Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an emerging zoonotic disease caused by the new respiratory virus SARS-CoV2. It has a tropism in the lung tissues where excess target receptors exist. Periostin plays a role in subepithelial fibrosis associated with bronchial asthma. Since the Coronavirus's target is the human respiratory system, Periostin has been recently described as a valuable new biomarker in the diagnosis and evaluation of disease in patients with COVID-19 lung involvement. Objectives: To assess the level of Periostin in the serum of COVID-19 patients and to correlate its role in disease severity and prognosis. Subjects and Methods: Periostin serum levels were measured for 63 patients attending three main COVID

Background: Psoriasis is a common inflammatory condition worldwide, with an average prevalence ranging from 2% to 3%. However, the incidence of psoriasis varies among different ethnic groups and regions. Elevated leptin levels have been associated with increased cellular proliferation, including T-cells. Additionally, high leptin levels may stimulate the synthesis of proinflammatory cytokines such as ILـ6 and TNFـα. Objectives: To evaluate the effect of Apremilast on Leptin in obese psoriatic patients. Subjects and Methods: Thirty patients with psoriasis were included in This prospective cohort study to measure the levels of serum Leptin by using the ELISA technique, before and after receiving Apremilast. Result: The present work

Helicobacter pylori (HP) is the etiopathogenic agent of gastric and duodenal disorders ranging from gastritis to malignancy. It is also associated with many extraintestinal diseases, including cardiovascular disease and its associated risk factors. To evaluate the link between HP infection and some cardiovascular risk factors by studying the effects of HP infection on body mass index, blood pressure, and serum lipid profile among patients having gastritis with and without HP infection. A crosssectional study included 1214 patients who had gastritis diagnosed by gastroscopy examination. Those patients were in the age range of 30-65 years and they were divided according to their gender into 725 females and 489 males depending on the 1

In view of the large profits made by the sex trade on the one hand, and the minor penalties imposed on the traffickers (brokers) compared with the severe penalties imposed on the drug trade and illegal weapons, on the other hand, this trade has become popular and spread in most countries of the world, and the cornerstones of this trade and A safe haven for them is hotels, especially luxury ones with international brands where their guests are rich and some may look for sex for money. Given the great physical and psychological damage to the victims, this research highlights the civil liability of hotels towards these victims in US and Iraqi law.In order not to limit the

The effects of T-shaped fins on the improvement of phase change materials (PCM) melting are numerically investigated in vertical triple-tube storage containment. The PCM is held in the middle pipe of a triple-pipe heat exchanger while the heat transfer fluid flows through the internal and external pipes. The dimension effects of the T-shaped fins on the melting process of the PCM are investigated to determine the optimum case. Results indicate that while using T-shaped fins improves the melting performance of the PCM, the improvement potential is mainly governed by the fin’s body rather than the head. Hence, the proposed T-shaped fin did not noticeably improve melting at the bottom of the PCM domain; additionally, a flat fin is ad

Background: Occupational exposure to hazardous drugs occurs in all aspects of anticancer drug handling. Proper recommendations and guidelines should be applied to control and reduce exposure. Objective: To assess pharmacists' knowledge and practice regarding the safe handling of anticancer drugs. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at seven major hospitals in Baghdad City, Iraq, from December 2023 to February 2024. A pre-designed questionnaire was given to pharmacists who handled anticancer drugs in chemotherapy units. The questionnaire comprises sociodemographic data, knowledge of the safe handling of cytotoxic drugs and thoughts about exposure and risk, practices for safely handling cytotoxic drugs, and challenges for s

The combustion and pyrolysis processes of sewage sludge were studied in the current report. Two kinds of sewage sludge(SS) were used, SS the sewage sludge was not treated, while SS-U90KHz the ultrasonic bath pre-treated sewage sludge with a frequency of 90KHz was not treated. Wastewater treatment plants are the origins of waste sludge. Analyses were performed roughly and finally. Thermogravimetric research analyzed the thermal behaviour of the analysed sewage bucket (TGA). The samples were heated at a constant rate of 25 to 800 Celsius by air (combustion) and nitrogen flow (pyrolysis). For sludges which have been investigated. In the TG/DTG curves, comparable thermal profiles were available. All of the TG/curves DTG’s were divided into th

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is the most common process for dealing with primary and secondary wastewater sludge. In the present work, four pre-treatment methods (ultrasonic, chemical, thermal, and thermo-chemical) are investigated in Al-Rustumya Wastewater Treatment plant in order to find their effect on biogas production and volatile solid removal efficiency during anaerobic digestion.
Two frequencies of ultrasonic wave were used 30 KHz and 50 KHz during the pre-treatment. Sodium hydroxide was added in different amounts to give three pH values of 9, 10 and 11 in chemical pre-treating processes. The sludge was heated at 60oC and 80oC through thermal pre-treatment experiment. Also, the sludge was treated thermo-chemically at 80 oC and pH

Copper tin sulfide (Cu2SnS3) thin films have been grown on glass
substrate with different thicknesses (500, 750 and 1000) nm by flash
thermal evaporation method after prepare its alloy from their
elements with high purity. The as-deposited films were annealed at
473 K for 1h. Compositional analysis was done using Energy
dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The microstructure of CTS powder
examined by SEM and found that the large crystal grains are shown
clearly in images. XRD investigation revealed that the alloy was
polycrystalline nature and has cubic structure with preferred
orientation along (111) plane, while as deposited films of different
thickness have amorphous structure and converted to polycrystalline

The spectroscopic properties, potential energy curve, dipole moments, total charge density, Electrostatic potential as well as the thermodynamic properties of selenium diatomic halides have been studied using code Mopac.7.21 and hyperchem, semi-empirical molecular orbital of MNDO-method (modified neglected of differential overlap) of parameterization PM3 involving quantum mechanical semi-empirical Hamiltonian. The relevant molecular parameters like interatomic distance, bond angle, dihedral angle and net charge were also calculated.