Excessive intake of fluoride, mainly through drinking water is a serious health hazard affecting humans worldwide. In this study, the defluoridation capacities of locally available raw waste beef bones have been estimated. Several experimental parameters including contact time, pH, bone dose, fluoride initial concentration, bone grains size, agitation rate, and the effect of co-existence of anions in actual samples of wastewater were studied for fluoride removal from aqueous solutions. Results indicated excellent fluoride removal effeciency up to 99.7% at fluoride initial concentration of 10 mg F/L and 120 min contact time. Maximum fluoride uptake was obtained at neutral pH range 6-7. Fluoride removal kinetic was well described by the ps
... Show MoreBackground: Small cardamom or green cardamom is the dried fruit of the tall perennial herbaceous plant, Elettaria cardamomum Maton belonging to the family Zingiberaceae. The major use of small cardamom on world wide is for domestic culinary purpose and in medicine. This study was conducted to test the effect of small cardamom extracts on Mutans streptococci and Candida Albicans in comparison to 0.2% chlorhexidine gluconate and de-ionized water in vivo. Materials and Methods: Mutans streptococci and Candid Albicans were isolated, purified and diagnosed according to morphological characteristic and biochemical test. In this experiments, the effect of control agents and small cardamom extracts as a mouth rinses was tested on the saliva
... Show MoreBackground: Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder of incidence rate 1-2%. Genetic, congenital, developmental, tumors, head trauma and central nervous system infections maybe the cause of epilepsy. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of stomatitis, xerostomia and taste disorder among patients taking carbamazepine or sodium valproate and to make salivary analysis for IgA, cystatin c and salivary flow rate. Material and method:This study performed in al- Yarmuk teaching hospital in Baghdad, Samples consist of (70) epileptics half of them treated with carbamazepine and other half treated with sodium valproate, and (18) healthy control group of both genders and with different ages to detect the prevalence of oral manifestations, s
... Show MoreOral carcinoma is the 6th most common cancer in the world. MicroRNAs are small non-coding single stranded RNAs. They have been shown to be capable of altering mRNA expression; thus some are oncogenic or tumor suppressive in nature. The salivary microRNA-31 has been proposed as a sensitive marker for oral malignancy since it was abundant in saliva more than in plasma. A total of 55 whole saliva samples were collected from 35 cases diagnosed with OC their ages and gender matched with 20 healthy subjects. TaqManq RT-PCR was performed for RNA samples. Mean age was 52.23+13.73 years in cases (range:17-70 years) with male predominance represented 69%. Risk of smoking and alcoholism was highly significant. The median fold change of miR-31 was sign
... Show MoreThis review focuses on conservation agriculture (CA) and its effects on increasing the soil’s resistance to erosion. CA involves minimum soil disturbance (minimum tillage/ no-till), diversified crop rotation, and maintenance of the soil cover to increase soil fertility and reduce erosion. CA reduces soil loss by up to 90% and water erosion by approximately 50 to 70% from runoff as it increases the health of the soil, yield of crops, and water-retention capacity of the soil by incorporating soil organic matter and promoting biodiversity. Crop rotation prevents the replenishment and depletion of soil nutrients by atmospheric fixation of nitrogen/biological nitrogen fixation. Controlled traffic farming (CTF) is a new strategy in which travel
... Show MoreABSTRACT Background:Hydrogen absorption and related degradation in the mechanical properties of Ni-Ti based orthodontic wires has been demonstrated following exposure to fluoride prophylactic agents. This study was designed to investigate the effects of three fluoride containing agents on the load deflection characteristics of heat activated nickel titanium arch wires during unloading phase. Material and method: Eighty specimens of heat activated nickel titanium arch wires were obtained from Ortho Technology Company, half of which had a 0.016 inch round and 0.019x0.025 rectangular. Ten specimens from both wire size were immersed in one of the tested fluoride prophylactic agents (neutral sodium fluoride gel, stannous fluoride gel or phos-flu
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