precision agriculture applications approach. The quantitative relationships between soil properties and the factors affecting their diversity contribute to digital soil mapping. Digital soil maps use

The basic concepts of some near open subgraphs, near rough, near exact and near fuzzy graphs are introduced and sufficiently illustrated. The Gm-closure space induced by closure operators is used to generalize the basic rough graph concepts. We introduce the near exactness and near roughness by applying the near concepts to make more accuracy for definability of graphs. We give a new definition for a membership function to find near interior, near boundary and near exterior vertices. Moreover, proved results, examples and counter examples are provided. The Gm-closure structure which suggested in this paper opens up the way for applying rich amount of topological facts and methods in the process of granular computing.

This study shows impoliteness as a form of face-threatening that can be intentionally caused by verbal threats in a particular setting. It investigates: what strategies and mitigators do Iraqi-Kurdish English as a foreign language (EFL) learners use in situations of threat responses? The present investigation paper aims to examine impoliteness strategies and mitigators by these learners when they respond to threatening situations in their context. Thus, it fills a gap in pragmatics literature by investigating the reactions to threats in an Iraqi-Kurdish EFL context. To this end, 50 participants have participated in this study. An open-ended questionnaire in the form of a Discourse Completion Task (DCT) is used to elicit responses fr