Background: Congenital heart disease is one of the most common developmental anomalies in children. These patients commonly have poor oral health that increase caries risk. Dental management of children with congenital heart disease requires special attention, because of their heightened susceptibility to infectious endocarditis. The aims of this study were to assess the severity of dental caries of primary and permanent teeth and treatment needs in relation to nutritional indicator (Body Mass Index) among children with congenital heart disease. Materials and Methods: In this case-control study, case group consisted of 399 patients aged between 6-12 years old with congenital heart disease were examined for dental status in Ibn Al-Bitar spec

The Electric Discharge (EDM) method is a novel thermoelectric manufacturing technique in which materials are removed by a controlled spark erosion process between two electrodes immersed in a dielectric medium. Because of the difficulties of EDM, determining the optimum cutting parameters to improve cutting performance is extremely tough. As a result, optimizing operating parameters is a critical processing step, particularly for non-traditional machining process like EDM. Adequate selection of processing parameters for the EDM process does not provide ideal conditions, due to the unpredictable processing time required for a given function. Models of Multiple Regression and Genetic Algorithm are considered as effective methods for determ

In the modern world, wind turbine (WT) has become the largest source of renewable energy. The horizontal-axis wind turbine (HAWT) has higher efficiency than the vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT). The blade pitch angle (BPA) of WT is controlled to increase output power generation over the rated wind speed. This paper proposes an accurate controller for BPA in a 500-kw HAWT. Three types of controllers have been applied and compared to find the best controller: PID controller (PIDC), fuzzy logic type-2 controller (T2FLC), and hybrid type-2 fuzzy-PID controller (T2FPIDC). This paper has been used Mamdani and Sugeno fuzzy inference systems (FIS) to find the best inference system for WT controllers. Furthermore, genetic algorithm (GA) and particl

Background: Prolapsed intervertebral disc is an important and common cause of low backache. MRI has now become universally accepted investigation for prolapsed intervertebral disc. We, however, regularly come across situations, when MRI shows diffuse disc bulges, even at multiple levels, which cannot be correlated clinically and when such cases are operated, no significant disc prolapse is found resulting in negative exploration.Objective: To evaluate the role of M.R.I. finding not only for diagnosis of disc herniation at lumbar region but also for localization the level of herniationMethods: A prospective study on seventy five symptomatic low backache and MRI confirmed prolapsed intervertebral disc patients at lumbo-sacral region were o

Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR)-based plastic optical fiber sensor for estimating the concentration and refractive index of sugar in human blood serum. The sensor is fabricated by a small part (10mm) of optical fiber in the middle is embedded in a resin block and then the polishing process is done, after that it is deposited with about (40nm) thickness of gold metal. The blood serum is placed on gold coated core of an Optical grade plastic optical fiber of 980 µm core diameter.

A total of 45 voucher specimens of falcons which are deposited in the bird's collection of the Iraq Natural History Research Center and Museum (INHM) were reviewed. Mummified falcons were preserved as voucher study specimens and tagged with museum collection labels. In the current study, morphometrics of six species of the genus Falco Linnaeus, 1758: Lanner falcon F. biarmicus Temminck, 1825; Sacker Falcon F. cherrug Gray, 1834; Lesser Kestrel F. naumanni Fleischer, 1818; Peregrine Falcon F. peregrines Tunstall, 1771; Eurasian Hobby F. subbuteo Linnaeus, 1758 and Common Kestrel F. tinnunculus Linnaeus, 1758 were documented. These species were recorded previously in the ornithological literatures by several authors and deposited in t

Criteria to be met in selecting the obtimal areas for generating alternative electric energy from wind

Background: Oral carcinogenesis is a molecular and histological multistage process featuring genetic and phenotypic markers for each stage, which involves enhanced function of several oncogenes and/or the deactivation of tumor suppressor genes, resulting in the loss of cell cycle checkpoints. The progression towards malignancy includes sequential histopathological alterations ranging from hyperplasia through dysplasia to carcinoma in situ and invasive carcinoma. The p16 gene produces p16 protein, which in turn inhibits phosphorylation of retinoblastoma, p16 play a significant role in early carcinogenesis. Human papillomavirus is a well established heterogeneous virus and plays an important role in oral cancers. The aims of the study were to

Background: Smoking is considering a major risk factor for development and progression of periodontal disease. Investigations regarding the association between smoking and periodontal disease have consistently demonstrated negative periodontal effects and greater probabilities of established periodontal disease among smokers in comparison with non smokers. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of smoking on periodontal health status and on the salivary levels of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and creatine kinase (CK), and to correlate the clinical parameters of periodontal health with the biochemical findings in smokers and non-smokers. Materials and methods: Unstimulated saliva sample was collected