Abstract Aim: Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder which affects communication and social interaction of children. It is a heterogeneous disease with various clinical presentations. Some genes are involved in its pathogenesis. It has been suggested that environmental exposure to lead can increase the risk of autism. The aim of our study was to compare blood lead levels among autistic and non-autistic children. Material and Method: This retrospective study included 107 children (60 with autism and 47 without autism) referred from the different Iraqi provinces, in the years 2015, 2016 and 2017, to the poisoning consultation center in Baghdad. Data collection including age, gender, residence, referral source, family history and blood lead levels was taken from their medical records. Results: No significant differences were noticed between the prevalence of autism and both of age (P=0.843) and gender (P=0.699). The majority of children have no family history of autism (85%). Mean blood lead level for all participants was 16.01 μg/dl. The statistically significant difference in lead level was found between autistic and non-autistic children (17.38± 1.86 μg/dl in autism group versus 14.27± 1.57 μg/dl in non-autism group) with a P value of 0.001. Discussion: Mean blood lead level was high in all participants, compared to the international values, which might indicate a high level of lead exposure in Iraqi children due to environmental pollution. Autistic children have higher lead levels than non-autistic ones and this might explain the role of lead in the etiology of autism.
Background: The study was designed for the assessment of the knowledge of medical students regarding pandemics. In the current designed study, the level of awareness was checked and the majority of students were found aware of SARS-CoV and SARS-Cov2 (Covid-19).
Objective: To assess the awareness of SARS-CoV and SARS-Cov2 (Covid-19) among medical students of Pakistan.
Subjects and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out in different universities of Pakistan from May to August 2020. A self-constructed questionnaire by Pursuing the clinical and community administration of COVID-19 given by the National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China was used am
... Show MoreBackground: Breast cancer is the commonest type of malignancy worldwide and in Iraq. It is a serious disease that affects the general health and cause systemic changes that affect the physical and chemical properties of saliva leading to adverse effects on oral health. This study was conducted toassess the tumor marker CA15-3 and selected elements in saliva and their relation to oral health status among breast cancer patients compared to control group. Materials and Methods: The total sample consisted of 60 women aged 35-45 years. 30 women were newly diagnosed with breast cancer before taking any treatment and surgery (study group) and 30 women without clinical signs and symptoms of breast cancer as a control group. Dental caries was record
... Show MoreGas sensors are essential for detecting noxious gases that have a detrimental effect on people's health and welfare. Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) are the fundamental component of gas detectors. CQDs and graphene (Gr) were prepared using the electrochemical method. The gas sensitivity of these materials was evaluated at different temperatures (150, 200, 250 °C) to assess their effectiveness. Subsequently, experiments were conducted at different temperatures to ascertain that the combination of CQDs and Gr, with various percentages of Gr and CQDs, exhibited superior gas sensitization properties compared to CQDs alone. This was evaluated based on criteria such as sensitivity, recovery time, and reaction time. Interestingly, the combination was
... Show MoreBCl3 is toxic gas and its detection is of great importance. Thus, here, B3LYP, M06-2X, and B97D density functionals are utilized for probing the effect of decorating Zn, Cd, and Au on the sensing performance of an AlP nano-sheet (AlPNS) in detecting the BCl3. We predict that the interaction of pure AlPNS with BCl3 is physisorption, and the sensing response (SR) of AlPNS is approximately 9.2. The adsorption energy of BCl3 changes from −4.1 to −18.8, −19.1, and −19.5 kcal/mol by decorating the Zn, Cd, and Au metals into the AlPNS surface, respectively. Also, the corresponding SR meaningfully rises to 40.4, 59.0, and 80.9, indicating that by increasing the atomic number of metals, the sensitivity of metal decorated AlPNS (metal@AlPNS)
... Show MoreSeeds, beans, leaves, fruit peel and seeds of five plants (Ferula assa-foetida, Coffea robusta, Olea europaea, Punica granatum and Vitis vinifera, respectively) were extracted with four solvents (distilled water, 80% methanol, 80% acetone and a mixed solvent that included methanol, ethanol, acetone and n-butanol at proportions 7:1:1:1). Such manipulation yielded 20 extracts, which were phytochemically analyzed for total polyphenols (TP) and flavonoids (TF). The DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging activity (RSA) and DPP-4 (dipeptidyl peptidase-4) relative inhibition activity (RIA) were also assessed for each extract. The results revealed that mixed solvent extract of V.
... Show MoreNanofluids are proven to be efficient agents for wettability alteration in subsurface applications including enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Nanofluids can also be used for CO2-storage applications where the CO2-wet rocks can be rendered strongly water-wet, however no attention has been given to this aspect in the past. Thus in this work we presents contact angle (θ) measurements for CO2/brine/calcite system as function of pressure (0.1 MPa, 5 MPa, 10 MPa, 15 MPa, and 20 MPa), temperature (23 °C, 50 °C and 70 °C), and salinity (0, 5, 10, 15, and 20% NaCl) before and after nano-treatment to address the wettability alteration efficiency. Moreover, the effect of treatment pressure and temperature, treatment fluid concentration (SiO2 wt%) and
... Show MoreNerium oleander known as oleander has belonged to the poisonous plants its habitat in a tropical andsubtropical region. The chemical analysis with GC-Mass of the alcoholic extract of oleander leaves revealedthat this plant has many chemical compounds more than 80 compounds and high-peaks about 29 compoundswhich are represented by alkaloids, phenol, terpenes, and fatty acid. HPLC analysis showed many essentialoils that have many biological effects.To evaluate the antibacterial activity of the alcoholic extract of N. oleander against locally isolatedPseudomonas aeroginosa the broth micro-dilution method was adapted to different concentrations werestarted from 3.9 to1000 mg/ml. The results revealed that the alcoholic extract has antiba
... Show MoreThe bound radial wave functions of Cosh potential which are the solutions to the radial part of Schrodinger equation are solved numerically and used to compute the size radii; i.e., the root-mean square proton, neutron, charge and matter radii, ground density distributions and elastic electron scattering charge form factors for nitrogen isotopes 14,16,18,20,22N. The parameters of such potential for the isotopes under study have been opted so as to regenerate the experimental last single nucleon binding energies on Fermi's level and available experimental size radii as well.