Ecosystems provide humans with services that include benefits from food, fresh water, climate regulation, and socio-economic assets. The Mesopotamian marshlands are among the largest wetlands in the Middle East and they provide various benefits. However, ecosystem services of the Marshlands are consistently undervalued in national economic analysis and decision making. This study focusses on the Central Marshes, the first National Park in Iraq, and is the first attempt at valuing a series of ecosystem services from a valuable natural ecosystem in Iraq. We adopted the Toolkit for Ecosystem Services Site-Based Assessment (TESSA) for the determination of biophysical and economic values of services at the site level. Data on key ecosystem se

A lot of previous studies are concerned with the evaluation of the anti-inflammatory activity of medicinal plants because it considered cheap and are believed to possess minimal side effects. Leucaena leucocephala didn’t evaluate globally for its anti-inflammatory effect yet though some of it’s already separated and identified secondary metabolites were studied and proved to exert many pharmacological activities besides their effect on lowering the pro-inflammatory cytokines like TNF-α and IL-6. So, there was an interest to evaluate the biological effect of Leucaena leucocephala as a novel anti-inflammatory agent was the first motivation to start an in vivo study using a rat population. The N-butanol and ethyl acetate extracts were cho

Introduction: We aimed to evaluate the shear bond strength of acrylic denture teeth to flexible and heat-cured denture base material after surface treatments with argon plasma, chemical bonding agent (PALFIQUE universal), and combination. Methods: A total of 80 incisor acrylic denture teeth were treated with a argonplasma, chemical bond (PALFIQUE universal bond), and a combination with 10 samples for each group. The neck (gingival portion) of teeth was cut at a 45° angle, and the teeth were attached to heat-cured acrylic resin and flexible denture base material. All the specimens were stored in artificial saliva for 7 days in an incubator (37 °C). A shear

This study  was  conducted  with the  aim to  extract and  purify  a  polyphenolic  compound  â€œ Resveratrol” from the skin of black grapes Vitis vinifera cultivated in Iraq. The purified resveratrol is obtained after ethanolic extraction with 80% v/v solution for fresh grape skin, followed by acid hydrolysis   with   10%   HCl   solution then   the  aglycon   moiety   was  taken  with   organic   solvent

( chloroform). Using silica gel G60 packed glass column chromatography with mobile phase benzene: methanol: acetic acid  20:4:1 a

In this study the (geoelectric – hydrogeologic) parameters which are obtained by the
quantitative interpretation of (80) Schlumberger Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES)
points distributed in six linear profiles within the study area are used in addition to
(6) pumping test locations for the groundwater reservoir located to the south of Jabal
Sinjar (Sinjar anticline). The studied area covers about 7920Km2. The (VES) field
readings were interpreted manually by using the auxiliary point method-partial
resistivity curve matching,then the interpreted results enhanced by using computer
software specialized for the 1D- (VES) resistivity curves interpretation. The (VES)
results analyzed by using modern techniques in or

Air pollution is a major environmental problem, due to the increasing number of vehicles in Baghdad city streets and their direct impact on the process of air pollution resulting from an exhaust and non-exhaust pollutants (brake, clutch, tire wear, road surface wear and corrosion of vehicle components).

     The aim of this study is to detect the chemical and physical properties of brake pad particles as well as the concentrations of heavy metals found in these pad particles. This study included, a collection of eleven (11) samples of brake pads belong to different types of cars, most of these cars were used commonly in Baghdad city streets. The size of break  pads particles was examined under Scanning El

Zerumbone is a well-known compound having anti-cancer, anti-ulcer, anti-inflammatory and anti-hyperglycemic effects. During its use for the disease treatment, the membrane of erythrocyte can be affected by consumption of this bioactive compound. The current study was the first report of investigation of the hemolytic activities on human erythrocytes and cytotoxic profile of zerumbone. The toxicity of zerumbone on human erythrocytes was determined by in vitro hemolytic assay. Brine shrimp lethality assay was used to evaluate the cytotoxic effect of zerumbone at concentrations 10, 100 and 1000 μg/mL. The human erythrocyte test showed no significant toxicity at low concentrations, whereas hemolytic effect was amplified up to 17.5