Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the airways in which many cells and cellular elements play a role. The treatment guidelines recommend theuse of a second controller drug in addition to medium doses of inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs) rather than the use of high doses ICS alone in the treatment of moderate-severe persistent asthma. This study was conducted to compare the clinical efficacy and safety of three treatment regimens in Iraqi patients with moderate-severe persistent asthma.The study included three groups; each group included 15 patients. Patients were administered beclomethasone inhaler alone 1500-2000 μg/day, beclomethasone inhaler 750-1000 μg/day plus oral controlled release aminophylline tablets 450 mg/day or beclomethasone inhaler 750-1000 μg/dayplus oral montelukast tablets 10 mg/day for 4-5 weeks. Patients were followed 2 weeks and 4-5 weeks after the baseline visit. In all of the three groups,significant improvements were noticed in pulmonary function test parameters (FEV1, FVC, FEF50%) and the asthma symptom records (day-time symptoms,night-time symptoms, number of salbutamol puffs per 24 hours), while there were no significant differences among the groups. Regarding side effects, onlythe group of inhaled steroid plus aminophylline tablets showed discontinuation of drug therapy in some patients which could be attributed to the development of serious side effects.It was concluded that the administration of a second controller agent was important to use lower doses of inhaled beclomethasone. It was concluded alsothat montelukast was associated with a lower incidence of serious side effects than aminophylline which could make aminophylline an alternative to montelukast as combination therapy with medium doses ICS in the treatment of moderate-severe persistent asthma
Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs) are integral to Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), enabling real-time communication between vehicles and infrastructure to enhance traffic flow, road safety, and passenger experience. However, the open and dynamic nature of VANETs presents significant privacy and security challenges, including data eavesdropping, message manipulation, and unauthorized access. This study addresses these concerns by leveraging advancements in Fog Computing (FC), which offers lowlatency, distributed data processing near-end devices to enhance the resilience and security of VANET communications. The paper comprehensively analyzes the security frameworks for fog-enabled VANETs, introducing a novel taxonomy that c
... Show MoreSeawater might serve as a fresh‐water supply for future generations to help meet the growing need for clean drinking water. Desalination and waste management using newer and more energy intensive processes are not viable options in the long term. Thus, an integrated and sustainable strategy is required to accomplish cost‐effective desalination via wastewater treatment. A microbial desalination cell (MDC) is a new technology that can treat wastewater, desalinate saltwater, and produce green energy simultaneously. Bio‐electrochemical oxidation of wastewater organics creates power using this method. Desalination and the creation of value‐added by‐products are expected because of this ionic mov
Moderately, advanced national election technologies have improved political systems. As electronic voting (e-voting) systems advance, security threats like impersonation, ballot tampering, and result manipulation increase. These challenges are addressed through a review covering biometric authentication, watermarking, and blockchain technologies, each of which plays a crucial role in improving the security of e-voting systems. More precisely, the biometric authentication is being examined due to its ability in identify the voters and reducing the risks of impersonation. The study also explores the blockchain technology to decentralize the elections, enhance the transparency and ensure the prevention of any unauthorized alteration or
... Show MoreThe evolution of the Internet of things (IoT) led to connect billions of heterogeneous physical devices together to improve the quality of human life by collecting data from their environment. However, there is a need to store huge data in big storage and high computational capabilities. Cloud computing can be used to store big data. The data of IoT devices is transferred using two types of protocols: Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) and Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). This paper aims to make a high performance and more reliable system through efficient use of resources. Thus, load balancing in cloud computing is used to dynamically distribute the workload across nodes to avoid overloading any individual r
... Show MoreCover crops (CC) improve soil quality, including soil microbial enzymatic activities and soil chemical parameters. Scientific studies conducted in research centers have shown positive effects of CC on soil enzymatic activities; however, studies conducted in farmer fields are lacking in the literature. The objective of this study was to quantify CC effects on soil microbial enzymatic activities (β-glucosidase, β-glucosaminidase, fluorescein diacetate hydrolase, and dehydrogenase) under a corn (Zea mays L.)–soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) rotation. The study was conducted in 2016 and 2018 in Chariton County, Missouri, where CC were first established in 2012. All tested soil enzyme levels were significantly different between 2016 and 2018
... Show MoreThis article showcases the development and utilization of a side-polished fiber optic sensor that can identify altered refractive index levels within a glucose solution through the investigation of the surface Plasmon resonance (SPR) effect. The aim was to enhance efficiency by means of the placement of a 50 nm-thick layer of gold at the D-shape fiber sensing area. The detector was fabricated by utilizing a silica optical fiber (SOF), which underwent a cladding stripping process that resulted in three distinct lengths, followed by a polishing method to remove a portion of the fiber diameter and produce a cross-sectional D-shape. During experimentation with glucose solution, the side-polished fiber optic sensor revealed an adept detection
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