Background: Directly observed therapy-short course (DOTS) had been adopted by World Health Organization (WHO) as hopeful strategy for treatment of tuberculosis (TB) since early nineties. Iraqi health authorities started DOTS implementation since 2001 in Baghdad. Coverage expanded gradually till 100% in 2004. War and unstable security condition hit Iraq since March 2003. Objective: The objective of this study was To evaluate the DOTS implementation program in Baghdad in different periods including 2 unstable periods for proper assessment of war and instability on treatment of TB. Patients and methods: This study had been conducted in Baghdad during four different periods (before and during 2003 war, after war; without and with DOTS). Direct interview with patients, and follow up of their treatment were done. Results: The results reveled that78% of patients were in active age groups, 62% of them were males. Surprisingly, direct observation was not achieved in those who were treated under DOTS in the whole periods. Patients treated under DOTS in the 1st and 4th periods showed much better sputum conversion rate after 2 month treatment (88.7 %in 1st and86.5% in 4th periods` patients) than those treated under DOTS during war (45.9% or Non-DOTS 75.6%). A better cure rate also found in patients of both periods (64.9% in 1st and 63% in 4th period) than patients in other periods ( 11% in 2nd% and 43.6% in the 3rd one) .Conclusions: DOTS strategy played important role in improving registration and curing of TB cases in Baghdad. War and unstable security conditions got a destructive effect on treatment of TB patients regardless the followed strategy. Involvement of private medical sector and other governmental and nongovernmental organization can improve TB treatment outcome.
The slurry infiltrated fiber concrete (SIFCON) is nowadays considered a special type of high fiber content concrete; it is high strength and high performance material. This paper investigates the effect of spread steel fiber into the slurry mortar on some properties of SIFCON. According to fiber distribution, two sets were used in this investigation. The first set consisted of randomly distributing fibers inside the slurry. The second set was by placing the fibers in an orderly manner inside the slurry. Crimped steel fibers with an aspect ratio of (60) were used. Two different volume fractions percentage of (7% and 9%) by volume of mold were used in both sets for this study. Also, a w/c ratio of (0.35) and superplasticiz
... Show MoreThis study aims to suggest a technique for soil properties improvement of AL- Kadhimin shrine Minaret and to support the foundation, which has a tilt of roughly 80 cm from the vertical axis. The shrine of the AL- Kadhimin is made up of four minarets with two domes set in a large courtyard. The four minarets have skewed to varying degrees due to uncontrolled dewatering inside the shrine in recent years. However, the northeast minaret was the most inclined due to its proximity to the well placed inside shrine courtyard. When the well near the minaret is operated, the water level drops, increasing the effective stresses of the soil and causing differential settling of the minaret foundation. To maintain the minaret's foundation from potenti
... Show MoreRecently, some of Iraq's newly constructed asphalt concrete pavements showed premature failures with significant negative impacts on roadway safety and the economy. Using Nano hydrated lime (NHL) in pavement construction could be one of the possible steps to improve pavement durability. This article discusses how NHL affects the durability of hot mix asphalt. NHL was added in two methods to the asphalt concrete mixture for the wearing course. The first is the dry method, i.e., on the aggregate, whereas the second is the wet addition method, i.e., to the bitumen. The percentages were tried for each additional method; 1, 2, and 3% by weight of aggregate for the dry method and 0.5, 1, and 1.5% by weight of asphalt concrete for the wet
... Show MoreNiO0.99Cu0.01 films have been deposited using thermal evaporation
technique on glass substrates under vacuum 10-5mbar. The thickness
of the films was 220nm. The as -deposited films were annealed to
different annealing temperatures (373, 423, and 473) K under
vacuum 10-3mbar for 1 h. The structural properties of the films were
examined using X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results show that no
clear diffraction peaks in the range 2θ= (20-50)o for the as deposited
films. On the other hand, by annealing the films to 423K in vacuum
for 1 h, a weak reflection peak attributable to cubic NiO was
detected. On heating the films at 473K for 1 h, this peak was
observed to be stronger. The most intense peak is at 2θ = 37
Carbon nanoparticles are prepared by sonication using carbon black powder. The surface morphology of carbon black (CB) and carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) is investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The particles size ranges from 100 nm to 400 nm for CB and from 10 nm to 100 nm for CNPs. CNPs and CB are mixed with silicon glue of different ratios of 0.025, 0.2, 0.05, and 0.1 to synthesis films. The optical properties of the prepared films are investigated through reflectance and absorbance analyses. The ratio of 0.05 for CNPs and CB is the best for solar paint because of its higher solar water heater efficiency and is then added to the silicon glue . Temperature of cold water and temperature of hot water in storage tank were ta
... Show MoreThe current research is concerned with methods of formation and their effect on the sintering process of ceramic materials. The research is divided into a number of chapters. The first chapter addressed the research structure (the research problem, importance, objective, limits, and it also defined the terms used in the research). The second chapter addressed the theoretical framework, where the theoretical framework has been divided into three sections. The first section dealt with methods of formation of ceramic materials including: Plasticizing method 2- semi-dry pressing method 3- dry pressing method 4- extrusion method 5- casting method.
The researcher found that there is a clear difference between the methods through her formati
This study was conducted to determine the effects of concentration of hydrochloric acids, temperature, and time on the hydrolysis of soya proteins (defatted soya flour) by determining the value of total protein nitrogen concentration, and amino nitrogen concentration of protein, peptides, and amino acids, and then calculated the hydrolysis rate of proteins.
The variables of the conditions of hydrolysis process was achieved in this study with the following range value of tests parameter:
- Concentration of HCl solution ranged between 1-7 N,
- Hydrolysis temperature ranged between 35-95 °C, and
- The time of hydroly
In this work, results of a mathematical analysis of the role of workpiece preheating in laser keyhole welding were presented. This analysis considered the steady-state welding as well as certain range of boundary conditions over which preheating effect would be indicated. This work is an attempt to interpret the role of preheating to increase welding depth and perform keyhole welding with high quality using physical and thermal properties of steel alloys.
Chlorine doped SnS have been prepared utilizing chemical spray pyrolysis. The effects of chlorine concentration on the optical constants were studied. It was seen that the transmittance decreased with doping, while reflectance, refractive index, extinction coefficient, real and imaginary parts of dielectric constant were increased as the doping percentage increased. The results show also that the skin depth decrease as the chlorine percentage increased which could be assure that it is transmittance related.