Background: Excision repair cross-complementing group 2 gene (ERCC2) polymorphisms have been linked as being a risk factor for colorectal cancer (CRC) emergence. However, data from several studies are contradictory. To validate genetic biomarkers of the CRC; the impact of the following ERCC2 polymorphism (rs1799793 and rs238406) was examined on CRC susceptibility among sample of Iraqi population. Methods: A total of 126 subjects were enrolled in this case control study; 78 CRC patients and 48 apparently healthy individuals who are age, gender, smoking status and BMI matched. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used for genotyping, followed by sequencing then the association between genetic polymorphisms and CRC risk was investigate

Highly Modified Asphalt (HiMA) binders have garnered significant attention due to their superior resistance to rutting, fatigue cracking, and thermal distress under heavy traffic loads and extreme environmental conditions. While elastomeric polymers such as Styrene- Butadiene-Styrene (SBS) have been extensively used in HiMA applications, the potential of plastomeric polymers, including Polyethylene (PE) and Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA), remains largely unexplored. This study aims to evaluate the performance of reference binder (RB) modified with plastomeric HiMA asphalt in comparison to SBS-modified binders and determine the optimal polymer dosage for achieving an optimal balance between rutting resistance and fatigue durability. The experi

Buildings such as malls, offices, airports and hospitals nowadays have become very complicated which increases the need for a solution that helps people to find their locations in these buildings. GPS or cell signals are commonly used for positioning in an outdoor environment and are not accurate in indoor environment. Smartphones are becoming a common presence in our daily life, also the existing infrastructure, the Wi-Fi access points, which is commonly available in most buildings, has motivated this work to build hybrid mechanism that combines the APs fingerprint together with smartphone barometer sensor readings, to accurately determine the user position inside building floor relative to well-known lan

Shadow removal is crucial for robot and machine vision as the accuracy of object detection is greatly influenced by the uncertainty and ambiguity of the visual scene. In this paper, we introduce a new algorithm for shadow detection and removal based on different shapes, orientations, and spatial extents of Gaussian equations. Here, the contrast information of the visual scene is utilized for shadow detection and removal through five consecutive processing stages. In the first stage, contrast filtering is performed to obtain the contrast information of the image. The second stage involves a normalization process that suppresses noise and generates a balanced intensity at a specific position compared to the neighboring intensit

This study concerns a new type of heat exchangers, which is that of shell-and-double concentric tube heat exchangers. The case studies include both design calculations and performance calculations.

       The new heat exchanger design was conducted according to Kern method. The volumetric flow rates were 3.6 m³/h and 7.63 m³/h for the hot oil and water respectively. The experimental parameters studied were: temperature, flow rate of hot oil, flow rate of cold water and pressure drop.

A comparison was made for the theoretical and experimental results and it was found that the percentage error for the hot oil outlet temperature was (- 1.6%). The percentage

The pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), first reported in China, in December 2019 and since then the digestive tract involvement of  COVID-19 has been progressively described. In this review, I summed recent studies, which have addressed the pathophysiology of COVID-19-induced gastrointestinal symptoms, their prevalence, and bowel pathological and radiological findings of infected patients. The effects of gut microbiota on SARS-CoV-2 and the challenges of nutritional therapy of the infected patients are depicted.  Moreover, I provide a concise summary of the recommendations on the management of inflammatory bowel disease, colorectal cancer, and performing endoscopy in the COVID era. Finally, the COVID pancreatic re