Kidney damage in workers within environments of highly expected exposure to toxin, including heavy metals, could be a primary marker to expect hazards in population exposed to low levels of many environmental pollutants. The present study was designed to evaluate the possible effect of environmental exposure to cadmium and zinc on renal function among painters in Sulaimani city. Cross sectional study was performed on 37 male painting workers in Sulaimani city. Each worker was interviewed using structured questionnaire. Twenty five non-exposed healthy subjects were included as control group. Venous blood samples (10 ml) were obtained by vein puncture from both subjects and utilized for estimation of serum urea, creatinine levels, serum le

Since 1990 internal combustion engines and variable systems has been considered as emission. Noise can be defined as undesirable sound, and in high levels it can be considered ahealth hazard. Large internal combustion engines produce high levels of noise. In many countries there are laws restricting the noise levels in large engine rooms and fixed applications. Locomotives engines have the minimum emission influence because of noise control techniques capability.

In this paper study on a single cylinder internal combustion engine was conducted. The engine works by adding ethanol to gasoline, at variable speeds, without adding ethanol, and with adding 10 and 20% ethanol in volumetric ratio. Using one sound insulator or two or with

This study tries to clear the correlation and association between asthma, obesity and leptin levels. Also it will work to indicate the main risk factors which play role in the elevation of leptin level within asthmatic patients.  This is a case control study conducted on (38) asthmatic patients and (20) healthy control who were closely similar by age, gender and BMI. The main statistical tests used were student t test, linear regression test and correlation test. Significance was set at P < 0.05. Sampling method used for this study was convenience sampling method.  The main results of this study show a significant association and positive correlation between age (old age  â‰¥ 40 ye

According to the famous saying of the medieval physician Paracelsus, "There is no substance without poison. Only the dose determines the extent of the toxic effect." Here, the effect of monosodium glutamate (MSG) on human health and the risks to the health of its frequent use in the short term was addressed and the long term was evaluated according to the studies of several researchers specializing in this regard. Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is known as one of the most popular food additives that classified as a flavor enhancer. Parts of the evidence were reviewed from the literature explaining its effect on immune system cells in addition to metabolic disorders by exposing individuals to obesity and what is known as metabolic syndrome, as w

A batch adsorption system was applied to study the adsorption of methylene blue from aqueous solution by Iraqi bentonite and treated bentonite with different amount of zinc oxide (ZnO). The adsorption capacities of methylene blue onto bentonite were evaluated. The equilibrium between liquid and solid phase was described by Langmuir model better than the Freundlich model. Langmuir and Freundlich constants have been determined. The separation factor or equilibrium parameter, RL which is used to predict if an adsorption system is favourable or unfavourable was calculated for all cases.

The aim of this study is to compare the effects of three methods: problem-based learning (PBL), PBL with lecture method, and conventional teaching on self-directed learning skills among physics undergraduates. The actual sample size comprises of 122 students, who were selected randomly from the Physics Department, College of Education in Iraq. In this study, the pre- and post-test were done and the instruments were administered to the students for data collection. The data was analyzed and statistical results rejected null hypothesis of this study. This study revealed that there are no signifigant differences between PBL and PBL with lecture method, thus the PBL without or with lecture method enhances the self-directed learning skills bette

Zinc sulfide (ZnS) thin films were deposited on glass substrates using pulsed laser deposition technique. The laser used is the Q-switched Nd: YAG laser with 1064nm wavelength and 1Hz pulse repetition rate and varying laser energy 700mJ-1000mJ with 25 pulse. The substrate temperature was kept constant at 100°C. The structural, morphological and optical properties of ZnS thin films were characterized with X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscope (AFM) and UV-VIS spectrophotometer.

In this study, the harvest of maize silage with the cross double row sowing method were tested with a single row disc silage machine in two different PTO applications (540 and 540E min-1) and at two different working speeds v1, v2 (1.8 and 2.5 km h-1). The possibilities of harvesting with a single row machine were revealed, and performance characteristics such as hourly fuel consumption, field-product fuel consumption and PTO power consumption were determined in the trials. The best results in terms of hourly fuel consumption and PTO power consumption were determined in the 540E PTO application and V1 working speed. When the fuel consumption of the field-product is evaluated, it is obtained with V2 working speed and 540E PTO application. As

The tunnel’s stability during construction is a very important matter. Some methods have been proposed for stability evaluation, but the hazard warning levels (HWLs) are more applicable among these methods. Despite monitoring and applying HWLs, several collapses in Shibli twin tunnels in Iran have cast doubts on the accuracy of this criterion in the presence of water. In this study, the critical strains under different water contents were measured through uniaxial compressive strength tests on 11 different shale and marl samples. A comparison of laboratory tests and numerical results shows that the influence of the moisture content on the critical strain is negligible. In addition, the results show that there is no dir