Many international studies indicated that the polymorphisms of some genes disturbed the folate homocysteine (Hcy) metabolism and increased the vulnerability to Down syndrome (DS). We aimed to measure the serum levels of folate and Hcy in DS children and compare the levels with age and sex-matched apparently normal healthy children. We also aimed to study the A80G polymorphism of the gene reduced folate carrier (RFC1) in the DS children as a risk factor. Forty children with DS (24 were boys, and 16 were girls) with the age range between 5-13 years, and 26 normal healthy children (16 boys and ten girls) were included in this study. The results show that the highest genotype in the control group was AG (53.85%) followed by AA and GG (30.

This research presents experimental and theoretical investigation of 15 reinforced concrete spliced and nonspliced girder models. Splices of hooked dowels and cast in place joints, with or without strengthening steel plates were used. Post-tensioning had been used to enhance the splice strength for some spliced girders. The ANSYS computer program was used for analyzing the spliced and non-spliced girders. A nonlinear three dimensional element was used to represent all test girders. The experimental results have shown that for a single span girder using steel plate connectors in the splice zone has given a sufficient continuity to resist flexural stresses in this region. The experimental results have shown that the deflection of hooked do

 Background: Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is the commonest complication of T2DM. Neuropathy is a descriptor for a spectrum of clinical and subclinical symptoms with varying anatomical distributions, clinical histories, and perhaps underlying pathogenetic mechanisms. The distal Symmetrical sensory polyneuropathy is chronic, symmetrical, length-dependent sensorimotor. Studies of the blink reflex have shown potential as a method of assessing brainstem activity.

Objective: The primary purpose of this research was to assess the function of the blink reflex in the early detection of cranial nerves and brain

In this paper, thermal performance of a zig-zig solar air heater (ZZSAH) with and without using steel wire mesh on the absorber plate of the collector is experimentally investigated. The experimental work includes four inclination angles of the collector 20^o, 30^o, 45^o, and 60^o and four air mass flow rates of 0.03, 0.04, 0.06, and 0.08 kg/s under varieties of operating conditions of a geographic location of  Baghdad. New correlation equations of Nusselt number are obtained from experimental results for both types of collectors where the effect of varying of the inclination angle of collector taken into consideration in the experiment. The correlations show good agreement wi

Experimental study has been conducted for laminar natural convection heat transfer of air flow through a rectangular enclosure fitted with vertical partition. The partition was oriented parallel to the two vertical isothermal walls with different temperatures, while all the other surfaces of the enclosure were insulated. In this study a test rig has been designed and constructed to allow studying the effect of Rayleigh number, aperture height ratio, partition thickness, the position of aperture according to the side walls and according to the height, the position of the partition according to the hot wall, and partition inclination. The experiments were carried out with air as the working fluid for Rayleigh number range (5*107 – 1.3*10

      Skin cancer is the most serious health problems in the globe because of its high occurrence compared to other types of cancer. Melanoma and non-melanoma are the two most common kinds of skin cancer. One of the most difficult problems in medical image processing is the automatic detection of skin cancer. Skin melanoma is classified as either benign or malignant based on the results of this test. Impediment due to artifacts in dermoscopic images impacts the analytic activity and decreases the precision level. In this research work, an automatic technique including segmentation and classification is proposed. Initially, pre-processing technique called DullRazor tool is used for hair removal process and semi-supervised mean-shift

The regression analysis process is used to study and predicate the surface response by using the design of experiment (DOE) as well as roughness calculation through developing a mathematical model. In this study; response surface methodology and the particular solution technique are used. Design of experiment used a series of the structured statistical analytic approach to investigate the relationship between some parameters and their responses. Surface roughness is one of the important parameters which play an important role. Also, its found that the cutting speed can result in small effects on surface roughness. This work is focusing on all considerations to make interaction between the parameters (position of influenc

Many studies have evaluated the effect of platelet rich plasma (PRP) in the treatment of non-union fractures but few studies have investigated their effect on the union of femoral neck fractures or their functional outcome in young adults. The aim of this study was to evaluate the union time and functional outcome in young adult patients with femoral neck fracture managed by three cannulated screws injected with PRP and those managed by fixation only. This prospective study included 24 patients diagnosed with femoral neck fractures within 24 hours of presentation. Twelve cases in group A were managed by closed reduction and three cannulated screws fixation injected with PRP; twelve patients in group B were managed only by closed reduction a

Wellbore instability is one of the most common issues encountered during drilling operations. This problem becomes enormous when drilling deep wells that are passing through many different formations. The purpose of this study is to evaluate wellbore failure criteria by constructing a one-dimensional mechanical earth model (1D-MEM) that will help to predict a safe mud-weight window for deep wells. An integrated log measurement has been used to compute MEM components for nine formations along the studied well. Repeated formation pressure and laboratory core testing are used to validate the calculated results. The prediction of mud weight along the nine studied formations shows that for Ahmadi, Nahr Umr, Shuaiba, and Zubair formations