Background: Folic acid (vitamin B9) is one of the important vitamins that are necessary for growth and development of the embryo and preventing the occurrence of congenital malformations which are one of the important health problems in the developing countries and the world as it has a direct effect on the affected babies, their families and the community. It affects an estimated 3% of newborns worldwide.Periconceptional supplementation with folic acid (before conception and during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy) was found to decrease many important types of these anomalies. Objectives: The aim of this study is to assess knowledge, attitude and practice of periconceptional use of folic acid in pregnant women who are attending antenatal care unit in three Primary Health Care Centers in Baghdad / AL-Russafa side. Type of the study: Descriptive cross-sectional study Patients and Methods: The study used a convenient sample technique for pregnant women who are attending antenatal care unit in three primary health care centers in Baghdad/ALـRussafa at the period from January to April 2014. The sample size was 200. Non-pregnant women were excluded. Results: a large proportion (86%) of pregnant women who had been interviewed knew about folic acid. 61% of them gained the information about it from doctors and 44.5% know its importance in protection from congenital anomalies. Although there was a good practice regarding folic acid supplementation during the current pregnancy; only 10% of them had used it in the proper time (at least one month before pregnancy to the end of the first trimester). It has been found that the largest rate of its use was in the second month (28%), Still 22% of them realize that it must be taken before pregnancy. Conclusion: From 200 pregnant women interviewed in the current study, the majority knew about folic acid but nearly only half of them states its importance in protection from congenital anomalies. Most of the women usedfolic acid in the current pregnancy on a daily bases and take it as pure folic acid. Although some of the pregnant women were aware about the proper time of taking folic acid, only few took it before pregnancy. Doctors were the main source of information.
The population of Ephemeroptera was studied in three selected stations of Rawanduz River (Gali Ali Beg water fall, Rawanduz River and after the junction of these two waters) during the three seasons of spring, summer and autumn in 2016. In addition,sixteen physicochemical parameters (pH, EC, turbidity, DO, BOD5, NO3, TDN, TDP, HCO3-, Hardness, Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+, Cl-, SO42-, Na% and SAR) of water in these stations were estimated and used to calculate the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment Water Quality Index (CCME WQI). Eleven species of aquatic insects were identified,which belong to four families of th
... Show MoreThis study involved the treatment of textile wastewater contaminated with direct blue 15 dye (DB15) using a heterogeneous photo-Fenton-like process. Bimetallic iron/copper nanoparticles loaded on bentonite clay were used as heterogeneous catalysts and prepared via liquid-phase reduction method using eucalyptus leaves extract (E-Fe/Cu@BNPs). Characterization methods were applied to resultant particles (NPs), including SEM, BET, and FTIR techniques. The prepared NPs were found with porous and spherical shapes with a specific surface area of particles was 28.589 m2/g. The effect of main parameters on the photo-Fenton-like degradation of DB15 was investigated through batch and continuous fixed-bed systems. In batch mode, pH, H2O2 dosage, DB15 c
... Show MoreThe current study used extracts from the aloe vera (AV) plant and the hibiscus sabdariffa flower to make Ag-ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) and Ag-ZnO nanocomposites (NCs). Ag/ZnO NCs were compared to Ag NPs and ZnO NPs. They exhibited unique properties against bacteria and fungi that aren't present in either of the individual parts. The Ag-ZnO NCs from AV showed the best performance against E. coli, with an inhibition zone of up to 27 mm, compared to the other samples. The maximum absorbance peaks were observed at 431 nm and 410 nm for Ag NPs, at 374 nm and 377 nm for ZnO NPs and at 384 nm and 391 nm for Ag-ZnO NCs using AV leaf extract and hibiscus sabdariffa flower extract, respectively. Using field emission-scanning electron microscopes (FE-
... Show MoreThe possibility of using activated carbon developed from date palm seeds wastes as a permeable reactive barrier (PRB) to remove copper from polluted shallow groundwater was investigated. The activated carbon has been developed from date palm seeds by dehydrating methods using concentrated sulfuric acid. Batch tests were performed to characterize the equilibrium sorption properties of new activated carbon in copper-containing aqueous solutions, while the sandy soil (aquifer) was assumed to be inert. Under the studied conditions, the Langmuir isotherm model gives a better fit for the sorption data of copper by activated carbon than other models. At a pilot scale, One-dimensional column experiments were performed, and an integrated model ba
... Show MoreThe variation in wing morphological features was investigated using geometric morphometric technique of the Sand Fly from two Iraqi provinces Babylon and Diyala . We distributed eleven landmarks on the wings of Sand Fly species. By using the centroid size and shape together, all species were clearly distinguished. It is clear from these results that the wing analysis is an essential method for future geometric morphometry studies to distinguish the species of Sand Flies in Iraq.
In the midst of rapid changes and difficultiesand the tough competition faced by the Iraqi banks, it has become necessary to focus on a significant aspect of administrative work; that is strategic planning and the key role of implementation within this process in improving the banking service quality. It has emerged as a critical and main competitive weapon for distinguishing the services provided by banks from each other in an effort to participate in increasing market share of the bank in question in question; in its growth, continuation and profit increase.
The research has addressed the relation between the independent variable (implementation within strategic planning), and the dependent variable (banking service quality and
... Show MoreHepatitis C virus (HCV) is a liver disease that affects14 million people. Feasible research was conducted for identifying the genotypes and allele frequency of some single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the IL-28β genes and their predictive role in disease incidence in Iraqi patients. The SNPs (rs28416813, rs4803219, rs11881222, and rs8103142) of IL-28β have been associated with susceptibility to several diseases. Ninety eight (98) HCV patients were included in this research; with average age ± SE (42.28 ± 3.44) years. Also, 80 healthy people (with average age ± SE (29.40 ± 2.84) years) were included as a control group. The SNPs were detected by allele-specific PCR (polymerase chain reaction) using specific primers. The re
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