The cyanobacterial neurotoxinβ-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) is considered to be an “excitotoxin,” and its suggested mechanism of action is killing neurons. Long-term exposure to L-BMAA is believed to lead to neurodegenerative diseases including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease). Objectives of this study were to determine the presumptive median lethal dose (LD₅₀), the Lowest-Observed-Adverse-Effect Level (LOAEL), and histopathologic lesions caused by the naturally occurring BMAA isomer, L-BMAA, in mice. Seventy NIH Swiss Outbred mice (35 male and 35 female) were used. Treatment group mice

Background: Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer-related mortality worldwide, and its prevalence is increasing among many nations.  Aim of the study: Investigate the predictive value of carbohydrate antigen 242 (CA242) in comparison to the CEA biomarker and to estimate the significance of CA242 as prognosis maker in colorectal cancer patients. Methods: a case-control study with a total of 150 individuals, 100 patients (59 males, 41 females) and 50 healthy controls (26 males, 24 females). using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent (ELISA) to determine the serum levels of CA242 and CEA. The study was carried out at the gastroenterology consultation clinic of the oncology teaching hospital between November 2020 and February

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The Iraqi government seeks to overcome the financial crisis by investing and privatizing some projects to achieve sustainable growth. Most of the investment projects in Iraq suffer from many constraints that greatly impact the success of these projects. A survey of the opinions of a group of experts was conducted to identify the most important constraints facing the investment process in Iraq. Then the experts' answers were arranged in a closed questionnaire and distributed to the research sample for which the statistical analysis was conducted. Through it, the most important (17) factors that had the greatest impact on the failure of investment projects in Iraq were reached. One of the main constraints was

This work proposes a new video buffer framework (VBF) to acquire a favorable quality of experience (QoE) for video streaming in cellular networks. The proposed framework consists of three main parts: client selection algorithm, categorization method, and distribution mechanism. The client selection algorithm was named independent client selection algorithm (ICSA), which is proposed to select the best clients who have less interfering effects on video quality and recognize the clients’ urgency based on buffer occupancy level. In the categorization method, each frame in the video buffer is given a specific number for better estimation of the playout outage probability, so it can efficiently handle so many frames from different video

Pragmatics of translation is mainly concerned with how social contexts have their own influence on both the source text (ST) initiator's linguistic choices and the translator's interpretation of the meanings intended in the target text (TT). In translation, socio-pragmatic failure(SPF), as part of cross-cultural failure, generally refers to a translator's misuse or misunderstanding of the social conditions placed on language in use. In addition, this paper aims to illustrate the importance of SPF in cross-cultural translation via identifying that such kind of failure most likely leads to cross-cultural communication breakdown. Besides, this paper attempts to answer the question of whether translators from English into Arabic or vice versa h

Background: The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) is a ligand-activated transcription factor historically recognized for its role in the regulation of toxicity mediated by environmental chemicals. Recent research points to AhR's critical participation in male reproductive physiology, particularly in spermatogenesis, hormone signaling, and the maintenance of sperm quality. Both endogenous ligands (e.g., dietary and gut microbiota-derived metabolites) and exogenous pollutants (e.g., dioxins and benzo-α-pyrene) influence AhR-mediated pathways, making it a key link between environmental exposures and male fertility. Results: This review highlights AhR's influence on the male reproductive system, emphasizing the role of endogenous AhR ligands an

The current paper aims to identify potential factors associated with employees’ intentions to leave information and communication technology companies in Iraq. There is evident variability in the literature regarding these factors; hence, a factor analysis approach was employed to identify these factors within the surveyed environment. Due to the difficulty in precisely delineating the size of the research population, a purposive sampling method was employed to reach an appropriate number of respondents within the aforementioned companies. A total of 288 employees responded to the survey conducted via Google Forms. The test results revealed the presence of five primary factors associated with employees’ intentions to leave, name