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.
The general assumption of linear variation of earth pressures with depth on retaining structures is still controversial; investigations are yet required to determine those distributions of the passive earth pressure (PEP) accurately and deduce the corresponding centroid location. In particular, for rigid retaining walls, the calculation of PEP is strongly dependent on the type of wall movement. This paper presents a numerical analysis for studying the influence of wall movement on the PEP distribution on a rigid retaining wall and the passive earth thrust location. The numerical predictions are remarkably similar to existing experimental works as recorded on scaled test models and ful
The scarcity of irrigation water requires procedures of specific. One of these procedures is the implementation of the rationing system (a period of the irrigation followed by a period of the dry). This system can have an impact on the properties of irrigation channels. Therefore, the study of rationing system for irrigation channels is important in both water resources and civil engineering, especially if they are constructed with gypseous soil. In order to assess the rationing system on gypseous canals stabilized with a specific ratio of cement, practical experiments were conducted to detect the effect of wetting and drying cycles on the physical and hydraulic behavior of this soil and calculation of some properties of soil such a
... Show MoreThe competitive environment influences the increase in exercise intensity and hence adds to the growth of training and practice. The study objective.to identify the effect of competitive speed exercises on the effectiveness of skill performance and speed of counterattack for junior boxers, as well as to know the rate of development for these variables.Materials and methods. The research sample consisted of twelve up-and-coming Al-Najda Sports Club players who participated in the national tournament and were selected with care. They were placed into two groups, control and experimental, with six boxers each in the control and experimental groups. The two groups were assigned identical weights on purpose, and their ages range from 15 to 16 ye
... Show MoreThere are Islamic sources and books that deal with the different doctrinal and differential framework of the Islamic religion with a monistic approach, describing them with embarrassing jurisprudential titles such as: excommunication and expiation, and epithets that carry the characteristics of hatred and rejection, in addition to removing them from the sect and religion, and the reason for that is that the doctrine (A) or (b) considers itself the doctrine that represents only the Islamic religion, and other doctrines are misguided and disbelieving. the reasons behind this - besides the attempt to establish doctrinal and fiqih rooting in claiming truth and escaping from within the foundational differential doctrinal system – is the pol
... Show MoreThe research dealt with the effect of the tax examiner's efficiency in detecting tax evasion, as the research problem dealt with tax evasion, especially in Iraq, for many reasons and factors, including those related to tax administration represented in administrative corruption and the complexity of procedures in the tax accounting process and failure to achieve justice in the tax treatment, including the taxpayer himself, as he tries to evade for reasons Related to the level of tax awareness, loss of confidence in the tax administration, and reasons related to the state's inability to manage the services file well and its ability to achieve the set goals, This reflected negatively on the emergence of some of the consequences of
... Show MoreThe Strait of Malacca is one of the waterways of strategic, political, and economic importance. This strait has an increasing importance to its neighboring countries. The Strait of Malacca is very important for China, especially in the field of energy supply security, as the vast ma jority of energy supplies come to China through this strait. China seeks to ensure its security, especially in light of the cooperation of countries that look forward to this strait as well as the United States, and what the United States may cause to China, as many of them are at war with China over the China Sea, not to mention the countries that overlook it. The importance of the research emerges from the basic idea that the strategic importance of the Strait
... Show MoreThe purpose of this research is to highlight the relationship between the administrative investigation and the improvement of institutional performance, and the research sought to achieve a set of cognitive and applied goals. the administrative investigation is the modern trend of managing the offices of the general hginspectors and the main source to build the necessary standards to manage and invest its resources efficiently and effectively required to achieve the goals it seeks. The institutional performance is the cornerstone for the implementation of all tasks and duties carried out by institutions operating within the borders of a particular country, The significant change
... Show MoreAbstract:
The aim of the research is to demonstrate the impact of the salary localization service in enhancing banking competitive advantage. In order to achieve this goal, salary localization was chosen as an independent variable and its impact was studied on the dependent variable, which is the competitive advantage. The research problem lies in the fluctuation of the salary localization service from one bank to another and the impact of this on the competitive advantage. The study sample included five private Iraqi banks, namely (the National Bank of Iraq, the International Development Bank, Assyria International Bank, Al Khaleej Commercial Ban
... Show MoreAlO-doped ZnO nanocrystalline thin films from with nano crystallite size in the range (19-15 nm) were fabricated by pulsed laser deposition technique. The reduction of crystallite size by increasing of doping ratio shift the bandgap to IR region the optical band gap decreases in a consistent manner, from 3.21to 2.1 eV by increasing AlO doping ratio from 0 to 7wt% but then returns to grow up to 3.21 eV by a further increase the doping ratio. The bandgap increment obtained for 9% AlO dopant concentration can be clarified in terms of the Burstein–Moss effect whereas the aluminum donor atom increased the carrier's concentration which in turn shifts the Fermi level and widened the bandgap (blue-shift). The engineering of the bandgap by low
... Show MoreObjective(s): The aim of this study is to compare the impact strength of a heat cured denture-base acrylic resin
reinforced with metal wire and glass fibers.
Methodology: Forty five specimens were prepared from pink heat cure acrylic resin. Specimens were grouped into;
group-I (control group) which consists of 15 specimens with no reinforcement, group-II which consists of 15 specimens
reinforced with metal wire, and group-III consists of 15 specimens reinforced with glass fibers. Specimens were tested
by using charpy impact machine.
Results: The result showed that there was a highly significant difference in impact strength value among the testing
groups at (P < 0.001).
Conclusion: The impact str
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