Introduction: Salivary melatonin is a critical antioxidant that contributes to oral health by mitigating oxidative stress. Psychological stress linked to thumb sucking may disrupt oral homeostasis, leading to conditions such as dental caries and fungal infections. Aim: This study explores the relationships between thumb sucking, salivary melatonin levels, dental caries, and the presence of Candida albicans (CA) in children. Materials and methods: A case-control study was conducted with 60 children aged 4-5 years at the University of Baghdad’s College of Dentistry. Participants were divided into thumb-sucking (n=30) and non-thumb-sucking (n=30) groups. Salivary melatonin levels were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA), dental caries were assessed via the dmfs index, and CA counts were quantified on Sabouraud dextrose agar (SDA). Statistical analyses were performed, including t-tests, ANOVA, and correlation assessments. Results: Thumb-sucking children exhibited significantly lower salivary melatonin levels (28.620±2.278 pg/mL) compared to controls (34.525±2.142 pg/mL; p=0.044). The thumb-sucking group also had higher dmfs scores (15.033±1.449 vs. 8.667±0.899; p=0.000) and greater CA counts (18.900±1.048 vs. 13.583±0.549; p=0.000). Negative correlations were observed between salivary melatonin levels and the severity of dental caries, while positive correlations linked CA with dental caries. Conclusions: Thumb sucking adversely affects pediatric oral health by reducing salivary melatonin, increasing dental caries risk, and promoting fungal overgrowth. Early intervention to curb thumb-sucking behaviors may mitigate these risks and improve oral health outcomes.
Background: Crohn's disease (CD) is an immunological disorder associated with chronic inflammatory process of several unspecific regions of gastrointestinal tract but frequently detected in the terminal Ilium and proximal colon or both. This disease frequently presented with various oral manifestations as a consequence of inflammatory process of the disease, nutritional deficiency or medications side effects. Several therapeutic approaches have been developed for CD management that are targeting the inflammatory process and directed at controlling the host immune response. Immunosuppressants such as Azathioprine and anti-TNF α agents as well as the combination of them have been widely used as an effective therapeutic modality with a bett
... Show MoreBackground: The study's objective was to estimate the effects of radiation on testosterone-related hormones and blood components in prostate cancer patients. N Materials and Method: This study aims to investigate the effects of radiation on 20 male prostate cancer patients at the Middle Euphrates Oncology Centre. Blood samples were collected before and after radiation treatment, with a total dose of 60- 70 Gy, The blood parameters were analyzed. The hospital laboratory conducted the blood analysis using an analyzer (Diagon D-cell5D) to test blood components before and after radiation. Hormonal examinations included testosterone levels, using the VIDASR 30 for Multiparametric immunoassay system Results: The study assessed the socio-demogra
... Show MoreThe problem of the research lies in special motor abilities training programs like the balance that positively affect coordination between the nervous system and muscles. These training programs did not get enough attention from athletes especially young athletes; their training was restricted to physical abilities like strength, speed, and endurance instead. The research aimed at designing an apparatus for developing athletes’ balance in national centers for gifted/ ministry of youth and sport so as to provide a measurement for coached in this field. The results showed that the designed apparatus have a positive effect on developing the subjects’ balance in boxing and basketball athletes.
The research aims to study the effect of knowledge upgrade on business continuity in private colleges and universities in Baghdad. The research problem is summarized in the main question (were the academic leaders able to employ knowledge upgrading to enhance business continuity). The most important of this sector were the universities and the private college in the city of Baghdad as a field for this research, the researchers conducted a field visit to (10) universities or private colleges, the research sample consisted of (177) individuals from the deans of colleges and their assistants, as well as heads of scientific and administrative departments. The data was analyzed and the hypotheses were tested using the appropriate statistical
... Show MoreThe deficit budget, one of the results of increased public spending for their revenues due to the economic pressures imposed by the interest of the economies of those countries from the need to increase government spending in order to revitalize the national economy and accelerate economic growth rates and provide employment to the growing levels of unemployment in those countries opportunities and what is required to address the current debt crisis (borrowing), which has become a big burden on the governments and the need to move towards the application of austerity spending and tax increases, which inevitably forced those countries will be reflected reduced spending on basic aspects of life and their peoples, particularly earners
... Show MoreThe research aims at shedding light on the impact of the organizational commitment on the performance of the Iraqi insurance company as a service company that provides many services to customers both internal (individuals working) or external, Whenever the company was able to adopt new concepts to increase the understanding and knowledge of how their attention to individuals working and to provide an appropriate working environment, and to clarify the objectives and strategies for them, and create a sense of their importance, as reflected on job performance in attracting new customers, and build long-term relationships with them . In order to achieve this, the research relied on the questionnaire as a main tool for collecting data and in
... Show MoreThis experiment was carried out in the College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences, Univ. of Baghdad, during autumn 2021 growing season to investigate possibility study of increase lettuce antioxidant and biological yield, growing and producing lettuce hydroponically under film technique (NFT) using a globally approved standard solution (Cooper solution), Nested design with three replications adopted in the experiment, each of them included in main plot the first factor, which is LED light (B and R), Then levels of second factor were randomly distributed within each replicate, which included spraying with organic nutrients which was Cymbopogon citratus and Hibiscus sabdariffa at two
Nowadays nanoparticles have widespread application in various industriesbecause of their special and unique features, there are many studies in sideeffects of nanomaterial. This study done by 40 white female mice withevery other day intraperitoneally injection of low and high doses of both ofZnO kg of body weight) and FeOnanoparticles (5 and 40 mg/kg). After a 15 days period, the mice weresacrificed and blood samples were collected for hormone analysis, andtissue samples for morphometric studies.Statistical Analysis shows significant differences in LH, Estrogen,Progesterone hormone levels between groups, while there are insignificantdifferences in Follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) level between thegroups compared with its level in
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