A single step extraction-cleanup procedure using porous membrane-protected micro-solid phase extraction (μ-SPE) in conjunction with liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry for the extraction and determination of aflatoxins (AFs) B1, B2, G1 and G2 from food was successfully developed. After the extraction, AFs were desorbed from the μ-SPE device by ultrasonication using acetonitrile. The optimum extraction conditions were: sorbent material, C8; sorbent mass, 20 mg; extraction time, 90 min; stirring speed, 1000 rpm; sample volume, 10 mL; desorption solvent, acetonitrile; solvent volume, 350 μL and ultrasonication period, 25 min without salt addition. Under the optimum conditions, enrichment factor of 11, 9, 9 and 10 for AFG2, AFG1

  Routine vaccination activities, such as detection, reporting, and management of adverse events following immunization (AEFIs), are generally handled by healthcare providers (HCPs). Safe vaccines against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) were introduced to control the Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic. The study aimed to assess the knowledge, perceptions, and practice of HCPs in Iraq about reporting adverse events following COVID-19 vaccination, and their association with sociodemographic variables. The study was a cross-sectional study that was carried out between August and September 2021 at the COVID-19 vaccination centers in Iraq. This study used an online and paper-based questionnaire, which

Flexible pavements are subjected to three main distress types: fatigue crack, thermal crack, and permanent deformation. Under severe climate conditions, thermal cracking particularly contributes largely to a considerable scale of premature deterioration of pavement infrastructure worldwide. This challenge is especially relevant for Europe, as weather conditions vary significantly throughout the year. Hydrated lime (HL) has been recognized as an effective additive to improve the mechanical properties of asphalt concrete for pavement applications. Previous research has found that a replacement of conventional limestone dust filler using hydrated lime at 2.5% of the total weight of aggregates generated an optimum improvement in the mec

     In this research, the geotechnical properties of soil for modern residential complexes in the city of Tikrit-Iraq were determined using six samples represented by three residential complexes (Bety, Yarmouk and Jawhara) and that these complexes built on gypsum soils suffer in the future from several engineering problems that appear in the form of cracks, inclination or subsidence in The buildings or the collapse of the facilities, the dilution of the roads and the breaking of the water and sewage networks due to the melting of the gypsum in the soil. One of the most important objectives for the research is that the residential complexes for the research area in Tikrit are not older than some years. With the urban expansion that a

This study was done to clarify the effects of PGF2a on thymocytes in rat thymus gland, and the possibility of minimizing its effects by using fenugreek extract. The results have shown that PGF2a can cause a considerable degenerative changes in thymocytes. On the other hand,the fenugreek extract enhances the thymocyte proliferation and at least minimizes the effects of PGF2a on thymocytes.

The research work was conducted to investigate the effect of oral administration of aqueous extract of turmeric at doses of (5, 10) mg/kg body weight for two weeks daily by determining the genotoxic effect (mitotic index), evaluation of immunological effect (IgG, IgM, IgA, C3, C4) and measuring fertility hormones (follicles stimulation hormone/FSH, lutenising hormone/LH) levels with histological examinations of female albino swiss mice ovaries in comparison with control (normal saline). A clear effect in increasing mitotic activity was reveled for both doses in comparison with control. Results also showed a significant increase in the value of all immunological parameters at both doses, in comparison with control. Also, obvious rais

  One hundred fifty bacterial strains were isolated from patients with urinary tract infections (UTIs). They were belong to ten different species of gram-negative bacteria and to two genera of gram–positive bacteria. E. coli was the major causative agent and comprise 40% of all cases. Klebsiella pneumoniae and Proteus mirabilis were second and third with 18.67% & 18.0% respectively. Other gram-negative bacteria were belong to the genera Enterobacter, Acinitobacter, Pseudomonas, Citrobacter and Serratia. Ten cases (6.67%) were caused by genus Staphylococcus and seven (4.66%) were caused by Streptococcus. Out of the 150 positive cases, 96(64%) were from female patients, while 54(36%) were from males. High percentage of all

A twisted-fin array as an innovative structure for intensifying the charging response of a phase-change material (PCM) within a shell-and-tube storage system is introduced in this work. A three-dimensional model describing the thermal management with charging phase change process in PCM was developed and numerically analyzed by the enthalpy-porosity method using commercial CFD software. Efficacy of the proposed structure of fins for performing better heat communication between the active heating surface and the adjacent layers of PCM was verified via comparing with conventional longitudinal fins within the same design limitations of fin material and volume usage. Optimization of the fin geometric parameters including the pitch, numb