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: Oral health is a mirror of general health. During pregnancy, oral health is affected by changes in saliva and oral hygiene measures which may lead to more dental caries.
Objective: Assess oral health status in relation to salivary antimicrobial peptides in pregnant women.
Subjects and Method: This cross sectional study was carried out in different primary health care centers in Rusafa sectors/ Baghdad city. The total sample included was 80 women (their age range from 21-30). The study group consisted of 40 pregnant women: half of them were in the first trimester and others were in third trimester, while the control group included 40 non-pregnant married fem
... Show MoreFinancial inclusion refers to the access of financial services at low cost and high-quality from the formal financial sector to all segments of society, especially marginalized groups, and then use and benefit from them. Financial inclusion is also associated with banking stability, as well as with financial integrity and financial protection for the consumer, therefore, it achieves a number of objectives, the most important of which is to support and enhance banking stability. This is what made it attract the attention of many countries and central banks recently.
The study aims to show the impact of financial inclusion indicators on ban
... Show MoreAt the heart of every robust economy is a vital banking system. The functional banking system can effectively perform several functions such as mobilizing savings, allocating credit, monitoring managers, transforming risks, and facilitating the financial transactions. This paper aims to measure the impact of banking system development on economic growth in Iraq. Credit to private sector divided by GDP used as a proxy of banking development. Real per capita GDP used as a proxy of economic growth. By using Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model, the paper finds that the undeveloped Iraqi banking system could not promote economic growth in the country. Therefore, a variety of policies need to be taken to spur the role of bankin
... Show MoreCandida Berkh. (1923) occurs naturally in the body. But it becomes opportunistic fungi, meaning that it infects humans when there is any weakening of the immune system, such as exposure to chemotherapy, diabetes, or organ transplantation. Most species of Candida grow at a temperature between 20-40 °C and have a pH of 3-8. Human pathogens of Candida species include C. albicans, C. glabrata, C. lusitaniae, C. parapsilosis, C. tropicalis and C. utili. C. albicans has many virulence factors that facilitate injury process. Virulence factors are considered as a measure of pathogenicity, and it is in the form of fungal toxins, enzymes, or cell structures that facilitate infection, as well as pathogen resistance in different conditions. This study
... Show MoreAccompanied Activity Economic Unity some negative effects in the environment of air, water and soil pollution of difficult to measure each other for being the external costs and to be avoided such expenditures should be measured or estimated value to be disclosed environmental costs at the heart of the financial statements of economic unity to inform managers and users of the financial statements on the implications costs environmental .and impact in reducing environmental costs and increase future income and economic unit, was based on research into the inductive approach through books, letters, journals and the internet to cover the theoretical framework of the research. And to the analyt
... Show MoreThe objective of the research is to identify the nature of voluntary disclosure of insurance services and its impact on the financial performance of Iraqi insurance companies by knowing the relationship between increasing disclosure of financial services and financial performance indicators of insurance companies.In order to achieve this objective, the research was applied to a sample of the Iraqi insurance companies listed in the Iraqi Stock Exchange (Al Amin Insurance Company, Al Ahlia Insurance, Dar Al Salam Insurance, Gulf Insurance, Al Hamra Insurance) and based on their published financial statements (2014-2015) ) And by analyzing the sample lists were connected to the research objectives.The main conclusion of the study is that in
... Show MoreAs regional development, as a matter of course, poses a number of systemic, scientific and political problems. While the issue of development is primarily at the national level to the limits of World War II in the industrialized world and to the 1960s borders in most Third World countries, the increasing awareness of regional disparities has led to the regional issue Were taken into consideration in the early 1960s and 1970s in most industrialized and developing countries alike. The local issue was only introduced in the early 1980s. The awareness of regional disparities and the fact that the regions do not have the same potential and that some regions have the resources to enable them to develop, grow and develop, unlike other r
... Show MoreAbstract:
the system of Administrative Control in organizations meets the need to check on the optimal use and proper resources and conservation to achieve the objectives sought by the organization, hence the system of Administrative Control is part of the overall system in any organization that has undergone evolution always to be able to keep up with progress in the development of other sciences, and that the growth of coherence between subordinates in the organization means the ability to influence the opinions, ideas and attitudes to change it for directions the organization and its values and this is reflected positively on the coherence of the organization, the researcher interest of the imp