This study was conducted to estimate some heavy metals cadmium, lead, nickel and iron in 15 samples of Iraqi honey with 3 replicates for each sample which were collected from apiaries near potential contamination areas in five Iraqi governorates, including Baghdad, Karbala, Babylon, Diyala and Salah al-Din. The atomic absorption technique was used to estimate the concentrations of heavy metals, the results showed that there were significant differences at (P≤0.05) between the concentrations of these elements in the honey samples, the highest concentrations of cadmium 0.123 mg/kg were recorded in Baghdad, near the petrochemical production complex, lead 4.657 mg/kg and nickel 0.023 mg/kg in Babylon near the power plant, iron was 1.863 mg/kg in Karbala near the waste collection and incineration plant, and all the concentrations of cadmium and lead in the studied honey samples were higher than the acceptable limits set by the European Commission Regulation.
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) finds use in various industries due to its versatility but is not thermostable, serving as a barrier to causing degradation and release of hydrochloric acid (HCl) under heat stress conditions. Lead and organotin compounds have traditionally been used for stabilizer purpose to discourage such degradation but pose serious ecological as well as health risks. As a counter measure, bio-based stabilizers from plant oils have become popular as a green and sustainable alternative. This review looks back at recent developments in plant oil-based stabilizers for PVC, focusing on the mechanisms of stabilization, sustainability, and cost-effectiveness. We review plant oils such as tung oil, castor oil, and soybean oil,
... Show MoreRheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune diseasecharacterized by chronic inflammationthat affects joints and cartilage. Bone complications such asRA-relatedosteoporosis are one of the most extra-articular manifestations. Many inflammatory mediators are released during RA disease pathophysiology; these mediators stimulate osteoclast genesis of bone by direct effects on RANKL and OPG. The study aimedto measure RANKL, OPG in RA patients treated with Etanercept only and other groups treated with Methotrexate onlyat baseline and after three months to evaluate bone state. An observational case-control prospective study was done on 30 RA patients who received MTX, 30 RA patients who received ETN, and 30 healthy,age-matched control groups. The
... Show MoreABSTRACT Background: Bracket rebonding is a common problem in orthodontics which may result in many drawbacks. The aims of this study were to evaluate the effects of application of two enamel protective agents “Icon†and “ProSeal†on shear bond strength before and after rebonding of stainless steel orthodontic brackets using conventional orthodontic adhesive and to assess the site of bond failure. Materials and methods: Fifty sound extracted human upper first premolar teeth were selected and randomly divided into two equal groups; the first time bonding and the rebonding groups (n=30). Each group was subdivided into control, Icon and ProSeal subgroups. The enamel protective agents were applied after etching (precondi
... Show MoreThe aim of the research is to study the effect of the roundhouse strategy on the achievement of fifth grade secondary school in physics and their pivotal thinking. The experiment has been applied for obtaining the data, which were processed statistically using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences, the results revealed that the students of the experimental group who studied using the roundhouse strategy was superior to the students of the control group who studied in the traditional method in the achievement exam. The results also show that there are statistically significant differences between the mean scores of the students of the experimental group and the control group in the pivotal thinking exam, in favor of the experimental gr
... Show MoreBackground Direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) combination therapies from various mechanisms of action and families have been revolutionized the management landscape of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV). Ombitasvir, paritaprevir with ritonavir (OBV/PTV/r) ± ribavirin (RBV) is approved to treat HCV genotype 4 (GT4) infection. Here, our objective was to delineate the efficacy and safety of OBV/PTV/r plus RBV in treating of Egyptian naïve patients infected with HCV GT4.
Methods a cohort of 100 Egyptian patients infected with HCV GT4 was allocated and administered orally OBV/PTV/r with RBV. The primary endpoint of our study was a sustained virological response (HCV RNA < 12 IU/mL) 12 weeks after the c
... Show MoreThe impact of applying the K-W-L self-scheduling technique on first-year intermediate students' learning of basic volleyball skills, Ayad Ali Hussein*, Israa Fouad Salih
In this paper, the speed control of the real DC motor is experimentally investigated using nonlinear PID neural network controller. As a simple and fast tuning algorithm, two optimization techniques are used; trial and error method and particle swarm optimization PSO algorithm in order to tune the nonlinear PID neural controller's parameters and to find best speed response of the DC motor. To save time in the real system, a Matlab simulation package is used to carry out these algorithms to tune and find the best values of the nonlinear PID parameters. Then these parameters are used in the designed real time nonlinear PID controller system based on LabVIEW package. Simulation and experimental results are compared with each other and showe
... Show MoreBackground: Pain and the usage of local anesthetic agents are still real problem in pediatric dentistry, for these reasons, the use of minimal invasive dentistry (MID) in regard to the patient comfort is important especially for children, anxious and uncooperative patients. Chemomechanical caries removal (CMCR) methods involve the selective removal of the carious dentine hence it avoided the painful removal of the sound dentine and the anxiety resulted due to the vibration of the hand piece which is also decreased thus it appears to be more acceptable and comfortable to the patient. Aims of this study: This study was conducted among group of children to assess and compare the anxiety rating scale (during and after treatment) between the
... Show MoreCrystalline silicon (c-Si) has low optical absorption due to its high surface reflection of incident light. Nanotexturing of c-Si which produces black silicon (b-Si) offers a promising solution. In this work, effect of H2O2 concentrations towards surface morphological and optical properties of b-Si fabricated by two-step silver-assisted wet chemical etching (Ag-based two-step MACE) for potential photovoltaic (PV) applications is presented. The method involves a 30 s deposition of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) in an aqueous solution of AgNO3:HF (5:6) and an optimized etching in HF:H2O2:DI H2O solution under 0.62 M, 1.85 M, 2.47 M, and 3.7 M concentrations of H2O<
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