In this study, derivatives of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) grafted with phthalic anhydride (PhA) and dyes were prepared to produce polymeric materials of PVA-g-PhA, PVA-g-PhA-anthocyanin, PVA-g-PhA-bromophenol blue, and PVA-g-PhAthymol blue. The materials were characterised by FTIR and 1 H NMR spectroscopies. The crystallinity of the polymers was evaluated with powder X-ray difraction, and the thermal stability by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The synthetic procedure for the polymeric materials entailed the formation of esters. The FTIR spectra of the polymers confrmed their formation since the ester carbonyl group stretch was observed at approximately 1691–1716 cm−1 in each material. NMR spectroscopy confrmed the addition of the dyes to the PVA-g-PhA backbone. All the powder X-ray difractograms displayed the characteristic peak for PVA at a 2θ value of approximately 20°, as well as a small peak at 42° indicative of the semicrystalline nature of the samples. These difractograms indicate a small degree of crystallinity in a mainly bulk amorphous phase. Adding dyes to PVA-g-PhA improved the thermal stability of the resulting polymers. The PVA-g-PhA-bromophenol blue material was the most thermally stable. The absorption properties of PVA-g-PhA were extended into the visible region by the attachment of the dyes. The photostability of the polymers was investigated by irradiating them with 254 nm light. The absorbance of the parent material, PVA-g-PhA, and the anthocyanin derivative increased with irradiation time until it reached a photostationary state. This increase in absorbance is attributed to the formation of more conjugated structures or light-absorbing photoproducts. On the other hand, the PVA-g-PhA-bromophenol blue and PVA-g-PhA-thymol blue materials photodegraded with increasing irradiation time. This research has shown that grafting dyes onto PVA can improve thermal stability and extend light absorption into the visible region. In particular, the addition of anthocyanin dye improved the photostability of the resulting material.
Recent studies have revealed some conflicting results about the health effects of caffeine. These studies are inconsistent in terms of design and population and source of consumed caffeine. In the current study, we aimed to evaluate the possible health effects of dietary caffeine intake among overweight and obese individuals.
In this cross-sectional study, 488 apparently healthy individuals with overweight and obesity were participated. Dietary intake was assessed by a Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) and
Data scarcity is a major challenge when training deep learning (DL) models. DL demands a large amount of data to achieve exceptional performance. Unfortunately, many applications have small or inadequate data to train DL frameworks. Usually, manual labeling is needed to provide labeled data, which typically involves human annotators with a vast background of knowledge. This annotation process is costly, time-consuming, and error-prone. Usually, every DL framework is fed by a significant amount of labeled data to automatically learn representations. Ultimately, a larger amount of data would generate a better DL model and its performance is also application dependent. This issue is the main barrier for
Background: The need of the patient for a more reasonable esthetic orthodontic intervention has risen nowadays. Thus, orthodontists make use of esthetic orthodontic materials like brackets, ligature elastics, and arch wires. The esthetic brackets come as different forms of materials, such as ceramic brackets, which have their stainability remaining as the most important consideration for the patients and the orthodontists. This study aimed to compare the staining effects of various staining materials, including black tea, cigarette smoke and Pepsi, as well as the time effect on the color stability of sapphire ceramic brackets bonded with three kinds of light cure orthodontic adhesives: Transbond, Resilience and Enlight. Materials and Met
... Show MoreThis growing interest of the international scientific specialized commissions is due to the role that the audit committee can play, as one of companies’ governance tools, to increase the accuracy and transparency of the financial information disclosed by the companies, through its oversight role on the process of preparing financial reports, its supervision on the internal audit function within the companies, and supporting its independency, as well as coordinating the efforts between the internal control unites and the external auditor represented by the (Board of Supreme Audit) to clear the observations and irregularities in order to reduce the fraud cases.
This research was built on an applied sample of audit committee works
... Show MoreThe present research was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of a training program to improve some aspects of sensory integration disorder and its effect on self-direction among a sample of children with intellectual disabilities. The study sample consists of (10 subjects as an experimental group) were exposed to the training program، and the control group consists of (10 subjects as a control group) were not exposed to the training program. The study included the following tools: A scale of self-direction for intellectual disability (prepared by the researcher). Training program (prepared by the researcher). The Results of the study showed the following: There are no statistically significant differences between the means ranks
... Show MoreRheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common inflammatory disease that associated with increased morbidity and mortality due to accelerated atherosclerosis. Rosuvastatin is a unique hydroxy methyl glutaryl Co A (HMGCoA) reductase inhibitor that has anti inflammatory effects.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of rosuvastatin as adjuvant therapy to methotrexate (MTX) on lipid profile and its possible cardioprotective effect in RA patients. A double blinded placebo controlled clinical trial with 8 weeks follow up periods at which 40 patients with active RA using MTX were randomized into 2 groups to receive either rosuvastatin 10mg or placebo as adjuvant therapy to MTX. In addition to twenty healthy subjects as control group.
... Show MoreBackground: Diabetes mellitus is a major risk factor for chronic periodontitis (CP) and hyperglycemia has an important role in the enhancement of the severity of the periodontitis. It has been reported that the progression of CP causes shifting of the balance between bone formation and resorption toward osteoclastic resorption, and this will lead to the release of collagenous bone breakdown products into the local tissues and the systemic circulation. Cross-linked N-telopeptide of type I collagen (NTx) is the amino-terminal peptides of type I collagen which is released during the process of bone resorption. This study was conducted to determine the effects of nonsurgical periodontal therapy on serum level of NTx in type 2 diabetic patients
... Show MoreThe effect of 532nm Diode Pumped Solid State (DPSS) laser at power density of 5.234 W/cm2 on the growth of Gram-negative Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus was evaluated. These bacteria were isolated from samples taken from burn and infected wound areas of 55 patients admitted to the burn-wound unit in Al-Kindy teaching hospital in Baghdad during the period from October 2012 to March 2013. Each isolate was identified using microscopic, cultural and biochemical methods. A standard bacterial suspension was prepared for each isolate. Serial dilutions were then prepared and a dilution of 10-5 was selected. Irradiation experiments included four groups: (L-P-) bacterial suspension in saline solution, (L-P+) bacteria
... Show MoreBreast cancer is the commonest cause of cancer related death in women worldwide. Amplification or over-expression of the ERBB2 (HER/neu) gene occurs in approximately 15-30% of breast cancer cases and it is strongly associated with an increased disease recurrence and a poor prognosis. Determination of HER2/neu status is crucial in the treatment plan as that positive cases will respond to trastuzumab therapy. It has been used to test for HER2/neu by immunohistochemistry as a first step and then to study only the equivocal positive cases (score 2+) by in situ hybridization technique. The aim of our study is to compare between immunohistochemistry and silver in situ hybridization (SISH) in assessment of human epidermal growth factor (HER2/neu)
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