Background: Neural tube defects (NTDs) are said to be inherited in a multifactorial fashion, i.e. genetic-environmental interaction. Maternal nutritional deficiencies had long been reported to cause NTDs, especially folate deficiency during early pregnancy. More attention had been paid to the exact mechanism by which this deficiency state causes these defects in the developing embryo. The most significant of all researches was that connecting reduced folate and increased homocysteine level in maternal serum on one hand and the risk of developing a NTD baby on the other hand. Objectives : to determine the significance of homocysteine level in Iraqi mothers who gave birth to babies with NTDs as compared to normal controls. Patients, Materials and Methods: Fifty Iraqi women having babies born with NTDS, referred to the genetic clinic in Baghdad Teaching Hospital, were included in this study (the study group) as well as 37 healthy women having normal children (the control group). This study was conducted from November, 2002 till October, 2003. Analysis of total serum homocysteine level for all women was done using a computerized HPLC system. Results : the age of women in both groups was comparable (mean+SD in the study group was 26.2+5.14 years vs. 26.3+4.57 years in the controls). Among the study group, 4 (8%) had normal tHcy level; 44 (88%) had mildly elevated level, and only 2 (4%) had moderately elevated tHcy level, while all (100%) women in the control group had their tHcy level within normal level. This difference was statistically highly significant (p<0.001). Conclusions : Women become at an increased risk of delivering a baby with NTD when having an elevated tHcy level in their sera, and that tHcy level is an important marker in maternal serum that is associated significantly with pregnancy outcome.
Identifying breast cancer utilizing artificial intelligence technologies is valuable and has a great influence on the early detection of diseases. It also can save humanity by giving them a better chance to be treated in the earlier stages of cancer. During the last decade, deep neural networks (DNN) and machine learning (ML) systems have been widely used by almost every segment in medical centers due to their accurate identification and recognition of diseases, especially when trained using many datasets/samples. in this paper, a proposed two hidden layers DNN with a reduction in the number of additions and multiplications in each neuron. The number of bits and binary points of inputs and weights can be changed using the mask configuration
... Show MoreBackground: Hyperlipidemia is an elevated fat (lipids), mostly cholesterol and triglycerides, in the blood. These lipids usually bind to proteins to remain circulated so-called lipoprotein. Aims of the study: To determine taste detection threshold and estimate the trace elements (zinc) in serum and saliva of those patients and compare all of these with healthy control subjects. Methods: Eighty subjects were incorporated in this study, thy were divided into two groups: forty patients on simvastatin treatment age between (35-60) years, and forty healthy control of age range between (35-60) years. Saliva was collected by non-stimulated technique within 10 minutes. Serum was obtained from each subject. Zinc was estimated in serum and saliva
... Show MoreThe aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of local application of bisphosphonate gel and recombinant human bone morphogenic protein 2 gel, on titanium dental implant stability and marginal bone level. Twenty-seven patients with upper and lower missing posterior tooth/teeth were included in the study with a total of 71 implants that were used for rehabilitation. The implants were randomly divided into 4 groups: 3 study groups and 1 control. Group1; local application of bisphosphonate gel, group 2; local application of recombinant human bone morphogenic protein 2 gel, group 3; local application of a mixed formula of both gels. The gel application was immediately preimplant insertion, group 4; implant insertion without application of a
... Show MoreDiabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder categorized hyperglycemia resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action or both. Protein tyrosine kinase (PTK) is an enzyme that catalyzes the transfer of phosphate groups from ATP to the tyrosine residues of many important proteins resulting in proteins phosphorylation. The aim of current study was to evaluate serum levels of protein tyrosine kinase enzyme and thyroid hormone (T3, T4and TSH) and to find the correlation between them in type 2 diabetes mellitus and diabetic nephropathy Iraqi patients. Methods: This study was conducted at The National Diabetes Center, Al-Mustansiriya University, Baghdad, Iraq and included 150 patients divided into three groups the first group included 50
... Show MoreMutations in genes encoding proteins necessary for detoxifying oxidative stress products have been predicted to increase susceptibility to lung cancer (LC). Despite this, the association between waterpipe tobacco smoking (WP), genetic polymorphisms, and LC risk remains poorly understood. This is the first study to explore the relationship between WP tobacco smoking and these genetic factors. Previously, we investigated the association of GSTP1 SNPs (rs1695-A/G and rs1138272-C/T) with LC in Iraqi males who smoke WP. Here, we expanded our analysis to include GSTM1 (active/null) and GSTT1 (active/null) genotypes, both individually and in combination with GSTP1 SNPs. Multiplex PCR and RFLP-PCR assays were utilized to determine the genotypes of
... Show MoreThe time spent in drilling ahead is usually a significant portion of total well cost. Drilling is an expensive operation including the cost of equipment and material used during the penetration of rock plus crew efforts in order to finish the well without serious problems. Knowing the rate of penetration should help in speculation of the cost and lead to optimize drilling outgoings. Ten wells in the Nasiriya oil field have been selected based on the availability of the data. Dynamic elastic properties of Mishrif formation in the selected wells were determined by using Interactive Petrophysics (IP V3.5) software based on the las files and log record provided. The average rate of penetration and average dynamic elastic propert
... Show MoreThis work presents the construction of a test apparatus for air-conditioning application that is flexible in changing a scaled down adsorbent bed modules. To improve the heat and mass transfer performance of the adsorbent bed, a finned-tube of the adsorbent bed heat exchanger was used. The results show that the specific cooling power (SCP) and the coefficient of performance (COP) are 163 W/kg and 0.16, respectively, when the cycle time is 40 min, the hot water temperature is 90oC, the cooling water temperature is 30oC and the evaporative water temperature is 11.4oC.
In this paper, nanofluid of TiO2/water of concentrations of 0.002% and 0.004% volume was used. This nanofluid was flowing through heat exchanger of shell and concentric double tubes with counter current flow to the hot oil. The thermal conductivity of nanofluid is enhanced with increasing concentrations of the TiO2, this increment was by 19% and 16.5% for 0.004% and 0.002% volume respectively relative to the base fluid (water). Also the heat transfer coefficient of the nanofluid is increased as Reynold's number and nanofluid concentrations increased too. The heat transfer coefficient is increased by 66% and 49% for 0.004% and 0.002% volume respectively relative to the base fluid. This study showed that the friction
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